career-high 0-for-16 drought with a one-out double to left. A

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week they discuss Russias mens hockey team, the ineptitude of the IOC handling the Nicklas Backstrom situation, John Tortorellas many apologies, and Canadas strong showing in curling. Bruce Arthur, National Post My thumb is down to Russias national mens hockey program, which is still making reverberations a week after Sochi. After falling in the quarter-finals for the second straight Olympics, Russias NHL stars came back angry. As Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin were unhappy for many reasons, but most of all resented the programs bias towards KHL players, which greatly distorted playing time, pairings, strategy, and felt like a punishment to Russian stars who dont play at home. Russia was one of the worlds great hockey powers, and a worthy rival to Canada; now its a mess, riven by petty rivalries. Its a shame, really. The Russians havent won a best-on-best tournament since the 1981 Canada Cup, and somehow they feel further away than ever. Steve Simmons, SUN Media My thumb is down to the International Olympic Committee for the mess it made of the Nicklas Backstrom gold medal game allergy pill fiasco. As a member of Swedens hockey delegation said, the IOC destroyed one of the greatest days in Olympic hockey history for the country. Backstrom, who did test positive for pseudo-ephedrine, didnt disagree with that assessment. The IOC first tested Backstrom last Wednesday. In the three days that followed, they never did do a second test. The Swedish team was not informed of Backstroms status until two hours before game time. Now dont get me wrong, the Swedes could have had Nicklas Backstrom, Ralph Backstrom, and all the Backstroms you can name available for the gold medal game and the result wouldnt have been different. What they didnt need was an unnecessary disruption, born of IOC ineptitude. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated My thumb is down to John Tortorella, not for his most recent apology but for the continual need to apologize. This time, the Canucks coach launched into a mea culpa after saying he favored Sweden in the Sochi final because he wanted his Swedish Olympians - Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler - to return with smiles on their faces. Tortorella wears blinders. Professionally, he sees the small picture, nothing beyond his team. Belatedly, of course, he grasped context - Vancouver … Canada. So four weeks after apologizing for losing his mind between periods against Calgary, he again was at a microphone wearing a hair shirt and a tight expression. Thats Tortorella, the never-ending sorry. Dave Hodge, TSN My thumb is up to the excellence shown by Canadas Gold-medalists in curling - Jennifer Jones and her rink from Winnipeg and Brad Jacobs and his rink from Sault Ste. Marie. We used to take for granted Canadas worldwide dominance in curling, and then we didnt, because as good as the Canadians continued to be, several other countries showed they were capable of winning world titles. Not that Jones and Jacobs allow Canada to rest on its laurels, but the Sochi results were very impressive, and hows this for proof of Canadas wealth of curling talent - the Brier is underway in Kamloops and the field is strong with Jeff Stoughton, Kevin Koe, John Morris, and Brad Gushue. And imagine talking about a strong field that doesnt include Jacobs, Glenn Howard and Kevin Martin. Cheap NFL Jerseys from china . "Yes, Id like to get them in," Detroits rookie manager said. "Mother Natures going to have a say in that." Sure enough, the Tigers had their game against the Kansas City Royals postponed because of rain on Thursday. Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . - Their offence is underperforming. http://www.chinanflwholesalejerseyscheap.com/ . The win puts the final playoff berth in Group A in question. If the Czechs beat Slovakia on Tuesday, they will go through. If they lose, Germany will get the last quarter-final berth. Wholesale Jerseys china .com) - The Atlanta Hawks have stepped up to every challenge during their 14-game winning streak and will face another daunting task Friday with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in town. Cheap Jerseys . Lisicki beat South African Chanelle Scheepers by a 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) margin. Next up for the Wimbledon runner-up will be Slovenian Polona Hercog, who outlasted Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays came close but in the end they could not overcome the four home runs allowed by R.A. Dickey. Their ninth-inning rally netted only two runs and the American League East leaders lost 5-4 to the Chicago White Sox on Friday. Dickey (6-7) allowed only one other hit besides the home runs and also struck out a season-best nine. "Its a terrible letdown," Dickey