laying the Finnish rookie

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DUNEDIN, Florida – Could it be? With the Blue Jays failure to land Ervin Santana and the continuing spring struggles, to varying degrees, of Esmil Rogers, Todd Redmond and J. Tim Masthay Packers Jersey .A. Happ, Ricky Romeros name is being brought up on an increasing basis. Its getting lumped in with that large group competing for a job in the starting rotation. Manager John Gibbons was effusive about Romeros Wednesday performance, in which the former ace lefthander allowed one run over four innings of work. "All hes got to do is get it in the zone," said Gibbons. "That ball is moving every which way too. Its tough to square him up. If he gets in the zone, he makes them swing, you add that great changeup on top of that, thats where hes had his success. Where he ran into trouble he was just scattering it. He was walking guys, things like that. Hes getting in the zone now and thats the key." Baby steps, though. Romero did walk two batters and hit another. He was the beneficiary of a beautifully turned double play and of an outfield assist on a base hit by Jose Bautista, who threw out a runner at third. If Romero was to land the starting job, at this moment it seems remote, the Jays would likely begin the season with an eight-man bullpen. The fact Romero isnt on the 40-man roster works against him, performance over the last two seasons aside, but he is owed at least $15.6-million over the remaining term on his contract and the Jays would love to get some value for it. Romero has simplified his approach. "Like Ive told Kratz and Thole, the guys who have caught me the last two times, just set up down the middle and stuff will move," he said. "I feel like Im getting that movement back with the changeup and the sinker. There are going to be times when I come out of my delivery a little bit but I think the good thing now is that Im realizing when Im coming out of it. Its just slowing myself back down and my delivery is going to be key, just finding that rhythm." One noticeable difference from last season: when Romero talks about feeling good, feeling confident, his eyes and his ....... language emit the same. That hasnt been the case. "I definitely feel like its in the right direction and how can you not," said Romero. "Everything Ive been through, this feels good. Im not going to get ahead of myself or anything like that but its taking it day by day and working. I think if I do that, just continue to work, work, and see the little wins each and every day and remain positive I think Im going to be just fine. The rest will take care of itself." Its a long road back to being the 15-game winner from 2011 and Romero may never regain his All-Star form. But hes trying. His manager hopes the crisis of confidence is a thing of the past. "Some guys never rebound from it," said manager John Gibbons. "What hes done here this spring, we noticed it, first started noticing it, just warming up in the bullpen, just throwing their sides and in BP, before we even started playing games, he looked different. Were all pulling for him here." McGowan feeling better Dustin McGowan threw two scoreless innings in Thursdays 7-5 loss to the Astros. It was his first game action in 10 days thanks to a stomach bug. It was the same illness that affected Sergio Santos earlier this month. "I lost eight (pounds,) exactly, too," said McGowan. "I think its the eight pound flu or whatever it was. Next time Sergio needs to stay home." After years of battling shoulder problems, McGowan made 25 appearances out of the bullpen last season, posting a 2.45 ERA while striking out, essentially, one hitter per inning pitched. Hes stretching out this spring, longing to be a starter once more. He felt no side effects from his sickness-induced layoff. "I felt good," said McGowan. "For me, thats the most important thing is feeling good. Pitches are starting to come around and location is starting to get better so its a positive outing today for me." McGowan seems to understand the unlikelihood that hell end up in the rotation, admitting "Its hard to say in my head Im going to be a starter but thats where I want to be." Still, hell continue to try to pitch deeper into games. "Ill keep going this path but if Im at four innings by the end of spring, if they want me in the bullpen thats easy to transfer right into," he said. "If you throw one or two, youre ready for it easily." Has he gained the eight pounds back he lost while sick? "You dont see this," joked McGowan, pointing to his stomach. "Ive got it." Randall Cobb Packers Jersey . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets. Green Bay Packers Jerseys . Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, the Houston Texans No. 1 pick in the draft, was on the field Tuesday for the first time with former NFL Defensive Player of the Year J. http://www.shoptheofficialpackers.com/Elite-Eddie-Lacy-Packers-Jersey/ . PAUL, Minn.The Boston Bruins got a huge overtime goal from an unlikely source, and the Anaheim Ducks got on the board against the Los Angeles Kings. Notes on Fraser, Murray, Vanek, Carter, Vatanen, Andersen and more. FRASER THE OT HERO FOR BRUINS The Montreal Canadiens had an opportunity to take a 3-1 series lead against the favoured Boston Bruins with Game Four headed to overtime scoreless. Then, Bruins rookie LW Matt Fraser knocked a loose puck into the net to give the Bruins a 1-0 win, tying the series at two games apiece. Fraser, a 24-year-old winger called up to replace demoted winger Justin Florek, had three goals and five points in 27 career NHL games, but has been an effective scorer in the AHL, scoring 90 goals in 179 AHL games over the past three seasons. Fraser, who was acquired from Dallas as part of the Tyler Seguin trade, joined Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson on a Bruins third line that dominated play, the trio on the ice for more than 70% of 5-on-5 shot attempts, led by Fraser at 74.1%. Canadiens D P.K. Subban played 22:52, the first time under 26 minutes in this series, yet 1:19 into overtime, when Fraser scored, the Habs had the pairing of Douglas Murray and Mike Weaver on defence and that should have been an indication of trouble. That pairing was obliterated in terms of puck possession, on the ice for four shot attempts for and 20 against. Francis Bouillon wasnt great for Montreal, but hes been more effective than Murray, who has been on ice for 12 shot attempts for and 42 against (22.2 Corsi%) in two games. While were pointing out troubling signs for the Canadiens, RW Thomas Vanek didnt have a single shot attempted in 16:09 of ice time. The only other Canadiens to get zero shot attempts were Daniel Briere, who played a game-low 8:02, and Weaver. Montreals leader in shot attempts was captain Brian Gionta, with eight. Bostons leader, in terms of shot attempts, was D Dougie Hamilton, who had eight in 23:28, his second-highest ice time of the playoffs. If the Canadiens are going to pull off this series upset, they are really going to have to earn it. The series is even even though the Bruins have held the lead for less than four minutes in four games. Thats not to say that tthe Bruins havent been the better team -- theyve controlled more of the play -- but this series was there for the taking and now its a best-of-three with two games in Boston. Quinten Rollins Packers Jersey. DUCKS GET ON THE BOARD The Anaheim Ducks got a late second-period goal from Teemu Selanne, then needed a late third-period marker from Ben Lovejoy to ultimately give them a 3-2 lead in Game Three against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings now lead the series two games to one. The Kings held a possession edge throughout the game, particularly taking advantage against the Ducks line of Mathieu Perreault, Patrick Maroon and Teemu Selanne, a trio that was on the ice for 22.2% or less of 5-on-5 shot attempts. At the same time, Maroon set up Anaheims first goal, on the power play and, as noted, Selanne scored a crucial go-ahead goal. Anaheim was forced to turn to G Jonas Hiller for the last 9:58 of the third period, as starter Frederik Andersen left with a lower-body injury. Andersen had stopped 22 of 23 shots when he got hurt. Jeff Carter led the Kings with a goal and an assist, four shots on goal and seven shot attempts, though Carter and linemates Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli started more than 80% of their shifts in the offensive zone, so they were tilted in that direction. For the Ducks, it was Ryan Getzlaf, who had an assist, four shots and seven attempts. The Ducks inserted D Sami Vatanen into the lineup, playing the Finnish rookie 20:19; only Francois Beauchemin played more among Anaheim defencemen. Theres a reasonable argument to be made that, although undersized, Vatanen should already be handling regular minutes on the Ducks blueline, rather than toiling in the minors waiting for a call-up when the team is in trouble. After dropping the first two games of the series at home, the Ducks desperately needed to get a positive result in Game Three. It wasnt easy, and they lost their starting goaltender in the process, but their win makes the Freeway Series much more interesting heading towards Game Four. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. NFL Jerseys China ' ' '