The good news is that, heading into Canada Day, the Toronto Blue Jays are still in first place in the American League East. Fake Nike Shoes Black Friday . The bad news is that with 78 games left to play, they have removed almost all of their margin for error. After winning their first five games in June, injuries and a cooling offence caught up with them. They only won seven of their next 22 and finished the month at 12-15, exactly their record in April. In other words, thats two losing months out of three so far this season. Two things are saving them, the general mediocrity of the entire AL East and that brilliant month of May that saw go 21-9. If you go back to 2002, only twice have the Jays headed into July with a better record than the one they have now. In 2006, they were 45-34 and, in 2003, they were 46-37. In the latter, they tailed off to 42-41 the rest of the way and finished at 87-75, while in the former, they went 42-39 down the stretch and finished at 86-76. Both were in the era before the extra Wild Card and, in 2003, they wound up in third place in the division, 15 games back of the Yankees in the East and seven-and-half games out of the Wild Card spot taken by the Boston Red Sox. They didnt fare much better in 2006, finishing three games back of the Chicago White Sox for the Wild Card. Even if there had been a second Wild Card, they would have missed it by a game to the Angels. The Blue Jays will have to go 45-33 the rest of the way to finish with 90 victories, which figures to be around the number they will need to put themselves in the conversation for a post-season berth, division title or a Wild Card. The AL East will probably be won within the division. The Baltimore Orioles have the best record within the East at 22-16, while the Jays and Yankees are both 17-15. The trouble part for the Blue Jays is they are only 3-6 against the Yanks this season and havent won in New York so far this season or in all of last year. Seven of the Jays remaining 10 games against the Yankees are in the Bronx. On the plus side, theyve split with Baltimore thus far in 2014 and six of their remaining nine against the Os are at Rogers Centre. Boston, though still a long shot, is slowly entering the equation again, as well. The BoSox are six out in the East and six out in the Wild Card race. The Blue Jays still have 13 left with Boston, seven at home and six at Fenway. Tampa Bay is pretty much an also-ran now. The Jays still have 12 left with them, including six in September, but Joe Maddons teams arent know for packing it in in the final month. So the Jays will play 44 of their final 78 games in the East, 22 at home and 22 away. Going 26-1) over than span just might be enough to put them in the playoffs if they hold their own in their other 34 games. To break it down even further though, the Blue Jays and T-Bay have the fewest number of home games left of the teams in the East with 37 apiece. The Yankees have the most with 43 and Baltimore has 41. Although the latter two have stumbled a bit in their own parks this season, being at home and travelling less and playing meaningful games in their own facilities could be a sizeable edge in a close race. Boston, too, has a favourable home/road split at 42-38. Then there is the matter of strength of schedule down the stretch. The Blue Jays play 40 of their 78 against teams that currently sport winning records and 38 against teams with losing records. The Yankees, on the other hand at my count, play only 38 against teams above .500 and 44 games against teams below .500. Again, that gives them an edge. The Orioles, though, play 48 games against teams with winning records and only 33 against teams with losing marks. So, the Blue Jays and the Yankees get the edge there. For the Blue Jays, the next five weeks could ultimately tell the tale. In July, they play only nine of their 17 games at home, broken up in the middle by the All-Star Game. After the next two games at home to the Milwaukee Brewers, they hit the road for 10 in 11 days including four at the Oakland Athletics, three at the Los Angeles Angels and, after an off-day, three at Tampa Bay. Then, after a seven-game homestand, they go on another 10-game journey over 10 days that includes three in New York versus the Yankees,three at Fenway against the Red Sox, culminating with four at Houston against the Astros. If they are still in it at that point, the Blue Jays will at least have a shot. Somewhere near the end of that span, Brett Lawrie should be back, as well. - With Milwaukee hitting town, its interesting to compare the numbers of the two guys who were disgraced by PED suspensions that, this year, have been key factors in getting their teams into first place in their respective divisions. The Brewers Ryan Braun, coming off his 50-game suspension of last season, is batting .290 for the N.L Central leaders with 11 homers, 46 RBI, an .849 OPS and 18 walks versus 52 strikeouts. Braun also helped the Brewers cause by agreeing to move to right field this season. Melky Cabrera is having a stand-out season in his own right and has put up almost identical numbers, hitting .299 with 11 homers and 42 RBI, an .809 OPS and 23 walks to 46 strikeouts. Cabrera is playing some strong left field, as well. Both have a decent shot at being at the All-Star game two weeks from Tuesday at Minnesota. - Speaking of the All-Star game, isnt the Home Run Derby starting to feel like the NBA Slam Dunk Contest? Every year it seems many of the bigger stars opt out. This year, American League captain Jose Bautista has to deal with the fact his own teammate Edwin Encarnacion doesnt want to compete and neither does