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There could be some history made on Friday night in Buffalo. Fake Nike Air Vapormax . Mike Hessman of the Toledo Mudhens needs one more homer to break the all-time International League career home run mark. Before you say "big deal" as I was tempted to do, you should know who Mike Hessman is and how he made this journey over a long and varied career. First off he was born in Fountain Valley, California, and grew into the dimensions of a true slugger. He is 65" and 215 pounds. He was chosen in the 15th round of the 1996 MLB draft by Atlanta. He made it to the "Show" with the Braves in 2003. He had a long looping swing and struck out too much and generally over a short-lived big league career, the 3B/1B also seemed to be stuck behind better players such as Chipper Jones. Besides Atlanta, Hessman also made pit stops in Detroit and with the New York Mets between 2003 and 2010, hitting .188 with 14 home runs. Over time Hessman became a fixture in the International League. Now 36, he has slugged 258 homers in the "I" to tie the late Ollie Carnegie, who spent the bulk of his career playing in Buffalo. Carnegie played his final season with the Bisons in 1945. These two were a study in physical contrasts. While Hessman is 65", Carnegie was only 57" and weighed 175 pounds. Surely the Major League home run record is more impressive and more prestigious. Babe Ruth broke Roger Connors career mark of 138 back in 1921. The Bambino ran that total up to 714 by 1935, and that mark endured until Hank Aaron broke it on April 8, 1974 at Atlanta against Al Downing and the Dodgers. So Babe Ruth held the career home run record for 53 years. Carnegies mark of 258 has stood since the year he retired as a player in 1945. If you do the math, thats 69 years. Oddly enough Carnegie never played in the Majors, largely because he didnt start playing pro ball on a regular basis until he joined Buffalo at age 32 in 1931. Before that he played mainly semi-pro or amateur ball and held down a regular job. Nowadays 258 home runs doesnt sound like all that imposing a number. But remember today, its all about player development. If you dont make the Majors by your mid-20s or maybe late 20s if youre lucky, youre going to be out of a job. You have to have a special talent and be a unique individual, as Mike Hessman must be to stick around until the age of 36. Hessman had a bit of a scare about a week ago. He had to have some tissue removed from his nose and his forehead. Luckily it proved to be non-cancerous. He missed three games this week waiting for the swelling on his face to go down, then went 0-for-3 at Coca-Cola Field on Thursday afternoon. Friday night is the series finale at Buffalo and it would only seem fitting that he would hit his 259th homer in the city where Ollie Carnegie spent the bulk of his career and is enshrined in the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. When Hessman ultimately does break this record, he has other mountains to climb. He is also third on the all-time list of homers hit in the minors. Buzz Arlett is number one with 432, Nick Cullop has 420 and Hessman checks in with 403. Scoring Big Pitching and defence may win championships, but you cant deny the fact that the Blue Jays offence could carry them a long way. Theyve scored 311 runs in 61 games and slugged 87 homers, tops in the American League in both categories. You can add the total home runs for the Royals and Yankees and get 77, 10 fewer than the Jays, or the Rangers and Red Sox and get 85, still two less than the Blue Jays. In the runs scored category, the Jays have rung up 57 more than the second-best team in their division - Baltimore (254) - and then you drop off to Boston and the Yankees at 240 and Tampa Bay at a paltry 228. Boston was the runaway leader in runs scored in the American League last season with 853 and ultimately won the World Series. Im just saying. Unusual Moments This is something that happens so rarely in baseball, yet it happened twice in the last week. The Angels Garrett Richards and Clevelands Justin Masterson both struck out the side on nine pitches. Another oddity came on Wednesday when the Phillies 35-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins struck out four times in a game for the first time in his career, earning the famed "Golden Sombrero". The opposing pitcher though was Washingtons Stephen Strasburg, so well cut Rollins some slack. Rollins incidently is up to 2,226 hits now for his career. He needs nine more to pass Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt as the Phillies all-time hits leader. Since the Phils are having such a dismal season, the feeling is growing that Rollins will waive his 10-and-5 rights and will agree to a trade once the record is broken. The Tigers would be a perfect fit. The Atlanta Braves lead the National League East. Yet strangely enough, they have been held to 0 or 1 runs in a game a Major League-high 18 times. At the Draft If youre wondering why the Blue Jays used their ninth-overall pick in the Draft Thursday night to take a pitcher who just had Tommy John surgery in May, consider this. Veteran baseball writer Danny Knobler has seen Jeff Hoffman out of East Carolina pitch and said this of him: "He could be Justin Verlanders brother". Say no more! Nike Air Vapormax China . Once again, the third baseman delivered in a big spot. Ramirez kept up his torrid hitting with a two-run homer to help back Wily Peraltas solid start, and the Brewers extended their winning streak to seven with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. Cyber Monday Nike Air Vapormax . THE MICHAEL JORDAN FLU GAME First this famous basketball moment. The story