Nationals, Braves to battle for NL East supremacy

Even after the acquisitions of Gonzalez and Jackson, the Nationals generally were viewed as being a year away from seriously competing in a much-improved NL East. But thanks to some strong starting pitching and some talented young position players camouflage baseball jerseys, Washington sits atop the division.

There will be a lot of scoreboard watching in Cincinnati and St. Louis this weekend.

Atlanta has slumped recently, though, having lost four consecutive games to the Cincinnati Reds and scoring just 12 runs in its past six games. There is a good chance the Braves’ offense will continue to struggle this weekend when the Nationals start Ross Detwiler (3-3, 3.65 ERA), Strasburg (4-1 cheap mlb baseball jerseys, 2.21) and Gonzalez (6-1, 1.98).

Casual fans know about Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg and outfield phenom Bryce Harper, but they might not know why the Braves are just as good.

During their six-game winning streak, the Reds’ staff has posted a 2.50 ERA custom baseball jersey, and the offense has provided a cushion by scoring 27 runs. This weekend, the Reds will host the Colorado Rockies, who just snapped a six-game losing streak and are 5-16 this month.

The Reds have picked the perfect time to get hot because the St. Louis Cardinals have hit a bit of a rough stretch. Cincinnati has won six consecutive games to take over first place in the NL Central.

“Some kind of way we’ve got to find a way to scrap some runs across,” Bourn told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Great American Ball Park.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, will host the Philadelphia Phillies and will face Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay in the four-game set that began Thursday. Since climbing a season-high two games over .500 on May 18, the Phillies have slumped.

Everyone noticed the Washington Nationals’ progression, and many believed they soon would reach contender status.

Unlike in previous seasons when pitching carried Atlanta—not just the glorious 1990s but also the recent past—this team’s staff has been mediocre at best. But the Braves can score runs with anybody in the league. They rank in the top five in the NL in runs, home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. And they have posted those numbers while playing their home games in a pitcher-friendly park.

Because of those moves, the Nationals no longer are on the cusp of success; they are experiencing it. And their series in Atlanta is one of the premier matchups of the weekend.
Nationals at Braves

Martin Prado and Chipper Jones have led the way offensively, but seven of the club’s regulars—Prado, Jones cheap baseball jerseys, Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla, Michael Bourn and Jason Heyward—have OPS-plus marks north of 100, the line for average.

With their recent draft picks ripening and after some spending in previous offseasons, the Nationals were considered a team on the brink of real success. In 2013 discount mlb jerseys, this could be a team to be reckoned with. But general manager Mike Rizzo got bold, trading highly touted prospects for one front-line starting pitcher (Gio Gonzalez) in December and offering another (Edwin Jackson) a one-year deal as signing season closed.

Should Miami Marlins Make Contract Extension Top Priority

This season has been a continuation of the past two years, in which Sanchez has become the model of consistency after spending time on the 60-day DL twice with shoulder strains and also having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

Jackson, Danks and Wilson have all proven more durable than Sanchez. Not all the stats are comparable, but it does give the Marlins some numbers to work with when looking to possibly sign Sanchez.

A few pitchers that will draw comparable attention to Sanchez as free agents include Jackson, Francisco Liriano, Shaun Marcum and Brandon McCarthy.

John Danks signed a five-year, $65 million deal ($13 million per season) with the Chicago White Sox after 170.1 innings with a 4.33 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.

In February, Sanchez was awarded the $8 million he had requested through arbitration, instead of the $6.9 million the Miami Marlins had offered.

According to MLB Trade Rumors' list of available starting pitchers for the 2013 season, Sanchez will be behind Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke in the free agent pecking order.

The Marlins weren’t strangers to spending money this winter as they announced the signings of Jose Reyes, Heath Bell and Mark Buehrle to a total of $191 million within the span of a week.

When performance is added to the two-plus years of injury-free results, the risk-reward of having Sanchez in the rotation for the next four or five years becomes much more tempting.

Sanchez hasn’t thrown less than six innings in any start this season and is in the middle of a five-start stretch in which he has completed seven innings each time out.

