Interleague play has been a boon for Major League Baseball. Stitched Padres Jerseys . For the Blue Jays, not so much. This weekend, battling to get back over the .500 mark, John Gibbons and company kick off a stretch of seven straight games against the National League. They start with three at Pittsburgh against the struggling Pirates and then follow up that series with two at Philadelphia before returning home the next night to kick off a two-game set at Rogers Centre with the Phillies. After salvaging the final game of their three-game set at Kansas City on Thursday night with a 7-3 victory, the Jays sit at 13-15 but thanks largely to the injuries and flaws of the other teams in the AL East, they are still just two-and-a-half games back of the first place Yankees. Still, if the Blue Jays are going to keep it that close, theyve got to start beating the National League clubs with more regularity. Since interleague play came into being in 1997, the Blue Jays have compiled a record of 143-160. The first 16 years, the games were compressed into a small portion of the schedule when school was out in June and early July for the most part. Last season, with Houston moving to the American League, there were 15 teams in each league so there pretty well had to be at least one interleague game each and every day of the season. Last season, the first year under the new format, the Jays actually had a winning record against the National League clubs at 11-9. But overall, the Jays interleague record pales to those of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yanks are 179-123 over the 17 years heading into this season. Boston is right behind them at 175-128. It isnt just the big boys who have success in interleague play, though. The Angels, who havent won a World Series since 2002, are 174-130 against the senior circuit over that span. The White Sox are 171-132 and even the Minnesota Twins are 165-137. If you average it out over 17 seasons, the Blue Jays have cost themselves about two games per season versus the Yanks and Red Sox in the East by struggling in interleague play. The American League has dominated this annual showdown between the two leagues, having the better record in 13 of the 17 seasons. Oddly enough, though, in the beginning the National League was up four winning seasons to three over the first seven interleague plays. The American League has dominated ever since. Nine American League teams are above .500 in the crossover play to just five National League clubs. The top National League club in interleague play is Atlanta at 148-131, followed by St. Louis at 135-120. Miami has done surprisingly well at 149-141. Luckily for the Blue Jays, the two teams they are playing against over the next seven days havent traditionally done well against the American League. Pittsburgh is the worst at 106-143 and the Phillies are 127-158. The Pirates have really had their troubles this season. After making the playoffs last season for the first time since 1992, the Bucs are 10-18 this time around. They lost one of their top pitchers in A.J Burnett in the offseason as a free agent to the Phillies, while lefty Wandy Rodriguez is recouping from a knee injury. But the Pirates real problem has been cashing in runners. They stranded 28 men in dropping a day/night doubleheader to Baltimore Thursday. On top of that, their number one catcher, Russell Martin of Montreal, is on the disabled list. The Pirates are in a virtual tie for last in the NL Central with the Cubs. The Phillies are only marginally better. They are 13-13, tied with Miami for last in the AL East. Yes the Phillies were stung by the retirement of Roy Halladay in the offseason but like the Pirates, their problem is run production. If you can believe it, their outfielders have only 15 extra base hits and the season is a month old. These are teams the Blue Jays must beat. Anything less than five out of seven will be a failure. One thing to remember about the Phillies is that they won a World Series in 2008; just six years ago. Yet this year, they lost 6,000 season ticket holders and their average attendance drop from a year ago, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is 9,129 per game. This, for a team that has known recent success and has a pretty new and fan-friendly ballpark. The inclement weather of April likely plays a major part in the Phillies drop-off, but it just shows fans wont put up with mediocrity forever. I was more than a bit surprised that the team with the second biggest drop-off is Detroit at 5,493 per game. This, for a Tigers team that seems to win the AL Central nearly every year and has been to the World Series, albeit, hasnt won twice in the last eight seasons. You might have missed it but the Dodgers franchise reached a milestone on Wednesday, winning its 10,000th game. The only others to reach that magic figure are the Giants, the Cubs and the Braves. And of those four, the Cubs are the only teams to have played their entire existence in one city. The Dodgers Zack Greinke is putting up some obscure but impressive stats, nonetheless. Hes off to a 5-0 start this season and has made 18 straight starts where he has pitched five innings or more and given up two or fewer runs. That hasnt happened in 100 years -- since 1914. The last time Greinke started a season 6-0, he won the Cy Young Award in 2009 while in the American League. Adam Lind isnt close to returning to the active roster yet. Hes still rehabbing his back. But when he is healthy again, the Blue Jays could face an interesting dilemma if Juan Francisco keeps hitting the way he is. There is no way the Jays can carry Edwin Encarnacion, Lind and Francisco on the same roster. Francisco has one edge over Lind in the versatility department in that he can also play 3rd base in a pinch. Linds not in any kind of jeopardy, but this situation will be interesting to watch. San Diego Padres Pro Shop .Fiji striker Roy Krishna scored in the 14th minute to give Wellington its fourth win, along with a draw, from its past five matches, putting the Phoenix fourth but only a point behind third-placed Adelaide. Fake Padres Jerseys . It was just time for him to make a big play. Nicolas Batum had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Wesley Matthews scored 18 points, and the Trail Blazers overcame poor-shooting nights by two of their best players in a 94-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. https://www.cheappadresjerseys.us/ . The outdoor event will be played on Dec. 31 between alumni of the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies.SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers cooled off Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Tomas Kopecky scored the winning goal in the 10th round of a shootout in the Panthers 3-2 victory over the Capitals on Friday night. Kopeckys goal went high over Philipp Grubauer and into the net. It came after the Panthers missed five previous chances to win the game during the shootout. The shootout matched the second-longest in Panthers history. The longest was 11 rounds against the Capitals on Nov. 28, 2007, a 2-1 Florida victory. "Obviously, it feels good, especially to win the game and get that extra point," Kopecky said. "We need every point right now." The Panthers won for the fourth time in five games and snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Capitals. The Caps lost for the first time in four games. Ovechkin was held without a point. He scored in each of the last seven games against the Panthers, and had four goals Tuesday night in a 6-5 overtime victory over Tampa Bay. "Hes one of the hottest players in the league and we know he can turn a game real fast," Panthers coach Peter Horachek said. "As a team we tried to pay attention to him. I think the guys did a really good job." Jonathan Huberdeau, Brad Boyes, and Nick Bjugstad also scored in the tiebreaker for Florida. Aleksander Barkov and Dylan Olsen had regulation goals, and Scott Clemmensen made 23 saves. Clemmensen has had plenty of experience facing Ovechkin and the Capitals. "Hes a Panther killer, has been ever since Ive been here and this is my fifth year," Clemmensen said. "So youre always aware when hes out there." Eric Fehr, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mikhail Grabovski scored shootout goals for Washington. Joel Ward and Backstrom scored in regulation, and Grubauer stopped 39 shots. Washington had only seven shots in the first period, and didnt get its eighth until 9:337 of the second. Custom San Diego Padres Jerseys. That changed quickly after Erik Gudbransons blow to Fehrs head at 16:16 of the second. Troy Brouwer then dropped the gloves with Gudbranson, drawing a fighting penalty. Gudbranson got a match penalty. Fehr returned in the third period. Both teams scored during the resulting 4-on-4 play, and Washington added another goal on the power play. "The guys on our team responded to that," Brouwer said. "I didnt get to see much after that but scoring two goals put us in a good position going into the third period to try to win the hockey game." The Capitals tied it at 1 when Backstrom scored 18 seconds into the 4-on-4 on a wrist shot from the slot. The Panthers answered when Barkov stole the puck near the blue line, brought it to the right circle, and wristed it past Grubauer on the stick side at 17:56. Ward added a power-play goal with 30 seconds left in the second. Originally ruled no-goal during a scrum in front of the net, the officials used a video review to determine the puck crossed the goal line. "I tried to plant myself to get ready for a shot and I saw it kind of leak through the goalie," Ward said. "There was no whistle called so I tried to follow it up and whack at it." Olsens goal started the scoring in the second. His bad-angle shot from low in the left circle got past Grubauer 2:13 into the period for his third goal in his past nine games. "You just see an opening and you throw it on net," Olsen said. "Its been fortunate to go in." The Capitals had a goal disallowed in the opening minute when it was ruled Martin Erat nudged Clemmensen out of the goal and interference was called. NOTES: Backstrom has 10 points in his last six games. ... Florida G Tim Thomas missed the game because of a lower-body injury. He was hurt in practice Thursday. ... Former Panthers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck was honoured with a bobblehead doll. ' ' '