three hits and a run in a nervous ninth and was repl

TORONTO - An overtime game in New York, a long wait at an airport, a middle-of-the-night flight back home to Toronto.Less than 24 hours after beating the Knicks on the road, the Raptors had every excuse in the world to lose to the Orlando Magic on Monday night, said coach Dwane Casey.Thats what I told them at halftime, he said.But, as has become their habit this season, the Raptors used a strong second half to defeat the Magic 95-82, behind 18 points from Lou Williams and 17 points and eight assists from Kyle Lowry. I dont want to give our guys an excuse but we get in at 2 in the morning, come through Customs; we have to sit at the gate in New York forever — I dont know if they do that on purpose or what — and then we get in late, back-to-back, overtime game, Casey said.But in the second half we found our voice, our energy, our spirit. . . we found our defensive mojo in the second half.Amir Johnson finished with 11 points, while Patrick Patterson chipped in with 10 for the East-leading Raptors (19-6), who played their ninth game without injured all-star DeMar DeRozan.Tobias Harris had 18 points to top Orlando (10-17), while Ben Gordon had 16. The victory was Torontos 10th straight over Orlando.It wasnt the prettiest of victories for Toronto, which needed overtime in Sundays ugly 95-90 win over the Knicks. But on Monday the Raptors turned an eight-point deficit late in the first half to a 71-65 lead heading into the fourth quarter. A three-pointer by Channing Frye cut Torontos lead to just two points with 9:28 to play. But the Raptors play their best basketball in fourth quarters at the Air Canada Centre, and by the time Greivis Vasquez drained a floating jumper with six minutes to play, the Raptors were up by 14 in front of another capacity crowd of 19,800 fans.Energy, Patterson said, on the difference in the second half. In that first half we couldnt use (Sunday) night as an excuse. Although guys were a little bit tired and exhausted, we had a great motivational speech in the locker-room at halftime and then guys just came out and stepped it up.It started off with Kyle being the leader that he is and it just carried over to everyone else.A driving layup by Williams gave Toronto a 16-point lead — their largest of the game — with 3:54 to play. The Magic would chip away at the deficit, pulling to within 10, but that only served to fire up Lowry, who drilled a three with 1:47 to go, putting the game out of reach and securing Toronto its third straight victory.Orlando hasnt beaten Toronto since March of 2012.Lowry admitted the night of travel hadnt been easy.I wouldnt use anything as an excuse but it took us awhile to get back, Lowry said. Its part of the league, we know were always going to take long trips on back-to-backs, so its all good.DeRozan made his first appearance on the bench since he tore his groin tendon, sitting alongside the assistant coaches dressed in a light grey suit.Orlando guard Evan Fournier played the second half with stitches in his lip after taking an errant elbow from Tyler Hansbrough in the second quarter that left him down on the floor for several minutes. A shaky Fournier was helped to the locker-room where his lip was stitched up. The Raptors were outshot 49 per cent to 45, but outrebounded their visitors 39-36.Boy they made it tough on us (in the second half), said Magic coach Jacque Vaughn. What did we score, 30 points in the half? Youre not going to win too many games that way unless they score 29.The Raptors rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull out a 104-100 home win when these two teams played on Nov. 11. Orlando had dropped 33 points on Toronto in the first quarter of that game, and Casey warned his players to beware of another quick start.They ambushed us here last game, they came out shooting the three, attacking our feet, running at us, they had 30 transition points in the first half, Casey said.The Raptors led for most of the first quarter, taking a 10-point lead on a Lowry pullup jumper with 3:38 to play. The Magic fought back and dunk by Elfrid Payton cut the Raptors lead to 28-25 going into the second.Orlando continued its run in the second, holding Toronto without a field goal for more than six minutes. The Magic led 52-44 at halftime.Lowry came out of the break on a mission, leading his team in scoring (eight points), boards (4) and assists (5) in a third quarter that saw Toronto outscore their visitors 27-13 to lead by six going into the fourth.The Raptors have Tuesday off practice, then host the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.Its going to be good, Lowry said. Well take advantage and get our rest in, and start thinking about Brooklyn.The Raptors follow their date with the Nets with a game in Detroit on Friday. Theyre back home to host the New York Knicks on Sunday then play six straight on the road — a two-week break from the ACC while the world junior hockey championships are in town. Cheap Mexico Jerseys . 