TORONTO -- The Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays open an American League East showdown series on Friday at Rogers Centre with first place at stake.The way the struggling Blue Jays have been playing, they could find the series a battle for survival in a tight race.The Red Sox, on the other hand, are playing better than Toronto and could use the three-game set to vault into a significant lead.Boston has a chance to make a strong start Friday as Rick Porcello (19-3, 3.23 ERA) attempts to become the first 20-game winner in the majors this season.Toronto will counter with Marco Estrada (8-7, 3.56 ERA).The Red Sox took a one-game league in the division over the faltering Blue Jays with their 7-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday while Toronto dropped a 2-0 decision to the New York Yankees on the same night.The Blue Jays were swept in the three-game series at Yankee Stadium and finished a nine-game road trip with a 3-6 mar.We started out doing good in Baltimore (winning two of three) and then the starters got tough on us, Toronto manager John Gibbons said.That scenario does not change for the Blue Jays. Porcello is 4-0 with a 2.52 earned-run average over his past five starts and has won two of his three outings this season against Toronto.The Red Sox have set up their rotation so that David Price, the winning pitcher on Wednesday, could start the final game of the season Oct. 2 at Fenway Park against Toronto.Drew Pomeranz has been given an extra day of rest, allowing Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez and Clay Buchholz to make their respective starts in Toronto on regular rest.The improved Buchholz has enjoyed success against the Blue Jays and that also figured into the rotation alignment.Theres some of that involved, Red Sox manager John Farrell said. And you start to begin to look at styles and matchups. You take all that into account.He said Price will likely make his remaining starts of the season on regular four days of rest.Toronto has a 7-6 lead in the season series with Boston.The Blue Jays bats were cold on the trip to Baltimore, Tampa Bay and New York. Collectively, the team batted .236/.318/.348 with eight home runs and averaged 3.9 runs a contest (35 for the trip) despite scoring first in seven straight games during the trip.Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin, one of the teams better hitters in the second half of the season, tweaked his left knee during an at-bat on Wednesday. He remained in the game and threw out a runner before giving way to a pinch hitter in the ninth.It was kinda something that I just felt when I was swinging, Martin said. It was weird. Just every swing, it was like something was biting me right in that knee. ... It really didnt affect me behind the plate.Despite winning twice against the Blue Jays, Porcello has a 5.21 ERA this season in the three outings and is 1-0 with a 5.68 ERA in two starts at Rogers Centre.In 15 career games, including 14 starts, Porcello is 6-7 with a 5.27 ERA against Toronto. He is 2-5 with a 6.86 ERA in eight career games, including seven starts, at Rogers Centre.Estrada is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA in three starts against Boston this season. He is 4-3 with a 3.73 ERA in eight career games (six starts) against the Red Sox. He is 3-5 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 starts this season at Rogers Centre.Martin said the left knee has been bothering him for a while, even during his hot-hitting surge. He batted .286/.356/.626 in August with nine homers and 22 RBI.It would be no surprise, however, if Dioner Navarro, who was re-acquired late last month in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, was behind the plate for Estrada on Friday. Navarro, who worked well with Estrada last season, caught the right-hander in his last start.Martin has been through stretch runs for postseason spots several times in his career.Its the time of the year where if you struggle, its magnified, Martin said. If youre doing well, everybody gets excited. We had a tough series (in New York). Put it behind us. Keep moving forward. Got a lot of baseball ahead. Lot of games left. Were right in it. Zaino Fjallraven Kanken Mini Gelo Verde/Pesca Rosa 7L . LOUIS -- St. Fjallraven Kanken Saldi . PAUL, Minn. http://www.fjallravenkankenitalia.it/ . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. Zaino Fjallraven Kanken Classic . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Zaino Fjallraven Kanken Big Giallo Caldo 20L . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. The New York Knicks will attempt to achieve something they accomplished only six times last season when they host the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.The Knicks (6-7) will seek to get to .500, a mark they werent able to reach after January 20 last season when they finished 32-50.New York has won three of its last four games and is coming off an impressive 104-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday in which forward Carmelo Anthony poured in a season-high 31 points. With the many additions, including a new backcourt of Derrick Rose and Courtney Lee and center Joakim Noah, Anthony remains the centerpiece of the team.The 32-year-old Anthony leads the Knicks in scoring (22.9 points per game), minutes played (33.1) and field goals made (8.5) and attempted (17.8). He added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals to his resume on Sunday.The attention Anthony continues to draw each game has helped free up his frontcourt mate Kristaps Porzingis, who is averaging 20 points and seven rebounds.Without Melo (Anthony), Porzingis said, it would be so much more difficult (for me) to get 30 points, or whatever. People dont realize that. He draws a lot of attention. Hes the main focus for the other team.That opens stuff for me. Without him it would be much more difficult. Im happy to have aggressive guys like him and (Derrick) Rose so I can get those open looks.Portland (8-7) ended a three-game losing streak with a 129-109 wiin over the Nets in Brooklyn on Sunday.ddddddddddddC.J. McCollum led the attack with 33 points, five assists and five rebounds.Swingman Evan Turner came off the bench to deliver his best performance since signing with Portland as a free agent from Boston. He scored 19 points and made eight of his 12 shots from the floor.I think you need to get in there a little bit, said Turner on finding his spots. One of the biggest things is the consistency of it and talking about it. I think in the past four or five games, I have gotten to my spots. Things just havent fallen, but once again, as a team and myself, were just trying to build consistency.We need everybody clicking in order to win. Right now, were starting to find more chemistry outside our main contributors, whether it be myself and Meyers (Leonard) trying to work the pick and roll -- I think thats the biggest thing.Portland used a 27-9 run in the third quarter to pull away from the Nets.We pretty much took over the game in that quarter on the defensive end and that kind of sparked everything and I think thats what I was the most proud of, said Portland guard Damian Lillard.We had more of a presence on the ball. The first half I think we had trouble controlling the ball and from top to bottom guys were taking it from the perimeter and getting it to the rim. ' ' '
