das restliche Team » nted down the minutes of Game 7

DUNEDIN, Florida - Kevin Pillar and Ryan Goins made their respective major league debuts nine days apart last August and with just days until spring training play gets underway, the two late-season Toronto Blue Jays call ups find themselves in different situations vis-à-vis the 2014 squad. Goins is the early favourite to win the starting job at second base. Pillar is an outsider to secure a role off the bench, which becomes an even more difficult spot to win if the number of back up jobs is reduced by one. That happens if the Blue Jays decide to start the season with an eight man bullpen. Praised last week by general manager Alex Anthopoulos as the best defensive second baseman the club has had since Orlando Hudson and as "gold glove caliber," Goins hopes an offensive adjustment he made in mid-September helps to round out his game. Goins moved his hands down in his batting stance. Then, during an offseason visit to new hitting coach Kevin Seitzer in Kansas City, Goins went one step further, starting his hands closer to his body. "I have more time to see the ball," he said. "My timing is a little different than having so much movement, having to get going so much earlier, so now its a little better to see the ball and hopefully it will lead to better plate discipline, hitting the ball harder and more consistent." A safe bet to be the nine-hole hitter if he makes the team, Goins is eager to improve upon the .609 OPS he posted in 121 plate appearances over 34 games with the Blue Jays last season. His .679 OPS in 111 Triple-A games last season feeds into the all defense-not much offense narrative but Anthopoulos is more concerned with run prevention this season after watching his infield struggle with injuries and range last year. "He needs to be able to hold is own (offensively,)" said manager John Gibbons. Seitzer, during his first scrum with the Toronto media in January, said he saw Goins as a potential .275-.280 hitter. Their Kansas City rendezvous had already happened so Seitzer was speaking as someone whod watched Goins up close. "I see myself as a hitter," said Goins. "I think I can put together productive at-bats for a season and help the team win. Whatever they need me to do. If its situational hitting, hit and runs, bunting guys over. Whatever is called upon me, wherever Im hitting in the lineup, is what Im going to go out there and do everyday." Pillar, who made his debut on August 14 and went 0-17 before getting his first big league hit at Yankee Stadium, struggled to a .206/.250/.333 line over 110 plate appearances. He got away from his strength as an offensive player, an up-the-middle approach, becoming pull happy and unable to lay off down-and-away breaking pitches. Not one to mope, Pillar went home to Southern California and went to work. "I went home, took about two weeks off in the offseason and Ive been hitting three to four hours everyday just trying to get back," said Pillar. "People say, Why dont you just go back to what you did? Once its gone its gone. Like a lot of things in life, once you forget how to do it or how you felt in the box youve got to recreate that feeling." Pillar insists he isnt exaggerating his three-to-four hours a day hitting routine. His only break wasnt a break. He went to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic and had 66 at-bats, his attempt to get back in his groove. Lawrie thrilled for Team Canada Brett Lawrie, the lone Blue Jay whos Canadian born and raised, was happy to lord Canadas Olympic hockey gold medals over his teammates. After all, Lawrie is badly outnumbered in the clubhouse. "When youre the underdog youve got to keep quiet because theres too many of them," said Lawrie. "I just waited for my turn and then obviously I got my opportunities." Lawrie did his best to keep an eye on Sundays win, working around media responsibilities and warm up Sunday morning at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Kawasaki follow up One day after predicting Canada would beat Sweden 2-1 in the mens hockey gold medal game, Munenori Kawasaki was pleased with himself. "I say Canada win," Kawasaki said. When reminded he didnt pick the correct score, Kawasaki issued a pseudo apology: "My bad. Im no good." Kawasaki didnt watch the game. Maurice Cheeks Jersey . “Im not sure well get Melky Cabrera at all,” said Gibbons. The 29-year-old left fielder struggled all season with knee and hamstring problems. Cabrera was first on the disabled list from June 27-July 20 with tendinitis in his left knee. Jimmy Butler Jersey .com) - Rick Nash scored twice and Derek Stepan chipped in a goal with one assist as the New York Rangers claimed a 5-2 decision over Calgary at the Saddledome. http://www.76ersprostore.info/Cheap-Alle...n-76ers-Jersey/. He reps the 4-1-6The insecurity of Canadian basketball fans is not what it once was with the home grown talent making its way to the big leagues, but it is still nice to see the local kids remembering where they come from once they make their way south. Wilt Chamberlain Jersey . So far, so good: Gonzalez has allowed one run through 12 innings this season. His second start came Tuesday night, when he gave up only three singles over six innings to lead the Nationals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Philadelphia 76ers Jerseys .Y. -- Florida Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski finally has something to show for all the pain he went through in overcoming a string of injuries that kept him sidelined for much of the past two years.Back in the day, the same four of us (Jon, Ian, Darren, and I) would meet up at Montreals legendary Copacabana to watch whatever game was on. We were regulars at the bar, a kind dive where you could just drop in and know someone familiar would be around to have a beer with. The kind of place where the adult beverage of choice was quickly placed in front of you upon your arrival. We were there to watch games, but it was more than that. We were a bunch of writers, at different points in our careers and lives, getting away from our lives. It was group