Unser Chat » Both men are close to being ready to play

BALTIMORE – Jose Reyes ran the bases while Casey Janssen threw a bullpen session at Oriole Park on Saturday afternoon. Both men are close to being ready to play in minor league rehabilitation games. This is the one time when manager John Gibbons cant wait to see his starting shortstop and his closer leave the team. "The plan is theyre probably going to fly to Florida (on Sunday)," said Gibbons. "I know Reyes will probably start playing a game on Monday. Casey … its probably Monday or Tuesday." Janssen simulated a game situation during his side session. He warmed up like he normally would and then had hitters stand in the batters box to provide a game-like feel. He estimates he threw 35 pitches in total. "I think I threw pretty much as hard as I could without facing a hitter," said Janssen. "There wasnt any holding back or any questioning is it going to hurt type of stuff." While Janssen feels the worst is behind him, including the pain of his abdominal strain, theres still something there, although he struggles to describe it. "I feel stuff," he said. "It doesnt hurt. They say youre going to feel stuff and as long as it doesnt hurt well keep on going forward and thats what Ive been doing. Ive been able to do everything theyve asked me to do to this point and the next part of the progress is a game." Reyes, like Janssen, simulated game situations on the base paths. He reported feeling "good," much the same as when he first ran sprints before Fridays game. The plan, at the moment, is for Reyes and Janssen to play their rehab games for Single-A Dunedin, due to weather concerns surrounding both higher minor league affiliates in Buffalo and New Hampshire. While no firm timetable is set for either players return to the big league team, the Blue Jays have six games scheduled between Minneapolis and Cleveland through to next weekend. The air is still cool in both cities at this time of year. "I dont care about that," said Reyes. "If Im ready to play in Cleveland Im going to play." Dealing with the shift Every time Adam Lind steps into the batters box, he looks up and sees an exaggerated defensive shift to his pull side. Lind wonders if the man sometimes credited with inventing the sport is rolling over in his grave. "They said it in spring training, what would Abner Doubleday think? "He wouldnt even recognize it," said Lind. Very rarely will you see hitters change their approach to deal with the shift, which is typically applied against the dead pull power hitters. If they run into one, theyll elevate the ball but if they hit the ball on the ground, the defence will scoop it up. "It depends on the pitcher," said Lind. "If its someone that I dont feel, that Im consistently late with then I just try to hit it to the left side." "Sometimes you get them tinkering with it and trying to flip balls the other way, I mean it does you a favour in a lot of ways, it takes them out of what their game is," said manager John Gibbons. "The only thing, we have concerns at times doing it, there are a couple of guys out there that will lay down a bunt on you. They dont have to be good bunters. Say its a tight ball game, leading off an inning, not a one-run game but like a two-run game, you fear somebody might drop it down, it doesnt have to be a good bunt, they beat it out to get an inning going." In the scenario Gibbons just illustrated, youll see the shortstop cheat in on the grass to discourage the bunt. Colby Rasmus is another grip it and rip it left-hander in the Blue Jays lineup. He said in spring training he doesnt like to be considered a dead pull hitter anymore but old habits die hard. It used to be a hitter like Rasmus could get a read on the type of pitch and pitch location based on the defensive alignment but thats out the window with the shift. "I try not to even pay attention to it because then you start thinking about where theyre going to play you, where theyre going to pitch you, thinking maybe theyre going to shift so maybe theyre going to throw me in, thinking that Im just going to hit it into the shift and then they throw you everything away," said Rasmus. Lind says the part of the shift thats affected him most is when the opposition places its shortstop in line with the pitcher behind second base. On Friday night, against Chris Tillman in the second inning, Lind lined out to the shortstop, who positioned himself right where Lind hit the ball prior to the pitch. If its anytime earlier in the at-bat, the ball gets through. Lind understands. "Youve got to do it," he said. "Like, if you show patterns, whats the point of having the third baseman there if you never hit it there?" BB-Bautista Jose Bautista walked three more times on Saturday night, spiking his major league-leading total to 16 on the young season. "Theyre not going to give him anything to hit until Eddie gets going," said manager John Gibbons. "Right now, my guess, theyre going to make Eddie beat them. When he gets going, then its a little bit different." Encarnacion singled in the second inning and went 1-5 on Saturday night. Hes hitting .160 through the first 12 games and is still looking for his first home run of the season. Custom Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . Wheeler scored at 4:58 of overtime, with Scheifele getting an assist, and the Jets beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night. Lanny McDonald Jersey . