Globale News » Christophe Lalancette

BOSTON - Pitching. Defence. Culture. Those are the three words which continue to be brought up in various conversations with players, both in formal and informal settings, around this American League Championship Series. Jonny Gomes, a member of the 2008 Rays club that emerged from the abyss to gain a spot in that seasons World Series and whos since played on contending teams in Cincinnati and Oakland before landing in Boston, has seen similar acts play out in different cities. “This is my fourth division title and my fourth team,” said Gomes. “Theyre all very similar. We pitch. We play defence. We play together. We situational hit. We create an identity and win and lose with that identity. “Youve got to have some guys on your team that will nip in the bud in April, in June, in July, when things roll, stop it now. Youve got to get out of the valley, get back up versus letting it play, riding it out.” Spending much of the last 48 hours around Fenway Park, in this atmosphere, around two successful organizations with, for the most part, annual expectations of excellence, its become clearer just how far away the 2013 Blue Jays were from being a playoff-calibre ballclub. It wasnt too long ago, prior to the end of the regular season, that veteran Mark DeRosa shared similar thoughts to Gomes. He would know, having come up in the winning Braves organization, followed by success with the Rangers, Cubs, Cardinals, Giants and Nationals. “I always go back to the first two weeks of the season,” DeRosa told TSN.ca from the visitors dugout, fittingly at Fenway Park, on September 20. “We got off so slow; just put ourselves in such a pessimistic-type attitude where we were expecting things to go wrong. Its just been the tale of many weeks for this team. Its had its moments of playing really great baseball and taking it to some of the best teams and best pitchers in the game and then weve had moments where weve rolled out there and done a lot of things fundamentally wrong and made mental errors that have cost us.” General manager Alex Anthopoulos has identified the need for starting pitching, constantly reminding that no team stands a chance to contend when its rotations ERA ranks second-worst in baseball (4.81,) better only than the dreadful Minnesota Twins and worse than the Houston Astros, essentially a Triple-A-calibre baseball team. Hes right. Nobody could have, or would have, predicted the respective demises of Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson to injury. But those two were pitching in April. So were R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and J.A. Happ and, as DeRosa alluded to, the Jays got off to a terrible start that set the tone for a terrible season. Nobody cried in Boston when Clay Buchholz missed three months with a neck injury before returning in early September. Remember, too, that John Lackeys bicep locked on him in Toronto in early April. At the time of the injury, the way he clenched his arm, onlookers were speculating hed torn his Tommy John-repaired ulnar elbow ligament. The Yankees finished above .500 with a plethora of injuries, seemingly turning to any available former Blue Jay in the process. This statistics-obsessed culture places zero value on cohesion, preferring to individualize each player and position as if he and it work mutually exclusive to all else. Its strange because when you talk to players whove won, in some cases won often, they preach about the importance of accountability and sacrifice for one another. No, there werent deep divisions in the clubhouse, but neither was there cohesion on the field on a consistent basis. Back in April, it was popular to slough off the mounting losses with the tired “Its early” mantra. There were musings about how the standings didnt matter until the seasons final day, when you hoped to be at least one game ahead of the team in second place. True, if not simplistic, but the public lack of concern over the slow start shouldnt be tolerated to the same degree if it repeats in 2014. Some teams dont recover from a bad first two or three weeks. Theres no place for Twitter drama and unnecessary sparring with the media. The pressure of playoff action, witnessed first hand in this ALCS, is no match for the psychologically fragile. The expectation, of course, should be to contend. Nothing less, although its difficult for fans to want to go there in their heads after the season they just