TORONTO – Minutes after Kevin Pillar played the hero in Monday nights 5-4 Blue Jays walk off win over the Twins, he alluded to a conversation he shared with Jose Bautista earlier in the evening. Custom New York Jets Jerseys . The two were in the batting cage moments before game time. Bautista was taking final warm up cuts. Pillar was hitting soft toss. The one-time utility player turned All-Star pulled aside the clubs young, fourth outfielder and offered him some advice. Pillar described it as a discussion about hitting. Bautista told him there was nothing wrong with his swing, that he should remain aggressive in the batters box in order that the pitcher doesnt get too comfortable. He reminded Pillar that in Pillars role, he could step to the plate in crucial, late-game situations. Sure enough, Pillar got the game-winning single to snap a 4-4 tie in the ninth inning. Sure enough, he remained aggressive, perhaps too much so early in the at-bat when Pillar swung at the first two pitches down and out of the strike zone. With the count 1-2, Pillar took a pitch on the outer half to right field, Erik Kratz came around to score and the Blue Jays celebrated. Pillar thought enough of the conversation to share it with the assembled media postgame. Bautista seemed surprised to be approached on the topic. "You hope to have an effect on all your teammates, no matter what you talk about or discuss," said Bautista. "Even if its, hey youre opening up a little bit or having a 10-minute talk about being mentally ready, preparation and mindset and all that. You hope that your teammates listen to you. You dont hope that they do exactly what you say and if you say hop on one foot they start doing it, but if you make a comment that you think is going to help you hope they at least listen. Digest it and if it helps and it works then so be it." The type of conversation Bautista had with Pillar is rare this season, according to Bautista, because the Blue Jays are laden with veterans. The need doesnt arise as often. This, too, is the second year the group has been together after being arranged in the flurry of high-profile offseason moves made in November and December, 2012. "I think each person is more knowledgeable of others capabilities, more realistic with the expectations," said Bautista. "I think last year, people didnt know what to expect exactly with other players. Expectations might have been a little unrealistic, sometimes on the higher end and sometimes on the lower end. Sometimes you might have expected more out of somebody and that might have been not right. Sometimes you expected less and the guys surprise you. So now I think everybody is more in tune with each others capabilities." DICKEY THROWING MORE FASTBALLS R.A. Dickey is using his fastball more this season than he did last year. Hes thrown a heater 14.3 per cent of the time in 2014, compared to 11.9 per cent last season. This years number is more reflective of his 2012 Cy Young award season with the Mets, when 14 per cent of his pitches were fastballs. "I think its conscious because Ive had a lot of high-pitch games," said Dickey. "I had a 31-pitch first inning against (the Twins on Monday night), I had like a 30-pitch against the Royals, first inning. I need to get back to trying to induce contact earlier in counts so in that regard it has been something that Ive consciously tried to do. Especially with teams, Minnesota for instance is a team that leads the league in pitches taken so whenever you have a club like that you want to try to get ahead of guys as much as possible." Dickey is also conscious of his walk rate, which has skyrocketed this year. Hes issued a free pass to 10.2 per cent of hitters hes faced, compared to 7.5 per cent last year and 5.8 per cent in 2012. In each of his last two starts, hes allowed home runs off his fastball. On June 4 in Detroit, Miguel Cabrera took him deep on a first pitch fastball in the first inning. On Monday night against the Twins, leadoff hitter Danny Santana hit a home run off a full count fastball. Dickey had been falling behind in that first inning in Detroit and thought he could sneak a heater by Cabrera. "That was just a roll of the dice," said Dickey. "I had gone 2-0 with the first two hitters and felt that he would want to get in a hitters count. I tried to steal a strike the first time through the lineup and his numbers off me, I think hes had like 14 at-bats and two first-pitch swings and so the percentages were in my favour that he was taking and so I tried to play to those and got burned." Half of the home runs Dickeys allowed this season, five of 10, have been off fastballs. Has he become too predictable, throwing fastballs when in need of a strike? "I would hope not because I try to do a good job of throwing a lot of 2-0, 3-1, 3-2 knuckleballs," said Dickey. "Im not in the habit of routinely throwing a fastball in a fastball count but because I dont feature the same velocity as a lot of guys its a lot easier to put the barrel on the ball if theyve seen multiple fastballs in an at-bat; if theyre not well located in particular." JAYS INK TWO MORE PICKS The Blue Jays locked up their second and fifth round picks from last weeks amateur draft. They are highly-touted right-handed pitcher Sean Reid-Foley (49th overall) out of Sandalwood High School in Jacksonville, Florida and centerfielder Lane Thomas (144th overall) out of Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both players are 18 years old. New York Jets Jerseys . