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TORONTO -- The New York Yankees would like to take a walk on the wild side during their four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays that opens Friday at Rogers Centre.It is a key series for the Yankees because the Blue Jays are where they would like to be, occupying an American League wild-card spot.This series between American League East rivals could help sort out a tight wild-card race.Left-hander Francisco Liriano will start Friday for the Blue Jays, who have 10 games left in the regular season, including the next seven at home.A lot of games are left and the position were in, we just have to finish strong, Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista said after a 2-1 loss in 12 innings to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday. I think that should be the focus.Right-hander Bryan Mitchell will start for the Yankees, who also have 10 games left after losing 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. They dropped to three games behind the Detroit Tigers, who moved into the second wild-card spot after sweeping a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.The Blue Jays are in the first wild-card position, one game ahead of the Tigers.The Yankees helped make the wild-card race that much closer Sept. 5-7 when they swept three games from the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.The Blue Jays have continued to stagger through September, going 7-12 so far despite winning two of three from the Mariners to end a seven-game trip at 4-3.Toronto ended August with a two-game lead in the AL East but after losing six of their first six games in September, it had dropped two games behind the Boston Red Sox for the lead. The Red Sox lead reached 5 1/2 games after they completed a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.Obviously we needed to start playing better, but I didnt sense a change in mood in the room, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. We like playing at home. I know our record the last homestand wasnt great (2-4), but we feel good there in front of the home crowd. Theres not a lot of time left so weve got to play good. Youve got to be optimistic.The Blue Jays have played sloppy defense and their hitting has been inconsistent for the past few weeks. There were signs in a 10-2 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday that that there might be an offensive revival.My feeling has always been that with so many guys struggling this month that it was going to change, that it had to change, Gibbons said.The Yankees had some bad news on Thursday. Masahiro Tanaka, who is 14-4 with a 3.07 ERA, has a forearm strain and will not be able to make his scheduled start Monday in the fourth game of the series against Torontos 20-game winner J.A. Happ.Its very disappointing; were making a push, Tanaka said through an interpreter. This is a very important time for us. This is definitely not the time you want to skip anything.Liriano will make his ninth appearance, and seventh start, for Toronto since he was acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates Aug. 1. He is 1-2 with a 3.89 ERA for Toronto. He has faced the Yankees once this season, a two-inning relief outing on Sept. 5 in which he allowed one hit and no runs while striking out three.In 10 career games against the Yankees, including eight starts, he is 2-4 with a 3.72 ERA.Mitchell will make his fourth start of the season Friday. He is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in four career appearances (one start) against Toronto. He earned his first major league win against the Blue Jays on Sept. 7. tossing five scoreless innings -- four hits, two walks and two strikeouts -- in his first start of the season.What we need to do is keep playing the way that were playing now; keep playing hard, keep winning games, said Yankees rookie catching sensation Gary Sanchez, who became the quickest player in history to hit 19 home runs, doing so in his 45th career game on Wednesday.Weve had a tough week, but we have to keep having fun, said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is retiring at the end of the season. Weve got to play relaxed and have fun. Thats why we were winning so many games, because we were enjoying ourselves, playing one game at a time and just trying to have fun out there.Wholesale Lakers Jerseys . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Los Angeles Lakers Pro Shop .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/ . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. Fake Lakers Jerseys . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Stitched Lakers Jerseys . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night.CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Finally, the Big 12 has its Top 10 matchup.No. 8 Oklahoma heads to No. 10 West Virginia on Saturday night and the Sooners can wrap up the Big 12 championship if it gets some help earlier in the day from TCU, which hosts second-place Oklahoma State.The Big 12 has been devoid of marquee games this season. Oklahoma started out ranked No. 3 and lost its opener to Houston. Baylor advanced to No. 8 in late October before losing three straight.West Virginia has moved up after beginning unranked and forecast to finish seventh in the league. The Mountaineers havent come close to a Big 12 title since joining the league in 2012.There may not be this much riding on one game in Morgantown since West Virginia lost to rival Pittsburgh in 2007, costing the Mountaineers a berth in the national championship game.Weve been off the radar for a long time, and were OK with that, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said Monday. We use that as motivation. Whether theyre talking good about us or bad about us, we dont really pay attention to it.On Saturday, it will be the leagues top scoring defense at West Virginia against the conferences best offense.Its exciting but challenging though because they have a raucous crowd, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.Oklahoma enters with a 14-game conference winning streak.Theyre playing lights out, Holgorsen said. Known for an offensive league, theyre the ones that got it going on more than anyone. I know its one that our guys are looking forward to.An Oklahoma win coupled with a loss by No. 13 Oklahoma State on Saturday would give the Sooners (8-2, 7-0) their 10th Big 12 championship and render moot the teams Dec. 3 Bedlam meeting in Norman, Oklahoma.Oklahoma wins the title by winning its last two games, while Oklahoma State (8-2, 6-1) can claim it by beating TCU and the Sooners.West Virginia (8-1, 5-1) must win all of its remaining games and needs Oklahoma State to lose to TCU and beat Oklahoma foor the Mountaineers to claim the title.ddddddddddddWest Virginia also has league games left with Iowa State and Baylor.The league instituted a tie-breaker formula in 2015 based on head-to-head meetings if two teams end tied after TCU and Baylor shared the title in 2014.Other notes from the Big 12 coaches call:---BOWL HUNTERSKansas State, TCU and Texas each have a chance to become bowl eligible this week.Kansas State (5-4, 3-3) plays at Baylor (6-3, 3-3), TCU (5-4, 3-3) hosts Oklahoma State, and the Longhorns (5-5, 3-4) play at Kansas (1-9, 0-7).Texas Tech (4-6, 2-5) needs to win both its remaining games to become bowl eligible. The Red Raiders are at Iowa State (2-8, 1-6) on Saturday.---YOUNG BAYLOR QBActing Baylor coach Jim Grobe said hes confident in the ability of freshman quarterback Zach Smith, who took over last week after Seth Russell sustained a season-ending ankle injury.Smith completed 6 of 15 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. Hes attempted 35 passes all season.I hope we can get him ready in a hurry, Grobe said. Hes got a lot of work to do this week to get comfortable with everything were going to ask him to do. The thing I liked best about him is he didnt have that deer-in-the-headlight look.---GUNDYS HAIRDOOklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, known for his mullet, said the fate of his hairdo might hinge on his sons test scores.His son has been putting the pressure on Gundy to cut his hair, so the coach told him that if he scored above 91 he would think about it. His sons most recent test score was an 88.Gundy said he doesnt necessarily need to maintain his current look to keep a good season going.A lot of people are superstitious about things like that. Im really not, he said. But were having a little bit of fun with it, thats for sure.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '