change quickly. They rallied furiously from a 3-0 seri

won five straight NL East titles from 200White Sox rookie first baseman Jose Abreu came to major league baseball with some hype, as many Cubans do, but there wasnt any expectation for the kind of first month that hes enjoying. Brendan Shanahan Jersey . 27-years-old with a power-hitters build (listed at 6-foot-3, 255 pounds), Abreu has roared into the majors, with 10 home runs, 31 RBI, a .262 batting average and .962 OPS in his first 26 games. As with any one-month sample, these numbers arent sustainable, but what is fair to expect from Abreu? For one thing, his batting average on balls in play is .246, which is well below average, so it would be fair to expect his batting average to go up as a few more balls fall in, but hes also had a major-league best 33.3% of his flyballs leave the park, which isnt going to hold. Over the past five seasons, there have been two seasons in which a player finished with more than 27% of his flyballs turning into home runs -- Adam Dunn in 2012 (29.3%) and Chris Davis in 2013 (29.6%) -- so Abreu is most likely to fall off his current 62-home run pace. No, seriously. What will bear watching with Abreu is how pitchers adjust to him as he makes his way through the league. He swings at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and hes already seeing among thelowest percentage of strikes when hes at the plate, so pitchers are learning. Its also interesting to note that, thus far, while Abreu destroys fastballs and sliders, hes struggled with change-ups. If thats the scouting report, surely hell start seeing more change-ups, if just to affect his timing. At this point, 14.5% of the pitches Abreu has faced have been change-ups; it will be interesting to see if that number increases over the next month or more. None of this anticipated regression should come as a surprise, merely as a caution. Baseball tends to catch up to sluggers, especially ones that are willing to expand their strike zone by swinging freely. GOOD ADDS (available in at least 40% of TSN leagues) Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .258 AVG, 7 R, 66 AB (Available: 71.6%) Dioner Navarro, C, Toronto - 1 HR, 14 RBI, .309 AVG, 11 R, 81 AB (Available: 89.6%) Alberto Callaspo, 3B/2B, Oakland - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .272 AVG, 9 R, 81 AB (Available: 74.6%) Casey McGehee, 3B, Miami - 0 HR, 16 RBI, .287 AVG, 5 R, 94 AB (Available: 75.8%) Dillon Gee, RHP, N.Y. Mets - 2-1, 2.88 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 27 K, 40 2/3 IP (Available: 65.7%) Ian Kennedy, RHP, San Diego - 2-3, 3.16 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 37 K, 37 IP (Available: 76.2%) CLOSER NOTES The Angels have demoted Ernesto Frieri, leaving side-arming veteran Joe Smith for the role. Smith, 30, recorded the first three saves of his career last season for Cleveland. While hes not the classic fire-balling closer, Smith has managed to miss bats this year, striking out 11 in 10 innings, the best rate of his career. Pirates closer Jason Grilli is on the DL with a strained oblique. Mark Melancon, who has 37 career saves, takes over. Melancon has been really good for the Pirates over the past couple seasons, posting a 1.41 ERA and 0.92 WHIP in 84 games, striking out 79 in 83 innings. If the Pirates are in position to win games, Melancon is qualified to close them out. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Pavel Datsyuk Jersey . Paul, MN (SportsNetwork. Kris Draper Jersey . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell. http://www.hockeyredwings.info/authentic-andreas-athanasiou-red-wings-jersey/ .C. United have acquired midfielder Alex Caskey from the Seattle Sounders for a third-round pick in the 2016 MLS draft.NEW YORK – The aftertaste of two stinging overtime losses in L.A. remained bitter for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers on the long flight back home to New York. "I personally use it as motivation," Lundqvist said on Monday morning, his team trailing the Kings by a dire 2-0 deficit heading into Game 3 at MSG. "You get upset and frustrated and disappointed when you lose. But you just have to respond the right way." The right response would be victory on home ice and some hope for a crowd that hasnt witnessed a Stanley Cup Final game in 20 years. Heavy underdogs coming into their first Final since 1994, the Rangers have, at the very least, demonstrated their ability to crash, bang and skate with the Kings. A bounce or two in their favour in Games 1 and 2 – not to mention a different ruling on a controversial third Kings goal – and this series could look quite different as the series shifts back East, but as it stands, they find themselves at the very edge of a near-inescapable hole. "We have to start winning and thats tonight," said Lundqvist, who has allowed eight goals on 87 shots in the Final. "I hope its going to be an exciting feeling to step out on the ice here; home crowd, great atmosphere; take advantage of that; enjoy the moment but at the same time, really push ourselves here to try to play our best game so far." New York has done its fair share of good in the Final so far despite the gaping series deficit. Packed with plenty of speed and punch, they raced out to 2-0 leads in both Games 1 and 2 only to come undone at the mercy of the resilient Kings en route to a pair of heartbreaking overtime losses – the latter in double overtime. Theyve donne enough, however, to believe that this series is far from over. Frans Nielsen Jersey. "Chance-wise, were right there with them," said head coach Alain Vigneault, ever optimistic hours before Game 3. "Weve played some good hockey. We got a little bit unfortunate in that last third period, but were right there and we feel real good about our game. "Things always even themselves out with the right effort and the right attitude. You say if you work hard, luck will come with you, well were working hard; were working our butts off here. Im very confident that were going to have that same type of effort here tonight and were going to be real good." History is not on their side. All but five of the 48 teams whove earned a 2-0 series lead in the Final (since 1939) have gone on to capture the Cup. Among those five, interestingly enough, were the Vigneault-led Canucks in 2011, Vancouver falling in seven games to Boston despite the commanding early series lead. The Kings are proof themselves that momentum can change quickly. They rallied furiously from a 3-0 series ditch in the opening round against San Jose, adding two more Game 7 victories along the way. "I think the key is to realize that were close and you dont have to change that much," said Lundqvist. "The difference has been a bounce here or a deflection. Were doing a lot of good things, but it hasnt been enough so we need to raise [our level] a little bit. But its important that you dont try too hard and try too many different things. We need to stick together here and do it together. We had stretches in both games where I think we played really well and created a lot of chances, enough chances to win the game." [url=http://www.who