TORONTO -- Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ had to deal with a cramp in his side while warming up before Tuesdays game against New York. By the time he got comfortable on the mound, the Yankees were well on their way to a comfortable victory. Alfonso Soriano hit a towering three-run homer in New Yorks four-run first inning and veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte threw seven shutout innings as the Yankees dumped Toronto 7-1 at Rogers Centre. "You spot them four runs right out of the gate, its tough to overcome that," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "It really is. Weve been saying all along that (if) we get a decent pitching outing then weve got a chance. "But you spot them early, especially when were not scoring a lot of runs right now, it makes it tough." Soriano added another homer in the third inning -- the 28th of the season and 400th of his career -- while Mark Reynolds and Alex Rodriguez also had solo homers for New York (70-62). The Yankees outhit the Blue Jays 12-10. Pettitte (10-9) was in fine form, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out three. "He was really good, he went through the lineup with not too many pitches the first time," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "He got some big outs when he had to. His stuff was really good tonight. I thought he was sharp." Happ (3-4) said the cramp was not a significant issue and he didnt want to use it as an excuse. "It wasnt the reason I performed the way I did," he said. "I wasnt sharp enough in that first inning. Soriano got me on a first pitch and its tough to get behind against a pitcher like that and a team like that. He did his job and I didnt do mine." New York did all of its damage in the opening inning before Toronto (59-74) recorded an out. Leadoff man Brett Gardner doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Derek Jeter stroked a single up the middle. Robinson Cano reached after he was hit in the left hand by a pitch and Soriano followed with a no-doubt blast to deep left field. Cano left the game and underwent precautionary X-rays, which were negative. "The fact that theres no break is a good sign," Girardi said. "We havent had a lot of luck on our side when it comes to X-rays. We got some tonight." Sorianos second homer bounced off the top of the wall, just out of the reach of Toronto left-fielder Kevin Pillar. "I never thought I was going to hit 400 homers in the big leagues," Soriano said. The Blue Jays got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the inning on a Moises Sierra single. Toronto put two runners on in the fourth when Rajai Davis doubled and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., reached on a walk but Mark DeRosa struck out to end the threat. Esmil Rogers relieved Happ with two outs in the fifth inning and got Vernon Wells to line out with two runners on. Happ allowed five earned runs, seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Sierra hit a one-out double in the fifth and tried to score on a single to centre field by Ryan Goins. Gardners throw home was accurate and Sierra slid but couldnt avoid Chris Stewarts tag. Reynolds hit his 17th home run of the season in the sixth inning. Rodriguez went deep an inning later for his fourth homer of the year and 651st of his career. The Blue Jays scored their lone run in the eighth inning off reliever Adam Warren. Pillar doubled to the wall in left-centre field to score Goins from first base. Jose Reyes followed with a single to put runners on the corners but pinch-hitter Anthony Gose hit into an inning-ending double play. Sierra tied a career high with his three-hit game. Announced attendance was 34,047 and the game took two hours 43 minutes to play. Notes: The Yankees improved to 13-2 on the season against Toronto. ... Cano, who was replaced at second base by Eduardo Nunez, is listed as day to day. ... It was Sorianos sixth multi-homer game of the season. ... The Blue Jays outrighted pitcher Chien-Ming Wang to triple-A Buffalo before the game. He had been designated for assignment a day earlier. ... Todd Redmond (1-2) is scheduled to start for Toronto in the series finale on Wednesday night. The Yankees will counter with fellow right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (11-9). ... The Blue Jays are off Thursday and will wrap up the six-game homestand with a weekend series against the Kansas City Royals. . LOUIS -- Julius Randle had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Aaron Harrison finished with 18 points and No. .3 seconds remaining, and No. 7 North Carolina held off a resilient No. 25 Virginia team, 54-51, on Saturday. John Henson contributed a double-double with 15 points to go with 11 rebounds for the Tar Heels (25-4, 12-2 ACC), who have won five straight and 10 of 11.
