goal in its past five games. ... Phoenix has been outsco

TORONTO – Minutes after Kevin Pillar played the hero in Monday nights 5-4 Blue Jays walk off win over the Twins, he alluded to a conversation he shared with Jose Bautista earlier in the evening. Anthony Carter Jersey . The two were in the batting cage moments before game time. Bautista was taking final warm up cuts. Pillar was hitting soft toss. The one-time utility player turned All-Star pulled aside the clubs young, fourth outfielder and offered him some advice. Pillar described it as a discussion about hitting. Bautista told him there was nothing wrong with his swing, that he should remain aggressive in the batters box in order that the pitcher doesnt get too comfortable. He reminded Pillar that in Pillars role, he could step to the plate in crucial, late-game situations. Sure enough, Pillar got the game-winning single to snap a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning. Sure enough, he remained aggressive, perhaps too much so early in the at-bat when Pillar swung at the first two pitches down and out of the strike zone. With the count 1-2, Pillar took a pitch on the outer half to right field, Erik Kratz came around to score and the Blue Jays celebrated. Pillar thought enough of the conversation to share it with the assembled media postgame. Bautista seemed surprised to be approached on the topic. "You hope to have an effect on all your teammates, no matter what you talk about or discuss," said Bautista. "Even if its, hey youre opening up a little bit or having a 10-minute talk about being mentally ready, preparation and mindset and all that. You hope that your teammates listen to you. You dont hope that they do exactly what you say and if you say hop on one foot they start doing it, but if you make a comment that you think is going to help you hope they at least listen. Digest it and if it helps and it works then so be it." The type of conversation Bautista had with Pillar is rare this season, according to Bautista, because the Blue Jays are laden with veterans. The need doesnt arise as often. This, too, is the second year the group has been together after being arranged in the flurry of high-profile offseason moves made in November and December, 2012. "I think each person is more knowledgeable of others capabilities, more realistic with the expectations," said Bautista. "I think last year, people didnt know what to expect exactly with other players. Expectations might have been a little unrealistic, sometimes on the higher end and sometimes on the lower end. Sometimes you might have expected more out of somebody and that might have been not right. Sometimes you expected less and the guys surprise you. So now I think everybody is more in tune with each others capabilities." DICKEY THROWING MORE FASTBALLS R.A. Dickey is using his fastball more this season than he did last year. Hes thrown a heater 14.3 per cent of the time in 2014, compared to 11.9 per cent last season. This years number is more reflective of his 2012 Cy Young award season with the Mets, when 14 per cent of his pitches were fastballs. "I think its conscious because Ive had a lot of high-pitch games," said Dickey. "I had a 31-pitch first inning against (the Twins on Monday night), I had like a 30-pitch against the Royals, first inning. I need to get back to trying to induce contact earlier in counts so in that regard it has been something that Ive consciously tried to do. Especially with teams, Minnesota for instance is a team that leads the league in pitches taken so whenever you have a club like that you want to try to get ahead of guys as much as possible." Dickey is also conscious of his walk rate, which has skyrocketed this year. Hes issued a free pass to 10.2 per cent of hitters hes faced, compared to 7.5 per cent last year and 5.8 per cent in 2012. In each of his last two starts, hes allowed home runs off his fastball. On June 4 in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera took him deep on a first pitch fastball in the first inning. On Monday night against the Twins, leadoff hitter Danny Santana hit a home run off a full count fastball. Dickey had been falling behind in that first inning in Detroit and thought he could sneak a heater by Cabrera. "That was just a roll of the dice," said Dickey. "I had gone 2-0 with the first two hitters and felt that he would want to get in a hitters count. I tried to steal a strike the first time through the lineup and his numbers off me, I think hes had like 14 at-bats and two first-pitch swings and so the percentages were in my favour that he was taking and so I tried to play to those and got burned." Half of the home runs Dickeys allowed this season, five of 10, have been off fastballs. Has he become too predictable, throwing fastballs when in need of a strike? "I would hope not because I try to do a good job of throwing a lot of 2-0, 3-1, 3-2 knuckleballs," said Dickey. "Im not in the habit of routinely throwing a fastball in a fastball count but because I dont feature the same velocity as a lot of guys its a lot easier to put the barrel on the ball if theyve seen multiple fastballs in an at-bat; if theyre not well located in particular." JAYS INK TWO MORE PICKS The Blue Jays locked up their second and fifth round picks from last weeks amateur draft. They are highly-touted right-handed pitcher Sean Reid-Foley (49th overall) out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida and centerfielder Lane Thomas (144th overall) out of Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both players are 18 years old. Denver Nuggets Gear .C. -- Benn Ferrieros familiar with scoring important goals, just not in back-to-back games. Nuggets Jerseys 2020 . Pistorius denied the allegation that he said to the close friend of the girlfriend he killed: "How can you sleep at night?" The accusation by Kim Myers provided a bizarre twist during the trial of the world-famous double-amputee Olympian, who is facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting dead Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, at his home last year. https://www.cheapnuggets.com/907y-monte-morris-jersey-nuggets.html . -- Felix Girard scored on the power play in the third period to lift the Baie-Comeau Drakkar past the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Friday.NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators used a fast start to stay on a roll. Nick Spaling, Mike Fisher and Gabriel Bourque scored first-period goals to lead Nashville to a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night. Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, which has won four of five. Mikkel Boedker and Tim Kennedy scored for the Coyotes, who lost their third straight. Spaling scored the games first goal at 1:02 of the opening period. From the right side, Matt Cullens initial shot was denied by Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith. But skating through the slot, Spaling picked up the rebound and put it over Smiths right shoulder. "I think the key to our success is coming out early," Spaling said. "Were at home and we have to take advantage of playing here. Weve been on the road quite a bit lately, so its nice to be home." Craig Smith also assisted on the goal for Nashville, his ninth of the season. Fisher doubled the Nashville lead at 8:22 of the first. From below the goal line to the right of the Phoenix net, Colin Wilson found Fisher in the right circle, where he beat Smith low to the stick side. Fishers goal came just seconds after Phoenix captain Shane Doan rang a shot off the right post. "I thought the two last periods, we were all right, but we cant keep getting behind like that," Boedker said. "It seems like every time they score, we start playing, which is not what we want to do." Bourque made it 3-0 at 18:27 of the first when he converted off a nice pass from Viktor Stalberrg with Nashville on a 2-on-1 break. Nuggets Jerseys China. "That was a great pass," Bourque said. "We came with a lot of speed. It was a nice pass and I just had to bury it in." Phoenix made it 3-1 at 9:34 of the second when Boedker tipped Antoine Vermettes wrister from the right faceoff dot and beat Nashville goaltender Marek Mazanec between the pads. "They had a push in the second," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I thought we were deflecting it pretty well and going pretty well until they scored the goal. They got a little momentum off of that." Kennedy got the Coyotes within a goal at 13:00 of the second when he grabbed a loose puck and beat Mazanec for his first of the season. "We just made some mistakes 1-on-1, missed coverages that ended up in the back of our net three times," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We had to get ourselves back into the game before we got embarrassed." Weber added an empty-netter with 34.3 seconds remaining. Weber was just attempting to clear the puck from inside the Nashville zone, but his bank shot caromed perfectly off the boards and into the vacated Phoenix goal. Doan did not return to the bench for the start of the third period. The team announced that he would not return to the game due to a lower-body injury. Notes: Predators RW Patric Hornqvist missed the game with an upper-body injury sustained Saturday night. ... Nashville has not allowed a power-play goal in its past five games. ... Phoenix has been outscored 25-15 in the first period this season. ' ' '