Pirate Galaxy » 0 left. On Friday, Washingtons Jay Beagl

Every contending team has a one-two punch of starting pitchers who lead the rotation and the team. Names like Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, I could go on and on. Just check out the American League East. Bostons dynamic duo of Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester are a combined 15-3, with Buchholz, a Cy Young contender at (9-0) with a 1.71 ERA. The Red Sox as a team have put together a division leading 39 quality starts (at least 6 innings, allowing three runs or less) in 68 games. Its no wonder manager John Farrells crew is in first place. Baltimore Orioles pulled into second place in the Division Thursday night with a 13 inning, 5-4 win over the Red Sox. The Orioles one-two combo of Jason Hamel (7-4) and Chris Tillman (6-2), have 14 quality starts between them and the team has 31 in total. The New York Yankees, who slipped to third behind the Orioles, actually have quality starts in more than half their games, 36 in total in 66 games. Hiroki Kuroda (6-5) 2.78 has nine, while C.C Sabathia (6-5) 4.07 has seven. Tampa Bay Rays holding fourth, and getting by without their injured ace David Price, have 31 quality starts and arguably the best one-two punch of young pitchers in the Majors. Matt Moore is (8-2) with a 3.78 ERA with 13 quality starts, one for every start hes made, while Alex Cobb is (6-2) 2.95 with nine quality starts in 12 outings. All of this brings us to the Toronto Blue Jays and a big part of the reason, theyre in last place in the East. They have only 26 quality starts in 65 games. Their top two starters, R.A Dickey and Mark Buehrle, are a combined (7-12). Dickey (5-8) has an ERA of 5.11, while Buehrle at (2-4), is just marginally better at 5.06. The two starters have at least combined for 15 of the Jays 26 quality starts. Even the lowly Houston Astros have more quality starts than the Jays at 28 and Bud Norris has more than either Dickey or Buehrle with nine. Starting pitching isnt the Blue Jays only problem, but it is the most glaring. The other two division leaders actually have the most impressive pitching stats in this regard. Oakland Athletics have 41 quality starts in 68 games, led by the ageless wonder Bartolo Colon, who holds a record of 8-2 with a 2.92 ERA and has 10 quality starts in 13 appearances. Tommy Milone is (6-5) 3.69 with seven quality starts. The As also have two other starters who go deep into games in Jarrod Parker who has nine quality starts and A.J Griffin who has eight. Detroit Tigers though are the Kingpins as they have 45 quality starts in 64 games. Max Scherzer is (9-0) with a 3.19 ERA and nine quality starts, while Justin Verlander is (8-4) 3.41 with 10 quality starts. After a tremendous start under dire circumstances, the Yankees are starting to come back to the pack a bit. Theyve lost three in a row and have fallen a game behind the Orioles for the second Wild Card spot in the American League. Their struggles largely boil down to a lack of hitting. Before Robinson Cano homered Thursday, they had gone a stretch of five games without a round-tripper, their longest drought in more than five years. Kevin Youkilis and Mark Teixeira are back from the disabled list but they are both struggling. Teixeira is hitting .163 and Youkilis .229, while Vernon Wells a revelation the first couple of months, went 0 for 8 on Thursday with three strikeouts and is hitting just .229. In fact Brett Gardner and Cano are the only two really hitting for the Yankees right now. When A-Rod and Jeter get back, they may have depth to trade for another bat or two. If they dont, they may yet live up to the predictions of those who said they would miss the post-season. Another worrisome point for the Yankees, They are 23-10 against teams with sub-500 records, but only 14-19 vs. teams with winning records. Athletics on the other hand are a team on a mission. Theyre won 21 of their last 26 and at 41-27 are off to their best start since 1990, a year they lost to the Reds in the World Series. They have also won 11 in a row at home, and their closer, 35 year old Aussie born Grant Balfour, has saved 35 games in a row dating back to April 29th of last year. Balfour is just five saves shy of Dennis Eckersleys all-time club record for consecutive saves. Travis Konecny Jersey . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. Youth Flyers Jerseys . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. http://www.cheapflyersjerseyschina.com/jaromir-jagr-jersey/ . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. Wayne Simmonds Jersey . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Andrew MacDonald Jersey . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. DETROIT -- A pair of struggling teams coming off one-goal losses meet Sunday when the Detroit Red Wings host the Calgary Flames at Joe Louis Arena.The Red Wings (8-9-1) lost 1-0 to the Capitals in Washington on Friday night while the Flames (7-11-1) dropped a 3-2 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night in Calgary.Detroit is 2-7-1 in its past 10 games.I think its only human to get a little frustrated, Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg told www.mlive.com. I think its easy to get frustrated when youre doing good things, when you correct mistakes, youre playing better and you dont get points. But weve got to see the positive in it, too, and stay with it. Eventually we will get our wins.Detroit seemed to play well enough to win in its last two games, but has nothing to show for it.The Red Wings lost 4-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday on Nikita Kucherovs goal with 1:10 left. On Friday, Washingtons Jay Beagle scored the only goal of the game with 5:11 to play.These are the ones you want to win, or least get to overtime and get a point and have a chance for the two, Zetterberg said after Friday nights game. Leaving here with nothing is hard but weve got to try to see the positive in what we did better than before and keep going from there.The 10-game slide coincides with the absence of left winger Thomas Vanek, who missed the past 11 games with a hip strain.He is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday.I think a lot of the guys will feel some of the weight come off their shouldders with him back in the lineup, goalie Jimmy Howard said.dddddddddddd. Hes really good around the net, hes really good at deflections, little re-directions.Before Vanek was injured, he led the team with four goals and eight points in seven games. Detroit was 3-7-1 without him, only averaged 1.64 goals per game, were shut out three times and only 5-for-40 on the power play.Hes a big player for us, Justin Abdelkader said. Obviously, he got off to that great start. It was tough to see him go down with injury. Hell come in and bring a veteran presence. Hes really strong on the puck and hes got a great shot.Center Darren Helm, one of Vaneks linemates, is out 6-to-8 weeks after suffering a dislocated shoulder against Tampa Bay on Tuesday.The Flames have injury issues of their own.Star forward Johnny Gaudreau will also miss 6-to-8 weeks because of a broken finger on his right hand suffered in the 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.A slash by Eric Staal caused the injury and Calgary said that Gaudreau was slashed 11 times in the game without a penalty call.There are tactics with good players, but when you chop a guy in the hand theres a rule that says you cant do that, Flames general manager Brad Treliving told the Calgary Herald. Were not naive -- do we whack guys, too? Probably. But the frustration comes when that turns into a player being out for an extended period of time. ' ' '