," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Its time

TORONTO - J.A. Happ faced pressure before he even stepped on to the mound Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. A night after the Blue Jays got blown out of the dome by the Red Sox, they needed a strong performance from the next starter. Happ gave them that with six shutout innings and Toronto hitters woke up to rebound and beat Boston 7-3. "Everybody knows, especially after last night, that demolition, we knew we got to come through today," catcher Dioner Navarro said. "We were expecting J.A. Happ to give us a shot and he did a great job and the offence came through." Happ (8-5) dominated in what manager John Gibbons called the leftys best start of the season. He allowed five hits and struck out four while throwing 68 of his 103 pitches for strikes. But what Happ did particularly well Tuesday night was work out of trouble. He got an inning-ending double play in the third, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, stranded a runner at third in the fifth and was masterful in getting a double play and then a final strikeout in the sixth. "I was trying to just take a breath and make a pitch," said Happ, who never looked fazed when runners were in scoring position. "Its a confidence-builder, gives you more confidence as you keep going out there and try to execute pitches." Given the jams he got himself into, Happ was far from flawless. He also got some help defensively, like when third baseman Munenori Kawasaki sprinted into foul territory to make an over-the-shoulder catch to end the second. But unlike Mondays starter, Drew Hutchison, Happ didnt make any mistakes that proved costly. Locating his curveball so effectively played a major role. "He established it, he used it quite a bit," Gibbons said. "He had a good curveball tonight that he was throwing over the plate and a good change-up. That was big." Happ operated with a razor-thin margin for error most of the night. Outfielder Anthony Gose manufactured the Blue Jays first run in the third by drawing a walk, stealing second and scoring when Melky Cabreras line drive hit Jake Peavy and the pitchers throw to first got away from Mike Napoli. That gave the Blue Jays a one-run lead, but the offence didnt explode until the sixth. That inning proved to be Peavys undoing. Jose Reyes led off with a solo shot, and then Navarro drove in two more runs with his seventh home run of the season. "Thats awesome," Happ said of the Blue Jays sixth-inning showing. "What were trying to do is let these guys get in the dugout and try to continue to go to work against a tough pitcher in Peavy, and we eventually got to him." Peavy finished with five earned runs on eight hits against him to drop to 1-9 this season. "Ive got to be better," he said. "Thats all there is to it." David Ortiz hit his 23rd home run of the season off Blue Jays reliever Dustin McGowan in the eighth to break up the shutout. But the offensive muscle the Red Sox flexed Monday night in a 14-1 stomping never quite materialized. "Theres no bank that we can take runs and put them in and take a loan out the next day, unfortunately," manager John Farrell said. "It would have been nice to be able to do that today." But that didnt stop Boston from making things interesting. And after some small ball by the Blue Jays (52-49) got it to 7-1, closer Casey Janssen ran into some problems in the ninth. Janssen, who had previously been bothered by a stomach illness, gave up a two-run home run to Stephen Drew and had two runners on and two outs when Gibbons went to lefty Brett Cecil to face Oritz. "I made some bad pitches and they hit them and made some good pitches and was able to get a little bit of success," said Janssen, who brushed off concerns about his health. Cecil needed only two pitches to get Ortiz to ground out and pick up his fourth save of the season and help the Blue Jays put Mondays blowout loss behind them. With two games left against the Red Sox (47-53) and the Blue Jays still within striking distance of the American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles, Happ was glad he was able to help Toronto get back on track. "I think the good thing is, whatever you want to say about last night is it counts as one and tonight counts as one, so were even," he said. "As bad as it may have seemed, we kind of came back, and as far as wins and losses they count the same." Notes: Called up earlier in the day, second baseman Ryan Goins drove in the Blue Jays sixth run with a single in the eighth. Along with Goins, Toronto purchased the contracts of top pitching prospect Aaron Sanchez and reliever Esmil Rogers and designated lefty long man Brad Mills for assignment and optioned catcher Erik Kratz and outfielder Darin Mastroianni. ... Milos Raonic served up the ceremonial first pitch, using a racket to hit a tennis ball to Mark Buehrle behind the plate. Knowing how hard the tennis star can hit it, Buehrle put on a catchers mask before getting in the way of Raonics over-handed volley. ... The paid attendance was 29,269. Wholesale Air Max 720 . In the last race before the Sochi Olympics, Bjoergen followed up her win in the 10-kilometre classical race on Saturday by beating World Cup sprint leader Denise Herrmann of Germany by 0.43 seconds for her fifth victory of the season. Nike Air Max 720 Release . - Playing a road game against a division rival raises the intensity for linebacker Clay Matthews. http://www.cheapaustraliaairmax720.com/ . -- Quarterback Josh Johnson has returned to the San Francisco 49ers and his former college coach, Jim Harbaugh. Air Max 720 Australia . Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Fiorentina levelled on aggregate in the 14th minute when Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez headed back a long ball from David Pizarro and Pasqual smashed home an angled volley. Cheap Air Max 720 Australia . - Veteran Kings defenceman Robyn Regehr, sidelined since Game 1 of the Anaheim series, says hes close to returning.NEW ORLEANS -- Tyreke Evans sore right knee -- and long-term contract -- gave him every reason to sit out the final two games of a losing season with the Pelicans. Yet even as coaches and trainers encouraged him to rest, Evans was having none of it. Instead, he played some of his most relentless, productive and crowd-pleasing basketball of the season. He capped it off with 25 points and 10 assists on Wednesday night, and New Orleans closed out a difficult, injury riddled season with a 105-100 victory over the playoff-bound Houston Rockets. "I just want to have fun, man," Evans said. "It was my last game this year. ... I was hurt. I could have easily sat out, taken the back seat, but coach talked to us about finishing strong and thats what I wanted to do." Two nights earlier, Evans scored a career-high 41 points in a stunning victory over Oklahoma City. Against Houston, he enlivened the crowd with end-to-end drives, high razzle-dazzle dribbles and an array of midair contortions in order to get off shots in traffic near the basket. "He drove me crazy with some of his uh-oh plays, but these last two games, I hope he gets player of the week," coach Monty Williams said. "We needed these two games to go into the summer. He stepped up big-time and carried the team." The Rockets, who had already locked up the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, rested James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin. Still, the game was competitive as a number of role players sought to make the most of extended action. Troy Daniels, a rookie guard out of VCU whod scored only 20 points in 31 minutes all season, hit 6 3s and finished with a career-high 22 points. "I was ready to get out there," Daniels said. "It shows the coach has a lot of faith in me. Obviously I have a lot of work to do and a lot of progress to make, but it was a good start for me to get my confidence up." Evans gave New Orleans the lead for good with a driving layup with 2:35 left, then sealed it with a powerful move in which he wedged his way between Jordan Hamilton and Josh Poweell for a running, right-handed hook from the lane.dddddddddddd "It wasnt just about, We aint making the playoffs; lets pack it up," said guard Anthony Morrow, nodding at Evans. "When a guy who signs a long-term deal still plays the last two games of the season the way he did, it says a lot about him." Austin Rivers added 18 points and Morrow 15 for the Pelicans, who shot 52.4 per cent. Neither team led by more than single digits. New Orleans had the largest lead at 90-81, but Houston responded with a late 11-4 run that included 3s by Hamilton and Daniels, then took a brief 100-99 lead when Hamilton stole the ball and converted a fast-break lay-in with 2:51 left. Regular Houston starters Terrence Jones, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Patrick Beverly, who had 14 points, also played as if it mattered. Hamilton hit four 3s on his way to 14 points and Donatas Motiejunas had 11 points and 10 rebounds. "We werent going to change in the standings, so we played a bunch of guys that we hadnt played before," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Its time to get some guys comfortable." Dwight Howard was among a minority of players who looked like as if he was merely going through the motions. He was 1 of 5 shooting, including a missed 3 after which he allowed a smirk, and grabbed four rebounds while turning the ball over three times. But Howard had more important things to think about with the fourth-seeded Rockets, who won 54 games this season, starting a playoff series against Portland on Sunday. Notes: After missing the past two games with a left ankle injury, Pelicans guard Brian Roberts played 4 minutes, long enough to make three free throws. That got him to 125 made foul shots this season, qualifying him for the official NBA lead in free throw shooting percentage at 93.9 per cent. "To have that, thats something thats special and something Ill never forget," Roberts said. ... Pelicans rookie C Jeff Withey tied a career high with five blocks. ... The loss was Houstons first against the Pelicans in four meetings this season. ' ' '