Setting performance to the side and speaking directly to his durability, Sanchez has made 32 starts the past two seasons discount mlb jerseys, including throwing 195-plus innings in each.

Including his seven starts this season, Sanchez has managed a 3.47 ERA since the start of 2010.

Comparing him to some of the starting pitchers that signed contracts this offseason, Sanchez will likely cost the Marlins somewhere in the $11 million to $14 million range per year to extend.

Given the unlikely event the Marlins are able to sign Cole Hamels or Zack Grienke, it would make sense to keep Sanchez in-house camouflage baseball jerseys, especially given their lack of MLB-ready arms in the farm system.
 

Players with club options such as Dan Haren, James Shields and Tim Hudson weren’t included in the lists above because of the high probability those options will be picked up.

After being courted by Miami, CJ Wilson signed a five-year $77.5 million contract ($15.5 million per season) with the Los Angeles Angels. Wilson made 34 starts for the Texas Rangers in 2011 baseball jerseys custom, throwing 223.1 innings with 2.94 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.

Is that sample size sufficient for owner Jeffrey Loria and team president David Samson to consider Sanchez’s bill of health to be clean enough to warrant an extension?

Shoulder injuries stalled Anibal Sanchez early in his career, so it was more than a minor concern when shoulder tightness caused him to push back his first spring training start.

Edwin Jackson posted a 3.79 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 199.2 innings in 2011 and signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals worth $11 million.

Seven starts into the 2012 season buster posey jersey, those concerns are becoming a distant memory.

With this being his last season as an arbitration-eligible player, he is a prime candidate for a contract extension.

He has also seen a steady increase in his K/9 rate from a 7.25 mark two seasons ago to 9.26 last year and a 9.70 K/9 through 47.1 innings this season. In that same time evan longoria jersey, his BB/9 is down from 3.23 to 2.28.

The Crown had been seeking a six-year prison term

The Crown had been seeking a six-year prison term. The defence had asked for a conditional sentence with no jail time.

“All of them combined keep me strong henrik sedin jerseys,” he said. “I get up every morning, my feet hit the floor running, looking for the next opportunity to help the next person get to where I am, where Sheldon is, where Todd is. It’s kind of a call to all the victors of child sexual abuse: We’ve been through the war and we’ve come out of it empowered, we’re advocates and we talk about what happened to us very openly.

Fleury says he’d steeled himself for the eventuality of such a verdict, long ago insulating himself from any emotional reaction to whatever might happen.

“The hardest thing for reporters, for people, to understand is that I have no emotion attached to this. I am in recovery. I am a victor over what happened to me.

“The next part of the process, for me, is to make the next federal election all about: What are we going to do about sexual abuse?

“The fact that he wore a ski mask in the courtroom? That tells me, tells the world, that ‘I’m still doing this stuff.’ If not, why not show your face?

“That’s why I got myself in a place of strength and peace and happiness before I went to Winnipeg to start this whole process. At the end of the day, the whole exercise was about exposing the system.

James pleaded guilty in December to sexually assaulting Fleury and Holt during the 1980s and early ‘90s. Charges against the longtime junior coach involving a third player ice hockey jerseys, Greg Gilhooly, were stayed. After being convicted 1997 of molesting Kennedy, James served 18 months of a 3 1/2-year sentence.

“This is not about me anymore,” the former Calgary Flames star calmly repeated an hour after disgraced hockey coach Graham James was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for sexually assaulting Fleury and cousin Todd Holt during their junior hockey days.

The swelling indignation of a nation, says Theoren Fleury, gives him a sense of hope, something the justice system failed to.

In passing sentence. Manitoba provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson said no sentence imposed could give back to Holt and Fleury what was taken by James.

Fleury — who battled depression and dependency and contemplated suicide after being molested by James discount nhl hockey jerseys, an authority figure Sidney Crosby jersey, during his junior hockey days — followed the sentencing in a Winnipeg courtroom via Twitter on Tuesday morning.

