te his offensive image before hitting free

[lw789]

DETROIT -- Brad Ausmus is hoping hell have a chance to use every position player on his roster before too long -- no sense letting backups become rusty at the beginning of the season. "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. The game will be made up June 19, when the Royals are back in town for what was initially supposed to be a three-game series followed by an off day. Detroit will move on to a three-game series against Baltimore thats scheduled to start Friday -- when the weather may not be much better. The Tigers are planning to push right-hander Anibal Sanchez back to Fridays start after he was supposed to face the Royals on Thursday. Rick Porcello is now slated to pitch Saturday, meaning left-hander Drew Smyly will be skipped in the rotation. Kansas City, on the other hand, will simply skip rookie Yordano Ventura, who was scheduled to pitch Thursday. Jeremy Guthrie will start Fridays home opener against the Chicago White Sox, as planned. Ventura will be available out of the bullpen. The Tigers won their first two games under Ausmus, scoring the winning run in their last at-bat both times. The new manager made a big move in Mondays opener, sending rookie Tyler Collins to pinch-run in the ninth inning of a tie game. Collins ended up scoring the winning run. Collins then started Wednesdays game in left field, but shortstop Andrew Romines first start was put on hold by Thursdays postponement. Outfielder Don Kelly and backup catcher Bryan Holaday havent played either. Now the Tigers face the prospect of additional postponements, and they have scheduled off days April 7, 10 and 14. It has the makings of a choppy start to the season. "You try to balance getting veterans rest and getting reserve players in, but when you have all these off days, the truth is the veterans probably dont need the rest," Ausmus said. "You still have reserves that need to get in, so it can be a little bit of a juggling act." Ausmus says hes settling into the Detroit area. As manager of the Tigers, hell have to deal with a certain celebrity status, and he says people recognize him. "I havent been around that much," Ausmus said. "Ive gone out to eat, but other than going out to eat, Ive kind of been holed up." The Thursday afternoon game was called about an hour before the scheduled first pitch, amid temperatures in the 30s and with significant rain expected. The decision to skip Smylys spot in the rotation came as no surprise. Its an easy chance for the Tigers to manage his innings as he makes the transition back to the starting rotation after spending last season in the bullpen. Detroits talented rotation has been on display already. Justin Verlander pitched the opener and Max Scherzer worked eight scoreless innings Wednesday. Thats part of the reason Royals manager Ned Yost isnt panicking over two losses in which Kansas City struggled to score. "Youve got to understand what youre dealing with," Yost said. "What weve dealt with here the last two days is Verlander and Scherzer. I mean, these are top-of-the-line pitchers in the American League, so theyre on most days going to shut teams offences down." At least the Royals were able to leave town without having to face Sanchez, too. "Hes nails, too," Yost said before the game was called off. "You just keep plugging until you start to get on track." NOTES: The Tigers claimed LHP Mike Belfiore off waivers from the Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. Kurt Warner Jersey . "If we could score a six in every game, obviously I would be pretty excited," Jones said. "Its a long week but a short week. Its a pretty short round robin from what were used to so you dont want to get behind the eight ball early. Gerald Everett Jersey . They signed their first kicker. Ottawa inked Nick Setta, a 32-year-old native of Lockport, Illinois, to a contract. http://www.ramsauthenticshop.com/Youth- ... ms-Jersey/. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are disappointed, though not discouraged. Nolan Cromwell Jersey .com) - Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was named the National League Player of the Month for April. Johnny Hekker Jersey . Carreno Busta broke his opponent five times in the match, but also lost his serve three times in the second set before prevailing in the tiebreaker. Both players struggled with their first serve, as Carreno Busta landed just 51 per cent of his to 47 per cent for Kukushkin.The Ottawa Senators made a low-risk investment, both in terms of picks and contract, in an effort to boost their offence. Numbers Game looks at the Senators getting Ales Hemsky from the Edmonton Oilers for a pair of draft picks. The Senators Get: RW Ales Hemsky. Hemsky, 30, is not the two-time 70-point scorer that he was earlier in his career, but there are some factors working in his favour, at least in terms of producing more offensively. For one thing, he has good possession numbers while facing high-quality opposition and starting an unsually-low (43.9%) percentage of his shifts in the offensive zone. If the Senators plug Hemskys playmaking skill alongside Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek, that would have to be considered a much better situation for an offensive player than Hemskys role in Edmonton this year, where his most common centre was checker Boyd Gordon. The Senators are in tough to try and get into the playoffs -- four points out with 20 games remaining -- but its not impossible and adding Hemsky does give them a decent chance to have a second productive scoring line. Perhaps the real coup of the deal for the Senators is that they convinced the Oilers to retain half of Hemskys salary and while thats not a huge deal for a pending unrestricted free agent, it makes for a cheap addition of a top six forward. Thhe Oilers Get: A fifth-round pick and 2015 third-round pick.dddddddddddd The net return on this deal is remarkably little for the Oilers. Cumulatively, a fifth and third-round pick brings approximately a 36% chance of landing an NHL player, and that player is likely not going to be in the league for three or four years, at least. Its one thing to roll the dice on a few picks, but to also pick up half of Hemskys cap hit is a tad generous, but this is likely a function of how the Oilers have used Hemsky this season. If he was played in an offensive role throughout the year and put up points, there would be greater demand for his services which would obviously bring a better return. Since Hemsky was effectively playing on the Oilers third line, there is room to plug in the likes of Ryan Jones or Jesse Joensuu to fill the spot. Presumably there will be an attempt in the offseason to find a more suitable top nine forward to fill the void created by Hemskys departure. In any case, the Hemsky Era in Edmonton is over, after 477 points in 652 games, and hes going to have a decent shot to rehabilitate his offensive image before hitting free agency in the summer. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2019 Jerseys NFL China Wholesale Authentic Jerseys ' ' '