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ekansekans's blog: "df"

created on 10/29/2012  |  http://fubar.com/df/b351055

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- J.A Happ was outpitched by James Shields in his debut in Torontos starting rotation. Shields threw eight strong innings, Evan Longoria drove in a run in his return from an injury, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Blue Jays 4-1 on Tuesday night. Happ (0-1), making his first start with the Blue Jays, gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 1-3 innings. He had made four relief appearances since being acquired from Houston on July 20. "The result is the only thing that matters, but I did feel better than, probably, the numbers indicate," Happ said. "I felt like I was making some good pitches. They used the whole field and they were falling for them, and werent falling for us. A frustrating one for sure." Happs previous start, while with the Astros, came on July 16. The left-hander threw 6 1-3 innings in a 2-0 win over San Diego. "I got upwards of 80 pitches in, and hopefully well keep moving from there," Happ said. Happ had five strikeouts and one walk. "They didnt square up too many balls," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "First time out, were not going to jump to any conclusions or judgments, certainly. This is an established major league pitcher." Blue Jays rookie Chad Jenkins, who had his contract purchased from Double-A New Hampshire on Sunday, worked three shutout innings in his major league debut. "He came in and threw the ball over the plate," Farrell said. "Had good sink to his fastballs. Showed a good slider as well. And didnt show any fear of contact. It was encouraging to see that kind of aggressiveness out of him." Colby Rasmus hit his 20th homer, a solo shot in the fourth, that got Toronto within 3-1. Rasmus, who had missed the previous two games because of tightness in his right groin, singled in the ninth. Shields (10-7) allowed one run and two hits. The right-hander was coming off a three-hit shutout last Tuesday at Oakland. "Shields really held us down," Farrell said. Longoria rejoined the Rays after missing 85 games because of a partially torn left hamstring. He went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly as the designated hitter. Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his 33rd save and completed the three-hitter. Longoria got a standing ovation before his first at-bat in the second, when Happ reached behind his legs to glove a grounder and then threw out the three-time All-Star. Longoria made it 2-0 on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the third, an opposite-field drive caught at the wall by right fielder Moises Sierra. Jeff Keppinger extended the lead to 3-0 on another sacrifice fly later in the inning. The Rays stopped a 22-inning scoreless stretch and took a 1-0 lead in the second as Ryan Roberts hit a two-out pop fly double down the right-field line and scored on Sean Rodriguezs single. Tampa Bay went ahead 4-1 in the fifth on Ben Zobrists RBI double. Notes: Farrell said OF Jose Bautista, out since July 17 with left wrist inflammation, still has some soreness on a small area of the hand and will undergo an MRI. ... Blue Jays INF Brett Lawrie missed his third straight game due to rib cage tightness. ... Toronto RHPs Drew Hutchison and Dustin McGowan are both scheduled to have surgery Thursday. Hutchison will have elbow ligament surgery, while McGowan is scheduled for arthroscopic surgery to evaluate the right shoulder joint. ... Blue Jays 3B Adeiny Hechavarria singled in the third for his first major league hit. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . Nadal broke the Slovak twice in a first set that lasted 50 minutes, before finally overpowering Lacko to take the second in just over half an hour and wrap up the match. "In the second set I think I did everything better," said Nadal, who defeated top-ranked Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros on Monday for his 11th Gram Slam title. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . China, who have aimed a second-phase slot of the tournament, were overpowered by the French spikers on their way to a disheartening loss of 25-17, 25-20, 25-19. http://jasonhavens.org/cheap.html . -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded tight end Kellen Winslow to the Seattle Seahawks for a draft pick on Monday night and signed former Colts star Dallas Clark to replace him. EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings have a better idea about how to finish preparing Adrian Peterson and his surgically repaired left knee for the season. The plan, simply, is more practice. Coach Leslie Frazier confirmed Tuesday his change of mind about handing the ball to his recovering star running back in a preseason game. Frazier originally said he wanted Peterson to experience the full contact of such a setting before the regular season begins, but he has backed off. Even Peterson, a fierce, relentless competitor who has lobbied for more playing time seemingly since the day he was drafted, was satisfied with the decision. Thats as sure a sign as any the Vikings (29th in the AP Pro32 rankings) are making a wise move. "There are no setbacks. Thats not the reason were doing it," Frazier said. "We just feel like more time with him in practice with some of the things that were doing and the progression of getting him ready for the season, its the right thing to do." The opener is Sept. 9 against Jacksonville, and Frazier again declined to guarantee that Peterson will be cleared to play that afternoon. But there is little benefit to the team to assure that at this point, unless the goal was to assuage the anxieties of fantasy football league owners. Frazier instead sounded intent on tempering expectations and reiterating the importance of caution, even if the 27-year-olds participation against the Jaguars has carried almost an air of inevitability throughout his rehabilitation work this summer. "Everything has gone better than can be expected up to this point. But this is a decision we made. We talked with him about it. And for the first time in our conversations, he kind of seemed like he understood," Frazier said. "He even used the word patience. And I was like, Wow. Finally..ddddddddddddIts clicking. Hes on board." Frazier also said Petersons father, Nelson, has encouraged him to listen to the coaches and trainers as the end of the recovery comes closer. Peterson had surgery Dec. 30 to fix tears in his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament. "Hes been so far ahead in his rehab all along," Frazier said. "Even the things hes doing in practice, theres nothing that makes you feel like you have to pull back just from watching him move around. But the more things we can give to him in the time we have leading up to the season opener, the better." Though the defence is still prohibited from touching him, Peterson ran the ball 18 times in the full team portion of Mondays practice. Frazier said he experienced no problems or side effects. Soon, before Sept. 9, the no-contact ban will be lifted to gauge Petersons ability to cut and properly manoeuvr around the tacklers, essentially the final evaluation of a running backs ACL recovery. "When some of the guys put a pad on him, how does he handle that? And when bodies fall down in front of him, how does he handle that? Does he stop and plant as the Adrian of old, or does he just come to a standstill where hes liable to taking a really serious hit?" Frazier said. The best way to do that is in the controlled environment on the practice field, rather than exposing him to the risk of a freak hit in a preseason game, perhaps from some linebacker trying to make the team racing in at the last second. "The more things we can give to him in the time that we have leading up to the season opener, the better well have as far as tape is concerned to be able to evaluate whats the best thing to do -- whether to let him go in that first game or to hold him back a little bit longer," Frazier said. ' ' ' 

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