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TORONTO – Watching Brett Cecil pitch, its difficult to imagine that just a little more than a year ago, a group of reporters approached his locker stall in Dunedin to ask if hed cracked the 2013 lineup. Whats happened since - an All-Star appearance and a 2.82 ERA in 60 appearances last season and a perfect run over his first 10 outings (eight-and-two-thirds innings) this season - is special. There was Cecil on Tuesday, called upon by manager John Gibbons in the seventh inning of a 3-3 game with the Blue Jays in a jam, bailing out his team once again. The Orioles had runners on second and third with one out. Cecil walked slugging left-hander Chris Davis before striking out Adam Jones and Steve Clevenger. The clutch performance paved the way to a six-run eighth and Toronto beat the Orioles 9-3, winning the opening game of a fourth-consecutive series. “Just trying to make good pitches,” said Cecil. Cecil is a native of Dunkirk, Maryland. He went to the University of Maryland and served as the Terrapins closer in his sophomore year of 2006, saving 13 games to set a school record. His success as a reliever in college prepared him for the role hes tasked with now. “I knew right off the bat once I moved to the ‘pen that it wouldnt take long,” said Cecil. “Ive done it before and it worked out in the past and it sure has now.” GIBBONS APPROACH TO BULLPEN Entering Tuesdays action, the Blue Jays had received 103 2/3 innings in 19 games from their starting pitchers, an average of between five-and-a-third and five and two-thirds innings per outing. Toronto will need more from its starting five and the sooner the better. After this coming Mondays off day, the Blue Jays will begin a stretch in which they have one day off between April 29 and June 1. Manager John Gibbons tries to balance the short-term and long-term consequences of each decision. “I mean, youve got to think long-term, but youre trying to win that game, too,” said Gibbons. “If theyre fresh you go to them … You want (starters) to go deeper into the game, but if they start to lose it or start to tire out because of the pitches or whatever it is, you look at the lineup or what youre facing, youre trying to hold that game in check.” Youll start to see more of J.A. Happ, Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond in the fifth and sixth innings in games if the starters dont get deep. The specialists at the back-end of the bullpen cant be the daily option. “If you wear them down too much, those guys arent going to be probably effective later, anyway,” said Gibbons. “Thats why youre going to need some other guys to step up and get some big outs in the sixth, maybe the seventh.” In the last two seasons, 13 of the 20 playoff teams have had staffs that averaged six or more innings per start. The worst, Cleveland, averaged just better than five-and-two-thirds innings per start last season. The Blue Jays, in the early going of 2014, are averaging about an out fewer per start than the Indians of last year. If that doesnt seem like much, prorate that stat over 162 games. Youre asking your bullpen to get 162 more outs over the course of the season. INJURED JANSSEN IN TORONTO Casey Janssen rejoined his teammates in Toronto on Tuesday after his minor-league rehab assignment was halted. The strain in his abdominal/back area, near his oblique, hasnt improved to the point where Janssen is comfortable continuing to appear in games. He threw an inning for Single-A Dunedin a week ago Tuesday, allowing a hit and striking out one. “To be clear, it wasnt a setback,” said Janssen. “We realized it wasnt going to heal doing what I was doing. So instead of putting our foot on the gas, we had to take it off a bit and listen to my body a little bit more.” Janssen played catch before Tuesdays game with the Orioles. The plan is to throw a bullpen session in Toronto later this week and, if hes feeling better, Janssen will go back out on a rehab assignment. “Thats the frustrating part. Im not in pain,” said Janssen. “I mean theres a little bit of annoyance in there and the thing was, as long as you werent in pain, to keep progressing. So I didnt have symptoms of pain, but realizing that the swelling wasnt going to go away and Im in more jeopardy of maybe reinjuring, either that or somewhere else because Im compensating, we added it all up and it didnt make sense.” The Blue Jays bullpen, usually reliable, had two hiccups toward the end of the just-completed road trip through Baltimore, Minnesota and Cleveland. A six-run, eight-walk eighth inning turned a 5-3 lead into a 9-5 deficit in Thursday nights loss to the Twins. On Sunday, three walks and a bases-clearing double in the sixth turned a 4-2 lead into a 5-4 deficit in a loss to the Indians. Janssen is confident his mates will get back on track. “Those guys are still one of the best in the game,” said Janssen. “I dont care what a game or two happened or didnt happen. Basically, these guys are really, really good. Its a strength of our team and it will be