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TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have been at their inconsistent best this season. The optimism that surrounded the team at the start of the year was nearly snuffed out by a terrible start. An 11-game winning streak brought some much-needed relief and got people talking again. The 43-45 Blue Jays are hovering near the .500 mark and need a second-half surge to get in the playoff mix in the American League East. This is a team that has as many question marks now as it did in the spring. There have been some big disappointments and some intriguing surprises over the first half of the season. The new-look starting rotation has struggled more often than not. The bullpen -- thought to be a soft point by many observers at the start of the year -- has been dominant. Sluggers Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista are posting big numbers again but too many weak points remain through the lineup. First baseman Adam Lind is enjoying a bounceback year and shortstop Jose Reyes has impressed with the bat and the glove. Injuries have taken a big toll and forced manager John Gibbons to be creative with his lineup. So is this the squad that was among the worst in the major leagues over the first six weeks of the season? Or is it the one that looked as if it couldnt be stopped last month? Its hard to tell. "Well that little run we made in the last few weeks, were resilient, we could have disappeared," Gibbons said in a recent interview. "Were still on that fringe, we can go one way or the other so we need to play good baseball from here on out. "It would have been easy to really just disappear but they didnt do that. They show up to play every day and thats all we can ask for." The rotation looked so deep in early April that there were several candidates for the ace title. However, the performances have been so uneven since that the team doesnt have a clear No. 1 starter. R.A. Dickey has only shown flashes of his Cy Young form. Josh Johnson missed seven weeks with triceps inflammation and has yet to get on track. Mark Buehrle soaks up innings but often allows a lot of earned runs. Brandon Morrow was mediocre before going down with a forearm injury and J.A. Happ saw limited action before taking a liner off the head and injuring his knee. As a result, stop-gap measures on the mound have been the norm. Without the stellar crew of relievers, the Blue Jays would really be in trouble. Closer Casey Janssen has been excellent and left-hander Brett Cecil has posted all-star numbers. Steve Delabars strikeout totals are top flight and Juan Perez and Aaron Loup have also been quite effective. Injuries have been a factor throughout the lineup as well with Reyes and Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., missing significant time with ankle injuries. Melky Cabrera has battled hamstring issues all year and his range in left field has been significantly hampered. While the big bats of Bautista and Encarnacion have come through, centre-fielder Colby Rasmus and catcher J.P. Arencibia have yet to fully hit their potential. Munenori Kawasaki was a pleasant surprise as a fill-in for Reyes and outfielder Rajai Davis has been solid but newcomers Emilio Bonifacio and Maicer Izturis still look unsettled. The wild-card race remains a possibility and if the starters give the team a chance, the Blue Jays have the potential to be playing meaningful baseball in September for a change. "We just have to keep the momentum going our way and just focus on whats allowed us to win games and thats been great pitching and timely hitting," Bautista said. The July 31 non-waiver trade deadline is fast approaching. It will be interesting to see if general manager Alex Anthopoulos decides to be a buyer or a seller. Gibbons remains optimistic that his team -- which is 10 games out of first place in the AL East and 5 1/2 games back in the wild-card race -- can still move up the division standings. "Weve got to play better than we did in the first half but I expect us to stay in this thing," he said. "But weve got to be solid. Weve got to get really good starting pitching and weve got to swing the bats. "We really like where our bullpen is at but it all starts on the mound with our starting rotation. If they pitch good, weve got a shot."Black Friday Shoes Sale . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. Fake Black Friday Shoes . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. https://www.shoesblackfriday.com/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Cheap Black Friday Shoes . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Black Friday Shoes Deals . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota.Conor McGregor has been granted a rematch this summer with the man who gave him the first defeat of his Ultimate Fighting Championship career.The featherweight will get another chance to prove himself as a welterweight when he takes on Nate Diaz once more on the UFC 200 card in Las Vegas on July 9.Californian Diaz - whose own career record is mixed with 19 wins and 10 losses - caused a shock earlier this month when he choked McGregor into submission at UFC 196. UFC boss Dana White posted a picture on Twitter of the two men above the caption 200 upon announcing the headline bout late on Wednesday.White later told ESPN SportsCenter he and UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta had encouraged McGregor not to fight at 170 pounds, 25 more than the 27-year-olds usual featherweight limit. Diaz handed McGregor his first UFC defeat on March 5 when he choked the Irishman into submission on round two The Irishman had not lost in more than five years and waas unbeaten since joining the UFC until he was stopped in round two by Diaz on March 5.ddddddddddddhite said of the number one-ranked 27-year-old: He was obsessed - obsessed with fighting Nate Diaz again.Obviously, Lorenzo and I tried to argue with him and said: Lets go back to 145 and defend your title. Or if you really want the Diaz fight that bad, do it at 155. He wants the fight at 170.Even his coach tried to get him to get off the rematch and off the 170-pound fight - but its what he wanted. McGregor had not lost in more than five years until Diazs surprise win McGregor had hurt Diaz early in their first bout in Las Vegas but could not capitalise and the bigger man landed some punishing blows himself before his jiu-jitsu talents won him the fight.White said Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar would also square off on the UFC 200 card, with the winner then taking on McGregor for the featherweight belt regardless of the Dubliners result against Diaz. ' ' '