MILWAUKEE – Get out a pencil and a piece of paper. Alfonzo Dennard Super Bowl Patriots Jersey . Its time for rudimentary math; time to let the players worry about winning today while others concern themselves with the broader, increasingly bleak, picture. Write down the numbers one to 12 in ascending order. Each time Toronto loses a game, mark an X through the corresponding number. Why 13? Given the way the season is trending, the Blue Jays need to win at least 88 games to qualify for a playoff spot. With a record of 64-62 after Tuesdays action, in order to be 88-74 by seasons end Toronto had to go 24-12. Thats just for a chance. The American League East leading Orioles are on pace for 94 wins. In the race for the second wild card spot, the leader Mariners are eyeing an 88-win season; the runner up Tigers are looking at 88 victories (rounded up on percentage points); the Yankees are on pace for 83 wins. The Blue Jays, playing at a .508 clip, would end up in the 82-win neighbourhood. Thats not going to get it done. Whats more disconcerting are signs of fraying in the starting rotation. Through the first seven games of this eight-game road trip, Toronto pitching had allowed 11 first inning runs (two on Tuesday night). "Just another game where we gave up a lot of runs early and we couldnt do anything with (Brewers starter Mike) Fiers," said manager John Gibbons. "He did a nice job. A lot lately weve been giving up some runs early." Playing come-from-behind on a near-daily basis isnt ideal for an offence which has gone cold. In 16 games this month, the Jays have scored 48 runs or exactly three per game. One of the main culprits is the decline in home run production. Despite the recent downturn the Jays season total of 141 remains tied for second-most in baseball (with Colorado) behind Baltimores 157. The Jays have hit only seven long balls in the month of August (16 games). "Power comes and goes," said hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. "Its kind of one of those things when guys get hot they can usually get hot together and home runs are usually just a by-product of good at-bats and good swings and catching balls out front a little bit more." The Jays are one of three teams in the American League which require the home run to cash more than 40-percent of their runs scored, which is to say if Toronto doesnt hit the long ball, most of the time it wont score enough. Entering Tuesdays play, 225 of Torontos 558 runs (40.3-percent) were cashed via the home run. Theyre joined by Baltimore (251 of 531 – 47.2-percent) and Houston (219 of 501 – 43.7-percent). Nine teams come in the 30-39.9-percent range and the remainder fall below. The hope is the recent returns of Edwin Encarnacion (26 home runs) and Adam Lind (who despite having only four home runs, is a crucial middle-of-the-order bat against right-handed starting pitching) from injury will lengthen the lineup and pave the way to more pop. "A lot of times when guys try to compensate because of a lack of power and try to do a little too much then it works against you," said Seitzer. "I think thats kind of where were at right now. As far as overall as a team we didnt start off very good home run-wise the first month of the season and then all of a sudden in May it came in bunches and it came for a long time." Seitzer is looking to hits with runners in scoring position (RISP), specifically hits with runners in scoring position and two outs. Hes sensing players, especially the Jays best, are pressing. One example would be Jose Bautista, whos a .300 hitter with RISP this season but that number dwindles to .111 (4-for-36) with RISP and two outs. With Tuesday nights loss, Cleveland pulled even with the Blue Jays in the wild card race. The more teams youre chasing, the less likely it is you can gain ground on a nightly basis. Time is ticking away. Dont lose sight of your pencil. Tedy Bruschi Super Bowl Authentic Jersey . "Our level of work has to go up," said Carlyle on Thursday. "Weve stated that and weve (told) our players that the message is going to start to be delivered in a different manner if were not going to get the results that were looking for. Irving Fryar Super Bowl Authentic Jersey . Buck finished with two hits for the Indians, while starter Mitch Talbot threw 5 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks, while striking out two. Niko Gallego and Tony Abreu had RBI doubles for Arizona.DENVER -- Randy Foye hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer, and the Denver Nuggets overcame a 36-point performance by Blake Griffin to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-115 on Monday night. Kenneth Faried had a career-high 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who denied the Clippers their sixth win in seven games. Ty Lawson, who missed the last four games with a shoulder injury, added 27 points and J.J. Hickson had 17 points and 12 rebounds. DeAndre Jordan had 19 points and 12 rebounds. It was his team record 28th consecutive game with at least 10 rebounds. Jamal Crawford added 19 points for the Clippers, who fell to 0-11 on the road when trailing after the third quarter. No more than five points separated the teams in the third quarter with the Nuggets taking an 82-81 lead into the fourth quarter when Quincy Miller stole the ball from Crawford and swept down the court for a layup, beating the buzzer. With 3:37 left, Griffin made two free throws to put the Clippers up 107-101 but the Nuggets scored eight straight points, getting six on free throws, and went in front by two. The Clippers answered, regaining the lead on a fast-break dunk by Griffin 111-109. Two free throws by Lawson re-tied it at 111-all with 1:21 left. Grriffin made one of two from the line and Wilson Chandler made a pair and the Nuggets led 113-112 with 50. Alfonzo Dennard Super Bowl Authentic Jersey. 7 seconds remaining. Both the Clippers Crawford and the Nuggets Lawson missed jumpers before Matt Barnes connected on a go-ahead 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds remaining. But after a timeout, the Nuggets worked the ball to Foye who heaved a 3-pointer for the winner. Though the Clippers led by as many as 13 points early on, the teams battled to a 60-all tie at the half. Barnes and Darren Collison finished consecutive fastbreaks with layups to give the Clippers a 55-46 lead with 2:46 left in the second quarter. Chandler answered with a 3-pointer that was offset by a three-point play by Griffin, who then drew a foul, his third, while guarding Foye. Griffin spent the final couple minutes of the second quarter on the bench, during which the Nuggets closed with an 11-2 burst, including a jumper by Lawson with 29.7 seconds remaining that evened the score at the half. NOTES: Jordan has played in 209 consecutive games, longest active streak in the NBA. ... Faried has 55 career double doubles, including 12 this season. ... Jordan has 11 double doubles in his last 15 games. ... Griffin has 23 games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds this season. cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
