Shin-Soo Choo walked and scored on Vottos double into the left-field corner.

I dont begrudge any of the Blue Jays going to the All-Star game next week at Citi Field in New York, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar have all put up solid and in some cases great numbers. I can even see John Gibbons being a coach on the AL staff, since he once played for the Mets. Still, the realist in me says the Blue Jays are a last place team. The last time they put this many in the mid-summer Classic was 2006 when five Blue Jays made it including Roy Halladay, B.J Ryan, Troy Glaus, Alex Rios and Vernon Wells, and yes John Gibbons was a coach on that team as well. However, the 2006 Jays went 87-75 on the season and finished in second place, their first time above third since the World Series years and best record since Tim Johnsons crew finished with 88 victories in 1998. Gibbys crew in 06 finished up with an 18-10 September and actually looked like a budding contender. What Im saying is, being an All-Star should in some way equate to team success. Grant you , the rosters were smaller then, but the Blue Jays only had three All-Stars in 1992, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and Juan Guzman. Tom Henke and Duane Ward didnt make it although they gave the Blue Jays a devastating one-two punch in the bullpen. In 1993, after winning their first World Series, the Blue Jays got full All-Star recognition for how great a team they truly were. They put a franchise record seven players on the American League squad including Alomar, Carter, Pat Hentgen, Paul Molitor, John Olerud Devon White and Duane Ward, and Cito Gaston was the American League skipper. The 2006 squad put the second most Blue Jays on the All-Star team ever with five. This years team which has greatly underachieved has four, tied for third in franchise history with the 1994 team. Without getting too caught up in winning and losing, check out these numbers, The Blue Jays began as you would expect any expansion would with six straight losing seasons. They followed that up with 11 straight winning seasons, five division titles, two American League Championships and two World Series victories. Then from 1994 thru 1997, they had four straight losing campaigns. Right now they are threatening to get into that chronic losing state again. In four of the last five seasons, if this one continues as is, the Blue Jays will have finished at .500 or below. As I said off the top, its great to be an All-Star, but even better if winning goes along with it. Amazing Grace Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers continues to amaze with offensive feats. He has 29 home runs , already breaking Prince Fielders club record for home runs before the All-Star break. Hes batting .366 and has driven in an incredible 94 runs. Dustin Pedroia was my choice as the first half MVP, based on what hes meant to the Red Sox rise to the top of the AL East and the fact he played through a torn thumb ligament injury. The Orioles Chris Davis deserves consideration as well, but if Cabrera somehow wins a second straight Triple Crown, I cant see anyone denying him The Big Hit This one fell under the radar this week. The Red Sox David Ortiz came up with his 1,688th hit as a designated hitter tying former White Sox star Harold Baines for the all-time record. Power Outage The Yankees in desperate need of a power bat right now, and apparently dangling right hander Phil Hughes as bait, may be regretting they let Raul Ibanez walk as a free agent in the off-season. Ibanez has a shot at an obscure record this year with Seattle. Ibanez who serves as DH and still occasionally plays left field for the Mariners has hit 22 homeruns. The "Immortal" Ted Williams slugged 29 homeruns at 41 for Boston in his final year in the "Bigs". Thats the most ever hit by a player of that age. Ibanez has a legitimate shot at it, with 71 games left to play. Six Shooter Youve got to give congrats to former Blue Jays outfielder Alex Rios. He tied the American League record, by getting six hits in a game this week against the Tigers at Comerica Park. Though I supposed that wont stop Jays fans from getting on his case again next year, when the White Sox hit town. A Star Is Born? The Blue Jays seem to have a Triple "A" version of Yasiel Puig at Buffalo. Since coming up from Double "A" New Hampshire 21 games ago, Kevin Pillar subbing in right fielder for the injured Moises Sierra is hitting .373 with four homers and 15 runs batted in and has a 1.085 OPS. The 23-year-old right hand hitter was a 32nd round draft pick in 2011. Yeezy 350 v2 France .5 seconds to play in the game, Kevin Love never stopped believing that they would come out of there with a win. Vapormax Promo ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. http://www.airmaxpaschervente.fr/destockage-air-max-90-france.html . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session. Yeezy 350 Fausse . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. Acheter Tn Pas Cher . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate.PHOENIX -- Paul Goldschmidt did it again, and this time he got some help from his teammates. Goldschmidt had his third two-homer game of the year and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Cincinnati Reds 11-5 Friday night in Johnny Cuetos worst outing in three seasons. Goldschmidt drove in three runs to raise his NL-leading RBI total to 65. Gerardo Parra hit a leadoff home run for Arizona and Jason Kubel tied his career high with four hits. Kubel doubled in a run and scored twice. Arizona had not scored more than four runs in any of its previous six games. "That was a great job tonight up and down the lineup," Goldschmidt said. "Weve got the talent to do it, and I think were going to do it. Its just part of the game. Its up and down sometimes. Sometimes were going to struggle and sometimes were going to hit the ball well." Cueto (4-1) went 4 1-3 innings and allowed seven runs, his most since Milwaukee scored eight against him on Sept. 22, 2010. The 11 hits off him matched his career worst. "Things did not go well," Cueto said through a translator. "It is just one outing but a bad outing. I have a lot more outings, so I have to keep my head up and continue." Jay Bruce hit his 150th career home run for the Reds. Joey Votto drove in two runs with a long homer and a double. Will Harris (1-0) got one out in relief of starter Wade Miley to get the victory. Goldschmidt has four home runs in four games and 19 for the year, one fewer than he had last season. He hit a two-run shot off Cueto in the fifth and a solo homer off Curtis Partch in the sixth that travelled an estimated 457 feet, making it the longest of Goldschmidts career. "Hes huge for our team," manager Kirk Gibson said. "I dont think anybody else has over 20-some RBIs, Goldys in the 60s. Hes the nucleus of our team, certainly offensively. Hes dependable, takes care of himself properly and he keeps pushing on." Cueto, in his second outing since returning from his second stint on the disabled list this season, lost to Arizona for the first time. He had been 5-0 with a 1.66 ERA in six starts against the Diamondbacks. The seven runs he allowed Friday equaled the total he gave up combined in his six other starts against them. The Reds, making a cross-country trek after splitting four games against Pittsburgh, had counted on a much longer outing from Cueto. "The timing of it all wasnt good because our bullpen was already beat up when we came in here," manager Dusty Baker ssaid.dddddddddddd "We were hoping to get quite a few innings out of Johnny tonight and get our bullpen back right for the next couple of days and the off day." Things began badly for the Cincinnati ace when Parra pulled Cuetos 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats for his fifth career leadoff home run, all this season. In the second, Kubel led off with a single, then Didi Gregorius singled with one out to put runners at first and second. Miley struck out, but Parra walked to load the bases. Willie Bloomquist, hitless in his previous 11 at-bats, singled to bring in two runs and Arizona led 3-0. In the fourth, Bruce hit Mileys 0-1 pitch far into the seats in right field for his 16th home run to cut it to 3-1. The Reds tied it in the fifth. Cueto beat out a bunt single, his second hit of the year, moved to second when Shin-Soo Choo walked and scored on Vottos double into the left-field corner. Choo scored when Brandon Phillips hit the ball sharply to Gregorius at shortstop. Gregorius couldnt make the play and was charged with an error. Phillips was credited with an RBI, and it was 3-all. Earlier in the fifth, Miley slipped on his follow through, prompting a visit from the trainer. He stayed in the game, for the time being. He threw a whopping 104 pitches in 4 2-3 innings, allowing three runs and five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. Bloomquist led off the Arizona fifth with a single, then Goldschmidt hit one to the opposite field over the fence in right to put the Diamondbacks back on top for good, 5-3. Miguel Montero followed with a single, then after Cody Ross struck out, Kubel singled and Cuetos night was finished. Martin Prados sacrifice fly off reliever J.J. Hoover made it 6-3. Kubel came home on Hoovers wild pitch, and Arizona got four in the sixth off Partch to lead 11-3. Vottos solo home run came against Tony Sipp in the seventh. NOTES: The 11 runs were the second-most allowed by the Reds this season. ... Cuetos outing matched his shortest of the season. ... RHP Zeke Spruill, called up from Triple-A Reno earlier in the day, pitched a scoreless inning of relief in his major league debut. The Diamondbacks designated INF Josh Wilson for assignment. ... On Saturday night, in the series prime pitching matchup, the Reds send Mike Leake (7-3, 2.64 ERA) to the mound and Arizona goes with Patrick Corbin (9-0, 2.28). Corbin will make his fourth try to go to 10-0 after no-decisions in his last three starts. ... Bruce has homered in six of his last eight games. ' ' '