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If there is anything worrisome about the Blue Jays off-season, its the face theyve really done nothing to upgrade their starting pitching. Grant you, there is still time and the logjam is sure to break once some team signs Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka. Just consider though, whats happened to the Blue Jays pitching staff over the past two seasons, partly through injuries and mainly through underachieving. In 2012, the Jays used 34 pitchers, (33 if you dont count catcher Jeff Mathis, who mopped up in two blowout games), which was a club record for pitchers used in a season. They lost Brandon Morrow, Drew Hutchison and Kyle Drabek to long-term injuries in the month of June alone in a span of just a few days. By the end of the season, they had only two pitchers with over 30 starts in Henderson Alvarez and Ricky Romero, who were also the only two to crack 180 innings on the mound. Last season wasnt much better. John Gibbons utilized 31 pitchers and for the bulk of the season, didnt use one starter in his rotation who had been part of John Farrells crew the year before. Injuries struck again with Morrow, Josh Johnson and J.A. Happ all missing significant time with injuries. Luckily, R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle found their "sea legs" in late May and early June and paced the staff the rest of the way. Dickey finished with a staff-leading 34 starts and 224.2 innings pitched with Buehrle right behind with 33 starts and 203.2 innings. Still, neither of these vets is getting any younger. Dickey turned 39 in October and Buehrle will be 35 in March. No other starter on the Jays staff cracked 140 innings. Esmil Rogers, who was in and out of the rotation, had 20 starts and pitched 137.2 innings. All you have to do is look at the last five World Series winners to see the value of a healthy and durable staff, not to mention one peppered with star power. The 2009 Yankees used 24 pitchers over the course of the season, but their staff was led by three horses in lefties C.C Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and former Blue Jays righty A.J. Burnett. Sabathia and Burnett each broke 200 innings and Pettitte pitched 194.2. And, of course, having Mariano Rivera in the pen didnt hurt either. The 2010 Giants top four starters, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Jonathon Sanchez each made 33 starts and pitched at least 193.1 innings with Cain and Lincecum breaking 200. The 2011 St. Louis Cardinals pretty much used just six starters all season. Edwin Jackson was acquired late in the season in the same three-way deal that brought Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays. He supplanted Kyle McLellan in the rotation, but the ttwo combined for 29 starts and nearly 220 innings. Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse and Jake Westbrook all had over 30 starts and Carpenter peaked out with 237.1 innings. Of the last five World Series champions, the 2012 Giants had the most healthy and durable group. Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito all had at least 31 starts with Cain and Bumgarner throwing over 200 innings. The other three had between 180-190 innings. In fact, the Giants only had two other starts that season that had to be filled by other pitchers. Last years champions, the Boston Red Sox had to go through a little bit more adversity. They used 26 pitchers over the course of the season, including 11 starters, but they still had four starters, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Ryan Dempster and Felix Doubront, who were able to go to the mound 27 times. If Clay Buchholz, who made 16 starts, hadnt been injured, he may have challenged for the Cy Young Award. The bottom line to all of this is, the Blue Jays staff as stands is nowhere near good enough to contend. The Jays need two proven effective starters between now and the start of spring training. However, Im afraid with the heavy competition for the few quality pitchers available, GM Alex Anthopoulos will be fortunate to get one. How far this may have set the Jays back is hard to say, but in the last five June drafts, the Jays have failed to sign three of their top pitching selections. Lefty James Paxton, a Canadian no less, refused to sign with them after being chosen #37 overall in 2009. In 2011, Tyler Beede who went 21st overall to the Jays, chose the college route rather than signing with the Jays, while last June, the Jays backed off on signing Phil Bickford, whom they had taken 10th overall. The Jays have some significant pitching prospects in Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman and Sean Nolin, but none who figure to be ready for breakout seasons in the Majors just yet. Wholesale Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys .C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes have activated defenceman Joni Pitkanen from injured reserve. Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys Outlet .C., won gold in the womens 200-metre backstroke, and Dominique Bouchard of North Bay, Ont. http://www.cheapbengals.com/ . - The New York Rangers have momentum, a unified locker room and Henrik Lundqvist. Custom Bengals Jerseys . He will be practicing with the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) on a conditioning assignment. - @AnaheimDucks Corey Perry has a knee sprain and will miss the next three to four weeks. Cheap Cincinnati Bengals Jerseys Online .Inter Milan and Napoli also advanced to ensure there will be at least three Italian clubs in the last 32 of Europes secondary competition.Spurs victory, secured by Benjamin Stamboulis 49th-minute winner, was overshadowed by a succession of pitch invasions that forced the referee to halt the game after 41 minutes.MILWAUKEE -- While the Brewers booted Wilin Rosarios liner and made poor throws all over the field, the Colorado Rockies just kept running. Two errors later, Rosario was right back where he started -- though it took him a couple seconds to get up while catching his breath following a slide into home plate. Colorado scored three runs during that wild fifth-inning sequence and pounded starter Yovani Gallardo to avoid a season sweep to the Brewers with a 10-4 victory Sunday. "Yeah, its a home run, thats a home run for Rosario," manager Walt Weiss said. "One of the turning points if not the turning point of the game." Rosario took advantage of the gaffes with runners on first and second. His shot to third was booted by normally sure-handed third baseman Aramis Ramirez. "No excuses. I should have made that play," Ramirez said. One run had already scored when the ball squirted into foul territory. Shortstop Jeff Bianchi then threw home high and offline trying to get Corey Dickerson. Good thing Dickerson actually didnt heed third-base coach Stu Coles advice to stay put. "But I kind of noticed (Bianchi) was pretty far away to be able to make the throw, so I took off and slid," Dickerson said. "Thats when I got the strawberry (on his left leg), so I really didnt pay attention after that. So I really didnt know what happened behind me." That would be the 220-pound Rosario chugging home safely for a six-run lead after catcher Jonathan Lucroy threw errantly attempting to get Rosario at third. Wearing dark sunglasses, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke watched calmly in the dugout with arms crossed what he later called the "meltdown." The Rockies pounced on a team that looked a little tired after wrapping up a stretch of 20 games in 20 days, though Roenicke wasnt sure if fatigue may have played a role in the field in the fifth. "You can have those plays any time," Roenicke said. "You get down when you see it, so its hard to bounce back after a play like that." Jorge De La Rosa (8-6) got the win despitee allowing three wild pitches and hitting one batter.dddddddddddd. Gallardo (5-5) was tagged for 10 hits in five innings. The Rockies had jumped on Gallardo for a 5-0 lead through three innings -- quite an accomplishment after the right-hander had allowed just three in his previous four starts combined. Colorado snapped a six-game slide to Milwaukee in the clubs last meeting of the regular season. Ryan Braun slugged an opposite-field solo shot into the Rockies bullpen in right for his 11th homer of the year. Braun also doubled in the sixth and scored on one of two wild pitches by De La Rosa in the inning. "Those wild pitches I (made), that cost some runs, De La Rosa said. "But the most important thing, we win." Khris Davis RBI groundout later in the sixth made it 8-4 when Ramirez scored following a steal of third. Ramirez, 36, stole two bases in a game for the first time in his 17-year career. It could have been much closer if not for the Milwaukee miscues in the fifth that had the National Leagues best team resembling a Little League outfit. As for Colorado, maybe this victory will snap the team out of a June funk. The Rockies had lost four straight entering Sunday, as well as 11 of 12. De La Rosa allowed four hits, two walks and four runs in six innings. NOTES: Dickerson said he would be fine after leaving with a left hamstring cramp following a 1-1 count in the eighth after fouling off a pitch. ... The Rockies want 3B Nolan Arenado to get about 25 at-bats in a rehab assignment with Triple-A Colorado Springs before returning to the lineup. Arenado has been on the disabled list since May 24 after breaking his left middle finger on a head-first slide into second in Atlanta. He started the rehab assignment Saturday. ... Roenicke hoped to get OF Carlos Gomez (neck strain) and SS Jean Segura (left quad) back for the start of a two-day interleague series Tuesday at Toronto. RH Marco Estrada (7-4) is scheduled to get the start. ... LHP Yohan Flande (0-0) will make his second career start when Colorado opens a three-game series Monday in Washington. 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