mmission and the stadium authority failed. James Shrewsbury

TORONTO a€“ The Blue Jays dropped the final game of their four-game set with the Mariners, 7-5, on Thursday afternoon. Cincinnati Reds Gear . Prior to the game, TSN.ca continued its series of season-ending player interviews by sitting down with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Dickey, who turns 40 on October 29, discussed his pregame preparation and how it differs from conventional pitchers, his impression of Jose Bautistas play and he addresses how long he intends to continue playing. Below is the transcript of the chat: TSN.ca: R.A. one more start to go this season. When you look at your numbers, youve had a pretty good year and a pretty consistent year for this team. But I want to hear you describe it. How has your season gone? DICKEY: I certainly felt like its been an improvement from last year. I think one of the things that makes a competitor a competitor, and a lot of these guys are the same way, is that youre never really satisfied. You know, even in my Cy Young award year I feel like I could have done a few things better so youre always trying to push that envelope. At the same time there is a certain amount of satisfaction that I get when Im able to achieve some goals on a personal level. Now, collectively, its been a disappointment as Ive expressed before but even inside that disappointment youre hoping to grow as a pitcher in your craft and whatnot and like looking back I feel Ive been able to give our team a chance to win on more nights than not. TSN.ca: In what ways have you evolved as a pitcher? Im sitting here thinking your change of velocities and the ways that youve tried to adjust to pitching in what I think is a much harder home park to pitch in than Citi Field in New York. Is that one and maybe what are some of the others? DICKEY: I think youre accurate on both counts. Being able to change speeds has been something Ive felt like has been a very good weapon for me to keep the ball in the ballpark and Ive gotten better and better at that this year. Ive thrown more slow knuckleballs this year than any year previous. Ive been able to keep the ball in the ballpark for the most part throughout the year. I think Ive given up 25 home runs this year which, you know, still a little bit high. Id like to have it a little bit lower but all in all, playing in the AL East in these parks its not terrible. Im okay with that number. I wish that I could have started the year a little stronger. I think next year I think my focus is going to try to be how can I get out of the gates just a little bit better? A lot of that has to do with my control. Im still walking guys at a level that is unacceptable to me. If I can improve on that I think a lot of my numbers will take care of themselves but those walks need to trim down. TSN.ca: Your numbers over the last four or five years would suggest that you can but Im going to ask you, can you trust that pitch to the extent that youve got a really good idea, when it leaves your hand, that its going to end up in the place that you want it to? DICKEY: Yeah, I do. I think I know enough about my mechanic, I know enough about my release point, etcetera, etcetera to be able to get the ball in the strike zone more consistently than 71 walks in a year. I feel like I should be 60 to 65 walks at the most is kind of the ceiling that I hope to achieve. I have precedent. Ive done that before well over the previous three or four years. Now, youve got to be a little more careful with hitters in this league so you give yourself a little more grace for that but theres times when Ive walked guys with two outs or led off an inning with a walk that I could get much better at. TSN.ca: When you look at this division and where this team stacks up comparatively with Baltimore, with Boston, with New York and with Tampa Bay a€“ and I think some unpredictable things happened in the American League East this year a€“ how close are the Blue Jays to being to not just a playoff contender because that factors in the wild card but a legit division winner or contender for the division? DICKEY: Well, I dont think I can stand here in good conscience and say that we have everything that we need. Whether that comes in the form of guys performing better that are in here or the addition of other players and Im including myself in that equation but you cant sit here and say that youve got everything when you havent done it. You obviously need something. So I think thats the real challenge is trying to identify those things that we need that would be more consistent that would help us achieve our collective goals. Weve got some great players in this clubhouse; players I feel like you can really depend on consistently and if you just have some pieces around them that can complement them well I think youre right where you need to be. Now, how does that come? Well see. I think a lot of guys in here are going to have better years than they did last year because theyre going to be exposed to more and will have had more experience and so on and so forth. I think that you have a good chance at competing. Now, are you going to run away with it with the guys that we have in here? I dont think, regardless of who you had in here, youre