Russische Fahrzeuge » several fans chanted "Messi! Messi!" and

Interleague play has been a boon for Major League Baseball. For the Blue Jays, not so much. This weekend, battling to get back over the .500 mark, John Gibbons and company kick off a stretch of seven straight games against the National League. They start with three at Pittsburgh against the struggling Pirates and then follow up that series with two at Philadelphia before returning home the next night to kick off a two-game set at Rogers Centre with the Phillies. After salvaging the final game of their three-game set at Kansas City on Thursday night with a 7-3 victory, the Jays sit at 13-15 but thanks largely to the injuries and flaws of the other teams in the AL East, they are still just two-and-a-half games back of the first place Yankees. Still, if the Blue Jays are going to keep it that close, theyve got to start beating the National League clubs with more regularity. Since interleague play came into being in 1997, the Blue Jays have compiled a record of 143-160. The first 16 years, the games were compressed into a small portion of the schedule when school was out in June and early July for the most part. Last season, with Houston moving to the American League, there were 15 teams in each league so there pretty well had to be at least one interleague game each and every day of the season. Last season, the first year under the new format, the Jays actually had a winning record against the National League clubs at 11-9. But overall, the Jays interleague record pales to those of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yanks are 179-123 over the 17 years heading into this season. Boston is right behind them at 175-128. It isnt just the big boys who have success in interleague play, though. The Angels, who havent won a World Series since 2002, are 174-130 against the senior circuit over that span. The White Sox are 171-132 and even the Minnesota Twins are 165-137. If you average it out over 17 seasons, the Blue Jays have cost themselves about two games per season versus the Yanks and Red Sox in the East by struggling in interleague play. The American League has dominated this annual showdown between the two leagues, having the better record in 13 of the 17 seasons. Oddly enough, though, in the beginning the National League was up four winning seasons to three over the first seven interleague plays. The American League has dominated ever since. Nine American League teams are above .500 in the crossover play to just five National League clubs. The top National League club in interleague play is Atlanta at 148-131, followed by St. Louis at 135-120. Miami has done surprisingly well at 149-141. Luckily for the Blue Jays, the two teams they are playing against over the next seven days havent traditionally done well against the American League. Pittsburgh is the worst at 106-143 and the Phillies are 127-158. The Pirates have really had their troubles this season. After making the playoffs last season for the first time since 1992, the Bucs are 10-18 this time around. They lost one of their top pitchers in A.J Burnett in the offseason as a free agent to the Phillies, while lefty Wandy Rodriguez is recouping from a knee injury. But the Pirates real problem has been cashing in runners. They stranded 28 men in dropping a day/night doubleheader to Baltimore Thursday. On top of that, their number one catcher, Russell Martin of Montreal, is on the disabled list. The Pirates are in a virtual tie for last in the NL Central with the Cubs. The Phillies are only marginally better. They are 13-13, tied with Miami for last in the AL East. Yes the Phillies were stung by the retirement of Roy Halladay in the offseason but like the Pirates, their problem is run production. If you can believe it, their outfielders have only 15 extra base hits and the season is a month old. These are teams the Blue Jays must beat. Anything less than five out of seven will be a failure. One thing to remember about the Phillies is that they won a World Series in 2008; just six years ago. Yet this year, they lost 6,000 season ticket holders and their average attendance drop from a year ago, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is 9,129 per game. This, for a team that has known recent success and has a pretty new and fan-friendly ballpark. The inclement weather of April likely plays a major part in the Phillies drop-off, but it just shows fans wont put up with mediocrity forever. I was more than a bit surprised that the team with the second biggest drop-off is Detroit at 5,493 per game. This, for a Tigers team that seems to win the AL Central nearly every year and has been to the World Series, albeit, hasnt won twice in the last eight seasons. You might have missed it but the Dodgers franchise reached a milestone on Wednesday, winning its 10,000th game. The only others to reach that magic figure are the Giants, the Cubs and the Braves. And of those four, the Cubs are the only teams to have played their entire existence in one city. The Dodgers Zack Greinke is putting up some obscure but impressive stats, nonetheless. Hes off to a 5-0 start this season and has made 18 straight starts where he has pitched five innings or more and given up two or fewer runs. That hasnt happened in 100 years -- since 1914. The last time Greinke started a season 6-0, he won the Cy Young Award in 2009 while in the American League. Adam Lind isnt close to returning to the active roster yet. Hes still rehabbing his back. But when he is healthy again, the Blue Jays could face an interesting dilemma if Juan Francisco keeps hitting the way he is. There is no way the Jays can carry Edwin Encarnacion, Lind and Francisco on the same roster. Francisco has one edge over Lind in the versatility department in that he can also play 3rd base in a pinch. Linds not in any kind of jeopardy, but this situation will be interesting to watch. Air Max Rabatt .C. - Phoenix Suns coach Jeff Hornacek says guard Goran Dragic will return to the starting lineup against the Charlotte Hornets after missing the last two games with a strained back. Air Max Outlet Schweiz . