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It was an inning like no other in Blue Jays history, at least not one that anyone can remember. In the second game of their day/night doubleheader at Minneapolis, three Blue Jays pitchers, Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J.A. Happ combined to issue eight walks, wild-pitched home three runs and gave up six runs in total on just one hit. That turned a 5-3 lead into a 9-5 loss, a twinbill sweep at the hands of the Twins and a series loss. Counting the nine walks issued by the two starters, R.A Dickey and Dustin McGowan in just eight and a third innings, the Jays surrendered 17 free passes on the day. Grant you, one "crappy day" as skipper John Gibbons put it, inflated these numbers, the Jays have dropped to 10th in pitching stats in the American League. Worse than that, their 4.05 team ERA is the worst in the AL East and so is their walks allowed total of 67. The walks total is particularly disturbing when you look at their division rivals. In order, Boston and the Yankees have only walked 37, Baltimore 39 and Tampa Bay 45. A year ago, the Jays issued 98 walks in the first month of the season. At the teams current average of just a fraction over four per game, and with 11 games remaining in April, they will finish with 111 for the month, and remember, they started last April at 10-17 and never really recovered. In the last five years, the Blue Jays exhibited their best control in 2010, the final season under Cito Gaston when Bruce Walton was the pitching coach. That season, they walked only 77. That year, they finished with 85 wins, and wound up in fourth place, 11 games off the division lead. In 2011, the walk total jumped to 107, then improved to 85 in John Farrells second and last year with the team. Then, the total jumped to 98 in April of 2013 and as stated, the club is now on pace for 111 this month. More walks, especially by the starters, generally means more pitches thrown, fewer innings pitched, more stress on the bullpen, and another up the track finish. The Blue Jays, whove fashioned an 8-8 record so far, are by no means in a crisis situation yet, but if they keep this pace up well into May, they will be. Misery Loves Company You know the old saying, misery loves company. Well, the White Sox arguably had an even worse game walk-wise than the Blue Jays did on Thursday night. On Wednesday, they dropped a 14-inning five-hour 17-minute marathon at home by a 6-4 count. But the real story is how they lost. After starter John Danks gave them six decent innings of three-hit ball, albeit walking four batters, skipper Robin Ventura went through seven relievers, including four in the 8th inning. In the 8th, relievers Scott Downs, Jake Petricka, Donnie Veal and Maikel Cleto each walked a batter and the Red Sox scored a run to cut the Chicago lead to 3-2 before Cleto finally got out of the inning. In the 9th though, he walked two more to lead off the frame before getting the hook. Matt Lidstrom took over, and allowed the tying run to score, but did manage to go two innings without walking anyone. Then Ventura handed the ball over to Daniel Webb, who worked the 11, 12 and 13th innings, giving up one run while walking another three. Each team scored a run in the 11th, so it was 4-4 after 13. After 59 pitches, Webb was done. Ventura was out of pitchers, choosing not to use any of his other starters and really messing up the rotation. In the 14th inning, infielder Leury Garcia went to the mound. He proceeded to walk two before giving up a game-winning two-run double to BoSox rookie centrefielder Jackie Bradley Jr. The Red Sox walked only three over 14 innings and struck out 15. The White Sox, who have one of the best pitching coaches in the business in Don Cooper, walked 15 on the night and struck out only five. Hard to believe two games like this happened on back-to-back nights. Altogether, the Blue Jays two games at Target Field lasted six hours and 15 minutes. The White Sox played a game, plus the five extra innings in five hours and 17 minutes. Incidently, the White Sox have walked 79 batters, the worst in the American League, and their ERA is 4.90, better only than Minnesotas. Oddly enough, Chicago has the same record as the Blue Jays at 8-8. The Jays are tied for second in the AL East with Baltimore, two games back of the Yankees, while the White Sox are tied for third with the Royals, just a game behind first-place Detroit. Sandwiched in between, just a half game behind the Tigers, are the Twins, if you can believe it with the worst earned runs average in the American League. Safe to say, nearly three weeks into the season, the hitters are ahead of the pitchers for the most part. Numbers Game Some surprising numbers in the early going. BoSox righthander ace Clay Buchholz still doesnt have a victory. Hes (0-1) with a 5.51 ERA. On top of that, the top two batsmen to switch teams in the offseason are struggling. Robinson Cano, who jumped from the Yankees to Seattle as a free agent, went into Thursday nights game in a 3-18 slide, but did get one hit and drove in three runs in an 8-6 loss to Texas. Overall, Cano is hitting .271 with one homer and eight runs batted in. Prince Fielder, who was dealt by the Tigers to the Rangers, is only hitting .164 with one homer and four runs batted in. Like their parent club, the Buffalo Bisons got swept at home in a doubleheader on Thursday by Scranton Wilkes Barre, the Phillies farm club. On the plus side, Ricky Romero, who thanks to five early season postponements, was making only his second start of the season, gave up just one run over six innings on just two hits in the opener. He did walk four and strike out two, but he also retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced and induced 12 ground ball outs in getting a no-decision. On the flip side, Kyle Drabek got beat up pretty good in the second game. In just four innings, he gave up five earned runs on 10 hits, including three homeruns. He struck out four and walked none, as the Bisons record dipped to 7-5. .C. -- Eric Staal kept his focus after his apparent breakaway goal was waived off early in the third period. . First, the Red Wings scored the tying goal after officials missed the puck hitting the protective netting, then the Kings wound up losing in a shootout. That could affect playoff positioning in the Eastern and Western Conferences, and thats a concern for everyone. http://www.airmaxoutletsale.us/. - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin has cleared league-mandated concussion protocol and has returned to practice as a full participant. . The D-Backs came into being in 1998 and appear destined to finish second in the AL West after the Tsunami that is the Los Angeles Dodgers swept over them. I thought it might be interesting to see what the D-backs have done over their 16 years compared to what the Blue Jays have done over their past 16 campaigns. .com) - Maria Sharapova reached her 10th career grand slam final after beating Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets at the Australian Open on Thursday. TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors shocked many on the draft floor by going off the board and selecting Brazilian forward Bruno Caboclo with their 20th selection on Thursday night. But Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri said the pick didnt come out of nowhere. Ujiri said he had been tracking Caboclo since the 2013 Basketball Without Borders tournament, where he was named tournament MVP. "Bruno was one of our next guys and we decided we lost one (Tyler Ennis), were not going to lose the second one. We jumped on it," said Ujiri. "We felt like hes second on our board so lets get aggressive. "Hes a few years away, but hes a talent that I think, at the end of the day, we will be happy that we picked. Well develop him and were excited that we got a talent like that." Head coach Dwane Casey said that budding talent was something the team simply could not pass up. "There were some other guys on the board, but still with this young mans potential, I dont think the other guys on the board have the potential as high as Bruno and that was the deciding factor for us," Casey said. The Raptors, who had been linked to Ennis -- a point guard from Brampton, Ont. -- had to quickly shift their focus once the Syracuse product was selected 18th overall by the Phoenix Suns. With Ennis no longer available, Casey says Caboclo became Torontos clear choice. "(Caboclo) is one of those guys that we had to move and get him at 20 once we didnt have a chance to get Tyler Ennis," said Casey. "We had a program in place where we were going to try and get Tyler and Bruno. Once we couldnt move up and get Tyler, Bruno was the guy." Casey said Toronto was one of just three or four teams who knew of Caboclo, a native of Sao Paolo, but Phoenix was also in the mix. With the Suns holding the No. 27 pick, the Raptorss didnt feel Caboclo would drop to the 37th pick, where Toronto selected second.dddddddddddd "When you start to hear that the guy could be gone at certain places, we started to hear in the late first round," Ujiri said. "Sometimes it gets frustrating where you dont get the picks that you want and you lose a guy and that happened to us earlier." Toronto also picked DeAndre Daniels, a six-foot-nine forward out of UConn, with the 37th overall selection. The Raptors ended their draft by taking 6-4 guard Xavier Thames with the 59th pick, but quickly dealt him to the Brooklyn Nets for cash considerations. Caboclo, who will turn 19 in September, is a 6-8 swingman with a 7-7 wingspan. He spent the 2013-14 season with Pinheiros of the Brazilian league and played 16 games last year, scoring 4.9 points and grabbing 3.1 rebounds per game. "Hes one of those players with a tremendous amount of potential: athletic, wingspan, same wingspan as JaVale McGee," said Casey. "Hes raw, but again hes going to be a guy that develops in our program and grow and do a lot of things for us." The plan for Caboclo, who was en route to New York from Houston at the time of the Raptors pick, is to have him go to Los Angeles and work out with Raptors veterans DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and Terrence Ross before heading to Las Vegas to participate in summer league action. "I think this development is important for him where hes getting used to the facilities, used to the training," Ujiri said. Caboclo is expected to fly to Toronto Friday. This isnt the first time Toronto has selected a Brazilian in the first round. In 2004, the Raptors used the eighth overall selection on Rafael Araujo, who spent two seasons with the Raptors from 2004-2006, averaging 2.9 points per game. ' ' '