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The day after Brandon Morrow walked eight batters in just two and 2/3rds innings and got the hook, Ricky Romero had a two-inning control meltdown of his own Sunday at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo. Rick Leonard Jersey . Facing the Reds Triple A affiliate Louisville, Romero walked the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second, but he escaped unscathed both times and actually lasted five innings. Romero didnt give up any more walks and didnt surrender a run during the stint. Earlier in the week, an upbeat Romero was on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor and co-host Dave Hodge and said he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a year and a half. He also said he would welcome a call-up right now if the Blue Jays needed or wanted him. As shaky as the Jays starting pitching has been this season, especially over this just completed homestand, Romero doesnt figure to get called up anytime soon. He simply has to be more consistent with his control. The largest pitcher I have ever seen in the Majors is C.C Sabathia. Though he has trimmed down now a bit, there were times over the past two or three years where he weighed between 285 and 300 pounds. Well in that same Buffalo-Louisville game on Sunday, the Bats used a closer by the name of Jose Diaz. A year ago, the 64 native of the Dominican Republic pitched at 347 pounds and of course was known by the nickname of Jumbo. This year having just turned 30, he realized it might be time to shave off a few pounds to try and prolong his career. He got down to 278, but the stat sheets now are listing him at 315. Jumbo racked up his sixth save Sunday against the Bisons. He throws with pretty good velocity, too. Cincinnati already has Aroldis Chapman as their closer, but who knows at some point, he may surface in the Majors. Historic Lineup Since the Blue Jays in the Pat Gillick era were one of the very first teams to extensively scout and sign talent out of the Dominican Republic, it only seems fitting that on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, they became the first team in Major League history to field a starting lineup that included six players born in the Dominican. The starting 9 included Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. An equally, if not more, historic moment occurred back on Sept 1 of 1971 when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded an entire starting lineup of African American and Latin American players including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The rest of the starting 9 included Al Oliver, who later played with the Expos and the Blue Jays, Rennie Stennett, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Gene Clines and starting pitcher Dock Ellis. Better April The Blue Jays started last season at 10-17 in April and they are already guaranteed a better first month this time around. John Gibbons and company are 12-13 with two games at Kansas City left in this month. But something to remember, there were only two playoff teams with losing Aprils in the American League a year ago. Tampa Bay went 12-14 but rebounded to finish 91-71 to earn a play in the knockout game with Texas to decide the second Wild Card spot. Cleveland earned the first Wild Card at 92-70 after opening April at 11-13. Conversely Texas had the best record in April at 17-8, but finished the season in that knock-out game at 91-71. All of that means if the Blue Jays are going to need 91 victories to have a shot at the playoffs this year, they will have to go 79-58 the rest of the year or 21 games over .500. Thats not impossible, but the starting rotation will have to be far better the rest of the way. Right now, the Blue Jays staff era is 4.45, 25th in the Majors, just slightly ahead of Baltimore at 4.49. I dont know if this is a plus but the only team in the AL East with a sub -4.00 era is Boston at 3.90 and the BoSox are fourth in the division just behind the Blue Jays. This and That Its really interesting to look at the early season gap in some pitching categories between the National League and the American. The Senior Circuit has eight of the top 10 staff ERAs. Only Oakland and K.C. break into that group. The National League has had 10 complete games to just four for the American, including two by Texas. There have been 34 shutouts in the National League to 23 in the American. St. Louis has six and Texas leads the American with six. I guess it just helps to illustrate why Ervin Santana chose Atlanta over the Blue Jays. After going 7-9 in their 1st 16 game segment against the East, the Jays have a 20-game stretch where they dont play their own division at all. Their next game against the East is May 20 at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, they only have six games against the East for the entire month of May, getting Tampa Bay at home the week after that Boston series. The All-Star voting has begun for the Mid-summer Classic Tuesday July 15th at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. If voting closed today, the only Blue Jays on my ballot would be lefty Mark Buehrle and Melky Cabrera. Jose Bautista could make it as well, but more on his name and All-Star reputation at this point. I also did a rough count and if Buehrle keeps it up, his natural turn to pitch would fall on All-Star Tuesday so their might even be a chance he could