TORONTO -- Mark DeRosa is the first to admit he isnt exactly an intimidating batter. [url=http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Calvin-Ridley-Jersey/]Cal vin Ridley Falcons Jersey[/url] . DeRosa, a 38-year-old bench player the Blue Jays added this season for depth, has been dealing with a sore nec

TORONTO -- Mark DeRosa is the first to admit he isnt exactly an intimidating batter. Calvin Ridley Falcons Jersey . DeRosa, a 38-year-old bench player the Blue Jays added this season for depth, has been dealing with a sore neck and a slump at the plate in which he hadnt had a hit since June 18 against Colorado. So when an injury forced first baseman Adam Lind out of the roster, DeRosa found himself filling in Monday. Even more unexpected was his No. 4 spot in the batting order. But no one was more surprised than the Detroit Tigers when DeRosa launched a three-run homer, an exclamation point in Torontos 8-3 victory against the American League champions. "Ive always been a guy who likes to work the ball the other way and its been frustrating over the last couple weeks," said DeRosa. "You know, flying open, striking out and grounding out to short. Doing things that, I pride myself on being a quality at-bat. Definitely hitting fourth was not on the agenda coming into the season." DeRosa joked he told star Jose Bautista, who was hitting third in the lineup after slugger Edwin Encarnacion was pulled just before the game with left hamstring soreness, to take off his shin guard at the plate and expect to be walked. It ended up being no joke at all. The Tigers walked Bautista twice, and DeRosa made them pay in the fourth inning with his fifth homer of the season. "Obviously you cant replace Eddie, you cant replace the way Lind swung the bat. Im aware of that," said DeRosa. "But theres guys here that are capable of doing things they have to to help us win." DeRosa had plenty of help during a festive Canada Day game at Rogers Centre. Shortstop Jose Reyes, who made his first appearance at home since April before he was put on the disabled list with a severely sprained left ankle, hit his second home run in two games. Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (8-8), following up on his best outing of the season last week, was again solid against Detroits intimidating batting order. He allowed two earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts through seven innings. Two of those strikeouts were against reigning batting champion Miguel Cabrera, who is leading the majors with a .369 average. Dickey said his velocity is returning, and thats making the knuckleball much more effective than it was during a rough start to the season. "I think any pedestrian could see that (the pitch) is harder. That the velocitys come back," said Dickey. "Its been kind of a tough go getting it back. I threw a knuckleball 81 miles an hour today, I threw a lot of 80 miles an hour, I threw an 85 mile an hour fastball. All those velocities are tops for the year." Prince Fielder, who hit a solo homer off Dickey, said he could see why the other Tigers batters were having so much trouble. "It was knuckling. Its hard for catchers to catch it so imagine how hard it is to hit it," said Fielder. Dickey was relieved by Steve Delabar, who impressed by striking out the heart of Detroits offence in Torii Hunter, Cabrera and Fielder in the eighth inning. Aaron Loup finished the game for Toronto in the ninth to get the Blue Jays (41-41) back to .500. Omar Infante, who finished 4-for-4, went deep in the ninth for the slumping Tigers (43-38), who now have just one win in their last seven games and trail American League Central-leading Cleveland by a half-game. "Were in a little funk right now and weve just got to get ourselves out of it," said Detroit manager Jim Leyland. Youll got to roll with that punch and youve got to try and do something about it." Tigers rookie left-hander Jose Alvarez (1-2), making his fourth start of the season, lasted just three innings after giving up five runs, four earned, and walking three with four strikeouts. Reyes opened a four-run third inning with a solo shot into the left-field second deck to the roar of 45,766 fans at Torontos fifth sellout of the season. Rajai Davis then sent a double into the same direction. Davis, who is playing every day with Melky Cabrera on the 15-day disabled list, appeared to distract Alvarez from his duel with Bautista by attempting to steal third. Davis took third before the at-bat was over and Alvarez walked Bautista. Alvarez then walked Colby Rasmus to load the bases. J.P. Arencibia capitalized with a two-run double to bring home Davis and Bautista. Maicer Izturis then added an RBI sacrifice fly to put the Blue Jays up 5-0. Alvarez finished the inning before being replaced by reliever Luke Putkonen. Fielder put the Tigers on the scoreboard with a home run over the right-field wall in the fourth. Victor Martinez doubled on the next at-bat and was then scored on a ground-rule double by Infante to cut into Torontos lead by two. DeRosa gave the Blue Jays a six-run advantage in the bottom of the inning. Davis singled then stole his second base of the game. He was followed by Bautistas second walk of the game, and DeRosa scored all three with a homer to right off Putkonen for an 8-2 lead. The Blue Jays capitalized on a balk by Alvarez to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Alvarez stepped off the plate against second baseman Munenori Kawasaki, advancing Izturis and Josh Thole. Then Kawasaki -- the clear crowd favourite of the Blue Jays lineup -- hit an RBI single that brought home Izturis. The inning ended however when on the same play Thole was caught at the plate. The game was a party for the holiday crowd. Members and families of the Canadian Armed Forces held a massive flag during the pre-game ceremony while Canadian music acts such as Classified and Arcade Fire were blared over the speakers. The Blue Jays wore red jerseys and were joined on the field by the national junior baseball team for the anthems. "It was fun. What a fun day," said Dickey. "As an American it was neat to be a part of it. Its fun to be embraced by a community any time." Notes: Lind is day-to-day with back pain after being pulled from Torontos 5-4 loss in Boston on Sunday. ... Encarnacion, who is day-to-day, has also been playing with a sore wrist. Manager John Gibbons said Encarnacions wrist is hampering his ability to field but not swing the bat. He was replaced as designated hitter by Arencibia. ... Blue Jays right-hander Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 5.24 earned-run average) faces Tigers RHP Doug Fister (6-5, 3.50 ERA) on Tuesday. ... IndyCar driver Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., threw the first pitch. Chris Lindstrom Falcons Jersey . -- Once again, Carlos Santana was a huge hit in Kansas City. Julio Jones Youth Jersey . Even if he is shooting 38 per cent from the field overall this season, the Utah Jazz rookie always feels like his final shot is going in. http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Deion-Sanders-Jersey/ . He just didnt expect them to be this good. Darrun Hilliard scored 19 points to lead No. 6 Villanova to a dominating 77-59 victory over Georgetown on Saturday, preserving the Wildcats hopes of a No.For the first time in nearly three months, the Oakland As have been bumped from top spot in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings, with the Washington Nationals the new inhabitants of the penthouse suite. The Nationals have won eight straight, to gain some breathing room in the National League East, and that comes at a time when the As have slumped, losing five straight prior to Tuesdays win against the Mets. Getting pitcher Michael Pineda back from the DL helped lift the New York Yankees up, from 15 to 12, this week, but the Yankees havent exactly been on a tear, with two wins in the past eight games. Heading in the other direction, the Pittsburgh Pirates have lost seven straight, and staff ace Charlie Mortoon has hit the disabled list, resulting in a drop from nine to 14. Steve Bartkowski Falcons Jersey. The Toronto Blue Jays continue to struggle, posting a 4-12 record in August, and effectively flip spots with the Yankees, going from 12 to 15. Doing so even while the roster gets healthier is a bad sign for the Jays. An abysmal offence is catching up to the New York Mets. Since the All-Star break, the Mets have a .581 OPS, easily the worst in baseball over that span. The 29th-ranked Cincinnati Reds are at .621, so the Mets ranking slips from 18 to 22. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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