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PITTSBURGH – Sergio Santos arrived at PNC Park on Saturday afternoon and met with manager John Gibbons, who delivered the news everyone was expecting he would. "Were moving Sergio out of that role," said Gibbons of the closers spot, less than 24 hours after Santos blew his second save of the road trip and third of the season. Until Casey Janssen returns, Gibbons will go with closer-by-committee. "It could be Loup," said Gibbons. "It could be Cecil. Over the next few days it could be any of those guys." The change is necessary and while fans arent about to take pity on a multi-million dollar athlete, Santos struggles are a reminder of the human element of sports. There he was on Friday night, having blown a two-run, ninth inning lead, hunched over at his locker, his head in his hands for what seemed like an eternity. Santos then stood up and addressed the media. Later, once the ballpark lights had dimmed and he was back in his hotel room, Santos sifted through the litany of text messages he gets after each appearance, good or bad. His wife had written him and so had his parents. One of Santos brothers, Gabe, chimed in. He got messages of support from aunts and uncles, too. Like the goal crease in hockey, the pitching mound can be a lonely island when things arent going well. Out on the road, its easy to get lost in your thoughts. "You go to the hotel and that night, the night of the game, its usually the hardest, you know what I mean, that whole night," said Santos. "I mean, you close your eyes and you cant help but think about it. You think about a million different scenarios, what you could have done different." The sun, as they say, always comes up the next day. "The second you wake up the very next day youre presented with, basically, a choice," said Santos. "You could either feel sorry for yourself and say poor me or you could use the next day as an opportunity to know that what happened last night is not who I am." Santos turned to an old teammate and friend for advice. He often plays the online game Words with Friends with Darren Oliver and on Friday night, Santos sent Oliver a message. He wanted to talk. Oliver invited Santos to call on Saturday morning. "He said, Ive been through this a million times. I was in the game for so long. You go through stretches where theyre rough and theyre ugly," said Santos. "He says, its up to you to put a stop to it. They can go on for the whole season or you can nip it in the bud, get that confidence back and go out and pitch." Santos need only look at his numbers for a stark reminder of how bad things have been. Hes taken two losses, has blown three saves and has posted an ERA of 10.61 with a WHIP of 2.250. He insists he wont dwell. "For me, my edge has always been my confidence," said Santos. "Even in the midst of the biggest adversity, confidence, I think, is the one thing thats such a useful tool. So to even lose that, and dont get me wrong doubt creeps into your mind all the time, you get there, youre going, "Crap, is it going to happen all over again today? Whats going to happen? But its so important to just push those thoughts out of your mind." Santos is powerless over his role in the bullpen. He cant disagree with Gibbons decision and he wont. All he can do is wait until Gibbons calls his name again. "My whole thing is to help this team win in any way I can," said Santos. "Whether right now thats me throwing in the seventh, eighth, okay so be it because I know when Im going good I can help this team win. More importantly, for this team to win, Ive got to get right." Jayson Tatum Celtics Jersey . Linemates Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist in the first period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves to lead the Blue Jackets past the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Saturday night. Kevin Mchale Jersey . Ilonen birdied five of his closing seven holes in superb scoring conditions to end the day with a two-shot lead on the Fota Island course. Ilonen had just 26 putts on the occasion of his 300th European Tour event. http://www.authenticcelticsproshop.com/Kevin-Mchale-Jersey/ . -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released veteran guard Davin Joseph, a mainstay on their offensive line over the past eight seasons. Paul Pierce Jersey . The Gatineau Olympiques head coach will lead Canada in its quest to end its gold medal drought at the 2015 world junior hockey championship held in Montreal and Toronto at the end of this year. Danny Ainge Celtics Jersey . Rico dove horizontally to meet Andoni Iraolas precise long cross from the right to score his second league goal of the season in the 33rd minute. Two minutes later, Aritz Aduriz netted Bilbaos second when he raced forward and pounced on a poor clearance by Villarreal defender Mateo Musacchio, sending a low shot rolling past goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.OTTAWA - Mired in a nine-game losing streak, the Ottawa Redblacks cant be blamed for feeling desperate for a win. While players and coaches will say theyve come close and theyre doing good things, the losing streak is taking its toll. The one and only victory for Ottawa (1-11) came way back on July 18 against the Toronto Argonauts. Two weeks ago the Redblacks suffered a heartbreaking 35-32 overtime loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders despite having the lead for much of the game. Last week the Redblacks had to deal yet again with disappointment when they were unable to take advantage of what looked like perfect scoring situations and settled for a 15-7 loss to Montreal. Losing is wearing thin, and not just for Ottawa. This week the Redblacks host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-7) who are dealing with their own four-game losing streak. You can watch the game live on TSN1, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. The next games the biggest game for us, said head coach Rick Campbell. Were scratching and clawing to get wins just like everybody else does. We have the same approach to come out flying around and try to make a couple more plays and try to get a win. Campbell says he cant allow his team to look at the Bombers as an easy target. Were focused on ourselves, Campbell said. We think we have a big future ahead of us here. Were working hard everyday to get better and we respect all the people we play and theres a lot of good teams in this league and Winnipegs no different. Theyve done a lot of great things this year and were going to have our hands full, but were going to focus on us and playing the best football we can. Still, Campbell acknowledged that the losses have taken their toll on the group. Were hanging in there, but its tough, Campbell said. Its tough to lose games and tough to lose close games, but we think we have a lot of right parts tto our team here and our guys have the right attitude, but we know we have to work hard and get better as fast as we can and start winning some of these close games.dddddddddddd It seems so long ago, but the Redblacks opened the season against the Bombers scoring on their first three drives. Ottawa went on to lose 36-28, but had a solid outing leading many to believe the young expansion team might surprise football fans. Even players admit that first game was reason to have hope. Coming out like we did and scoring on our first three drives it seemed like our season was going to be a very successful season, said wide receiver Marcus Henry. Unfortunately thats just how football is, you never know how its going to go. Were getting better and were a good team. The way weve been losing, like in the last minutes of the game, have been tough, but thats just going to build our character. Henry says despite the losses the team is able to remain resilient because theyre able to see improvement. It might not be evident in the overall standings, but Henry says there are some good things that the team can focus on. Were a lot more confident in what were doing and were used to the system now and just used to everyone thats around us so I think thats a big part of it, said Henry. What does bode well for the Redblacks this Friday is the way the defence has played at TD Place. It hasnt allowed a touchdown on home field in three of the last four games. Weve done really well on defence so far, but we still need to do better, said defensive lineman Keith Shologan. We havent won enough games, so when it comes down it we havent played good enough for that reason. Our goal is for each of us to do better, starting with (Fridays) game. Notes: Dobson Collins replaces Carlton Mitchell at receiver. Defensive back Jermaine Robinson will also be in the lineup. ' ' '