full responsibility for the slow start by saying "I am the OC and I

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Yu Darvish ended his first season with the Texas Rangers starting a postseason game. The right-hander from Japan hasnt pitched in October since that wild-card game in 2012.After missing the 2015 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, Darvish will make his AL Division Series debut Friday when he starts Game 2 against the Toronto Blue Jays.Its a great thing for me. Last year ... I wanted to pitch, but I couldnt, Darvish said Thursday through his interpreter. This year, Im physically healthy and Im ready. I can pitch in the game. So Im happy about that.Darvish (7-5, 3.41 ERA) started this season on the disabled list while still rehabbing from the elbow surgery he had during spring training in March 2015. After his season debut May 28 this year, he made three starts before missing another five weeks because of shoulder discomfort.A regular in the rotation since mid-July , Darvish goes into the postseason after winning his last two starts. He allowed one earned run over 13 innings in wins over Oakland and Tampa Bay.Ive been working on my command and stuff, he said. I was thinking too much about commanding my stuff. And then when I was able to fix those mental adjustments, and just a few minor mechanics changes on those days that I was able to work on, and Im in a (good) place right now.Left-hander J.A. Happ (20-4, 3.18) starts Friday for the Blue Jays.Rangers manager Jeff Banister said Darvish is at his best when hes excited. The pitcher has exhibited that emotion at several different times this season.An extremely accomplished pitcher. I feel comfortable with where hes at mentally, physically, Banister said.Darvish hasnt pitched against the Blue Jays since before his surgery. He is 3-2 with a 2.45 ERA in seven career starts against them, with 61 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings.The 30-year-old Darvish spent seven seasons in Japan before signing a six-year deal with the Rangers that goes through next season. He was an All-Star each of his first three seasons (2012-14), a span when he had 680 strikeouts before getting shut down late in the 2014 season.In that 5-1 loss to Baltimore in the 2012 AL wild-card game, Darvish struck out seven and allowed three runs (two earned) in 6 2/3 innings.Asked how he is different as a pitcher since then, Darvish replied: Both physically and mentally stronger. Oakland Athletics Store . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Fake Athletics Jerseys . -- Charline Labonte couldnt have asked for a better homecoming. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/115m-chris-bassitt-jersey-athletics.html . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. Athletics Jerseys 2019 . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. Wholesale Athletics Jerseys . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.For the first four weeks of the regular season, the Montreal Alouettes - led by arguably the greatest quarterback in CFL history - struggled badly offensively. It was unfamiliar territory for a team and star quarterback when you consider that this team has had the top-rated passing offense for three of the last four years, and the only year they havent been rated first during that time was last year when they were second. It has been a high powered offense that has led the Als to four first place finishes in the East in the last five seasons. During those five years, Marc Trestman was the man in charge. A quarterback expert, who upon his arrival in Quebec handed the keys to the franchise to Anthony Calvillo. In 2008, in one of his first meetings with the TSN crew, he explained his philosophy when it comes to the starting quarterback on a football team. "Everybody matters in an organization but the quarterback is the most important person, including the owner," said Trestman. "Your quarterback gives your entire organization hope." It was Trestmans system, with input at the time from Scott Milanovich, and ACs job was to execute the plan; which is exactly the way Calvillo likes it. Have the coach call the plays and the quarterback executes them, and it produced three Grey Cup appearances and two championships in five years. When Trestman took the job as the head coach of the Chicago Bears this off-season, it was assumed by many that the new boss, Dan Hawkins, would simply ask Calvillo to make a copy of the playbook he had been using for the last five years, give it to offensive coordinator Mike Miller and they would hit the ground running on day one of training camp. In theory, it was a good plan. AC had to know it well enough to teach the finer points to the coaches, who could then teach it to the rest of the team. It was a theory, however, that had one major flaw - it would require one of the best quarterbacks in CFL history to also become one of the best coaches. Trestmans student would now have to become the teacher and that is something that Calvillo is just not ready to do at this point in his career. This week, AC recalled those first three days of camp, saying, "the plan was to keep as much of the old playbook as possible, and in the first three days we tried to do that," he said. Then slowly shaking his head said, "but I could tell after three days that it wasnt going to work." The old book was put on the shelf and now already at day four of a two week training camp, AC and the coaching staff would sit down and chart a new course of action. The consensus was; it would be easier for AC to learn a new system then to try and become a player-coach and implement the old one. This, however, didnt put the offense behind the rest of the league by four days, but by months when you consider all off-season you are working on your playbook. So, it shouldnt come as that much of a surprise that Montreal struggled out of the gate. The Als started the season with a 1-3 record and the offense over that one month span barely had a heartbeat. Football fans across the country thought that the solution to the problem was a no brainer and quickly pointed fingers at Dan Hawkins, and maybe more specifically OC Mike Miller. Most could not figure out why Miller wouldnt just run whatever Calvillo was comfortable with and let him ddo what he has done for the last five years.dddddddddddd However, as previously noted and again according to Calvillo, the team did give Trestmans system a shot and realized it wasnt working. Also, what if after trying the old way and asking the quarterback what he wanted to run, the QB said out of respect for his new offensive coordinator that hes good with running your offense? What if AC asked Mike Miller to implement his system and also made it very clear that he would prefer that Miller call all the plays? After four weeks of the season, Miller had become an easy target for frustrated fans and quietly took the heat. The perception was that Miller was forcing AC to run plays he wasnt comfortable with, and that perception was reinforced when Calvillo showed his frustrations outwardly in the first couple of weeks of the season. The truth is, when Calvillo was asked by Miller what he would like to run offensively, AC deferred to the former Arizona Cardinals coach and asked Miller to install his system and began to commit himself to learning it. When things didnt go well out of the gate, AC became frustrated because this was new territory and a very unique circumstance. In the meeting this week without being prompted, the all-time passing leader in football said, "you know most of the time when a coach, leaves he is fired because things are going so badly. But in Trestmans case, our offense was running well when he left, so when we started from scratch and struggled early, it was really frustrating." AC also discussed all the great things he can see in Mike Millers style of offense and prior to the Als second win of the season vs Edmonton said, "its time to stop making excuses and time to buy into this new system. This stuff is solid and I have to learn it." In the final analysis, Hawkins and Miller tried the old play book and AC was the first to admit it wasnt going to work. Miller also asked AC to be part of building a new system. However, Calvillo respectfully declined and would rather run the plays than write them up. Miller is a Calvillo fan and in our meeting, first took full responsibility for the slow start by saying "I am the OC and I am fully accountable for what has happened so far and Im not happy." Miller went on to praise not only what AC has done in the past but what he believes he is still capable of accomplishing and said "Anthony is a great quarterback, but an even better person, and this offense will get better." Although a lot of people, especially in Northern Alberta, believe that Edmonton should have won that game, the win versus the Esks was a step in the right direction. The Als scored 31 points and AC was able to kick-start Brandon Whitaker (162 rushing) and Jamel Richardson (leading receiver) on the night. It remains to be seen how long it will take for everyone to learn the new way of thinking in Montreal, but one thing that was clearly evident in our meetings this past week was that there is great mutual respect between Anthony Calvillo and Mike Miller. Millers philosophy on the starting quarterback is not much different than Trestmans - they both understand the importance of the position. What is different is the system and now it is up to AC and the rest of the offense to, as Calvillo put it, "stop making excuses and learn it." ' ' '