manager John Gibbons reclined in his office chair

CHICAGO – Less than three hours before first pitch, holding court with the media in his cramped office at U.S. Cellular Field, manager John Gibbons reclined in his office chair, picked up his lineup card and smirked. "Looks much better, dont it? Looks much better." Edwin Encarnacion was back after a 33-game absence with a strained right quadriceps. His return came two games and three days after Adam Linds, who missed 28 games with a fractured right foot. Now is the time. Now is the time for the Blue Jays to emerge from a funk which has seen the club go 3-9, scoring only 30 runs in the clubs first 12 games of August. The bodies you see are the bodies they will have the rest of the way, barring injury. There will be additions, if not a waiver claim or an unforeseen trade, come September 1 when the rosters expand to as many as 40 players. Ryan Goins, optioned out when Lind returned and Anthony Gose, whos Buffalo bound to make room for Encarnacion, will certainly be back. There will be others, too, including possibly left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Norris, whos climbed each step of the ladder and is throwing lights-out baseball with the Bisons. The key is Encarnacion. That he missed one day short of six weeks and still sits tied for seventh in baseballs home run race, with 26 and having only just been passed by the Cubs Anthony Rizzo and the Angels Mike Trout, is an indication of the season hes having. So are his career highs in OPS (.959) and OPS+ (162). The slugger hit a first-pitch grand slam in his first at-bat for Buffalo on Wednesday night. "I was surprised the way I was seeing the pitches, Ive been seeing the pitches good in the four games in the Minor Leagues," said Encarnacion. "I was thinking it was going to be different with my timing and I saw the ball good right now and my timing is good. Well see now, here." Encarnacion started Friday nights game as the designated hitter. He said hes ready to play first base. Im almost 100 per cent. Im just going to take a couple of more days to be 100 per cent but Im ready to play," he said. "I dont feel any pain right now, I played four games down there and I feel great, no problem." "Hell have to play a little bit of first base, but when hes running hell be guarded a little bit," said Gibbons. "Cant do anything stupid." The Jays entered Fridays play three games back of Seattle and Detroit for the American Leagues second wild card spot. Toronto must sweep the White Sox in order to avoid losing ground on any individual day this weekend because the Mariners are visiting the Tigers. "Weve got a chance," said Lind. "Were definitely good enough to be in the playoffs, but that doesnt mean anything, youve got to go out and win games." Lind, who along with Casey Janssen has been a Blue Jay since 2006, was asked why he thought this team could give him his first crack at playoff ball. "We were in first place for a couple of months," said Lind. "Some things fell apart but thats going to happen over the course of a season this long but were solid everywhere. Good staff, good bullpen, good lineup. We dont really have a great piece to anything but were solid across the board. Usually when that happens youre good enough to make the playoffs." The decision to send out Gose is three-fold: first, hes gone to Buffalo on option, which means he can be recalled in 10 days. Hes an outfielder and after Ryan Goins was sent out, the Jays had Gose and Reimold and only one backup infielder. Also, if one considered struggling Juan Francisco a candidate to be sent out, hed first have to clear irrevocable waivers. By keeping him on the 40-man roster, the Jays assure a full allotment of inventory come September 1. Gibbons acknowledged the threat of Franciscos power coming off the bench is worth it to keep him in the fold. "I will say the last couple weeks hes had his struggles," said Gibbons. "But hes also thrown some decent at-bats together. We need him to get going, too, theres no question about that. (With EE & Lind coming back) we can slide him down a little bit and hope he catches a few of em." If the Blue Jays are to be playing meaningful games in a month, they must salvage this road trip in its final two legs, Chicago and Milwaukee. As far as the lineup goes, what you see is what you get from here on out. Youre about to find out if its good enough. Cheap Carolina Panthers Gear . -- Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes Thursday for a 7-under 63 to take the lead after one round of the Honda Classic. Stitched Carolina Panthers Jerseys . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. http://www.cheappanthers.com/ .5 million contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. Hatcher agreed to terms Thursday, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. Cheap Carolina Panthers Jerseys Online . - Chelseas 1-0 win at the Etihad, spoiling Manchester Citys perfect home record continues to be the talking point of the week. Carolina Panthers Jerseys China . Pressley missed all of last season with Cincinnati because of a knee injury, but the 5-foot-10, 249-pounder had been expected to fill a need on Clevelands roster.The Toronto Blue Jays got out of the gate with a dismal 10-17 record last season and dug themselves a hole they could never really get out of. Its a scenario they really cant afford to repeat in 2014. Prior to last season, 39 of the last 60 teams that were in first place in their division on June 1 went on to make the post-season. If you look at last years races division by division, there were only two