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. http://www.airmaxschweizonline.ch/ . It was considered unlikely that Rielly would be loaned to Canada for the tournament, which begins Dec. 26 in Malmo, Sweden, though a stretch of three straight games in the press box made it something of a debate. Air Max Schweiz . Playing in his fourth major league game, Polanco broke a tie in the 13th inning with his first homer, helping Pittsburgh to an 8-6 victory over the Miami Marlins after the Pirates had a ninth-inning meltdown. Air Max Billig Kaufen . Judging by his performance Saturday night, Cotto has plenty left in the tank. Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight Saturday night.GAVA, Spain -- Cheered by fans and with a smile on his face, Lionel Messi didnt look like a man facing a multimillion-euro fine and possible jail time when he arrived to face a judges questions in a tax fraud court case on Friday. The Barcelona star gave answers for around half an hour after his father Jorge Horacio Messi was also questioned. After they were whisked away in separate cars, Messis lawyer briefly spoke outside the courthouse No. 3 in Gava, an easygoing coastal town just south of Barcelona near Messis residence. "The Messi family has wanted that we act with transparency, clarity and with a sense of co-operation, and that is how things went today as well," said Cristobal Martell, Messis lawyer. "It was evident that there was little intent of committing fraud and a great willingness to normalize the situation with the tax office and to not get involved in a fierce battle with the state in an attempt to interpret the current tax regulations." A complaint lodged by a Spanish state prosecutor in June said Messi and his father tried to conceal earnings from the players image rights. The complaint alleged the Argentina international owed 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in back taxes from 2007, 2008 and 2009. Messis father made a payment of more than 5 million euros ($6.6 million) on Aug. 14 to cover alleged back taxes and interest. That payment led the court to decide that neither Messi nor his father needed to post bail. Fridays hearing was to see if there are clear indications of illegality. If so, then the judge could recommend that the case be prosecuted, barring an out-of-court settlement. If the case goes to trial and Messi and his father are found guilty, they could face a fine reaching 150 per cent of the amount of back taxes and a possible prison sentence. In the complaint, state prosecutor Raquel Amado alleges that from 2006-09 Messi "obtained significant revenue derived from the transfer to third partiies of his image rights, income which should have been taxed.dddddddddddd" The complaint says Messi "circumvented his tax obligations" by using shell companies in tax havens such as Belize and Uruguay. Messi and his father have always denied any wrongdoing. They have received the backing of Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and former president Joan Laporta, who was head of the club during the years covered in the complaint. Messi, wearing a suit but no tie, arrived looking relaxed at the courthouse an hour after his father. Messi was hailed by a group of fans and curious passers-by that grew to around 50 people, including many children, alongside about 100 journalists and photographers. Upon leaving the courthouse, several fans chanted "Messi! Messi!" and a few teenagers chased his car as it sped away down a sunny street. The case has apparently not distracted Messi at work. Messi is joint-leading scorer of the Spanish league with seven goals. Barcelona plays at Almeria on Saturday looking to maintain its lead of the league. The 26-year-old Messi is widely considered the best player of his generation after winning several titles with Barcelona and the highest individual award, the world player of the year, a record four years in a row. Messi is rated by Forbes as the worlds 10th highest-paid athlete. He reportedly earned $41.3 million to June this year, $20.3 million coming from his club salary and $21 million in endorsements. The soft-spoken Messi had steered clear of scandal in his highly successful career. Spain has been trying to crack down on tax evasion as it fights to repair the countrys public finances amid a double-dip recession. Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro warned football players in April they should make sure they are "comfortable" with their tax affairs. Last year former Barcelona player Luis Figo paid 2.45 million euros in taxes pertaining to image rights from 1997-99. ' ' '