If you want to look at the cold hard facts, the Kansas City Royals are now the only team in the Majors with a longer post-season drought than the Blue Jays. Kentavius Street Jersey . The Royals, who shrunk over the years from model franchise to annual also-rans, havent made it to the playoffs since 1985, the year they beat the Blue Jays in the American League Championship series en route to winning their one and only World Series title under the late Dick Howser. The past few years though, theyve developed a wealth of young home-grown talent, including catcher Salvador Perez, outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain, third baseman Mike Moustakas, shortstop Alcides Escobar and DH Billy Butler, not to mention outfielder Wil Meyers, who was dealt to Tampa Bay for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis last year. The Royals are continuing their playoff push this off-season. They signed GM Dayton Moore to a two-year extension and then veteran lefty Jason Vargas to a four-year deal and this week, they traded for a needed lead-off hitter, getting Norichika Aoki from Milwaukee to play right field. The next move may be their boldest yet if they can bring back outfielder Carlos Beltran on a three-year deal. The bottom line is, even if they dont win the Central, theyd have to be a favourite for one of the two Wild Card slots, making it even more difficult for the Blue Jays to make it into the post-season. The Jays have been fairly quiet so far, non-tendering catcher J.P. Arencibia, signing catcher Dioner Navarro and then trading reliever Brad Lincoln to the Phillies for catcher Eric Kratz and lefty reliever Rob Rasmussen. Not exactly earth-shattering moves. GM Alex Anthopoulos is already dampening expectations for next weeks Winter Meetings at Orlando a bit by telling the Toronto chapter of the BBWAA that he doesnt expect to add any more than one starting pitcher from outside the organization in the off-season, when most believe they need two. I trust Alex still has a few tricks up his sleeve, but if the Jays arent aggressive enough, they could find themselves with the longest post-season drought of all at 21 years and counting after the coming season. Lone Ranger? From all reports coming out of Texas, it sounds as though Arencibia is going to wind up in Texas as the back-up catcher to Geovany Soto and maybe a part-time DH. The Texas ballpark is made to order for J.P.s power stroke, and heres hoping he can rediscover or rebuild the rest of his game. Hes too good a person to flame-out in this game so soon. On The Move? Dont rule out the possibility of the Blue Jays dealing Adam Lind next week. Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay both want free agent first baseman James Loney. But the team that doesnt get him might come a-calling about Lind. Names From the Past A few more ex-Jays in the news this week include former 2B Kelly Johnson, who is reportedly close to signing a one-year deal with the Yankees in a utility role. Eric Hinske, who won the Rookie of the Year Award as the Blue Jays third baseman in 2002, retired to become the Chicago Cubs first base coach. Finally Dave Winfield, one of the Jays World Series heroes of 1992, left his front office post with San Diego to become special advisor to Tony Clark, the new Executive Director of the Players Association. Winfield and Clark are two of the most impressive and imposing men Ive ever met, both charismatic and intelligent and just dominant in size when they enter a room with Winfield at 66" and Clark at 68". The Players Association is in good hands after the tragic passing of Michael Weiner at 51 after a long battle with brain cancer. Custom San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . -- Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:39 left in regulation to help the San Jose Sharks overcome a two-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night. Mike McGlinchey 49ers Jersey . Pekovic had an MRI test Tuesday on his right ankle that revealed bursitis, which is inflammation of the fluid-filled pad that cushions the joint. http://www.49ersauthoritystore.com/Authentic-Jimmy-Garoppolo-49ers-Jersey/ . Kevin Martin and Kevin Love paced the Timberwolves like they do so often. Martin had 27 points with some key baskets down the stretch, Love had his usual double-double, and the Timberwolves snapped a three-game losing streak with a 112-106 victory Saturday night over the suddenly slipping Dallas Mavericks.4) Speaking of which, if you invested time in the Cleveland Browns-Washington game, it is time to vote on the most interesting thing you saw. Was it Johnny Manziel "flipping off" the Washington bench, or the five holding penalties called against the Browns defence….in the first quarter?5) You will notice that I didnt mention the name of the Washington team. CBS analyst Phil Simms says he might do the same, while his play-by-play partner Jim Nantz feels it is not his place to "take a stance" on the controversy that will not go away. Whos right? I will only say that Nantz is, indeed, "taking a stance" by using the "R" name--hes