The day after Brandon Morrow walked eight batters in just two and 2/3rds innings and got the hook, Ricky Romero had a two-inning control meltdown of his own Sunday at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo. Discount Nike Shoes From China . Facing the Reds Triple A affiliate Louisville, Romero walked the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second, but he escaped unscathed both times and actually lasted five innings. Romero didnt give up any more walks and didnt surrender a run during the stint. Earlier in the week, an upbeat Romero was on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor and co-host Dave Hodge and said he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a year and a half. He also said he would welcome a call-up right now if the Blue Jays needed or wanted him. As shaky as the Jays starting pitching has been this season, especially over this just completed homestand, Romero doesnt figure to get called up anytime soon. He simply has to be more consistent with his control. The largest pitcher I have ever seen in the Majors is C.C Sabathia. Though he has trimmed down now a bit, there were times over the past two or three years where he weighed between 285 and 300 pounds. Well in that same Buffalo-Louisville game on Sunday, the Bats used a closer by the name of Jose Diaz. A year ago, the 64 native of the Dominican Republic pitched at 347 pounds and of course was known by the nickname of Jumbo. This year having just turned 30, he realized it might be time to shave off a few pounds to try and prolong his career. He got down to 278, but the stat sheets now are listing him at 315. Jumbo racked up his sixth save Sunday against the Bisons. He throws with pretty good velocity, too. Cincinnati already has Aroldis Chapman as their closer, but who knows at some point, he may surface in the Majors. Historic Lineup Since the Blue Jays in the Pat Gillick era were one of the very first teams to extensively scout and sign talent out of the Dominican Republic, it only seems fitting that on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, they became the first team in Major League history to field a starting lineup that included six players born in the Dominican. The starting 9 included Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. An equally, if not more, historic moment occurred back on Sept 1 of 1971 when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded an entire starting lineup of African American and Latin American players including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The rest of the starting 9 included Al Oliver, who later played with the Expos and the Blue Jays, Rennie Stennett, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Gene Clines and starting pitcher Dock Ellis. Better April The Blue Jays started last season at 10-17 in April and they are already guaranteed a better first month this time around. John Gibbons and company are 12-13 with two games at Kansas City left in this month. But something to remember, there were only two playoff teams with losing Aprils in the American League a year ago. Tampa Bay went 12-14 but rebounded to finish 91-71 to earn a play in the knockout game with Texas to decide the second Wild Card spot. Cleveland earned the first Wild Card at 92-70 after opening April at 11-13. Conversely Texas had the best record in April at 17-8, but finished the season in that knock-out game at 91-71. All of that means if the Blue Jays are going to need 91 victories to have a shot at the playoffs this year, they will have to go 79-58 the rest of the year or 21 games over .500. Thats not impossible, but the starting rotation will have to be far better the rest of the way. Right now, the Blue Jays staff era is 4.45, 25th in the Majors, just slightly ahead of Baltimore at 4.49. I dont know if this is a plus but the only team in the AL East with a sub -4.00 era is Boston at 3.90 and the BoSox are fourth in the division just behind the Blue Jays. This and That Its really interesting to look at the early season gap in some pitching categories between the National League and the American. The Senior Circuit has eight of the top 10 staff ERAs. Only Oakland and K.C. break into that group. The National League has had 10 complete games to just four for the American, including two by Texas. There have been 34 shutouts in the National League to 23 in the American. St. Louis has six and Texas leads the American with six. I guess it just helps to illustrate why Ervin Santana chose Atlanta over the Blue Jays. After going 7-9 in their 1st 16 game segment against the East, the Jays have a 20-game stretch where they dont play their own division at all. Their next game against the East is May 20 at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, they only have six games against the East for the entire month of May, getting Tampa Bay at home the week after that Boston series. The All-Star voting has begun for the Mid-summer Classic Tuesday July 15th at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. If voting closed today, the only Blue Jays on my ballot would be lefty Mark Buehrle and Melky Cabrera. Jose Bautista could make it as well, but more on his name and All-Star reputation at this point. I also did a rough count and if Buehrle keeps it up, his natural turn to pitch would fall on All-Star Tuesday so their might even be a chance he could start. But thats still a lot of innings pitched and a long way off. Wholesale Nike Shoes From China .J. Mayo made seven three-pointers and scored 25 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 20, and the Milwaukee Bucks placed seven players in double figures in a 130-110 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost their 11th straight game on Monday night. Fake Nike Shoes .C. -- Only two Syracuse teams have won their first 20 games, and C. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ . - The infectious smile was missing from Nam Nguyen last week.DALLAS - The Raptors begin a brutal trek on Friday with a visit to Dallas to take on former Raptor Vince Carter and the Mavericks. After Fridays game, the teams road trip continues with stops in Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New York. Listen to the game live on TSN 1050 at 8:30pm et. Toronto was 3-1 since Rudy Gay was agreed to be traded, but lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday. The Raptors fell 104-102 in overtime, at home, to the Charlotte Bobcats. Charlottes Kemba Walker buried a 15-foot jumper at the horn to get the victory. DeMar DeRozan was the high-scorer in the game with 30 points, while Kyle Lowry added 17. John Salmons chipped in 11 off the bench and Jonas Valanciunas and Amir Johnson both finished with 10 points. Johnson added 13 rebounds. It was another tough loss for a young team with new parts. "I love the challenge of coaching young players, I enjoy that," head coach Dwane Casey said after practice on Thursday. "I enjoy winning more, but I understand where we are." The Mavs, who are 11-2 in American Airlines Center, have won 12 of their last 13 against the Raps at home. The Mavericks have played good basketball of late and will try to continue the surge Friday when they finish off a homestand. The Mavs are 2-0 on this little stay in Big D with wins over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and a 105-91 victory Wednesday versus the slumping Memphis Grizzlies. Nike Shoes China. Dallas has taken five of its last seven and during that stretch, allowed opponents 100 points or more just twice. During these seven games in the month of December, the Mavs are holding teams to an average of 96.6 points per game. "In the month of December weve been better defensively, and our goal is to stay on that track," head coach Rick Carlisle said Thursday after practice. "Weve spent the majority of our practice time on defense. We know how important it is, and were just going to be vigilant about it. Its not something that you can take days off from. You cant take days off from the mental edge aspect of it, and we know that." The Mavericks held the Grizzlies to just a shade under 40 percent shooting from the field on Wednesday. Dallas lost the rebounding battle by one, but shot almost 55 percent. Dirk Nowitzki paced five Dallas players in double figures with 20. Monta Ellis finished with 18, followed by 14 from Carter, 12 from another former Raptor in Jose Calderon and 10 out of yet another former Rap in Shawn Marion. The Mavs play five of their next six on the road. ' ' '