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MINNEAPOLIS - What started as a bad day for the Toronto Blue Jays turned into a record-breaking disaster by nights end. Minnesota scored three straight runs on wild pitches by the Torontos Sergio Santos in the eighth inning, when the Twins walked eight times off three relievers in rallying for a 9-5 victory and a sweep of Thursdays day-night doubleheader. R.A. Dickey (1-3) allowed five runs as Minnesota won the opener 7-0. The Twins trailed 5-1 in the fifth of the night game before the Blue Jays pitching staff fell apart. Steve Delabar walked two batters starting the six-run eighth, setting up Santos (0-1) for trouble as manager John Gibbons called for his closer early. Santos walked all three batters he faced, loading the bases with one out when he put on pinch-hitter Trevor Plouffe. The Twins cut the lead to 5-4 when Josmil Pinto came home on a wild pitch. "Im obviously one of the main guys to blame there. I put us in a bad situation," Delabar said. "That was brutal." The collapse by the Blue Jays bullpen only got worse. Ball four by Santos to pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki was wild, too, allowing Chris Herrmann to score and tie the game. Santos threw another wild pitch to Brian Dozier, and pinch-runner Pedro Florimon raced home for the lead. J.A. Happ relieved Santos, who took his first blown save in five chances this year. Happ walked two more and then Jason Kubel broke open the game with a two-run single, the only hit of the inning. Santos, who has been handling the ninth-inning role while Casey Janssen is on the disabled list with a strained back, threw only four strikes in 16 pitches. "Coming into that situation, I had to be perfect," Santos said. "Looking back on it now, I felt like I was trying to be too perfect there. Tough, obviously. When you see the position guys go out and play in this cold weather, so many innings, its just a long day." The eight walks allowed is a team record, breaking the previous mark of seven free passes issued in the first inning on June 21, 1994, against Boston. The previous time a team walked eight times in one inning was April 19, 1996, when Texas did so against Baltimore. The record of 11 was set by the Washington Senators against the New York Yankees on Sept. 11, 1949. Casey Fien (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory. Jose Bautista took over the AL lead with his sixth homer, a solo shot in the fifth inning. Bautista, who also walked and scored in the first, has gone deep 11 times in 14 games at the ballpark the Twins opened in 2010. Thats the same number of homers Joe Mauer has here in 256 games. Toronto starter Dustin McGowan failed to finish the fifth. But all that was forgotten with the wildness that came later in the game. Gibbons said hes never seen anything like what unfolded in the eighth. "We couldnt throw strikes. We didnt pitch good all series," he said. "Its cold, all right. Its cold for both sides. If youre ever going to get to September or October in the playoffs, its going to be cold." Kyle Gibson (3-0) beat the Blue Jays in the first game, the coldest start, 31 degrees, for an outdoor game in Twins history. The young righty breezed through a Toronto lineup that totalled 20 runs in the previous two games. The veteran Dickey didnt handle the cold nearly as well. "Im traditionally a slow starter so hopefully I can get on track next time. The conditions werent a big deal for me today. It wasnt ideal, but it wasnt something where I was coming in trying to soak my fingers in warm water to keep them warm. I just didnt execute when I needed to make a big pitch, and they put good swings on it," said Dickey, whos ERA rose to 6.26. Despite this dud, Dickey has pitched six-plus innings in two of his four starts. After wintry weather forced postponement of Wednesdays game, workers scrambled all morning to melt snow and ice from the seating areas, and the grounds crew dried the warning track. It would have been better for the Blue Jays if the game was snowed out again. "Im sure once we get on the plane well talk about it a little bit," Santos said. "But once we land in Cleveland, its all Cleveland." NOTES: Dickey is 1-3 with a 6.58 ERA in six career starts against the Twins. ... For the first time in 15 games this season, Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera failed to get a hit. ... Bautista is hitting .336 with 20 home runs in 39 career games against the Twins. Cecil Cooper Jersey . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Custom Milwaukee Brewers Jerseys . "I only want to go through this one more time," Crosby said Friday. The 24-year-old captain hasnt played since the symptoms resurfaced following a loss to Boston on Dec. 5. Doctors allowed him to return to full practice on Tuesday and while Crosby is pleased with the way his body is responding he refuses to put on his return. http://www.brewersteamshop.com/Brewers-M...-Kids-Jersey/.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. Eric Sogard Jersey .Lets go back to the Avs, who have become one of the funnest teams to watch in this years playoffs. Keon Broxton Jersey . The Sochi organizing committee said in Fridays statement that the torch relay reached the North Pole on Oct. 19. Russian Polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, who led the mission, lit a special bowl at the North Pole sign.The Philadelphia Flyers returned to the playoffs, for the 17th time in the past 19 seasons, where they were eliminated in seven games by the New York Rangers. Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Flyers team that has challenges going forward, as they try to fit under the salary cap and try to maintain their hold on a playoff spot. New GM Ron Hextall has lots of talent on hand, but has issues to face too. For one thing, they ranked 23rd in puck possession last season and its not easy to sustain success when the other team has the puck so frequently. Perhaps the biggest issue to handle this summer will be what to do with Vincent Lecavalier, last summers big free agent acquisition who fell flat after joining the Flyers. A buyout would be awfully expensive, so maybe the Flyers could find team willing to take on Lecavaliers contract while Philadelphia pays some of the salary. The Flyers have enough skilled players, and young, developing forwards, that they should still be decent on the attack. Then, there is the defence, where they are faced with the prospect of losing their best defenceman, Kimmo Timonen, to retirement, and are paying a lot of money to guys who arent pusing the puck in the right direction when they are on the ice. It might be easier to convince Timonen to play another season, to buy some time, rather than overhauling a defence corps that needs improvement. Even once the lineup is sorted, Hextall looks at a goaltending situation which remains a question mark. Steve Mason is coming off a good year, his best since his rookie year of 2008-2009, but what happens if Mason regresses towards his previous norm? Hextall appears to be taking the long view to his new job. "I like young players and I like draft picks," Hextall told CSN Philly. "My vision is to build this team and to continue to make this team better through the draft. That doesnt mean we wont make trades. At some point if its a good enough player, and weve got to trade a young player, we may look at that. But its not a vision of mine to trade young players for older players." With all of the decisions that Hextall gets to make as a first-time GM, he has a team that will expect to make the postseason again next year, yett hes walking a fine line, fine enough that a few wrong decisions or even a couple of bad breaks could be enough to cost them. Of course, the flip side is that the Flyers are close enough that a few sharp decisions and a few good breaks could put them right back in the playoff mix again next season. The TSN.ca Rating is an efficiency rating based on per-game statistics including goals and assists -- weighted for strength (ie. power play, even, shorthanded) -- Corsi, adjusted for zone starts, quality of competition and quality of teammates, hits, blocked shots, penalty differential and faceoffs. Generally, a replacement-level player is around a 60, a top six forward and top four defenceman will be around 70, stars will be over 80 and MVP candidates could go over 90. Sidney Crosby finished at the top of the 2013-2014 regular season ratings at 87.12. Salary cap information all comes from the indispensable www.capgeek.com. CF% = Corsi percentage (ie. percentage of 5-on-5 shot attempts), via www.extraskater.com. GM/COACHRon Hextrall/Craig Berube Returning Forwards Player Rating GP G A PTS CF% Cap Hit Claude Giroux 79.42 82 28 58 86 53.2% $8.275M Jakub Voracek 72.97 82 23 39 62 55.2% $4.25M Wayne Simmonds 72.45 82 29 31 60 48.5% $3.975M Scott Hartnell 71.05 78 20 32 52 54.3% $4.75M Matt Read 70.55 75 22 18 40 49.9% $3.625M Sean Couturier 