TORONTO -- This time, the seventh inning was a breeze for R.A. Dickey. The veteran Toronto knuckleballer, who had made it through six innings in his previous six starts but each time failed to get out the seventh, turned in his strongest performance of the season Saturday, going 8-1/3 innings as the Blue Jays defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-2 at Rogers Centre. "I feel like Ive been right on the edge of a game like this for a long time," said Dickey, who gave up five hits, struck out four and only walked one in improving to 5-4. "Thats whats been encouraging. "Thankfully today, I was able to break through the seventh and get into the eighth and ninth." Dickey received a standing ovation from 29,372 fans when he left with one out and two on in the ninth. The As made it interesting, getting the tying run to the plate in that final at-bat but Brett Cecil got Jed Lowrie on a sacrifice fly and struck out Alberto Callaspo for his third save and Torontos fifth straight win. The win moved the Blue Jays 2.5 games up on the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees atop the American League East. The last time Toronto was alone in first place this late in the season was July 6, 2000. Dickey, who won the 2012 National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets, lowered his earned run average to 3.95, the first time its been under 4.00 since he joined the Blue Jays in 2013. "Its great for our team to be able to keep the momentum that weve been generating over the past week-and-a-half or so," said Dickey, who retired 19 of 21 hitters he faced at one stretch. "Its nice to feel like you did your part in that." "He was dealing it," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "He really was. He was strong. He was very efficient. That particular pitch he throws, when its on its tough to do anything with it. "You can usually tell early on when hes got his good one going and today he did." Brett Lawrie had a home run for the Blue Jays while Melky Cabrera had two hits and two RBIs, and Jose Reyes had a pair of hits as Toronto (28-22) won for the 10th time in their last 12 ball games. They did their damage on Jesse Chavez (4-2), who gave up four runs, two of which were unearned, and eight hits. The Blue Jays used their speed and took advantage of some sloppy defence from Oakland (30-19). "We generated some runs today," said Gibbons as Reyes scored twice from second on balls that never left the infield and Anthony Gose plated from first on a bobble in left field. "The old saying is speed never goes in slumps." After Oakland opened the scoring in the second inning on a Yeonis Cespedes solo home run to straightaway centre field, the Blue Jays tied it up in the third. Gose, who reached on a fielders choice, was moving first to third on Cabreras two-out, opposite field single when left-fielder Craig Gentry bobbled the ball, allowing the fleet-footed Gose to fly around third and slide into the plate ahead of the throw. Toronto took the lead for good with three runs in the fifth. After Lawrie led off the inning by slamming his eighth home run into the Blue Jays bullpen to make it 2-1, they added some insurance, again courtesy of speed and shoddy defence by the As. Gose slapped a sharp single the other way with one-out and moved up to third on a single by Reyes. After a wild pitch advanced Reyes to second, Cabrera hit a ground ball to first baseman Brandon Moss, who booted it as Gose was coming in to score and then flipped it past a covering Chavez, which allowed Reyes to scamper home, punctuating the run with a run head-first slide, making it 4-1. Reyes repeated the feat in the seventh to put the Blue Jays up 5-1. After a lead-off double, he scored all the way from second when Cabrera hit a routine groundball to shortstop but the As made the play too slowly, again allowing Reyes to slide across home plate head-first before Moss could throw him out. "Thats the way I play the game when Im healthy," said Reyes, who spent the early part of the season on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. "Stealing bases. Sliding all over the place. "When Im pain-free Im able to do that stuff, so Im feeling happy. Not only for me, but for the whole team because were playing really good baseball. Its always fun when youre winning." Toronto will go for the three-game sweep of the A.L. West leaders on Sunday afternoon. Notes: The Blue Jays and As wrap up a three-game weekend series on Sunday when Oakland LHP Drew Pomeranz goes against Toronto LHP J.A. Happ. . . Going into Saturdays game, Torontos Edwin Encarnacion led the league in May with 11 home runs and 62 total bases and is second in RBIs with 24 and T2 with 16 extra-base hits in 22 games. . . Since 2010, the Blue Jays lead the Majors with 553 home runs prior to the all-star break, well ahead of the New York Yankees, who are second with 489. . Keenum will make his first appearance in a regular-season game against the rugged defence of the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, where the fans just set a Guinness record as the noisiest outdoor stadium in the world. .com) - The Los Angeles Kings peppered Ryan Miller with shot after shot.
