TORONTO - Brett Lawrie pounded fist into glove after his third inning throwing error allowed the eventual winning run to score in Saturdays 4-3 Blue Jays loss to Tampa Bay, a man clearly frustrated about a defensive miscue that cost his club an inning-ending double play. Perhaps he was too caught up in the moment to hear the smattering of boos coming from a crowd of more than 40,000 fans at Rogers Centre. These are fans who, like Lawrie and the rest of his teammates, are disappointed by the Jays 45-51 record. They are tired of the miscues, fed up with the spotty hitting and the inconsistent pitching and the shoddy defence. Enough is enough and someone must hear about it. On Saturday, it was Lawrie. Fair game. Fans pay good money to attend and clearly many bought ticket packages months ago figuring theyd be watching a Jays-Rays series with much on the line – for both teams. Instead, the home club is teetering on the abyss while the low-budget folks from Tampa Bay soar into the second half. Yes, Lawries antics can be tiresome. The death stare he shot Adam Lind and Luis Rivera on May 26, his helmet-tossing episode after being rung up a year earlier. Other instances, too. It adds up. But maybe, just maybe, it is worth examining this 23-year-olds season. A dash of context mixed with sober perspective never hurt anyone. Oh, and lets pause for a moment of emphasis on the age: 23. Back to the beginning. Lawrie was injured on March 5. He strained his oblique playing for Team Canada in a World Baseball Classic tune-up game against the Cincinnati Reds. His side bothered him when he swung and felt even worse as he moved side-to-side at third base. He made the decision, the mature decision, based on his experience with a similar injury last season to remove himself from the game. Its a good thing he did. Had Lawrie tried to battle through the pain, what became a five-week absence likely would have been more. Following a setback, which delayed his return, Lawrie began a rehabilitation assignment roughly around the same time the Blue Jays departed on the first road trip of the season – to Detroit and Kansas City. Except the third baseman wasnt playing third base. He was playing second base. He did so for two games at Single-A Dunedin. Its a position Lawrie hadnt played since 2010, when he appeared in 131 games there for Milwaukees Double-A affiliate in Huntsville. Okay, fine, the Blue Jays were considering a position switch. No problem, right? Except Jose Reyes rolled his ankle on April 12 against the Royals and Munenori Kawasaki was called up and there appeared to be – correction, there was – a huge void on the left side of the Jays infield. So Lawrie gets recalled in time to play the White Sox on April 16. Its far sooner than planned and both general manager Alex Anthopoulos and manager John Gibbons have admitted as much. Lawrie, robbed of proper spring training by his own injury and then robbed by Reyes injury of appropriate minor-league rehab time, struggled badly at the plate. When he twisted his ankle, not a dissimilar injury to Reyes, on May 27, Lawries slash line was .209/.268/.374. Lawrie hurt his ankle sliding into second base. Initially, he attempted to stay in that game against the Braves, removing himself pitches later when his scamper to third on a ground ball quickly became a hobbling limp. Post-game, he addressed the media and speculated he could play the next day. There was no reason to disbelieve Lawrie. He was walking normally. Then, as he slept, the ankle swelled. A day turned into days turned into weeks. There wasnt so much a setback as there was a stalling of the healing process. Lawrie was placed in a walking boot. Five more weeks, this time all in-season, down the tubes. Eventually, in late June, another minor-league rehabilitation assignment began. This time, Lawrie wouldnt be rushed. They said hed get his at-bats and he did. Hed get his reps at third base. Hed return comfortable, his timing down, ready to contribute in the second half. But after seven of those minor-league games, featuring Single-A stops in Dunedin and Lansing and a three-night Double-A appearance with New Hampshire, Lawrie went to play with the Triple-A Bisons. He was informed, upon his arrival in Buffalo, that he would not be playing third base. Instead, he would be playing second. Three games later, Lawrie was activated from the disabled list and was starting for the Blue Jays – at second base – in a key divisional game in Baltimore. Lawrie says he "just needs his reps" at second base. Hes correct and hes getting them, now, at the major league level and at a major league pace. He hasnt forgotten how to play the position. He does, however, need time to remind himself how. Oh, and while hes doing that, hes also working on his offensive approach, which is an ongoing process as hitting coach Chad Mottola tries to slow down all the moving parts to his swing. All of this to say Lawrie isnt perfect. If, for a moment, you thought he was, dont blame him. Blame the marketing campaign. Is there room for improvement in his game? Yes. Does Lawrie have some maturing to do? Yes. Is he, on occasion, too intense for his own good? Maybe, but at least he doesnt need to be kicked in the rear to get himself amped up. Can his shortcomings be corrected or at least improved upon? Yes. Do you give up on a player with Lawries type of athletic gifts? No. Can you boo him? Yes. Should you boo him? Up to you. But if you do, do so with perspective. After all, Lawries only 23. Custom Packers Jersey China . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Cheap Packers Jerseys . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. http://www.custompackersjersey.com/custom-rashan-gary-jersey-large-72r.html . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. Authentic Custom Packers Jersey . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. Rashan Gary Jersey Large . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. GLASGOW, Scotland -- The World Anti-Doping Agency calls its ongoing project to revamp its structure and load up with increased regulatory punch The Way Forward, but that path will continue to meander through the past for at least a little while longer.?At Sundays WADA Foundation Board meeting, deputy director general Rob Koehler called for Russian sports officials to acknowledge the countrys pervasive, government-enabled doping culture, calling that acceptance vital to being fully welcomed back to global competition.Vitaly Smirnov, appointed by Russian president Vladimir Putin to bring the countrys sports establishment back into good graces, said that admission would never come. We know the [doping] system did not exist, he said. Detailing his 35 years in high-level positions in elite sport dating back to the Soviet era, he said nothing nefarious could have happened without his approval.So there. That non-meeting of the minds sums up where Olympic sport has been stalled for years, without public accountability or consequences for anyone other than the athletes themselves.?Individual athletes were held to the highest standard, punished even if they inadvertently ingested a banned substance. Yet the systems that surrounded them could be dysfunctional or corroded and avoid paying much of a price. WADA limited itself to suspending labs and flunking national anti-doping agencies for incompetence, but as athletes from those countries kept showing up at the start line, it became increasingly clear that a system created 16 years ago to harmonize rules across borders harbored deep inequities in testing and enforcement.?WADA has launched a salvo to try to break the stalemate, saying it can and should regulate any entities that sign its code, including national Olympic committees and international sports federations. In a new, graduated set of sanctions presented publicly Sunday for the first time, WADA would impose oversight, fines and -- as a last, drastic resort -- the threat of an Olympic ban in cases where it finds sustained, deliberate sabotage of its rules.?Canadas Rene Bouchard, the veteran government administrator who led the WADA committee that came up with the new standards, called them the opposite of political, as far as Im concerned -- its open, its known. The draft will now undergo legal review, but Bouchard and others made it clear they want to put it into practice as soon as possible.?Sterner sanctions could gain impetus next month if, as expected, the conclusion of law professor Richard McLarens investigation adds to the already considerable evidence that Russian doping was state-sponsored. Part II of his report is slated to be released Dec. 9.?Joseph de Pencier, CEO of the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations, predicted the report would uncover more skulduggery in a way thats very detailed and cant be dismissed as allegations. ?It sure would be nice to see some contrition, he said of Russias sports establishment.?But scrutiny of WADAs plans will be intense and resistance is inevitable. Potential collateral damage to innocent athletes will be a hard needle to thread.dddddddddddd The International Olympic Committee, which has commissioned its own investigation of Russia, will almost certainly resist encroachment on its turf and its traditional role as sole gatekeeper for its flagship event. That was amply demonstrated last summer when it steamrolled WADAs objections and made most Russian athletes eligible for the Rio 2016 Games.?In recent months, the IOC has oscillated between pledging support to WADA and attacking it. Beckie Scott, the retired Olympic champion cross-country skier and chair of WADAs Athlete Committee, labeled those broadsides an effort to destabilize and undermine WADA ... the only fight that should be taking place is the fight for clean sport.?The feud is complex because its familial. The overlap between the two bureaucracies is written into WADAs structure and embodied in its current president, IOC member Craig Reedie, who was elected unopposed for another three-year term Sunday. If WADA succeeds in extending its regulatory reach, the potential conflicts of interest could multiply. Sunday, the agency committed to forming a working group that will review governance and ethical standards.?Max Cobb, president and CEO of the U.S. Biathlon Association, said he would prefer to see IOC members excluded from WADA executive positions. Like many whose sports have been dented by doping, Cobb, who attended Sundays meeting as an observer, is impatient with the infighting and wants to see concrete progress. You wonder whether theres a desire to really resolve this, or if its just turf wars and pleasantries being exchanged, he said.?WADA is bidding to expand its jurisdiction and authority at perhaps the most demanding and transitional time in its history. Many of the governments that fund it, the national anti-doping agencies that implement its rules, and the athletes who submit to them have raised their voices and are putting pressure on the agency to assert itself.?The agencys to-do list includes figuring out how to grow its budget to match its bigger ambitions, including a beefed-up investigative unit; drawing up a template for an independent global testing entity; and implementing a new policy for encouraging and rewarding whistleblowers. Cyberattacks by Russian hackers exposed athletes medical information by leaking therapeutic use exemption documents this year -- payback for WADAs stance that Russia should be banned from Rio -- and forced a $200,000 IT upgrade.?The events that propelled WADA to this juncture may seem to hark back to the Cold War, but Edwin Moses, the double Olympic hurdles champion and chairman of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency board, balks at too simplistic a narrative for the sides that have been taken.?Me being an American has nothing to do with it, he said of his support for a stronger WADA. I dont want your daughter, your son, under the impression they have to take drugs to compete. Thats corrupt. And that right is not just for American athletes. ' ' '
