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BALTIMORE – Hours before his Blue Jays dropped an 8-2 decision to the now-American League East champion Orioles, general manager Alex Anthopoulos was asked to clarify whether John Gibbons would return as manager in 2015. Adidas Superstar Soldes Femme . Gibbons indicated on Monday he wasnt certain of his future. "Hes under contract," said Anthopoulos. "Hes always under contract pretty much. I dont think theres anything to take care of. I think hes done a good job." The Jays have lost three in a row and sit five games back of Kansas City for the second wild card spot. With 12 games remaining, the Jays tragic number (the number of combined Toronto losses with Kansas City victories to produce mathematical elimination) is eight. The Jays must first surpass Cleveland and then Seattle before the Royals would be directly in their crosshairs. The task, needless to say, is a tall one. Realists would suggest the postseason dream is dead, that a comeback is impossible. Theyre probably correct. Oh, the use of "probably" is only a hedge until the math officially eliminates them. When the dust settles and the Blue Jays find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture for a second-straight season following high profile trades for the likes of Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey, the club will have plenty of questions to answer. This is a team that is ready to build around a young pitching nucleus of Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchison, with Daniel Norris waiting in the wings. There must be a focus on improving the middle of the diamond. Second base, which was handed to Ryan Goins at the start of the year and then was played by Brett Lawrie, Munenori Kawasaki and Steve Tolleson, must be addressed. The matter of second base is further complicated by the poor defensive season Jose Reyes had at shortstop. Perhaps he should be asked, or for $22-million per season, told, to move to second. Then, Anthopoulos could explore shortstop options. Theres also that matter of third base, which is Lawries if hes healthy. Given Lawries extensive injury history, its not safe to assume hell come close to 162 games next year. A contingency plan must be in place. All of that and we havent gotten to the outfield, where Anthony Gose appears poised to take over for Colby Rasmus in centre. Melky Cabrera should be retained but as an impending free agent, that matter is as much up to him as it is the team. If he goes, theres a hole in leftfield. Rightfield is the lone spot of stability out there unless Jose Bautista is dealt. These decisions certainly would involve Gibbons who, at least, would be asked to provide feedback. When asked whether he could assure that Gibbons would be managing the Blue Jays when players report to Dunedin next February, Anthopoulos didnt say "no." He also didnt say "yes." "Hes under contract," said Anthopoulos. "I mean, again, Ive said this before too, Im a big believer that no matter what position it is in the organization, grounds crew, administrative assistant, manager, coach, you support them until you dont support them. Until theyre no longer in those positions, you support them. I mean, that positions going to be that way whether were 100 games over .500 or were struggling. You know, we always support our staff." Gibbons is under contract, true. But Anthopoulos statement doesnt give us any sense into which way hes leaning because Gibbons will remain under contract until well beyond termination. The way the skippers deal works, if Gibbons is managing the Blue Jays on January 1st of a given year (say, 2015), his option for the following season (say, 2016) automatically vests. "I wouldnt make anything more of this," said Anthopoulos. Fair enough. But a firm Yes, hell be our manager would have gone a long way toward keeping the sniffing dogs at bay. Adidas Superstar Arc En Ciel . -- Scott Langley is being careful not to get too far ahead of himself in the Travelers Championship. Adidas Superstar 2 Blanche Pas Cher . LOUIS -- Tony La Russa will become the second retired manager to lead an all-star team next summer, joining Hall of Famer John McGraw.For all thats been made of Andrew Lucks matchups with Peyton Manning, the third-year quarterbacks remaining room for growth might be most evident when facing another future Hall of Famer. Tom Brady, coming off a bye following a win over Manning, will try to again show Luck that he still has things to learn tonight as the New England Patriots look to distance themselves from another of the top AFC contenders. You can watch the game live on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN GO at 8pm et/5pm pt. Their offense is doing a great job this year. They score a lot of points, especially at home, and hes kind of the ringleader, Brady said of Luck. ... When you play another great offense, youre going to have to put up a lot of points, similar to our last game. We realize we have a big job, too. Youre right, my focus is on the other side of the ball, but you also know youre not going to be able to score 13 points and win the game. Despite his stretch of dominance through the air, Luck has struggled in matchups with the Patriots. Hes posted a 51.6 completion percentage with seven interceptions in two games against New England (7-2), a 2012 regular-season loss and last seasons 43-22 playoff defeat for a rating of 58.2 - his lowest among teams hes faced more than once. Brady had three TDs, no INTs and a 106.9 rating in those games. You think about it, Luck told the teams official website. Especially when you come back from the offseason and youre watching cutups of games, what went wrong. You do see the cutups and think, OK, what could we have done differently? Its quite the contrast from Lucks current seven-game run, during which he has 21 touchdowns, six interceptions and an average of 363.3 yards for a 104.5 rating. He leads the league with 3,085 yards and is on pace to narrowly surpass Mannings record of 5,477. The Colts are coming off a 40-24 win over the New York Giants on Nov. 3 that led into their bye. Luck went 25 of 46 for 354 yards and four scores to give Indianapolis (6-3) a sixth win in seven games. This team is going as far as Andrew goes, said receiver T.Y. Hilton, who has averaged 118.7 yards in those seven contests. The Colts have also won three straight at home, while New England is 2-2 on the road but enters with a five-game winning streak. A 43-21 home victory over Denver on Nov. 2 vaulted the Patriots to the top of the AFC.. Adidas Supercolor Pas Cher. Brady was 33 of 53 for 333 yards, four TDs and an interception. It was his first pick in five games and just his third of the season. His interception percentage - the percentage of times picked off when attempting to pass - of 0.9 is tops in the league, well ahead of Luck at 15th (2.3 percent, with nine interceptions). While the Colts 32.2 points per game puts them ahead of Denver (31.8) and New England (31.2) for the NFL lead, the Patriots have taken better care of the ball with a league-low six turnovers. Their plus-12 differential ties them with Arizona for the best in the league, while Indianapolis margin is even with 15 turnovers. Plus, the Patriots have averaged a league-best 40.2 points in the last five games. Part of that has to do with Rob Gronkowskis return to dominance, with 36 catches for 516 yards and five scores in that span. He has 18 receptions for 254 yards and four TDs in the past two. Defensively, the Patriots just proved they could disrupt one of the leagues best quarterbacks as Manning was held to a season-low 80.9 rating. The Colts will be out to show they can do the same, though they werent successful at it against the top two rated quarterbacks theyve faced - Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, who rank second and third behind Aaron Rodgers. Both games resulted in losses and were Indianapolis only two allowing more than 30 points. The Colts gave up 82 points, 1,000 total yards and nine TD passes in those defeats. Indianapolis has given up 31 passing plays of at least 20 yards and ranks 27th with an average of 263.6 yards passing allowed. Keeping Brady upright against a Colts team with 24 sacks will be the key to taking advantage. They blitz quite a bit more than most of the teams that weve played, which is going to be, I would say, a very critical factor in the game, our ability to handle that, New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. Including playoffs, the Patriots have won three straight in the series, but those all came at home. Theyve dropped the last two in Indianapolis, and the potential implications of this game arent lost on anyone. We know how important it is. Its us going there or them coming here (in the playoffs), Hilton said. We want to have that game here when it comes that time. Right now they are coming here so weve got to take advantage of it. Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China cheap jerseys factory ' ' '
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