NEW YORK -- Cole Hamels maintained his focus and walked away a winner after 3 1/2 hours of dreary baseball Wednesday night. [url=https://www.wholesaleshoesusa.com/]Discount Shoes For Sale[/url] . "Im glad I play it, but I wouldnt be watching it," he said. Hamels pitched seven strong innings

NEW YORK -- Cole Hamels maintained his focus and walked away a winner after 3 1/2 hours of dreary baseball Wednesday night. Discount Shoes For Sale . "Im glad I play it, but I wouldnt be watching it," he said. Hamels pitched seven strong innings and handed himself some much-needed run support, sending the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-2 victory over the New York Mets. Carlos Ruiz homered and the Phillies overcame a couple of mental mistakes by Jimmy Rollins to win for only the third time in 17 road games. Hamels hit a two-run single to help Philadelphia improve to 8-5 under interim manager Ryne Sandberg. This was no masterpiece, though. Mets starter Daisuke Matsuzaka took an interminable amount of time between pitches and threw 82 over the first three innings. Hamels worked at a much faster pace but irritated fans by making seven straight tosses to first base with Eric Young Jr. aboard. Young stole second anyway. One night after Jonathon Nieses three-hit shutout for the Mets lasted 2 hours, 19 minutes, thats how long it took to play 5 1/2 innings in a game between also-rans that ultimately dragged on for 3:32. About halfway through, a television camera fixed on Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee spinning a crushed water bottle in the dugout. "Unfortunately, sometimes when you have games like this, you just have to go out there and try to be effective from pitch one and make sure that your warmup pitches are right on par," Hamels said. "Its a lot of self-motivating and just trying to stay in the game as much as possible, which is a lot easier said than done." Matsuzaka (0-2) laboured through 4 1-3 innings on Japanese Heritage Night in his second start for the new-look Mets, who have dropped six of seven. Depleted by key injuries and Tuesdays trade that sent Marlon Byrd and John Buck to Pittsburgh, New York fell to 2-6 on a nine-game homestand. "Todays game was pretty self-explanatory, I think," Matsuzaka said through a translator. "I was all over the place today, all over the zone." The Mets made three errors after going six games without one, which matched a season high. Hindered by the fifth-worst run support in the majors this season, Hamels (6-13) worked around nine hits and improved to 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA in six August starts. The left-hander struck out eight, walked one and upped his career record to 7-12 against the Mets. "Hes pitched well all year," Sandberg said. While rain postponed afternoon tennis matches at the U.S. Open next door, the Phillies and Mets stayed dry throughout a drab evening that matched the pace of the game. Hamels grounded a two-run single to left field off reliever Robert Carson in the fifth to make it 4-1. That gave Hamels, a career .170 hitter entering the game, four RBIs this season and answered a three-run double by Niese the previous night. "That was huge," Sandberg said. Rollins failed to cover third base on a third-inning popup along the third base line. Noticing that the shortstop was flat-footed, the speedy Young alertly tagged up at second and beat Rollins and Ruiz to the bag. Ike Davis followed with an RBI single on an 0-2 pitch, his 10th hit in 67 at-bats (.149) against left-handers to that point. Rollins made up for his gaffe with a tying double in the fourth -- but got cut down at third for the third out. It was Rollins first RBI in 15 games, his longest drought since August 2005, according to STATS. A ground-rule double by Michael Young set up the Phillies in the fifth and made him 10 for 17 (.588) off Matsuzaka, who forced in the go-ahead run by hitting John Mayberry Jr. with a pitch. That was it for Matsuzaka, charged with four runs, four walks and six hits in his second major league start of the season. "Hes definitely deliberate, but like I said, you have to adapt and adjust to his pace of play because ultimately he controls it," Mayberry said. The former Red Sox star was pitching in Clevelands farm system before he was granted his release last week. The Mets signed him to fill a hole in their injury-depleted rotation the rest of the way. "I do know the history of, you know, he does take some time between pitches. But I will tell you, his stuffs good enough," New York manager Terry Collins said. "Tonight the command was off and therefore he was off." Ruiz hit a solo homer off Carson in the sixth. Andrew Brown had an RBI double for the Mets in the seventh. "Wow. It was a long day," Ruiz said. "It was hard to stay focused, waiting that long." NOTES: All-Star OF Domonic Brown sat out again with a sore right heel. He hasnt started since being lifted Saturday, but Sandberg said Brown is getting close. ... Phillies 3B Cody Asche left in the seventh with a cramp and a mild right hamstring strain. ... Mayberry was called for interference with his backswing on a stolen base for the second time in three nights. ... Matsuzaka singled for his third career hit and first since June 24, 2010, with Boston. ... RHP Carlos Torres pitches in place of injured Mets ace Matt Harvey in the series finale Thursday. RHP Ethan Martin gets the ball for Philadelphia. Cheap Nike Shoes From China . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Cheap Shoes From China . PETERSBURG, Florida – Its been almost seven years since the Jays last won a series at Tropicana Field. https://www.wholesaleshoesusa.com/ . The club was unable to retain hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who is bound for Atlanta. Seitzer replaces Greg Walker, who was assisted by Scott Fletcher this season as the Braves finished 79-83. TORONTO -- One team on the ice had nothing to lose and nothing to play for. The other team had its playoff hopes on the line and was trying to save its season. By the time the lights went out at Air Canada Centre and on the Toronto Maple Leafs season following a 4-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, it was difficult to tell which was which. The Leafs are all but done and would now need a miracle to make the playoffs. Losing the game was one thing, built on ill-timed mistakes and mental lapses. But why the lacklustre Leafs couldnt match the intensity of a team outside the playoff race left goaltender James Reimer and others grasping for answers. "I dont know if I can really give you an explanation for that, for how it appeared," said Reimer, who gave up four goals on 41 shots in losing his sixth straight start. "I know in our heads we wanted it, but maybe it didnt show it there." When it didnt show, fans booed the Leafs off the ice in their final home game of the season. A few threw beer cups. Players could at least understand the frustration after this defeat left them stuck on 84 points, one back in the Eastern Conference wild-card race of the Columbus Jackets, who have five games to play to the Leafs three. By winning Saturday night, the New Jersey Devils also reached 84 points and passed Toronto (38-33-8) because they have four more games left to play. Phil Kessel, who scored his 37th goal of the season 2:45 into the first period to match a career high, didnt want to concede anything about realizing the playoff dream was essentially gone. "You never know," Kessel said. "We still have three games left and were going to play hard. You know, whatever happens, happens here." The Leafs finish their season with three games on the road: Tuesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday at the Florida Panthers and Saturday at the Ottawa Senators. But the Jets (35-34-10), who were officially eliminated Thursday with a loss to Pittsburgh, managed to beat Toronto with goals by Bryan Little, Jacob Trouba, Tobias Enstrom and Olli Jokinen. "I thought it was a great effort start to finish," Jets captain Andrew Ladd said. "Offensively we were able to sustain pressure throughout the whole game. Thats just through hard work, being in the right place. ... We can be proud of the effort we put forth tonight." The Jets won despite winger Evander Kane being a healthy scratch. Paul Maurice offered no explanation other to call it a "coachs decision." When asked if he enjoyed playing spoiler against the team that fired him in 2008 after two seasons without a playoff appearance, Maurice offered up a wry smile and the politically correct answer. "No," Maurice said. "You know what, its a lousy job. You dont ever want to play spoiler. Weve talked a lot about being where you are and thats where we were tonight and we gave our best effort." A "solid effort" was something that Leafs centre Tyler Bozak noted was lacking at times Saturday night. At times, he thought the Jets were the harder-working team but didnt understand why. Wholesale Shoes Authentic. "We shouldve been (the harder working team) the whole game seeing the situation we were in," Bozak said. The situation was already bleak, following a streak of eight straight regulation losses in March. The Leafs figured to need to run the table to give them a realistic shot at the playoffs. Despite Kessels goal, and then Nazem Kadris on the power play at 13:45 of the first when Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec mishandled the puck behind the net, Toronto couldnt do much after giving up a goal to Trouba with 3.2 seconds left in the first period. Coach Randy Carlyle couldnt figure out what went wrong in the games final 40 minutes. "We just seemed like we were a flat hockey club from that point," Carlyle said. "We chased the game. And we didnt seem to have any energy as a group. Thats the way I saw it. It seemed like we were chasing the game, the pace of the game. They won more one-on-one battles than we did, thats for sure." Centre Dave Bolland, who played just nine minutes 15 seconds on a sore ankle that Carlyle said got rolled on occasionally, said bluntly that the Leafs "got outworked." Captain Dion Phaneuf didnt want to go that far, pointing instead to "costly mistakes" as the reason for the loss. No matter the explanation, the Leafs showed yet another example of maddening inconsistency in game 79 of a season that started with such promise and took such an inexplicable turn toward disaster last month. "We seem to find ways to always wonder, What the heck is going on? Why? Whats going on there? Why are we reacting in that manner?" Carlyle said. "Thats the frustrating part for us is that when we are able to execute and our work ethic is strong, that were a hockey club that can give teams difficulty and play to a high level. "But our consistency level, it goes from game-to-game and sometimes period to period." Finding a solution to that problem will now more than likely have to wait until next season. To make the playoffs, the Leafs would undoubtedly need to sweep their final three games and hope for the Blue Jackets and Devils to fall apart. They can be eliminated as early as Tuesday. Still, Carlyle and his players have no choice but to get ready to go on the road to face the Lightning. "Weve got to get ourselves ready," he said. "Weve got to re-energize our group because we were a flat group tonight. We were a flat hockey club and we just didnt seem to have any jump that was required." NOTES -- Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul started the game despite being bothered by what the team is calling a lower-body injury. He left in the third when he aggravated it, according to Carlyle. ... Winnipegs Dustin Byfuglien left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. ... Legendary Leafs goaltender Johnny Bower was interviewed on the video board and said that a woman who was proposed to minutes earlier wearing his No. 1 jersey was actually his granddaughter. Bower then got a standing ovation following a video tribute. ' ' '