66.80 82 13 26 39 49.1% $1.75M Vincent Lecavalier 65.68 69 20 17 37 45.3% $4.5M Michael Raffl 62.99 68 9 13 22 52.6% $1.1M Zac Rinaldo 55.14 67 2 2 4 46.4% $750K Jay Rosehill 54.71 34 2 0 2 44.1% $675K Free Agent Forwards Player Rating GP G A PTS CF% Class 13-14 Cap Hit Brayden Schenn 66.46 82 20 21 41 47.9% RFA $3.11M Steve Downie 62.47 62 4 20 24 49.6% UFA $2.65M Adam Hall 57.58 80 4 5 9 44.0% UFA $600K After having finger surgery last August, it turned out that Claude Giroux wasnt in peak form to open the season, and he started out with no goals and seven assists in the first 15 games, but Giroux was a force after that, scoring 79 points in 67 games the rest of the way. Hes one of the premier power play point producers in the league and no one has scored more total points in the past four seasons. Jakub Voracek has emerged as a real offensive threat, a solid complement to Giroux on Philadelphias top line. Over the past two seasons, Voracek ranks 23rd with 108 points and hes a skilled, big winger that can be difficult to remove from the puck. Voracek, 24, also happens to be hitting his prime. Coming off a career year, Wayne Simmonds had career-highs in goals (29), assists (31) and points (60), while playing a career-high 16:46 per game. Hes missed nine games, total, in six NHL seasons and only two players (Alex Ovechkin, James Neal) have more than Simmonds 32 power play goals over the past three seasons. Hes not an ideal possession player, but contributes plenty otherwise. A solid two-way player who plays tough minutes, against quality opposition with more defensive zone starts, Matt Read has also scored 57 goals in three seasons and played a career-high 18:48 last season. Hes valuable because he can play a variety of different roles and ranked third among Philadelphia forwards in ice time per game. Read frequently rides shotgun with Sean Couturier, the 21-year-old who plays a shutdown role. He scored a career-high 39 points last season, but only three of those points came on the power play, so there is potential for more offensive production if he is given the opportunity. He had 96 points in each of his last two junior seasons and scored 28 points in 31 AHL games as a 20-year-old, so the pedigree is there for Couturier to take on a bigger role offensively, if he gets the chance. Vincent Lecavaliers game went off a cliff last season. He had poor possession numbers, despite offensive zone starts and relatively easy quality of opposition; 37 points in 69 games was his lowest points per game since 2001-2002 and he ended up playing 15:11 per game, his lowest time on ice since his rookie year, 1998-1999. Hes still under contract for four more seasons which is more than a little problematic for a 34-year-old coming off a bad year. Austrian winger Michael Raffl made a surprising jump to the NHL, almost directly from Leksands in Swedens second tier, and while his production was modest, he had respectable possession stats, which makes him a reasonable option as a depth forward. Hes 25 and may not have enough offensive upside to fit higher on the depth chart. Hes a physical presence on the fourth line, but Zac Rinaldo gets buried in possession terms, and has seven goals and 470 penalty minutes in 165 career games. Among those lucky few who play enough to register at least 400 penalty minutes over the past three seasons, Rinaldos production is on the low end. Jay Rosehill has fought 14 times in 45 games over the past two seasons, so hes a heavyweight face-puncher, if thats required. Hes also put up eight points in 117 career games and has been overmatched when it comes to puck possession, which is why he ends up as a part-time player. Progress has been gradual for Brayden Schenn, who did set career-highs with 20 goals and 41 points last season, but he also had poor possession stats despite facing relatively easy competition. It may be fair to wonder whether Schenn and Couturier are blossoming as effectively as possible, as they both compete for playing time down the middle behind Giroux. As the Flyers look to improve long-term, yet also under some financial constraints, they could look to free agent wingers like Mason Raymond, Benoit Pouliot or Radim Vrbata as possibilities to fit in a scoring role without necessarily breaking the bank. Returning Defence Player Rating GP G A PTS CF% Cap Hit Mark Streit 70.79 82 10 34 44 50.4% $5.25M Andrew MacDonald 64.68 82 4 24 28 44.5% $5.0M Braydon Coburn 63.48 82 5 12 17 51.1% $4.5M Nicklas Grossman 