witnessed. “They pitch. They play defense. Team chemistry. Situational hit,” repeated Gomes of championship-calibre teams. The strange firing of hitting coach Chad Mottola wont be the only move this winter and its a good thing because, hanging around Fenway Park in October for a couple of days, seeing the anticipation and the expectation and the camaraderie, the Blue Jays have a way to go to get here. Raptors Jerseys China . He made that dream a reality Wednesday night. Olt, who grew up in Branford, Connecticut, attended UConn and made a nearly 2 1-2 hour trek to Boston a handful of times to watch the Red Sox, belted a two-run homer, one of four hit by Cubs in a 16-9 rout that completed a three-game interleague series sweep. Stitched Raptors Jerseys . Catch all the action on TSN starting at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Toronto won at Denver and Utah, but lost in Portland and Sacramento. The Kings loss was the most recent game for the Raptors. https://www.cheapraptors.com/. Fans can also watch the game on the newly launched TSN GO (currently available to Bell TV and Rogers customers), which gives TSN subscribers the freedom to live stream the networks programming from their smartphones, tablets, and computers at no additional charge – just as they would watch Canadas Sports Leader on TV at home. The following week, MLS ON TSN is at BMO Field in Toronto to deliver live coverage of TFCs home opener vs. D.C. United on Saturday, March 22 at 4:30 p. Toronto Raptors Store . The club announced on Wednesday that Malhotra signed a 25-game professional tryout contract. The 33-year-old suffered a serious eye injury when struck by a puck during a game versus Colorado in March of 2011. Cheap Raptors Jerseys .The other side of the Bruins special teams unit delivered in the end.Gregory Campbell netted the game-winner with less than 10 minutes remaining and the Bruins fended off a late four-minute San Jose power play to earn a wild 5-3 win over the Sharks.BAIE-COMEAU, Qc - It was a big night for Baie-Comeaus Maxime St-Cyr.St-Cyr scored the shootout winner to go along with a goal and an assist in regulation as the Drakkar edged the Val-dOr Foreurs 5-4 on Friday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.Alexis Vanier, Jasmin Boutet and Nicolas Meloche had goals for Baie-Comeau (17-6-3), which won its third straight.Anthony Richard had a three-point night for the Foreurs (9-12-4), scoring twice and adding an assist. Anthony Beauregard and Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant rounded out the attack.Philippe Cadorette turned aside 28 shots for the win while Etienne Montpetit made 35 saves for Val-dOr.The Drakkar went 1 for 5 on the power play while the Foreurs were scoreless on three attempts.---SEA DOGS 4 CATARACTES 2SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Samuel Dove-McFalls scored twice as the Sea Dogs doubled-up Shawinigan.Justice Dundas and Matthew Highmore also chipped in for Saint John (15-5-3), which had two quick third-period goals.Giovanni Fiore and Alexis DAoust found the back of the net for the Cataractes (12-11-2).---REMPARTS 4 PHOENIX 2SHERBROOKE, Que. — Kurt Etchegary had two goals and an assist as Quebec downed the Phoenix.Adam Chapman and Adam Erne also scored for the Remparts (16-8-0).ddddddddddddimon Desbiens and Tim Wieser replied for Sherbrooke (14-9-1).---OLYMPIQUES 2 ARMADA 1BOISBRIAND, Que. — Vaclav Karabacek scored at 16:16 of the third period to lead Gatineau past the Armada.Marc-Olivier Crevier-Morin had the Olympiques (12-10-4) other goal. It was the teams second-straight win.Fabrizio Ricci opened the scoring for Blainville-Boisbriand (13-7-3), which suffered its first regulation loss in 13 games.---HUSKIES 5 VOLTIGEURS 3DRUMMONDVILLE, Que. — Mathieu Lemay scored his 17th of the season on the power play as Rouyn-Noranda got past the Voltigeurs.Quinn OBrien, Mathieu Boucher, Ryan Penny and Antoine Waked also chipped in with goals for the Huskies (12-10-2).Julien Carignan-Labbe, Christophe Lalancette and Joey Ratelle supplied the Drummondville (10-12-2) offence.---TIGRES 4 SCREAMING EAGLES 2VICTORIAVILLE, Que. — Angelo Miceli had his 16th goal of the season in the second period as the Tigres beat Cape Breton.Tommy Veilleux, Filip Pyrochta and Carl Marois rounded out the attack for Victoriaville (13-9-3). The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tigres.Maxim Lazarev and Dillon Boucher responded for the Screaming Eagles (8-13-4). ' ' '