“There was a pardon given. Bail given. They allowed letters from adolescent kids from South America. C’mon … like, seriously? Does the legal system think we’re that stupid? They must.

“I predicted this right from the start,” Fleury said. “We knew what we were up against before the trial even started.

Fleury thanked supporters for their emails of encouragement he’s received as the wait for a ruling on this case ground on.

“All we’re asking for is some type of action now, some type of leadership. As advocates we can jump up and down and scream but unless people listen, and people act, it does no good. What you have to do is get into the social consciousness of Canada.

“There is no more shame, no more guilt, attached to our lives anymore — and that’s really the freedom of this whole thing.’’

A quick, widespread outburst of disbelief and anger followed the ruling. To many, a two-year term wasn’t nearly enough. Outside the courtroom, Holt called the sentence “a national travesty.”

“And I think the intense reaction to this ruling shows that that is happening.’’

The important thing, he stressed, is not so much the decision handed down in a Winnipeg courtroom on Tuesday morning, but what happens now.

He took the sure-to-be-controversial verdict in stride, even as a growing, widespread sense of anger and disbelief began to build.

“I gotta tell you, man, I never, ever, attached any emotion to anything that was going on in the court system. I’ve been too busy responding to the 100 emails a week I get from victims. Through this whole thing, I got an education in the legal system, so when people send emails about going through the process nhl hockey jerseys, so I can let them know exactly what’s going to happen to them.’’

“I think Canada’s reaction to the sentence is a very positive step. The country is outraged. If you read what’s on Twitter right now, we’re starting to get the kind of reaction we need in order to make change.’’

“This was never about personal revenge. What does revenge do? Nothing.

“This is about doing our utmost to eliminate the biggest epidemic we have on the planet. You have kids. I have kids. What’s important is that not one more kid has to go through what I did. What Sheldon (Kennedy) did. What Todd (Holt) did. That’s the reason for this entire exercise.

The night Richard scored five goals

Before the Canadiens scatter to the winds, strength and conditioning coach Pierre Allard should have a full and frank discussion with Kaberle, who has two seasons left cheap nhl hockey jerseys, at $4.25 million per, on his contract:

Lidstrom is the same height as Kaberle. He weighs 190 pounds.

The Habs scored twice in the second and three times in the third.

To Bob Davidson authentic hockey jerseys, one of the loop's leading backcheckers, was assigned the task of hobbling the rocketing Richard, and he did a good job of it in the first game. Last night Irvin played four defencemen and only eight forwards and Richard appeared on all three lines. Half the time he was out there, Davidson was sitting on the bench and Richard made a monkey of the younger Leafs who tried to take over the task of shadowing him.

"See you in September, Tomas - but maybe less of you."

But the entire Habitant team looked good. Bill Durnan came back to turn in a gilt-edged performance, though the solitary shot that beat him was one of the easiest he had to handle all night. The defence played good solid hockey with Glen Harmon and Mike McMahon being especially prominent. The Watson Chamberlain-Getliffe line checked effectively and might have picked up several markers if their shooting had been a little more accurate. Buddy O'Connor and Elmer Lach turned in good games claude giroux jerseys, and Paul Bilbeault made some of his best stops at the expense of Jerry Hefferman.

Nicklas Lidstrom will be 42 on April 28, when he and his Detroit teammates are a good bet to be advancing through the Western Conference playoffs. Lidstrom leads the Red Wings in ice time, averaging 23: 56 per game.

Kaberle could carry an extra 25 pounds if he were a physical defenceman. But the second coming of Scott Stevens he is not.

With Maurice Richard giving a display of fire-power that has never been equalled in the history of modern playoff hockey, Canadiens ran rampant over Toronto Leafs at the Forum last night, trimming them 5-1 to tie up the best-of-seven series at one game apiece. Richard gave the huge crowd of 12 sidney crosby jerseys,234 cash customers thrill after thrill as he scored all five goals.

Kaberle turned 34 on March 2. For players that age, Dubé noted, conditioning is of primordial importance.

The first-ballot Hall of Famer has won the Norris Trophy seven times and can legitimately be mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr.

