Join us » While the Tigers finals chances are shot

TORONTO -- Whenever his Toronto Blue Jays face the Baltimore Orioles, manager John Gibbons has a pretty good idea what kind of game its going to be.Theyre normally slugfests, Gibbons said Monday as the Blue Jays prepared to host Baltimore in the American League wild-card game.The Orioles led the major leagues with 253 home runs this season and hit 28 in their 19 games against Toronto. The Blue Jays were fourth in baseball with 221 homers and hit 29 against Baltimore.Were really very similar teams, if you break it down, Gibbons said. We know everything about them. They know everything about us. When youre playing a team from your division, theres really no secrets.Still, with a berth in the best-of-five division series against Texas on the line, long balls might be a little harder to come by in Tuesday nights winner-take-all affair between these AL East foes.The challenge of controlling two powerful lineups will fall on the starting pitchers. Marcus Stroman (9-10, 4.37 ERA) gets the nod for Toronto, with fellow right-hander Chris Tillman (16-6, 3.77) going for the Orioles.I think Stro is the perfect guy, Gibbons said. Big game, weve seen him do it before. He did that a couple of times for us last year. You know hes going to come out throwing strikes. Were glad hes available.Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said choosing Tillman was a good, tough decision.We had probably three options, and Chris is one of those good options, Showalter said.The Orioles went 4-0 in Tillmans four starts against the Blue Jays this season. Last year, he was 0-4 in six starts against Toronto, with an ugly 11.32 ERA.I dont think Ive gone out of my way to do anything different with these guys, Tillman said. Its just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Last year didnt go so well. This year has been a little better.Tillman took a no-decision against the Blue Jays in his final start of the regular season. He allowed two runs, one earned, and six hits in 5 2/3 innings on Wednesday. In 13 career starts at Rogers Centre, he is 2-6 with a 7.01 ERA.If the Orioles have a late lead, theyll like their chances of locking it down. Closer Zach Britton was perfect in 47 save opportunities this season. Given the stakes, Showalter said hed consider using Britton for an extended outing.You dont worry about tomorrow or the next day, the manager said. Everything is about that nine innings. There are some times during the course of the game that it may happen earlier than usual that you may attack it differently.Stroman lost to Baltimore in his final regular-season outing. He yielded four runs and nine hits in seven innings Thursday. He is 1-2 with a 7.04 ERA in four starts against Baltimore this season.Its an unbelievable lineup, Stroman said. One through nine, there are no easy outs. There are no pitches you can take off. You make a mistake, and they make you pay.Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo led the majors with 47 home runs and is part of the reason Gibbons considers Baltimore probably the top quick-strike offense in baseball.There are so many power threats in their lineup, Gibbons said.Power was in short supply for the Blue Jays in the final weeks of the season. Toronto averaged 3.69 runs in September and October, their worst month of the season.Even so, a pair of one-run wins at Boston in the final two games of the season gave the Blue Jays home-field advantage against Baltimore and got them ready for the postseason, Gibbons said.Theres got to be something said for experiencing those kind of games, he said. You play enough of them, you get used to them.Toronto did not put right-hander R.A. Dickey on its postseason roster. Including Stroman, the Blue Jays will have 10 pitchers available. The Orioles have not yet finalized their roster.The winner of Tuesdays game will head to Texas to play the AL West champion Rangers beginning Thursday. Adidas NHL Jerseys 2020 . Only three players drafted by NHL clubs were included on the Czech selection camp roster on Wednesday. Those players were Dallas Stars 2012 first-rounder Radek Faksa, Winnipeg Jets 2013 fourth-rounder Jan Kostalek and Phoenix Coyotes 2012 seventh-rounder Marek Langhamer. Nike NFL Jerseys 2020 . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. 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The AFLs three bye rounds gave the Western Bulldogs their worst loss of the season, then the week off and finally an epic win.Coach Luke Beveridge expects that eventful 15-day period has given his players a strong enough lesson about the leagues thin margin between triumph and disaster.The Bulldogs will start strong favourites this Saturday night against Richmond, but Beveridge said they cannot afford any letdown after last weeks heroics against Sydney at the SCG.While the Tigers finals chances are shot, Beveridge is also mindful they remain dangerous opposition.This time of year, with teams that maybe havent got the runs on the board that theyd like - and the Tigers are in that boat at the moment - theres going to be spike in their performance at some point, he said.We have to guard against that.We were stung a couple of weeks ago by the Cats - thats pretty fresh in the memory banks.Well be doing everything we can to make sure that doesnt happen again.In round 13, Geelong opened up the Bulldogs and mauled them by 57 points.But after their week off - and the potential distraction of the Tom Boyd-Zaine Cordy controversy - the Bulldogs were outstanding last Saturday and beat the Swaans by four points.ddddddddddddBeveridge pointed to that win as ample evidence that the club suspensions handed to Boyd and Cordy for their drunken pub fight and the circumstances surrounding the matter had not distracted the team.The Bulldogs covered up the incident for a couple of weeks, only issuing a media release last Thursday.It remains unclear when Boyd, their multi-million dollar recruit, will return to the senior side as he also returns through the VFL from a shoulder injury.Meanwhile, the Bulldogs continue to search for more goalkicking firepower.While they are sixth on the ladder, they are only 10th in the AFL for scoring.Were working our way towards it, we hope, Beveridge said.That polish, playing against really good defences, being able to deal with them - we have some challenges.Were just starting to scratch the surface and it would be nice to break through.At the other end of the ground, the Bulldogs have lost defender Marcus Adams for about a fortnight with a foot injury.Beveridge said it was likely Fletcher Roberts will take his place. 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