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ST. Yordano Ventura Royals Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Texas Rangers took an 8-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in their first road game of the season Friday night, and it was an especially bad night for first baseman Prince Fielder and pitcher Joe Saunders. "It was just one of those days," said Fielder, who had one of the Rangers three errors and a base-running mistake that took Texas out of a possible big inning. "Everyone played hard, we made mistakes here and there. It just didnt go our way. Its nothing that you cant really see. Weve just got to come back tomorrow and fix it." Saunders (0-1) left in the fourth inning with a bruised left ankle after getting hit by Evan Longorias liner. Saunders gave up five runs and six hits, including a three-run home run to Sean Rodriguez, in 3 2-3 innings. "I think I was trying to be too fine early in the game," Saunders said. "The pitch to Rodriguez was a decent pitch; he just put a good swing on it. Probably the wrong pitch at the wrong time." Rodriguez tied a career-high with four RBIs and Jake Odorizzi got his first major league win for the Rays (3-2). Rodriguez was back in the lineup after missing Thursday nights 7-2 win over Toronto for the birth of his son. Odorizzi (1-0) allowed three hits in six innings in his seventh big league start and 10th game overall. Ryan Hanigan hit a three-run homer during the fifth for the Rays. Fielder got his first RBI since Sept. 22, a drought of 20 regular and post-season games, with a run-scoring single in the eighth. But the Rangers (2-2) wasted a great scoring opportunity in the fourth, when they were down 4-0. With runners on first and second and one out, Mitch Moreland singled into the right-field corner, but Fielder got tagged out in a rundown between third and home. "Prince just blew it. He just messed up. Thats all you can say about it," said manager Ron Washington. "I just didnt get a good jump," Fielder said. "It was my fault." The inning ended when Donnie Murphy struck out. Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre committed the other Rangers errors. "It was obvious during training that every time we made a mistake it cost us," Washington said. "We certainly have to tighten down our defence. We dont have a pitching staff that strikes people out right now and we certainly cant have them getting four outs an inning. So that certainly has to get better, and it will." Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon won his first replay reversal in the seventh after it was first ruled that right fielder Wil Myers didnt make the catch while sliding forward on J.P. Arencibias two-out flare. After a 1-minute, 43-second delay, the umpires changed the call to an out. Notes: Texas RHP Nick Martinez will make his major league debut in Saturday nights game against the Rays. "Go out there and relax, and use his pitches," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "Get us as many outs as you can. Be out there as long as you can. Believing in himself, believing in the stuff he has, and using it." ... LHP David Price will start Saturday for the Rays. ... Rangers LHP Matt Harrison (back) will make his next minor league start Tuesday. He went two innings in a rain-shortened outing Thursday for Double-A Frisco. ... Tampa Bay sent RHP Juan Carlos Oviedo (elbow ligament replacement surgery) to Triple-A Durham on a rehab assignment. Billy Butler Royals Jersey . -- Last month, Richie Incognito said severe repercussions would be warranted if the Miami Dolphins kept allowing sacks at such an alarming rate. Alex Gordon Authentic Jersey . You watch the game live on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt or listen live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal. The Canadiens have won three straight and six of their past seven games, pushing them two points ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division.Well, that was quick. Shortly after climbing to within 3.5 games of the Easts final playoff spot, the Toronto Raptors dropped three straight games (including one pivotal contest against the Easts current eighth seed, the Milwaukee Bucks) and all but eliminated themselves from the postseason conversation. Now the attention turns to new priorities as the club looks to set themselves up for a strong transition into the 2013-14 season. The overriding concern for the next six weeks is simple: win. With no draft pick to look forward to, there is no motivation for the club to tank games the rest of the way. The coaching staff should keep driving a winning mentality into its players, rather than let them take their foot off of the gas pedal to close out the season. There are still a lot of issues with the construction of this club, and it is far easier to evaluate those issues if the club is going full-bore right up to the end. That isnt to say that player development should take a backseat, however. Jonas Valanciunas has looked like a changed player since returning from his broken finger and featuring him in the post the rest of the way is terribly important. The Raptors are aching for a player who can create high percentage shots consistently around the basket and Valanciunas has been flashing some confident and aggressive moves around the hoop of late. Finding a way to exploit that more frequently is important as it will be a staple of the clubs attack next season. If the Raptors can get to a point where they feel comfortable having Valanciunas as a post threat (albeit a developing one), then that could have a significant impact on their summer shopping season as it could cross one notable need off the list. In that same vein, Terrence Ross needs to see more minutes the rest of the way, as well. Hes played only 8.4 minutes per game since the All-Star break, and while part of that is a result of his 18.2% shooting clip during that span, hes simply too important to the clubs future to see so little action the rest of the way. As productive as Alan Andersons been in spurts this season, he is simply not a long-term asset for the club (their glut on the wings makes re-signing him this summer a questionable proposition) and Ross has too many key attributes that the organization needs to hone before next season. If Rudy Gay is going to be the clubs primary offensive weapon going forward, then it makes sense to develop Ross as a counter-punch to Gays attack. At his best, he can hit outside shots, play strong perimeter defence and fill the lanes on the break - all assets that will make Gays life easier out on the court. None of this is to suggest, though, that Valanciunas and Ross should be given an unlimited leash, nor that the team should be sacrificing their quality of play to get them minutes. As important as their individual development is (and it is key), of greater importance for the club is the level of accountability that is needed to turn this organization into a consistent winner. No player should be allowed to get away with unproductive play just because they are young. They need to be allowed some latitude to play through mistakes and learn, but there also needs to be explicit parameters as to what will get them pulled out of a game. This is about laying a foundation of accountability, and it needs to be ingrained in a player as early as ppossible. Eric Hosmer Jersey. Which, of course, routes us to where everything Raptors related eventually gets routed back to: Andrea Bargnani. It is beyond imperative that the club sever ties with him this summer, for the same oft-cited litany of reasons that have always dogged Bargnani, but figuring out the best path to get him traded is the biggest headache in Raptor-land right now. Hes playing so poorly these days that 11 points on 4-14 shooting (his line Saturday against the Bucks) now constitutes a good game. He looks totally drained of confidence out on the court and his teammates arent exactly killing themselves to cover for his mistakes anymore. Considering this, its hard to conceive of a situation where the Raptors could part with the remaining two years and $23-million left on his contract and get any kind of value in return. They have to find a way, though, because that hefty salary represents the second-largest salary drain on their ledger and they have too many holes to fill to sink so much cash into an unproductive roster spot. In order to up his value, however, hes going to need a steady diet of minutes and a concerted effort to make him look good on offence while hiding him on defence. Unfortunately, this strategy flies completely in the face of the winning-based priorities that have been outlined already, but such is the cruel reality of professional sports. Getting some kind of value in exchange for Bargnani this summer is nearly as important as hammering in the kind of good, self-policing habits that the Raptors need to become a better team next season. Balancing those two priorities is going to be tricky, and frankly there are going to be nights when Casey gets it wrong, but its an unenviable task that is too important to be swept under the rug. While fans will clamor for Casey to just park Bargnani on the bench, the organization cannot afford to devalue this asset any further than it already has been. They need desperately to build him back up so they can sell him for something useful in a few months time. Basically, fans have to stomach him more now to avoid having to stomach him at all later. Thats the trade-off and people are going to have to embrace it. After that, its just a matter of working through the system from game-to-game until the season wraps up. That means continuing to look for the right way to unleash Kyle Lowry, as he needs to be more of a factor next season. That means finding ways to get Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan higher percentage shots (they are both shooting below 41% since the trade). That means keeping the defensive efficiency on its current upward trend while trying to reverse the plummeting efficiency on the offensive end. That means finding minutes for Sebastian Telfair so as to avoid having given up a valuable high second round pick for a totally unused asset. Most importantly, though, it means finding a reason for an increasingly jaded fan base to look forward to next season after this one proved so thoroughly underwhelming. This season was supposed to showcase the future of the Toronto Raptors, but instead it just showed everyone more of the same. If there really is the core here of something special, then the organization should dedicate the next six weeks to demonstrating it to their fans. This was an underwhelming season, give them a reason to be excited for the next one. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