teams that werent in first or second in June who went on to make the playoffs. In the American League West, Texas was in first through April and May with a 34-21 - two games ahead of Oakland. The As went on a 63-32 tear the rest of the way and won the division by five games over the Rangers, who played and lost a sudden death tie-breaker. In the Central, Detroit and Cleveland hit June 1firsy and second in the division with the Tigers leading by a half-game. Detroit wound up taking the division by one game over the Indians. In the East, Boston was on top at 34-23. This is one division where there was a slight exception. Tampa Bay was actually in 4th place heading into the games of June 1 at 30-25. But the Rays were only a half-game back of Baltimore and one game behind the second place Yankees. The Rays finished 61-46 to take second place. The Blue Jays were 23-33 through the first two months and never really came close to getting back in the race, even with that 11 game win streak. In the National League East, Atlanta was 33-22 through April and May and won the division easily with a 96-66 mark. Washington, a pre-season favourite, was 28-28 and missed the playoffs altogether. In the Central, St. Louis got off to a 37-18 start and led the division wire-to-wire on the way to a Major League best 97-65 record. Pittsburgh was third two months in, but overhauled Cincinnati for second place, though both teams won 90 or more and both made the post season. The National League West was the one division where all bets were off after two months. Arizona was on top at 31-24 with a two-and-a-half game lead on the Giants and Rockies. The Dodgers were seven-and-a-half games out through April and May at 23-31. The division practically turned upside down the rest of the way. The D-Backs faded and finished at 81-81 for the second year in a row. San Francisco and Colorado collapsed and both finished 10 or more games below .500. The Dodgers, though, inspired in large part by the arrival of Yasiel Puig went a scorching 69-39 down the stretch and won the division with a 92-70 mark. So it pretty much goes without saying, the Blue Jays need to be at least slightly above .500 through April and May to have any hope of competing in the tough American League East. Their schedule is, by no means, easy with 22 of their 57 games through the first two months against the A.L East, including six against Boston and seven versus Tampa Bay - the two playoff favourites in the division. The Jays only have 10 games over April and May against "lesser" oppoonents, with three against Houston, three versus Minnesota and a four-game interleague series against Philadelphia.dddddddddddd 25 of the 57 are against teams that either made the playoffs last season or were involved in tie-breakers. The Jays also have just one day off in the month of May; a real test of the pitching staff. No team will ever admit theyre out of it after just two months. The Blue Jays didnt a year ago. But in five of the six divisions last season, the two-month mark painted a pretty vivid picture of where teams are really at. The other day I was reading about the new head of the Players Association, Tony Clark, when another name in the article caught my name. It was Steve Rogers, who also works for the Association as a liaison to the players among his many duties. I actually had to double check that it was the same Steve Rogers who once pitched for the Expos. It was. If you get into a conversation with anyone as to who the greatest pitcher in Expos history was, some might suggest Pedro Martinez, who went 55-33 in his four seasons in Montreal. Others might say Dennis Martinez for his perfect game, maybe Bill Stoneman for his two no-hitters or Ross Grimsley for being the Expos first 20-game winner. In my mind, though, it was Steve Rogers. I was surprised to see his career record was only 158-152, but its his other numbers that blow you away. Over 13 seasons, all with Montreal, he pitched over 200 innings in nine of them. Six times he was over 250 innings, four times over 270 and in 1977 when he won 17 games he pitched an incredible 300.2 innings. He actually pitched more innings per season than Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax and had a better career ERA at 3.17 than another Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. Rogers was a five-time all-star and finished second in the rookie of the year voting and one year was second in the Cy Young balloting. It was a different era, but compare Rogers numbers to one of the Blue Jays all-time greats Roy Halladay in a couple of categories. Rogers had 129 complete games and 37 shutouts and Halladay had 67 complete games and 20 shutouts. Rogers, 64 now, had to retire at 35 when his shoulder essentially gave out on him. He is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame at St, Marys and tries to get back for the Induction Ceremonies every year. He concedes he might even have had a shot at Cooperstown if he had been able to pitch another 5-7 years and could have won another 70 games. The Expos only made the playoffs once in their history - 1981. Steve Rogers beat Phillies legend Steve Carlton twice in the division series and then defeated the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS. But say his name today and many will only remember his relief appearance on "Blue Monday" at the Big "0," when he gave up the series deciding homer to the Dodgers Rick Monday. If you look at the numbers and the character of the man, Steve Rogers should be remembered for much more than that. 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