the Jays were weighing whether to go with McGowan

OTTAWA - On July 5, 2013, Daniel Alfredsson ceased to be the face of the franchise for many Ottawa Senators fans. Vapormax 97 Uomo . On Dec. 4, 2014, his legacy could be restored. Alfredsson will announce his retirement Thursday in the city he called home for 17 years. The longtime captain will skate in pre-game warm-ups with the Senators one last time, take a ceremonial faceoff and in the process show that the damaged relationship between him and the organization has been repaired. It puts the shadow, whatever you want to call it - we dont need to talk about it anymore, really, Senators defenceman Chris Phillips said. All the fences have been mended and rightfully so. Alfredsson, the Senators captain from 1999 through 2013, stunned the hockey world last year by leaving to sign with the Detroit Red Wings. His departure after 1,178 games, 426 goals and 682 assists, several playoff runs and a trip to the 2007 Stanley Cup final left raw emotions on both sides. Once back problems prevented the 41-year-old right-winger from playing this season, he told the Red Wings and Senators that he was ready to call it a career. Its only fitting that he does it in the nations capital. Im really happy to see Alfie kind of reconcile with the team, said Dallas Stars centre Jason Spezza, who was Alfredssons successor as the Senators captain. How things ended and him moving on was, I think, a move that he felt was necessary. I think it was probably the right move for him. But now that its over and hes decided hes going to hang them up, I think its good that Ottawas welcoming him back. Spezza, who asked for and was granted a trade this past summer, said of Alfredssons situation that its a little bit of water under the bridge and time heals wounds. Plenty of time has elapsed since Alfredsson spurned the Senators to go to Detroit, where he tied as the Red Wings leading scorer. Thursdays Welcome Home celebration takes the healing process to another level. Alfredsson will announce his retirement at Canadian Tire Centre in the morning, then take the ice for warm-ups with the Senators before their game against the New York Islanders. Itll be the last time the No. 11 is worn on a Senators jersey and the last chance for the future Hall of Famer to soak in the adulation from the crowd before his number is raised to the rafters at some point soon. Its a unique chance for the seminal player in Senators history and the fans to say goodbye to each other. Its great that theyre going to get a chance, coach Paul MacLean said. Lots of times once you leave, its over and done with. So the opportunity of him coming back gives the fans I guess some final closure. Skating in warm-ups is also a first-of-its-kind idea, one that the Senators needed to get special permission from the NHL to execute. The league gave it, and friend and teammate Erik Karlsson is glad to be a part of it. Its the honourable way to end (his) career and celebrate a player thats done so much for this organization and this team, even before the time that most of us got here, said Karlsson, the Senators current captain. Its going to be a thing that everybody will remember for the rest of their careers. Alfredssons career is impossible to forget because as he went, so did the Senators. A native of Gothenburg, Sweden, he was a sixth-round pick, 133rd overall, in 1994 and over the years played in 121 of the 126 playoff games in franchise history. Along the way, lifted the Prince of Wales Trophy and was the spokesman and the symbol of the team for almost two decades. He was a pillar and a foundation of that organization, Spezza said Tuesday in Toronto. Theres not a lot of tradition yet in that city, and he is the first real big player thats played (almost) his whole career there. I think its good that they can recognize him and give him the recognition that he deserves. Last week the team unveiled a video montage of some of Alfredssons most memorable moments with the Senators and the Swedish national team. Set to Coming Home by Ditty-Dirty Money and Skylar Grey, lyrics like let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday and back where I belong set the tone for an emotional reunion. Owner Eugene Melnyk wrote on Twitter last week that Dec. 4 will be a truly special and historic day for the Ottawa Senators. On Monday he wrote that he had spoken to Alfredsson to finalize what will be the biggest Welcome Home celebration Ottawa has ever seen. Even though I think hes come to terms with the decision he made with retiring, I think it might hit him a little bit harder when he comes in the rink again and sees all the people, Karlsson said. I think its probably going to take him a while to realize what really happened. As a young