http://www.indiansteamproshop.com/India ... ds-Jersey/. Donald Young lost in straight sets to Israels Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-0. Querrey, ranked No. 61, is the second-highest ranked American, ahead of Johnson (64). .com) - Kam Chancellor bobbed his head in celebration as he crossed the goal line on his game-clinching 90-yard interception return. . -- Washington Redskins linebacker Brian Orakpo is going to the Pro Bowl as a replacement for San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks.TORONTO -- Phil Kessel had the game-winning goal, but it was his near fight with a familiar foe that sparked the Toronto Maple Leafs to a comeback victory Saturday night. Kessel scored the second of three straight goals for the Maple Leafs in the third period as they recovered to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Air Canada Centre. He assisted on the Maple Leafs third goal and almost had the first Gordie Howe hat trick - a goal, an assist and a fight - of his NHL career when he and pesky Alexandre Burrows scuffled and just about dropped the gloves late in the second period. It would have been the second fight of the season for Kessel and Burrows, who officially scrapped back on Nov. 2 in Vancouver. The two each got roughing minors in Saturdays game, with Burrows getting an additional minor for high-sticking. "(Kessel) wasnt too thrilled about all that and neither was anyone on the bench," said linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Maybe you can look at that as something that got Phil a little bit excited." At the time of the fracas, the Canucks were clinging to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ryan Kesler in the last minute of the first. That all changed in the third period, when the Leafs broke out with three goals in the span of 4:42. "It was a one-goal hockey game and here we had an opportunity to pull a hockey game out of the fire by scoring one goal and giving ourselves a chance," said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. "We have a break coming, and it would make everybody feel a lot better about themselves with a win here versus a loss." The win was the 11th in the past 14 games for the Leafs and their seventh straight at home. "About six games ago, we really focused in on playing well going into the break," said Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. "We feel weve done that. Weve gotten some big wins. We wanted to get as many points as we could going into the break and we did that." The Canucks lost their seventh straight game and their 16th in their past 20. Theyve scored just 37 goals in that span. Vancouver is now 8-23-5 when scoring less than three goals in game (excluding the shootout). The Canucks are a near perfect 19-1-4 when scoring three or more. "Weve dug ourselves a pretty big hole here, but we need to look at it as a challenge when we get bback," said Canucks coach John Tortorella.dddddddddddd"I do believe well be healthier to fight our way through it. Were not dead and gone. Weve allowed a lot of teams to get back in and pass us, as far the playoffs are concerned. But we still have enough games to crawl back in." Mason Raymond and van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto. Jonathan Bernier made 23 saves for the win. Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots in defeat. Vancouvers lone goal came when Kesler took a pass in the high slot from Chris Higgins and flicked a weak wrist shot at the goal. Bernier tried to stop it with his blocker, but it deflected downwards into the net. The Canucks held onto that lead after two periods. "We just wanted to stick with it," van Riemsdyk said. "We know we didnt play necessarily as well as we could. We were playing a little bit loose with the puck. We got back to just cycling them down low and trying to create off that." Raymond got Toronto on the board at 7:23 when he circled the Canucks net and snuck a wrist shot past Luongo for his 16th goal of the season. The Leafs then took their first lead of the game at 10:03. On a delayed penalty call, with a sixth attacker on the ice for Bernier, Kessel snapped a shot near the Canucks blueline that found its way past a screened Luongo. It was Kessels 31st of the season. Tyler Bozaks assist on the goal was the 100th of his NHL career. Two minutes and two seconds after the Leafs took the lead, van Riemsdyk made it 3-1 when his shot at the side of the goal bounced of Alexander Edler and into the Canucks goal. It was his 24th of the season. "We got to be really happy about the last month or so," Bernier said. "Weve been playing really well. Now we just got to take some rest and hit the reset button because the real season is coming after (the break). We have to make sure were ready for the next 22 games." Notes: Canucks centre Henrik Sedin sat out his second-straight game due to injuryaLeafs centre Jay McClement didnt return after suffering an upper-body injury when he fell awkwardly into the end boards early in the second periodaThe game was a rare 6 p.m. start for a Toronto home game on SaturdayaIt was the final game for both teams before the NHL shuts down for the Winter Olympics. ' ' '
