It was the first time two goalies debuted

TORONTO - Jose Bautista entered Wednesdays play at or near the top of most of baseballs important offensive categories. The 33-year-old is the league leader with 34 walks. His 1.058 OPS and 191 OPS+ are the best in the game. Bautistas hit nine home runs, which ties him for fourth in the majors. Hes reached base safely in each of the Blue Jays 33 games to begin the year. Thats a club record. "I think Ive had a pretty strong first month, as strong as I might have had ever in my career," Bautista told TSN.ca during a conversation in Philadelphia. "But the seasons long and its hard to look at small samples and how thats going to portray into a complete season. I try not to pay attention to those things and just focus on the preparation and the work and my effort and hopefully at the end of the year everythings taken care of itself." As teams around the league rely more heavily on spray charts and advanced offensive data, Bautista, like most sluggers around the league, often hits with three infielders on the left side of second base. The percentages show that if Bautista hits the ball on the ground, most of the time hell pull it. With that in mind, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has encouraged Bautista to occasionally take pitches the other way. Manager John Gibbons believes the approach helps Bautista stay on breaking pitches down and away. He sees those often as opposing pitchers often work around him or, at least, are particularly careful about keeping the ball out of the middle of the strike zone. "The only difference I see with him is hes taking some hits the other way and I think its making him a tougher out," said manager John Gibbons. "You hear some people who complain about, well, hes a home run hitter, youve got to do it this way. Well, you know what? His home run numbers havent suffered one bit." Bautistas coaches and teammates took notice of his approach in the 10th inning of Tuesday nights 6-5 win over the Phillies. Melky Cabrera led off with a single. Bautista worked a 2-2 count and with the infield pulled around to the third base side he pushed a 93 miles per hour fastball through the gaping hole where the second baseman would usually stand. Cabrera advanced to third on the play and one out later scored the game-winning run on Juan Franciscos sacrifice fly. Manager John Gibbons called it "winning baseball." "Its good to see, thats what winning players and winning teams do, the little stuff," said Jose Reyes. "In that situation he didnt try to hit a two-run home run and pop it up to the infield or something. He just tried to move Melky over, he saw that huge space there at second base and he hit the ball that way, first and third and we win the game right there." Outfield coach Tim Leiper paid Bautista the ultimate praise last week, equating his pregame preparation and in-game adjustments to that of a coach. Bautista doesnt want the label but he is involved in every pitch. From the dugout hes studying the opposing pitcher, watching for tendencies that may indicate which type of pitch will be thrown. Not a base stealer himself, Bautista tries to help his faster teammates get a read on a pitchers move. Defensively, hell involve himself in outfield positioning based on his extensive knowledge of hitters. "I try to pay attention to things like that and I share all kinds of information with my teammates," said Bautista. "I also encourage them to share stuff that they know and information that they have with me. I like to listen to that kind of stuff and put it into my database, I guess." Gibbons recalls a game in Kansas City early last year when injuries to Jose Reyes and Brett Lawrie forced Bautista from his usual spot in right field and in to play third base. Bautista would frequently hover around the mound in between outs, giving the pitcher a scouting report on the next hitter. "Joses not just out there playing," said Gibbons. "He studies this and hes paying attention to whats going on. Hes played against a lot of these guys over the years so hes got a pretty good idea of what they do." The Blue Jays entered Wednesdays action with a record of 16-17 following a 4-4 road trip to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Like on their previous road trip, they left some games on the table due to poor, late-game pitching. Bautista isnt panicking, however, because the American League East remains tight six weeks into the season. Torontos just a game and a half back of first-place Baltimore. "The only thing that would matter if we were 15 games back," said Bautista. "That would mean wed dug ourselves a big hole to come out of. From that perspective it doesnt really matter. What matters is how we play from here on out and weve got to focus on that." Ron Duguay Jersey . Tristan Jackson returned a missed field goal 129 yards early in the fourth quarter as the Roughriders beat the B.C. Sergei Nemchinov Rangers Jersey .Y. - Urijah Faber walked out on a Madison Square Garden stage in a Wes Welker jersey, the UFCs fun nod to that other "super" show this weekend. http://www.therangersfanshop.com/Dominic-Moore-Jersey/ . -- Nick Bjugstad snapped out of his scoring slump and spoiled Drew MacIntyres first NHL start. Mike Richter Jersey . - Kobe Bryant and LeBron James traded hugs, big shots and verbal jabs all night with warmth and humour. Kevin Hayes Jersey . Arsenal had already scored its goals in the third round fixture when the fierce rivalry turned ugly in the final ten minutes as Walcott was being carried off on a stretcher.