Turkoglu jokingly shouted and smiled as he attempted

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TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays wanted to kick off a critical nine-game homestand with a bang to give their fading playoff hopes a boost. C. D. Pelham Jersey . The Tampa Bay Rays ended up showing them how its done. Drew Smyly threw a two-hit shutout and Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs as the Rays dumped the Blue Jays 8-0 on Friday night at Rogers Centre. Wil Myers also went deep as the Rays pounded out 14 hits in the opener of a three-game series. It was the seventh loss in nine games for the Blue Jays (65-63), who entered play four games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League. "When youre high, everything is going to go your way. When youre struggling, everything is going to go against you," said Toronto catcher Dioner Navarro. "A couple of plays here and there probably would have changed the outcome of the game. "But they outplayed us today, they outpitched us, they outhustled us." Longoria took Marcus Stromans first pitch in the second inning over the wall to give Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead. It was his 16th homer of the season. Tampa Bay took advantage of some suspect defence in the fifth inning. Matt Joyce led off with a double on a ball that bounced off right-fielder Jose Bautistas glove as he tried to make a running catch at the warning track. Longoria walked and James Loney followed with a grounder to short that should have been a double-play ball. But second baseman Steve Tollesons throw to first bounced in the dirt, allowing Joyce to score. The Rays drove Stroman (7-5) from the game in the sixth and burned reliever Aaron Loup in a four-run frame that put the game out of reach. "I figured wed come out there tonight with a little more energy," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "We didnt have it and we made some mistakes, we couldnt turn that big double play. We laid back on a couple balls, things like that. "But Smyly was pretty good out there, Ill give him that." It was the first shutout and first complete game of the southpaws career. Smyly threw 75 of his 105 pitches for strikes, didnt walk a batter and had four strikeouts. "It was good, I have been waiting for this game," he said. "I didnt know if I was ever going to get it because I usually have high pitch counts." Stroman, meanwhile, allowed 10 hits, five earned runs, three walks and had six strikeouts. "I was just up a little bit," Stroman said. "My sinker was pretty good, change-up wasnt bad. It was just a couple pitches that I left up, some curve balls that were up in the zone and they capitalized on it." Smyly (8-10) allowed a single to Jose Reyes in the first inning and a single to Tolleson in the third before retiring the next 19 batters in order. "That was, for my money, the best pitching performance Ive seen from a Ray in this ballpark," said Tampa manager Joe Maddon. "Truly a really artistic performance tonight." Myers tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning with a solo shot off Todd Redmond. Tampa Bay left 12 men on base while Toronto left just one. Notes: Myers has six homers on the season. ... Torontos Kyle Drabek worked the seventh. He has pitched three scoreless innings of relief since his recent callup from triple-A Buffalo. ... Announced attendance was 28,506 and the game took two hours 45 minutes to play. ... The Rays are the only team in the major leagues with a winning record on the road (34-29) and a losing record overall (63-65). ... The Blue Jays fell to 5-13 in August. ... Tolleson ended an 0-for-14 drought with his single. ... Left-hander Mark Buehrle (11- Cool

is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday afternoon. The Rays will counter with right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-2). Ivan Rodriguez Jersey . The Toronto Maple Leafs were holding a news conference, so they got curious. It didnt take long for them to find out via social media that coach Randy Carlyle was coming back — with a two-year extension — and assistants Greg Cronin, Scott Gordon and Dave Farrish were being let go. Michael Young Jersey . At least 90 players who had college eligibility remaining are expected to enter the draft, shattering last years record number of 73. "Its a humongous number, so the first reaction is it makes you step back a little bit," said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former scout with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles.SAN FRANCISCO -- Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers would prefer to be talking about how well Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have played against the Golden State Warriors. Or how his team has defended Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Or just about anything that has happened on the court in the first-round playoff series. Instead, Rivers and his players spent Saturday talking about how they would respond to an audio recording of a man identified as Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to games. "The fact that I had to spend 45 minutes in a meeting instead of watching film did not make me happy," Rivers said. Whether the comments -- which drew sharp criticism and calls for action from around the NBA -- effect the Clippers in Game 4 against the Warriors is all that worries Rivers right now. Los Angeles leads the series 2-1 and has looked every bit like a championship contender in winning the past two games. Chasing a title is the reason Rivers said players decided against protesting or even boycotting the game. They want to win for each other, he said, and not for Sterling or anyone else. "For me, I want to focus on my guys. I came here for them. They came here for each other. Our goals have not changed," Rivers said passionately after the Clippers practice at the University of San Francisco. "Its like one of the players said, Hey, when I was a kid, I had a goal to win a world championship. It was to do that. It wasnt to win a world championship for someone." Clippers point guard Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association, released a statement through the union that said "this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively." Paul and Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin declined further comment on the issue after practice. Other players were not made available as Rivers said he would speak for the team. "A lot of guys voiced their opinions. None of them were happy about it," Rivers said. "This was a situation where were trying to go after something very important for us, something that weve all dreamed about all our childhoods. Toby Harrah Rangers Jersey. Donald or anyone else had nothing to do with that dream, and were not going to let anything get in the way of those dreams." Sterling, a real estate owner who has a decades-long history of alleged discrimination and offensive behaviour, made his team the centre of NBA attention for all the wrong reasons again. In a recording posted on TMZs website, a man reported to be Sterling questions his girlfriends association with minorities. Clippers President Andy Roeser said in statement that the team did not know if the tape is legitimate or has been altered. Roeser also said the views expressed on the recording do not reflect Sterlings beliefs and that the woman on the tape -- identified by TMZ as V. Stiviano -- "is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would get even." Sterling has not commented on the situation. Left in the aftermath was Rivers and his players facing more than 50 reporters at the Clippers practice Saturday. A day earlier, only about a dozen were at the teams hotel for the interview session. Most players ignored the added attention. Jamal Crawford looked over and laughed. Hedo Turkoglu jokingly shouted and smiled as he attempted shots. All that the hoopla meant for the Clippers as a team, Rivers said, was one monumental "distraction" before its biggest game of the season. "In a weird way, Im sure Golden State is having a ball right now because were not talking about them," Rivers said. Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said "theres no place" for Sterlings alleged remarks but his team would remain focused on the game. His players echoed those sentiments, saying they wouldnt be deterred by one mans beliefs -- no matter how offensive. Rivers also said the audio recording would not serve as motivation for his team. "Were playing Golden State, and Golden State is our enemy right now," Rivers said. "Thats where were going to keep it, and thats where we want to keep it." ' ' '