http://www.cheapcardinalsjerseysauthent ... eda-jersey. A better question yet may be this: How many times has the same player been involved in both? Morneau hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning and helped the Colorado Rockies turn the third triple play in team history as they beat the San Diego Padres 8-6 on Sunday. . "I have had no discussions with Chad Johnson or his representation," Popp said Friday in an email. However, he appeared to confirm a report on Twitter from TSN this week that Johnson was on Montreals negotiation list. . Smith, who raised eyebrows at the CFL combine in March with his ability on both sides of the ball, confirmed in a statement he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol prior to auditioning for league officials. PHILADELPHIA -- In their cozy, hitter-friendly ballpark, the Philadelphia Phillies just cant seem to score runs. Casey McGehee hit a two-run double, Nathan Eovaldi pitched six-hit ball into the seventh inning and the Miami Marlins beat the Phillies 4-0 Monday night. Hoping to build momentum after a 5-2 road trip that featured five straight wins over Atlanta and St. Louis, the Phillies were shut out for the 10th time this season, and seventh time in their last 25 home games. Theyve lost three in a row after the five-game winning streak pulled them to within 3 1-2 games of first place in a mediocre NL East. "I dont have an explanation for that," manager Ryne Sandberg said of the teams hitting problems at home. "It needs to change. A night like this is conducive for hitting, we need to do a better job at home." Eovaldi (5-3) went 6 1-3 innings and got 12 of his 19 outs on flyballs. The right-hander hadnt won since May 26 and gave up 11 runs in his previous two starts. Phillies starter Roberto Hernandez (3-6) allowed two runs and three hits, striking out six in six innings. Hernandez lined a single to right in the third inning for his first career hit after going 0 for 40. "I dont care about hitting," Hernandez said. "They pay me to pitch." Coming off a 3-7 homestand, the Marlins kicked off a four-game series with a rare win in Philadelphia. Theyre just 10-26 at Citizens Bank Park since 2010, including two wins in their last 10 games. The Marlins are tied with San Diego and Tampa Bay for fewest road wins this season with 13. "Eovaldi threw the ball well," Phillies slugger Ryan Howard said. "We hit some balls pretty good but just couldnt find any ground. I dontt think we were pressing.dddddddddddd We just didnt get that hit." The Marlins got all the runs they needed in the first inning. Derek Dietrich hit a single and Giancarlo Stanton was hit by a pitch. McGehee followed with a drive to right-centre to score both runners. Though he only has one homer out of the cleanup spot, McGehee has 46 RBIs. McGehee has a 14-game hitting streak on the road. Hes hitting .435 (27 for 62) with 10 RBIs in those games. Pinch-hitter Reed Johnson drove in a run in the ninth on a bloop single to left. Dietrich also had an RBI single in the inning. Eovaldi pitched out of a jam in the fourth after Cody Asche ripped a double to put runners on second and third with two outs. He retired Domonic Brown on a shallow fly to end the inning. Eovaldi allowed one walk and has issued only five in his last seven starts, covering 45 innings. The Marlins turned three double plays, including a nifty 6-4-3 started by Ed Lucas on a hard one-hopper in the hole by Carlos Ruiz in the eighth inning. NOTES: Injured Phillies ace Cliff Lee will throw his third bullpen session Tuesday. Lee has been sidelined by an elbow strain since May 20. Hes hoping to return before the All-Star break. ... Phillies reliever Mike Adams received a cortisone shot on his ailing right shoulder last week and hopes to return after the All-Star break. ... Former Phillies OFs Pat Burrell and Bobby Abreu (currently with the Mets) were among those who turned out to honour Jimmy Rollins during a pregame ceremony. Rollins became the clubs all-time hits leader on June 14. ... LHP Andrew Heaney (0-1, 1.50) goes for the Marlins against RHP David Buchanan (3-3, 4.95) on Tuesday night. ' ' '
