Projekte » him as a fourth-line centre." The challenge for the

KANSAS CITY, Mo. A.J. Derby Jersey . -- Alex Gordon had two firsts Sunday: six RBIs and a curtain call. Gordon went 4 for 4 with a pair of three-run homers and a career-high six RBIs as the Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-6. Gordon drove a 1-1 pitch from Ubaldo Jimenez (2-5) out to right with two outs in the fifth with Nori Aoki and Billy Butler aboard. Gordon, who led the Royals with 20 home runs last year, had gone 134 at-bats without a home run. Gordon homered in his next at-bat, a three-run shot off left-hander Troy Patton in the seventh after Eric Hosmer walked and Butler doubled for his third hit. The Kauffman Stadium crowd then gave Gordon a lengthy standing ovation, calling him out of the dugout. Gordon said he had "never" had a curtain call. "I didnt know what to do," Gordon said. "They told me just to go wave my helmet. They just started yelling at me. I was downstairs enjoying the moment. They told me to come up and give the crowd a wave. It was my first. Hopefully, its not the last. It was pretty cool. Its something I want forget. "Its fun when we play like this and the crowd starts doing what they do. It makes it really exciting." It was Gordons third career multi-homer game. His six RBIs matched a Royals season high. His four hits matched a career high, the 10th time he has accomplished that. "Even though I was making good pitches, they found a way to hit the ball hard. I felt really good and I made a lot of good pitches," Jimenez said. "They had a good approach. I threw a lot of sinkers down and they found the hole every time. They had a really good game. Theres nothing I can do but move on." Gordons second homer turned out to be necessary. Adam Jones hit a three-run homer off Royals reliever Aaron Crow in the ninth. It was the first runs Crow allowed in 20 relief appearances and 17 innings. Greg Holland got the final two outs for his 12th save in 13 appearances. James Shields (6-3) picked up his fifth win in six starts, holding the Orioles to three runs and nine hits over seven innings. Shields won back-to-back starts at Kauffman Stadium for the first time. Shields settled down after a three-run third when he gave up five hits, including four straight to open the inning. "The difference (was) I was getting my ground balls and they found holes," Shields said of the third inning. "I was making my pitches, trying to get a double play that inning and they were just finding some good holes." Jimenez, who was 2-0 with a 0.46 ERA in his first three May starts, was pulled after five innings. He permitted five runs on eight hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. "The pitch to Gordon was uncharacteristic," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He had, really, just the one (bad) pitch to Gordon. He tried to go down and away, and it came back in and came into a sweet spot. He hadnt walked anybody to that point, either. Except for one pitch I thought he was good. After the first inning he was pretty crisp." Nick Markakis singled home J.J. Hardy, who had three hits, and David Lough in the Orioles third. Manny Machado, who had three hits, had a sacrifice fly in the third to score Jonathan Schoop for the other run off Shields. Butler singled home Aoki with two outs in the first for the first Kansas City run. Lorenzo Cains single in the fourth scored Gordon with the other Royals run. Notes: RHP Dylan Bundy, the Orioles top prospect and the fourth overall pick in the 2011 draft, is scheduled to throw an inning in extended spring Tuesday in Florida. It will be his first time to face opposing hitters since having Tommy John surgery last June 27. .Royals 2B Omar Infante, who is on the disabled list with a lower back disc irritation, has begun to hit off the tee and is taking slow rollers. .The Orioles dropped to 1-6 in Sunday games. They are 21-14 on other days. ... Both managers, Ned Yost and Showalter, won challenge reviews: Yost in the fourth inning when Gordon was called out at second, Showalter in the seventh when Cain was first ruled safe for an infield single. That was overturned. Danny Amendola Jersey . This time, Tebow was in a groove the entire second half -- not just in the waning minutes -- and his teammates on defence were getting gobbled up. Mike Gesicki Jersey . Following the Ford Womens World Curling Championship gold medal match that attracted record-breaking audiences to TSN, the networks exclusive live coverage of the tournament begins Saturday at 7am et/4am pt with Canadas opening draw against Denmark. http://www.officialauthenticdolphinsshop.com/authentic-kalen-ballage-jersey.html . - Connor Brown and Dane Fox both scored in regulation and in the shootout, as the Erie Otters extended their