though he throws in the mid-90s

Washington Nationals (94-61) at Philadelphia Phillies (78-77) - 7:05pm et (Sports Network) - Gio Gonzalez will try to strengthen his case for the NL Cy Young Award and pitch the Washington Nationals a little closer to a division title on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. wholesale jerseys . After failing in his first attempt at win No. 20, Gonzalez became the first pitcher in baseball to reach the milestone this season with a victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday. The left-hander logged seven innings and was touched for just a pair of unearned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out five. Gonzalez has won seven of his last nine starts to move to 20-8 with a 2.84 earned run average in 31 outings this season. His 201 strikeouts rank fourth in the NL. "It doesnt feel like a 20th win for myself. It feels like a 20th win for the team," Gonzalez admitted. "This is a childhood dream, but to do it with a team like this, thats in first place, makes it that much better." The 27-year-old won his first two career starts against the Phillies before taking a loss to them at Philadelphia on Aug. 25. He lost a 4-2 decision, touched for three runs over six innings. After losing Tuesdays opener, the Nationals reduced their magic number for winning the NL East to four in the second game of this series by rolling to an 8-4 win. Bryce Harper drove in three runs, two on a homer, and former Phillie Jayson Werth added a key two-run single late. Kurt Suzuki also went deep for Washington, which halted a five-game slide in Philadelphia and won for just the second time in its last nine encounters with the club. John Lannan worked 5 1/3 innings for the win, allowing only five hits and two runs with three strikeouts. "It felt good to get runs in the first inning. In the past, things didnt go my way here," said Lannan after helping the Nats maintain a four-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for first place in the standings. Jimmy Rollins homered for the Phillies, who have dropped three of four and are on the verge of being eliminated from the wild card race. Kyle Kendrick recorded just six outs for Philadelphia, charged in defeat with five hits and five runs -- four earned -- over two-plus frames. "On Harpers home run, it wasnt a bad pitch. He put a good swing on it. The home run to Suzuki was a pretty good pitch, too," said Kendrick. "But most of the night, I was behind in the count, up in the zone. Thats what happens." Young right-hander Tyler Cloyd gets the call for the Phillies tonight having won both of his decisions over four starts since losing his MLB debut on Aug. 29. Cloyd is coming off an excellent outing at the New York Mets last Thursday, logging the longest start of his career with eight innings of one-run ball. The 25-year-old also scattered three hits and two walks while striking out six. Cloyd has a 3.86 ERA through his five starts and faces the Nats for the first time. Miami Marlins (66-89) at Atlanta Braves (90-65) - 7:10pm et (Sports Network) - Tommy Hanson eyes his first victory in nearly two months on Thursday evening as the Atlanta Braves go for a sweep of their three-game series with the Miami Marlins. Hanson is 0-4 with a 5.06 earned run average in seven starts since returning from a 15-day stint on the disabled list caused by a back strain. He won his final two starts before being sidelined, a pair of outings on July 20 and 25 versus the Marlins. The right-hander pitched five innings in both of those games, giving up a total of two runs and improving to 7-2 with a 2.44 earned run average in 11 career meetings with the Marlins. Hanson lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in his most recent start on Friday, yielding five runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts. The 26- year-old also served up three homers, giving him 26 allowed in his 29 starts this season. "I think a couple of those pitches got too much of the plate. They just didnt hit in the gap or hit it hard for a single, they put them in the seats for the most part," said Hanson, who is 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA on the year. The Braves continued to stay in the hunt for the NL East crown with Wednesdays 3-0 victory on Wednesday. That win came one day after Atlanta clinched at least a wild card berth with a victory in the series opener. Martin Prado clubbed a solo home run and added an RBI single en route to his NL-leading 59th multi-hit game for the Braves, who remained four games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the division. The Nats magic number to win the NL East is four. Paul Maholm struck out six over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, scattering five hits without a walk. "You want to be able to pitch well going into the playoffs," Maholm said. "I tried to do as much as I could to treat it like a playoff game. The defense made some plays and obviously putting up some runs helps." Josh Johnson gave up three runs -- two earned -- on four hits and five walks with seven strikeouts over six frames to absorb the loss. Gil Velazquez had two of Miamis six hits as the Marlins lost their sixth consecutive game. "Theyre pushing to still try and win the division," Marlins outfielder Bryan Petersen said of the Braves. "Theyve still got stuff to play for and it kind of showed tonight." The Braves have won 13 of 17 versus the Marlins this season, going 6-2 at home. Taking the mound for Miami will be Jacob Turner, who earned his first victory in a Marlins uniform on Sept. 14 before taking a loss seven days later at the New York Mets. The 21-year-old righty was touched for six runs -- three earned -- on eight hits and a walk over five innings of a 7-3 setback. That left him 1-3 with a 4.03 ERA in five starts with Miami since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers. Turner, who faces the Braves for the first