ARLINGTON, Texas -- Even though Mark Buehrle has struggled for most of the season, the veteran left-hander is still enjoying plenty of success against the Texas Rangers. Buehrle threw seven shutout innings, Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia homered, and the Toronto Blue Jays handed the Rangers their fourth straight loss, 8-0 on Friday night. Buehrle (3-4) improved to 13-5 against the Rangers. He gave up four singles and equaled his season high with seven strikeouts to win his first road game of the year. "I do like pitching in warm weather," Buehrle said. "Ive had some good games against these guys. But I didnt know the record." In his last five starts, the 34-year-old Buehrle is 2-1 with a 1.91 ERA. His ERA has dropped from 6.33 to 4.66 in that span. "Its not like hes come out of nowhere," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "But hes got to be on as good a roll as anybody in baseball." Rasmus hit a three-run shot in the fourth, and Arencibia capped the inning with a solo shot as the Blue Jays won for the sixth time in eight games. The Blue Jays have won four of five against the Rangers this season. "This is what we believed since the beginning that we could do," Toronto designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion said. "So we know what we can do and we want to keep doing it." Texas starter Justin Grimm (5-5) allowed 10 hits and seven runs in 7 2-3 innings. The rookie is 0-2 with an 11.66 ERA in his last three starts. The Rangers have scored only five runs in their four-game slide. It is their first four-game home losing streak since July 8-11, 2010. Texas frustration over the lack of offence boiled over in the sixth inning when shortstop Elvis Andrus was ejected after being called out on strikes by umpire Eric Cooper. Andrus yelled at Cooper from the dugout, and a bat was tossed onto the field after the shortstop was tossed. Craig Gentry and Leonys Martin showed their own frustration by slamming their batting helmets to the ground after outs. Texas manager Ron Washington said before the game his team needed one key hit to get the offence back in gear. The Rangers, however, barely got that chance as just one runner reached second base the entire game. The 2 hour, 8 minute game ended when Lance Berkman grounded into a double play, the Rangers third of the game. It was the quickest game played at Texas since May 23, 2011. "When going through the spells theyre going through, theyre going to get upset." Washington said. "If they dont get upset, that probably means they dont care." Encarnacion led off the fourth with a double, and Adam Lind followed with a single. Rasmus then lined an 0-2 pitch from Grimm over the fence in right field. One out later, Arencibia gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead with a solo shot to left. In the fifth, Encarnacion hit a two-out double off the wall in left and scored on Linds single. That was plenty of support for Buehrle, who threw a no-hitter against the Rangers in 2007. Texas only scoring threat came in the second when Adrian Beltre led off with a single and Nelson Cruz walked. Buehrle got out of trouble when Chris McGuiness bounced into a double play to end the threat. Buehrle had been 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in six road starts this season. "Im in a groove right now," Buehrle said. "Hopefully it wont change." Toronto added to its lead on Melky Cabreras RBI groundout in the seventh. Maicer Izturis had a run-scoring double in the eighth to push the advantage to 7-0. Rajai Davis added a sacrifice fly in the ninth. The Rangers were without infielder Jeff Baker, who missed the game after spraining his right wrist receiving a high five from what he called an "overexcited" teammate before Thursdays game. Baker didnt identify the teammate. The right-handed hitting Baker, who is batting .386 against left-handers, was expected to start against Buehrle. NOTES: Toronto RHP Josh Johnson (blister) had his scheduled start pushed back to Monday. RHP Chien-Ming Wang will instead take the mound Sunday against the Rangers. It will be his second start of the season. ... Texas RHP Joakim Soria threw live batting practice Friday as he recovers from right elbow surgery. Soria is scheduled to throw again Monday. ... Toronto SS Jose Reyes (sprained left ankle) played in a simulated game Friday. He had three plate appearances in two innings and did some sliding drills. Gibbons said Reyes might start a rehab assignment on Monday. ... Texas has scored three runs or fewer in 10 of 13 games in June.Bobby Wood Jersey . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Geoff Cameron Jersey . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. http://www.usasoccerauthority.com/walker-zimmerman-usa-jersey/ . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. DaMarcus Beasley Jersey . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. Erik Palmer-Brown Jersey . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December.Theres a newsreel clip from the 1930s or 40s, where radio and television personality Bill Slater is voicing over black and white footage of baseball teams reporting to spring training. At one point, with a sparkle in his voice, he says, And here come the Chicago Cubs! Its gonna be a hot race this year -- youre not going to win, but you dont know it yet.More than 80 years later, the joke still holds. For so long its been safe to assume that the Cubs are about as likely to win the World Series as Wile E. Coyote is to catch that damn roadrunner. Across all cities and all sports, the Cubs are the most famous losers that ever were.But maybe, just maybe, by the end of this month they wont be losers anymore.Ive spent all season trying not to get ahead of myself. Just two years ago I was celebrating baby steps in the form of a record above .500. Last year the Cubs eked into the playoffs, scored a win over the Pirates and upset the rival Cardinals to advance to the NLCS. It didnt even hurt all that much when they were swept by the Mets. The impossibly young squad was playing with house money. They were at least a year ahead of schedule and their deep postseason run just served to get long-suffering Cubs fans excited for 2016.So this year when they won 24 of their first 30 games, I tried my best to stay in the moment and enjoy the ride without looking too far ahead to what might be.But now that the division has been clinched (by a whopping 17.5 games!), home-field advantage secured and 100 wins achieved, I have no choice but to face the music. Its October and all the home runs, shutouts, walk-offs and wins go out the window. No matter who the Cubs face in Game 1 of the NLDS on Friday night, both teams will need three wins to aadvance.ddddddddddddNow, anything less than a World Series win will be a disappointment. Theres incredible excitement heading into their opening series, but also a tremendous amount of anxiety. Just the other day my stomach dropped when I saw an ad featuring playoff footage from last year, fans going nuts at Wrigley waving rally towels. Oh god. Its here.Id like to rest easy knowing how good theyve been all season, but Ive already seen too many stats arguing that they might be too good. Only twice in the last 25 postseasons has the team with sole possession of baseballs best record gone on to win it all. And of the 15 teams that have won 100 or more games in the regular season since 2000, only one went on to win the World Series. I can feel my heart beating faster as I type this.No matter what happens this October, the Cubs are on the right track. Theyre full of young talent, theyve got a great manager and the mastermind behind it all, Theo Epstein, just signed a five-year contract extension. But even as I try to convince myself that a loss wouldnt be the end of the world, I know deep down theres always next year just doesnt feel right this time around.So whenever my brain starts to fill up with worst-case scenarios, I have to remind myself that this team is not the Cubs of old. We cant saddle these guys with the struggles of their predecessors. There are no curses, just bad outings, sleepy bats and bungled double plays by Alex Gonzalez.This time will be different. This is the year! Im gonna embrace every second of October baseball with confidence and enthusiasm ... and a medic on standby. ' ' '
