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The American League East has suddenly tightened up again. With Thursday nights loss at Baltimore coupled with the Yankees win at Seattle, the Jays lead atop the division is down to three-and-a-half games on the Os and the Yanks. Its way too early to get a read on how this thing might shake down by the end of September, but it would only seem fitting if on the 25th anniversary of Rogers Center the Blue Jays and Orioles would be fighting it out for first. They meet in the final three games of the regular season at the Dome on September 26-28. The Blue Jays and Orioles have a bit of history in these kinds of things. In 1983, the Blue Jays had their first ever winning season in their seventh year of existence. With Bobby Cox at the helm, they were actually in first place in the American League East at the All-Star game by one game on Baltimore. The Jays record was 43-33 when they were rained out on July 4, the day before the All-Star break. Baltimore was 42-34 through the 4th of July. Baltimore took off in the second half, though, and won the division with a 98-64 record and with Cal Ripken Jr. being named the Most Valuable Player. The Orioles felt 1983 was destined to be their year, since they had finished just one game back of division leading Milwaukee the year before. As for the Jays, they won their first division title two years later in 1985. Flash forward to 1989, the year Rogers Centre opened. The Blue Jays chalked up a couple of firsts that season. On April 16, Kelly Gruber became the first Blue Jays player to hit for the cycle, when he turned the trick against Kansas City in a 15-8 Jays victory. On June 9 at Fenway, the Jays put together the most incredible comeback in franchise history. Down 10-0 to the Red Sox, they battled all the way back, thanks in large part to an Ernie Whitt grand slam and sent the game into extra innings. Then, Junior Felix slugged the game winning homer in a 13-11 victory in the 12th inning. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Jays held a one-game lead on the Orioles heading into a three game series at Rogers Center. On Friday night, it was a classic pitchers duel. Lefty Jeff Ballard started for the Orioles and Todd Stottlemyer for the Jays. But the real hero on this night for the Jays was reliever Jim Acker, who took over in the 6th inning and pitched four shutout frames giving up only two hits. The Jays ultimately pulled out a 2-1 victory in 11 innings to clinch at least a tie for the division crown. On Saturday, it appeared for the better part of the game that the Orioles were going to force a meaningful game on Sunday. They got Jimmy Key out of the game in four innings and took a 3-1 lead to the bottom of the 8th. The Jays, who only had four hits on the day, bunched a couple in the bottom of the 8th and scored three runs to ultimately win it 4-3 to wrap up their second division title. For the second day in a row, the bullpen saved the day. 30-year-old right hander Frank Wills pitched four innings of one-hit relief, and then Tom Henke, who got his eigth win in relief on Friday, picked up his 20th save in this one. So the Jays, who started the season at Exhibition Stadium and got off to a 12-24 start under Jimy Williams, finished the season winning the East under Cito Gaston. The Jays finished the 1989 season with 89 victories -- the same number as they did in 1983 when they wound up fourth -- nine games behind the division-winning Orioles. So, if the Jays and Orioles meet on the final weekend of this season, it will be a sort of historical rubber match or completion of the trilogy 25 years after Rogers Center opened. Just when you think the Yankees might be slipping out of contention, they turn around and win three straight at Seattle. Not only that, Derek Jeter is finally starting to hit; banging out seven hits in the series. Whats even more impressive is the Yankees may have uncovered a diamond in the rough in 24-year-old right hander Chase Whitley. A 15th round draft pick in 2010, hes 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA with the "big club." He has not walked a batter in the last 114 men he has faced. What are the odds that the hottest rookie pitcher in the National League would also be named Chase? 26-year-old right hander Chase Anderson has won all five of his starts for Arizona and has a 3.14 ERA. He doesnt walk too many either; just seven, in fact, to 22 strike outs. He was a 9th round pick in 2009. The Tigers Max Scherzer won his eigth game Thursday night in an 8-2 victory at Chicago over the White Sox. But the thing that blew me away was that it was the first complete game of Scherzers career. We used to take CGs for granted, but it took Scherzer, who already has a Cy Young Award to his credit, until his 179th career start to get it done. That was the longest stretch any starter had gone without a complete game since 1900. The two active pitchers who had gone the longest now without a complete game, according to ESPN, are Scherzers teammate Rick Porcello (146 starts) and the Orioles Bud Norris (139 starts). There could be some history made Friday night at Philadelphia. Phils shortstop Jimmy Rollins needs only two more hits to break Hall of Famer Mike Schmidts franchise record of 2,234 hits. Jake Arrieta will be on the mound for the Cubs. Oakland Athletics Pro Shop . The Raptors two leading scorers were never able to co-exist the way they hoped or the team had envisioned, but individually DeRozan was thriving, in the midst of a career season. Cheap Athletics Jerseys . Philbin said Thursday he wants players to treat one another with civility and he wont tolerate anything less. In taking questions for the first time since Ted Wells released his report into the bullying scandal that rocked the league, Philbin made it clear things would be cleaned up. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/. Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. Oakland Athletics Shirts . PAUL, Minn. Chris Bassitt Athletics Jersey .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams.MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins rewarded their manager with the best possible birthday gift. Casey McGehee hit a sharp grounder that caromed into right field off the back of reliever Gonzalez Germens foot, allowing the winning run to score, and the Miami Marlins rallied late from a three-run deficit Monday night to beat the New York Mets 4-3. "I didnt get (gifts) but Ill take the win," said Miami manager Mike Redmond, who turned 43. "The presents stopped coming about five, six years ago." Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a tying double in the eighth off Daisuke Matsuzaka, who failed to retire any of the five batters he faced in relief of Jonathon Niese. Giancarlo Stanton had an RBI single and the Marlins scored another run on shortstop Omar Quintanillas fielding error in the eighth. Christian Yelich led off the ninth with a single off Scott Rice (0-1). He advanced to second on Ed Lucas sacrifice. Germen intentionally walked Giancarlo Stanton before McGehee got his RBI single. "Everybody kind of knew they were going to walk Stanton there," McGehee. "I just tried to have a good at-bat. I was able to get a ball to hit hard." Marlins closer Steve Cishek (2-1) pitched to a scoreless ninth for the win. Miami is now 15-5 at home and 6-1 in its current nine-game homestand. The Marlins have won two in a row in their final at-bat. Christian Yelich and Ed Lucas led off the eighth with walks. Stanton followed with an RBI single and Quintanilla let McGehee get through his legs, allowing Lucas to score. Saltalamacchia doubled to right-centre to make it 3-all. "Any time you can get on the board and you can get into a position that you can tie the ball game, I felt good," Saltalamacchia said. "Ive caught Daisuke before so I have seen his stuff. I was pretty comfortable up there. I was able to get decent wood in it." Kyle Farnsworth relieved Matsuzaka and with the infield drawn in retired Jeff Baker on a grounder to second. Farnsworth walked pinch-hitter Garret Jones and struck out Adeiny Hechavarria and retired Marcel Ozuna on a grounder to third. "When I was warming up in the bullpen, I was struggling with my command," Matsuzaka said throughh an interpreter.dddddddddddd"I tried to focus on the batter and getting outs. I really regret taking away Nieses win the teams win." Niese pitched seven shutout innings and allowed five hits, struck out six and walked one but was replaced after throwing 108 pitches. Niese has permitted one run or less in his last four starts. "Anytime a game is lost, its tough to watch," Niese said. "But its just one game. I never want to leave a game but 108 pitches, I figured our bullpen has been doing great." Daniel Murphy and Curtis Granderson homered off Miamis Nathan Eovaldi in the first inning for 2-0 lead. Murphys shot over the fence in right field was his first of the season and Granderson hit his third with a drive that bounced off the upper deck in right-centre field. Bobby Abreu had a sacrifice fly to left, scoring David Wright in the fourth. Wright led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on Grandesons single. Eovaldi scattered five hits, walked one and struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings. "The Marlins have been hot, especially in this park and late," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "They can be really tough." Eric Young Jr. returned to the lineup and went 1 for 4 after a freakish pregame injury Sunday. Young was struck on the right cheek off a batted ball from Lucas Duda that bounced off an indoor batting cage. Although he passed concussion tests, Young said he felt dizzy and manager Terry Collins sat him out of the series finale against the Rockies. Marlins starter Jose Fernandez said his left thigh feels fine and he will make his next start after being struck by a one-hopper off the bat of Dee Gordon in the fifth inning of Miamis 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday. Fernandez went 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA in April, earning his first NL Pitcher of the Month award. NOTES: The Mets scored in the first inning for the fourth consecutive game. ... Young made a diving catch to rob Giancarlo Stanton of a base hit in the seventh. ... The roof at Marlins Park was opened for the seventh time this season. ... Henderson Alvarez (1-2, 3.28) is scheduled to start Tuesday for Miami against the New York Mets Bartolo Colon (2-4, 5.65). ' ' '