e side of home plate a little bit and he had room to slide,

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Before tonights Toronto Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre, when the American League East leaders host last years National League pennant winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, the team will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the SkyDome. Jays legends Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, members of playoff and World Series-winning teams of the past, will be on hand for the festivities to look back at what was the beginning of the Jays halcyon years. The return of these former stars comes at an apt time. For fans of the Blue Jays, its starting to feel a lot like those glory days again. Heading into Fridays game, the Jays sit at 37-24 with a five-and-a-half-game lead on the second-place Baltimore Orioles. The last team the Blue Jays held such a lead atop the division was in 1985, the year of their first-ever AL East triumph. Its easy to see why theres excitement surrounding this Jays team, but before everybody goes and books their flights to San Francisco for the World Series in October, lets step back and take a good look at these Toronto Blue Jays. Is it time to stop saying "Well, its early" and officially deem them contenders? Is the 2014 version of the Jays just the 2013 one that was expected all along, but a year late on arrival? Or will reality catch up with a team that is currently playing above its station? Friday night marks Game 62, and an even 100 games remain in the regular season. While its not exactly the halfway mark, its as good a time as any to reflect on the interesting dichotomy of the Jays season, thus far. Obviously, there have been plenty of key performances from the top of the roster on down. Mark Buehrle leads the league in wins with 10 and has a paltry 2.10 ERA. Edwin Encarnacion launched 16 jacks in May and made every at-bat a must-see event. Jose Bautista is in the midst of an MVP-calibre season. Melky Cabrera has bounced back from offseason surgery and looks headed to another All-Star Game. Jose Reyes once again looks like the catalyst he was for the New York Mets. Picked up from the Milwaukee Brewers scrap heap, Juan Francisco is one of the five Jays with double-digit home run totals. There is a lot to like right now. But before the Jays were sweeping the likes of the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics and tearing the cover off the baseball with reckless abandon and going 17-4 over its last 21 games, this team was once a very average 20-20. Its bullpen is still second-last in the bigs with a 4.62 ERA, having surrendered a league-worst 97 earned runs. Now second in the AL with 19 home runs, Encarnacion couldnt buy a hit in April and had just two homers. Reyes, Adam Lind and Casey Janssen missed significant time. Brandon Morrow and Colby Rasmus are down again. There were red flags all over this team not that long ago, but those have been seemingly swept aside in a tidal wave of power-hitting and timely pitching. Has this changed your expectations for the rest of the year? With April and early May indicating that the team was headed for another year of mediocrity, the fact that the Jays are division-leaders with the third-best record in baseball in June is quite frankly shocking. But wasnt this the Toronto Blue Jays team that was promised last season after a winter of major trades and free agent acquisitions? Maybe this run that the Jays are on isnt the aberration. Perhaps, last season and the beginning of this year was the outlier. Regardless of why its happening and how long it will last, the Blue Jays are currently playing meaningful baseball and its a welcome change for fans starving for a winner. So with 100 games left in 2014, just who are these Toronto Blue Jays and what happens from here on out? As always, its Your Call! http://www.sportingkansascitymlsshop.com/Authentic-Roger-Espinoza-Jersey/ . Particularly when speaking in the stadium of Tuesdays opponent: Manchester City. "Maybe they dont fear us as before," Pique said on Monday, "because in the last two years we didnt win the Champions League. http://www.sportingkansascitymlsshop.com/Authentic-Kevin-Ellis-Jersey/ .C. - Brent Sutter scored 1:32 into extra time as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to defeat the visiting Abbotsford Heat 5-4 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. http://www.sportingkansascitymlsshop.co ... la-Jersey/. - A late-game interception by defensive back Malcolm Butler saved the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots. http://www.sportingkansascitymlsshop.com/Customized/ .J. Hardy to avoid a three-game sweep after blowing a big early lead. Odour had a leadoff single in the seventh and scored the tiebreaking run with the help of two errors by Hardy as the Rangers went on to beat the Orioles 8-6 on