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There are many Toronto Blue Jays fans still harbouring the dream that Ricky Romero can conquer his pitching demons and make it back to the Blue Jays and, in turn, again become the pitcher who won 42 games for the club from 2009 through 2011. But maybe its time to face facts, cut Ricky loose and give him a fresh start with another organization. After showing a little bit of progress at Triple-A Buffalo, the 29-year-old southpaw has regressed with three rocky starts in a row. Friday night at Charlotte, against the Chicago White Sox-affiliate Knights, he only lasted three innings, giving up five hits and five earned runs, walking five and striking out three. He also gave up a pair of home runs, a season high. In six games, all starts, Romero is 0-1 and has pitched only 27 innings, or just a little over four per start. Hes given up 30 hits, struck out 20 and has given up an alarming 23 walks. Remember the slide began in 2012, when Ricky went 9-14 with a 5.77 ERA and routinely melted down on the mound. Last season in a brief stint with the big club, he went 0-2 before getting shipping to Buffalo, where hes been ever since. So essentially, this is Ricky Romeros third season of trying to rediscover himself. You can see why the Blue Jays are going the extra mile with this. Romero was a staff ace and an All-Star. The Jays also owe him whats left of his $7.5 million for this season, another $7.5 million next year, plus a $600,000 buyout on his $13.1 million for 2016. So thats at least $15.6 million guaranteed, owed for the next two-plus years. Youve heard that old cliche a million times about pro sports being a business where tough decisions have to be made. Well, maybe its time the Blue Jays made the call on Ricky Romero. Set him free and give him the chance to start with another organization, where he can put the struggles of the last three years behind him. The Blue Jays cut ties with J.P. Arencibia with little regret. Now is the time for Ricky Romero. - There is another interesting reclamation project going on with Buffalo right now. Georgetown, Ontario native Shawn Hill is trying to rebuild his pitching career at age 33. Hill has battled his way through two Tommy John surgeries and had two previous stints in the Blue Jays organization, albeit brief ones, in 2010 and 2012. Hill signed with the Jays in March and started out with Double-A New Hampshire going 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA. He was promoted to Buffalo last week and dropped his first start in Georgia against the Gwinnett Braves. He gave up six hits, including two homers, and walked two in six innings to take the loss in a 5-0 game. Can Shawn Hill make it all the way back? Maybe, but more likely than not, hes just an emergency depth arm the way Chien-Ming Wang was a year ago. Hill does hold one unique distinction, though. He won the last game contested between the Jays and the Montreal Expos. It came on July 4, 2004. The game was played in Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the Expos played out a 20-game portion their schedule in their final year in Montreal before moving to Washington. Hill and the Expos won that game 6-4. - One arm that might help the Blue Jays out before the end of the season is that of Kyle Drabek. A key piece of the Roy Halladay deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, Drabek has battled his own control demons, and like Romero, has had some epic mound meltdowns. He appears to be improving now at Buffalo. Hes 3-2 with a 4.04 ERA. Over 35.2 innings, Drabek has allowed seven homers, which is not good, but hes also struck out 30 while walking only 15. So there is a bit of hope there. - The strange thing about the Los Angeles Angels taking the first three games of this four-game set over the weekend: the Angels two best hitters, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, had so little to do with the outcome. Pujols who recently smacked his 500th homer and is one of the greatest players of his generation, if not all-time, went 1 for 13 (a double) and walked twice. Trout went 2 for 14 with a walk. He slugged a solo homer off Dustin McGowan on Friday night and hit an RBI double on Sunday out of the DH slot. Trout also earned the old "Golden Sombrero" on Sunday by striking out 4 times. - Ive got to admit, I was shocked when the Baltimore Orioles traded ace closer Jim Johnson to the Oakland Athletics in the off-season, but Tommy Hunter, who I always felt was prone to giving up inopportune home runs, has stepped in without missing a beat. Hunter has 11 saves, tops in the American League, and the Orioles are 17-0 when leading after eight innings. - The New York Yankees pitching depth is being push right to the brink. Ivan Nova is gone for the season. Michael Pineda, who was first suspended, is now gone for another week or two with a muscle strain. That would serious impair most staffs, but now the Yankees will have to get by without C.C Sabathia.Hes gone on the 15-day disabled list with right knee inflammation. Its the same knee he had meniscus surgery on in 2010. You have to start wondering if its the beginning of the end for C.C. He was 3-4 this season with a 5.28 ERA and also leads the American League with 10 homers allowed, including three in the final game he pitched before going on the DL. I wonder if theyve got Andy Pettittes number on speed dial. - At the risk of beating the proverbial dead horse, you wonder where the Blue Jays would be if they could have convinced Ervin Santana to sign with them rather than the Atlanta Braves. In six starts with the Braves, Santana has made five quality starts. Hes 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA, with 43 strikeouts, just nine walks and only two home runs allowed. The Brave,s riding a three-game win streak, are in first place in the NL East, two games up on the Miami Marlins. - Kudos to White Sox captain Paul Konerko, who, like Derek Jeter, is in the final year of his career. Konerko slugged his first home run and 435th of his career on Saturday and, thus, moved into 43rd place on the all-time list just ahead of Juan Gonzalez and Andruw Jones. Authentic Avery Williamson Jersey . -- Houstons All-Star tandem of James Harden and Dwight Howard refused to let the Rockets give in to fatigue. Authentic Terrelle Pryor Sr. Jersey . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. http://www.cheapnewyorkjetsjerseysauthen...yers-jersey.com) - Quarterback Cardale Jones will return to Ohio State next season. Authentic Jeremiah Attaochu Jersey . The freestyle skier from Calgary finished sixth in the qualification round with a total of 82.00 points. Groenewoud won a silver medal at the X Games last month, just over five weeks after undergoing double knee surgery. Authentic Josh McCown Jersey .Airport spokeswoman Heather Lissner said that all departing flights were back on schedule. However, arriving flights were still trying to catch up.Super Bowl Sunday got off to an inconvenient start for hundreds of passengers trying to get to Phoenix for the game. ARLINGTON, Texas -- With one swing in the first inning, Nolan Arenado quickly took the drama out of whether he would match Colorados record hitting streak and set the Rockies up for another rout over Texas. Arenados two-run double in the first extended his hitting streak to 27 games, matching teammate Michael Cuddyers record streak from last year. It also put Colorado ahead to stay on way to its third lopsided victory over the Rangers in as many nights, 9-2 on Wednesday. "Nolan is one of those guys thats really locked in right now, and it was good to see him get that hit in the first at-bat," manager Walt Weiss said. "I think that kind of set the tone." That was the first of three hits for Arenado, who is hitting .364 (39 of 107) in the streak that started a month ago Friday. His streak is the longest for anyone 23 years or younger since Albert Pujols had a 30-gamer in 2003 when he was 23. "Its pretty cool, pretty cool," Arenado said. "Im trying to stay within myself, Im not trying to get too big, or trying to hit the home run. Im just trying to hit the ball hard. Im going to keep on saying that until the year is over." Carlos Gonzalez homered for Colorado, which has outscored Texas 29-5 in three games this week. The Rockies won 8-2 and 12-1 at home with a combined 34 hits before the teams shifted to Texas for two games. "Weve got to ride this wave while its going good," said Weiss, whose teams 22 wins are tied for the most in the majors. Every starter had a hit for the Rockies, who finished with 16 and got 12 of them in 3 2-3 innings off Colby Lewis (2-2). Jorge De La Rosa (4-3) struck out four and walked three. The lefty gave up two runs over six innings while winning its fourth consecutive start. Adrian Beltre homered for Texas and became only the fifth player in major league history with 100 home runs for three different teams. After not getting a hit until his fifth plate appearance Tuesday night, Arenado wasted no time Wednesday. His double followed consecutive two-out hits by MLB-leading hitter Troy Tulowitzki (.414) and Gonzalez. Lewis got the first two batters out in each of the first three innings before allowing multiple hits each time..ddddddddddddBut the Rockies failed to score in the second and again in the third, when Arenado was tagged out halfway between third and home by first baseman Prince Fielder after Colorado had two runners caught between bases. The last nine batters faced by Lewis had six singles in a row and consecutive sacrifice flies by Corey Dickerson and Tulowitzki before Gonzalez homered, his seventh of the season capping a five-run fourth to make it 7-0. Lewis had allowed 12 hits twice before, including against Colorado at home two years ago. "I got beat. Thats all there is to it," Lewis said. "I think Colorado just needs to leave town." Colorado had 13 hits before Texas finally got Michael Choices one-out single in the fourth. Beltre followed with his homer to straightaway centre, his second this season after hitting the first a night earlier. Beltre, in his fourth season with Texas, previously hit 147 homers for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004) and 103 homers for Seattle (2005-09). The other players with 100 homers for three different teams are Darrell Evans (Atlanta, San Francisco and Detroit), Reggie Jackson (Kansas City/Oakland, New York Yankees, California), Alex Rodriguez (Seattle, Texas and Yankees) and Jim Thome (Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago White Sox). Scott Baker, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Round Rock earlier Wednesday, pitched the final 5 1-3 innings for Texas. It was only Bakers fifth relief appearance in 167 career major league games, most with the Minnesota Twins from 2005-11 before the right-hander had Tommy John surgery in April 2012. He made three starts for the Chicago Cubs last September. "He came in and gave us a chance," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He settled in and started getting some outs, but we wasnt able to get to them." NOTES: Rangers 2B Donnie Murphy left the game with a neck strain after tripping over first base trying to beat out a grounder to end the sixth. ... Colorado throws another lefty Thursday in Franklin Morales (3-1, 5.05 ERA). Weiss said Morales is finding his rhythm as a starter again after being a reliever the past 5 years. Colorado has won his last four starts after losing his first two. ' ' '