said. "One less home run we win that game. Its just a really bizarre outing to be able to strike out nine guys, get all those swings and misses on what I felt like was a really, really good knuckleball tonight." Rookie first baseman Jose Abreu hit two solo homers against Dickey and Dayan Viciedo added a solo shot with Alexei Ramirez hitting a two-run blast that proved to be the difference. The Blue Jays had three home runs. Edwin Encarnacion and Dioner Navarro hit back-to-back solos in the sixth as the Blue Jays 45-37) tied the game 2-2, and Colby Rasmus, leading off the ninth as a pinch hitter, hit his 11th of the season. Left-hander John Danks (7-6) allowed five hits, including two home runs, and two runs over six innings, to earn the victory. The White Sox (37-44) regained the lead in the seventh as Abreu led off with his 25th homer of the season. Ramirez followed with his eighth, a two-run drive after a walk to designated hitter Adam Dunn. "Its a baffling pitch," Dickey said of his knuckleball. "The pitch that Abreu hit out, I threw it the same way that I threw the one that they swung and missed at. Its just part of what you have to accept with the pitch. And then hopefully you look back at the end of the year and youve kept us in games. But tonight was a tough one because we should have won that game." White Sox manager Robin Ventura said Dickeys knuckleball looked good all night. "Guys were coming back saying he was throwing a good one," Ventura said. "Guys like that, you never know. Sometimes you go up there and you might not have a chance and you hope he throws a flat one. Thats why you never know. You go up there and you could get the good one or you could get the flat one." The four homers allowed by Dickey were his most in a game since 2006 when he allowed six. But the Blue Jays still had a chance. White Sox right-hander Ronald Belisario, who was trying for his ninth save, got only one out in the ninth. After the leadoff homer to Rasmus, he gave up one-out singles to Munenori Kawasaki and Anthony Gose. Left-hander Eric Surkamp came in to face pinch-hitter Adam Lind, whose grounder resulted in an error by third baseman Conor Gillaspie. Right-hander Jake Petricka came in and Jose Reyes forcced pinch runner Drew Hutchison out with a grounder to short as another run scored.dddddddddddd Melky Cabrera ended the game with a grounder to second and Petricka picked up his second save of the season. "Hey, we had a shot," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "It would have been a nice little win, it was right there. It was one of those kinds of nights. I thought Dickey was great early on. He gave up two homers, we came back and tied it, they went back out and scored three. "We made a run late, thats all you ask for." Prior to the fifth inning, Dickey had allowed only one base runner, on a second-inning error by Reyes. But Abreu led off the fifth with his 24th homer of the season and Viciedo hit his seventh two outs later. "Its not a surprise," Ventura said. "(Abreu) is a good hitter, but I think you also see the power thats there. When he gets it on the barrel, it just seems to continue to go. Its like helium balls, they just continue to float." The Blue Jays tied the game by hitting back-to-back homers for the sixth time this season with two out in the sixth when Encarnacion hit his 25th and Navarro his fifth. There was a four-minute delay during the top of the second while Ventura talked to the umpires about some blinking lights on the facade just below the centre-field scoreboard that started flashing after fire alarm bells were heard. The game continued and the lights stopped blinking three batters into the bottom of the second. "It was more of an annoyance," Ventura said. "You first sit there and notice it and then youre hitting. I didnt know if they could actually just turn it off but I guess it took a while because its the hotel and theres protocol with the fire department that Im not in control of, so I couldnt get it turned off." With the lights still blinking in the bottom of the second, Torontos Steve Tolleson snapped a career-high 0-for-16 drought with a one-out double to left. A possible rally was thwarted after Kawasaki singled to right but made a big turn around first base. Kawasaki was caught in a rundown between first and second, while Tolleson, who inched too far down the third-base line, was thrown out by Ramirez. NOTES: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 24,173. a Rasmus did not start the game. Gibbons said he had planned a day off for Rasmus, who missed 33 game with a hamstring injury and returned on June 18. a Brad Glenn, who was called up to the Blue Jays from triple-A Buffalo on Wednesday, made his major-league debut in right field on Friday. aLeft-hander Chris Sale (6-1, 2.27 earned-run average) will start Saturday for the White Sox against Toronto rookie right-hander Marcus Stroman (4-2, 4.25). ' ' '