Last Wednesday in St. Petersburg, R.A Dickey tossed a two hit shutout as the Blue Jays blanked Tampa Bay 3-0 to savage the final game of the three-game set at Tropicana Field. It was the Blue Jays first shutout and first complete game of the season. That seemed unusual to me, even for a team that is sitting in the basement in the A.L. East at 40-41. Going back to last season - when the Jays starting rotation was devastated by injuries - they had five complete games for the entire season, and four shutouts. Brandon Morrow had three of each for a team that finished 73-89. Safe to say the Blue Jays are well on pace to have their worst totals in both categories ever. Complete games have been on the downswing for years and it is a rare year indeed when even one pitcher in all of baseball hits double figures in the category. James Shields of the Rays was the last to accomplish the feat in the American League when he hurled 11 in 2011. In fact, since the Blue Jays last World Series title in 1993 only four American League pitchers - including Shields - have had 10 or more complete games in a season. The other three were Angels lefty Chuck Finley, Scott Erickson of the Orioles and current Blue Jays bullpen coach Pat Hentgen. The last to do it in the National League was Randy Johnson in 1999. In 1970, 19.65 per cent of all American League games were complete games. As recently as 2007, that figure had dropped to 2.82 per cent in the American League and 1.85 per cent in the NL. Dave Stieb was the first Blue Jays pitcher to lead the league in complete games with 19 in 1982. Hentgen led with 10 in 1996. The following season, the Blue Jays had co-leaders in the American League, with Roger Clemens and Hentgen each having nine. The interesting thing about 1997 is that it was the final year of Cito Gastons first stint as Manager of the Jays. They had a horrible season, despite getting that kind of quality pitching from Clemens and Hentgen. Lefty David Wells led in complete games in both 1999 and 2000 with seven and nine, respectively. Then we get to the incredible run of one Roy Halladay. He tied for the American League lead in 2003 with nine complete games. Then he held the lead outright in 2005 (five), 2007 (seven), 2008 (nine) and 2009 (nine). In Philadelphia, "Doc" topped the National League the next two seasons with nine and eight in 2010 and ‘11 respectively. But - perhaps as a harbinger of things to come - he had no complete games last season. It marked the first year without one in a decade. He is sidelined right now, rehabbing from shoulder surgery. Halladay wont be back ‘til August at the earliest and there is a chance he wont pitch at all for the Phillies for the rest of the season. The game has changed so much over the past 20 years, with pitch counts, increased specialization and reliance on relievers and of course the designated hitter thats been around 40 years. Its hard to discern, what the decrease in complete games really means. In more cases than not, if youve got a pitcher who can take the ball from first out to last, youve got a leader and youve got an ace. A Blue Jays pitcher has led the league or tied for the league lead in complete games 10 times over their 36 year history. They also employed former league leaders in Jack Morris, Dave Stewart and Phil Niekro. Oddly enough, in the five years they won the American league East, pitchers from other teams led in complete games. The fewest number of complete games to lead a league in any individual year is five, a record shared by Halladay (2005) and Dickey (in his 2012 NL Cy Young season). For the record, Clevelands Justin Masterson is leading the American League so far this season with three complete games while Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals is leading the National League with four. Cleveland enters Monday tied for first in the A.L Central with Detroit, while the Cardinals are second in the NL Central, two games back of Pittsburgh. There is no question July is make-or-break for the Blue Jays. They play 26 games: 17 at home and nine away. Its by no means an easy schedule since they have three-game sets with Baltimore and Tampa Bay, a three-gamer with Oakland and their current four-game set with Detroit. Just the same, with the heavy load of home games this month, the Blue Jays must make up a lot of ground in the Wild Card race, if the games in August and September are going to mean anything. Jachai Polite Womens Jersey . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. New York Jets Jerseys . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. http://www.jetsrookiestore.com/Jets-Quinnen-Williams-Jersey/ . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. Joe Namath Youth Jersey . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Joe Namath Jersey .S. hockey team after paying his dues as an NHL general manager for more than three decades and giving up a lot of his free time to help USA Hockey. If this is it for Alex Rodriguez, hell finish his career with the highest career earnings in the history of the sport.Lets show you the math.For his first seven years in the league, the Seattle Mariners paid Rodriguez a total of $13 million, which included a $1 million signing bonus for signing his contract as the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1993.Mariners cost for A-Rod per game: $16,129.Then came the Texas Rangers, who gave him the biggest contract in sports history in December 2000, a 10-year, $252 million deal.It came with a $10 million signing bonus and salaries of $21 million for the first three years and deferred money tied to those years of an additional $40 million. The Rangers then traded Rodriguez to the New York Yankees. They originally agreed to pay $67 million of the $179 million remaining, but when the Yankees redid the deal after A-Rods fourth year in pinstripes to a new 10-year deal for $275 million, the Rangers amount was reduced. Our calculations put the Rangers bill at $125 million.Rangers cost for A-Rod per game: $257,732.And finally we have the Yankees.They paid $15 million for each of the firrst three seasons of A-Rod (from 2004 to 2006) and paid $16 million in 2007.dddddddddddd Even though he will be released Friday, the Yankees will continue to pay out the $25.57 million they owe him through next year to finish the 10-year, $275 million deal they made starting for the 2008 season. That puts the Yankees total cost for A-Rod at $336 million. That amount is then reduced by $22 million because of Rodriguez getting suspended for the 2014 season. The Yankees were to pay A-Rod $6 million in a marketing bonus for hitting home run 660, but it was eventually agreed to give $3.5 million to charity with Rodriguez receiving nothing.Counting Fridays game would put him at 1,568 total games with the team.Yankees cost for A-Rod per game: $200,255Add up all the earnings, and Alex Rodriguez, should he not join another team, will have made $452 million when the last Rangers deferred payments come in.The next-closest in the four major American sports? Kevin Garnett, who sits at $336 million. ' ' '