Forenaddys » years old next season and in the final g

XALAPA, Mexico -- Shona Thorburn scored 15 points to lead Canadas womens basketball team to its second straight lopsided victory at the FIBA Americas Championship, a 93-51 rout of Chile on Monday. The easy back-to-back wins, said Thorburn, have provided the perfect opportunity for the team to gel before the games get tough. "Its the first time these 12 players have played together this summer, so these few easy games have been very beneficial for us," said Thorburn, who was sidelined for most of the summer with a foot injury. "Weve taken them as a learning experience, getting to know each other, the last two games weve been able to work on zone offence because they played zone on us, so I think its helped us. "I think the plan is to be peaking in that final game." Kim Gaucher (formerly Kim Smith) finished with 11 points, and a team-high six rebounds and three steals, while Justine Colley also had 11 points. The Canadians, who cruised by Jamaica 75-37 in their opener on Sunday, are tied with Cuba atop Group A. They had their way with Chile, racing out to a 28-10 lead after one quarter and taking a 49-19 advantage into the dressing room at halftime. Canada led 66-41 with a quarter left to play. Coach Lisa Thomaidis said there is a danger in opening the tournament with easy wins. "Theres always that fear when you havent been tested yet," Thomaidis said. "But its really about us right now, and really challenging ourselves to keep raising the level of our play. Certainly as long as we keep holding ourselves to those high standards, I think regardless of the opponent were still going to be on track. "The way the tournament is set up, I think teams are going to be progressively tougher for us to face, so its very good lead-in for us to play those tougher opponents having these few games under our belt." As Canadas veterans, Thorburn said she and Gaucher -- who had originally planned on retiring after the 2012 London Olympics but had a change of heart -- said their job has been to keep everyone focused through these two easy games. "This is the Americas, people are coming out to get you," Thorburn said. "We play aggressive basketball down here compared to anywhere else in the world. Every team does, thats just how it is down there. "So its just keeping people focused for 40 minutes. Usually in the past, were good at playing 35 minutes, but the game is 40 minutes long and its kind of keeping people focused that long. I think Kim and I bring that, we bring a competitive edge, and every practice, every shootaround, every game, we go hard. "We want to get better and I think we have brought that to this team and they understand thats the way its going to be." The lopsided games have given Thomaidis the chance to rest some key players and get everyone involved. "Were playing six games in seven days, and four games in a row without a break," Thomaidis said. "Thats taxing. Its a very physical game, the international game, and its really important that we keep people fresh and were not playing them long minutes in the first few games because were going to need them down the road here." The Canadians face Venezuela on Tuesday, then wrap up round-robin play versus Cuba on Wednesday. Chile, with previous losses to Venezuela and Cuba, dropped to 0-3 on the tournament. Canada needs to finish in the top three in order to qualify for the 2014 FIBA world championship. The Canadian women have appeared in the previous two world tournaments, in 2006 and 2010. Richard Jefferson Jersey . After a 10-game skid, winning sure feels good. Atlantas third error in the last two innings allowed Jackie Bradley Jr. Tyler Lydon Jersey . Peter Dawson took his long before he started the job. "I was playing an American one year at Oxford Golf Club, and he introduced me to this travelling mulligan," Dawson said. http://www.nuggetsprostore.com/kids-alle...nuggets-jersey/. PETERSBURG, Florida – Its been almost seven years since the Blue Jays last won a series at Tropicana Field. Kenneth Faried Jersey . Louis Cardinals. He was 48. The commissioners office said Bell died in his home state of Ohio. Bell had not been feeling well over the weekend and had been scheduled to see doctors later Monday at the Cleveland Clinic. Custom Denver Nuggets Jerseys . Minutes after the previously winless Colts got their first win, 27-13 over Tennessee, team vice chairman Bill Polian said the four-time league MVP will not play this season though he has begun throwing to teammates at the team complex.I was thinking about Melky Cabrera the other day and his odds of being named Comeback Player of the Year. After all, he was a disaster in his first season with the Jays in 2013. It was only after the fact we learned he needed surgery to have a tumour removed from his back, which seriously impeded his abilities