his hundred? England have Ben Stokes -

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his hundred? England have Ben Stokes -

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TORONTO – Minutes after Kevin Pillar played the hero in Monday nights 5-4 Blue Jays walk off win over the Twins, he alluded to a conversation he shared with Jose Bautista earlier in the evening. The two were in the batting cage moments before game time. Bautista was taking final warm up cuts. Pillar was hitting soft toss. The one-time utility player turned All-Star pulled aside the clubs young, fourth outfielder and offered him some advice. Pillar described it as a discussion about hitting. Bautista told him there was nothing wrong with his swing, that he should remain aggressive in the batters box in order that the pitcher doesnt get too comfortable. He reminded Pillar that in Pillars role, he could step to the plate in crucial, late-game situations. Sure enough, Pillar got the game-winning single to snap a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning. Sure enough, he remained aggressive, perhaps too much so early in the at-bat when Pillar swung at the first two pitches down and out of the strike zone. With the count 1-2, Pillar took a pitch on the outer half to right field, Erik Kratz came around to score and the Blue Jays celebrated. Pillar thought enough of the conversation to share it with the assembled media postgame. Bautista seemed surprised to be approached on the topic. "You hope to have an effect on all your teammates, no matter what you talk about or discuss," said Bautista. "Even if its, hey youre opening up a little bit or having a 10-minute talk about being mentally ready, preparation and mindset and all that. You hope that your teammates listen to you. You dont hope that they do exactly what you say and if you say hop on one foot they start doing it, but if you make a comment that you think is going to help you hope they at least listen. Digest it and if it helps and it works then so be it." The type of conversation Bautista had with Pillar is rare this season, according to Bautista, because the Blue Jays are laden with veterans. The need doesnt arise as often. This, too, is the second year the group has been together after being arranged in the flurry of high-profile offseason moves made in November and December, 2012. "I think each person is more knowledgeable of others capabilities, more realistic with the expectations," said Bautista. "I think last year, people didnt know what to expect exactly with other players. Expectations might have been a little unrealistic, sometimes on the higher end and sometimes on the lower end. Sometimes you might have expected more out of somebody and that might have been not right. Sometimes you expected less and the guys surprise you. So now I think everybody is more in tune with each others capabilities." DICKEY THROWING MORE FASTBALLS R.A. Dickey is using his fastball more this season than he did last year. Hes thrown a heater 14.3 per cent of the time in 2014, compared to 11.9 per cent last season. This years number is more reflective of his 2012 Cy Young award season with the Mets, when 14 per cent of his pitches were fastballs. "I think its conscious because Ive had a lot of high-pitch games," said Dickey. "I had a 31-pitch first inning against (the Twins on Monday night), I had like a 30-pitch against the Royals, first inning. I need to get back to trying to induce contact earlier in counts so in that regard it has been something that Ive consciously tried to do. Especially with teams, Minnesota for instance is a team that leads the league in pitches taken so whenever you have a club like that you want to try to get ahead of guys as much as possible." Dickey is also conscious of his walk rate, which has skyrocketed this year. Hes issued a free pass to 10.2 per cent of hitters hes faced, compared to 7.5 per cent last year and 5.8 per cent in 2012. In each of his last two starts, hes allowed home runs off his fastball. On June 4 in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera took him deep on a first pitch fastball in the first inning. On Monday night against the Twins, leadoff hitter Danny Santana hit a home run off a full count fastball. Dickey had been falling behind in that first inning in Detroit and thought he could sneak a heater by Cabrera. "That was just a roll of the dice," said Dickey. "I had gone 2-0 with the first two hitters and felt that he would want to get in a hitters count. I tried to steal a strike the first time through the lineup and his numbers off me, I think hes had like 14 at-bats and two first-pitch swings and so the percentages were in my favour that he was taking and so I tried to play to those and got burned." Half of the home runs Dickeys allowed this season, five of 10, have been off fastballs. Has he become too predictable, throwing fastballs when in need of a strike? "I would hope not because I try to do a good job of throwing a lot of 2-0, 3-1, 3-2 knuckleballs," said Dickey. "Im not in the habit of routinely throwing a