Stars und Sternchen! » e wasting right now, Smith s

CLEVELAND -- Sergio Santos wasnt as wild. He was just as worrisome. Santos retired Michael Brantley on a hard grounder with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to close out Torontos 3-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night. Melky Cabrera had four hits and scored Torontos go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Edwin Encarnacions single before the Blue Jays withstood a shaky ninth by Santos, who bounced back from an awful outing in Minnesota on Thursday. "It got a little hairy there," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "But the bottom line is he got it done." On Thursday, Santos threw three wild pitches in the eighth, allowing three runs to score, and he and two Blue Jays relievers combined for eight walks in the inning as the Twins rallied to beat Toronto 9-5 and sweep a doubleheader. Clinging to a 3-2 lead against the Indians, Santos gave up a leadoff double to Lonnie Chisenhall and struck out Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher -- on six pitches. Santos then went to 3-2 counts before walking Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana to load the bases before getting Brantley on a one-hop smash that Encarnacion knocked down before touching the bag. "Trust me, Id love to get a 1-2-3 with fewer pitches," Santos said. "But its a long year and Im trying to learn as much as I can." Santos insisted he didnt carry Thursdays performance to the mound. "I didnt think about that once," he said. "The second we left Minnesota, all that stuff was left there. New day. New stadium. New team. New opportunity. Thats all I was looking for." The Blue Jays trailed 2-1 in the seventh before Munenori Kawasaki hit an RBI single off reliever Marc Rzepczynski (0-1), and Encarnacion delivered against Cody Allen. Steve Delabar (1-0), also involved in the eighth-inning debacle at Minnesota, got the win in relief of starter Drew Hutchison. Following the game, Kawasaki was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to make room for shortstop Jose Reyes, who has been out since opening day with a strained hamstring. Carlos Santana hit a two-run homer for the Indians, who have dropped six of eight. Cabrera got his first three hits off Indians starter Justin Masterson, improving to 15 for 27 against the right-hander. Down 2-1, the Blue Jays scored twice in the seventh to take the lead and chase Masterson. Ryan Goins walked with one out and manager Terry Francona pulled Masterson, who allowed six hits, struck out nine and remained without a decision in four starts. Cabrera followed with a single off Rzepczynski, and Kawasaki tied it with his single. Allen came on to face Jose Bautista, and catcher Yan Gomes throwing error to first moved up the runners. Bautista was then walked intentionally and Encarnacion hammered his single to centre, putting the Blue Jays ahead 3-2. Gomes and Swisher had put on a play to try to pick off Kawasaki, but the throw skipped into right field. "Its a hard one to swallow," Gomes said. "Probably right there it cost us the game." Santana busted out of a long slump with his homer in the sixth off Hutchison to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. Santana was in a 1-for-30 slide before he connected off Hutchison, who took a shutout into the sixth with nine strikeouts. Santana had been hitless in his previous 11 at-bats. Hutchison cruised into the fifth before the Indians finally got to the right-hander. Jason Kipnis beat out an infield single and Santana drove a 3-2 pitch to right for his first homer since Sept. 28. Toronto pushed across a run in the fourth off Masterson, who had escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third. Colby Rasmus doubled off the wall in centre with one out and moved to third on Mastersons wild pitch. Brett Lawrie followed with a tapper toward third that Santana charged but was unable to grab with his bare hand as Rasmus scored. NOTES: Bautista has reached safely in all 17 games. ... Cabrera has 11 four-hit games. With a chance to get his fifth hit, he grounded out in the ninth. ... In addition to the Reyes move, the Blue Jays placed DH Adam Lind on the DL with a sore back. Toronto also purchased the contract of 1B Juan Francisco from Buffalo. They moved INF Macier Izturis (knee) to the 60-day disabled list. ... Hutchisons nine strikeouts matched a career high. Michael Irvin Youth Jersey . -- Jane Kish stopped all 25 shots she faced as the Weyburn Gold Wings blanked the Sudbury Lady Wolves 3-0 on Friday to advance to the gold-medal game at the Esso Cup. Trysten Hill Jersey . -- Steven Stamkos scored his first goal since returning from a major injury, Ryan Callahan had his first goal with Tampa Bay, and the Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 on Thursday night. http://www.cowboysrookieproshop.com/Cowboys-Charles-Haley-Jersey/ . The Toronto Argonauts (11-7) look for an opportunity to repeat as CFL champions when they host the surging Hamilton Tiger-Cats (10-8) on Sunday. Larry Allen Jersey . Joining him in this years class were Switzerlands Patrick Huerlimann and Norways Eigil Ramsfjell. The announcement was made at the world mens curling championship at Capital Indoor Stadium in China. Deion Sanders Jersey . "Im proud of him," Jones said in an interview from Sacramento, site of the UFCs weekend televised card. "I think hes listening to his body and hes doing what makes him happy and thats what life is about ultimately.