Orioles slugger, Nelson Cruz. Then, White Sox rookie Jose Abreu, who slugged two dingers at Rogers Centre Friday night against the Jays and is one of baseballs emerging stars, isnt inclined to take part either, though, he apparently hasnt entirely closed the door. Good on Jose Bautista for agreeing to be part of this again. But if most of the other sluggers the fans really want to see dont want to be part of it all, then whats the point? Nike Shoes Black Friday Discount . With the team he supported as a child on the verge of reaching the Champions League semifinals for the first time in 19 years, Ba instead scored the goal that knocked them out. Nike Shoes Black Friday Sale . Erik Cole scored on a breakaway with 4:49 to play, and the Stars rallied to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday night. http://www.nikeshoesblackfriday.com/ . The closer wasnt available. The road trip, a disaster to that point.LOS ANGELES -- The Staples Center crowd threw garbage onto the ice in the final minutes when a key call went against the Los Angeles Kings. The Anaheim Ducks dodged the debris and kept moving toward the post-season with a gritty win over their biggest rivals. Patrick Maroon scored the go-ahead goal, Frederik Andersen made 37 saves, and the Ducks beat the Kings 2-1 on Saturday night for their third straight win in the Freeway Faceoff. Andersen and the Pacific Division leaders barely held off the Kings, who had a 38-20 shots advantage. An apparent tying goal by Anze Kopitar was waved off with 6:23 left because of incidental contact with Andersen, prompting Kings fans to litter the ice. The Ducks still showed remarkable resilience in another bruising chapter of this rivalry. Tim Jackman scored an early goal for the Ducks, who won back-to-back games at Colorado and Los Angeles after a four-game skid knocked them from their longtime perch atop the overall NHL standings. Anaheim leads San Jose by two points in the division standings, and the Kings are well back in third place. "Its going to be tough for the Kings to catch us now," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Were up 15 points on them with 14 games to play. They were playing so well. We didnt think they were going to lose another game all year. It was important for us to come in here and show we could measure up to them." Tyler Toffoli scored a power-play goal and Martin Jones stopped 18 shots for the Kings, whose eight-game winning streak was snapped Thursday by Toronto. Los Angeles had won each of Anaheims last five visits to Staples Center since November 2011. The late-game controversy added to the lively rivalry in the Southern California clubs first meeting since their outdoor game at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25. Kopitars shot through traffic hit Andersens crossbar and apparently rattled in, but the officials immediately waved off any goal, later announcing Andersen had been hit. "The puck was in, but there was some contact," Andersen said. "I couldnt really stop the puck. The ref did the right thing and made the right call." Replays showed the puck barely crossed the goal line while Marian Gaborik and Anaheims Jakob Silfverberg were next to Andersen. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter leaned onto the ice to disagree, and the crowd made its displeasure known. &"They called it that I touched the goalie before the puck went in," Gaborik said. Cheap Nike Shoes Black Friday. "But I dont know, I havent seen the replay." Dozens of fans threw drinks, water bottles and concession items on the ice, prompting a short pause in play while employees with snow shovels removed the garbage. "I dont know why everybody is getting wound up about that," Boudreau said. "They ran into our goalie. I thought it should have been a penalty, frankly. ... Ive seen a lot less things get called for penalties." Jackman put the Ducks ahead late in the first period with his fourth goal of the season, coming out of the corner to score on a slick pass from Mathieu Perreault. The Kings evened it on a power-play goal midway through the second period when Jarret Stolls shot hit Andersens pads and went straight to Toffoli for just his second goal in 26 games since Dec. 19. "I think we didnt play the best that we could," Toffoli said. "But I think we know now that the rest of the season here we have to play hard and play the right way." Los Angeles hadnt scored against Anaheim in more than 148 consecutive minutes, going scoreless against their rivals since Kopitars first-period goal early in their last meeting at Honda Center, two days before Jonas Hillers shutout in Chavez Ravine. Maroon put the Ducks back ahead on the games next shot just 1:09 later. Sprawling Kings defenceman Jake Muzzin deflected the puck past Jones for Maroons first goal since Jan. 30. The Kings scratched captain Dustin Brown, who played sparingly against Toronto on Thursday after Sutter said Browns entire line looked tired. The U.S. Olympian missed practice Friday with what Sutter said was an illness. Anaheim scratched U.S. Olympic defenceman Cam Fowler, who incurred a lower-body injury Friday in Calgary. The Ducks also played without 43-year-old forward Teemu Selanne, who has sat out the back end of several back-to-back sets this season. NOTES: New Anaheim D Stephane Robidas took the pregame warmup, but didnt make his Ducks debut. The veteran blue-liner, acquired March 4 from Dallas, is nearly recovered from a broken leg. ... Jones started for the second time in three games after Jonathan Quick missed practice Friday with an illness. ... Anaheims power play went 0 for 3, dropping to 2 for 42 in its last 13 games. ' ' '