we just cant afford to give games away," New York co

LAKELAND, Florida – That Ricky Romeros name was even being mentioned as a possibility for the last remaining spot in the Blue Jays rotation is an indication of the uncertainty surrounding the clubs starting corps less than two weeks before opening day. The above paragraph could be rewritten, verbatim, with Marcus Stromans name in place of Romeros. After both men had disastrous outings in Tuesdays 18-4 mauling at the hands of the Tigers, its clear that neither is the best option to begin the season in Toronto. Whats also clear is that it isnt clear who the best option is to join R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow and, presumably, Drew Hutchison in a rotation that last season posted baseballs second-worst starting staff ERA (4.81.) Romero and Stroman were outsiders at best to break camp with the big league club and for different reasons. There had been cautious optimism surrounding Romero, the reclamation project, who had been showing some signs of emerging from his two-year funk. Stroman, meanwhile, is a projected future star and rotation cornerstone who, along with Drew Hutchison and Aaron Sanchez, has the coaching staff salivating. Given the mediocre-to-subpar performances of J.A. Happ, Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond this spring, theres been some consideration, however small, given to handing Stroman a rotation spot. After all, how much lesser of an option is he than any of the others? Romero, scheduled to go four or five innings on Tuesday depending on pitch count, instead went two-and-two-thirds, allowing three runs on three hits, a home run, five walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches. It could have been worse. Romero picked off two of his walks and another was caught stealing. Only 23 of Romeros 57 pitches were strikes. He acknowledged falling behind in counts and not following through in his delivery but also took a shot at Mother Nature. "It was a weird weather day, too," said Romero. "The balls were a little slick and it just kept coming out of my hand and whatnot, but I tried to battle." The game time temperature was 20-celcius. It was a sunny day. There was a breeze, but nothing out of the ordinary. Romero also admitted to being too amped up. "I was a little excited," he said. "I think just getting a start and whatnot, that was the first start Ive had since the Triple-A season ended last year. It was a little different, just trying to get used to it again." "Not enough strikes," said manager John Gibbons. "Today, all the way around, it was just a bad day in every phase of the game. Let that one go. Ive got nothing to say. Its tough for me to analyze that. You were watching what I was watching. You analyze it." While theres no doubt the Blue Jays would enjoy getting some kind of return on the $15.6-million still owed Romero through the end of next season, his name started coming up as a rotation option only after general manager Alex Anthopoulos failed to sign Ervin Santana, a non-move which seems to become more glaring by the day. Gibbons wouldnt commit to whether Romero would get another start. "This ones over," said Gibbons. "It was a bad day all the way around." Stroman was supposed to follow Romero and pitch four or five innings. He recorded only one out before being pulled in the fifth, giving up seven runs on five hits with a walk and a strikeout. "Not enough strikes," said Gibbons. Its pretty simple." Toronto pitchers combined to walk 11 on the afternoon. The Blue Jays need someone to step up, pitch well and take the final rotation spot. Time is running out before the job is awarded to someone by default. Its J.A. Happs turn next. He starts on Wednesday, in Dunedin, against the Phillies. MORROW vs. BUEHRLE IN INTRASQUAD GAME Brandon Morrow, whos being strongly considered to pitch the home opener on April 4 against the Yankees, making him the "fifth" starter, squared off against Mark Buehrle in an intrasquad game in Dunedin on Tuesday. Morrow, who missed the final four months of last season with an entrapped radial nerve in his right forearm, has struggled with fastball command this spring. In three-and-two-thirds innings, he allowed two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out two. Morrow threw 63 pitches; his fastball ranged in the low-to-mid 90s. "I was getting ahead, throwing it where I wanted to," said Morrow. "I think I had a couple looking strikeouts on it. All in all, it was a good day. I felt really good with my curveball. Slider and split couldve been better, but I made some good pitches with those too." Buehrle threw four-and-third innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits (including home runs by Erik Kratz and Kenny Wilson) and two walks. He struck out three and threw 81 pitches. JANSSEN THROWS LIVE BATTING PRACTICE Casey Janssen faced live hitters for the first time since late February. He threw live batting practice on Tuesday morning in Dunedin. "Another step in the right direction," said Janssen. "Got the heart pumping a little bit, which was nice. Im sure Fridays going to be more of the same, hopefully a little bit more in the velocity department, just because therell be defenders behind me." Barring the unforeseen, Janssen is scheduled to appear in his first Grapefruit League game on Friday when the Blue Jays visit the Rays in Port Charlotte. On Tuesday, Janssen threw his fastball, curveball, slider and changeup. He didnt throw his cut fastball. Janssen has been kept out of spring games due to soreness in the back of his right shoulder. The pain is unrelated to his offseason shoulder surgery of a year ago and the discomfort it caused last year. DETERMINING LINDS ROLE Adam Lind got the start against Tigers left-hander Drew Smyly on Tuesday as the club works toward determining whether hell be a strict platoon player this season. "I always can hit lefties; I just cant hit the Cy Young lefties," said Lind. "I cant tell you how many people probably hit David Price well or Jon Lester well or CC (Sabathia) well but unfortunately all those guys are in the same division. Its the beauty of playing in this division. You know where youre at as a baseball player." Linds career splits dont lie. Hes hit right-handers at a .286 BA/.850 OPS clip and hits a home run about once in every 20 at-bats. Against left-handers, the number dwindles to .219BA/.603 