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There have been many major leaguers who switched from being pitchers to position players; Babe Ruth, "Smokey" Joe Wood and Tim Wakefield just to name a few. Air Max 95 Sale Canada . A few went the other way from position player to pitcher, such as Blue Jays reliever Sergio Santos, who started as a shortstop and is trying to earn another shot with the Blue Jays pitching in relief for Triple "A" Buffalo. This story takes the conversion process one step further. You, no doubt, remember the name of left-hander Adam Loewen. The strapping 66 Vancouver native was taken fourth overall by Baltimore in the June 2002 draft. That was the highest a Canadian had ever been selected since our country was first included in the draft in 1985. Loewen made it to the bigs with the Orioles in 2006 at age 22, but he had his struggles over the next three seasons, compiling an 8-8 record with a 5.38 ERA over 35 appearances, including 29 starts. Worse than that were the injuries; suffering stress fractures to his left elbow in 2007 and 2008. At that point, Loewen wondered where to turn. He remembered he had been a pretty good hitter in his younger days and decided he might be able to re-establish himself as a position player. In 2009, he signed on with the Blue Jays organization and finally got a shot with the big club when the rosters expanded in September 2011. Loewen didnt look out of place in the outfield but in 14 games, he hit only .188 with one homer, a double and four runs batted in. In 2012, he played in the Mets minor league system and then bounced back to the Jays organization last year, spending the bulk of the year at Double "A". That brings us to this season. After playing winter ball in Venezuela, Loewen wondered if his time had come and he wasnt going to get another major league offer. At that point, seven years after his first elbow injury, he decided to give pitching another shot when he returned home to Arizona. After a short while, scouts from four teams checked him out. Then the Phillies took a look-see. Finally, Loewen got a call from Pat Gillick, who still works in the Phils organization, and ultimately received an offer of a minor league contract and an invitation to extended spring training in Clearwater. Loewen moved ahead to the Phillies "A" ball franchise in Clearwater and then jumped to the Double "A" Reading Fightin Phils of the Eastern League. While not mind blowing, his numbers arent that bad and he has been improving steadily. Loewen has made 12 starts and has one complete game. Hes 2-4 with a 3.45 ERA, 49 strikeouts and 32 walks. He had arguably his best start yet on Monday night this week against the Harrisburg Senators. He pitched into the eighth inning in a 5-1 victory, giving up five hits while striking out four and walking three. Time clearly is not on Loewens side with about a month to go in the minor league season. But he is a lefty and he has incredible determination. On top of that, the Phillies are a last place team that needs help in multiple areas and just might give him a look in September. What a story it would be if Loewen could make it all the way back after all hes been through. --- The Colorado Rockies will equal an unusual record, if you want to call it that, which most probably didnt know existed on Tuesday. They are due to send left hander Brett Anderson to the mound. This game will mark the 20th straight game the Rockies have started a southpaw and will equal the mark of the 1982 Kansas City Royals. The 82 Royals included lefties Paul Splittorf, Bud Black, (Padres Manager), Vida Blue and Larry Gura (known as a Blue Jays killer). Colorados southpaws include Jorge De La Rosa , Brett Anderson, Tyler Matzek, Franklin Morales and Pedro Hernandez. The left hand tilt hasnt really helped the Rockies. Theyve dropped seven out of 10 and have a dismal record of 44-67 - second worst in the majors to Texas at 43-69. The record wont be broken, though, as Colorado intends to use right hander Jordan Lyles on Wednesday night. The Texas Rangers have a chance to make a little history of their own. They are just short of the pace needed to become only the third team in major league history to go from 90 wins one season to 100 the next. The other two teams were affected by ownership tightening the purse strings. In 1914, Connie Macks Philadelphia As made it to the World Series but the next year the "outlaw" Federal League started bidding for players and stealing other teams stars. Mack refused to go dollar for dollar with the Feds and his team lost a number of quality players. They went from 99 wins to 109 losses in 1915. In 1997, the Florida Marlins won their first of two World Series in seven years. But after 97, owner Wayne Huizenga ordered a massive payroll rollback and the 1998 Marlins fell from 92 wins to 108 losses. The Rangers problem hasnt been spending or lack thereof. Theyve just been brutalized by injuries and a very tough division. The Blue Jays have 49 games left - 28 at home, but the next nine could go a long way towards making or breaking their season. Starting Tuesday night, they are home to AL East leading Baltimore followed by three games at home against Central leading Detroit, and then they kick off a road trip with three against Seattle - a team just two games behind them in the race for that second Wild Card position. Going 6-3 in this stretch should keep them in the thick of the postseason battle with 40 games to play. Nike Air Max 360 Canada .C. -- Gleason Fournier scored the shootout winner as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Abbotsford Heat 4-3 Friday in American Hockey League action. Air Max 90/1 Canada . They wanna make t-shirts about it and sell them at our next hockey game..DB: Wow, they want to make t-shirts? That sounds pretty amazing.MS: Yeah, I was also on the Top 10, I was number 1 today, so that was pretty cool. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-axis-canada-sale.html . The two-time former Formula One champion downplayed his third-place finish three weeks ago in China and said progress is going slow for Ferrari as it tries to make up ground on Mercedes.PRETORIA, South Africa - Police photographs of a bare-chested Oscar Pistorius standing in his garage on blood-stained prosthetic legs and wearing shorts covered in blood, taken shortly after the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend, were shown to the court at his murder trial Friday. Prosecutors displayed two photos on TV monitors in the courtroom, with the first of the muscled double-amputee Olympic athlete standing facing a camera. There are blood stains up to the knees of his limbs and his shorts are also bloodied, but his naked chest appears to be clean of blood. A second photograph of Pistorius from the waist up and from the left side also shows blood on his shorts and parts of his body, with a tattoo visible on his back. The photographs were taken in Pistorius Pretoria home soon after the athlete killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentines Day last year, a former policeman testified. Pistorius says he carried Steenkamp downstairs to try to save her after mistakenly shooting her in his bathroom. Former police Col. G.S. van Rensburg described the early part of the investigation after he arrived at the scene around 30 to 40 minutes after prosecutors say Pistorius killed Steenkamp in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013. The prosecution says Pistorius intentionally killed Steenkamp in the upstairs bathroom after a loud argument and then tried to cover it up by saying he thought the 29-year-old model was a dangerous intruder. Pistorius, 27, maintains the killing was an accident and has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Van Rensburg, the former commander at a police station close to Pistorius home, said he didnt arrest Pistorius immediately, but did warn him to remain at the house. "I told him I observed him as a suspect at that stage," van Rensburg said. "I warned him of his rights ... I requested him to remain present at all times at the scene." Van Rensburg said Pistorius was earlier "very emotional," and that the runners brother and sister, Carl and Aimee, and a lawyer later arrived at the house. A close-up photograph of the toilet inside the cubicle where Steenkamp was shot three times, once in the head, was also displayed. It showed an extensive blood smear on the rim, as well as thick blood streaks in the bowl, where the water was also dark with blood. Van Rensburg said he recognized the toilet door through which Pistorius shot as the "most valuable" piece of evidence, and that it was important to secure it, particularly since he had heard media were willing to pay up to $5,500 for a photo of it. Air Max 90 Womens Canada. The toilet door was placed in a plastic "body bag" and transported to a police station, where van Rensburg said he stored it in his office because it was too big to fit in an area normally reserved for evidence from crime scenes. The police investigation has been heavily criticized by Pistorius defence lawyer, Barry Roux. Roux particularly questioned the conduct of former investigating officer Hilton Botha, who was thrown off the case last year and resigned from the police force. Roux repeatedly asked van Rensburg what Botha was doing at the scene during different parts of the investigation. Botha admitted last year that he didnt wear proper forensic clothing and shoe covers when he examined parts of the scene, and Pistorius team believes the police disturbed evidence and may have tampered with it. "You did not disturb anything in the bathroom? You did not see Mr. Hilton Botha disturb anything in the bathroom?" Roux asked van Rensburg. "Were you acutely aware that you should not disturb the scene? Did you have that awareness? And what was Mr. Botha doing?" Roux asked a little later. And again, Roux said: "Where was Mr. Botha now?" Van Rensburg said at points he did not know where Botha was. During the investigation in the bathroom, van Rensburg also said that he turned around at one point to see that the firearms expert was handling the gun Pistorius used to kill Steenkamp and had taken the magazine out of the weapon without using gloves. "I asked him, What are you doing?" van Rensburg testified. The officer realized his error, apologized, put the magazine back in the gun and laid it on the mat where it was on the floor. "I was very angry," van Rensburg said. Van Rensburg also testified that one of Pistorius expensive watches was apparently stolen from the crime scene that night. About eight expensive watches were found in a blood-spattered box in Pistorius bedroom and van Rensburg said he warned fellow officers that the watches should be observed closely because they could be tempting to anyone moving through the crime scene. Pistorius sister asked if she could take one of the watches, leaving seven in place, he said. But van Rensburg said another went missing while he was out of the room, prompting him to order the frisking of all the police forensic experts on the scene, as well as a search of their bags and vehicles, and the entire house. ' ' '