win streak to 10 games by defeating the London Knights 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action.RALEIGH, N.C. – You could hear a pin drop in the visitors dressing room at PNC Arena after yet another blowout defeat. "I think the talking has to stop," said Jay McClement with evident frustration. "Weve talked all year all about all these things and were just not getting the job done. Nothing seems to be changing. Were just still very inconsistent with our efforts. Somethings got to change. I think weve done so much talking, we just need a little more action." The Maple Leafs lost their third straight and 20th in the past 31 games on Thursday night, blown out 6-1 by the surging Hurricanes. Months of brewing trouble saw the club finally knocked out of a playoff position for the first time all season, now 10th in the Eastern Conference. "I think were searching for answers and thats the hard part," Mason Raymond said. "Its a cliché, but were the only ones that are going to get ourselves out of this mess." It was more of the same from a wildly inconsistent, unpredictable group that has just five wins in regulation since the start of November and not one during that span on the road. The Leafs have been outscored 18-5 during this most recent three-game slide, an "exclamation point" in the words of Randy Carlyle, for the ills of a troubled hockey club. Just when it appears, however, that a low point has been reached does another disastrous performance occur, this one to a Carolina squad that has now won five straight. "We stood around for most of the hockey game tonight," said a noticeably deflated and dejected Carlyle afterward. "For whatever reason that nobody seems to have an answer to right now is were doing things standing still. Were watching teams skate and were not engaged in the hockey game to a level that is required to give yourself a chance for success." Carlyle urged his group to play with more tenacity and bite in recent days, something more in wake of a season veering dangerously off course. But aside from a late and rather meaningless push, he didnt get it. The urgency and intensity remained mysteriously absent as domino after domino toppled over on the ice in Raleigh. "Theres no excuse why we dont compete every night," said McClement. "Thats something that has to be there every night. Youre not going to win every night, but the effort and the compete has to be there every night. Theres no excuse for that." It was yet another mess in a season thats had too many to count already. An identity-less team to this point, the Leafs are searching for answers on how to right the wrongs of a season thats teetering closer and closer to the edge of something perilous. The problem is, these troubles have been brewing for the better part of the season with little to no change in performance. These are tough times in Toronto with no readily apparent end in sight. "It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that things arent going anywhere near what our expectations are, thats for sure," said Carlyle. Five Points 1. Pushing the Message Preaching for improvement all year, but especially in recent days, Carlyle wouldnt cast the full weight of whats taken place onto the shoulders of his players alone, but what has to be distressing for the head coach and his staff is how few results the message has yielded. Nothing, it seems, has been able to lift the Leafs from a year-long funk. "Theyre not an island out there," he said before Thursdays game. "We dont put our players on an island. We think its very improper to put our players in a situation to say that we dont support them. We support our players to the utmost. And we look back to the players because theyre the ones that are out there doing it. Theyre the ones that are out there sacrificing. Theyre the ones that are out there putting on the performance." Carlyle said that his staffs role is one of guidance. "Were just in a position to try and guide them as a coaching staff. Theres different ways to guide. Weve tried numerous ways to stimulate our group to play a much more competitive brand of hockey. Well continually push for more of that." 2. Reimers First Start in 19 Days Questioned before the game on how he managed to stay sharp with a long layoff – 19 days – between starts, James Reimer, as is the norm, found the bright side. "Its just good preparation for the Olympic break, I guess," he said with a grin. Reimer had no chance yet again in his first start since Dec. 21, on the hook for all six goals in the 6-1 defeat. "Our goaltenders are strung out and left hanging high and dry if you look where the quality of the scoring chances are coming from, theyre coming from that critical area," said Carlyle. "You cant continually give those chances up." Leaf goaltenders were frequently heroic in the opening hhalf of the season, despite inflated shot totals, but have understandably buckled under helpless conditions recently. Miami Dolphins Jerseys. Reimer and Jonathan Bernier own a .846 save percentage during this most recent three-game slide. "You just want to hang in there and keep it as close as you can so that you can give the boys a chance," said Reimer, who dropped to 4-2-1 lifetime against Carolina. 