stretch where they dont play their own division - Cs-Frugo Skill

ORLANDO, Fla. -- When Magic coach Jacque Vaughn was asked about his teams noticeable win discrepancy this season in games at home versus on the road, he likened their home floor to feeling like a "fluffed pillow" for his young team. It found that warm embrace again, this time at the expense of a team fighting for its playoff positioning. Tobias Harris had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Orlando beat the Portland Trail Blazers 95-85 on Tuesday night to stop a nine-game losing streak. Nik Vucevic added 22 points and 10 boards for the Magic, who led by just eight at the half but used scoring spurts in the third and fourth quarters to put the game away. Victor Oladipo had 13 points and six assists. Orlando improved to 16-18 at home, compared to 4-34 on the road. "When you play on the road its a lot different," Harris said. "Their crowd gives them energy just like our crowd does. We know we have to get better on the road, but were playing good at home and tonight was a good win for us." The Magic earned their fifth victory against a Western Conference team, but just their third over one that entered the night in position to make the playoffs. Orlando previously posted wins against the Clippers and Thunder in the Amway Center. The Magic also matched their win total for all of last season with nine games remaining. "I was really pleased with the mental focus that we had from the beginning of the game, to come out and not use being on the West Coast as an excuse," Vaughn said. "It was impressive to hold that team to 85 points." Robin Lopez led Portland with 20 points and 13 rebounds. The Blazers, who entered the night in fifth place in the West, have lost three straight. They were without forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed his seventh consecutive game with a lower back contusion. After getting blown out at Charlotte on Saturday, the Blazers rebounded and showed lots of fight in nearly upending defending champion Miami on Monday night. They didnt seem to have anything left at times against Orlando, which went right at Portlands front line. The Magic outscored the Blazers 46-44 in the paint. Portland coach Terry Stotts said before the game that the tight playoff race in the West dictated a need to "accumulate wins where we can get them." He acknowledged afterward that they missed one of those opportunities against the Magic. "This is a very, extremely disappointing loss and in fact it was a game we needed to have," Stotts said. "Weve got 10 games left. Theres got to be a sense of urgency every game. Playoff race is tight. Wed like to look forward, but weve got four teams that are right on our heels, and every game has a new sense of urgency." The Magic closed the third quarter on an 11-2 run and increased their lead to 19 in the opening minutes of the fourth. Harris was the most active player for Orlando in the final quarter, scoring eight points. The Blazers were finally able to string together some baskets and cut the lead down to 11 points on a 3-pointer by Wesley Matthews with 2:31 to play. But the Magic were able to close out the game from the foul line. Orlando took an eight-point lead into halftime after shooting 50 per cent from the field in the first half. Vucevic led the scoring effort with 14 points. The Magic also had 10 assists on their 21 baskets, including four from Oladipo. Lopez scored 10 first-half points for Portland, which shot just 40 per cent from the field. The Blazers also struggled from the foul line, connecting on only 2 of their 12 attempts. The victory aside, Vaughn said there wont be any heavy focus on wins or losses for his team the rest of the way. "Have not mentioned one time what our record is to the team," he said. "What I do mention to those guys, and (will) when we practice on Thursday, is lets come to work and get better. Thats how well continue to judge each other and continue to push each other." NOTES: Orlando improved to 5-24 against the Western Conference. ... The Magic honoured Grant Hill between the first and second quarter as part of their "Legends Nights" season-long series to honour former players as part of the teams 25th anniversary season celebration. Michael Jordan Jersey . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Roberto Alomar White Sox Jersey .Y. - His opponent couldnt stop him, and LeBron James didnt quite know what to think when his coach tried. https://www.cheapwhitesox.com/424e-danny-mendick-jersey-white-sox.html .C. - Blair Jones scored the eventual winner in the third period as the Abbotsford Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Oil Barons 3-2 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Cheap White Sox Jerseys . And former Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson certainly knows his pain. "Its pretty hard to coach there without allowing some of these things to kind of affect you," Wilson told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in his ESPN. Jace Fry Jersey . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson.The day after Brandon Morrow walked eight batters in just two and 2/3rds innings and got the hook, Ricky Romero had a two-inning control meltdown of his own Sunday at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo. Facing the Reds Triple A affiliate Louisville, Romero walked the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second, but he escaped unscathed both times and actually lasted five innings. Romero didnt give up any more walks and didnt surrender a run during the stint. Earlier in the week, an upbeat Romero was on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor and co-host Dave Hodge and said he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a year and a half. He also said he would welcome a call-up right now if the Blue Jays needed or wanted him. As shaky as the Jays starting pitching has been this season, especially over this just completed homestand, Romero doesnt figure to get called up anytime soon. He simply has to be more consistent with his control. The largest pitcher I have ever seen in the Majors is C.C Sabathia. Though he has trimmed down now a bit, there were times over the past two or three years where he weighed between 285 and 300 pounds. Well in that same Buffalo-Louisville game on Sunday, the Bats used a closer by the name of Jose Diaz. A year ago, the 64 native of the Dominican Republic pitched at 347 pounds and of course was known by the nickname of Jumbo. This year having just turned 30, he realized it might be time to shave off a few pounds to try and prolong his career. He got down to 278, but the stat sheets now are listing him at 315. Jumbo racked up his sixth save Sunday against the Bisons. He throws with pretty good velocity, too. Cincinnati already has Aroldis Chapman as their closer, but who knows at some point, he may surface in the Majors. Historic Lineup Since the Blue Jays in the Pat Gillick era were one of the very first teams to extensively scout and sign talent out of the Dominican Republic, it only seems fitting that on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, they became the first team in Major League history to field a starting lineup that included six players born in the Dominican. The starting 9 included Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. An equally, if not more, historic moment occurred back on Sept 1 of 1971 when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded an entire starting lineup of African American and Latin American players including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The rest of the starting 9 included Al Oliver, who later played with the Expos and the Blue Jays, Rennie Stennett, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Gene Clines and starting pitccher Dock Ellis.dddddddddddd Better April The Blue Jays started last season at 10-17 in April and they are already guaranteed a better first month this time around. John Gibbons and company are 12-13 with two games at Kansas City left in this month. But something to remember, there were only two playoff teams with losing Aprils in the American League a year ago. Tampa Bay went 12-14 but rebounded to finish 91-71 to earn a play in the knockout game with Texas to decide the second Wild Card spot. Cleveland earned the first Wild Card at 92-70 after opening April at 11-13. Conversely Texas had the best record in April at 17-8, but finished the season in that knock-out game at 91-71. All of that means if the Blue Jays are going to need 91 victories to have a shot at the playoffs this year, they will have to go 79-58 the rest of the year or 21 games over .500. Thats not impossible, but the starting rotation will have to be far better the rest of the way. Right now, the Blue Jays staff era is 4.45, 25th in the Majors, just slightly ahead of Baltimore at 4.49. I dont know if this is a plus but the only team in the AL East with a sub -4.00 era is Boston at 3.90 and the BoSox are fourth in the division just behind the Blue Jays. This and That Its really interesting to look at the early season gap in some pitching categories between the National League and the American. The Senior Circuit has eight of the top 10 staff ERAs. Only Oakland and K.C. break into that group. The National League has had 10 complete games to just four for the American, including two by Texas. There have been 34 shutouts in the National League to 23 in the American. St. Louis has six and Texas leads the American with six. I guess it just helps to illustrate why Ervin Santana chose Atlanta over the Blue Jays. After going 7-9 in their 1st 16 game segment against the East, the Jays have a 20-game stretch where they dont play their own division at all. Their next game against the East is May 20 at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, they only have six games against the East for the entire month of May, getting Tampa Bay at home the week after that Boston series. The All-Star voting has begun for the Mid-summer Classic Tuesday July 15th at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. If voting closed today, the only Blue Jays on my ballot would be lefty Mark Buehrle and Melky Cabrera. Jose Bautista could make it as well, but more on his name and All-Star reputation at this point. I also did a rough count and if Buehrle keeps it up, his natural turn to pitch would fall on All-Star Tuesday so their might even be a chance he could start. But thats still a lot of innings pitched and a long way off. ' ' '