Allgemeines » catcher Dioner Navarro. Reyes

OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The Ravens record-setting offence sputtered and stalled before halftime in December, scoring only two touchdowns in eight quarters.That wont do if Baltimore intends to make a deep post-season run.Its like a theme, wide receiver Torrey Smith said. We have to break it.Despite being outscored 41-20 in the first half, the Ravens won three of their final four games to squeeze into the playoffs. Baltimores offence produced only seven first-quarter points during that span, a performance hardly befitting the highest-scoring team in franchise history.Its something we need to address and fix and make sure it doesnt happen, quarterback Joe Flacco said. But I think the biggest thing is just to go out there and be aggressive and do the things that we do well and make the plays when theyre presented to us.Of Baltimores 30 first-half possessions in December, 14 ended with punts and four with turnovers. There was also a missed field goal, and once the Ravens turned the ball over on downs.The last thing the Ravens need is another early lockdown by their offence Saturday night during their wild-card game at Pittsburgh.You dont want to put yourself in a hole. You have to play better, receiver Steve Smith said. But at the same time, its the playoffs. Anything happens, and everything happens. We just have to play ball, and we have to play better, and we have to make more plays than them. And hopefully, at the end of the game, we have more on the scoreboard than they do.Overall, its been a great year for Baltimores offence under first-year co-ordinator Gary Kubiak. The Ravens scored 409 points, ranking eighth in the NFL with a 25.6 average, and yielded only 19 sacks compared with 48 last year.Flacco set career marks in yards passing (3,986) and touchdown passes (27). He produced comeback wins over Cleveland, Jacksonville and Miami in December but clearly would prefer not to work from behind against the Steelers.The biggest thing is just moving the ball and not giving them a lot of third-down chances to really get up and get going early on in the game, Flacco said. Weve probably hurt ourselves more so than anything with false starts and little things like that. And when you do that —especially on the road — you give their crowd a good chance to get into it and really get fired up. A three-and-out definitely energizes them, and usually it carries over to the next series. He speaks from experience. On Dec. 21 in Houston, the Ravens went three-and-out on four of their first five series, fell behind 16-0 at halftime and couldnt climb out of the hole.The biggest thing we have to do is move the ball early and get into the flow of the game, Flacco said.The Ravens were limited to only three points over the first three quarters against Cleveland last Sunday before pulling out a win with 17 points over the final 15 minutes. Sure, they might be able to do the same thing against the Steelers, but counting on that is dangerous.Slow starts, third downs, touchdowns in the red zone — especially when you play Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh — those are things you really need to do well, coach John Harbaugh said. We need to do better at those things if we expect to come out of there with a victory.___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL Vans Shoes Sale Cheap .Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. Vans Shoes Clearance .com) - The San Francisco Giants delivered plenty of big hits to tie the World Series. http://www.vansoutletsale.com/. The Thunder earned the Game 1 win with a 100-86 victory Saturday night. Oklahoma City dominated the first half and led by 22 at the break, but saw its lead shrink to just two points in the fourth quarter. Vans Shoes Sale .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. China Vans Shoes Wholesale . -- Billy Donovans bench came up big, bailing out top-seeded Florida in a tight game against what was supposed to be an overmatched opponent. TORONTO -- Even the pinch-hit return of Jose Bautista could not help the Toronto Blue Jays. The all-star right-fielder appeared in his first game in a week, pinch hitting in the sixth inning but grounding in to a force out on Sunday as the Chicago White Sox defeated the Blue Jays 4-0, Torontos third loss in a row. "Hopefully, Bautistas back in here the next couple of games to give us kind of a jolt in the lineup," said Blue Jays left-hander Mark Buehrle who took the loss despite holding the White Sox to two runs in eight innings. Chicago got seven strong innings from left-hander Jose Quintana (5-7) and a home run and a double from right-fielder Moises Sierra, who started the season with Toronto. Bautista, who did not play in at all the in the previous six games because of a mild left hamstring strain, hopes that he will be able to return full-time by Tuesday when the Blue Jays next play. "Everybody knows I cant go out on the field and not be 100 per cent," Bautista said before the game after testing the leg by running. "Hopefully by Tuesday I feel better and I can be in the outfield. If not I can DH the whole game and play the day after." The return of the right-fielder cannot come soon enough. The Blue Jays finished with a 12-15 record in June after winning the first five games of the month. They lead the American League East despite losing nine of their past 13 games. The Blue Jays won only the opener of the four-game series against the White Sox (39-44) who are fourth in the American League Central. Besides Bautistas potent right-handed bat, Toronto (45-39) is also without Brett Lawrie who is on the disabled list with a broken right index finger. "Theyre a big part of it, no question about that," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons . "Really its been a couple of weeks weve been cold, regardless. We had some games in there we put some runs up. Overall, since our big streak (21-9 in May), weve cooled off quite a bit there. We need to get going. Today was just kind of flat, one of those dead days. "Buehrle pitched good enough to win, he really did. He did what he always does. We got zero going and its frustrating." Torontos hitters are frustrated with the scoring drought as well. "It is hard because you never know whos going to be in the lineup," said Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes who had a double and a single on Sunday. "Theres a lot of different people every single day, coming up from the minor leagues and stuff. People need to step it up. If we want to continue to be in first place we need to play better baseball." Quintana held the Blue Jays to three hiits and two walks while striking out seven.dddddddddddd Hes won back-to-back starts. Buehrle (10-5), who has not won since June 1, lost for the fourth time in his past five starts. He allowed six hits, two walks and two runs while striking out five against in his second career start against his former team. White Sox designated hitter Jose Abreu extended his hit streak to 14 games with an RBI single in the third inning. He drove in second baseman Gordon Beckham who hit a two-out double. Sierra hit his second homer of the season with one out in the fourth to put the White Sox into a 2-0 lead. Chicago claimed Sierra off waivers from the Blue Jays on May 3. Buehrle knows Sierra will chase pitches out of the strike zone from watching him Toronto but lamented his change-up down the middle of the plate. "I pretty much teed one up for him and thats what hes supposed to do with it," Buehrle said. The Blue Jays did not have as many as two runners on base in an inning until the sixth when Reyes doubled with one out and designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion walked with two out. That brought out Bautista, who had not played since June 22, to bat for catcher Dioner Navarro. Reyes took third on a wild pitch as Bautista worked the count to 3-2 on Quintana. But he hit a ground ball to shortstop and Encarnacion was forced out at second to end the inning. "I tried to keep the ball down with him," Quintana said. "Behind in the count 2-0, I wanted to keep the ball away. After Im behind in the count, I just tried to get the round ball." The White Sox added two runs in the ninth against right-hander Sergio Santos on a single by catcher Tyler Flowers. It scored first baseman Paul Konerko who walked with one out and took third on Sierras double. Left-hander Eric Surkamp pitched the eighth and right-hander Jake Petricka took over for the ninth. NOTES: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 33,177. a.Left-handed reliever Brett Cecil (groin), who is on the disabled list, will start his minor-league rehabilitation assignment with triple-A Buffalo on Monday. aBautista injured the hamstring while beating out a bunt on June 22 at Cincinnati. aLeft-fielder Melky Cabrera also was not in the lineup with Darin Mastroianni starting in his place. Cabrera, who needed a day off and has not hit Quintana well in his career, pinch hit unsuccessfully in the eighth against Surkamp. aThe Blue Jays have Monday off before concluding their home stand with two afternoon games against the Milwaukee Brewers with right-hander Drew Hutchison (5-6, 4.00) facing right-hander Marco Estrada (7-4, 5.06 ERA) on Tuesday. ' ' '