61.23 78 1 13 14 47.2% $3.5M Luke Schenn 59.95 79 4 8 12 47.7% $3.6M Chris Pronger $4.941M Free Agent Defence Player Rating GP G A PTS CF% Class 13-14 Cap Hit Kimmo Timonen 69.dddddddddddd12 77 6 29 35 55.0% UFA $6.0M Erik Gustafsson 65.67 31 2 8 10 48.3% RFA $1.0M Hal Gill 53.39 6 0 0 0 47.6% UFA $700K In the past seven seasons, there have been four defencemen to produce at least five 40-point seasons and one of them is Mark Streit, who missed one full season (2010-2011) in that span as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Streit may not be driving play, but the Flyers can do worse than getting respectable possession numbers to go along with his offensive production. Its difficult to imagine what the Flyers saw from Andrew MacDonald in 19 games to warrant a six-year, $30-million contract extension, because MacDonald has been a puck possession nightmare, whose with-or-without-you stats show that nearly everyone fares better without him. There has been some evidence that his neutral zone defence is an issue, and that would have to improve in order to give MacDonalds new contract some value. Braydon Coburn hasnt materialized offensively the way that might have been expected after a 36-point season in 2007-2008 but, as a big guy who can skate and move the puck, hes been able to hold his own in a shutdown role. The question going forward may be just how effective Coburn could be if Kimmo Timonen doesnt return. Its pretty clear that, over time, Coburn has been better with Timonen. Stay-at-home defender Nicklas Grossman scored a career-high 14 points last season and that indicates certain limitations to his game, the same that are inherent to many stay-at-home defensive defencemen. Grossman gets eaten alive in relative possession terms, yet he played more last season (1491 minutes) than he had in any previous season. This is the disconnect that comes between old-school coaching and analytics that emphasize positive shot differentials. After a decent showing in his first (lockout-shortened) season in Philly, Luke Schenns game regressed dramatically. In six NHL seasons, Schenn has alternated between having seasons with at least 21 minutes of ice time per game seasons in which hes played fewer than 17 minutes per game. Last season saw him play 16:32 per game and his per-game scoring rate (0.15 points per game) was the lowest of his career. Even with that reduced ice time, Schenn ranked third among defencemen with 260 hits last season, which means he didnt have the puck that much, but the Flyers may need Schenn to handle a bigger role again in the future. There are some holes on the Philadelphia defence. Maybe it was part of the reason that they were so quick to sign MacDonald to an extension. A mobile, undersized defenceman, Erik Gustafsson couldnt earn a regular spot on the Flyers blueline and made the decision to sign in the KHL for next season. Chris Pronger, while on the payroll, hasnt played since November 19, 2012 and isnt going to play again. 39-year-old Kimmo Timonen could be on his way to retirement, but it wouldnt be a surprise to see the Flyers or another team try to convince him to keep playing. Timonen has been a stalwart on the Flyers blueline, putting up strong possession numbers while facing top-tier opposition. If he really is going to leave, that would create a significant hole. Philadelphia could use a quality addition on defence even if Timonen returns, so if Timonen leaves, might as well make it two. Free agents Sami Salo, Anton Stralman or Raphael Diaz might help and taking a shot at top AHL defenceman T.J. Brennan (from nearby Willingboro, NJ) might improve the Flyers ability to move the puck from the back end. Returning Goaltender Player Rating GP W L OTL GAA SV% Cap Hit Steve Mason 73.37 61 33 18 7 2.50 .917 $4.1M Free Agent Goaltender Player Rating GP W L OTL GAA SV% Class 13-14 Cap Hit Ray Emery 64.77 28 9 12 2 2.96 .903 UFA $1.65M Has 26-year-old Steve Mason found what hes been looking for in Philadelphia? In four-plus seasons with Columbus, Mason had a .903 save percentage, and was one of the worst starting goaltenders in the league over that time. But, in 68 games with the Flyers, Mason has a .920 save percentage. His real value may be some point in between, but having a point in between counts as progress. Should the Flyers lose Ray Emery to free agency, they will need to find a suitable backup for Mason. How much the Flyers will be willing to spend will likely depend on cap space, but a