Dein erstes Forum » a shot on frame. Donovan Ricketts manage

MINNEAPOLIS - A second-straight Thursday start unfolded in close to the same fashion for struggling knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Four scoreless innings, a 0-0 tie, only to have things come undone in the fifth. Last week in a loss to Houston, it was a Robbie Grossman fifth inning home run that broke the goose egg. Thursday afternoon, ultimately a 7-0 loss to Minnesota, it was a one-out single by Brian Dozier which led to six-straight Twins reaching base (five hits, one walk), five of whom scored to prematurely end Dickeys day. He teetered throughout, pitching out of jams in the first and fourth, before the dam burst. "I would get count and then really try to finish guys and they would do a good job of laying off really good pitches," said Dickey. "I thought I got squeezed there a couple of pitches but outside of that it was one of those days where youre just not putting the whole game together." Most troubling is the walk total. Dickey issued five more free passes, bringing his season total to 15 in 23 innings, second-most in all of baseball behind Philadelphias A.J. Burnett. "Its certainly moving better at this point, believe it or not, than it was last year," said Dickey. "I feel like over the course of the season, like Ive got 190 innings left, so I truly believe all the peripheral numbers are going to even out." "I mean its pretty amazing you keep that thing in the zone, period," said manager John Gibbons. "He battles that. Thats a lot for him and hell cut down on those, Ive got no doubt about that but you think about it, to be able to throw that thing in the strike zone is pretty tough as it is. But theres no question thats been hurting him." Dickey admitted to being miffed with home plate umpire Chris Gucciones strike zone. At times he was the beneficiary, most notably on a full count, called third strike on Minnesotas Chris Colabello in the first, which stranded a runner at third base. He thought he had Jason Kubel struck out twice in the fifth, got neither call, and Kubel singled home Minnesotas second run. "Im letting some external something impact the inning," said Dickey. "Whether its a ball that I thought should have been a strike or a ball that gets through a hole but were fortunate the other guys are going well. This wont remain this way. Its just tough to weather." Gibbons tried to let Dickey work out of the fifth but after the Kubel single, Josmil Pinto cracked a double off the wall in left-centre that scored two. "Dickeys our guy, its early," said Gibbons. "Hes here to get out of those innings and win games." "I really respect that," said Dickey. "Im appreciative of the opportunity to let me get through the fifth there. I take great pride in trying to go at least six innings in every start and so far this year in two of my four I havent been able to do that and hes given me every opportunity. As the season progresses those decisions, Ill make those pay off for him." Dickey threw a higher number of fastballs than usual. According to BrooksBaseball.net, 25 of his 112 pitches were fastballs, which he didnt attribute the cool conditions - the temperature was zero Celsius at first pitch. "It wasnt ideal but it wasnt something where I was coming in trying to soak my fingers in warm water to try to keep them warm," said Dickey. "I just didnt execute when I needed to make a big pitch and they put good swings on it." "I think it was just trying to balance the velocity of the knuckleball with the fastball so youre trying to throw a few more mid-count fastballs just to try to get them off of (the knuckleball,)" said catcher Josh Thole. Dickeys ERA ballooned from 5.30 to 6.26 in the loss. He dropped to 1-3 on the season, a decision in each start, each decision accurately reflecting the quality of his outing. The Jays starting staff, combined, has a 4.06 ERA through 15 games. Subtract Dickeys 16 earned runs allowed and his 23 innings pitched, the ERA drops to 3.20. "Im traditionally a slow starter and hopefully I can get back on track next time," said Dickey. Dwight Gooden Jersey . Venus Williams advanced to the ASB Classic final in Auckland on a walkover when fellow American Jamie Hampton withdrew from their semifinal Friday with a right hip injury. Lenny Dykstra Jersey . Golden States second straight road win wasnt painless. David Lee scored a season-high 29 points -- 13 in the fourth quarter -- and Nate Robinson added 17 points, leading the Warriors to a 105-95 win Tuesday night over the road-worn Cleveland Cavaliers. http://www.metssale.com/mets-keith-hernandez-jersey/. While the pair of Spain internationals return, midfielder Xavi Hernandez will not be included in the squad after failing to recover from a muscle strain to his left leg. Noah Syndergaard Jersey . Today, he looks at the offensive line. 1. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (OT, McGill) You Should Know: Over the course of his university career, Duvernay-Tardifs commitments to medical school and the family business frequently limited him to one practice per week, yet he was still the Metras Trophy winner as the Top Lineman in CIS football in 2013. Tim Tebow Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable.Santa Clara, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Portland Timbers remained within touching distance of a postseason berth as the club came from behind to claim a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Portland was under pressure to collect three points after Vancouver Whitecaps FC has defeated FC Dallas earlier on Saturday, and things looked grim after Chris Wondolowski had given the Quakes a second-half lead at Buck Shaw Stadium. But Rodney Wallace scored twice in the span of three minutes to overturn the deficit and clinch victory for Portland, bringing the Timbers back to within one point of Vancouver with 42 points on the season. After a scoreless first half, the Quakes grabbed the lead early on in the second period as Wondolowski got on the end of a cross from Shea Salinas and nodded a shot on frame. Donovan Ricketts managed to parry them attempt, but the United States international was able to tuck home the rebound with ease for his 14th goal of the campaign.dddddddddddd San Jose held the edge until the 71st minute when Wallace took Alvas Powells near-post cross, turned on a dime and unleashed a left-footed shot that took a wicked deflection on its way past Jon Busch. The Timbers notched the go-ahead goal just three minutes later as Liam Ridgewell was first to meet a corner kick from Gaston Fernandez. The former West Brom defender turned a powerful header toward goal, but Wallace redirected the attempt through traffic and into the upper corner for his second of the match. San Jose was unable to conjure an equalizer in the closing stages, and Pablo Pintos added insult to injury by committing a rash challenge on Wallace to earn himself a straight red card. ' ' '