(SportsNetwork.com) - Its tough to win in the NFL so dont expect any team to apologize when its handed a break or two. After Week 15 it looked like fate mapped out its easiest route for the Baltimore Ravens when it came to the jumbled postseason picture for the AFCs final wild-card slot. A less-than impressive 20-12 Week 15 home win over what turned out to be a 3-13 Jacksonville team improved the Ravens to 9-5 with games at Houston and Cleveland on the docket. While both the Texans and Browns had been more than competitive at times this season, each was in disarray at the quarterback position. Houston was down to its fourth signal caller, Case Keenum, after both Ryan Fitzpatrick and rookie Tom Savage were lost to injury against Indianapolis, and Cleveland was ping- ponging back-and-forth between the limited Brian Hoyer and the ill-prepared Johnny Manziel. The Ravens, though, couldnt take advantage against Keenum, who was brought back by the Texans from the St. Louis Rams practice squad only after the injuries to Fitzpatrick and Savage, as Joe Flacco had one of his worst days as a professional in South Texas, completing only 21 of his 50 passes for 195 yards. We got our (butts) kicked, plain and simple, Flacco said after what seemed like a debilitating 25-13 setback. They brought a ton of pressure up the middle and we never got into a groove . The hiccup in Houston meant Baltimore needed a win in the regular-season finale against the Browns and help in the form of a Chargers loss at Kansas City, almost a logical scenario. After all fate continued to smile on the Ravens when Manziel was shut down for the season with a hamstring injury and it became clear that Hoyer wouldnt be able to go in Week 17, making undrafted rookie free agent Connor Shaw the only option for Cleveland at quarterback. Meanwhile, Arrowhead Stadium is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL and the Chiefs had plenty to play for because their postseason hopes were still alive, albeit in a convoluted scenario of a win, coupled with losses by both the Ravens and Texans. A significant hurdle emerged, though, when it was revealed that Kansas City signal caller Alex Smith would be forced to miss the regular-season finale with a lacerated spleen, suffered during the third quarter of Kansas Citys Week 16 loss to Pittsburgh.dddddddddddd The veterans absence meant Chase Daniel was being counted on in what was just his second NFL start. All we can do is worry about ourselves, Flacco said. Daniel, a Mizzou product who spent four years under the learning tree of Drew Brees before arriving in the Midwest, proved to be up to the task in KC. He was hardly spectacular but steered clear from the game-changing mistake and rode a ferocious pass rush to a 19-7 win, eliminating the Chargers. That left everything on the table for Baltimore, which was down a TD to Shaw and Co. with potentially only 15 minutes left in its season. Flacco, who already has plenty of postseason work and a Super Bowl title on his resume, awoke late, tossing both of his touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Ravens rallied past the Browns 20-10. Down 10-6, Flacco found Torrey Smith over the top for a 53-yard gain before going right back to the big-play receiver for a 16-yard score with less than eight minutes remaining, a sequence that essentially punched Baltimores postseason ticket. Youre watching (the Chiefs-Chargers game) like, We have a good opportunity here that were wasting right now, Smith said. We got back on track, made a couple big plays and got the momentum back. As the clock expired in Baltimore, time was also ticking down in Kansas City and the fans at M&T Bank Stadium erupted. The Ravens were back in the postseason for the sixth time in seven years under coach John Harbaugh after missing the party in 2013. Just a gutsy effort, Harbaugh said. Faith and guts. Our guys kept faith and fought to the end. That faith and those guts had wed good fortune and dont expect the Ravens to apologize for it. It feels good, man, Flacco said. I remember sitting at home last year a week from now, and it didnt feel very good. That at least wont be happening this year. [url=