Heading into this weekends three game set with Tampa Bay, the Blue Jays have 35 games left to play. [url=http://www.officialblue

Heading into this weekends three game set with Tampa Bay, the Blue Jays have 35 games left to play. Roberto Alomar Jersey . They have to make up a four game deficit on Detroit for the second Wild Card spot. Theyre also 3.5 games back of Seattle, are tied with the Yankees and are sitting just a half-game ahead of Cleveland. It will take a 23-12 stretch run, just to finish at 88 wins and there is no guarantee even that will be enough, But I suppose the key point is, they are still alive with just 38 days remaining in the season and are still playing "meaningful" ball. I decided to look back at six of Jays most significant seasons to see just how they did from August 15 up until the regular seasons final day. Lets start with 1984, the year the Blue Jays had the best team of their young history. Detroit started out that season 35-5 and looked unbeatable. The Jays, to their credit stayed relatively close for most of the season. In mid-August, they were (68-51), But from that point on they went (21-22) and didnt win two in a row after September 12 to finish at (89-73). In 1985 the Blue Jays won their first division title, eliminating the Yankees and clinching the top spot with a victory over Billy Martin and company on the final Saturday of the regular season at Exhibition Stadium. On August 16th of that season, the Jays were (72-43), while this years Jays were 63-60 on the same date. The Jays went 27-19 down the stretch, though they did drop five of their last six to give the Yanks one last fleeting chance. Bobby Cox and the troops finish with a franchise record 99 victories. 1987 was the year of the heartbreak. The Blue Jays lead the AL East over Detroit with just seven games to play. Rocked by injuries to Tony Fernandez and Ernie Whitt, they dropped all seven including the final three at Tigers Stadium and finished second to Detroit. That year they were 69-48 in mid-August and went (27-18) the rest of the way. In 1989, the Blue Jays won their second division title, and ultimately lost the ALCS in five games to Oakland. Still, the season featured a great stretch run. They were just (60-59) on August 15, two games worse off than they are this season. Cito Gastons crew went 29-14 the rest of the way to take the East with an 89-73 mark. In 1991 they laid claim to their third division title, before losing to Minnesota in five in the ALCS, dropping the last three at home. They did play well over the last six weeks, going 28-18 to finish at 91-71. In 1992 it all came together as they won their first World Series title beating Atlanta in six games. They were 20 games over .500 on August 15 at 68-48 and finished with another 28-18 run to wind up at 96-66, the second best record in club history. In 1993 the Blue Jays made it a repeat by beating Philadelphia in six, winning the series at home on Joe Carters "Touch em all, Joe" walk off homer against Mitch Williams. The Jays went 27-16 down the stretch that season to finish at 95-67. The bottom line is this: If the Blue Jays need to finish at 23-12 at the very least, they have only done that twice before in franchise history in the years they made the post-season. In 1989 when they were won 15 more games than they lost and 1993, when they won 11 more than they lost. Those were decidedly stronger teams and won division titles and the 93 World Series. If the Blue Jays make the playoffs now even as a Wild Card, it would be an epic achievement considering the odds. Cuban Option A number of teams had been monitoring the workouts of Cuban defector Rusney Castillo with the Red Sox agreeing to terms with him on Friday on a reported seven-year, $72.5 million deal. Castillo has a bit of pop in his bat and can play either 2B or CF. It puzzles me why the Blue Jays havent been in on this 27-year-old. They have needs in both those areas, and they wouldnt have to give up anything but money to get him. On The Farm Big night for the kids Thursday night at Buffalo. Lefty Daniel Norris ran his record to 3-0 with the Herd and dropped his ERA to 1.08. He struck out nine over five innings in Buffalos 5-1 victory over Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Norris has 32 strikeouts in 16-plus innings with the Bisons. Anthony Gose batting second and playing right field tied a Buffalo modern record by stealing four bases in the game and 21-year-old Dalton Pompey made his Triple-A debut in front of a crowd of 11,134 batting leadoff and playing centre field. The 21 year old Mississauga, ON-native went 1-for-4, with his first Triple-A hit coming in the fifth inning on a single. At the very least, all three figure to be September call-ups. Custom Toronto Blue Jays Jerseys . -- Ricky Romeros comeback bid hit another road bump Tuesday in an ugly 18-4 Jays loss to a Detroit Tigers split squad. Justin Smoak Jersey . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study. http://www.officialbluejaysgearshop.com/Blue-Jays-Troy-Tulowitzki-Kids-Jersey/ . Ben Street scored twice for the Heat (17-5-1), who won their fourth game in a row and 13th in their last 14 outings. Brett Bulmer scored the lone goal for the Wild (6-11-0), who dropped their sixth straight contest.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Trevor Cooney has hit shooting touch back -- just in the nick of time for top-ranked Syracuse. Cooney scored a career-high 33 points, matching a school record with nine 3-pointers, and the Orange beat Notre Dame 61-55 on Monday night in another matchup of former Big East foes. After struggling to a woeful 25.4 per cent (14 of 55) from behind the arc in his first seven Atlantic Coast Conference games, Cooney has hit 11 of 13 in the past two games and was the difference against the Irish as the Oranges front line faltered. "It feels good," Cooney said. "I kind of got going and guys just found me in good spots." Syracuse (22-0, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which moved to No. 1 this week after its scintillating 91-89 overtime victory over Duke on Saturday night and Arizonas loss to California, extended its school record for most consecutive wins to start a season. Notre Dame (12-11, 3-7) has lost seven of nine. Two days after one of the most emotional wins in Jim Boeheims 38 years as head coach, Syracuse played its first game as the nations top team since the 2011-12 season. Two years ago, the Orange were unbeaten and ranked No. 1 when they went to South Bend, and Notre Dame upset them 67-58. It was the eighth time Notre Dame had beaten a No. 1 team and turned out to be Syracuses lone loss of the regular season. "That was in the back of my mind," said C.J. Fair, who had a season-low six points on 2-of-13 shooting after scoring a career-high 28 against Duke. "I didnt want that to happen again." Cooney made sure there was no repeat, hitting five 3-pointers in the first half as the Orange gained a 13-point halftime advantage, then barely held the Irish at bay in the second half. "We put ourselves in position to make it interesting," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "We came into this game, and especially if you watch what they did to Duke, beating them up in the paint. You really try to take stuff away in the paint. I thought overall with the guys that destroy you in the paint we did a good job. But we couldnt do a good job on Cooney. Seven of the nine I think we challenged. He was just in one of those zones, and youve got to take your hat off." Cooney, 9 of 12 from long range, matched the rrecord set by Gerry McNamara in the 2004 NCAA tournament and equaled by Andy Rautins in 2008 and James Southerland in 2012. Kevin Pillar Jersey. . Jerami Grant and Fair, who combined for 54 points against Duke, combined for just 15, while Tyler Ennis found little room in the lane to penetrate and finished with six points and eight assists. Garrick Sherman led Notre Dame with 16 points, Steve Vasturia had 13, and Pat Connaughton 11, while Eric Atkins had nine on 3-of-10 shooting. Notre Dame closed within 38-32 on a 3-pointer from Atkins with 14:19 to play, but Syracuse responded with seven straight points. Grant slammed home a dunk after his block on Sherman and Fair followed with a slam off a Grant miss. Cooney completed the run with his seventh 3-pointer, which tied his personal best. The Irish have four long-range threats in Atkins, Connaughton, Vasturia, and Demetrius Jackson, who had combined for 127 3-pointers on the season entering the game, and Notre Dames long-range attack came alive in the second half after going 1 of 6 in the first 20 minutes. Two 3-pointers by Atkins, Vasturias three-point play and a slam dunk by Tom Knight moved the Irish back within 43-40 with 8:41 to go. Grant responded with a spinning drive through the lane and Cooney hit another 3. Grant then fed Cooney for a reverse layup and three-point play and Cooney hit his ninth 3 for a 54-44 lead with 4:14 to play. Notre Dame refused to wilt, pulling back to 54-49 on Connaughtons three-point play at 2:52. "Thats who this group is," Brey said. "We havent been able to get over the hump and win enough. Weve been down on the road just about every time, and we come back and give ourselves a chance. I love that about us. If we keep doing that enough, I think well get a couple of them." Grants layup off a feed from Ennis and two free throws by Ennis boosted the lead back to eight, and the Orange made it interesting when Ennis and Fair each missed the front end of 1-and-1s in the final minute. Atkins missed a floater and Connaughton was off on a 3-point attack in the final seconds. "I had a look and missed, which would have been a really big shot for us," Atkins said. "That was a huge play. But they played great. They made plays when they were needed." 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