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(Sports Network) - Fresh off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Toronto Blue Jays continue their homestand with a three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays sit last in the AL East, having lost 16 of 23 games since ripping off an 11-game winning streak in the middle of June. Toronto did make a late push, getting a two-run double from Jose Reyes in the ninth inning to close the deficit to one run. However, Jose Bautista struck out and Edwin Encarnacion grounded out, moving Reyes to third. Following an Adam Lind walk, Melky Cabrera grounded out to third to end the contest and give Toronto its sixth loss in seven games. "We need to turn it around because its the end of July," said Reyes. "We cant fall too far behind because thats going to make it too tough for us to run with something. We need to turn it around starting (Monday) because its getting late." It wasnt the first half the Blue Jays envisioned for right-hander Josh Johnson after acquiring him this past offseason from the Miami Marlins. Hell look to get on track Monday evening against a former NL foe. Johnson went just 1-5 with a 5.16 ERA in 12 starts with the Blue Jays this season, also missing time due to injury. He dropped three straight starts ahead of the break, yielding a season-high seven runs over six innings of a setback in Baltimore last Sunday. It marked the most runs the 29-year-old had allowed in an outing since also yielding seven in a game on June 23, 2007. Johnson, who has a 3.67 ERA at home this year, is 3-2 in seven previous meetings with the Dodgers, posting a 5.84 ERA. Meanwhile, every time the Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be getting healthy, another injury seems to strike the talented roster. Los Angeles has been hit hard by injury this year, especially in the outfield, where Kemp and Carl Crawford have spent time on the disabled list along with infielder Hanley Ramirez and pitchers Josh Beckett, Zack Greinke and Chad Billingsley. Though the loss of Kemp and Crawford did allow for Yasiel Puig to burst onto the scene, a healthy outfield that also includes Andre Ethier would give manager Don Mattingly plenty of options for his lineup. Kemps return on Sunday from a shoulder injury gave Mattingly all four players on the active roster against Washington and Kemp made a quick impact by homering in his first at-bat of the game. However, the 28-year-old finished up his three-hit, three-RBI game by hurting his ankle sliding home in the ninth inning of the 9-2 win. The initial hope is that it is just a sprain and that Kemp wont have to make a return trip to the DL. "Its just a little swollen. Its not that bad," Kemp said. "I started walking around a little bit and it started feeling a little better, so (Monday) well see what it feels like." Kemps injury put a damper on the three-game sweep of the Nationals, one that gave Los Angeles a 20-5 record since June 21. That has helped the Dodgers make up nine games in the NL West standings as they trail the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks by just a half game. Taking the hill in tonights opener for the Dodgers is Hyun-Jin Ryu, who will face the Blue Jays for the first time in his career as the rookie tries to rebound from a rough final start before the All-Star break. Ryu yielded five runs over five innings of a no-decision in Arizona on July 10, allowing more than three earned runs for the first time in 11 outings. It also marked just the second time in the left-handers 18 starts this season that he failed to log at least six innings of work. "This was my worst outing so far," Ryu told the Dodgers website. "After the team came back to get us on top, I did what a starting pitcher shouldnt do." The 26-year-old is 7-3 with a 3.09 earned run average on the season, including 3-2 with a 4.42 ERA in nine games on the road. The Dodgers and Blue Jays are meeting for the first time since splitting six encounters during the 2007 campaign. Each team took two of three on the road that year. Cheap Brooklyn Nets Jerseys China . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Cheap NBA Jerseys .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. http://www.cheapbasketballchina.com/ . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Cheap Cleveland Cavaliers Jerseys China . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Wholesale Basketball Jerseys . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona walked into his workout day media session on Thursday a few minutes behind schedule, prompting MLB senior vice president Phyllis Merhige to ask what took him so long.I was doing my hair, he deadpanned.Thats a classic response from Francona, who doesnt let a day go by without joking about his baldness, his prominent nose, his lack of a sophisticated vocabulary or his middling talent on a baseball field. You would never know Francona won a Golden Spikes Award as college baseballs best player at the University of Arizona in 1980 or that he hit .274 over parts of 10 big league seasons (albeit with 16 home runs in 1,731 at-bats).Given his penchant for self-deprecation, Francona might blanch at the suggestion that hes on track to be a Hall of Fame manager. But as he oversees another deep run into October, the depth of his résumé and testimonials of his players and peers help make the case on his behalf.I think a lot of guys in here would tell you hes going to be in [Cooperstown] one day or hes well on his way, said Cleveland second baseman Jason Kipnis. For us, its more about how well he handles players and how much he respects everyone in the clubhouse. Hes such a good guy. You dont get in the Hall of Fame for being