Herzlich Willkommen » The Blues are shooting for their first Presidents

The red-hot Toronto Blue Jays take aim at their seventh straight win on Monday when they open a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre. Toronto has moved two games up on the New York Yankees in the American League East and is atop the division this late into a season for the first time since July 6, 2000. The Jays enter this matchup on the heels of an impressive three-game sweep of the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics. On Sunday, J.A. Happ tossed seven shutout innings, Jose Bautista knocked in two runs and Toronto rolled, 3-1. Happ (4-1) scattered four hits, walked three and struck out seven, and Edwin Encarnacion homered in the Blue Jays ninth win in 10 tries. "Were playing together as a team, pitching good," Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes said. "Good defense behind the guys, timely hitting, winning teams do that kind of stuff." The Blue Jays lead the majors with 70 home runs and have homered in eight straight contests. They havent homered in nine consecutive contests since April 27-May 5, 2012. One player who wouldnt mind a few longballs on Monday is righty Drew Hutchison, wholl be shooting for his third straight win. Hutchison followed up his first-ever shutout by beating the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday to improve to 3-3 with a 3.45 ERA. Hutchison has split two starts versus the Rays, pitching to a 5.79 ERA in those meetings. Tampa, meanwhile, will counter with veteran lefty Erik Bedard, who is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA. Bedard has filled in nicely for the Rays in the wake of injuries to Matt Moore and Jeremy Hellickson and is 2-1 with a 0.96 ERA over his last five starts. Bedard, though, absorbed the loss to Oakland on Wednesday, as he surrendered three runs (1 earned) and just one hit - a home run - over 5 1/3 innings. He also walked three batters. Tampa comes into Mondays opener playing its best baseball of the season as well. The Rays swept the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and have won four in a row. Tampa completed the sweep on Sunday, as Sean Rodriguezs three-run, pinch-hit homer helped power a five-run seventh inning, and Tampa Bay sent the Red Sox to their 10th consecutive loss with an 8-5 decision. Evan Longoria went 3-for-5 with a homer and a pair of runs scored, and Yunel Escobar drove in two while setting off a benches-clearing incident late in the contest. The contentious victory was also Joe Maddons 700th as Rays manager. Joel Peralta (2-3), who blew a two-run lead in the seventh but was rescued by the Tampa offense, was credited with the win. Leading by five in the seventh, Escobar stole third and the Red Sox bench started jawing at him from the dugout. He talked back and started walking toward their bench, before Johnny Gomes ran in from left field and both benches cleared. Gomes, Escobar and Rodriguez were all ejected after the incident. "What was the score, 8-3? It was a five-run lead in the seventh inning. So thats not even nearly as egregious as last year in the playoffs," Maddon said of the incident. Tampa has split four games with the Jays this season. Cheap Air Max China . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss. Cheap Air Max Free Shipping . - The Minnesota Vikings have ruled Christian Ponder out for Sundays game at Baltimore, because the quarterback has not yet passed all of his post-concussion tests. http://www.cheapairmaxshoesfreeshipping.com/.com) - The Ottawa Senators will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they face the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to secure their place in the post-season. Cheap Air Max Authentic . Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Fiorentina levelled on aggregate in the 14th minute when Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez headed back a long ball from David Pizarro and Pasqual smashed home an angled volley. Cheap Air Max Outlet . Schaub will start for an injured Case Keenum and try to help the Texans end a 12-game skid. Schaubs last action in Houston came when he took over late in a game against Oakland on Nov. 17 as Keenum was struggling.ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues centre T.J. Oshie knew exactly what to do with the puck that completed his first three-goal game in the NHL. That souvenir now belongs to his 10-day old daughter, Lyla Grace, who was born on March 17. "Its definitely going to her," he said. Oshies hat trick and a 27-save performance by Ryan Miller led the Blues to a 5-1 rout over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. St. Louis has won three in a row overall and nine straight against the Wild. The Blues lead the NHL with 107 points. Jaden Schwartz and Brenden Morrow also scored for St. Louis, which has points in its last 10 home games. Miller improved to 9-2-1 since being acquired from Buffalo on Feb. 28. He has a 2.03 goals against average and a .918 save percentage with the Blues. Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who had earned points in their previous three road games but have lost six of eight overall. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves but fell to 12-8-4. He has won just twice in nine starts. Oshie, who has a career-high 21 goals, scored twice in the first period -- including a short-handed goal with 26 seconds left that made it 2-0. He converted from the slot at 4:43 and then beat Kuemper on a breakaway for the Blues fifth short-handed goal of the season. Oshie tipped in a shot from Jay Bouwmeester at 7:18 of the third period to complete the hat trick. "This has been an exciting couple of months for me," said Oshie, who played for the United States in the Olympics, "but she trumps everything for me." The modest Oshie refused to take credit for his big night. "The pucks just happened to go off my stick," he said. But linemates David Backes and Alexander Steen were happy to heap praise on Oshie. "Hes been a horse for us all year," Backes said. "He strung a couple of great shots together and a tip on the last one. "I couldnt be happier for him." The Blues posted a hat trick for the second straight game as Backes scored three times in a 5-3 win at Toronnto on Tuesday.dddddddddddd. That was the first time St. Louis recorded back-to-back three-goal games since Dec. 20-23, 2000, when Pavol Demitra and Michal Handzus accomplished the feat. The Blues lead the Western Conference and are battling Boston for the Presidents Trophy for the top mark in the NHL. They are one point ahead of the Bruins with nine games remaining for both teams. "We wanted to make a statement to the league that we deserve to be where were at," Oshie said. "We want that target on our backs." St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock believes his club is peaking at the right time. "Were not going to be overwhelmed because were the favourites in a playoff series," he said. "Were going to embrace it." Even Minnesota coach Mike Yeo was impressed with the Blues. "Theyve got a great team" he said. "They smelled blood and they went after it. "This was a team loss." Miller made nine saves in the first 6:07 before coasting to the win. "We got settled into our 5-on-5 game and really limited the puck possession by the other team," he said. "This was a big step forward." Schwartz netted his 23rd goal of the season on a power play midway through the second period to make it 3-0. The Wild lost for the second time in two nights after dropping a 5-3 decision to Vancouver on Wednesday. "I dont think anyone can really be happy," Kuemper said. "Weve got to turn this thing around." St. Louis has killed 23 straight power plays against Minnesota over six games. NOTES: Steve Cash and Josh Pauls, members of the USAs gold-medal winning Paralympic hockey team, were honoured before the game. ... Minnesota began a four-game trip that also has stops at Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago. ... The Blues are shooting for their first Presidents Trophy since the 1999-2000 season. ... Minnesota LW Dany Heatley has gone a season-high 13 games without a goal. ... Wild RW Jason Pominville led all players with seven shots on goal. ' ' '