fastball in a fastball count but because I dont feature the same velocity as a lot of guys its a lot easier to put the barrel on the ball if theyve seen multiple fastballs in an at-bat; if theyre not well located in particular." JAYS INK TWO MORE PICKS The Blue Jays locked up their second and fifth round picks from last weeks amateur draft. They are highly-touted right-handed pitcher Sean Reid-Foley (49th overall) out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida and centerfielder Lane Thomas (144th overall) out of Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both players are 18 years old. Clearance Air Max Plus . A Swiss Federal Tribunal ruling published Friday said that FIFAs disputes panel and the Court of Arbitration for Sport correctly imposed the sanction for Nantes enticing Guinea forward Ismael Bangoura to break his contract with Dubai club Al Nasr in January 2012. Cheap Air Max Plus For Sale . Al Horford said all he had to do was make the catch near the basket and then shoot a soft jumper. http://www.discountairmaxplus.com/. "I dont know where we would be without him," McClendon said. "Hes done a tremendous job for us and (Wednesday) was no different." Logan Morrison drove in two runs in Seattles big sixth inning, Young pitched seven strong innings and the Mariners beat the Houston Astros 5-2 to complete a three-game sweep. Nike Air Max Plus Outlet .com) - The Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics both entered Wednesday nights game riding lengthy losing streaks. Wholesale Air Max Plus . In this space, I will be writing new and unique pieces about the team that you wont be able to find anywhere else. So naturally, in an attempt to come up with a fresh topic about the Ottawa Senators, I am going to start with a piece about their goaltending.England are in the box-seat against India thanks to Ben Stokes mature century, says Sir Ian Botham. Stokes, dropped on 60 and 61 by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, reached his third century from 173 balls, having hit 12 fours and a six - propelling the tourists to 537 all out on day two of the first Test, in Rajkot.Botham told Sky Sports the innings was further proof of the all-rounders growing sense of responsibility at the crease. The best of the action from the second day of the first Test between India and England in Rajkot. Stokes grows with every innings; hes real box office and he can take attacks apart but he also showed today that he can knock it around when he has to, to consolidate and settle things down, said Botham.England lost a couple of quick wickets but he didnt give his away; he stayed there and England have ended up with 537 rather than 450 all out.When India came at England and tried to attack Stokes actually countered that very, very well. He and Moeen Ali looked very good and then Jonny Bairstow came out and played very well too. Sky Sports commentators Ian Botham and Nasser Hussain share their thoughts on how England can build on their advantage on day three. England have got a lot of depth now.dddddddddddd If you look at their record from six onwards, they are scoring something like 180-200 runs.Stokes century ensured that Englands innings featured three hundreds for only the second time in Asia, the only other occurrence coming in Kanpur 55 years previously. Moeen Ali reveals why he thrives batting at five Although India reached 63-0 in their first innings before stumps, the tourists still lead by 474 runs and Botham believes they have every chance of turning that advantage into a match-winning platform.I think England are in a very strong position, one from which they can really pump home their advantage. I really do believe that, said the former all-rounder.If they can get the early breakthrough on Friday then put the pressure on then theyre in business. The ball has just started reversing - we saw hints of it - and England are good exponents of that.Moeen Ali sounds very confident and upbeat, and why wouldnt he be after his hundred? England have Ben Stokes - who played magnificently today - to come back into the attack.England hold all the cards. They are in the box-seat. If England have a good day I believe that by tomorrow evening they could be bossing this game quite seriously because this pitch has got to deteriorate. Were at the end of day two and the pitch is already starting to do things; were starting to see some uneven bounce and the odd ball is turning, not always from the rough - some are turning off the pitch.England are full of confidence - they should be. They played on very difficult wickets against Bangladesh and sometimes when you play on the hardest wickets and then you come to a pitch like this, it seems like paradise.Watch extended highlights from day two of the first Test from 2pm and 8pm on Sky Sports 2, with The Verdict following immediately afterwards at 3pm and 9pm. Then join us for live coverage of day three on Sky Sports 2 from 3.45am on Friday. Also See: Scorecard Commentary Stokes leads run-glut D2 highlights ' ' '
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