Für unsere Gäste » team to continue to improve, Snyde

NEW YORK -- Only once has a left-handed pitcher won 20 games for the Toronto Blue Jays.J.A. Happ is getting close to becoming the second.Happ can become the first 17-game winner in the major leagues Wednesday afternoon when the Blue Jays conclude a three-game series with the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.Toronto has had five pitchers get to 20 wins in team history and the only southpaw was David Wells who won 20 during the 2000 season. Like Wells, Happ is in his second stint with the Blue Jays.Happ won 19 games and made 50 starts after Toronto obtained him from the Houston Astros in a 10-player deal on July 20, 2012. After he was 11-11 with a 4.22 ERA in 2014, Toronto traded him to Seattle for outfielder Michael Saunders but last November, the Blue Jays signed him to a three-year deal following two months with the Pittsburgh Pirates.Happ has approached 20 wins by going 10-0 with a 2.66 ERA in his last 11 starts. After allowing four hits and getting seven strikeouts in seven innings during last Wednesdays 7-0 win over the Tampa Bays, he joined Roger Clemens in 1997 and Roy Halladay in 2003 as the only Toronto pitchers to have a run as good.Clemens and Halladay were 12-0 in 13 starts and both were 20-game winners. Jack Morris in 1992 and Pat Hentgen are the only other 20-game winners in Toronto history but all of those hurlers were right-handed.Hes a different pitcher, hes a better pitcher, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. Hes a new guy, he gets ground balls now, he never used to do that and that bails you out of some innings. And he also gets strikeouts.Happ can achieve two things with a win Wednesday.He can join Wells and Jimmy Key as the only Blue Jays left-handers to win 17 games. Key did it in 1987 and 1991 while Wells achieved it in 1999 and 2000.Happ can also become the fifth Blue Jay to win at least 11 straight decisions. Clemens and Halladay share the record of 15 in 1998 and 2003 respectively while Dennis Lamp won 11 straight in 1985 and Clemens did so in 1997.Two of Happs victories have been against the Yankees, who are batting .206 against him in three starts. He allowed one run and seven hits in six innings April 13 in Toronto and, May 26 in New York, Happ allowed one run and three hits in a 3-1 win.The Blue Jays will be looking to beat the Yankees for the ninth time in 12 meetings after storming back from a six-run deficit for a 12-6 victory Tuesday. After going scoreless off Michael Pineda through five innings Toronto hit four home runs off New Yorks bullpen following a 42-minute rain delay.Russell Martin, who was in a 4-for-28 slump, homered in consecutive at-bats and got the tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth after hitting a solo shot in the sixth. Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run home run, giving him 34 and 99 RBI while Troy Tulowitzki had a two-run home run among four hits.It just felt like the momentum was shifting in our direction, Martin said. When everybody gets that good feeling and is kind of anxious to get back up to the plate, its a good sign. We definitely got a little bit lucky, we got Pineda out of the game. It looked like he would have his A game today, so just got to point to the sky and thank whoevers up there for helping out.The meltdown by New Yorks bullpen pushed them 5 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot. Gary Sanchez homered twice while Pineda allowed four hits in five scoreless innings before the game changed drastically for the Yankees.Its unfortunate because Michael was really good tonight, I wouldve loved to have sent him back out there, but with what he went through with that shoulder, we just felt we couldnt do it, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. His pitch count was around 70 and it was frustrating. I was hoping it would be a quicker rain delay, but when it got to be 45 to 50 minutes, it was frustrating.The Yankees will hope there are no more drastic turnarounds against them Wednesday and hope CC Sabathia can follow Pinedas strong outing. He also will try to end a nearly two-month slump that has seen go 2-5 with a 6.41 ERA in 10 starts since June 22.He is 7-9 and two of his losses have been in games started by Happ. He allowed two unearned runs in seven innings of a 3-1 loss at New York on May 26 and two earned runs in six innings five days later in Toronto.Although Sabathia is 15-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 24 career starts against Toronto, the left-hander is 0-4 with a 3.60 ERA in his last four starts against the Blue Jays as the Yankees. While Sabathia has pitched decently in those games, New Yorks hitters have struggled by batting .189 (24-for-127) and getting two hits in 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Terrell Davis Broncos Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Karl Mecklenburg Youth Jersey .S. -- Nikolaj Ehlers registered a hat trick for the third straight game and Jonathan Drouin had a goal and five assists as the Halifax Mooseheads hammered the host Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 10-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. http://www.broncosrookiestore.com/Broncos-Joe-Flacco-Jersey/ . The move comes after the Canadiens were approached by the Buffalo Sabres for permission to speak to Dudley - a former Sabres player and head coach. "The Sabres called for permission and I appreciate that, Im flattered, Dudley told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. DreMont Jones Broncos Jersey .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. Royce Freeman Youth Jersey .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder put it simply after his team lost to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night, Kawhi Leonard was really good.Leonard scored 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Spurs avenged their lone loss of the season with a 100-86 victory over the Jazz.The Spurs bounced back from a 15-point home loss to the Jazz on Tuesday after losing just one game in San Antonio all of last season.I expected for them to come out and try to get off to a great start and just sustain, and they did that, Jazz forward Joe Johnson said. After we kind of hit first, they withstood the first five minutes and made a run of their own. We just never really got back.(Leonard) is shooting the ball unbelievable off picks. Hes handling off pick-and-rolls and making plays. Hes been tough to guard.The Jazz jumped to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter and an unhappy Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called a timeout just minutes into the game. The Spurs responded with a 29-7 run and the Jazz never led again.Utah got within seven points in the third quarter, but Leonard responded with five quick points and the Jazz never got within single digits the rest of the game.Leonard continued his MVP-caliber season by shooting 9 for 18 from the field while LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and six rebounds.Rodney Hood led the Jazz with 18 points, but they shot just 37.5 percent.Its only two games, Popovich said about facing the Jazz twice. You win some, you lose some. Its not necessarily (that we) discovered the Holy Grail and instituted it tonight and won the game because of it. We played better.TIP-INSSpurs: G Tony Parker missed the game due to right knee soreness. He did not travel with the team. ... Patty Mills started at point guard and scored 16 points to go wwith three rebounds and three assists.dddddddddddd Patty is a great offensive player and he has been playing really well running the offense, Spurs center Pau Gasol said. Tony is a very important player for us, but if he is taking this time off its because he needs it.Jazz: Gordon Hayward went through a pregame workout with the fingers on his left hand taped up. The star forward is out indefinitely with a broken finger on his non-shooting hand. ... F Boris Diaw missed his second consecutive game with a right leg contusion.NO WARMUPSThe Jazz season has started with four playoff teams in their first six games, including the Spurs twice. They hit the road for five straight and seven of nine away from Salt Lake City.The biggest thing for me is, you hope for your team to continue to improve, Snyder said. That is the primary thing. If competition early can accelerate that process, that is a good thing. Theres been times where that competition early can knock you back. So it can go either way.QUOTABLEOur identity as a defensive team has to be something we hold on tighter to, Snyder said. You can call that lack of focus. Its more subtle in some ways. For me its a lot of little things we werent doing. They add up.We have to know if were not focused and were not ready to play defense, we wont. Its not habitual yet. Its not who we are yet and its who we need to become who we are.UP NEXTSpurs: Host the Los Angeles Clippers and point guard Chris Paul, who entered Friday with a league-high 3.25 steals per game, on Saturday.Jazz: Travel to face a New York Knicks team on Sunday, that improved to 2/3 after a win over the Bulls on Friday. ' ' '