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BOSTON – Aaron Sanchez is the really talented kid caught in an unnecessarily strange situation. Sports Jerseys . Hes in the big leagues for the first time, dominating almost every time hes used out of the bullpen and, because of that, hes consistently finding himself in high-leverage, late-game situations. Hes even saved two games, a role usually reserved for Casey Janssen. This is a story of transition. Janssen, an impending free agent, has struggled in the second half of the season and likely is on his way out of Toronto. Sanchez is the organizations priority. Hes the first-round draft pick. Hes the one who throws a fastball, free and easy, in the 97-99 miles per hour range. Hes a big part of the future. Hes a big part of the present. If all goes well, one day the outgoing 22-year-old will be a commanding presence in the clubhouse. Right now, Sanchez is a respectful, quiet rookie who will pitch when hes told and say precious little. “When that phone rings and they tell me to get hot, thats what I do,” said Sanchez. On Wednesday night, a 7-4 win in Tampa Bay, Sanchez, not Janssen, closed the game. Sanchez had thrown on Tuesday night. Hed begun warming in the seventh inning, when the score was 7-2, and so he would be used based on the strategy the club is employing to maximize his innings. Sanchez can throw in back-to-back games, but not beyond, and, if he loosens up, it counts as a work day. The save situation emerged when, with Sanchez warming for a second time in the eighth, Dustin McGowan gave up a two-run home run to Evan Longoria to cut the Toronto lead to three runs. Its the save situation that complicated matters. If Sanchez wraps up a five-run win, theres no discussion. If Sanchez, not McGowan, is used in the eighth, the issue also is avoided regardless of the eventual result. Again, Sanchez will pitch when asked. “Thats my job is to go out there; however many outs that is, if its six outs, if its nine outs,” said Sanchez. “Whatever this team needs from me, Im going to go out there and work hard to do what I need to do and get the job done.” Its no secret that while theres no strict limit on Sanchezs innings, he is being closely watched. To date, Sanchez has thrown 124 innings (23 2/3 in the big leagues, 100 1/3 at two minor league stops). This is why hes in the bullpen. Entering next year, Sanchez hopes he gets a chance at cracking the starting rotation. “Going into spring training (2015), they told me I was going to be a starter,” said Sanchez. “The only reason why I got pushed to the bullpen was for a number of things: I was on an innings limit this year and this gave me a chance to pitch throughout the year. They kind of sat me down and told me, hey, if you were to get called up it would probably be out of the ‘pen because the guys weve had in the rotation have been nothing but awesome this whole year.” VALENCIA IMPRESSING By the time this season comes to an end, Brett Lawrie will have appeared in about 62 per cent of Blue Jays games since the start of the 2012 season, his first full year in the big leagues. Danny Valencia, acquired from the Kansas City Royals in late July, has been one of the players who has stepped in for Lawrie in that other 38 per cent of games. “If he turns out to be a good player for us, which hes doing and he can help us, it might open up a spot for him,” said manager John Gibbons. “It might answer a question.” What kind of question would Valencia answer? “If hes a regular on this team or not,” said Gibbons. Where would he play? “I dont know. Maybe hes the third baseman, Bretts the second baseman. Who knows?” said Gibbons. Gibbons made it clear no decision has been made on how next years infield will be configured, but the Blue Jays must address the middle infield in the offseason. Jose Reyes is penciled in at shortstop, despite having his share of defensive difficulties this season. Second base has remained a position of need for the ball club since it entered camp with Ryan Goins as the starter and demoted him to Triple-A Buffalo just one month into the season. Its difficult to imagine Valencia being an everyday player unless he vastly improves his splits. He has a career .625 OPS against right-handed pitching while posting a .875 OPS versus lefties. CHALLENGING THE CHALLENGE Manager John Gibbons threw up a prayer challenge on a fielders choice ground out in the 10th inning of Thursdays 1-0 win in Tampa Bay. The called was confirmed, Kevin Kiermaier was safe at first base and the Blue Jays didnt get the double play. However, after the challenge was concluded, Rays manager Joe Maddon emerged and engaged in a brief, but heated, conversation with home plate umpire Lance Barksdale. Maddon, apparently, was upset that Gibbons challenged the play without going all the way out to second base umpire Gary Cedarstrom. In a situation when he knows hes going to challenge, Gibbons doesnt see the need to trek any farther than a few steps from the dugout. “Ive done that a few times this year and theyve mentioned to me, hey, go out to the base,” said Gibbons. “I got close to the line, I think. If theyre going to complain all the time about the game taking too long, thats a way to speed it up.” Maddons pleas went ignored and the game with the next hitter later when Casey Janssen got Ben Zobrist to fly out to leftfield. Cheap Sports Jerseys . Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton and Kole Calhoun all homered to help the Los Angeles Angels get their first win of the season with an 11-1 rout of the Houston Astros. Stitched Sports Jerseys . Pistorius denied the allegation that he said to the close friend of the girlfriend he killed: „How can you sleep at night?“ The accusation by Kim Myers provided a bizarre twist during the trial of the world-famous double-amputee Olympian, who is facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting dead Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, at his home last year.MELBOURNE, Australia – Mercedes confirmed its status as favourite to win the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix by setting the fastest two times in Fridays practice sessions, with Lewis Hamilton edging his teammate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton failed to complete a lap in the opening practice session due to a malfunctioning oil pressure sensor that shut down his engine, but recovered to set a time of 1 minute 29.625 seconds in the second session around the Albert Park circuit, 0.157 seconds ahead of Rosberg. „That was quite satisfying. On one lap the pace was good, and on the long run, as well,“ Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. He added, however, that Hamiltons early problem meant there is still cause for concern. „You need to be very careful because its enough to have a little problem and the race or qualifying could be finished.“ Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was fastest in the first session but dropped to third in the second, half a second off Hamiltons time. Kimi Raikkonen was only seventh fastest in his return to the Italian team after suffering some problems, including failing to select first gear when trying a practice start. „Were still not on top of all the things we need to resolve,“ Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said. „The negative sides have to be addressed very quickly because the competition is strong and the time available is not very much.“ The gaps at the top of the timesheets were reasonably close, which points toward a competitive qualifying session on Saturday and race on Sunday, rather than the Mercedes dominance that many had predicted. Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel was tipped to struggle in his campaign for a fifth straight drivers championship due to his teams preseason struggles with Renaults new V6 turbo engine, but he put in an encouraging performance to finish fourth fastest in practice. Clearance Sports Jerseys. Vettel and new teammate Daniel Ricciardo — who was sixth fastest — completed a total of 115 laps, which will provide valuable data on the car and engines performance. „Its been a very strong first day for us,“ Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. „Weve had a very difficult preseason with numerous issues so it was refreshing to get some laps in and get a first proper feel for the car. „We can see there is quite a gap to the Mercedes and the Ferrari, but we are starting to feel what that gap is and by the end of the weekend we will have a clearer idea.“ By contrast, fellow Renault-powered teams Lotus and Caterham did very little running due to a succession of technical problems, coupled with some spins into the gravel traps by Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. There has been concern that these two teams, and perhaps others, will sit out Saturdays final practice session to avoid encountering a problem that takes a long time to fix — as many do with these new complex engines — and therefore having to miss both qualifying and the race. Renault deputy managing director Rob White admitted the company was way behind schedule in integrating the complex new powertrains to its four customer teams. „Its completely unacceptable to come to the first race as relatively unprepared as we are,“ White said. McLaren driver Jenson Button was fifth fastest in Fridays practice, while his rookie teammate Kevin Magnussen was ninth. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was eighth, four places above his experienced new teammate Felipe Massa in 12th. Force Indias Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten. ‚ ‚ ‚