Part of the Leafian strategy was to tie up Richard. They said they could stop the Habitants by stopping him. But last night they simply could not hold the boy from Bordeaux and to Coach Dick Irvin must go an assist for the black-haired forward's great display. On the night, Irvin completely out smarted the rival general.

Kaberle is 6-foot-1 and listed at 214 pounds. Dubé thinks the defenceman is out of shape, and I've heard that criticism voiced by other members of the hockey punditocracy.

Reg Hamilton scored the Leaf 's only goal in the middle frame.

He is overweight.

Dubé cited Chris Chelios, who played into his 40s. The former Canadien - shall we pause briefly for a good cry? - enjoyed prolonged effectiveness because of a conditioning regimen that included killer offseason workouts.

Bracketed with Richard as a star was Toe Blake, who turned in his second fine game in succession. Toe also established a new mark for assists Sidney Crosby jersey, earning one on all five goals.

Defencemen who have been effective into their middle-to-late 30s have played at 10 pounds or more below the weight they carried when they were 20 somethings coming into the league.

Johnson Baertschi jets in just in time for historic return of Winnipeg

“So it’s good that he can get acclimatized to his surroundings, to the guys, to the way things are done. It’s a pressure time of year, obviously. How will he handle it? Everybody’s personality is different; everybody reacts to situations differently. He’s been a gamer. That’s how they talk about him. It’s up to us, the coaches, players, to help him feel as good as he can about himself; about his situation.’’

“He’s going to be fine vancouver canucks jerseys,’’ predicted defenceman Mark Giordano. “Me? At 19? I was in my first year junior, I think, in the OHL. Trying to get used to that level. I couldn’t imagine making the jump from there to here at that age, at his age. There’s only a few guys, special players, that can. He’s one of them.’’

As it so happens, Baertschi’s highly-anticipated National Hockey League debut tonight with the Calgary Flames dovetails into the first appearance by the Jets in this town in more than a decade and a half, since their tear-streaked death march to the cacti and sunscreen and scorpions of the Arizona desert in the summer of ’96.

“Give him a period or so. Once he’s playing, once he’s over the initial jitters, his skills will take over. He has a great demeanour. He’s not a hyper guy; very controlled Patrick Kane jersey, very relaxed. You and I know sidney crosby jerseys, it’s going to be a huge stage. He’s played world juniors in North America the last two years and certainly we’ve had some big games here. But nothing like this level.

Their lineup as thin as a butterfly’s wing, the future, out of necessity, has become the present for the bubble-straddling Flames. Sven Baertschi makes his debut tonight, nearly 16 years after the Winnipeg Jets last played a game in this town.

“What he does have is NHL skill. His vision, thinking, puck movement … he’s quick changing speeds, inside-outside. He’s the type of guy who’s played with Ty Rattie, a high, high-end skill guy, but he’s also played with more direct players. So he’s versatile.’’

“I don’t know how much he’s going to play right now, I don’t know how long he’s going to be here,’’ said left winger Alex Tanguay, watching Flames GM Jay Feaster welcome Baertschi to the fold with a firm handshake following Thursday’s practice, “but we all know he’s going to be a big part of the future of this franchise.

“As a young player, you want to prove you belong; you want to show you can contribute. Believe me, I know. But you can’t do that by trying to do everything. He understands. He’s a smart kid.

He’ll get his chance tonight, with the Flames doggedly in pursuit of the eighth and final playoff seeding out West, and the Jets in an equally chaotic tussle out East.

So, no, he wouldn’t have a hot clue about who in tarnation Dave Manson was. Or German Titov or Paul Kruse or two-goal ’Toban Dallas Drake. From that game, geriatrics Nikolai Khabibulin and Shane Doan are stubbornly defying time, still pluggin’ away at the top level. And he must’ve heard stories of the indomitable will/incisive skill of Theo Fleury, in some misty, old-guy kind of way.

At the embryonic age of 19, he’s being dropped into the roaring inferno of a frantic playoff push.

