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• If the Toronto Raptors are going to have any major success this season, it is going to be on the back of their bigs, the last position were looking at in our year-over-year review of the Raptors offseason moves. Which Andrea Bargnani will show up this year? How will Jonas Valanciunas fare in his first NBA season? Will Ed Davis finally show some signs of growth as a player? The Raptors frontcourt is overloaded and will probably be pared down through a trade or two at some point this season, but for now, here is a look at how the big men stack up agai the court while hes getting his NBA feet under him, hell win over the fans in due time. Verdict: UPGRADE THIRD-STRING BIG MAN Last Season: Solomon AlabiThis Season: Quincy Acy It wouldnt take much for even the most middle-of-the-road player to out-duel Alabi, and on paper, it looks as though Acy would have him licked. The problem here is that Acy offers a lot of duplication at a position where the Raptors have the most depth - power forward - whereas Alabi offered the team not only another centre but their tallest player at 7-foot-1 (Acy is generously listed at 6-8). Of course, Alabi had so little tangible NBA skill that Acy has him handily beat as a player, but its hard to see how anything but a string of injuries gets him off the inactive list, let alone onto the court. He may be a workhorse in the Reggie Evans mold, but so long as Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson, Linas Kleiza and Ed Davis are in front of him, hell be earning most of his salary on the practice court rather that in real games. Cheap Jerseys China .ca! Hi Kerry, In the Bruins-Caps game, there was a penalty called against the Bruins and when Holtby came off the ice for the extra attacker, it appeared that the Caps had too many men before the Bruins touched the puck. Cheap Jerseys . The Mets made the moves before Monday nights game at Pittsburgh. The 32-year-old Rottino was with the Mets for a week earlier this month and went 0 for 4 in three games. He had a 20-game hitting streak this year in the minors. http://www.cheapjerseychinastore.com/ . -- Sporting Kansas City has waived Brazilian midfielder Julio Cesar, former second-round draft pick Cyprian Hedrick, Serbian defender Neven Markovic and midfielder Konrad Warzycha. Cheap NFL Jerseys . "I felt the time was right to make this decision," said Jeffries. "Laurier has been my home, my work and my family for over 40 years but the time has come to pass the torch. NFL Jerseys From China . Carlos Ruiz homered and drove in three runs, Joe Blanton threw 7 1-3 sharp innings and the Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 5-2 on Saturday night. MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins are mostly out of post-season contention. Ben Revere and Denard Span can still put on quite the skills competition. Span had three hits and five RBIs, plus two highlight-reel catches in centre field to help the Twins stop their five-game losing streak and beat the Baltimore Orioles 19-7 on Monday night. Revere made two remarkable running grabs himself in right field to go with four hits and three RBIs, Joe Mauer homered and drove in two runs and Justin Morneau had four of Minnesotas 20 hits to stretch his hitting streak to a season-long 14 straight games. "Weve been taking a few beatings lately. Its nice to be on this side of one," manager Ron Gardenhire said. Chris Tillman (1-1) gave up seven runs in the first and didnt finish the inning, the shortest appearance by an Orioles starter in almost a year. Six of the runs were unearned, due an untimely two-out error by first baseman Mark Reynolds. He hit a three-run homer off Scott Diamond (8-3), but the Twins starter won his third straight decision thanks to the big early lead -- and that pitcher-friendly defence. "Basically having a centre fielder in right field, its huge for us because it just allows you to force the hitters to put balls in play," Diamond said. Tillman turned in a stellar start for the Orioles on July 4, surrendering only two hits and two unearned runs over a career-high 8 1/3 innings at Seattle, but this time was just the opposite of that. Baseball games are rarely determined so early, but a pair of plays in the field in the first inning essentially decided this one. With two on and no outs, Adam Jones drove what wouldve been a double or a triple hard down the right-field line, but Revere raced toward the corner and came up with a fully outstretched catch to freeze the runners. "The ball kind of tailed, kind of got in the sun a little bit, so I squinted my eyes and luckily I saw it," Revere said. "I dove and it landed in my glove." Then, Matt Wieters bounced into a double play, keeping the Orioles from scoring at all, though manager Buck Showalter tried to downplay the effect of Reveres catch, as impressive as it was. "I dont think when you give up 19 runs you can hang your hook on one play," Showalter said.dddddddddddd In the bottom of the frame, Revere doubled and scored on Mauers single. The Twins eventually loaded the bases, but Tillman had two outs and a full count on Ryan Doumit. On the eighth pitch of his at-bat, Doumit hit a chopper to first base that Reynolds awkwardly lunged toward with his backhand. The ball glanced off the edge of his glove, allowing two men to score and paving the way for Spans three-run double that capped the inning. The Orioles and Twins sure packed a lot into this matchup, including a balk, an infield fly rule call and even a two-run infield single. That came courtesy of Revere, whose grounder up the middle skipped off second base in front of shortstop J.J. Hardy, who couldnt grab it in time to throw Span out at home and keep the Twins from taking a 10-2 lead in the third. Span made a sprinting, sliding catch of a sinking liner to steal a single from Steve Tolleson in the sixth and sped back to nab J.J. Hardys drive against the bullpen wall in the seventh. Revere also took an extra-base hit from Hardy with his second long run of the night, in the fifth. "They can cover some ground out there," Reynolds said. Span teased Revere, who is four years younger and a fellow first-round draft pick, about trying to one-up him. "I said, Hey, youre killing me, man. Every time I try to make a catch he turns around and dives and flips," Span said. Revere has been able to make up for a weak arm with elite range in right, where hes beginning to feel comfortable playing. "Its going to make our team a lot better having me out there with him. We can cover so much ground," Revere said. NOTES: RH Samuel Deduno (0-0, 5.06 ERA) makes his second career start for the Twins on Tuesday. He was added to the rotation right before the All-Star break. LH Zach Britton will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk by the Orioles and make his 2012 debut. He started the season on the DL with a left shoulder problem. ... The Orioles still havent named a starter for Wednesday to fill RH Jason Hammels spot. Hammel had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Monday. ... The Twins are averaging 5.9 runs per game when Diamond starts, nearly two more than the rest of the rotation. ' ' '

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