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. http://www.authenticavalanchepro.com/Sven-andrighetto-avalanche-jersey/ . Pistorius mindset when he stood on his stumps in a bathroom and pulled the trigger on his 9 mm pistol in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013 remains the crux of the South African trial that has captured worldwide attention and is about to start its seventh week of globally televised proceedings. It was initially scheduled to run for three weeks. Rob Ramage Jersey . -- Wide receiver Sidney Rice should be fully recovered from a torn knee ligament by the time the Seattle Seahawks start defence of their Super Bowl title, general manager John Schneider said Wednesday. Matt Nieto Jersey . "Ive got a lot of work to do on this team and the sooner that I can get back to my office and start that work, itll be better," he said straight-faced as the rest of the room erupted in laughter.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Pittsburgh Penguins also have another P-word going for them: patience. Brandon Sutter, Lee Stempniak and Jussi Jokinen scored in a span of 2:13 of the third period to revive the Penguins from yet another two-goal deficit in a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. Now up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Penguins got off to a horrible start, but took charge in the final two periods. "Its not ideal, especially when its 2-1 and you fall behind (by two goals) again," said captain Sidney Crosby. "Typically, its not the way you win hockey games. But it showed a lot of character and a lot of patience." A two-goal lead has been poison so far in the series. Columbus also blew a 3-1 lead in Game 1, then the Penguins returned the favour Saturday night. In each case the opponent scored the final three goals, the Blue Jackets taking their first playoff victory in double-overtime just 48 hours earlier in Pittsburgh. All three games have ended 4-3. "Anytime a team gets a lead they find a way to give it up," Sutter said. Game 4 is Wednesday night here. Down 2-0 early and then 3-1 in the third, the veteran Penguins scored on three consecutive shots. Coach Dan Bylsma called a timeout after goals by Boone Jenner and Jack Johnson staked the Blue Jackets to a 2-0 lead 3:18 in before a raucous, overflow crowd of 19,148. The Penguins collected themselves and then collected another comeback win. "We needed to reset," Bylsma said. The surge began with less than 2 seconds left in the second period when Brooks Orpik rifled a hard wrister past Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, making it 2-1. Just over a minute into the third period, the Blue Jackets pushed the lead back to two goals. Brandon Dubinsky, who had two assists, spun and fired a backhander that hit the glove of teammate Cam Atkinson and beat a surprised Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury slammed the door after that. "I took it one shot at a time, tried to keep within the game," he said. "Just make the next save." His high-powered offence did the rest. The Penguins found their game, dominating with a 41-20 advantage in shots on goal and controlling the pace. Paul Martins shot from the point was redirected by Sutter.dddddddddddd Just 1:10 later, Stempniak took a short pass from Kris Letang and waded in from the right wing, beating Bobrovsky. "A lot of guys here have won and been on long runs," said Stempniak. "They kept their belief. I think everybody just fed off of that. We generated a lot of shots and had a lot of opportunities. It was good to just keep going with it." Then Jokinen redirected Olli Maattas shot from the point and it glanced in off Columbus defenceman James Wisniewski, thoroughly deflating a crowd waiting to celebrate an historic win. "We played well," Maatta said. "At the end, it was a couple of bounces." Columbus last best chance came with 30 seconds left when Fleury made a blocker save on Ryan Johansens hard shot. "Theyve got a good team over there," said Dubinsky, who had two assists for the Blue Jackets, matching Martin and Beau Bennett of the Penguins. "We just have to find a way to rebound and be resilient. We have been all year long, so Im confident in this group." R.J. Umberger, the Columbus forward from Pittsburgh, said it was important for the young Blue Jackets to stay the course. In other words, be patient just like the veteran Penguins. "Its a long series still," Umberger said. "We cant let that be the turning point." The Blue Jackets were trying for their first playoff victory at home. They were 0-5 in the post-season until pulling off a stunning 4-3 double-overtime victory Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Much like after blowing a two-goal lead in Game 1, theyll have to find a way to regroup. "I dont think it was about stepping off the gas," coach Todd Richards said. "The attitude was good. We made a couple of mistakes and they started skating. That was the difference." Notes: Columbus LW Nick Foligno (knee) returned after missing the last four games of the regular season and the first two games of the series. D Fedor Tyutin, who left Game 2 with an undisclosed injury, did not dress. ... The Penguins were without Brian Gibbons, who had two goals in the opener, but left in the first period of Game 2. ... Crosby has no goals in his past seven playoff games, and Malkin is scoreless in his past six. 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