OPS with a home run in 2.6-percent of his at-bats. Right-handed hitting Moises Sierra, whos out of options, is the top candidate at the moment to take those at-bats against lefties. The Jays are still trying to figure out the plan. "Hes been swinging it pretty good against some pretty good lefties this spring," said manager John Gibbons. "Well just see where it goes from there. It all stacks up right now, and Sierras that guy, he would face some of the lefties. But, I think, Lindy and (hitting coach Kevin) Seitzer have been working on an approach to face those lefties and lets see where that takes us." Lind succeeded in his goal of staying off the disabled list last season. Hed missed time with a bad back in each of the previous two years. Last offseason, Lind turned to yoga. He enjoyed it and felt that it helped so he took it up a notch this past winter. "I went personal yoga instructor this year," said Lind. "It was nice. She got to know my body and we got a little more specific instead of just having a class with 20 people in it. She would correct me if I was in the wrong positions and things like that. It was nice to have someone to be there just for me." The Blue Jays will employ a yoga instructor to conduct a session on a weekly basis in an effort to curb the number of muscle-related injuries. Lind likes the benefits. "I loved it," he said. "Ill continue to do it even when Im done playing. The way it makes you feel when you walk out of that classroom, you really get away. Theres so much more into it, Im just doing the physical part of it. Im not lost in the yoga world just yet." Vapormax Plus a Vendre . -- The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to a $25 million, five-year contract Saturday. Vapormax Flyknit Solde . Jonathan Crompton led the team to a 40-9 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win. http://www.vapormaxsolde.fr/basket-vapormax-off-white-grossiste.html . -- Barry Bonds is all set to return to the San Francisco Giants. Vapormax Blanche Femme . The team said Saturday that the 36-year-old Robidas is expected to miss four to six months, jeopardizing his return this season. He was injured when he slid hard into the boards in the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss to Chicago on Friday. Vapormax Plus Pas Cher . - The Jacksonville Jaguars are leaning more toward playing injured quarterback Blake Bortles against Tennessee on Thursday night.PHOENIX -- After a laugher over the New York Knicks, the Phoenix Suns are on their longest winning streak in four years. Goran Dragic scored 32 points in 32 minutes and the Suns routed the Knicks 112-88 on Friday night for their season-high sixth victory in a row. Eric Bledsoe added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Markieff Morris scored 16 and Miles Plumlee had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who led by 22 at halftime and 32 in the third quarter. Carmelo Anthony scored 21, seven below his season average, and Amare Stoudemire 19 for the Knicks, blown out for the second time in three games on their five-game western trip. "They didnt play good defence," Dragic said of the Knicks, "so tonight we could get everything that we want. We swing the ball two and three times, Im sure we get an open guy." With Memphis loss at Golden State, Phoenix pulled a half-game ahead of the Grizzlies for the No. 7 playoff spot in the West. The Suns are a game ahead of Dallas. The Knicks fell two games behind Atlanta for the eighth spot in the East. After winning eight of nine, Phoenix is just 1 1/2 games behind No. 6 Golden State and 2 1/2 behind No. 5 Portland. "In the West, its so crazy," Dragic said. "The first nine teams, they all deserve to be in the playoffs. But its only eight teams that can get in. We just have to take care of our business. I think if we play like tonight, were going to be in good shape." Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said that unless his team finishes 7-2 "or something like that," its unlikely Phoenix can catch the Warriors or Trail Blazers. "But they (the players) do look at the standings," Hornacek said. "They see that its bunched up there and lets see what we can do." Dragic, who scored 18 in the first quarter, returned to start the second half after getting five stitches to repair a cut just above the left eye, the result of a second-quarter collision with Tyson Chandlers massive armm.dddddddddddd "I tried to poke the ball from him and he turned and hit me with his elbow right in the eye," Dragic said. "I dont know what it is. Its always the left eye." He said hes had stitches above the eye five times in his career, twice this season, and always on the left side. Phoenixs streak is its longest since the Suns won 10 straight four years ago. The smaller Suns dominated the boards 56-37 and had a 46-24 advantage in points in the paint. "We just werent ready for them," Anthony said. "We werent prepared for them, and they ran us out of the gym." It wasnt quite as bad for the Knicks as their 127-96 embarrassment against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, but it wasnt close after the first 1 1/2 quarters. The Suns, a season-high 15 games above .500, outscored the Knicks 24-6 over the final 8:49 of the half to lead 62-40 at the break. "We are playing for something and it is disappointing because we just cant afford to give games away," New York coach Mike Woodson said. Dragic had 20 at the half on 8-for-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 on 3s. Phoenix shot 52 per cent in the first half to New Yorks 39 per cent. The Suns were 8-of-20 on first-half 3s, the Knicks 4-of-13. The smaller Suns even outrebounded New York in the first two quarters 26-17. Anthony, the No. 2 scorer in the NBA at 28.2 points per game, had 10 in the first half on 4-of-10 shooting. Things got worse for New York early in the third quarter. Dragic made two 3s and Bledsoe one to put the Suns up 78-47 and Plumlees reverse jam on an alley-oop pass from Bledsoe made it 82-50 with 6:40 left in the period, Phoenixs biggest lead against anyone this season. NOTES: Tim Boven, an engineer at Honeywell from suburban Peoria, won $77,777 by sinking a shot from halfcourt during a second-quarter timeout. ... Stoudemire played in Phoenix for only the second time since leaving the Suns following the 2010 season. ... Phoenix is 20-10 against Eastern Conference foes. ' ' '