, I have to be ready by this summer," he said. Whether all this lea

BOSTON – Josh Johnson wasnt looking for excuses. Cheap Basketball Jerseys . "No," replied Johnson when asked if he felt he was getting squeezed by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman early in Fridays 7-5 loss to the Red Sox. "I mean, thats part of the game. I dont ever complain about the calls or anything like that." Johnsons performance of 3 1/3 innings, five earned runs on eight hits and a whopping 90 pitches, had manager John Gibbons rolling through his bullpen once again. "We got beat up in the rotation again," said Gibbons. "That makes it tough." Johnsons evening of hard labour came one night after Chien-Ming Wang was shelled for seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings. The math wont come up Blue Jays here: the bullpens been taxed for 11 innings of work in 24 hours. "We battled to come back and tie it," said Gibbons, crediting his offence for overcoming an early 5-0 deficit. "They dropped two on us, again, real quick. But the bullpen cant be perfect every night, theyve been pitching so well. It starts with the starter and theyve been taking it to us pretty good." Toronto chipped away with three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and the tying run in the seventh on Edwin Encarnacions club-leading 23rd home run. In the bottom half, Neil Wagner was chased from the game after back to back singles by Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia, both of whom would later come around to score, breaking the 5-5 logjam. It would have been inconceivable in spring training to consider the notion of Johnson having but one win as a Blue Jay at the halfway point of the season. But, due in part to injury and in part to inconsistency when available, the lone victory is all Johnson has to show for his time in Toronto. The Blue Jays werent taking the bait on the subject of Dreckman, who appeared to have a fluctuating strike zone early in the ball game, one that benefitted Bostons rookie starter, Allen Webster. On the fourth pitch of the game, with the count 2-1, Jose Reyes took a second strike that, according to the Red Soxs TV rightholders "K-Box," was slightly off the outside corner of the plate. A fair call, if its made consistently and for both pitchers. It wasnt. Johnson was forced to grind through deep count strikeouts of Jacoby Ellsbury and Victorino in the first. In both at-bats, Johnson was just off the outside corner with fastballs similar to Websters versus Reyes. Those pitches were called balls. In the second, Johnson battled Mike Napoli to a full count but lost him to a walk, then fell behind 2-1 to left-hand hitting Daniel Nava on another close pitch. Nava would single, both he and Napoli would later score and the Red Sox were off to the races. Johnson struggled. He didnt pitch well enough to win. To his credit, he didnt make excuses when offered an opportunity to do so. That said, its reasonable to argue Johnson was forced to pitch a different game than Webster, a game which required him to cut more of the plate with his pitches. Bostons offence, chalk full of notoriously patient hitters, sat on ready made fastballs and sliders which didnt have their customary break. It added up to a tough night. Toronto dropped to 1-4 on the road trip and now the best the Jays can hope for this weekend is a split of this series at Fenway Park. ROGERS LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK Esmil Rogers gets the start in Saturdays late afternoon game against the Red Sox. Hes looking to bounce back after taking the loss in a 4-1 defeat on Monday in Tampa Bay. "I dont try to worry about nothing," said Rogers. "Im just trying to go into the game like the same as I do right now. The confidence I lost was just one inning, the third inning thats it, the other innings it was great. Ive just got to get everything back and get ready for tomorrow." In four starts since taking the rotation spot of the injured Brandon Morrow (forearm strain), Rogers is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA. Left-hander Felix Doubront (4-3, 4.33) is scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox. KAWASAKI RETURNS Munenori Kawasaki returned to the Blue Jays clubhouse after a two-day stop with Triple-A Buffalo. He didnt miss a beat with the media. "Good to see you," he said. As for his brief time in the minor leagues: "Buffalo," he said. "I like Buffalo teammates. Good. Everybody nice guy. I appreciate it. Thank you very much." Asked what he hoped to accomplish this go-around: "I cant speak English." The affable 32-year-old embraced teammates upon arriving in the clubhouse. MILLER PASSES AWAY The Blue Jays are mourning the death of pitcher Justin Miller, a member of the 2002, 2004 and 2005 teams. Miller, 35, was found dead at his home in Palm Harbor, Florida. No cause of death has been released. Miller had a career 24-14 record with a 4.82 ERA over 216 appearances, 33 starts. He had