goes like this. “Game 5, known as "The Flu Game", was one of Michael Jordans most memorable. https://www.fakevapormaxwholesale.com/ . Floundering in the English Premier League, United has delivered better performances in Europe this season and stunned Bayern by taking the lead against the run of play through Nemanja Vidics header in the 58th minute. Bayern had dominated possession but struggled to create a clear-cut chance before Schweinsteiger arrowed a half-volley high into the net in the 67th to give the German side a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Munich next week.DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Jonathan Diaz, taking off from second base, beat a throw to the plate to complete a 10th-inning Toronto comeback as the Blue Jays rallied to defeat the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in Grapefruit League play Sunday. Toronto needed a run in the ninth and two in the 10th to stave off the Orioles, who led 2-1 going into the bottom off the ninth and then went ahead 3-2 in the 10th thanks to Dariel Alvarezs solo homer off reliever Arik Sikula. Toronto pinch-hitter Erik Kratz doubled with one out in the 10th and moved to third on a wild pitch. Diaz walked and Dan Johnson singled in Kratz to tie it at 3-3. Josh Thole, who was three-for-17 at the plate, then grounded out to Buck Britton at second base but Diaz beat the throw to home from first baseman Michael Almanzar. Diaz said third base coach Luis Perez deserved kudos for the play "It was 3-1 (count) and we were just going on the pitch," said Diaz, a slick-fielding shortstop who had come on earlier as an outfield replacement. "I give all the credit to Luis. Hes the one that saw the play and sent me. "And I just put my head down and ran as hard as I could. Luckily I was the winning run. Thats exciting." The win snapped a four-game spring losing streak for the Jays (7-10), who had looked poised to end that slide in the ninth inning. Toronto outhit Baltimore 15-10 in a game that started slow but ramped up at the end. While hardly a classic -- the two teams combined to leave 20 men for base -- it had its moments. The game, played on a 26-degree day at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium with a stiff wind blowing in from right field, drew a crowd of 4,605. Sikula, a 23-year-old minor-leaguer, ended up with the win after looking like he was going to take the loss. Toronto sent it to extra innings with a run in the ninth after loading the bases with no outs off reliever Ryan Webb through singles from Johnson, Dioner Navarro and Chris Getz. Munenori Kawasaki then hit an RBI single to tie it at 2-2. But the promising rally ended all too quickly. Baltimore (10-6) brought in left-hander Kelvin De La Cruz, who retired Moises Sierra via a sharp lineout. Kevin Pillar then hit a double-play ball back to the pitcher to end the uprising. And the Orioles made the Jays pay -- at least briefly -- in the 10th with the homer. De La Cruz took the loss while Webb was tagged with a blown save. The Orioles went ahead 2-0 in the fourth on RBI doubles by Steve Clevenger and Ryan Flaherty after Adam Jones got on booard on an infield hit and moved to second on a Todd Redmond wild pitch. Nike Air Vapormax Sale. . Toronto pulled one back in the bottom of the fourth. On the plus side, the Jays continued to display good defence with Brett Lawrie handling hot shots at third in the second and fourth innings and Colby Rasmus tracking down a high ball in the wind in the third. Melky Cabrera gunned down Almanzar from left field in the seventh as he tried to come home from second on a single. Chunky catcher Navarro, however, was thrown out at the plate to snuff out a Jays rally in the seventh. Redmond, the Jays starter, scattered four hits over five innings, giving up two runs. He struck out four and walked one. He gave way to 2010 first-round draft choice Aaron Sanchez, whose fastball hit 97 m.p.h. on the speed gun during a Houdini-like appearance that saw the 21-year-old live dangerously but somehow survive. Sanchez loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth but escaped with a double play that removed the lead runner and a groundout. In the seventh, he kept the Orioles from scoring after putting two men on base. Redmond came into the game having given up seven earned runs and 11 hits in four spring outings for an ERA of 7.00. The 28-year-old right-hander is out of options, meaning another club could pick him up if the Jays sent his down. Redmond had 1-2-3 innings in the first, third and fifth but had traffic on the bases in the second and fourth. "My last two outings (have been) definitely in the right direction," said Redmond, hoping to stick with the big league team. Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez, who went 11-8 last season with a 3.78 ERA, retired 10 straight between first and fourth inning before running into some trouble. He exited after four innings, yielding one run on five hits with three strikeouts. Singles by Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Cabrera with two outs in the fourth produced a Jays run, with Jones throw from centre making it close at the plate. Lawrie made it four singles in a row to load the bases but the five-foot-nine 205-pound Navarro grounded out to end the rally. The Jays looked to do it again with two singles in the fifth against reliever Alfredo Aceves but second baseman Jemile Weeks snuffed out the charge with an acrobatic catch of an Encarnacion broken bat hit. The Jays have an off-day Monday before travelling to Lakeland to face a Detroit Tigers split squad on Tuesday. Ricky Romero is slated to start in his continued bid to win back a place in the Jays rotation. ' ' '