TORONTO - It appears Mark DeRosa will finish his 16th major league season with the Toronto Blue Jays, the club valuing his experience and leadership so much it wouldnt lose him to a waiver claim. Air Force 1 Red Cheap . “Hes helped stabilize some things” said manager John Gibbons. “I know hes really helped Lawrie. Hes just that proven vet that everybody bounces things off of. Hes got the right things to say at the right time. Its been a frustrating year but, you know, hes helped stabilize some things.” According to numerous reports, DeRosa was claimed on revocable waivers on Wednesday. A routine paper move, had the player cleared the Blue Jays would have been free to trade DeRosa at any point in August or September. Once DeRosa was claimed, the Jays had a decision to make: deal or no deal with the selecting club. CBS Sports reported the team which took DeRosa was, like the Blue Jays, under .500, therefore not increasing the veterans likelihood of competing in the playoffs. DeRosa has a World Series ring as a member of the 2010 San Francisco Giants but, due to injury, he doesnt consider himself a contributor to the championship. The Blue Jays hold an option on DeRosa for 2014 for $750,000. The 38-year-old doesnt yet know whether hell play next season. “I go back and forth on it everyday,” said DeRosa. “I think my family will play a huge part in that. Thats something, in the offseason, well sit down and discuss as a family. Ive been gone for a long time and my wife always has the line, ‘Do you want to raise 24 men or do you want to raise your own son? A little bit below the belt for her to tell me those things but I understand wholeheartedly. Itll be a family decision but I still think I can compete.” DeRosa has proven to himself he can still play. Coming off three down seasons thanks to two surgeries to repair a torn tendon sheath in his wrist, the first of which was botched, DeRosa knew in spring training he had some pop back in his bat. He was driving the ball during batting practice, something he couldnt do during the worst days of his injury. This season, afforded more of an opportunity to play than he anticipated, hes hit seven home runs and posted an OPS of .769, which is above his career average. “Im appreciative of the way Gibby has used me,” said DeRosa. “I dont think coming out of spring training I was expecting or he was expecting to use me as much as he has. Im glad Ive changed that opinion. I know the team has had something to do with that and our struggles have given me more opportunity to play. Hes handled me really great. Hes kept me fresh. Hes kept me involved. The way hes handled me has been perfect.” More valuable than his numbers is DeRosas ability to connect with anyone in the clubhouse. Lawrie tops the list and the two have shared neighbouring locker stalls since the start of spring training. Theyve golfed together, can be seen arriving to visiting ballparks together, and have struck up a friendship despite a 15-year age difference. “Hes been tremendous,” said Lawrie, who at 23 is the mentee to DeRosas mentor. “What a good dude. I havent met anybody for that fact, in baseball, thats been around the game like him. His personality is exactly like mine. Hes just one of the guys. He has good energy. He comes to the clubhouse everyday with a smile, brings a good attitude. Hes just been around the game a long time. Hes been to 11 postseasons. Hes been in the game for 14, 15 years. There are not a lot of guys that have been around like he has and have gone to the extent, hes won a World Series and hes done all these things and he knows what it takes to win. He knows what it takes to be in the big leagues for a long, extended period of time and thats beneficial to me.” “Being more of a big brother for him,” said DeRosa of his responsibility toward Lawrie. “Letting him vent, letting him say what he needs to say and then picking and choosing what battles to fight with him. You dont just want to flood a guy with a million things to think about. I think with him its got to be in steps but he has to understand the importance of being accountable, being in the right place at the right time, being consistent.” Lawrie has touched nerves this season, perhaps no more so than when he stared down Adam Lind and third base coach Luis Rivera when Lind didnt score on a fly ball during a June 22 game against Baltimore. DeRosa said then, and repeats now, that Lawrie has a unique intensity which comes from a good place even if, on occasion, its appearance is ugly. As to the fundamentals of the game, DeRosas spoken to Lawrie about how the intensity, the constant movement, can be beneficial on defence but ineffective in the batters box. Hes been persistent in delivering the message, as well as others, and he believes its starting to sink in. When sharing his wisdom, hes quick to remind teammates hes passing along information from the greats with whom hes played; the likes of Albert Pujols, Chipper Jones and Gary Sheffield. DeRosa is someone players, and even the manager, can confide in. “I talk to him about different things, no question,” said Gibbons. “The thing about DeRo, hes a levelheaded guy. I mean, hes highly intelligent and hes been around, man. Hes been around winners his whole life, his whole career.” “He tells you straight up, hes not going to lie to you,” said Lawrie. “He tells you everything thats on his mind and says Im going to be honest with you. I say, go ahead and shoot me with it because thats how I am, I like to know the truth, I like to know whats on his mind and obviously everyone elses but for myself, a guy thats 38-years-old thats been around the game for this long and done everything hes done, its a lot of fun for myself.” DeRosa is a stand-up guy, good to his teammates, good to his coaches, good to those around the team. An Ivy Leaguer, he quarterbacked Penns football team for three seasons in the mid-1990s, DeRosa is also intelligent and approachable on all matters of the game. Hell play again in 2014 if he gets the blessing of his wife and two children and if he feels like going through the rigours of another offseason of training. Dont