appeared most recently for the Dodgers in 2010. Wholesale NBA Jerseys China .The Canadiens will visit the Boston Bruins at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on New Years Day 2016, taking hockeys oldest rivalry outside.It was special in 2010 just to be there with the history behind Fenway Park and all that, Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron said. NFL Jerseys Cheap China . The 20-year-old Inoue landed a series of combinations and the bout was stopped 2 minutes, 54 seconds into the sixth round. Inoue, the first Japanese boxer to claim a world title in just his sixth professional fight, improved to 6-0 with five knockouts. http://www.wholesalejerseysnfl.com/ . It will mark the 22nd time the tournament has been held in this country and fourth in Atlanta Canada but will make its first appearance ever in played Nova Scotia.MESA, Ariz. -- Michael Phelps tied the fourth-fastest time in the world this year swimming the 100-meter butterfly in his first competition in nearly two years. His comeback has gotten off to a strong start albeit with a much different approach than he took in winning 22 medals over three Olympics. After a 20-month retirement, Phelps resumed training last September with his longtime coach Bob Bowman at the North Baltimore Aquatic Center in his hometown. But he didnt pick up the grueling regimen that had ruled his life since he was a teenager. Phelps has slowly started back and now trains just once a day in the afternoon. No double or triple sessions or plowing through thousands of meters a day. Call this comeback Phelps 2.0. While his workload will go up eventually, for now Phelps is doing half the amount of training he did during the height of career, when he won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "Im sort of experimenting with stuff that I didnt have the guts to do before, like not swim as far," Bowman said. "Im very pleased with how hes doing." This relaxed approach appears to suit both Phelps and Bowman just fine. Their decades-long partnership -- rare in a sport where swimmers frequently change coaches -- survived fiery clashes as Phelps grew up and rebelled against Bowmans hard-nosed ways. "Our last several years together, it really wasnt much fun for everybody," the coach said. Without committing to specifics, Phelps seems intent on swimming fewer events and shorter races this time around. He turns 29 in June, and as the most decorated Olympian in history, his place in the record books is secure. "Im not putting any pressure on myself," he said. "Im just enjoying myself right now." At the Arena Grand Prix meet in Mesa, he competed in just two events -- the 100 fly (he finished second to Ryan Lochte) and the 50 freestyle, where he instead used a butterfly stroke and finished 42nd . Phelps time of 52.13 seconds in the 100 tied for fourth-quickest in the world this year. In his other event, he swam 500 metres of fly in 24. Cheap Jerseys. 06, faster than his split time a day earlier in the 100 fly. His biggest challenge last fall was to lose the 30 pounds he had piled on since retiring after the 2012 Olympics. Hes gone from a high of 225 to 194 -- about seven more pounds than he raced at in London. "Hes not fat. Hes been pretty strong in the weight room," Bowman said. "Where hes lacking is aerobic fitness. Hes got a good start on it." Phelps figures to improve that aspect during upcoming high-altitude training in Colorado. Bowmans plan calls for Phelps to work his way up to recovering faster so he can handle multiple individual races a day and swim anywhere from one to three relays. But the coach said his star pupil will never go back to the grind he put in to win all those Olympic medals. "Hes much happier doing the training," Bowman said. "As long as hes enjoying it like he is, its good for everybody. Thats what I am concerned about." Phelps is entered in the last two Grand Prix meets of the season, in North Carolina in May and California in June. Those are tuneups for the U.S. national championships in August, where teams will be chosen for the Pan Pacific Championships later that month and next years world meet. "I know if I really want to compete at a high level, I have to be ready by this summer," he said. Whether all this leads to swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Phelps remains mum. "I always have goals and things that I want to achieve," he said. "This has been an amazing journey that Ive gone on so far, and I just hope it continues." In Saturdays finals at Skyline Aquatic Center, Olympian Katie Ledecky won the 800 free in 8 minutes, 20.10 seconds. Katie Hoff, making her own comeback after taking time off, dropped 1.55 seconds from her preliminary time to win the 200 individual medley in 2:12.92. In mens races, Olympian Tyler Clary won the 200 fly in 2:00.39; Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia won the 100 backstroke in 54.40; and Darian Townsend of South Africa took the 200 IM in 2:02.07. ' ' '