time, is seeking his first road victory of 2012, having gone 0-2 with a 4.24 ERA in his previous three outings as the guest. Los Angeles Dodgers (80-75) at San Diego Padres (74-81) - 10:05pm et (Sports Network) - With one final road game of the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers seek back-to-back wins for the first time in almost two weeks when they conclude a three-game series Thursday against the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers postseason aspirations are hanging by a thread at 3 1/2 games off the final wild card spot in the National League with seven to play. Their inconsistent ways continued with last nights 8-2 victory at Petco Park, as Matt Kemp finished 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI and Juan Rivera also went deep. Nick Punto posted three hits and scored four times for Los Angeles, which has alternated wins and losses over the past eight games. "Im pretty good when I get good pitches to hit," Kemp said. "If I can do that it gives me a chance to do something good for my team. I got a few good pitches and did my thing." Aaron Harang picked up the win with 5 1/3 scoreless innings. Los Angeles will close out its nine-game road trip (4-4) this evening and is scheduled to play six home games versus Colorado and San Francisco. Chris Capuano hopes to keep the Dodgers hopes alive when he toes the rubber tonight, but is 0-3 in his past seven trips to the hill. Capuano was dealt the loss in a 4-1 decision at Washington last Thursday and yielded four runs -- three earned -- and six hits in five innings. Capuano, a left-hander, is 11-11 with a 3.74 earned run average in 31 starts and 0-2 in three meetings with San Diego this season. He is 4-4 with a 3.63 ERA in 11 career games (10 starts) against the Padres. San Diego had a two-game win streak stopped on Wednesday and lost for the fifth time in eight tries. Yasmani Grandal posted a team-high two hits and drove in a run for the Friars, while Clayton Richard failed in his attempt for a 15th win by giving up six runs -- four earned -- and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. "That was a tough one," Richard said. "You hate putting your team in that type of hole. I made pitches and they didnt work out, and of course I didnt make some pitches and they took advantage. It was a rough day." The Padres will also welcome San Francisco to town for three games on their homestand and are set to unleash starter Casey Kelly on the Dodgers. Kelly will make the sixth start of his career and is 2-2 with a 5.55 earned run average over the first five. Kelly lost to the Giants last Friday in a 5-1 setback at AT&T Park and allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings. He has never faced the Dodgers and owns a 2-1 mark in three home starts. Los Angeles is 10-7 against the Padres this season and had lost three straight and five of the previous six meetings before Wednesdays convincing win. cheap nfl jerseys . Nieminen, who lost last years final to Gael Monfils of France, was down 4-2 in the second set but recovered to win the match 6-3, 6-4. Niemenen says "I lost focus and made some simple mistakes but then I woke up and started playing more aggressive. wholesale nfl jerseys . The Croatia international is widely reported to be on the verge of joining Madrid in the coming days, ending his four-year spell at Tottenham. Villas-Boas says "he is still a Tottenham player but from what the chairman has told me, talks are ongoing - they stalled a little bit two weeks ago, but they have picked up recently.Scott Cullen looks at a Yankees great that could be done, examining early-season slumps of Pujols and Bautista, hot corner injuries and more. OH NO, MOA fixture at the end of New York Yankees wins for the last 15 seasons, Mariano Rivera may have suffered a season-ending (or career-ending) injury Thursday night, when he tore his ACL shagging flyballs in batting practice. Even at 42, Rivera remained one of the games premier closers. He was 1-1 with a 2.16 ERA and five saves in nine games this season and, just like each of the last four seasons, his WHIP was under 1.00. Of course, Riveras brilliance was in mastering one pitch, the cut fastball, to the point that batters knew it was coming and they still couldnt hit it. According to www.fangraphs.com, Rivera threw only fastballs and cutters over the last five seasons, with a minimum of 80% cutters. This season, he was throwing a career-high 93.4% cutters. All that aside, Rivera was often the stabilizing force in a sometimes shaky Yankees bullpen, so his absence leaves them vulnerable. 27-year-old RGP David Robertson seems to be the best option to take over as hes been dominant since the start of the 2011 season, posting a 4-0 record, 0.93 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 81 appearances. With 18 strikeouts in 11 innings this season, Robertsons K/9 ratio of 14.73 ranks second (just behind Detroits Joaquin Benoit, 14.81) in the American League among all pitchers with at least 10 IP this season. He throws fastball and curveball, virtually exclusively, and his If Robertson doesnt assume the closers role, Rafael Soriano would be the next in line. Soriano hasnt been nearly as overpowering as Robertson (or Rivera), but saved 72 games with Atlanta and Tampa Bay in 2009 and 2010. STUNNING SLUMPAngels 1B Albert Pujols, as you may be aware, has not hit a home run and has a .202 batting average in 110 plate appearances since joining the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim after 11 seasons of demolishing National League pitching with the St. Louis Cardinals. While no one would predict thsi kind of drop off, 32-year-old Pujols wasnt quite his customary awesome self last season, setting a career-low OPS of .906, along with career-lows in batting average (.299), doubles (29), runs batted in (99), walks (61) and on-base percentage (.366). This decline shouldnt be as simple as switching