d at home," said Gibbons. "Weve played actually better on the road this ye

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The Lions extended their unexpectedly bright start to Super Rugby when they beat the Blues 39-36 for the first time since 2006 in a see-saw battle at Ellis Park on Saturday. Wholesale Baseball Jerseys . Although the hosts were outscored five tries to three by the team from Auckland, Marnitz Boshoff landed four penalties and two dropped goals to give them their third win in five games since returning to the competition. The Lions missed out on Super Rugby in 2013 when they lost their place to the Southern Kings, and were expected to struggle after earning their way back into the tournament through a playoff victory. However Saturdays win put them fourth in the standings, while the Blues were 13th after a third loss in four games. The first half belonged entirely to the Lions, as they bounced into the break with a 17-0 lead. After the game had gone scoreless for the first 30 minutes, Blues prop Charlie Faumuina was yellow carded for collapsing a maul close to his own tryline, and two minutes later scrum-half Francois de Klerk capitalized on the numerical advantage to score the games first try. Boshoff added the conversion and a dropped goal, before Courtnall Skosan went over on the stroke of half-time gave the Lions a significant advantage. Boshoff added a penalty after the break to push the gap to 20 points, and the Blues earned a second yellow card when Tom Donnelly failed to use his arms whilst clearing out a ruck. However when the lock returned, the Blues came roaring back into the match with two tries in three minutes to narrow the deficit to eight points. Coenie van Wyks try with 20 minutes remaining gave the Lions some breathing room, but the Blues kept coming and Frank Halai held off a defender to score under the posts moments later. Boshoffs penalty made it 33-22 with 10 minutes to play, only for centre George Moalas converted try to put the Blues within four points. However a couple of penalties from Boshoff made the game safe, ensuring that Benji Marshalls 80th minute try gave the Blues no more than a losing bonus point. ------ Lions 39 (Francois de Klerk, Courtnall Skosan, Coenie van Wyk tries; Marnitz Boshoff 3 conversions, 4 penalties, 2 dropped goals), Blues 36 (Charles Piutau, Bryn Hall, Frank Halai, George Moala, Benji Marshall tries; Chris Noakes 2 conversions, penalty, Simon Hickey 2 conversions). HT: 17-0 Cheap MLB Jerseys From China . -- Desperate to stop Tom Bradys latest comeback bid, the Miami Dolphins sought help from a reserve safety making his NFL debut after being signed Tuesday off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad. Clearance MLB Jerseys . He was with the New York Jets in 2011 when the NFL locked out their players after they failed to agree on a new contract. Willy went undrafted but was given a look by four NFL teams before heading north. https://www.mlbjerseyschina.us/ . "Hopefully well get all this out of the way," he said, "and everyone will be healthy the rest of the year." Zimmerman was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday and is expected to miss between four to six weeks.BOSTON – The Blue Jays scorching offence finished a three-game sweep of the Red Sox at Fenway Park and sits at or near the top of a number of the sports essential statistical categories. Toronto is first in home runs with 67; its second in slugging percentage (.445) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.773) and sixth in walks (168). Jose Bautista was the celebrated hero of April, smacking eight of his 11 home runs, working to a 1.065 OPS in the opening month. In May its been Edwin Encarnacion, the other half of the Blue Jays deadly three-four lineup combination, who has done most of the damage. With 11 of his 13 home runs this month, including four two-home run games and an OPS of 1.090, you could argue Encarnacions been carrying the lineup. Bautista doesnt want to hear it; not about himself and not about someone else. Theres plenty of credit to go around. "I think everybodys been contributing since day one," Bautista told TSN.ca. "Melky, for instance, is leading the league in hits. Adams (Lind) hitting .320. Brett (Lawrie), even though his average is down a little bit, hes got 20-something RBI. Everybodys helping out. Franciscos got seven, eight home runs and 20 RBI as well. Navarros hitting close to .300." While Bautista insists he hasnt been pitched to differently since Encarnacion has heated up, he expects opposing teams to change their approach once they peruse the pre-scout books and video. "Im sure its going to change," said Bautista. "I think people are definitely noticing and now its going to be more on their radar how hot he is so hopefully that means Im going to get a couple of more mistakes over the plate." Taking his word for it, teams may not be pitching differently to Bautista but at least they now are pitching to him. Consider that in April, while Encarnacion laboured through a relatively slow opening month, Bautista walked 30 times in 122 plate appearances (24.6 per cent). In May, through to the end of Thursdays game, Bautista has walked 11 times in 94 trips to the plate (11.7 per cent). Through Thursday, the Blue Jays had won six of seven and 12 of 17. They have a number of individuals at or near the top of a number of categories. They include: Melky Cabrera: 64 hits, the most in Major League BaseballEdwin Encarnacion: 13 home runs (Tied-3rd); 39 RBI (6th). Jose Bautista: 12 home runs (Tied 6th), 41 walks (1st); .435 on-base percentage (5th); .988 on-base plus slugging (5th). Mark Buehrle: Eight wins, the most in Major League Baseball; 2.16 ERA (8th). GIBBONS LIKES HIS OFFENCE The story of Torontos offensive production got lost earlier this season amid the worry over the starting pitching and the bullpen blowing leads. With the Jays winnning, the bats move to the forefront. MLB Jerseys China. The skipper has seen it all year. "We can hit, top to bottom," said manager John Gibbons. "Its a strong American League lineup and thats kind of what you need in the American League. Were really a home run threat with most of those guys in that lineup we can burn you that way. I really like the approach we have at the plate. Were taking some hits the other way when its called for. The better pitchers, thats the way theyre attacking you. Were confident right now. You have good games when youre feeling good. Baseball is a game of ups and downs all year long but its a good strong lineup." HENDRIKS TO START FRIDAY The Blue Jays will recall right-hander Liam Hendriks from Buffalo on Friday and he will start the series opener against Oakland. R.A. Dickey will be pushed back to Saturday when he will throw on an extra days rest. "We just decided to split up Buehrle and Dickey," said Gibbons. "Theyre our old reliable guys, kind of our innings eaters." Hendriks is 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA and a 0.801 WHIP for the Triple-A Bisons. The 25-year-old is hoping for his first period of sustained major league success. In parts of three seasons with the Twins, Hendriks was 2-13 with an ERA of 6.06. A corresponding roster move will be made before Fridays game. HOME COOKING The Jays kick off a season-high 10-game homestand on Friday. After the Athletics come in for three, the Tampa Bay Rays will check in, followed by the Kansas City Royals for a four-game series. Toronto has a bus trip series to Detroit for three games June 2-4 and then will return home for six games, three each with the St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins. For the Blue Jays, it isnt so much about capitalizing on home field advantage as it is trying to create a home field advantage. Toronto is 10-11 at Rogers Centre and 16-11 on the road. "We have to play good at home," said Gibbons. "Weve played actually better on the road this year than we have at home. Were there for awhile so hopefully we can take advantage of that." "I never want to have any outlook at any period of the season and start a sentence with We have to or We need to or Its imperative that we do anything," said Bautista. "Every time in baseball when you have that mentality things seem to go the other way. Weve just got to focus on the preparation, go out and give it our all every single day and take it one day at a time and hope for good results and if we get them, we get them." Oakland comes to town the leader of the American League West with a record of 30-17. Despite a 5-2, 11-inning loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday, the Athletics have won 11 of their last 13 games. ' ' '