“Put a smile on his face before we go out tomorrow. Tell him to have fun. He’s a talented player. Just let him play. Just let him do his thing.’’

Sven Baertschi had only recently graduated from toddler status, was approaching his fourth birthday, the last time the Winnipeg Jets paid a visit to the Saddledome. A long-ago, distant-galaxy 4-1 Jets’ triumph on March 31, 1996.

“The best advice I can give him is this: It’s the same game. The pace is just a little quicker. The guys are the same, they play the same, they skate the same. They just do everything a bit faster. But that’s why he’s been successful in junior — he plays at a pace most other kids can’t.’’

The key, says Tanguay, is not to stretch, to strain, to overdo. It’s an overripe cliche, of course, but stay within your comfort zone. He ain’t being counted on to multiply loaves and fishes.

No tentative toe-dipping in the wading pool here. It’s right off the three-metre board and into the deep end.

“He turned a lot of heads at training camp this year,’’ reminded Tom Kostopoulos.

“He could easily have been on our team all along.

“You can’t ask him to come in and score three goals. There’s not too many guys at 18, 19 who come in and fill the net. Don’t worry about that. Do things right and everything will evolve.

“The intensity, the media attention Claude Giroux jersey, the scrutiny, the buildup around these games, trying to make it into the playoffs … it’s all something he’s never experienced before,’’ acknowledged Portland Winterhawks boss Mike Johnston, Baertschi’s junior tutor and an associate coach at the NHL level in both Vancouver and L.A. “So, sure authentic nhl jerseys, he’s going to be nervous for the first part.

Michalek has 3 goals as Ottawa beats Tampa Bay

Patrick Kane jersey

Greening and Turris scored 53 seconds apart late in the first as Ottawa took a 3-0 lead. Greening scored from the low slot, while Turris’ shot went off Tampa Bay defenseman Brett Clark.

Ottawa is without goalie Craig Anderson, who is sidelined by a hand injury. He won all three of the Senators’ previous games this season with the Lightning discount nhl hockey jerseys, allowing just three goals overall.

“Right now, it’s open to evaluation,” MacLean said. “He had to get it reset. We’ll just to see how he gets through it.”

Tampa Bay got within 4-3 when Steven Stamkos scored his league-leading 48th goal of the season during a power play at 5:41 of the third. The center has five goals and three assists during a five-game point streak.

The Lightning got within 3-2 in the opening 7:12 of the second when Shannon and Wallace scored on 6-foot-7 Ben Bishop, who was making his Senators debut. Bishop was acquired from St. Louis for a 2013 second-round draft pick on Feb. 26.

Michalek scored three third-period goals, helping the Ottawa Senators withstand a Tampa Bay comeback attempt and beat the Lightning 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Karlsson made it 4-2 on a power-play goal at 11:58 of the second. The defenseman has 16 goals and 67 points this season.

“He’s been playing well for us,” Stamkos said. “It was tough.”

Lightning coach Guy Boucher said Garon will have an MRI on Wednesday.

Sergei Gonchar, Colin Greening, Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson had the other Ottawa goals. Michalek also had an assist, setting up Greening’s goal with a nifty pass from behind the net.

Michalek’s previous high for goals was 26, set while with San Jose in 2006-07. He also had a hat trick against Tampa Bay on Oct. 15, 2009.

Ottawa, which took a three-goal lead early on, went up 5-3 when Michalek scored a power-play goal at 12:12 of third. The left wing added two empty-net goals, including a short-handed effort with 7 seconds left to give him a career-best 32 goals this season.
“That’s great for him,” Senators coach Paul MacLean said. “I think he’s always been a player of that potential and the injuries that he’s had kind of slowed him down. We’re really happy for him. To reach that plateau montreal canadiens jerseys, it’s really a credit to him and his hard work.”

“We can’t seem to beat those guys,” Boucher said.

Milan Michalek surpassed the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career in an unusual way.

Tampa Bay goalie Mathieu Garon left four minutes into the game with an undisclosed lower body injury after making a save and was replaced by Dwayne Roloson. Garon, who had gone 12-3-2 in his previous 17 starts, appeared to get hurt when he kicked out his leg on the play.