a good guy. But you get in on what hes done and the career hes had.Nineteen years after he made his managerial debut with a 68-win team in Philadelphia, Francona is mingling with more elite company. He has two titles in his portfolio -- the first of which broke an 86-year-old curse in Boston. He ranks 30th on MLBs career list with 1,381 career victories, and he looks like a sure bet to pass Hall of Famers Earl Weaver, Dick Williams and Tommy Lasorda by the end of his current deal with the Indians. He is under contract through 2018, and the Indians hold club options for 2019 and 2020.Franconas .533 career winning percentage is a tick below Tony La Russas .536, and Francona takes his managerial game to a different level in October. In 49 playoff and World Series games with Boston and Cleveland, he has amassed a .633 winning percentage (31-18). Among managers with at least 25 postseason games on their résumés, that ranks third behind Ned Yosts .710 (22-9) and Joe McCarthys .698 (30-13).While Baltimores Buck Showalter and San Franciscos Bruce Bochy were tormented by bullpen nonperformance or ill-fated bullpen decisions in the early stages of the playoffs, Francona was on a roll. He massaged a depleted Cleveland staff to a sweep of Boston with aggressive bullpen use, and he kept each player on the 25-man roster engaged.When Francona summoned right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall to make a rare start against a left-handed pitcher, Chisenhall responded with a three-run homer off Bostons?David Price to lead Cleveland to a 6-0 victory. And when he called upon Coco Crisp and Brandon Guyer to start, they responded with big games.Francona has long been hailed as a players manager, which can have both positive and negative connotations. In his case, the absence of walls provides a better insight into player psyches that gives him an edge when it matters most.Francona has mastered the art of communicating with players and letting them know he is in their corner, while simultaneously cultivating a harmonious relationship with the Cleveland front office. As many managers have discovered in an age of greater front-office intervention, relations can get strained when either side becomes territorial.He has the ability to blend the frontt-office message to the old-school message and get everybody on board, said Indians reliever Andrew Miller, who previously played for Francona at Boston in 2011.dddddddddddd Theres a big skill in translating that down to the players. We have all these guys in the front office now who are so smart at crunching all the numbers.But if players arent hitting in a spot in the lineup theyre used to or theyre being asked to do something nontraditional, getting them to buy in isnt always easy.Francona played for 16 managers in his professional career and collected enough insights to develop a style that worked for him. One of the biggest lessons he has learned is that honesty makes it easier for a manager to walk the line between friend and authority figure.It seems kind of silly to be around a bunch of guys you really like and not enjoy them, Francona said. They know and I know there are a lot of times I have to deliver a message thats not what they want to hear, and I dont particularly enjoy it.But they also know Im never going to do something in a game besides try to win and do what I think is right. And they all respect that. I think thats why it works so well.The mood could have gone south in Cleveland this year, when Michael Brantley suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in May or when?Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco went down with arm injuries in the span of a week in September. But Francona kept the spirits high, and the players made his job easy by bonding deeply as a group. Francona took a mental inventory on Thursday and couldnt recall a single time this season when he pinch hit for a player or lifted him from a game and that player complained.Thats pretty rare, he said.Each day brings a new moment to savor at this time of year. During the American League Division Series, Francona got to sit back and enjoy the sight of his 82-year-old father, Tito, who had a long MLB career, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1. And he showed genuine emotion at a news conference to announce the establishment of The Larry Doby Youth Fund, which has raised $1 million to help disadvantaged children and address the problem of youth violence in Cleveland. Francona called it the proudest moment in his baseball life.Now its back to baseball -- and the inevitable self-deprecating wisecracks that make Francona so much fun to be around.When informed that former Indians executive-turned-Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins refers to him as inclusive in his approach, Francona jokingly asked, Whats inclusive mean? After the laughter subsided, Francona did his best to explain why his approach works for him.I had the good fortune of playing for 16 major league managers, and part of that was because I wasnt very good, Francona said. But thats a lot of ideas and a lot of personalities, and you learn a lot.I was with Dallas Green where hed walk in and he could command that room just by staring at you. I cant do that, so we do it a lot of times with humor. Players may not all be Ivy League guys, but if youre not true to yourself, they can see through it and you might as well go home.A lot of teams with more star power and higher payrolls have gone home for the offseason, but the Indians and their manager keep on springing surprises. If Cleveland can overcome the skeptics and win a World Series, it will make for a heck of a line on Terry Franconas Hall of Fame plaque. ' ' '