Schwarzesbrett » four World Cups, nine group winners have los

TORONTO – Its a sign of the times for the Blue Jays. The team that leads the major leagues with 69 home runs and is second in slugging percentage (.443) and on-base plus slugging (.770) won again on Saturday, 5-2 over Oakland, thanks to strong pitching and speed on the bases. "We stink, we stink," joked R.A. Dickey when asked about the much-maligned starting rotation, which has posted a 2.84 ERA through the last turn, dating back to the start of last weeks series at Fenway Park. "Were going to keep stinking, too. Were happy to be under the radar. Were happy that people dont, as a staff, give us any respect. Its okay. We are professionals and were going to keep grinding and well see where we end up at the end of this thing." Dickey hurled 8 1/3 innings of two-run baseball, marking the first time this season he threw a pitch after the seventh inning. After exorcising that seventh inning demon, one thats seemed to plague him through most of the season, he urged that neither he nor his rotation mates get too comfortable. "One thing I feel like we cant do is take things for granted," said Dickey. "Were in a good spot right now but theres going to be a challenging stretch too during this year so weve got to really ride the wave as long as we can ride it." The home run-happy Blue Jays wouldnt go without in that department on Saturday. Brett Lawries leadoff blast in the fifth broke a 1-1 time. Toronto has homered at least once in 27 of its last 32 games. But, offensively, the Jays win, the clubs fifth in a row, was built on the legs of Jose Reyes and Anthony Gose. With two out in the third and the Athletics ahead 1-0, Anthony Gose took off from first base on a 2-2 pitch to Melky Cabrera. Shortstop Eric Sogard darted for second to cut down the would-be base stealer, which opened up a left side single for Cabrera. Gose never stopped running and when leftfielder Craig Gentry bobbled the pickup as he approached third, Gose made the turn home and scored the tying run. In the fifth, after Lawries home run had given Toronto the lead, Gose singled with one out. Reyes followed with a single of his own, advancing Gose to third. Reyes went to second on a Jesse Chavez wild pitch. Cabrera hit a groundball to Oakland first baseman Brandon Moss, who had the ball deflect off his glove as he prepared to step on first and make a play on Gose at the plate. Both Gose and Reyes scored and the Jays were ahead, 4-1. Two innings later, in the seventh, Reyes doubled with one out and attempted a steal of third. Cabrera put the ball in play, a grounder to Sogard, and Reyes didnt stop. He rounded third, hustled home and beat the Moss throw to the plate. The Jays led 5-1 and there was no looking back. "You know the old saying, Speed never goes in slumps and they can make some things happen," said manager John Gibbons. "Reyes has been around the game for a long time and hes always done that. Gose is on his way up and trying to make a name for himself and thats what he does." "Its a lot of speed there," said Reyes of the threat Gose and he present heading into the middle of the batting order. "Gose has been unbelievable for us. Not just what he brings, just playing good defence in the field and he can run every ball down. Thats something that we need. Like I said, well just take it one game at a time and continue to play the way that we play with timely hitting and good defence." Reinforcing the fact Toronto is getting contributions from different players each day, Saturday marked the first time all season that Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion failed to reach base safely in the same game. Santos Throwing Sergio Santos, on the disabled list since May 11 with a forearm strain, played catch for a second straight day prior to Saturdays game. He threw from approximately 70 feet on Friday and from 80 feet on Saturday. There is no timetable for Santos return to action. Hendriks Dispels Australian Stereotypes Friday nights winning pitcher, 25-year-old Liam Hendriks, is a native of Perth, Australia, the western-most major city in the country. Since moving to North America, hes become accustomed to dealing with questions about common stereotypes attributed to Australians. Which is the silliest? "That we all live about 15 miles away from each other," said Hendriks. "We have over 20 million people in the country. Obviously we only occupy like five percent of the country and 95 percents barren but thats the biggest one, that we all live 15 miles away and we all ride to school in kangaroos." No, he hasnt met Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame. Yes, hes been asked that question on many occasions. Hendriks wife, Kristi, is a native of Montreal. Her influence is all over one of his new favourite sports. "Im a huge hockey fan," said Hendriks. "Im a Canadiens fan, a Montreal Canadiens fan." Cheap Mitch Williams Jersey . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Cheap Jim Bunning Jersey . The 49ers, 6-2 and riding a five-game winning streak following the bye week, also waived cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and activated cornerback Eric Wright from the reserve/non-football injury list. Manningham made 42 receptions for 449 yards and one touchdown in 12 games and 10 starts last season before injuring his left knee in a loss at Seattle Dec. http://www.cheapphilliesjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-juan-samuel-jersey . They kicked off the still-going trend of host cities winning the Grey Cup and sent Hall of Fame head coach Wally Buono to the front office a champion. Cheap Pete Rose Jersey . The Toronto Argonauts signed the veteran linebacker to a three-year deal Tuesday, hours after the start of CFL free agency. Cheap Darren Daulton Jersey . -- Downcast before the final game of what had