player in the NHL, Alfredsson wasted little time making an impact on the Senators, winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1995-96. Defenceman Mark Borowiecki, who grew up a Senators fan outside Ottawa, said that season was a glimmer of hope for fans. That was pretty early on in our time as a franchise, Borowiecki said. It was pretty neat to see kind of a top-end-talent player like that in Ottawa. Alfredsson spearheaded 15 trips to the post-season, most notably in 2007 when the Senators went to the Stanley Cup final before losing to the Anaheim Ducks. He won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2006 Olympics in Turin as the teams leading scorer and helped lead an injury-ravaged 2013 without Spezza and Karlsson for major parts of the season to the playoffs. He was a guy that, through any changeover, he had been there, Spezza said. He had seen the good, the bad and the ugly. He had kind of been a part of things from the start when they were really bad, and he was with us and our captain when we had really good teams and we were knocking on the door to win the Cup, and he kind of saw us regressing a little bit towards the end. Hes a guy thats really been through it all there. Alfredsson went through it all and then some, including the ugly breakup in the summer of 2013 that was hard to see coming. In spite of that, many fans still wear Alfredsson jerseys to games, and pictures of him can still be found all over the arena. Hes etched in Ottawa sports history, something that will be front and centre as he laces up his skates with the Senators one final time. This is where he should retire, Karlsson said. He still loves this organization and this city. As of right now, the Ottawa Senators really show that they love him back just as much. --- Follow @SWhyno on Twitter Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had the incorrect dates of Alfredssons time as captain. Vapormax Flyknit 3 Bianche . The win gives Canada its fifth title at the World Sledge Hockey Challenge. "Weve got to keep pushing," said Westlake, who led Canada with five goals in the tournament. "The second you let off the pedal, everyone catches up. Vapormax 97 Donna . The Brazil defender was substituted 13 minutes into Wednesdays 2-1 Copa del Rey win at Athletic Bilbao because of a right hamstring problem. Scans revealed a second grade tear which could keep him out for a reported four to six weeks. http://www.scarpevapormaxscontate.it/vapormax-plus-italia/vapormax-plus-rosa-saldi.html . The Missouri Tigers Defensive End and SEC Defensive player of the year is eligible for the upcoming NFL draft in May.KANSAS CITY – For the fourth time in seven games, the Blue Jays blew a lead of at least three runs. While it would be easy to lay this one on the bullpen - Steve Delabar, Brett Cecil, Sergio Santos and Esmil Rogers got tagged for eight runs in the final two innings - this loss, by a final score of 10-7 to the Royals, was a total team effort. So much so, in fact, that manager John Gibbons, Kansas Citys bench coach as recently as 2011, took a veiled shot at his club while praising his old team. “I will say one thing about that team over there, because I was there when they were young,” said Gibbons. “They play nine innings. I dont care, up or down, they compete and they get after your ass and thats why theyre going to end up winning it one day.” Perhaps Gibbons was upset with catcher Dioner Navarro, who put on a clinic of how not to play defence in the second inning. First, with Royals at the corners and one out, Navarro attempted to back hand a Dustin McGowan slider in the dirt. The ball skipped off Navarros shin guard and towards the Royals first base dugout. Billy Butler, the runner on third, scored. Later in the second, again with runners at the corners, Navarro inexplicably attempted to throw out Alcides Escobar trying to steal second. The throw was offline and bounced into centrefield, allowing Alex Gordon, who was on third, to score. Perhaps Gibbons was upset with Edwin Encarnacion who, with two runners on and one out in the seventh, didnt hustle down the first baseline on a ground ball back to pitcher Kelvin Herrera. Usually a routine play, Herreras throw brought first baseman Eric Hosmer off the bas,e but because Encarnacion was only halfway down the line, Hosmer had plenty of time to collect himself and step on the bag for the out. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista, who converged on Gordons lead-off fly ball to right centrefield in the seventh. Neither took charge - its Rasmus job to do so - and the ball bounced on the warning track for a lead-off double. The Jays had a 5-2 lead at the time. Gordon would score one hitter later when Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run off of Delabar, marking the start of the Kansas City comeback. Perhaps Gibbons was frustrated with Melky Cabrera, who did tack on two more hits for a league-leading 41, but who also had a poor night in left field. Twice Royals runners took an extra base on Cabreras arm. Once because he displayed no urgency in getting the ball back to the infield and Cabrera also missed a cut-off man in the Royals six-run eighth, allowing a second run to score on a single by Omar Infante. The Blue Jays fell to 12-14. Gibbons called it a “crappy game.” Under the cirumstances, he was being polite. McGOWANS STRONG OUTING; STROMAN MAKES STATEMENT As Dustin McGowan took the mound in Tuesday nights series opener against the Royals, Marcus Stroman was wrapping up, perhaps, his most impressive appearance in his brief professional career. The two are linked. The belief is that the Blue Jays are growing weary of McGowans inability to work deep into ballgames; manager John Gibbons has repeatedly offered that he liked McGowans work out of the bullpen last season, thinking hes better suited to a one or two-inning role. McGowan is a type-1 diabetic and, as first reported by TSN.ca, he wore his insulin pump in an attempt to regulate his blood sugar level - it tends to skyrocket during games - and alleviatee the fatigue that overtakes him in the middle innings. Vapormax Plus Grigie. He pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season, granted it was just one batter and Alex Gordon doubled, but it was a step forward. McGowan allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits, three walks and two strikeouts. He left with a lead, which was coughed up by the bullpen. “Real encouraged,” said McGowan. “I got deep in the game and thats all Ive been wanting to do. Sometimes the results are overshadowed by the innings you pitch, but as long as you get deep in games, good things happen once you get deep in games.” Stroman is among the clubs top pitching prospects and of those prospects, is considered to be the most major league ready. He showed it in Buffalo on Tuesday, hurling six hitless innings, striking out 10 and walking only one in what could be his final Bisons appearance before hes added to the 40-man roster and brought up to pitch in Pittsburgh this weekend. Gibbons has talked about using a six-man rotation through the next turn. The Blue Jays dont have another off day until May 19, which prevents Gibbons from rearranging the order of the rotation to facilitate additional days off for certain pitchers. If the Jays were weighing whether to go with McGowan or J.A. Happ on Monday in Philadelphia, after Stroman starts on Sunday in Pittsburgh, McGowans performance may have bought him at least one more start. GETZ ARRIVES; GOINS TO BUFFALO Chris Getz was shagging fly balls during Triple-A Buffalos batting practice on Monday afternoon when minor league field coordinator Doug Davis waved him in to give him the news he was on his way back to the big leagues. A former Royal who played in Kansas City for four seasons and not immediately aware of the Blue Jays next opponent, Getz was surprised to hear of his first stop destination. “It was pretty funny because I knew they had the off day and then Doug mentioned that, Hey, youve got a flight at 6:30 and youre heading to Kansas City,” said Getz. “Heading to Kansas City? I already played with them. Of course, Im playing against them, but it was cool to come back here and see a lot of familiar faces, teammates, but even the people working at the park. You get to know them over the years and theyre such good people here. I just kind of feel at home.” Getzs contract was selected from the Bisons in time for Tuesday nights opener with the Royals. He replaces Ryan Goins, who was optioned to Buffalo after a slow start at the plate. In 24 games and 66 plate appearances, Goins posted a slash line of .150/.203/.217 (.420 OPS), with one home run. “He was having good at-bats,” said hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. “I think if we were, as a group, doing better top-to-bottom, he would probably still be here. I dont know, thats not my decision, but I felt like his at-bats were getting better and better the last week, week-and-a-half.” This isnt it for Goins. The Blue Jays value his glove. Expect him to be back. “I told him, You go down there, be a good teammate, work hard, keep a good attitude which I know you will and apply the stuff that we worked on,” said Seitzer. “I said, I want you building confidence in everything youve done to this point to where you come back and dont go back.” Getz is a solid defensive second baseman who will bring a little more offence than Goins. For his six-year career with the White Sox and Royals, Getz, 30, is a .251/.310/.309 hitter. ' ' '