You pitch every fifth day

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. Stitched Avalanche Jerseys . -- When Michael (Pinball) Clemons speaks, the Toronto Argonauts listen. The clubs former head coach and current vice-chair delivered an animated 10-minute address to the team following Fridays practice as the Argonauts prepare to host the Edmonton Eskimos. Toronto (4-2) enters Sundays game tops in the CFL East Division and riding a three-game winning streak, while Edmonton (1-5) limps into Rogers Centre in the West basement. Its not the first time Clemons, a star Toronto running back on the field and member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame off it, has spoken to the Argonauts while a member of the clubs front office. He stood up in front of the team during a losing streak last season and again prior to the Argonauts victory in the 100th Grey Cup. So why have Pinball attend an already spirited practice ahead of a mid-August game against a team tied for last in the league? "I was fortunate to have a surprise visitor and hes always welcome," Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich said coyly before adding: "Pinball played here, coached here and hes a lifetime Argo -- and then also the best speaker Ive ever been around. Hes one of us and the players feel like hes one of them, and he is. "To have such a dynamic speaker who they feel is part of the family, its just another voice." Argonauts defensive tackle Kalif Mitchell is in his first season with Toronto but sees the value in what Clemons has to offer. "It gives us a perspective of somebody whos not playing, but played the game and also understands how the game should be played," Mitchell said. "He gives it to us raw. He never gives it to us sugarcoated." One treat for the Argonauts so far in 2013 has been the play of veteran quarterback Ricky Ray. The 33-year-old former Eskimos pivot, who has missed one game with a knee injury, is third in CFL passing with 1,355 yards and second in touchdowns with 11, to go along with zero interceptions. But while Ray has completed 34-of-38 passes for 438 yards with five TDs in his last two starts, he and his teammates are taking nothing for granted against the Eskimos. "The challenge when youre playing well and winning football games is to not let up and start going through the motions and think that were playing good right now and well show up for gametime," said Ray, who joined Toronto after a trade with Edmonton before last season. "Weve still got to do the things that have gotten us to this point, which is practise hard, study, and pay attention to all those little details." With a game against the Calgary Stampeders (5-1 heading into Saturdays game against the B.C. Lions) on deck next week, the Argos could be excused for looking past an Edmonton team that will be minus last seasons outstanding defensive player J.C. Sherritt, who is out indefinitely after thumb surgery. But the Eskimos come in off their bye week following close losses of five points to the Montreal Alouettes and one point to Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "We respect all of our opponents not matter what their record is. We just make sure that when we go out we carry ourselves to a certain expectation and a certain standard," Mitchell said. "Every game, no matter what the records or where youve been, the score starts 0-0." Edmontons offence, although last in the CFL, has produced 25.6 points per game in its three previous outings. "Its just about us just going out and playing football. Theres a lot of noise and stuff thats going to surround a 1-5 team. We just have to go play football," Edmonton head coach Kavis Reed said this week. "Theres no extra stress that we can add to ourselves. Thats not good for this football team. We have to be focused on execution and thats simply it." While the Eskimos are without their heart and soul on defence, the Argnonauts have done well to plug holes on an offence that has seen injuries at all of the skill positions. Ray missed one game with a knee injury, starting running back Chad Kackert is out long term with a knee injury of his own and receiver Dontrelle Inman has been out with a leg injury. Inman has been taking first-team reps this week at practice and Milanovich said hes "hopeful" he will be good to go against Edmonton. Inmans impending return makes for a complicated situation at receiver because of the strong play of rookie John Chiles, who caught two TDs in Torontos victory over Montreal last week. In the backfield, the Argos could have a different starting running back for the third time in four games. After Kackert went down, Curtis Steele played well but picked up a groin injury in last weeks victory over Montreal. If Steele cant go or is limited on Sunday, former NFLer Quinn Porter will likely come off the practice roster. Torontos depth on offence, which includes backup quarterback Zach Collaros three-touchdown debut in place of the injured Ray in Week 5, has been impressive in the early going of 2013. "Well never make excuses. We believe in the guys that are here," Milanovich said. "Weve been very fortunate that the guys that have got their chance have played well." Colorado Avalanche Gear . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Colorado Avalanche Store . - Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery was so busy in free agency he didnt mind having a few extra weeks to prepare for the draft. https://www.cheapavalanche.com/ . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks.TORONTO – Dustin McGowan badly wants to succeed in whats likely his last chance to be a regular big league starting pitcher. He badly wants to erase the doubts about the health of his three times surgically-repaired right shoulder. He wants, once and for all, to eliminate the too-good-to-be-true cloud that hovers over his unlikely story. After yet another all-too-brief outing, four innings plus three batters in Wednesday nights 10-8 loss to the Orioles, McGowan admitted that hes wearing out sooner than hed like. "Maybe a little bit," said McGowan when asked if he feels fatigued. "I do seem at 60 pitches, I kind of seem to be falling backwards a little bit, I guess you could say. But I feel good, my arm feels great, its just sometimes it seems like the ball is not coming out quite right after 60, 65 pitches." Theres some positive in there with that negative. His arm, he insists, is healthy. Hes pleased with how he feels when hes pitching. Hes encouraged with his bounce back in the days after an outing. The problem, it seems, relates to a lack of stamina. "The body just feels like it runs out of steam a little bit," said McGowan. "I shouldnt be feeling that, I should be at the point where I can go 90-100, especially the way my arm feels. It feels great." Pressed further, McGowan didnt deny hes had thoughts about giving up his starters spot and returning to the bullpen. "You think about that, but right now Im planning on being a starter and Ive got to get past that hurdle sometime," he said. His unlikely return to the rotation aside, its important to put McGowans issues in context. While hed openly mused about taking one more shot at being a starter as far back as last September, and general manager Alex Anthopoulos was supportive of McGowans winter efforts to stretch out, there wasnt a realistic expectation hed be leaving the bullpen. McGowan found a home there last season, posting a 2.45 ERA in 25 appearances and showing the stuff of a late-inning, high leverage, shut down reliever. Then this year, toward the end of spring training, the Blue Jays fell just short in the pursuit of free agent right-hander Ervin Santana. There was a spot to fill behind R.A. Dickey, Drew Hutchison, Mark Buehrle and Brandon Morrow. J.A. Happ dealt with back inflammation and pancaked with four awful Grapefruit League starts, resulting in a season-starting stint on the disabled list. Marcus Stroman was inconsistent and started the year with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Aaron Sanchez, whose repertoire has Blue Jays personnel frothing, is working at Double-A New Hampshire and his innings are being monitored early in the season. Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond are best suited for long relief, which left McGowan as the best option. This despite the fact he suffered through a bout with a nasty stomach virus in early March, which docked about a week off his spring training schedule and pushed back efforts to get him multiple-inning appearances. "It could be," said McGowan of whether his shorter than expected spring has caught up with him. "We sped it up a lot, usually you wouldnt increase that much that fast, but we had to and we did it. Ive just got to find a way. Theres a way, Ive just got to get it past that hurdle." Whats still unclear is how long the Blue Jays are willing to give him. Stroman is off to a fine start with the Bisons, posting a 2.18 ERA, 1.355 WHIP and 26 strikeouts against six walks in three starts. His time is coming. So is Sanchezs, eventually. Could it be sooner rather than later? A Relievers Approach The Blue Jays entered Wednesdays action a Top-100 team in relief innings pitched. Colorado Avalanche Pro Shop. . Relievers have hurled 67 2/3 innings so far this season, getting on average about 10 outs per game. The bullpen is its own world, made up of pitchers who take different approaches to getting ready and staying fresh in case theyre called on to appear in games on consecutive days. Take Brett Cecil, a closer during his sophomore year at the University of Maryland in 2006. By the time he debuted in the big leagues in 2009, he was a starter. Cecil won a career-high 15 games in 2010, then had a mysterious drop in velocity on his fastball, struggled, and has since revived his career as a left-handed relief specialist. "Its just kind of an everyday thing about how I feel," said Cecil of a days preparation. "Whether Im off that day, whether Im going to throw that day; it just all depends on the night before, the two nights before, what Ive done. If I need to stretch, I stretch. If I need to lift, I go lift." Cecil is being careful early in the season after experiencing elbow pain late last year. He made a career-high 60 appearances before being shut down in mid-September. The games he could handle but as a former starter, Cecil was learning how to prepare for relief work. Hes got a better handle on the demands this season. "I wasnt sure how to police myself being a reliever so the days that I felt like throwing a flat ground, I would throw a flat ground," said Cecil. "Did I really need it? No." Cecil believes its easier on the arm to be a starter. You pitch every fifth day, working through a rest, treatment, throwing regimen in-between starts. In relief, you could pitch on back-to-back days and then sit for a number of games. There are periods of consistent work, every other day. Its unpredictable. If a reliever has a two-pitch outing, like Cecil did on Friday night in Cleveland, it counts as a days work so when he throws again on Saturday, as he did against the Indians, hes not available for Sunday. "Thats one of those things that people dont see," said Cecil. "We as bullpen guys dont get a chance to gradually warm up. Its, youve got to get on the mound and throw and youve got to get hot in a very short amount of time. It puts a lot of stress on the arm." Closer Sergio Santos didnt appear in Tuesday nights win over the Orioles but with the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth, he was warming up to pitch the ninth. Its not an appearance in Santos stats line but it is a day of work. "I had two days off plus an off day so it was technically three days off," said Santos. "It was fine for me to get off the mound and I threw maybe eight to 10 pitches. Just something to where I was sharp enough that if the inning were to end, Id be able to go out and do my job and if it didnt, then it was just a day of a little bit more than a flat ground." Santos is less concerned about a day like Tuesday in April but come July and August, the dog days of summer, relievers become more concerned with "saving their bullets." That is, throw when needed and to stay ready; just dont throw any more than whats required. Bullpen coach Bob Stanley charts pitches thrown and keeps track of each relievers throwing schedule. Guys have different warmup routines. Santos likes eight to 12 pitches off the mound before entering a game. Cecil likes 15 to 20, throwing the final five at maximum capacity. If hes rushed, hell factor in the eight pitches he gets on the game mound. "Some guys warm up with an intensity that matches almost the game and can be harder," said Santos. "Some guys take it a little lighter when theyre warming up." ' ' '