Thursday night. http://www.sportingkansascitymlsshop.com/Authentic-Chance-Myers-Jersey/ .Murray has played 20 matches in five weeks, winning three titles to climb to fifth in the ATP Race.The two-time Grand Slam champion also seeks to qualify for next months ATP World Tour Finals.Murray said: I always wanted to qualify for it, but also I want to get back into the top 8 players in the world and it makes a huge difference for seedings in the major events.LOS ANGELES -- Carlos Ruiz capped his most productive series of the season so far with another clutch hit, and made a key defensive play at the plate to help the Philadelphia Phillies win a series from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ruiz stroked a tiebreaking two-run double off Brian Wilson in the ninth inning, Marlon Byrd drove in four runs and the Phillies won 7-3 on Thursday night to take three of four from the defending NL West champions. Adrian Gonzalez -- whose fielding error in the fifth led to two runs -- tied the game 3-all in the seventh with a first-pitch homer to centre off Mike Adams, his former Padres teammate. But Philadelphia came back with four in the ninth. "I was basically trying to throw a backdoor cutter and it kind of ran back over the plate," Adams said. "Knowing Adrian from playing with him for many years, I knew he was going to be aggressive with the first pitch. I just missed my spot, and he did what he does." Ruiz regained the lead for the Phillies when he lined a 3-2 delivery down the right field line with one out after singles by Cody Asche and Ben Revere. Byrd greeted Jamey Wright with a bases-loaded two-run single after Wilson (0-2) intentionally walked Chase Utley and hit Ryan Howard with a pitch. Adams (1-0), making his third appearance after undergoing shoulder surgery last July 31 and missing the first two weeks of the season, pitched two innings for the victory despite allowing Gonzalezs homer. "Its been a while since I went two innings," Adams said. "When I came in after the seventh, they asked me if I could stretch it out and go back out for one more. So I said: Lets give it a try and see how it goes." Both managers lost replay challenges. The Dodgers were trailing 3-2 in the fifth when Asche, the Phillies third baseman, fielded Yasiel Puigs grounder behind the bag and threw home, where Ruiz tagged out Hanley Ramirez as he came in standing up without a collision. "That was a big play," Ruiz said. "It was a good throw. I was lucky because those plays happen so fast, you dont have time to think, but I got the ball early. I was on the side of home plate a little bit and he had room to slide, but he didnt and we got the out. I was stilll a little worried it would get changed because now with the replay, you never know.dddddddddddd" Dodgers manager Don Mattingly requested a review from umpire Mike DiMuro based on the new rule pertaining to home plate collisions. It took several minutes but the call was upheld. "Before the ball is thrown, you cant set up where the runner doesnt have anywhere to slide, the way we understand it. Thats what we see on video," Mattingly said. "We felt like it didnt have a place to slide." Ryne Sandberg challenged a call by first base ump Hunter Wendelstedt in the Dodgers sixth. Juan Uribe was initially ruled safe on a grounder to shortstop Freddy Galvis. After a review of several minutes -- and a few choruses of "If It Takes Forever" by stadium organist Nancy Bea Hefley -- the call stood. Kyle Kendrick pitched 5 2-3 innings and allowed two runs and 10 hits, including a two-run homer by Uribe. The right-hander remained 0-7 in his last 12 starts. Dodgers right-hander Dan Haren was charged with three runs -- one earned -- and seven hits in six innings while striking out seven. Kendrick, who gave up a two-out single in each of the first three innings, yielded Uribes two-out homer to left field after a leadoff double by Gonzalez. But the Phillies capitalized on Gonzalezs second error of the season to grab a 3-2 lead. The three-time Gold Glove winner botched a one-out grounder by Utley with runners at the corners, as Revere scored the Phillies first run. Utley was credited with an RBI, and Byrd drove in two more with a double just out of the reach of a diving Puig in right-centre. Gonzalezs error was the Dodgers 23rd in 23 games. NOTES: The Phillies entered Thursday with a bullpen ERA of 5.64, the worst in the majors. ... Ruiz was 7 for 14 in the four-game series with a home run, four walks and his first six RBIs of the season. ... Byrd had two doubles in three at-bats against Haren, and is 12 for 24 for his career against him. ... Dodgers pitchers have given up 14 unearned runs. ... Jimmy Rollins, 5 for 21 against Haren, got the night off and Galvis started at SS for the first time since Sept. 7 of last season. ... Puig was 0 for 3 against Kendrick, after coming in 5 for 6 against him with a double and a triple. China Jerseys ' ' '