going to run away with it. Its just too competitive of a division. TSN.ca: I want to get your thoughts on Jose Bautista, who I put up there with Roberto Alomar and maybe a couple of other guys as maybe the top ever positional players to play on this team. Youve, I dont think, worked necessarily against him too, too much, especially when hes been in the five seasons of his prime but whats he like as a teammate and whats it like to watch him go to work each and everyday and perform the way that he does? DICKEY: Well, let me speak just to the player on the field first. Ive had the, Im not necessarily going to call it a privilege but I had the opportunity to play with Alex Rodriguez in the AL MVP year. Ive had the opportunity to play with David Wright and Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in his prime and Ive got to tell you that this guy ranks right up there with those guys. The year that hes having this year in particular, he has the chance to score 100 runs, have 100 walks and 100 RBIs. I mean, for a guy to do that is phenomenal. Youre happy that youre on a team being able to witness such a thing happen. Thats what he has done consistently over the last few seasons when he has been healthy. As a player: what a guy, what a pro. Comes ready to play everyday, played hurt, been kind of the pillar on this team from a position player standpoint that weve needed, come up in big situations, clutch situations, when weve been in the playoff race time and time again and given us a chance to win so you cant say enough about him as a player. Off the field, hes in the community. Hes got things going on. Hes the face of what we do. Hes been a great teammate. Ive had nothing but great things to say about him. Hes been a fun guy to play with. I think last year he had some real challenges that he was dealing with, being physical or otherwise he had some real challenges and this year Ive gotten to see him firsthand kind of be who he authentically is and its been a real treat. TSN.ca: Getting back to you, you talked about your walk count and how youd like to bring that down. Whenever I approach you and we talk about your pitching youre very aware of your statistics because you analyze how your season is going as you progress. What are some of the numbers that concern you the most when youre trying to judge what kind of run youre on or what kind of season youre having? DICKEY: I just think its my personality. Im somewhat quantitative. Its the only way I can measure a job well done and for me I try to keep an eye on my innings because if youve thrown 200-plus innings youve usually been depended on to go deep in games, which means youve pitched well enough to get deep in those games. Hits per innings pitched are big for me, or WHIP, I try to pay attention to those numbers. How many guys are getting on base in every inning? I like to have that number below 1.3 as much as possible and so there are some things that I can keep an eye on. Thats just me. A lot of guys dont even look at the numbers but Im not going to stand before you and tell you I dont because thats the only way I really have to measure how Im doing. Of course, quality starts for me is always a€| I had Orel Hershiser tell me one time and it stayed with me ever since, he said if you can be depended on to give your team a chance to win youll always have a job and Ive never forgot it. So thats one of the things Ive always tried to do is put up a quality start as many times as I can. TSN.ca: When you pore over a scouting report of an opposing team and you go over their hitters, how is that different for you than it would be for a conventional pitcher in terms of, I mean because I think weve all got a pretty good idea of what pitch youre going to throw more often than not so how do you assess a way to attack a guy? DICKEY: Thats a great question. I think for me a hitters weaknesses arent necessarily something that a€| like, sinker in, he hits .008 on sliders away, like that doesnt help me a bit a€| but what does help me is how aggressive is this guy? Does he walk a lot? Does he strike out a lot? Is he prone to swing early in the count or is he not prone to swing early in the count? Can I get ahead with fastballs early in the count because he takes first pitches? What are his first-pitch take percentages? Things like that really help me more than anything, knowing the personality of the hitter more than knowing what conventional pitches beat him or dont beat him. TSN.ca: Youve got one guaranteed year left plus a club option. You throw a pitch that traditionally has allowed guys to work well into their 40s. I know its still early for this but when you look ahead could you see yourself in this game as an active pitcher, an active player, maybe half a decade from now? DICKEY: Well, that would mean Id be 45. Conditionally, like the way that my body feels, I certainly feel like I could perform at the level that Im performing. I think the real question is do I want to do that to my family? Theyll be a big part of my decisions going forward at the conclusion of this contract. I certainly feel like Im physically going to be able to keep going and well just have to take it one day at a time but I just try to live in the moment as much as possible. Ive got one start left against the Baltimore Orioles, on Sunday, and thats really my emphasis right now, to try and finish strong. TSN.ca: Thanks so much for this, R.A. Appreciate it. DICKEY: Youre welcome. Cheap Reds Jerseys . Crawford hit his slam off Pirates starter Edinson Volquez to give San Francisco a four run lead in the fourth and they never looked back. Brandon Belt had three runs batted in as well. Bumgarner pitched all nine innings and allowed just four hits. Reds Jerseys 2020 . Lynchs attorney, Ivan Golde, told The Associated Press on Thursday of the plea deal that was reached with the Alameda County District Attorney Office. The plea will be formally entered in court in Oakland, Calif. https://www.cheapredsjerseys.us/ . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans.ST. LOUIS - A company tied to St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has purchased a prime piece of land in the Los Angeles area amid speculation the NFL franchise is considering a return to the city it left for the Midwest nearly two decades ago. Team officials on Friday provided a written statement confirming the recent purchase of a 60-acre site in Inglewood, Calif., adjacent to the shuttered Hollywood Park racetrack. The Los Angeles Times first reported the purchase. "As real estate developers, the Kroenke Organizations are involved in numerous real estate deals across the country and North America," the statement said. "While we can confirm media reports that we recently purchased land in Inglewood, as a private company we dont typically discuss our plans for commercial or residential investments. We have yet to decide what we are going to do with the property but we will look at all options, as we do with all of our properties." The property is three miles east of Los Angeles International Airport runways and sprawls between the newly renovated Forum concert venue, former home of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Hollywood Park, which closed Dec. 22 after 75 years of horse racing. The latter 260-acre site is slated for development of 3,000 housing units, commercial space and parks. The land was previously owned by Wal-Mart, which hoped to build a superstore there but could not win local voter approval for the project. Kroenke is a former Wal-Mart board member who is married to the daughter of company co-founder Bud Walton and continues to build shopping centres for the retailer. Los Angeles has lacked an NFL team since both the Rams and Raiders left in 1994. The Rams can break their 30-year lease in St. Louis after the 2014 season — a decade early — but have said little about their plans. The Rams lease requires the Edward Jones Dome to remain among the top quarter of the 32 NFL stadiums, based on various criteria. The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, which manages the dome, last year offered a $124 million improvement plan that included a bigger scoreboard and better club seating, with the Rams paying slightly more half those costs. The team countered with a far more ambitious proposal tthat called for a new roof with a sliding panel and a bevy of improvements that would keep the city convention centre in the dome closed for three years. Reds Jerseys 2019. City leaders rejected $700 million in publicly funded upgrades sought by the team. Speaking in New York before Sundays Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was informed of the Kroenke purchase and noted that any stadium development plan would require approval from two-thirds of the NFLs 32 owners. "Were aware of it," Goodell said. "There are no plans, to my knowledge, of a stadium development. Anything that would require a stadium development would require multiple votes of the membership." Goodell cautioned against "overreacting" to the Kroenke land purchase, saying "we should make sure we do whats necessary to continue to support the team locally, which the fans have done in St. Louis. And make sure we can do whatever we can to make sure that team is successful in the St. Louis market." Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he thinks "its unfortunate that a generation of fans have grown up without" a team in Los Angeles. "We definitely want a team in L.A. ... We need to make sure we have the right owner and the right facility, and until at least 24 owners feel that, we wont have it," Kraft said in New York. "Just personally, I would like to see a team in L.A. as soon as possible." Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has taken over negotiations with the Rams and Kroenke after arbitration between the team, the commission and the stadium authority failed. James Shrewsbury, chairman of the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority, which owns the downtown dome, referred questions about the Los Angeles purchase to the governor. "Its hard to comment on it since we dont know what his purpose is," Shrewsbury said, referring to Kroenke, who could not be reached for comment. "He hasnt said what he plans to do with it." The football St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1987, and the city went nearly a decade without a franchise until the Los Angeles Rams arrived in 1995. AP Sports Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report from New York. ' ' '