Bekanntmachungen » t relative Lorenzo Buffon was also

TORONTO – Just when you thought the Blue Jays starting rotation was poised for the protracted regression so many are expecting, enter Drew Hutchison and one of his brilliant performances to set the clubs proverbial planet back on its axis. This one was special, rivaling and perhaps exceeding his two-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the Rangers on a May night in Arlington, a night when he was better than Yu Darvish. Hutchison had his fastball grooving, painting either side of the plate and working high and low, and his slider dancing with a nasty down-and-away bite that made the likes of Manny Machado and J.J. Hardy look silly. He threw 8 2/3 innings of one-run, one-hit, one-walk, two-over-the minimum baseball. If not for a Chris Davis opposite field home run into the second deck in the second inning and an adrenaline-related two out walk to Nick Markakis in the ninth, Hutchison would have pitched a complete game and vied for a perfect game. As the old saying goes, timing is everything. "Perfect timing," said manager John Gibbons, whose club snapped a four-game losing skid and made up the game in the standings it lost to Baltimore on Tuesday night. "Weve been struggling a little bit. Against a good ballclub we needed that. We scored some runs early and made them stand up. He looked good. Hes pitched some great ballgames for us this year but perfect timing tonight." Hutchison improved his record to 2-0 against the Orioles in four starts this season. How dominant has he been against Baltimore? His ERA against the AL East foe actually went up after his performance. He entered with a 0.95 number, which skyrocketed to 0.98 following the outing. The Orioles boast one of baseballs best offences. Consistently shutting down a lineup that includes Nick Markakis, Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis is no small feat. "I approach it the same as always, whether its on the road or here at home, whoever Im facing," said Hutchison. "You approach them all the same. You game plan the same way and Ive just had good success against them." Hutchison made a small mechanical adjustment in his between-starts bullpen session, which he said allowed him to stay more on top of the baseball, driving through his delivery. "Locate my heater down, which was more important and the slider comes off of that," said Hutchison. "I think that was more a byproduct of getting through the ball and getting through with the fastball command first and that came off it. I thought my changeup was really good tonight." The search for consistency continues. Hutchison hasnt put together back to back quality starts (six or more innings, three earned runs or less allowed) all season. Hell look to do that on Monday when the Blue Jays open a three-city, eight-game road trip in Seattle. His mound opponent is scheduled to be "King" Felix Hernandez. "You want to be as consistent as possible and as a competitor you expect yourself to be consistently good every time out so when youre not it is frustrating," said Hutchison. "Youre not going to be great every time out. I think the key is the nights you arent great to be able to get through them without a lot of damage, which I havent been great at yet this year but going forward thats obviously something that you want to do." Hutchison is only 23. Hes also working his first full big league season coming off Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, which nowadays is routine but always will be a major procedure. "Thats a glimpse of what we think hes going to be down the road," said Gibbons. "He gets a year or two under his belt from his Tommy John, hes going to be physically stronger. We forget hes a young kid. Hes got a chance to be a real good one." LAWRIES STATUS UNCERTAIN Brett Lawrie underwent an MRI on Wednesday after feeling tightness in his lower back during Tuesdays loss to the Orioles. He left that game after three innings. Hed just returned from a 36-game absence with a fractured right index finger. As of this posting, the Blue Jays hadnt revealed the results of the MRI but the club announced that team doctors in Toronto and Florida were reading the imaging and comparing it to the MRI taken of Lawries oblique injury in 2012. Lawrie missed 30 games, mostly in the month of August, that season. Last year, he suffered an oblique strain in a Team Canada tune up game for the World Baseball Classic on March 5. He didnt make his 2013 season debut for the Blue Jays until April 16. Expect the club to reveal more details on Thursday. LIND NEARS RETURN Adam Lind, out since July 8 with a fracture in his right foot, will begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays on Thursday. Use a pencil, not a pen, to write Lind back into the Blue Jays lineup at the start of the next road trip, Monday in Seattle. "That would be a good goal," said manager John Gibbons. "Hell start playing games in the Gulf Coast (on Thursday) and well see where hes at." The Blue Jays have missed Linds left-handed bat in the middle of the order when the club faces right-handed starting pitching. Few in baseball hit right-handers better than Lind. In 166 plate appearances this season, hes worked a .369 batting average and 1.004 on-base plus slugging percentage versus righties. NORRIS PROMOTED TO BUFFALO Daniel Norris rapid ascent through the minor leagues continues. Hes been promoted to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. In 21 starts with Single-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire, the 21-year-old lefthander is 9-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 102 innings. Norris appeared in the Florida State League All-Star Game in mid-June and then was moved up to New Hampshire. 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With only one selection in the first two rounds — Walters sent his second-round pick to Saskatchewan in the days ahead of the 2013 trade deadline — the No. Cheap Baltimore Ravens Jerseys Online .com Tour title, closing with a 6-under 64 for a four-stroke victory. The 22-year-old former North Texas player finished at 12-under 268 at Panama Golf Club and earned $112,500 to jump from seventh to second on the money list with $171,500.MANGARATIBA, Brazil - A hard rain was falling when Gianluigi Buffon paused for a moment during an Italy training session Tuesday. Leaning forward with both hands on his knees, Buffon appeared to be resting or somehow trying to withstand the rain. Or perhaps the 36-year-old goalkeeper and Italy captain was reflecting on this: He is only the third player in history to be part of five World Cup squads, along with Germany great Lothar Matthaus and former Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal. Buffon first went to the World Cup back in 1998, although he didnt play a second-choice option behind Gianluca Pagliuca. He then took over the starting position from 2002 onward. "A fifth World Cup is a nice milestone but that doesnt mean Im satisfied," Buffon said before departing for Brazil. "Both individually and as a squad were preparing to surprise people." Buffon, of course, doesnt need to prove anything at this point in his career. He was one of the driving forces behind Italys run to the 2006 World Cup title, when he didnt concede a single goal to opponents during normal play over the course of seven matches — letting in only an own goal from Cristian Zaccardo and a penalty from Zinedine Zidane in the final won over France. He helped Parma to the UEFA Cup title way back in 1999 and has since won five Serie A titles with Juventus — including the last three. "As the years go by, Gigi still has the same amount of desire," said midfielder Claudio Marchisio, who plays with Buffon with both Italy and Juventus. "Hes a great professional, a great friend, and a top-level player. Hes a player who is able to give his all in every moment and always offer the right words of encouragement. "There are players here who are at their first big tournament and hes always there offering the right words of advice," Marchisio added Tuesday. Now that Buffon is setting records for longevity, its worth remembering what an early start he had. Born to members of Italys national teams in athletics (his mother) and weightlifting (father), Buffons distant relative Lorenzo Buffon was also Italys goalkeeper in the 1950s. Having played in midfield as a kid, Buffon decided he wanted to be a goalkeeper after seeing Thomas NKono defend Cameroons goal during the 1990 World Cup in Italy — when Buffon was 12 — and years later Buffon named his first son Louis Thomas after NKono. In 1991 when Buffon was just 13, Parma purchased his rights and put him in their youth system.dddddddddddd At 17, Buffon made his Serie A debut with Parma, keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw against AC Milan. At 19, Buffon made a memorable Italy debut on a snowy pitch in Moscow during a playoff with Russia for a spot in the 1998 World Cup. Coming off a frigid bench as an injury replacement for Pagliuca, Buffon first raised eyebrows by wearing shorts in the arctic-like conditions then made a series of impressive saves in a 1-1 draw. Fast forward to 2006, when Buffon was one of the few key players to stay with Juventus when the Turin club was relegated to Serie B due to a match-fixing scandal — meaning that a month after guiding Italy to the World Cup title, he was playing in small second-division stadiums. Then at the 2010 World Cup, Buffon struggled with back pain. He played only a portion of Italys opening match and the Azzurri were promptly eliminated after the first round. But he was back in place to help Italy reach the final of the 2012 European Championship. And last October, Buffon surpassed Fabio Cannavaro with an Italy-record 137th appearance. So how does Buffon keep going? "Motivation is the key," he said in a recent interview with Italian daily La Repubblica. "Reflexes diminish. At my age you dont improve anymore, so its better to reduce training and take better care of injury prevention, nutrition and gym work." Buffon has often recounted how he fell into depression about 10 years ago, then resuscitated himself by turning to literature. He has also been the subject of a couple betting scandals. In 2011, he married Czech model Alena Seredova but Buffon announced last month when Italy gathered to begin training that they had separated. In announcing their split, Buffon thanked Seredova publicly for not making things too difficult for him, and said that he hopes she will bring their two boys to watch him play in Brazil. Whether Seredova and the boys come is yet to be seen. Either way, Buffon has already inscribed his name in the World Cup record books. And who knows, maybe Buffon will continue playing and go back to Russia and the site of his Italy debut for the 2018 World Cup, when hell be 40 — the same age that one of his idols, Dino Zoff, was when he helped Italy to the 1982 World Cup title. "Ill keep playing as long as I dont become a reserve," Buffon said. 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