TORONTO -- Like hes done all month, Edwin Encarnacion did his part to put the Toronto offence in position for a victory. [url=http://www.customyankeesjersey.com/custom-greg-bird-jersey-large-14 04i.html]Greg Bird Jersey[/url] . It was the defence that came up short Thursday night and it proved costly

TORONTO -- Like hes done all month, Edwin Encarnacion did his part to put the Toronto offence in position for a victory. Greg Bird Jersey . It was the defence that came up short Thursday night and it proved costly in an 8-6 loss to the Kansas City Royals. With two outs in the ninth inning, Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes had a chance to seal the win on a routine ground ball. However, his throw was low and pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson came around from second base to tie the game. The Royals scored two more runs in the 10th inning to end Torontos season-high nine-game winning streak. "Theres no excuse," Reyes said. "I should make a better throw there. Thats a routine ground ball, I got it perfect. I just didnt have enough on the throw." Omar Infante drove in a pair of runs off Toronto reliever Todd Redmond (0-4) in the 10th inning as Kansas City (25-28) ended its four-game losing skid. Greg Holland got the last three outs for his 15th save. "Well you dont expect to lose one like that," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "But you know what, weve been playing some good baseball. The key is just to come back out and play a good clean game tomorrow." Encarnacion continued his phenomenal play this month by launching two no-doubt homers to give him 18 on the season and a team record 16 for the month. "To watch what hes been doing this month, I dont know where it goes down in history but its pretty historic in my mind anyway," Gibbons said. Jose Bautista also homered for the Blue Jays, who had their seven-game home winning streak come to an end. Encarnacion is now one away from tying Barry Bonds major-league record for most homers in the month of May. Bonds hit 17 with San Francisco in May 2001. The Toronto slugger also has five multi-homer games this month, which ties the major-league record for any month currently shared by Albert Belle (September 1995) and Harmon Killebrew (May 1959). Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey pitched to two batters in the sixth inning before being pulled. He said the team will focus on its positive play over the last few weeks. "Jose makes that play 99 out of 100 times, it was just a real fluke thing," Dickey said. "But we cant second-guess things the way that weve been playing and the way weve been pitching and hitting. I mean, Edwin -- what can you say? "I mean its been fun to watch and to be on a team where so many things are going well and I think itll continue tomorrow. I think this was just kind of a mild hiccup." The American League East-leading Blue Jays fell to 32-23 with the loss. Kansas City starter James Shields worked seven innings and reliever Wade Davis (4-1) pitched two innings for the win. The Royals left 11 batters on base but outhit Toronto 14-9. "I was really pleased with the way we swung the bats tonight," said manager Ned Yost. "We were driving balls. We just had some great at-bats." Salvador Perez hit his fifth homer of the season for the Royals in the second inning and Kansas City added three runs in the fifth. The Royals also loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning but Aaron Loup got out of the jam by striking out Alcides Escobar on three pitches. Closer Casey Janssen, who was looking to pick up his ninth save, recorded the first two outs in the ninth before Alex Gordons single. He was replaced by Dyson, who stole second. "We were facing a hot team that had swept their last three teams," Dyson said. "I thought we did a great job to come over here and kind of break that up a little bit and get going." In the 10th, Redmond gave up a single to Escobar to open the inning and Pedro Ciriaco reached when he was beaned while squaring up to bunt. Nori Aoki advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Notes: Announced attendance was 17,978 and the game took three hours 26 minutes to play. ... Encarnacion belted his second homer of the night into the second deck in left field -- virtually the same spot as his first blast. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and he came out of the dugout to tip his hat. ... Bautista threw out Billy Butler from right field for the second out in the ninth inning. ... Torontos J.A. Happ (4-1) is scheduled to start Friday night against fellow left-hander Jason Vargas (4-2). ... The Rogers Centre roof was closed despite comfortable spring conditions outside. Joe Torre Jersey . INJURIES - Cardinals 1B Matt Adams has been put on the DL with calf tightness, resulting in some lineup shifting, with Allen Craig moving from right field to first base, so that the Cardinals could bring up top prospect Oscar Taveras, who was the No. Elston Howard Jersey . Nat Borchers headed in the sole goal in the 54th minute, getting on the end of a Kyle Beckerman free kick. The defeat cost Sporting top spot in the Eastern Conference. Even a draw would have moved the Kansas City club above Columbus. http://www.customyankeesjersey.com/custom-derek-jeter-jersey-large-74i.html .ca. Hi Mr. Fraser, When I was watching the Heritage Classic in Vancouver there was a play midway through the third where Ottawa crashed the Canucks net and it came off its moorings.There could be some history made on Friday night in Buffalo. Mike Hessman of the Toledo Mudhens needs one more homer to break the all-time International League career home run mark. Before you say "big deal" as I was tempted to do, you should know who Mike Hessman is and how he made this journey over a long and varied career. First off he was born in Fountain Valley, California, and grew into the dimensions of a true slugger. He is 65" and 215 pounds. He was chosen in the 15th round of the 1996 MLB draft by Atlanta. He made it to the "Show" with the Braves in 2003. He had a long looping swing and struck out too much and generally over a short-lived big league career, the 3B/1B also seemed to be stuck behind better players such as Chipper Jones. Besides Atlanta, Hessman also made pit stops in Detroit and with the New York Mets between 2003 and 2010, hitting .188 with 14 home runs. Over time Hessman became a fixture in the International League. Now 36, he has slugged 258 homers in the "I" to tie the late Ollie Carnegie, who spent the bulk of his career playing in Buffalo. Carnegie played his final season with the Bisons in 1945. These two were a study in physical contrasts. While Hessman is 65", Carnegie was only 57" and weighed 175 pounds. Surely the Major League home run record is more impressive and more prestigious. Babe Ruth broke Roger Connors career mark of 138 back in 1921. The Bambino ran that total up to 714 by 1935, and that mark endured until Hank Aaron broke it on April 8, 1974 at Atlanta against Al Downing and the Dodgers. So Babe Ruth held the career home run record for 53 years. Carnegies mark of 258 has stood since the year he retired as a player in 1945. If you do the math, thats 69 years. Oddly enough Carnegie never played in the Majors, largely because he didnt start playing pro ball on a regular basis until he joined Buffalo at age 32 in 1931. Before that he played mainly semi-pro or amateur ball and held down a regular job. Nowadays 258 home runs doesnt sound like all that imposing a number. But remember today, its all about player development. If you dont make the Majors by your mid-20s or maybe late 20s if youre lucky, youre going to be out of a job. You have to have a special talent and be a unique individual, as Mike Hessman must be to stick around until the age of 36. Hessman had a bit of a scare about a week ago. He had to have some tissue removed from his nose and his forehead. Luckily it proved to be non-cancerous. He missed three games this week waiting for the swelling on his face to go down, then went 0-for-3 at Coca-Cola Field on Thurssday afternoon. Don Larsen Jersey. Friday night is the series finale at Buffalo and it would only seem fitting that he would hit his 259th homer in the city where Ollie Carnegie spent the bulk of his career and is enshrined in the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. When Hessman ultimately does break this record, he has other mountains to climb. He is also third on the all-time list of homers hit in the minors. Buzz Arlett is number one with 432, Nick Cullop has 420 and Hessman checks in with 403. Scoring Big Pitching and defence may win championships, but you cant deny the fact that the Blue Jays offence could carry them a long way. Theyve scored 311 runs in 61 games and slugged 87 homers, tops in the American League in both categories. You can add the total home runs for the Royals and Yankees and get 77, 10 fewer than the Jays, or the Rangers and Red Sox and get 85, still two less than the Blue Jays. In the runs scored category, the Jays have rung up 57 more than the second-best team in their division - Baltimore (254) - and then you drop off to Boston and the Yankees at 240 and Tampa Bay at a paltry 228. Boston was the runaway leader in runs scored in the American League last season with 853 and ultimately won the World Series. Im just saying. Unusual Moments This is something that happens so rarely in baseball, yet it happened twice in the last week. The Angels Garrett Richards and Clevelands Justin Masterson both struck out the side on nine pitches. Another oddity came on Wednesday when the Phillies 35-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins struck out four times in a game for the first time in his career, earning the famed "Golden Sombrero". The opposing pitcher though was Washingtons Stephen Strasburg, so well cut Rollins some slack. Rollins incidently is up to 2,226 hits now for his career. He needs nine more to pass Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt as the Phillies all-time hits leader. Since the Phils are having such a dismal season, the feeling is growing that Rollins will waive his 10-and-5 rights and will agree to a trade once the record is broken. The Tigers would be a perfect fit. The Atlanta Braves lead the National League East. Yet strangely enough, they have been held to 0 or 1 runs in a game a Major League-high 18 times. At the Draft If youre wondering why the Blue Jays used their ninth-overall pick in the Draft Thursday night to take a pitcher who just had Tommy John surgery in May, consider this. Veteran baseball writer Danny Knobler has seen Jeff Hoffman out of East Carolina pitch and said this of him: "He could be Justin Verlanders brother". Say no more! ' ' '