TORONTO – While assessing Brett Lawries season up to this point, its important to consider that the 24-year-old is doing something for his team that few other players, if any, could. [url=https://www.cheapflames.com/]Wholesale Flames Jerseys[/url] . One day, hes providing the Blue Jays with Gold Glov

TORONTO – While assessing Brett Lawries season up to this point, its important to consider that the 24-year-old is doing something for his team that few other players, if any, could. Wholesale Flames Jerseys . One day, hes providing the Blue Jays with Gold Glove-calibre defence at third base. The next, hes more than holding his own at second base. All the while, Lawries posting respectable offensive numbers overall and is providing an elite bat in clutch situations. It would be ignorant to look at Lawries slash line of .224/.275/.412 entering Sundays action and conclude hes having a down year. Consider that Lawrie already has eight home runs, going deep in 4.8 per cent of his at-bats. Thats a marked uptick from last year (2.7 per cent) and 2012 (2.2 per cent). Lawrie also has 26 RBI, which ranks him third on the club behind Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista. His best work has been done with runners in scoring position (RISP). With runners on second, third or both, Lawrie is hitting .366/.400/.732 (1.132 OPS) with four home runs and 21 RBI. All of it, as a reminder, while playing a third base/second base hybrid. Not even Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays does that anymore. When Zobrist hasnt been hurt this season, hes predominantly been a second baseman. “I dont see any player in the league doing it, unless youre a utility player, which hes not,” infield coach Luis Rivera told TSN.ca. “Its tough because hes very good at third base. Hes one of the best third baseman and then you have to move to second base. He was at second base before, hes learning the position again and there are a few things he needs to continue to work on and he can be better than what he is right now.” Lawrie goes about his business, taking ground balls during batting practice at the position hes scheduled to play that day. That, in and of itself, would be overwhelming for some players. Yet it isnt for a player, still young, who earned himself a reputation for being hot-headed and immature, two labels which should be dissipating by the day. “Its tough knowing one day youre here, the next day youre there,” said Rivera. “Mentally, you have to prepare. You have to be mentally strong.” The terms “Lawrie” and “mentally strong” didnt used to be used in the same sentence, thanks in large part to incidents like the infamous helmet-throwing incident in May, 2012 and his stare down of Rivera and Adam Lind when Lind didnt score on a Lawrie fly ball 52 Sundays ago. Considering what hes being asked to do and considering the success with which hes accomplishing the request, maybe its time to give Lawrie some credit. “Theres a lot going on, man,” said Lawrie. “Theres always a lot going on, especially now just from having to play all over the park and just Ive got a lot of stuff going on, but for the most part Im just trying not to think about it too much even though there is a lot going on.” Hes a third baseman, hell tell you that repeatedly and Lawries proud hes made himself an elite third bagger at the big league level, which is a testament to his athleticism. Hes all-in on the move because it makes the platoon splits work for manager John Gibbons. Lawrie is at third and Steve Tolleson at second when Toronto faces a left-handed pitcher; Lawries at second and Juan Francisco at third base when the Blue Jays take on a right-hander. “Its just something that I have to do for the team and its what makes the team a little bit better, so for myself, its just what I have to do in order to make this ball club better and to, obviously, win ballgames,” said Lawrie. “The most important thing is that he wanted to do it,” said Rivera. “So if hes willing to do it, hes going to be fine, but when you fight yourself not to go one place and then play another position, play third base, ‘I dont want to play second base, thats going to make it real hard on him, on the coaches and on the team. Right now, hes willing to do both, so thats the easy part.” After Sundays series-sweeping 3-1 win over Oakland, the Jays sixth in a row, 11th in 13 games and 16th out of 21, getting a buy-in from Lawrie is a much easier task. “Its just fun,” said Lawrie. “Its just good to be competing. Thats the biggest thing is just being able to go out everyday and compete and, obviously, have a chance to win a ballgame every single day. Thats the biggest thing, but just competing on an everyday basis as a group is obviously a lot of fun.” Calgary Flames Pro Shop .C. -- Lucy Li made two double bogeys, a triple bogey and finished her historic round at the U. Calgary Flames Gear . Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. https://www.cheapflames.com/ . Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory. EDMONTON -- The Los Angeles Kings are looking very much like a team that has hit its stride heading down the stretch. Jeff Carter had two goals and an assist as the Kings stretched their streak to seven wins in a row with a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Alec Martinez and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings (37-22-6), who are now on their longest win streak since taking nine in a row in 2010. "It feels good to feel like you are contributing on an individual level, but the most important thing is that we are winning games right now," Martinez said. "This is the crunch time of the year and we have to be playing playoff hockey. Its been good to be getting these two points consistently." Kings forward Jarret Stoll said the wins dont always have to be pretty. "Tonight wasnt our best game by any means, not even close, but we found a way and just stuck with it," he said. "We didnt really have our legs at some points, but you have to find ways to win. Dirty ways, ugly ways, whatever. Thats the biggest thing right now. We are getting timely saves from our goaltenders like we usually get and we are finding goals." Taylor Hall and Sam Gagner responded for the Oilers (22-35-8), who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said that the game wasnt as one-sided as it may have seemed and his team was somewhat the victim of bad luck with two goals going in off of odd deflections. "I thought our guys were in the battle, they were sticking together, they were playing hard," he said. "There was no standing around watching them play. We made our mistakes and then they had two goals like that. The first one is a heart-breaker, its not a good way to start, it goes off a guys foot. That gets you down against a team I consider one of the best in the league." Los Angeles was all over Edmonton, outshooting the Oilers 50-27. Gagner tried to downplay the stat. "If you look at the shot differential you draw conclusions from that, but I didnt think it was as one sided as the shots suggested," Gagner said. "I thought it was one of those games where we battled against that team and we held our own physically. Were obviously not happy with the result, but we have to move forward." Kings goalie Jonathan Quick said he felt for his former teammate Ben Scrivens in the Edmonton net, but said his 46-save performance only shows the kind of goalie the Oilers acquired when they traded for him in mid-January. "He has done it all year, he did it with us too," he said "I think he is just what this team needed here in Edmonton. He consistently gives you a solid effort and a chance to win evvery night. Fake Flames Jerseys. We put 50 shots on him and they still had a chance at the end there. "For a few years now I think it is an area the Oilers needed improvement, not to knock the goalies they had before. The team defence could be better as well. But (Scrivens) has really stepped in since he came here and given them a chance to win every night." The Kings got off to a quick start, scoring a gift goal on the games first shot 1:36 into the contest as a Carter shot that was going wide hit the skate of defender Philip Larsen and got past a surprised Scrivens in the Oilers net. Edmonton tied the game seven-and-a-half minutes into the opening period as David Perron made a nifty no-look backhand pass to Hall, who made a move before sending a backhand shot through Quicks legs. It was Halls 22nd goal of the season and 60th point. Los Angeles outshot Edmonton 12-5 in the first period. Scrivens continued to be tested, making a huge kick save on a Marian Gaborik blast eight minutes into the second period -- the Kings 20th shot of the game. Los Angeles took the lead less than a minute later as a Martinez point shot seemed to hit something in front on its way into the Edmonton net. Carter got another odd goal midway through the second period as Scrivens blocked an Anze Kopitar shot, but the rebound caromed off of the back of Carters leg and in. It was Carters 24th goal of the season. The Kings made it 4-1 with four minutes left in the second as Carter fed a pass to a hard-charging Lewis, who fluttered a shot that Scrivens could only wave his glove at. It was just Lewis third goal in 56 games this season. The shots favoured the Kings 33-19 after 40 minutes. It was Edmontons turn to get a lucky bounce early in the third with the teams playing four players a side. Gagner tried to feed Ryan Smyth at the side of the net, but it hit defender Drew Doughty in front and went into the Kings net to make it 4-2. It was Gagners first goal in 16 games. The Kings conclude a three-game road trip in Calgary on Monday. Edmonton embarks on a four-game trip, starting in Minnesota on Tuesday. Notes: It was the third of four games this season between the Oilers and Kings. The Kings won the two previous encounters, both played in Los Angeles. The Kings held a 13-1-4 in their past 18 games against Edmonton. ... The Oilers have had their troubles against Pacific Division opponents, coming in with only four wins against them this season, two of those wins coming against Calgary. ... Los Angeles has been a very strong defensive team all season, allowing a league-low 2.05 goals per game. ... Remaining out for the Oilers was defenceman Anton Belov (partially torn oblique). The Kings had no injuries to report. ' ' '