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Sam Darnold Jersey .C. -- Benn Ferrieros familiar with scoring important goals, just not in back-to-back games. http://www.thejetsjerseysshoponline.com/Youth-Sam-Darnold-Jets-Jersey/ . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers.CHICAGO -- San Jose coach Todd McLellan gushed about the Sharks defence and effort. He also praised goalie Alex Stalock. What a difference a day makes. Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski scored in a shootout, and the Sharks beat the Blackhawks 3-2 on Sunday night for their first victory in Chicago in three years. "This was the best defensive effort weve had in this building in a while," McLellan said. Stalock made 33 saves through overtime as San Jose bounced back from a 4-3 loss at Colorado on Saturday. Jason Demers scored in the first period, and Brett Burns had a tying goal in the third. The Sharks allowed the first four goals in the loss to the Avalanche, and McLellan pulled Antti Niemi early in the second period in favour of Stalock. McLellan then talked about holding the goalies accountable in 2014, along with the rest of the team. "Its hard to demand perfection, but you have to demand as close as you can get to that," McLellan said. "The players tonight gave us that. It still was a tough task. To score only two and win a game against Chicago, youve done something pretty well." Couture beat Corey Crawford with a shot into the right side of the net after Stalock stopped Chicago captain Jonathan Toews leading off the shootout. Patrick Sharp then shot wide before Pavelski scored to give the Sharks their first win at the United Center since Dec. 30, 2010. Crawford made 40 saves in his first home start since he left Chicagos 6-2 victory over Florida on Dec. 8 because of a lower-body injury. He came back on Thursday and stopped 31 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss at the New York Islanders. "Its a tough loss to take when youre down by a goal, get up by one, and they tie it up again," Crawford said. "The shootout wasnt close, obviously. Tough loss." Defencemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Michal Rozsival scored in the third period for the Blackhawks (29-7-9), who have earned at least one point in their last 10 games. It was their fifth home shootout loss. "Weve lost a few in a row here and I think it could be a little bit uncomfortable, or a lack of confidence, but weve got to work our way through it," coach Joel Quenneville said of the shootout trouble. "Weve left a lot of points on the board. "We could have put ourself in a better spot than were at. Joe Namath Jets Jersey. Thats been a sour spot recently." San Jose (27-10-6) trailed 2-1 before Joe Thornton made a great pass across the crease to Burns, who slammed the puck in at 11:10 of the third. Thornton has 12 assists during an eight-game point streak, running his NHL-best total to 43 on the season. San Jose had dropped six straight in Chicago by a combined score of 24-11, including a 5-1 loss on Nov. 17. The Sharks and Blackhawks are two of the top teams in the Western Conference. "Any win in here is special," Thornton said. "Its a hard place to play. They play fast. They play hard, and any win in this building is huge." The Blackhawks had few quality scoring chances in the first two periods, with most of their shots coming from the outside. Stalock grabbed most of them cleanly, and San Jose swept away any potential problems around the net. Stalock had a little trouble with a shot by Duncan Keith with 8 1/2 minutes left in the second, but he fell on the puck before Andrew Shaw could get a stick on it. The NHLs highest-scoring team appeared to be headed for its first shutout of the season before two unlikely players combined to put the Blackhawks in front. First, Hjalmarsson skated toward the middle of the ice, got a pass from Toews and beat Stalock at 1:27 of the third. Then Rozsivals long slap shot through traffic made it 2-1 just 2:34 after Hjalmarssons fourth goal. It was Rozsivals first since March 1, 2012, for Phoenix. Hjalmarsson hadnt scored since Nov. 30 at Phoenix. The Sharks grabbed the lead midway through the first period. They had an extended possession in the Blackhawks zone before Demers skated into an open area on the right side of the net and one-timed a pass from Couture past Crawford. It was Demers third goal of the season, all in his past eight games. Couture extended his point streak to five games after scoring in each of his previous four. NOTES: Sharks forward Eriah Hayes made his first NHL appearance. He was recalled from Worcester of the AHL on Saturday. ... The announced crowd of 21,599 was the 250th consecutive home sellout for the Blackhawks, counting the post-season. ... The Blackhawks scratched defencemen Michael Kostka and Sheldon Brookbank. ... The Sharks scratched defenceman Scott Hannan and centre Tyler Kennedy. Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap Stitched Jerseys China Womens NFL Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys ' ' '