a strength of our team.” ROGERS REBUILDING CONFIDENCE Esmil Rogers pitched two scoreless innings to mop up Saturdays shutout win in Cleveland. After a tough start, he needed it. “I know that I can do that more than one time,” said Rogers. “Anytime they need me, Im going to be there. If Im healthy, Im going to be great.” Rogers has allowed a staff-high four home runs on the season in just 10 1/3 innings pitched. Watching balls fly out of the park, he admits, rattled his confidence. “Sometimes you get a little frustrated about that because people can see you and you want to do the best you can,” said Rogers. “I think about it and I dont want it to happen again, but this is baseball. You dont know when youre going to be good and when youre going to be bad.” Bucks Jerseys 2020 . They know how difficult it is to beat the San Antonio Spurs. George scored 28 points and Indiana defeated San Antonio 111-100 on Saturday night, snapping an 11-game skid against the Spurs. Milwaukee Bucks Gear . He had spent 16 days on the disabled list before being activated Thursday. He was batting just .203 when he came to bat in the 11th inning on Sunday. https://www.cheapbucksonline.com/. - Jesse Shynkaruk scored a hat trick as the Moose Jaw Warriors snapped a seven-game losing streak with an 8-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders in Western Hockey League action on Saturday. Custom Milwaukee Bucks Jerseys .Y. -- Kristen Gillman rallied to win the U. Milwaukee Bucks Shirts . This time, Tebow was in a groove the entire second half -- not just in the waning minutes -- and his teammates on defence were getting gobbled up.BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Denny Hamlin ended two weeks of Team Penske dominance by winning the pole at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin set a track record Friday with a lap at 129.991 mph to earn the top starting spot. It broke the mark of 129.535 set by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch a year ago, and ensured that neither Brad Keselowski or Joey Logano won the pole for the first time since NASCARs new knockout qualifying debuted three weeks ago. Hamlin ran only one lap in the first segment and it was good enough to lock him into the top 12 to advance into the second segment. He then ran one lap, took the pole for Sundays race, and got out of his car to see if anyone could beat him. "As a short track guy, I can feel when, OK, this is all Ive got. Or, This is a really good lap," Hamlin said. He aborted an attempt at a second lap in the first segment because, "If that wasnt a top-12 lap, we were in big trouble. So I knew that was going to be good. Then ultimately strategy comes into play, wanting to conserve your car and keeping everything as cool as you can for the second segment "I was going to run two laps in the second segment, but I bobbled it pretty bad into Turn 3 and didnt finish the lap. But I knew the first one was good." So good that he wasnt very worried when Keselowski and Logano both pulled back onto the track as the clock ticked down to attempt to bump Hamlin from the pole. The teammates swept the front row at Phoenix and Las Vegas, where the new format was first used this season, and they made one last run at Hamlin. Keselowski came up just short, settling for second at 129.965. Logano was fourth, behind Hamlins teammate Matt Kenseth. "I feel like wee did what we were supposed to do to be able to go out there and give it a shot for the pole," said Logano, the pole-winner last week at Las Vegas.dddddddddddd "Dennys strategy was pretty good. Just not good enough for us." The Penske drivers were only able to make those final attempts because of a new rule this week by NASCAR that permitted the use of cooling units on pit road for teams to cool their engines following their runs. NASCAR decided Tuesday to allow the devices following a conference call with crew chiefs because of safety concerns raised by drivers. Because the engines had been getting so hot following the qualifying runs and the cooling units were not allowed, drivers were running laps on the bottom of the track at slow speeds to cool down. It was going on at the same time as other drivers were sailing by at full speed, and many drivers complained they had near collisions. "I think that rule change has made qualifying even better," Keselowski said. "Its removed danger and replaced with opportunity. I think that was for the betterment of the sport and certainly if for no other reason than safety, it was definitely worth it. But I also feel like being able to go out there and make multiple runs is now a lot more plausible." The early season struggles continued for Stewart-Haas Racing and even hit Kevin Harvick, who had been the lone bright spot for the organization through the first three races. Kurt Busch was the highest SHR qualifier at 13th, but Harvick was 27th and Danica Patrick was the last driver to qualify on speed at 36th. Team co-owner Tony Stewart had to use a provisional to make it in the field and will start 37th. ' ' '