mistake the decision hell make, whatever it is, for his view of the Blue Jays. “I still believe in the talent in this room,” he said. “I know it hasnt jelled for whatever reason. There are a ton of reasons why it hasnt worked from an offensive standpoint and a pitching standpoint, a defensive standpoint. I still believe that this team is capable of great things with a couple of tweaks, a couple of adjustments.” Cheap Air Force 1 Mens . The Swiss won on the fastest run-time tiebreaker after the four-racer teams tied 2-2. Wendy Holdener and Reto Schmidiger won their final heats against Julia Mancuso and Tim Jitloff, respectively. Sf Af1 Store . It was considered unlikely that Rielly would be loaned to Canada for the tournament, which begins Dec. 26 in Malmo, Sweden, though a stretch of three straight games in the press box made it something of a debate. http://www.airforce1storesale.com/fake-air-force-1-grey-outlet.html . Chelsea ripped apart Hull inside 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge, with the early goals from Oscar and Frank Lampard securing a 2-0 victory. While Lampard had earlier missed a penalty, Roberto Soldado had no such trouble from the spot for Tottenham, scoring on his debut to clinch a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - With their captain under fire and their season on the brink of collapse, the Pittsburgh Penguins responded with a crackling show of force. Of course, having the New York Rangers look like a team only too happy to get back home with a split helped. Kris Letang broke a scoreless tie in the second period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for his franchise-record seventh playoff shutout to lift the Penguins to a 3-0 victory on Sunday night, tying the second-round series one game apiece. Letangs 15th career postseason goal matched Larry Murphys record for Penguins defensemen. Jussi Jokinen scored during a third-period power play, and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who pushed around the suddenly weary Rangers. Fleury earned his 50th career playoff victory. "I thought to a man our players were extremely good all night," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "It was a huge win for us." Game 3 is Monday night in New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for New York, but the Rangers mustered little offense while playing their fourth game in six days. Not that coach Alain Vigneault wanted to blame fatigue for a listless performance. "Did my goaltender look tired? He was on top of his game," Vigneault said. "If hes not tired, nobody else should be." The Rangers have lost eight straight Game 2s and have dropped 13 consecutive games when leading in a series. They had their chances to jump ahead early, only to be let down again by an anemic power play. Three times in the first 10 minutes a Penguins player skated to the penalty box, and three times the Rangers spent two minutes milling about as though they were killing time before getting back to even strength. The Rangers finished 0 for 4 with the man advantage and havent scored the last 29 times theyve had an extra skater on the ice. "It could have given us some momentum, and we didnt finish," Vigneault said. "Ive got to find the right trigger points here to make it work. Well spend the night trying to figure it out." Only Lundqvist seemed interested in sending the Rangers back to New York with a commanding 2-0 lead. He was typically brilliant, particularly when Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was on the ice. The NHLs leading scorer and Hart Trophy finalist is in the midst of a lengthy postseason scoring funk. He began the night without a goal in 12 straight playoff gaames, a span that included 327 shifts and 275 minutes of ice time. Air Force 1 White Store Sale. Bylsma insisted early Sunday that he anticipated seeing Crosby at his "best" with the season possibly at stake. Though Crosby failed to score, it was the only thing he didnt do. For the first time in weeks, he looked like himself. Relentless at both ends of the ice, the jump in his game that was missing at times during a listless performance in Game 1 returned. "To see Sid play like that tonight was really inspiring for everybody in our dressing room," Letang said. "He was really dangerous." Crosby finished with a game-high six shots. During one stretch at the end of the first period he produced a pair of scoring opportunities, including a nifty deke around two defenders, before he ripped a wrist shot that just missed the net. Each time Crosby appeared poised to end the drought, Lundqvist found a way to get a piece of the puck. He made a sprawling leg save on a tip-in attempt by Crosby, though Lundqvist wasnt so fortunate the next time the Penguins came at him. Chris Kunitz began a breakout by feeding Malkin at the New York blue line. Malkin slipped the puck over to Letang, who flipped it toward the net. Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi dived headfirst to block the attempted pass to Kunitz, but the puck deflected off Girardis stick and past a surprised Lundqvist to give Pittsburgh the lead. "They just spent a lot of time in our own end," Lundqvist said. "That was the biggest difference." Fleury had little problem letting the one-goal advantage stand up. The Rangers rarely challenged him over the final 30 minutes, and Jokinen and Malkin removed any remaining drama by scoring twice in the last 5 minutes. Jokinen banged in a rebound off a shot by James Neal for his fourth goal of the playoffs with 3:30 remaining. Malkin beat two Rangers to tap in an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left as the Penguins exhaled. "Now the series is tied 1-1, and two games in their building," Jokinen said. "Im sure theyre going to be better. We need to keep playing the way were playing." NOTES: Lundqvist made his 75th career playoff appearance. He will tie Mike Richters club record for games played if he starts, as expected, on Monday night. ... Pittsburgh D Brooks Orpik missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... The Penguins are 2-6 in their last eight Game 2s. ' ' '