Injuries have finally taken the Blue Jays down and messed up whatever chance they may have had of making the postseason. Yet other teams have had injuries as well and have held up better than the Jays. The bulk of the Jays problems come down to pitching. A couple of glaring stats stand out. The Jays lead the American League in walks issued with 374. If you look at the five teams curently holding down playoff spots in the American League, only one - the Angels - has given up more than 300 (337). In their own division, the Yankees have given up 289 walks - 85 fewer than the Jays. Even the Oakland As with their relatively young and inexperienced staff have only surrended 315 bases on balls. In strikeouts, the picture is similar. The Jays have 734. Of the teams holding playoff spots, only the As have fewer with 711. The Blue Jays team ERA is 12th in the American at 4.56 - nearly half a run higher than the league average of 4.10. Theyve given up 502 runs, third worst in the American League. Yes, the ungodly number of injuries play into this. An over-taxed bullpen is also a major factor. No doubt, Ricky Romeros control problems have factored in as well. Adding arms such as Brad Lincoln, Steve Delabar, Brandon Lyon and J.A Happ should help marginally, but if the Jays are going anywhere next season theyve got add at least one, possibly two quality starters before next season. The Jays do have a wealth of quality pitching prospects at Lansing in "A" ball, but they wont be ready by next season. Using stop-gap journeymen next year to patch things up will only result in another promising season gone wrong. NL LOOKOUT Theres two teams to watch in the National League. The Arizona Diamondbacks only have a record three games better than the Jays, yet they are only two games back of first place San Francisco. The D-Backs know what it takes to win having been to the postseason a year ago and of their remaining games, nearly half are against teams with sub-.500 records. The defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals are just four games back of Atlanta and that second Wild Card slot. Yes the same Atlanta club they over-hauled a year ago. This time the Redbirds are even closer than they were a year ago. If they dont catch the Braves, it just might be the Pirates who remind me a bit of the Padres of a couple of years ago, who faded just enough down the stretch to allow the Giants to win the West. WATCH BOSTONS MOVE An interesting trade at the deadline that you might not have noticed. Boston shipped first base prospect Lars Anderson to Cleveland for pitcher Steve Wright. Wright is a knuckleballer. In fact the only one in pro baseball this season besides Mets star R.A Dickeys. The Red Sox clearly hoping theyve found the next Tim Wakefield. DISTINGUISHED COMPANY The Tigers Justin Verlander had a remarkable streak of 63 games in a row in which he pitched at least six innings halted this week. Since 1920, only four pitchers including Verlander have had a streak like that. Verlander went 40-12 over that span. The other three include the late "Catfish" Hunter, "Lefty" Steve Carlton and Cardinals legend Bob Gibson (who leads the pack with a 78-game streak over which he went 46-24). Id still say if I had to have one game I had to win, Id give the ball to Bob Gibson. cheap nfl jerseys . Mondays draw produced one of the most intriguing pools in the tournaments history, with the English and Welsh -- fierce rugby rivals -- herded together with two-time winner Australia. It has also thrown up a logistical nightmare for organizers. wholesale jerseys . The other is staying remarkably healthy. Other than the 2007 season when he missed five games with the Edmonton Eskimos, Ray has never missed more than one game in a season since his rookie year in 2002. So when the Toronto Argonauts traded for him last winter, they not only got one of the leagues top quarterbacks, they also got its most durable. http://www.cheapjerseysnflchina.us/[/ur... . Kenneth Faried had 18 points to go with 11 rebounds and Kosta Koufos and Andre Iguodala added 15 points apiece for the Nuggets, who won their third in a row after an 0-3 start. [url=http://www.cheapjerseysnflchina.us/]cheap jerseys from china . Following his breakout season, Headley asked for $10.3 million this year while the Padres offered $7,075,000. The gap of $3,225,000 was the largest for any major leaguer in arbitration. cheap jerseys . Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano hit solo home runs as the Yankees matched their longest winning streak since May 2005. The team with the ALs best record kept rampaging in interleague play -- all 10 of these triumphs have come against NL teams with winning records, including a sweep at Turner Field last week.MIAMI -- Greg Dobbs single with two outs in the ninth inning scored Emilio Bonifacio from second base with the winning run Friday, and the Miami Marlins rallied to end the New York Mets five-game winning streak with a 6-5 victory. The Marlins scored twice in the ninth off Frank Francisco to win for the ninth time in 10 games. They were coming off an 8-1 trip, the best in franchise history. The Mets overcame an early 3-0 deficit and entered the ninth on the verge of their fourth consecutive comeback win. The Marlins trailed 5-4 when Giancarlo Stanton led off the ninth with a double off Francisco (1-2). Stanton took third on a flyout and scored on a single by Bonifacio. Bonifacio stole second to improve to 17 for 17 this season -- the best start in franchise history. After John Buck struck out, Dobbs lined the first pitch from Francisco for a single, and Bonifacio scored without a play. The walkoff hit was the first for Dobbs since 2005. Francisco blew his second save in 10 chances. His ERA rose to 6.59. Johan Santana fell behind 3-0 after one-third of an inning, and the Mets trailed 3-2 before scoring three times in the eighth. Austin Kearns hit a two-run homer for Miami, his third. Omar Infante -- batting second for the first time this season -- drove in two runs and had three hits. Mark Buehrle left with a 3-2 lead after 6 2-3 innings, lowering his ERA to 2.81. Jose Reyes led off Miamis first inning with a catchable triple over the head of centre fielder Andres Torres. Infante followed with an RBI single, and Kearns pulled a 3-2 pitch to activate the animated home-run sculpture.dddddddddddd Reyes hit meant a milestone for New York. The game was the 8,000th in Mets history, and theyve never thrown a no-hitter -- baseballs longest such streak. Three-time All-Star Heath Bell (1-3), who lost his job as Miamis closer after blowing four saves, pitched a perfect ninth and lowered his ERA to 9.28. Before the game, manager Ozzie Guillen said he would give Bell another try soon in the closers role. David Wright led off the Mets eighth with his third hit, a double against Edward Mujica. Pinch hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis tied the score with a one-out double, and after consecutive walks loaded the bases, pinch hitter Mike Baxter hit a two-run double off Ryan Webb. Baxter improved to 6 for 15 (.400) as a pinch hitter. Ike Davis hit his fifth homer in the fifth for the Mets, and Mike Nickeas doubled home a run in the seventh. Wright singled twice and doubled to hike his average to .387. Santana departed after six innings and struck out seven. Notes: The grounds crew at the Marlins new ballpark continues to struggle with the badly worn grass in deep centre and right field. Workers are experimenting with ways to improve the condition of the turf, which has gotten little sun because of rainy weather and the retractable roof. ... With the temperature 82 at game time, the roof was closed. ... Santana made a sprawling catch of Buehrles bunt in the fifth. ... Miamis Hanley Ramirez went 0 for 3 facing Santana. Hes 3 for 26 (.115) against left-hander with 10 strikeouts. ' ' '