start. But thats still a lot of innings pitched and a long way off. Custom Saints Jerseys . Raonic, the mens No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed more than three hours to overcome Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and become the first Canadian man into the fourth round at Roland Garros. Saints Jerseys .com) - Scott Parel carded a 5-under 65 on Thursday and he grabbed a 1-stroke lead after one round of the season-opening Panama Claro Championship. http://www.shoptheofficialsaints.com/Elite-Trequan-Smith-Saints-Jersey/ .Do you have to be that close? Federer snapped at a TV cameraman hovering nearby as he received medical advice after losing a set on Wednesday.For Nadal and Sharapova, the nuisance was coming from the lowly-ranked qualifiers across the net. HOUSTON -- Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks showed his team each of the 12 3-pointers Houston made in its 73-point first half Thursday night. The halftime video session worked. The Rockets didnt make another 3, and were held to a franchise-low in points in the second half of the Thunders 104-92 win. Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Reggie Jackson added 23 to lift Oklahoma City to the victory. James Harden and Terrence Jones scored 16 points apiece for Houston, which had just 19 second-half points after its season-best performance in the first half -- setting an NBA record for the largest scoring differential between two halves. Houstons 19-point second half is tied for the second-fewest points in a second half in NBA history. "Ive never seen anything like that," Brooks said. "Thats inspiring." Houston coach Kevin McHale was troubled by his teams inability to build on its great first half. "We had a terrible time shooting the ball, laying it in, making simple plays," McHale said. "We couldnt sustain anything offensively in the second half. Give them credit. They got out and got after us." The Thunder used a big third quarter to erase a 12-point deficit and tie the score entering the fourth. The teams stayed within a basket after that until Jackson scored five points in a 7-0 run which gave the Thunder a 97-89 lead with about 4 minutes left. Oklahoma City stretched its advantage to 103-92 on a fast-break dunk by Jackson with 1:18 to go. Durant shook his head when asked about the vast difference in Oklahoma Citys defence after halftime. Along with shutting down Houstons 3-point shooting, the Thunder also held Harden scoreless after the break. "We were able to come down and stifle them a little bit and get them out of their rhythm," Durant said. "Theyre a great offensive team. They score the ball so quickly. I think we did a great job of just putting pressure on them." Oklahoma City was up by eight when Houstons Dwight Howard and Kendrick Perkins got tangled up fighting for a rebound. The two had to be separated and Perkins received a personal foul and they both were slapped with technicals for the scuffle. Serge Ibaka added 21 points and 15 reebounds for the Thunder. Marcus Davenport Jersey. Howard had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Rockets. Jeremy Lambs 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter made it 86-85, giving Oklahoma City its first lead since early in the second quarter. The teams each scored a basket after that before both offences went silent, with neither team scoring for about a 3-minute span. Jackson ended Oklahoma Citys scoring drought with a reverse layup with about 7 minutes remaining before Chandler Parsons ended Houstons with a bucket about a minute later to cut the Thunders lead to 90-89. The Rockets had a 12-point lead with about 4 minutes left in the third quarter before Oklahoma City went on a 15-3 run to tie it at 83 entering the final period. Ibaka scored four quick points to get the spurt going and also had a 3-pointer in that span. Durant had the big finish for the run, taking Parsons off the dribble and pulling up to sink a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Durant fell backward to the court after the shot and flipped over before getting up wearing a huge grin as he was mobbed by teammates. After matching a season high with 41 points in the second quarter, the Rockets had a terrible third, scoring just 10 points, and their nine points in the fourth were a season low. The Thunder led by seven in the second quarter before Houston got going. The Rockets used a 9-0 run, powered by four points from Jones, to take a 43-41 lead with about 8 minutes left in the quarter. Harden had a nifty play near the end of that run when he hit an off-balance layup before crashing to the court. Houston capped the 41-point quarter with a 13-1 spurt to take a 73-59 lead into halftime. Parsons hit two 3s in that run and Donatas Motiejunas added a third. Durant was having a tough first quarter and had three turnovers before getting going in the last 1 1/2 minutes of the period. He scored all nine of the Thunders last points of the quarter to leave Oklahoma City up 36-32 entering the second. He had two dunks and was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws in that span. NOTES: Houstons 73 points in the first half were a season high for a half. ... McHale received a technical foul for arguing with the officials in the second quarter. NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2020 Wholesale NFL Gear China Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys China ' ' '