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Cheap Paris Saint-Germain FC Jerseys .C. - Brent Sutter scored 1:32 into extra time as the Charlotte Checkers came from behind to defeat the visiting Abbotsford Heat 5-4 on Sunday in American Hockey League action.TORONTO -- It was about as ugly a win as you can get. Toronto starter Mark Buehrle fell trying to throw a pitch, balking in a run. Closer Casey Janssen didnt finish the ninth. Even Rogers Centre couldnt make up its mind, opening and then closing the dome. When the dust had settled, the Blue Jays had defeated the lowly Texas Rangers 9-6 Sunday, securing the series win over the worst club in the majors. The teams combined for 27 hits. But it was hardly a precision batting display. Texas left nine men on base while going 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Toronto stranded eight and went six-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Melky Cabrera answered a Texas comeback with a leadoff homer in the seventh inning and singled home two more runs in the eighth to lead the Jays. Cabrera gave Toronto a 6-5 lead when he sent reliever Neftali Felizs third pitch of the day deep to centre field. It was the left-fielders 12th home run of the season, delighting the crowd of 36,011 on a 23-degree day. One inning later, Munenori Kawasaki made it 7-5 with an RBI single after Toronto loaded the bases with one out on three singles. Then Cabrera slammed a single to right-centre to bring home Anthony Gose and Jose Reyes. Toronto (51-49) has now won seven of the last eight completed series against Texas (39-59) at Rogers Centre. Perhaps more importantly, the Toronto offence woke out of its slumber. The nine runs were the most by the Jays since they scored 14 on June 20 in Cincinnati. Toronto, which had lost its last three series, also notched its first multi-homer game since July 2. "We came to life today," said manager John Gibbons, who noticed a change in attitude early in the game. "I felt a little more energy in the dugout. The guys seemed a little more relaxed, some funny comments. Theyve been grinding it pretty hard lately. Its been wearing on them." Janssen, recovered from a stomach ailment, gave up three hits and a run in a nervous ninth and was replaced by Aaron Loup with two outs and men on first and second. The left-hander finally ended it by inducing former Jay J.P. Arencibia to pop out on a 3-and-2 pitch for his fourth save. "I just didnt see that crispness coming out there," Gibbons said of Janssen, who converted 14 of 16 save opportunities in the first half of the season. Left-hander Brett Cecil, coming on in the eighth with no outs and a man on second, snuffed out an earlier Rangers threat. Cabrera went 3-for-5 and has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and 23 of his last 28. He also made a fine catch in left field, snagging the ball at his shoe top. "I just think the all-star break did him wonders," said Gibbons. "Hes out there every day. It did most guys some good. He just needed to refresh a little bit. His hand, speed, bat speed looks a little bit better. Thats the key to hitting, if you get a good swing. " Buehrle did not look fresh as he went six innings in his eighth unsuccessful attempt to record a win since June 1. "He was a little off," said Gibbons. "Its too bad he hasnt had a win in so long," he added. "Because hes definitely pitched well enough to have a few moore under his belt.dddddddddddd But thats the way baseball is sometimes. Theres no justice in this business." The day wasnt all bad for Buehrle. He picked off two Rangers and is now five shy of tying Andy Pettitte for most career pickoffs (105). Plus he was headed to the Tim McGraw show after the game. Todd Redmond (1-4) got the win for one inning in relief of Buehrle while Feliz (0-1) was tagged with the loss. Down 5-2, the Rangers had rallied for three runs in the sixth to tie the score as the bottom of the order loaded the bases. The Buehrle balk and a Daniel Robertson two-RBI single made it a whole new ball game. "Thatll make the bloopers," said Gibbons. Buehrle, who called it "embarrassing," said he went down because his cleat caught. He would have tried to throw the ball at the plate but was more concerned about not hurting himself going down. "Obviously I havent been as sharp as I want to be the last times Ive been out. It hasnt been really that good. I dont know. Just a couple of those days. Dont want to have them but theyre going to come in the course of season and (I) just need to turn it around." Robertson, filling in for the injured Alex Rios, drove in a career-high four runs for the Rangers. "Every time we scored, we just couldnt stop them," sad Texas manager Ron Washington, whose teams winning percentage slipped under .400 to .398. "Weve got to have some shutdown innings. We just couldnt get any shutdown innings after we put runs on the board. Thats the one thing we certainly have to work hard to correct." Earlier, catcher Dioner Navarro homered for Toronto and Reyes drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in a game that saw both teams with plenty of chances to keep the scoreboard turning over. It was a no-decision for Buehrle, who has posted an 0-5 record in his last eight outings to drop his record to 10-6. And this after reaching the 10-win mark faster than ever before in his career. He gave up five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks in his 449th consecutive start, the longest active streak in the majors. The left-hander, who came into the game with a 13-5 record in 20 career starts against the Rangers, made life difficult for himself in the second, third and fourth by putting the leadoff man on with two walks and a single. But, two runs aside in the third, he cleaned up after himself until stepping into it again in the sixth. Despite winning the series opener 5-1 Friday, the Rangers have been in a free fall for a while. They came into the game having lost nine of 10 and are now 2-14 in July, the fewest wins for any team in the majors. However you stack them, the numbers are shocking. Texas has lost 16 of 18 and 24 of 28. One explanation: Texas has used more players (51) and pitchers (30) than any other team this season. And the Rangers lead the majors in use of the disabled list (21) and current players on the DL (14). That explains the 15 rookies on the active roster. Texas starter Nick Tepesch lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits. The Jays open a four-game homestand against the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Texas heads to New York to play the Yankees. ' ' '