saying he has no problem with it.6) Milos Raonics steady rise in the world tennis rankings is worthy of praise, but wheres the breakthrough victory that will signal the dawn of true greatness? The two views of Raonic are that it is inevitable, and that it will never come.7) It is time to tell MLB commissioner Rob Manfred how to save time and make games shorter. Are you with me in admitting that the appeal of the "sport without a clock" has waned?8) So lets begin with the toughest question--Should baseball actually use a clock to make the pitcher deliver the ball to home plate within 12 seconds of receiving it in his glove? The answer here is "yes", because the "discretion of the umpire" is a phrase that doesnt serve baseball well in any application.9) For instance, umpires can be encouraged to call more strikes, which usually means theyre supposed to call "high strikes", but they dont. Isnt it time for strict adherence to one strike zone, never mind the idea that umpires have their own strike zones? And, that strike zone, should you need a reminder, is between the top of the knees and the mid-point between the batters pants and the top of his shoulders, as he is about to swing.10) Batters arent supposed to step out of the batters box with both feet. So why are they allowed to do that for just about any reason, or for no reason? Stop them with called strikes.11) Mound conferences. The manager or pitching coach is allowed one trip, after which the pitcher must be changed. Whats wrong with applying the same restriction to catchers and infielders?12) Intentional walks. Why not save the time it takes to deliver four wide pitches and just wave the batter to first base?13) Video review. Baseball has lost its way with the introduction of challenges to umpires calls. Their number must be limited, and so too, the length of time they consume. Did it not occur to MLB that the only valid criticism of this innovation would be if the umps wore the headsets for more than, say, 90 seconds?14) And now it is time to offend the purists (I used to be one myself), or have I done that allready? If the reason for this overhaul is to shorten games, there must be something done when an extra-inning game stretches to the ridiculous length of five or six hours. Fred Warner Jersey. Draw the line where you think it belongs--Ill pick 12 innings--and for all innings beyond that, softballs international tie-breaker applies. (Each half-inning begins with a runner at second base).15) Kudos to the Montreal Alouettes for battling the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the very end of last Saturdays game, won 16-11 by the defending Grey Cup champs. But is there anyone not named Tom Higgins who would have done what the Montreal coach did after cutting Saskatchewans lead to two points with just over three minutes to play? What Higgins did was to order a one-point convert following the Als lone touchdown, when a successful two-point try would have evened the score. Ah, but what if the two-point play failed? Well, Montreal would have trailed by two, needing a field goal to win, which basically was what Montreal needed if the deficit was a single point. In summary, there was much to gain and little or nothing to lose by trying for two, and Higgins didnt.16) How good are the Calgary Stampeders? Well, if youre not willing to answer by saying "Theyre the best team in the CFL", try this: "Theyre good enough to be 6-1 without the services of the leagues top player in 2013, Jon Cornish". And wont it be good to see Cornish in action again on Sunday in Ottawa? (Ya, okay, perhaps not if youre Ottawa).17) Do you want the latest reason why its so frustrating being a Chicago Cubs fan? In their recently-completed four-game series against the Mets, the Cubs managed to hold the Mets to 16 hits, exactly four per game. And they split the series.18) Heres a stat that baseball needs to adjust--the "hold", which is awarded to a relief pitcher if he takes the mound with his team leading by three runs or less and departs without surrendering the lead. On Sunday, St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal walked three batters and was responsible for two of them crossing the plate, but because that still left the Cardinals in front for a one-run victory, Rosenthal, blown save and all, got his first "hold" of the season. What he got that he deserved was "the hook".19) If there must be a hockey question in August, here it is--what is the name of the Carolina Hurricanes head coach? (I had to look it up. Why dont you do the same, because the point of this exercise is lost if his name appears here. Or maybe you know it, which puts you ahead of me, unless you can name the NHLs five rookie general managers. It took me a couple of minutes, but hey, its August).20) Will the Los Angeles Clippers continue to employ cheerleaders, or would owner Steve Ballmer suffice? Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Jerseys From China Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL T-shirts Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Discount NFL Jerseys ' ' '