last season to be the player he had been in San Francisco and Kansas City. Right now Melky is hitting .298 with 11 homers and 37 runs batted, and is playing better defence in left field than at any point last year. Hes even beginning to put the PED suspension in the review mirror. Yes, he would be a worthy pick for American League Comeback Player of the year. This really is a fascinating award. Its often said it is one no player really wants to win because it means at some point your career has gone off the rails or youve suffered a serious, possibly career-threatening injury. Only one Blue Jays player has even won the award. On May 29 of 2008, second baseman Aaron Hill suffered a concussion when he collided with teammate David Eckstein. Hill missed the remainder of the season. He came back though with a vengence in 2009, batting .286 and 37 doubles, 36 homers and 108 runs batted in. He went to the All Star Game in St. Louis in July, was named Blue Jays Player of the Year, and ultimately, American League Comeback Player of the year. Its interesting that there are actually three versions of this award. The original and the one with the most historic cache was established by the Sporting News in 1965. The Players Association created its version in 1992 followed finally by Major League Baseball in 2005. Two players won it after coming back from heart attacks, Tony Conigliaro of the Red Sox in 1969 and Scarboroughs own John Hiller - the Tigers starter turned closer. In addition to Hiller another Canadian "Hall of Famer" Fergy Jenkins won the award in 1974 with Texas. In 1976, the National League honours went to Tommy John, naturally for the year he had after undergoing the landmark elbow reconstruction surgery that still bears his name. In the American League, three men have won the award twice - Norm Cash of the Tigers, "Boog" Powell of the Orioles and Royals right hander Bret Saberhagen. In the National League, the club is even more exclusive. Former Expos first baseman Andres "The Big Cat" Galaragga won in Colorado in 1993 and Atlanta in 2000, while former Blue Jays right hander Chris Carpenter won twice with St. Louis in 2004 and again in 2009. Former pitcher and current broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe stands alone as the only player to win in both leaguees.dddddddddddd He did it in 1987 with the Cubs and 1992 with Baltimore. Talk about impressive runs, from 1977 through 1979, future Hall of Famers won in the National League three years running, with Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell and Lou Brock so honoured. But the ultimate comeback story is unfolding this season in Cincinnati. Heck this guys entire career has been one gigantic comeback story. Alfredo Simon is a 33 year old right-hander out of the Dominican Republic. He was signed back in 1999 by the Phillies as an amateur free agent. But in those days he went by the name of Carlos Cabrera. He hid his true identity so he could conceal his true age. The Phillies thought he was younger and didnt find out the truth until 2004. Simon has bounced around a lot and didnt actually crack the Majors until 2008 with Baltimore. He had brief snatches of success with the 0s saving 17 games in 2010 and starting 16 in 2011, but in 2012 he was claimed on waivers by the Reds off the Orioles. Before this season, Alfredo Simon had a career record in six years of (17-18) with 19 saves. He had been with six organizations, three of them twice. Yet the other night at 33 he become the National Leagues first 10-game winner this season. In fact he is (10-3) with a 3.05 ERA and he is convinced he can pitch 200 innings this season even though his previous high was 115 2-3 with Baltimore in 2011. A truly amazing story. All of which brings us to Ricky Romero, whos been slogging it out in Triple-A Buffalo trying to find the old Ricky who used to be the ace of the Blue Jays staff three years ago. We learned Thursday, that Ricky had to undergo surgery on his left knee and is done for the rest of this season. Ricky will be 29uaranteed year of his contract. The Jays will be paying him another $7.5 million dollars. Maybe the knee surgery will make a difference and Ricky can author the kind of comeback story that Alfredo Simon has. One more thing on Simon. He had to battle back from Tommy Joh his second start for the Orioles in 2009.. This weekend marks a special anniversary at Rogers Centre. Saturday it will be 14 years since the only no-hitter in the history of the facility was pitched there. Oaklands Dave Stewart accomplishing the feat on June 21, 1990. Ironically later that same night, Fernando Valenzuela no-hit St. Louis. It was the only time in Major League history two no-nos have been thrown on the same day. Three years later Stewart won a World Series with the Jays and later became their assistant General Manager. ' ' '