therapy. With beer. There were few better nights in those years than a good Habs game at Copa. Friends would come in and out, for a period or two, for a drink or four. Partners would join us, or not. Between periods wed chide each other the way friends do, bemoan each others losses, celebrate each others victories. We played a game within the game called JägerMuller. If Habs assistant coach Kirk Muller appeared on screen (not including wide angle or crowd shots) the last person to yell JägerMuller had to buy a round of Jägermeister for the group. This often led to empty wallets and foggy third periods, but JägerMuller was ours and it made a contextual experience all that more unique, all that more memorable. As time passed, the opportunity to watch sports as a group got more and more challenging. Copa closed. People had kids, moved away, traveled for work, or had partners who wouldnt permit them to indulge in Tuesday night binge drinking. But we live in the high speed digital age, an age ruled by social media and easy communication. The four of us opened up a Facebook thread that was for any sort of conversation: dating woes, the challenges of child rearing, the merits of wasabi peas, politics, the importance of Tums to men in their 30s, the overwhelming fear of ones own mortality, the petulance of poets, why soccer sucks. We tried Skype and Google Hangouts, but as aging writers we found we preferred the anonymity of messaging, the quiet comfort of watching the game both alone and in the company of those we love. But for the most part the thread is for watching hockey games together from afar, often still with our favourite adult beverage in hand, though the days of JägerMuller are over. That games virtues, like nachos, dont transfer well through the digital ether. The Facebook threads message count is somewhere in the mid-40 thousand range as of this writing, and growing each day. An exponential explosion is expected during the playoffs, though Jon (a Jets fan) and Ian (a Leafs apologist) will be forced to cheer for their second favourite teams. The virtual bar that the digital age has provided us pales in comparison to their company, but it has allowed us to stay close, to continue to care about each other the way we did when were separated by city blocks and not oceans and responsibilities. But the bar that we left just a few years ago is not the same bar where sports are enjoyed today. Its a lesser venue. Consider the bar argument. No longer can hours be spent fighting over what year Gretzky scored 50 goals in 39 games, what round Luc Robitaille was drafted in, the rate at which Randy Carlyles hairline has been receding. Answers are too quickly found on our phones, and the shortened distance of knowledge does not promote an expanse of conversation. Pluus, the bars too busy tweeting cleverness in 140 characters, or arguing with some 12-year-old in Abbostford over whos the better d-man, Subban or Weber.dddddddddddd Or instagramming retro-filtered photos of our cocktails. Or adding the waitress as a friend on Facebook. Theres a grand irony in the fact that the same advents that have made watching sports a more communal experience with those who cant be in our presence has had the opposite effect on those in our presence. On the off nights where my friends cant meet up in the digital bar, and I dont have the wherewithal or funds to hit the real bar I, like most, watch games with Twitter open. But instead of finding a substitute for those who cant be with me, Im overwhelmed by the faux-expertise and bravado that ends up in my feed. Just because you have a blog and 45 Twitter followers doesnt exactly make you Bob McKenzie. I appreciate fandom and respect the free speech virtues of the medium, but holy hell @HabsFan4lyfe69 if you cant spell Michel Therrien, you really shouldnt be offered the privilege of publicly questioning the size of his manhood. The amount of valuable discourse is too often overshadowed by the sycophantic, or vile, or uninformed. Just look at what happens when Joel Ward scores in overtime or Jason Collins steps on the court the first time. The degenerate xenophobes bear their virtual white sheets in the comfortable anonymity or ignorant ignominy of cyberspace. There are no bouncers online, no bartenders with the ability to cut off the flow of alcohol. But sports are the last collective viewing experience, with the possible exception of the Oscars. With the advent of PVRs and streaming video you can watch Scandal whenever you please, but the sport still requires a live audience. No one wants to watch the game later. Even if youre stuck at work, on a plane, or at your boyfriends sisters third intervention, you can tune in, not miss a shot, a goal, a fight, or a one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that only sport can provide. In 2010 when the Habs made their magical run to the Conference Finals, one of us couldnt make it to Copa to watch the game. Jon was stuck in a hotel room in Vancouver, watching it on his own. There was no thread then. We didnt all own smartphones. No one said "blogoshpere". The Jets were still the Thrashers. Maybe two of us were on Twitter. So as the bar counted down the minutes of Game 7 of an improbable 5-2 Habs win and an improbable series upset over the heavily-favoured Penguins, I called Jon and placed my flip phone open in the middle of our table. He listened as we sung "Olé, Olé, Olé", as we cheered and piled into the streets, as we mocked Sidney Crosby. Strangers would come pick up the phone and speak to him in English and French about the game, about the city, and about the Habs and dreams of 1993. That night was a microcosm of how we watch the games now, the birth of how fandom and friendship defies distance in a digital age. It was a living analogy of how in four short years the experience of watching sports would change. Not all for the better, of course. But Ill put up with a few egotistical bloggers, the occasional Twitter tantrum, and the death of the bar argument if it means I can watch sports the way I want, from wherever I am, with the people I love. With beer. ' ' '