The Toronto Blue Jays will attempt to salvage a split of a four-game series with the lowly Houston Astros on Sunday at Minute Maid Park. Toronto pulled out a 6-5 victory in Thursdays series opener, but lost the next two by scores of 3-1 and 8-2. Brett Oberholtzer shut down the Blue Jays offense on Saturday, tossing seven innings of two-run ball to pick up just his fourth win of the season. "(Oberholtzer) did a tremendous job," said Astros manager Bo Porter. "Youre talking about a guy who is fearless. He attacks the strike zone." Powering the Houston offense were Chris Carter, Jason Castro and Jon Singleton, who all had three hits and a home run. Toronto had only six hits all day in the loss, while starter R.A. Dickey was tagged for five runs on nine hits over seven innings of work. Torontos 23-year-old phenom Marcus Stroman will get another chance to dazzle when he starts on Sunday. Since joining the Blue Jays rotation at the end of May, Stroman has been nothing short of spectacular. In 11 starts he has gone 6-2 with an ERA of 2.12. It was quite the surprise, considering he had an ERA of 12.79 as a reliever after being called up to the majors on May 3. Stroman completely baffled the Red Sox on Tuesday to pick up his seventh win of the year and third in his last three starts. He set a career high with eight strikeouts and allowed just one run over seven innings. He has lasted seven innings in four of his last five starts. This will be Stromans first career outing against Houston. There are a few more miles on the odometer of Stromans counterpart in this game, as veteran Scott Feldman toes the rubber for Houston. Feldman has not been able to capture the magic of last season, when he finished a combined 12-12 with a 3.86 ERA for the Cubs and Orioles. This season the right-hander is just 4-8 with an ERA of 4.39 in 19 total starts. He had been stuck in a particularly nasty rut before his this past Tuesday, when he limited Oakland to one run over seven innings. In the three starts before that Feldman allowed a combined 16 runs on 27 hits. Pitching against Toronto isnt likely to help, at least if his past history is any indication. In 13 total appearances, seven of which were starts, Feldman is 1-4 with a 5.77 ERA against the Blue Jays. Earlier in the season, Toronto took two of three from Houston. . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit. . Mladenovics quick hands at the net made the difference while Bencics inexperience in doubles showed. "We took a lot of pleasure," Mladenovic told Sport Plus television. "Its extremely difficult to play in such conditions, but our doubles team showed a lot of quality.
http://www.cheapnhlcanadiensjerseysauth ... jersey.com) - The Los Angeles Dodgers made it official Tuesday and signed pitcher Brandon McCarthy to a four-year contract. .During the week, McCoy told reporters he respected Hoyer for his intelligence, athleticism and how he conducts himself on and off the field. This wasnt an act, some attempt at psyching out Hoyer. . The underachieving franchise finished 17th in the 19-team league with a 6-17-11 record this season. "Our soccer team is absolutely in complete disarray," said Leiweke, drawing laughs during an Empire Club luncheon speech about the future of MLSE teams and plans to improve them.LEVI, Finland -- Canadas Marie-Michele Gagnon continued her strong start to the season with a fifth-place result in the first World Cup slalom of the year on Saturday, while teammate Elli Terwiel was a career-best 11th. Gagnon, from Lac-Etchemin, Que., all but secured her spot on Canadas team for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games with a 10th-place finish in last months giant slalom opener in Austria and the versatile 24-year-old followed that up with two determined, attacking runs Saturday amid strong winds and varying light. After two races she is sixth in the overall ladies World Cup rankings. "Im stoked -- just super happy that this race brought me fifth place and so, so happy for Elli. She was awesome today," said Gagnon, who had a two-run combined time of one minute 56.80 seconds. "It was a weird race -- it was a bit of a free-for-all. "I knew I wasnt far out after the first run. I skied just like I do in training -- it was just like a normal run." Terwiel, from Sun Peaks, B.C., found herself sitting seventh after an incredible first run and although she fell back a little on her second run an 11th-place finish represents her best-ever result in a World Cup race. Britt Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que., Anna Goodman of Pointe Claire, Que., and Erin Mielzynski of Collingwood, Ont., did not qualify for the second run. Terwiel, whose best World Cup results before Saturdays race were two 17th-place finishes -- both in January, 2013 -- took advantage of the wind dying down to put together a superb first run. "When I came down at the end of the first run I was fourth and I did a little bit of an oopen-jawed spin-around in the finish.dddddddddddd. It was a little too good to be true," said Terwiel, 24, who had a two-run combined time of 1:57.30. "A lot of things can go sideways so I tried to just focus on my skiing and the things Ive been working on in training this summer. This is my best result ever and its a top 12, which is one of the things I need for Olympic qualification. Its really exciting." American phenom Mikaela Shiffrin made a big mistake at the end of her second run but still dominated to win with a two-run combined time of 1:55.07. Germanys Maria Hoefl-Riesch was second (1:56.13) and Slovenias Tina Maze was third (1:56.68) -- just twelve-hundredths ahead of Gagnon. The 18-year-old Shiffrin led by half a second after the first run and raced seamlessly at the top of the hill in the second to extend her advantage, overcoming a mistake near the end to clock a combined time of 1 minute, 55.07 seconds. "Im really happy with how the day went and Im also really excited because it looks like there are some pretty fast girls in the back of the pack," Shiffrin said. "Im excited for the Olympics for sure but there are a couple of races between now and then, so hopefully I can just keep this going." The basic qualification criteria for nomination to Canadas Olympic team in alpine skiing is two top-12 World Cup results, with at least one this season. A single top-five result this year also counts, so Gagnon effectively cemented her place at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games with Saturdays result. Shes the only Canadian to have pre-qualified in alpine skiing to date. ' ' '