leagues because Pujols, prior to this season, had a 1.071 OPS in Interleague games while with the Cardinals, higher than his career OPS of 1.029. But, there is definitely something amiss. Pujols has a batting average on balls in play of .233, which indicates that hes been unlucky, especially when considering that his line drive rate (24.4%, per www.fangraphs.com) is at a career high. What is apparent at this point, however, is that Pujols is pressing. Hes swinging at pitches outside the strike zone more than ever before (39.9% this year, well up from last years career-high of 31.8%, per www.fangraphs.com) and while his contact rate remains high, making contact with balls outside the zone makes it difficult to drive the ball with his customary power. Its easy enough to say that Pujols just needs to recapture what had been legendary plate discipline, be more selective and hell start slugging again, but with a monster contract and the pressure to perform with a new team, its easier said than done. He will hit again; its just a matter of when. JOEY BATS STRUGGLING TOOIn Toronto, there is much conseternation over the fact that RF Jose Bautista -- the slugger of 97 home runs in the 2010 and 2011 seasons -- has just four homers and is hitting .172 through 26 games this season. When it comes to his batting average, Bautista has been absurdly unlucky. His .158 BABIP is the worst in baseball and even if he has more infield flies (19.4%, career average is 13.8%, www.fangraphs.com), its just inconceivable that Bautista will continue below the Mendoza Line. What is a little perplexing about Bautistas struggles is that hes facing more fastballs (59.4%) this season than over the previous two seasons (under 50.0%). That presents more problems because Bautistas m.o. has been to destroy fastballs and, not unlike Pujols, Bautista has expanded his strike zone a little. Evven though he has 18 walks (compared to 16 strikeouts), Bautista is making much more contact with balls outside the strike zone (a career-high 77. cheap jerseys from china. 9%, www.fangraphs.com) and being selective is one of the great strengths for many of the games most feared hitters, including Bautista. HOT CORNER INJURIESWith Kevin Youkilis resting a wonky back, the Red Sox called up Will Middelbrooks, a fifth-round pick in 2007 who was destroying Triple-A pitching, hitting .333 with nine home runs, 27 RBI and a 1.057 OPS in 24 games with Pawtucket. Middlebrooks went 2-for-3 in his major league debut too, so even if Youk returns soon, the Red Sox may be looking to find ways to get Middlebrooks into their lineup on a regular basis. Rays 3B Evan Longoria is on the shelf for 6-8 weeks with a torn hamstring and its been a mixed bag of random infielders taking his place. Elliot Johnson, Sean Rodriguez and Jeff Keppinger -- none of whom is particularly exciting -- have started the last three games at the hot corner. Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval suffered a broken hamate bone in his wrist, which will leave him on the sidelines for the next 4-6 weeks. The Giants have called up Conor Gillaspie, who was hitting .362 with three homers, 13 RBI and a .939 OPS in 23 games for Triple-A Fresno. His offence has improved steadily, but he doesnt have significant power. Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman is nursing a shoulder injury, so while hes on the DL, Washington has given 23-year-old Stephen Lombardozzi a shot and hes been hitting second in the order. Hes played part-time for the Nats this year and is 12-for-44 (.273) on the season, but the pickings have been slim since taking over in the starting lineup, going 4-for-22 (.182) in the last six games. CANADIAN CONTENTMets LF Jason Bay has a fractured rib and while hes on the DL, and rookie Kirk Nieuwenhuis (2 HR, 8 RBI, .310 AVG, .823 OPS, 24 GP) has shifted over to left field while Andres Torres has returned to action and is starting in centre field. Twins DH Justin Morneau has a wrist injury that continues to keep him out of the lineup, and while hes not expected to be out long-term, his absence from the lineup is allowing C Joe Mauer to play DH and Ryan Doumit to take regular turns behind the plate. Chris Parmelee has been handling first base while Morneau tries to get back to full speed after concussion problems, but his numbers (.220 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .603 OPS, 19 GP) dont exactly provide the kind of pop needed at first base. ACROSS THE DIAMONDStaying in San Francisco, 1B Aubrey Huff has been put on the DL due to an anxiety disorder, which has allowed 1B Brandon Belt to gain a few consistent starts and while Belt has yet to hit a home run, hes hitting .292 with a .766 OPS in 54 plate appearances. Milwaukee 1B Mat Gamel suffered a torn ACL that is expected to cost him the rest of the 2012 season. Finally getting a chance to play when Prince Fielder was allowed to leave as a free agent, Gamel has struggled, hitting .246 with a .641 OPS in 75 plate appearances. The immediate option appears to be Travis Ishikawa, a 28-year-old who couldnt stick with the Giants in his first go-round the bigs. With a .640 OPS in 31 part-time plate appearances this year, Ishikawa doesnt seem like anything more than a band-aid solution if the Brewers have real playoff hopes. CLOSING TIMEThe L.A. Angels of Anaheim have turned to Scott Downs to close games, losing faith in Jordan Walden after a couple of rough outings. Downs, 36, has 19 career saves in 449 games but, since 2007 his ERA is 2.10, so hes been effective in late innings for quite a while. The Chicago Cubs are going with someone other than Carlos Marmol in the closers role now. Rafael Dolis and James Russell have both been mentioned as options by manager Dale Sveum, but both present risk. Dolis has a 3.52 ERA in 13 games this season and, even though he throws in the mid-90s, he only has four strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheap jerseys ' ' '