Senators defenseman Chris Phillips left in the first with a broken nose after a center-ice hit.

“When they score seven goals philadelphia flyers jerseys, it helps,” said Bishop, who made 25 saves. “The guys played good in front of me.”

Gonchar stopped a personal 43-game goal drought Sidney Crosby jersey, dating back to Nov. 12 against Toronto, to put Senators up 1-0 midway through the first.

Ryan Shannon and Tim Wallace also scored for the Lightning, who had won four in a row. Teddy Purcell assisted on Stamkos’ goal and has 14 assists and 20 points during a career-high 10-game point streak.

The Senators won the season series 4-0, outscoring Tampa Bay 19-6.

Tampa Bay (30-28-6) at Carolina (24-27-13)

Tampa Bay rallied from two down on Friday for a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Rangers. The Lightning have won six of eight following a 1-3-1 skid.

Tampa Bay goes for a fourth straight victory on Saturday night when the host Hurricanes try to avoid their first set of back-to-back regulation losses in nearly two months.

Their four-game point streak ended Thursday with a 3-2 loss to the Rangers.

Since losing at Winnipeg and Pittsburgh last week by a combined 12-4 score, the Lightning (30-28-6) have gone undefeated and are tied with Buffalo with 66 points Claude Giroux jersey, four back of eighth-place Winnipeg in the conference.

Continued production from captain Eric Staal could help the Hurricanes close that gap on Tampa Bay. Staal has seven goals and 11 assists during a 10-game point streak. Since the team relocated from Hartford in 1997 claude giroux jerseys, there is only one longer point streak, Staal’s 11-game run from Jan. 16-Feb. 5, 2010.

If Ward makes a fifth start against Tampa Bay this season, it will be his 400th career game - all with Carolina. Ward is 9-3-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average in his last 13 home starts, yet he’s turned aside just 57 of 64 shots as these teams have split two games in Raleigh in 2011-12.

With an 11-3-2 record in his last 16 starts, Mathieu Garon should make his first start in Carolina this season. Garon surrendered three first-period goals on eight shots on Jan. 12 before being replaced by Dwayne Roloson.

A victory over the Lightning could give the Carolina Hurricanes a much-needed lift.

Before beginning their stretch of 10 of 12 outside Raleigh, the Hurricanes will try to cap off their six-game homestand by recording eight of 12 possible points.

While Tampa Bay tries to win four in a row for the first time since a season-best 5-0-0 run from Jan. 17-31 henrik sedin jerseys, Carolina (24-27-13) enters this Southeast Division matchup needing to build momentum with a season-high five-game trip starting Tuesday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s playoff push got a nice boost with a victory over the Eastern Conference’s top team.

Tampa Bay opens its season-high seven-game homestand on March 10 versus Carolina.

Martin St. Louis’ nine-game point streak versus Carolina ended that night cheap nhl jerseys, but the Lightning forward enters this contest with four goals and eight points in the last five games after setting up Teddy Purcell’s career-high 18th on Friday.

The Hurricanes, who have points in 15 of 19 games since a 5-2 victory at Tampa Bay on Jan. 12, are tied with the New York Islanders with 61 points, five back of the Lightning and Buffalo.

Purcell, who has five goals and 12 assists during an eight-game point streak, is tied with Steven Stamkos - the league leader with 45 goals - with a team-best three scores against Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward this season.

“Our players have really developed this mental toughness to fight through,” coach Guy Boucher said Friday after Ryan Malone netted the game-winner. “We’re getting rewarded for not quitting.”

Staal’s current nine-game streak with an assist is the longest such stretch by a Hurricane since relocation. He has a team-high five points - all assists in Tampa Bay - as these teams have split four games in 2011-12. Staal’s season-high three assists weren’t enough in the last meeting on Jan. 12.

“We were there, we just fell short,” said coach Kirk Muller montreal canadiens jerseys, whose team last dropped two straight in regulation on Jan. 7 and 10.