Mitgliederinfo » Encarnacion couldnt buy a hit in April and had just tw

CONCORD, N.C. -- Michael Waltrip Racing will run only two full-time cars next season because of the loss of sponsor NAPA, part of the fallout from its attempts to manipulate a race to get Martin Truex Jr. into the Chase. Truex, crew chief Chad Johnston and 15 per cent of the workforce were notified Monday they are free to negotiate with other teams. The car Truex drives will be repurposed into a research and development team next season. It will run a partial schedule beginning with the Daytona 500 with team co-owner Michael Waltrip behind the wheel. It does not appear the team will use Truexs No. 56 on the car next season. "Today was about doing what we had to do not what we wanted to do," team co-owner Rob Kauffman said. "It was important to let those whose jobs were affected know as early as possible, and a majority of those will remain with MWR through the end of the season." Truex has been talking to Furniture Row Racing about the seat being vacated by Kurt Busch. The meetings with Kauffman and Waltrip and their employees Monday were interrupted when driver Brian Vickers informed the owners that a blood clot had been found in his right calf. He was placed on blood-thinning medication that will prevent him from finishing the season in the No. 55 Toyota. The team had previously planned to use co-owner Waltrip in this weeks race at Talladega, and said it will decide later on its driver for the remaining four races. Vickers was scheduled to participate in a Monday test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but MWR had Brett Moffitt ready to drive. Its been one hit after another since the Sept. 7 race at Richmond, where MWR was found to have manipulated the finish in an attempt to get Truex into the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. It began when Clint Bowyer deliberately spun to bring out a caution, setting in motion a chain of events that led to a widespread NASCAR investigation. NASCAR fined MWR $300,000, suspended general manager Ty Norris indefinitely and replaced Truex in the Chase field with Ryan Newman, who likely would have won the race and earned a spot in the Chase before Bowyers spin. In punishing MWR, NASCAR ruled that the only thing it could prove was that Norris intentionally called Vickers down pit road in the closing laps to adjust the finish. NAPA, a longtime partner of Waltrips, then said it was pulling its multimillion-dollar sponsorship of Truexs team with two years remaining on its contract because it "believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR." As part of the reorganizational changes announced Monday, MWR said executive vice-president of competition Scott Miller will continue as crew chief of the No. 55 team into the 2014 season. Hed been interim crew chief since Rodney Childers was taken off the pit stand in August when he said he was moving to Stewart-Haas Racing next season. "Our goals for the reorganization were twofold -- firstly to improve the competitiveness of our race teams and, secondly, maintain a stable organizational structure," Kauffman said. "The teams focus has been to find that last 1 per cent needed to move from Chase participant to Cup champion. This realignment will get us closer to that last 1 per cent." Austin Bryant Jersey . The Pope greeted Klose at his general audience Wednesday and the pair had a long chat. Klose is German like the pope, although he was born in Poland. In Sundays derby, Lazio took the lead in the seventh minute after Maarten Stekelenburg brought down Klose, resulting in the Roma goalkeeper being sent off and a penalty that Hernanes converted. Austin Bryant Womens Jersey . Fans holding laudatory signs started showing up at Yankee Stadium when the gates opened at 4 p.m. Monday, an hour early in order to give them a chance to watch the New York captain take batting practice. http://www.shopdetroitlionsnfl.com/lions-jahlani-tavai-black-jersey/ . Messis father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is apparently still under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from Messis image rights from 2007-09. Messis public relations firm confirmed Spanish media reports that the state prosecutor has asked for Messi to be dropped from the investigation that began in June 2013. Calvin Johnson Youth Jersey . Sami Salo scored two goals as the Canucks overcame a hat-trick from Edmonton Oiler rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to win 4-3 in NHL action Saturday. Will Harris Jersey . With a victory seemingly slipping away late in the third quarter, his quick scoring flurry helped Golden State regain control early in the fourth.Before tonights Toronto Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre, when the American League East leaders host last years National League pennant winners, the St. Louis Cardinals, the team will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the SkyDome. Jays legends Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, members of playoff and World Series-winning teams of the past, will be on hand for the festivities to look back at what was the beginning of the Jays halcyon years. The return of these former stars comes at an apt time. For fans of the Blue Jays, its starting to feel a lot like those glory days again. Heading into Fridays game, the Jays sit at 37-24 with a five-and-a-half-game lead on the second-place Baltimore Orioles. The last team the Blue Jays held such a lead atop the division was in 1985, the year of their first-ever AL East triumph. Its easy to see why theres excitement surrounding this Jays team, but before everybody goes and books their flights to San Francisco for the World Series in October, lets step back and take a good look at these Toronto Blue Jays. Is it time to stop saying "Well, its early" and officially deem them contenders? Is the 2014 version of the Jays just the 2013 one that was expected all along, but a year late on arrival? Or will reality catch up with a team that is currently playing above its station? Friday night marks Game 62, and an even 100 games remain in the regular season. While its not exactly the halfway mark, its as good a time as any to reflect on the interesting dichotomy of the Jays season, thus far. Obviously, there have been plenty of key performances from the top of the roster on down. Mark Buehrle leads the league in wins with 10 and has a paltry 2.10 ERA. Edwin Encarnacion launched 16 jacks in May and made every at-bat a must-see event. Jose Bautista is in the midst of an MVP-calibre season. Melky Cabrera has bouunced back from offseason surgery and looks headed to another All-Star Game.dddddddddddd Jose Reyes once again looks like the catalyst he was for the New York Mets. Picked up from the Milwaukee Brewers scrap heap, Juan Francisco is one of the five Jays with double-digit home run totals. There is a lot to like right now. But before the Jays were sweeping the likes of the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics and tearing the cover off the baseball with reckless abandon and going 17-4 over its last 21 games, this team was once a very average 20-20. Its bullpen is still second-last in the bigs with a 4.62 ERA, having surrendered a league-worst 97 earned runs. Now second in the AL with 19 home runs, Encarnacion couldnt buy a hit in April and had just two homers. Reyes, Adam Lind and Casey Janssen missed significant time. Brandon Morrow and Colby Rasmus are down again. There were red flags all over this team not that long ago, but those have been seemingly swept aside in a tidal wave of power-hitting and timely pitching. Has this changed your expectations for the rest of the year? With April and early May indicating that the team was headed for another year of mediocrity, the fact that the Jays are division-leaders with the third-best record in baseball in June is quite frankly shocking. But wasnt this the Toronto Blue Jays team that was promised last season after a winter of major trades and free agent acquisitions? Maybe this run that the Jays are on isnt the aberration. Perhaps, last season and the beginning of this year was the outlier. Regardless of why its happening and how long it will last, the Blue Jays are currently playing meaningful baseball and its a welcome change for fans starving for a winner. So with 100 games left in 2014, just who are these Toronto Blue Jays and what happens from here on out? As always, its Your Call! ' ' '