Thirty-seven days. Thats how much time remains for the NHL and its players association to bridge a wide gap in collective bargaining negotiations or face another lockout. Commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear during Thursdays bargaining session in New York that the league is prepared to lock out its players when the current agreement expires Sept. 15. "I re-confirmed something that the union has been told multiple times over the last nine to 12 months," Bettman told reporters after a two-hour meeting. "Namely, that time is getting short and the owners are not prepared to operate under this collective bargaining agreement for another season, so we need to get to making a deal and doing it soon. And we believe theres ample time for the parties to get together and make a deal and thats what were going to be working towards." The clock is ticking. It makes next weeks meetings in Toronto particularly important, with NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr expected to deliver the unions first official proposal on Tuesday. It wont look anything like the one the NHL handed over July 13. The union found very little, if anything, it liked in that document, which called for a lowering of the players share in revenue, introduced new contract restrictions and called for an extended entry-level system. One change the players will seek is a broadening of the revenue- sharing system between teams. Fehr raised that issue Thursday during the talks at NHL headquarters as a way to illustrate why the NHLPA wasnt in favour of the leagues proposal. "We made a presentation directly related to the owners proposal -- a revenue-sharing system as it would be combined with the player compensation system that they had proposed," said Fehr. "In the course of doing that, (we) indicated to them that for a couple of different reasons it didnt look to us like it was the way to go. "In particular, the biggest reason was that it seems to us, both overall and on a club-by-club basis, all of the revenue-sharing payments -- both the new ones and the existing ones -- would be paid for by player salary reductions." That was by design. Bettman indicated that "fundamental economics" are more of a key element to the negotiations than revenue sharing. "The fundamental proposal, our initial proposal, relates to the fact that we need to be paying out less in player costs," he said. The NHL lost its entire 2004-05 season to a lockout and seems to be facing the growing possibility of another one. It would be the third on Bettmans watch. Fehr has floated the idea of continuing negotiations while players report to training camp if a new deal wasnt in place by Sept. 15. "Under the law, if an agreement expires, that may give someone the legal ability to go on strike or in this case to impose a lockout," he said. "Theres no requirement that they do so and if nobody does anything you (can) continue to work under the old conditions." However, with the NHL unwilling to do that, negotiations will need to pick up pace. Even though the sides have been meeting regularly since the end of June, very little progress has been made on what they refer to as the "core economic issues" -- how revenues should be divided. "Theres a meaningful gulf there," said Fehr. "Ill leave it at that for now." Cheap Jerseys From China . Lowry, who now has a team-leading 23 goals on the season, is on a seven-game scoring streak and has 12 goals since Dec. 5. Graham Black added his 16th goal of the season for Swift Current (16-17-5). Wholesale Jerseys from china . Curtis Granderson hit his 200th career homer and Soriano shook off getting hit on the side of his right hand by a line drive as the Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 4-2 Sunday. http://www.bizcheapjerseys.com/ . U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan also said the season-long suspension of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was excessive and that she would be inclined to rule in his favour if she were certain she had jurisdiction to do so. Cheap NFL Jerseys . TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie has learned that if Dudley takes a position with Montreal, as could happen by the end of the month, it would be conditional on him not being able to work on the NHL Draft for the Canadiens. Cheap Jerseys NFL . Elmander is Swedens only major injury worry, with the Galatasaray forward struggling to recover from a fracture in his right foot. He worked out separately on Thursday while the rest of squad held their first training session in Ukraine on the outskirts of Kyiv. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Cincinnati played small ball better than Pittsburgh on Wednesday night, allowing the Reds to take another big step toward a division championship. Homer Bailey pitched seven solid innings and Cincinnati came up with just enough offence to squeeze out a 2-1 win for a three-game sweep of the Pirates. "I felt like it was a battle all night," Bailey said. The Reds (87-57) scored both of their runs on outs while moving 30 games over .500 for the first time since they were 96-66 on Oct. 3, 1999. They widened their lead in the NL Central over second-place St. Louis to 11 1/2 games. Manager Dusty Baker doesnt want to stop there. "This was our fifth try at 30," he said. "We finally reached it. Now lets set the next goal for 35." Cincinnatis win and the Cardinals 3-2 loss at San Diego cut to eight the Reds magic number for clinching the division. Any combination of Reds wins and Cardinals losses adding up to eight clinches the title for Cincinnati. Bailey (11-9) allowed six hits and one run with two walks and four strikeouts to extend his career high in victories. Sam LeCure pitched a perfect eighth and rookie J.J. Hoover allowed a two-out hit before striking out pinch-hitter Jose Tabata to complete his first career save. "It was awesome," said Hoover, one of the relievers filling in as closer while Aroldis Chapman deals with a tired shoulder. "It was a good adrenaline rush." Hoover is a Pittsburgh-area native, but he didnt attach any extra significance to reaching the milestone against his hometown team. "It was fun, but I didnt look at it like that," he said. Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett suffered his first loss in four decisions against the Reds this season, two in games started by Bailey. Burnett (15-7), 0-3 in five starts since beating Los Angeles on Aug. 16, allowed five hits and two runs with two walks and eight strikeouts. "It was a well-pitched game on Homers side," Burnett said. "You have to tip your hat." The score was tied 1-all when Ryan Ludwick led off Cincinnatis sixth with a double down the left-field line. He tagged and went to third on Jay Bruces fly ball to deep centre field then tagged and scored on Scott Rolens sacrifice fly down the left-field line. The Reds cashed in a bit of good fortune to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Ryan Hanigan led off with a lined single to centre field and moved to seecond one out later on Brandon Phillips bouncer up the middle.dddddddddddd Both runners moved up on Burnetts wild pitch, and Hanigan scored on Wilson Valdezs chopper to second. Baker was impressed with some execution from his team that he wasnt seeing earlier in the season. "Youve got to do those things if youre going to win close ballgames," he said. "(The Pirates) were doing it earlier this season. Its nice to get the sweep and get one step closer." The Pirates tied it in the fourth on singles by Andrew McCutchen, Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez to lead off the inning before leaving the bases loaded when Bailey struck out Burnett. They missed another scoring opportunity in the sixth when Alex Presley tripled down the right-field line with one out and was caught stealing home when Clint Barmes couldnt get his bat on a suicide squeeze attempt. Baker and bench coach Chris Speier smelled it and ordered a pitchout, which also turned into a disaster when Baileys foot slipped on the mound and the high-and-away pitch suddenly was low-and-away, but Ryan Hanigan still caught it in time to block the plate. "All the credit goes to Dusty and Speier," Bailey said. "Hanigan did a great job. He ended up with chalk and dirt all over his face." Barmes did what he could to get his bat on the pitch. "It looked like it may have been way outside," he said. "I still almost got a piece of it." Those are the kinds of plays that havent gone the Pirates way during their now season-worst six-game losing streak, which has left manager Clint Hurdle willing to look anywhere for a spark "We tried to scratch out a run," Hurdle said. "It was a good call by them." Notes: 3B Pedro Alvarez was scratched from Pittsburghs original starting lineup less than an hour before the first pitch with what a spokesman called "right wrist discomfort." There was no definitive word before the game on when Alvarez suffered the injury or how long he might be out. ... 2B Neil Walker took batting practice Tuesday, but he still missed his 15th straight game with lower back tightness on Wednesday. He had no baseball-related activities planned for Wednesday or Thursday, manager Clint Hurdle said. "Well see how he is on Friday," Hurdle said. ... Thursdays day off is the last on Pittsburghs schedule. The Pirates are scheduled to finish with 20 games in 20 days. ' ' '