a 2-0 fastball and you can place your bet on that but he doesnt

DUESSELDORF, Germany -- Ivo Karlovic of Croatia advanced to the Duesseldorf Open semifinals on Thursday, hitting 19 aces in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over defending champion Juan Monaco of Argentina. The seventh-seeded Karlovic will meet Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic on Friday. Vesely spoiled Jurgen Melzers 33rd birthday by beating the Austrian 6-1, 6-1 to advance to his first ATP semifinal. Melzer is playing again after missing seven months with a shoulder injury. Denis Istomin of Russia upset third-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-4 to record his 150th career win. The match between top-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and qualifier Mate Delic of Croatia was interrupted twice by rain and finally abandoned because of darkness, with Kohlschreiber leading 7-5, 4-4. Delic is in his first tour-level event. NMD Clearance . -- Oakland Athletics starting pitchers Jarrod Parker and A. NMD For Sale . - While he appreciates suggestions from Packers fans of remedies for his sore left calf, Aaron Rodgers is not necessarily going to listen to the advice. https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/ . Josh Mazzola drove in five runs to lead the Goldeyes (20-12) past the Capitales 11-5 Friday night at Le Stade Municipal in Quebec City. NMD Outlet . The 26-year-old Sobotka injured his left leg playing for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Blues said he would not recover from the injury in time for the Olympic tournament. NMD Store . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process.BALTIMORE – The Blue Jays entered play Sunday with a team batting average of .209, a team on-base percentage of .283 and a team on-base plus slugging percentage of .643. Make what you will of a small sample size, the market will surely correct itself, but slugger Jose Bautista acknowledges that change must come soon and he identifies one stat in particular: the teams .157 batting average with runners in scoring position, entering Sundays game. "I think, obviously, you can not necessarily get on base a whole lot and not out-hit the other team but if you get the timely hits when you need them, youre still going to win as long as youre getting good pitching and defence, which we have been getting," Bautista told TSN.ca on Sunday morning. Bautista points the finger at himself. Through a dozen games, hes been up nine times with runners in scoring position. He has one hit, a home run, two RBI, has walked three times and struck out on three occasions. "Ive gotten my fair chances of driving in runs in different situations and I havent been able to come through so Ive got to focus a little bit better, I think, and just figure out a way to execute no matter what the circumstances are," he said. While Bautista is willing to first look at himself, which is admirable, its difficult to point the finger at him. While his batting average was only .200 entering Sunday, his on-base percentage of .451 (attributable to his major league-leading 16 walks) and slugging percentage of .571 (four of his seven hits have been home runs) constitutes significant production in a dry lineup. The problem is Bautistas getting on base and nobodys taking advantage of it. Hes scored only six times so far on plays that arent a result of his home runs. The main culprit is Edwin Encarnacion, who entered Sunday with a .174/.240/.261 slash line, no home runs and he was still looking for his first RBBI.dddddddddddd. The consensus on Encarnacion is that its merely a timing issue. Hes not been a slow starter in either 2012 or 2013, his two breakout years, hitting eight and nine home runs, respectively, in the opening month of those seasons. "I dont know if he feels that way but it certainly seems that way from my perspective where he just hasnt found his rhythm yet," said Bautista of Encarnacion. "That being coupled with the way they pitch to us, being so different and so difficult, its easy to kind of get back into rhythm when you see a 2-0 fastball and you can place your bet on that but he doesnt see that very often." Bautista wonders if, maybe, theres something about the way Encarnacion is being pitched. Encarnacion, with two straight big seasons, now is an established superstar. Its similar to what Bautista went through a couple of years ago. "I saw a huge difference after 2011," said Bautista. "Not so much after 2012 but after 2011 it was just a night and day difference on how people were pitching to me. The amount of breaking balls in hitters counts and Ive seen pitches in hitters counts, first pitches, even in 3-0 counts, I was seeing some stuff that Im like, Im not even swinging and Im getting sliders and changeups." The great hitters learn to be patient. They have to be. "Can you lay off of those borderline and bad pitches consistently?" said Bautista of the question that plagues the games elite hitters. Toronto entered Sundays play with a 3.88 starting staff ERA, on track for a great improvement over 2013, and a .993 team fielding percentage, which tied the club for second in baseball. "Were more concerned about more consistently putting a good effort forward and weve done that with every aspect of the game except for the offence," said Bautista. "Were obviously working to get better at that." ' ' '