3. Gardiner Scratched For the second time this season, Jake Gardiner landed as a healthy scratch. Carl Gunnarsson returned from an elbow injury, while Mark Fraser was inserted into the lineup for just the second time in 12 games as Carlyle shook up the defence. "We felt that Jake has struggled in the last couple games," said Carlyle, "his puck movement and decisions with the puck and we felt had a better option in the other two guys at this point with the way our mix was put together." 4. Phaneufs Production Recently signed to a seven-year extension, Dion Phaneufs offensive production has dipped this season, his fifth with the Leafs. Phaneuf totaled a hearty nine goals and 28 points in 48 games in 2013 – a pro-rated 15 goals and 47 points – adding 12 goals and 44 points in 2011-12. But just beyond the midway point this year and the 28-year-old has just four goals and 17 points, an eight-goal and 33-point pace. "I feel good about my game and the way that Ive played," he told the Leaf Report generally on Thursday morning, "But the bottom line is individual seasons dont matter. It matters about team success and weve got to be better as a team and we know that." One area of admitted focus and needed improvement for Phaneuf is the number of pucks directed to the net. He leads the team with 75 shots, but is on pace for a career-low in shots per game, way down from the numbers he accumulated previously. Season Shots Per Game 13-14 1.76 13 1.83 11-12 2.46 10-11 2.88 09-10 2.78 08-09 3.46 07-08 3.21 06-07 2.91 05-06 2.95 5. Ashton, Holland Trade Places The Leafs deemed Wednesday that Peter Hollands progression wasnt being served by remaining on the fourth line, where hes been slotted since the return of Tyler Bozak. They opted to send the 22-year-old to the Marlies, recalling Carter Ashton, who has strung together 15 points in 14 AHL games this season. "He wasnt going to play on the top two lines," Carlyle said of Holland, who had eight points during a 10-game stretch with Bozak out. "We felt it was probably hurting his development curve to leave him as a fourth-line centre." The challenge for the 22-year-old Ashton meanwhile is translating the success hes attained in the minors into something substantial in the NHL. Ashton has just one assist in 33 games with the Leafs, offering only fleeting glimpses of readiness in a bottom-six role. "A young player that has got size and skill and the ability to skate and protect the puck at the American League level doesnt always translate to that in the NHL," said Carlyle. "Its much more difficult, obviously. Youve got a lot less time and space and [youre] playing against bigger and stronger men. We think that hes continually showed some progress." A natural winger, Ashton slotted into the fourth line centre spot against the Hurricanes and barely played, totaling just under four minutes. Stats-Pack 0 – Regulation road victories since Oct. 30. 19 – Days between starts for James Reimer. 3 – Consecutive games with a goal for Joffrey Lupul, who scored his 14th this season in defeat. 18 – Goals allowed by the Leafs in the past three games. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-2Season: 21.4% (5th) PK: 3-5Season: 76.9% (27th) Quote of the Night Up Next The Leafs visit the Capitals in Washington D.C. Friday for the second end of a back-to-back set. Cheap Warriors Jerseys Authentic Cavaliers Jerseys Cheap Spurs Store Celtics Jerseys Online Cheap Bulls Jerseys Cheap Nets Jerseys Cheap Thunder Jerseys Cheap 76ers Jerseys Cheap Knicks Jerseys Wholesale Raptors Jerseys Cyber Monday Pistons Jerseys Wholesale Team USA Basketball Jerseys Cheap Celtics Jerseys Cheap Nets Jerseys Cheap Knicks Jerseys Cheap 76ers Jerseys Raptors Jerseys From China Cheap Bulls Jerseys Cavaliers Jerseys From China Wholesale Pistons Jerseys Bucks Jerseys From China Pacers Jerseys Outlet Authentic Hawks Jerseys Cheap Hornets Jerseys Cheap Heat Jerseys Cheap Magic Jerseys Authentic Wizards Jerseys Cheap Nuggets Jerseys Timberwolves Jerseys Outlet Wholesale Thunder Jerseys Cheap Blazers Jerseys Cheap Jazz Jerseys Discount Warriors Jerseys Wholesale Clippers Jerseys Wholesale Lakers Jerseys Cheap Suns Jerseys Cheap Kings Jerseys Discount Mavericks Jerseys Authentic Rockets Jerseys Discount Grizzlies Jerseys Cheap Pelicans Jerseys Spurs Jerseys From China ' ' '