been a difficult road trip, the Ottawa Senators found a way to dig out a little momentum in the desert before heading home.International football badly needed a good World Cup. The jury is yet to deliver a verdict with the knockout rounds still to come, but all indications are that this will not be a good World Cup. Indeed, it is on track to be a great World Cup. Two weeks to the day that the opening match of the tournament between Brazil and Croatia came to a close, the curtain came down on the group stages and what a sensational show it was. We are now already through three quarters of the tournament, but rather than be sad that much of it is over, we should be grateful with what we witnessed. It was a group stage that gave us more special moments than the three previous World Cups combined. A group stage of surprises, where tactically versatile and organized sides shocked the so-called super powers of the game. A group stage that saw the renaissance of 3-5-2, used so well by surprise teams like Netherlands, Costa Rica and Mexico. A group stage of counterattackers, comebacks and headers, trends that the Netherlands used in their demolition of Spain back on Day 2. Their superb pressing and clinical finishing gave us a glimpse of what was to come in Brazil, but not before that look and pass by Daley Blind just before the half-time break. The ball landed on top of the supremely intelligent head of Robin van Persie and his magnificent header over Iker Casillas changed everything. It became the group stage of headers with 27 more following van Persies, but none of them beating it. It became the group stage of comebacks. Spain, massacred by the Dutch 5-1 in the third game of the tournament, was already the second team, after Croatia a day earlier, to lose a game they led. A small, exclusive group of only four from 2010 would grow quickly as Uruguay, Japan, Ecuador, Algeria and Australia joined them in the first week. During their second group games Germany, Ghana, Portugal and USA all managed to not win games against each other that they led in. Even Uruguay, Greece and Algeria had comebacks of their own, all qualifying despite losing their opening World Cup match. Only Spain did that in 2010. It became the group stage of counterattacks, once again ignited by the Dutch over Spain as they scored their last three goals with a combined 29 seconds in possession, and never more highlighted than when Switzerland broke away in the final seconds to score a dramatic, crucial winner over Ecuador. It became the group stage of creative, left-footed masters who glided across the field into space left open by a transition. The group stage of substitute goals, 24 in total, highlighted by Miroslav Klose joining the great Ronaldo on 15 World Cup goals and James Rodriguez dancing his way through the Japanese defence for one of the goals of the tournament. In the end, though, it was the group stage of goals as an incredible 136 wennt in (there was a total of 145 scored in South Africa).dddddddddddd It was no surprise that a wind of caution blew around the stadiums as the third group games took place but before they started the goals per game ratio stood at a wonderful 2.96. It ends the group stage at a beautifully high 2.83. There are still 16 games to go, of course, but no World Cup since 1970 has come close to that average. It wasnt just about the amount of goals, however. Many of the worlds stars were the ones scoring and we already have three world class stars on four goals each through three games. My 23 man squad of the group stages GK – Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), Keylor Navas (Costa Rica), Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria) D – Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Cristian Gamboa (Costa Rica), Kostas Manolas (Greece), Rafa Marquez (Mexico), Mario Yepes (Colombia), Raphael Varene (France), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Costa Rica), Daley Blind (Netherlands). M – Jose Vazquez (Mexico), Hector Herrera (Mexico), Blaise Matuidi (France), Charles Aranguiz (Chile), Toni Kroos (Germany), James Rodriguez (Colombia) F – Neymar (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Karim Benzema (France), Thomas Muller (Germany), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands) Group Winners – Brazil, Netherlands, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Argentina, Germany & Belgium. For the third time in the last four World Cups, three teams that were not seeded won groups. For the second successive World Cup, the only seed that didnt progress through to the next stage was the previous winners (Spain 2014, Italy 2010). Since the World Cup went to 32 teams in 1998, over the last four World Cups, nine group winners have lost in the next round (average of more than two per World Cup) and there hasnt been a World Cup in that time when all group winners advanced. Runners-up – Mexico, Chile, Greece, Uruguay, Switzerland, Nigeria, USA & Algeria. With that stat in mind it is likely that at least one of these teams will beat their opponent. Look for Greece, Uruguay, possibly Mexico, USA and even Chile to continue this streak. After that? In nine of the last 10 World Cups a group runner-up has made it to at least the semi-final stage. That will be the target of one of these teams going forward. Ranking teams eliminated at this World Cup based on performances in Brazil 32. Honduras31. Cameroon30. Japan29. South Korea28. England27. Iran26. Bosnia & Herzegovina25. Russia24. Portugal23. Australia22. Spain21. Croatia20. Ivory Coast19. Italy18. Ghana17. Ecuador Ranking teams left at this World Cup based on their chances of winning the World Cup 16. Switzerland15. Algeria14. USA13. Greece12. Costa Rica11. Nigeria10. Mexico9. Belgium8. Chile7. Uruguay6. Colombia5. France4. Netherlands3. Germany2. Brazil1. Argentina ' ' '