veteran with some measure of reliability would be ideal. If not, why not take a chance on Alex Stalock, a 26-year-old who was very good in 24 games for San Jose last season? Top Prospects Player Pos. Team/League Stats Scott Laughton C Oshawa (OHL) 40-47-87, +12, 54 GP Samuel Morin D Rimouski (QMJHL) 7-24-31, +12, 54 GP Shayne Gostisbehere D Union (ECAC) 9-25-34, +33, 42 GP Nick Cousins C Adirondack (AHL) 11-18-29, -9, 74 GP Mark Alt D Adirondack (AHL) 4-22-26, -16, 75 GP Anthony Stolarz G London (OHL) 2.52 GAA, .926 SV%, 35 GP Robert Hagg D Modo Ornskoldsvik (SHL) 1-5-6, even, 50 GP Jason Akeson RW Adirondack (AHL) 24-40-64, -17, 70 GP Tye McGinn LW Adirondack (AHL) 20-15-35, -20, 54 GP Taylor Leier LW Portland (WHL) 37-42-79, +48, 62 GP Petr Straka RW Adirondack (AHL) 9-18-27, -4, 60 GP Brandon Manning D Adirondack (AHL) 8-23-31, -24, 73 GP Picked 20th overall in 2012, Scott Laughton has already played a handful of games for the Flyers, and the gritty forward had a strong season in the Ontario Hockey League. He should be able to challenge for a job next season. The 11th pick last summer, Samuel Morin is a towering blueliner who could become an intimidating presence, but he skates well for his size and has improving puck skills. A third-round pick of the Flyers in 2012, Shayne Gostisbehere finished an impressive junior campaign with national-champion Union College. Hes not big, but Gostisbehere can skate, move the puck and work the point on the power play. Taken in the third round in 2011, Nick Cousins is a two-way centre who went through a learning process in his first pro season. Hell need to get stronger and continue to improve if hes going to take the next step, but the 20-year-old can play a feisty game that should endear him to the Flyers. Acquired from Carolina in January, 2013, Mark Alt is defenceman with good size and physical game who had a solid first pro season, during which he saw power play time and played a big role in the AHL. A second-round pick in 2012, Anthony Stolarz has posted a .924 save percentage in 55 OHL games since leaving Nebraska-Omaha. At 6-foot-6, Stolarz has prototypical size, yet hes a 20-year-old goaltender so its likely to take some time before hes ready to mount a challenge for an NHL job. Drafted in the second round last summer, Robert Hagg is a steady defensive defenceman who joined Adirondack late last season after a solid season in the Swedish Hockey League. He could use time to develop, but Hagg holds promise as a well-rounded blueliner. Undrafted winger Jason Akeson has forced his way into consideration for a spot with the Flyers, after scoring 172 points in 208 AHL games over the past three seasons. He took a regular spot in the Flyers top nine in the first round of the playoffs, and had respectable possession stats to show for it. Power forward Tye McGinn was a fourth-round pick in 2010. Hes scored seven goals and 10 points in 36 NHL games since, and had 34 goals and 61 points in 100 AHL games over the past couple seasons. A fourth-round pick in 2012, Taylor Leier is a skilled two-way forward who plays on a powerhouse Portland team and has improved steadily over three WHL seasons. Signed as a free agent after he failed to come to terms with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Petr Straka has some offensive upside and was okay in his first pro season. Hell need to produce more to warrant further promotion. Undrafted out of the Western Hockey League, Brandon Manning is making it hard to ignore his contributions, racking up penalty minutes to go with improving point totals. Flyers advanced stats and player usage chart from Extra Skater DRAFT17th - Dylan Larkin, Alex Tuch, Josh Ho-Sang. FREE AGENCYAccording to www.capgeek.com, the Flyers have approximately $59.6M committed to the 2014-2015 salary cap for 16 players. Check out my possible Flyers lineup for next season on Cap Geek here. Needs: One top nine forward, depth forwards, one top pair defenceman, depth defencemen, backup goaltender.What I said the Flyers needed last year: One top six forward, one top four defenceman, goaltender.They added: Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Raffl, Mark Streit, Ray Emery. TRADE MARKETVincent Lecavalier, Brayden Schenn, Luke Schenn, Nicklas Grossman. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Wholesale USA Soccer Jerseys discount uswnt jersey Wholesale AC Milan Jerseys Wholesale Arsenal Jerseys Wholesale A.S. 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