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars both used goalies who were making their NHL debut. Jack Campbell had plenty of time to prepare mentally for his assignment, while Frederik Andersen had very little advance notice. Andersen replaced Jonas Hiller at the start of the second period with the Ducks trailing 3-1, stopping all 24 shots he faced while his teammates rallied for a 6-3 victory Sunday. "I knew I was going in when we were coming off the ice after the period, so I had 15 minutes to get ready," said Andersen, who was promoted from Norfolk of the AHL on Friday because of Viktor Fasths lower-body injury. "When you feel good in practice, you dont have to be nervous at all when you go in. Im kind of a calm guy, so I didnt want to do anything differently out there than I usually do in the leagues that Ive played in. It felt nice to get that first shot, although it took a while. And after that first save, it felt like I got settled in." Hiller, who was off to the best start of his seven-year career with a 4-0 record and 1.44 goals-against average, faced 12 shots before he was benched. "I think it calmed things down a little bit," said Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf, who had a goal and three assists. "I mean, it wasnt that Hillsy played terrible. He just got a couple of bad bounces, and sometimes you just need that change. Then Freddie came in and swallowed every puck his way and enabled us to get back in that game." Emerson Etem got his first career short-handed goal late in the second period after Corey Perry scored twice to tie the game, helping the Ducks extend the best start in franchise history to 7-1. The defending Pacific Division champions tied a club record with their seventh straight victory following a 6-1 loss at Colorado on opening night. "I think we learned a lot last year in that shortened season," Getzlaf said. "We knew that we had to bring it right away, or otherwise we were going to be behind the 8-ball. So were preparing the same way, and were starting the right way." Ryan Garbutt, Brenden Dillon and Shawn Horcoff scored during the final 10 minutes of the first period for Dallas, and Campbell made 41 saves. The Ducks responded to the goaltending change just 54 seconds after the intermission, when Perry scored on a redirection of Getzlafs centring pass. Perry, who won the Hart Trophy as the leagues MVP in 2010-11 after scoring a career-high 50 goals, got the equalizer at 11:48 off the second on a deflection of defenceman Cam Fowlers long wrist shot while Horcoff was serving a hooking penalty.dddddddddddd "If youre going to go on the road and youre going to lead a game 3-1 -- and then take some of the penalties we took -- you are inviting some trouble," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "To come out for the start of the second period and give them a goal right off the bat on what I felt was a bad line change by our team was pretty disappointing." The Ducks were killing off an elbowing penalty against Daniel Winnik when Andrew Cogliano set up Etem in the low slot at 18:55 of the second with a pass from the right boards. Getzlaf and Mathieu Perreault helped put it away with third-period goals. The Ducks, who came in a league-worst 1 for 23 on the power play and 0 for 18 at home, opened the scoring the first time they had the man advantage. Garbutt was serving a penalty for kneeing Perreault in the neutral zone when Teemu Selanne scored his 678th career goal and third this season at 2:38 of the first. "It was good to see us get a couple on the power play because thats going to make winning so much easier," said the 43-year-old Selanne, who extended his goal streak to three games. "Tonight everybody took more responsibility in doing the things that we can do better. It was a good character win, coming back from two goals down." Anaheim forward Dustin Penner was knocked out briefly at 5:32 of the second period after absorbing a hard, open-ice hit from Garbutt a split-second after passing the puck in the Dallas zone. Penner was helped to the dressing room, but checked out OK. The Ducks will be in Toronto on Tuesday night to begin an eight-game trip, all against Eastern Conference teams. NOTES: It was the first time two goalies debuted in the same game since Oct. 12, 2005, when Yann Danis backstopped Montreal to a 2-0 win over Michael Garnett and the Atlanta Thrashers. ... The Ducks have started 5-0 at home for the first time. They won a franchise-record 13 straight at Honda Center last season after losing their lockout-delayed home opener. ... Campbell was the 248th goalie Selanne has scored against. ... This is the first time Selanne has had goals in three straight games since the 2011 Western Conference quarterfinals, when he connected in each of the first four against Nashville. ... Anaheims penalty-killing unit had not been scored upon in 18 short-handed situations at home this season until Horcoffs goal. Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '