NEW YORK – Colby Rasmus returned from a 33-game absence on Wednesday night and manager John Gibbons was eager to get another big bat in the lineup to provide his club a threat near the bottom of the order. “He gives us another power threat,” said Gibbons. “We havent had a whole lot of power lately.” The slumping Blue Jays, losers of seven of 10 entering Wednesdays play, activated Rasmus from the disabled list and sent his replacement, Anthony Gose, back to Triple-A Buffalo. It was a long road to recovery for Rasmus, whod been on the disabled list since May 13 with tightness in his right hamstring. Rasmus initially thought the injury would heal in a matter of days. “Its always a learning experience,” said Rasmus. “Pushing yourself too quick or too slow. Every injury is different. This is a different injury and I just had to learn what I did and, hopefully, next time Ill be able to correct it faster. But Im here now and ready to play.” Rasmus is one of the games streakier hitters. When hes hot, he hits home runs in bunches. When he slumps, he swings and misses a lot and strikes out often. In 37 games this season, Rasmus is hitting .222/.266/.489 (.755 OPS) with nine home runs. Twice this season, he has hit three home runs in a span of four games (April 10-13 and May 1-4), which account for six of his nine long balls. Still, Rasmus has struck out in 32.8 per cent of his plate appearances this season, compared to 29.5 per cent last year and 24.6 per cent for his career. “Yeah, I mean hes always been that way,” said Gibbons. “You wish it wasnt so often but, you know, I mean he can run into some balls too and make a difference that way.” LIND CONFIDENT HELL AVOID DISABLED LIST On Wednesday, the Blue Jays played a third consecutive game without the services of designated hitter/first baseman Adam Lind. Linds been down since fouling a ball off his right foot in Saturdays loss at Baltimore. He suffered a deep bone bruise and, on Sunday, was using crutches and wearing a walking boot. Hes since come out of the boot and hit off a tee on Wednesday afternoon. “Theres been improvements every day,” said Lind. “Now, were just working on a tape job to try and relieve as much stress or pain on my foot as we can so I can get in the lineup.” Lind wasnt sure whether he could pinch-hit on Wednesday night. Manager John Gibbons has a three-man bench, not including Lind, and the Blue Jays may be hesitant to use Lind in case he ultimately requires a trip to the disabled list. A DL stint, if needed, could be made retroactive to Sunday (making Lind eligible to return on June 30) as long as he doesnt appear in a game. Based on the progress hes made, Lind isnt planning on being placed on the disabled list. “Its not constant,” said Lind of the pain in his foot. “When I sit still it doesnt hurt. I have a tape job right now and its helped a lot. I hit with spikes, it wasnt so well. I hit with turfs and it was much better. If I pinch hit, Ill be in my turfs.” POWER OUTAGE The Blue Jays are slumping after winning 15 of 17 games. Theyve dropped seven of their last 10, thanks in part to a significant decrease in the number of home runs theyve been hitting. Toronto leads the major leagues with 93 home runs but has hit only four in the last 10 games. Jose Reyes (June 9, June 17) has two of them. The other two were hit by Edwin Encarnacion (June 9) and Juan Francisco (June 13). The Blue Jays won the June 9 game, 5-4 over Minnesota and the June 13 game, 4-0 over Baltimore but lost the June 17 game, 3-1 to New York. Entering Wednesdays play, Jose Bautista was without a home run in 10 games, his longest drought of the season. PRAY FOR NO RAIN The five-day forecast for New York City suggests the Yankees wont have a rainout during their three-game weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles. Thats important to the Blue Jays because right-hander Masahiro Tanaka, who beat Toronto on Tuesday night to improve his record to 11-1, is scheduled to start on Sunday. Naturally, the Blue Jays would like Tanaka to pitch against another divisional opponent. Add to that the fact the Yankees visit Toronto for three games starting on Monday. If the Yankees have a rainout this weekend, Tanakas start could be pushed back into the series with the Blue Jays. As it stands, Toronto is due to miss Tanaka next week. The Yankees are 12-2 in games Tanaka starts and 24-31 otherwise. TWO MORE DRAFT PICKS SIGN The Blue Jays formally announced the signings of third-round pick, left-handed pitcher Nick Wells (83rd overall) and sixth-round pick, left-handed pitcher Grayson Huffman (174th overall). Wells is 18 years old. Huffman is 19 years old. Arian Foster Jersey . Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. J.J. Watt Jersey . Parmelee hit a game-ending shot in the ninth inning and the Minnesota Twins overcame David Ortizs big night to beat the Boston Red Sox 8-6 on Tuesday. http://www.officialhoustontexanspro.com/...-texans-jersey/. "Rob brings a wealth of coaching experience, having worked both in Canada and overseas in player development," Canada Soccer technical director Tony Fonseca said in a release. Justin Reid Jersey . Some will say that Martin is too sensitive while others will say that it is part of the way football is in the locker room. But to have to absorb what was said to him for any rational and intelligent person is too much. Custom Houston Texans Jerseys . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. Getting Creative The Pittsburgh Penguins will try their best to acquire Ryan Kesler from the Vancouver Canucks before the Trade Deadline.Interleague play has been a boon for Major League Baseball. For the Blue Jays, not so much. This weekend, battling to get back over the .500 mark, John Gibbons and company kick off a stretch of seven straight games against the National League. They start with three at Pittsburgh against the struggling Pirates and then follow up that series with two at Philadelphia before returning home the next night to kick off a two-game set at Rogers Centre with the Phillies. After salvaging the final game of their three-game set at Kansas City on Thursday night with a 7-3 victory, the Jays sit at 13-15 but thanks largely to the injuries and flaws of the other teams in the AL East, they are still just two-and-a-half games back of the first place Yankees. Still, if the Blue Jays are going to keep it that close, theyve got to start beating the National League clubs with more regularity. Since interleague play came into being in 1997, the Blue Jays have compiled a record of 143-160. The first 16 years, the games were compressed into a small portion of the schedule when school was out in June and early July for the most part. Last season, with Houston moving to the American League, there were 15 teams in each league so there pretty well had to be at least one interleague game each and every day of the season. Last season, the first year under the new format, the Jays actually had a winning record against the National League clubs at 11-9. But overall, the Jays interleague record pales to those of the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yanks are 179-123 over the 17 years heading into this season. Boston is right behind them at 175-128. It isnt just the big boys who have success in interleague play, though. The Angels, who havent won a World Series since 2002, are 174-130 against the senior circuit over that span. The White Sox are 171-132 and even the Minnesota Twins are 165-137. If you average it out over 17 seasons, the Blue Jays have cost themselves about two games per season versus the Yanks and Red Sox in the East by struggling in interleague play. The American League has dominated this annual showdown between the two leagues, having the better record in 13 of the 17 seasons. Oddly enough, though, in the beginning the National League was up four winning seasons to three over the first seven interleague plays. The American League has dominated ever since. Nine American League teams are above .500 in the crossover play to just five National League clubs. The top National League club in interleague play is Atlanta at 148-131, followed by St. Louis at 135-120. Miami has done surprisingly well at 149-141. Luckily for the Blue Jays, the two teams they are playing against over the next seven days havent traditionally done well against the American League. Pittsburgh is the worst at 106-143 and the Phillies are 127-158. The Pirates have really had their troubles this season. After making the playoffs last season for the first time since 19992, the Bucs are 10-18 this time around.dddddddddddd They lost one of their top pitchers in A.J Burnett in the offseason as a free agent to the Phillies, while lefty Wandy Rodriguez is recouping from a knee injury. But the Pirates real problem has been cashing in runners. They stranded 28 men in dropping a day/night doubleheader to Baltimore Thursday. On top of that, their number one catcher, Russell Martin of Montreal, is on the disabled list. The Pirates are in a virtual tie for last in the NL Central with the Cubs. The Phillies are only marginally better. They are 13-13, tied with Miami for last in the AL East. Yes the Phillies were stung by the retirement of Roy Halladay in the offseason but like the Pirates, their problem is run production. If you can believe it, their outfielders have only 15 extra base hits and the season is a month old. These are teams the Blue Jays must beat. Anything less than five out of seven will be a failure. One thing to remember about the Phillies is that they won a World Series in 2008; just six years ago. Yet this year, they lost 6,000 season ticket holders and their average attendance drop from a year ago, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is 9,129 per game. This, for a team that has known recent success and has a pretty new and fan-friendly ballpark. The inclement weather of April likely plays a major part in the Phillies drop-off, but it just shows fans wont put up with mediocrity forever. I was more than a bit surprised that the team with the second biggest drop-off is Detroit at 5,493 per game. This, for a Tigers team that seems to win the AL Central nearly every year and has been to the World Series, albeit, hasnt won twice in the last eight seasons. You might have missed it but the Dodgers franchise reached a milestone on Wednesday, winning its 10,000th game. The only others to reach that magic figure are the Giants, the Cubs and the Braves. And of those four, the Cubs are the only teams to have played their entire existence in one city. The Dodgers Zack Greinke is putting up some obscure but impressive stats, nonetheless. Hes off to a 5-0 start this season and has made 18 straight starts where he has pitched five innings or more and given up two or fewer runs. That hasnt happened in 100 years -- since 1914. The last time Greinke started a season 6-0, he won the Cy Young Award in 2009 while in the American League. Adam Lind isnt close to returning to the active roster yet. Hes still rehabbing his back. But when he is healthy again, the Blue Jays could face an interesting dilemma if Juan Francisco keeps hitting the way he is. There is no way the Jays can carry Edwin Encarnacion, Lind and Francisco on the same roster. Francisco has one edge over Lind in the versatility department in that he can also play 3rd base in a pinch. Linds not in any kind of jeopardy, but this situation will be interesting to watch. 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