On Boxing Day, the pursuit of Masahiro Tanaka finally begins. The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. So for the new capped fee of $20 million, any one of the 30 Major League teams can get in on the bidding and getting a deal done by 5pm on January 24. Tanaka was a spectacular 24-0 this season with a miniscule 1.27 ERA. He is the same age Yu Darvish was when he was posted two years ago and, like Darvish, wants the challenge of pitching in the Majors. The Blue Jays were in on the chase for Darvish, but to what extent we will never really know. There were rumblings at the time that the Blue Jays barely lost out to Texas and their winning bid of $51.7 million. But Alex Anthopoulos and the organization would never confirm or deny that and in the end, it was felt the Rangers were actually bidding against themselves just to be sure they got Darvish. Texas signed him to a six-year, $60 million deal but if certain conditions are met, the sixth year turns into a player option. So far its been a good investment by Texas. Darvish is 29-18 over two seasons with 401 innings, 498 strikeouts and 169 walks. He was added the American League All-Star roster his first year, and only missed last years mid-summer classic due to an injury. Most scouts believe Darvish to be a better pitcher than Tanaka, who projects by many to be a number 2 or 3 starter, rather than a staff ace. When Tanaka won the Sawamura Award as top pitcher in Japan in 2011, over Darvish, he conceded that although he had slightly better numbers than Darvish in a couple of categories, he said "as a pitcher, Im nowhere near his calibre". The Blue Jays self-imposed five-year limit on contracts is one thing working against them, although Anthopoulos conceded a couple of weeks ago that the Jays might go to six years for the right player. The biggest thing going against the Jays is the desperation of some of those big-name teams that figure to be in on the bidding and the marquee presence of others. The Yankees pitching staff needs an infussion of youth and talent. The Dodgers havent won a World Series since 1988 and Texas has never won one. Boston is in that year-by-year battle for bragging rights and now that theyve won three World Series titles this century to the Yankees two, they arent going to let up now. The Blue Jays may make an offer just to say they did, but Id bet on Texas or the Yankees to be Tanakas ultimate landing spot. A couple of trivia points on Darvish. The first Major League hit he surrendered was to his countryman Ichiro Suzuki and the first home run he surrendered was to Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays on April 30, 2012. Darvish still won that game though, 4-1. Another Babe It was on December 26 of 1919 when the most infamous deal in Red Sox history went down. It was the day Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees. This is the story of another player who went by the nickname "Babe". Werner Birrer was a reliever and occassional spot starter for parts of three seasons in the 1950s with the Tigers, Orioles and Dodgers. Hes better known for his years pitching in the International League, in Buffalo, the city where he was born. He ultimately made it into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame and was a valued member of the community as a teacher and a coach. Babe Birrer passed away back in November at age 85. He had one day in his career where it all came together and earned him the sobriquet "Babe". On July 19 of 1955, Birrer came on in relief in the sixth inning to try and protect a 5-4 Tigers lead over Baltimore. Not only did he pitch four shutout innings of relief to earn his second of four career saves, Birrer slugged a pair of three-run homers to propel the Tigers to a 12-4 victory over the 0s. What was so special about that? Well, those were the only two home runs and only six runs batted inn of Birrers entire career. As far as anyone knows, he is the only Major League player in history to cram all of his home runs and RBI production into just one game. For that one day, that one game, Werner Birrer was called "Babe" by his teammates for the rest of his career. Oddly enough, the two relievers who surrendered those home runs to Birrer, George Zuverink and Art Shallock, are both still alive and amongst the 100 oldest surviving Major Leaguers. Shallock is 89 and 245 days, Zuverink 89 and 128 days. Just a little known page in the book of Tigers history. San... Cazorla Arsenal Jersey . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. [url=http://www.jerseysauthenticsoccers.com/manchester-city-fc-fernandinho-jerse... . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). [url=http://www.jerseysauthenticsoccers.com/manchester-city-fc-willy-caballero-j... Caballero Manchester City Jersey .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Ca... Chambers Arsenal Jersey . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. BARCELONA, Spain -- Cristiano Ronaldo netted another hat trick in Real Madrids 5-1 win over Real Sociedad on Saturday, as the Portugal forward extended his scoring run to nine goals in his last four games. Ronaldos latest bundle of goals took him three past Atletico Madrids Diego Costa as the leading scorer in the Spanish league with 16 through 13 rounds. Ronaldo also tops the Champions League with eight goals. "(Ronaldo) is playing on another level," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "He scores with such incredible ease. Its tough to find words to describe him." Madrids win pulled it to within two points of Atletico and three points behind league leader Barcelona before they have matches on Sunday. Ronaldo opened the scoring, adding another goal from the penalty spot and a third with a well-placed free kick. Karim Benzema also kept up his good form by scoring while Gareth Bale set up Sami Khedira for a goal. Ronaldo has eight multi-goal performances, including three hat tricks, in 17 matches for Madrid this season. He will hope to keep his streak going when Portugal plays Sweden in a two-leg playoff on Nov. 15 and 19 with only the winner qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. "It will be a very important tie for us," Ronaldo said. "We want to be in the World Cup and we will try our hardest to get there." Elsewhere, Athletic Bilbao rallied past Levante 2-1 to provisionally move even on points with Villarreal in fourth place. Rayo Vallecano won 2-0 at Celta Vigo to escape last place and push Real Betis down into the cellar overnight. Elche, meanwhile, earned a 1-1 draw at Getafe to remain unbeaten in its last four away matches. Sociedad never stood a chance at the Santiago Bernabeu against a Madrid side that kept its attack firing away for a fourth straight game while finally shoring up a defence that had become penalty prone with five whistled against it in the previous three games. Ancelotti promised on Friday that his team would win over the demanding Bernabeu ccrowd by improving its style of play.dddddddddddd A day later, the Italian manager called his teams first half "perfect." Tough to argue with that. Ronaldo lashed a shot off the top of the crossbar in the eighth minute in a warning of what was to come. He then made sure not to miss in the 12th when Benzema spotted him switched to the right side of the attack with a floated pass that Ronaldo batted down and blasted by Sociedad goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. Ronaldo returned the favour four minutes later by dribbling down the left flank and squaring for Benzema to volley in his fourth goal in as many games. A stunned Sociedad helped concede the third goal when Ronaldos low shot hit Markel Bergaras arm inside the area. Instead of drilling his spot kick, Ronaldo lured Bravo into diving to one side while he gently placed the ball down the middle. "Too many times we were just looking on," said Antoine Griezmann, who scored Sociedads consolation goal. Bale found Khedira alone on the edge of the box for the midfielders first goal of the campaign in the 36th. Sociedad didnt threaten the hosts area until the 61st when Griezmann ran on to a pass awkwardly headed back by Madrid defender Pepe that he skillfully chipped over goalie Diego Lopez. That gave Griezmann eight goals in the league, drawing the Sociedad forward level with Barcelonas Lionel Messi for the leagues third-leading scorer. The victory was secure but Ronaldo wasnt done and curled a free kick over the barrier in the 76th, as a flat-footed Bravo was turned into a bystander. Bilbaos win over Levante was the fifth time in as many games at its new San Mames Stadium that the Basque club has come from behind to stayed undefeated at home, and Rayo kept Celta winless at home in seven matches at Balaidos Stadium this season. On Sunday, Barcelona visits Betis while Atletico travels to Villarreal. Also, Espanyol hosts Sevilla and Valencia welcomes Valladolid. Granada beat Malaga 3-1 in Friday, when Almeria won 1-0 at Osasuna. wholesale jerseys wholesale nfl jerseys china jerseys from china nfl jerseys cheap authentic cheap jerseys ' ' '