1 » last summer was a recipe for mixed results at best,

CHICAGO -- Jason Grilli is off to a rough start for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and manager Clint Hurdle thinks he knows the best way to get the key reliever back on track. Hurdle announced Friday that Mark Melancon would close games for the Pirates in place of Grilli, who has blown four save opportunities this year after converting 33 of 35 chances last season. "Theres no safety net for a closer. There never is," Hurdle said before the opener of a weekend series against the Chicago Cubs. "So he wont have to deal with that for a while, which I think will help." Grilli allowed a tying homer to Devin Mesoraco in the ninth inning of Thursdays 4-3 victory over Cincinnati. The veteran right-hander, who made the All-Star team last year for the first time, has yielded at least one run in three of his past four outings, and his four homers allowed this season matches his total from all of last year. The 37-year-old Grilli is 0-2 with 11 saves and a 4.34 ERA in 20 games this year. He was sidelined for a month after straining his left oblique in late April. For now, Hurdle said he will use Grilli when the Pirates are trailing. "Hes all about doing whats best for the club and getting better," Hurdle said. "Well definitely need him as the season plays out." Melancon is 1-2 with 10 saves in 13 chances and a 1.89 ERA in 35 games this year. He has not allowed a run in eight games and 7 1-3 innings in June. Hurdle said he also could use Tony Watson in a save opportunity. Baker Mayfield Browns Jersey . The 29-year-old German, the 2011 overall World Cup champion, says she has decided "to end my career now. Ozzie Newsome Jersey . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators. http://www.footballbrownsnflprostore.com/Youth-Jim-Brown-Elite-Jersey/ . Heck, we might just miss the BCS. Maybe? It sort of worked out this season. Top-ranked Florida State (13-0) was the only team to get through the regular season unbeaten, and the Seminoles did it in dominating fashion. Cleveland Browns Jerseys ... maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows. Sione Takitaki Youth Jersey . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss.Entering this season, the Winnipeg Jets talked frequently about improving from within. This meant increasing their win and point total - and subsequent playoff chances - by getting more out of the players already within the organization. The philosophy was two-fold: promotion of some players from their American Hockey League affiliate in St. Johns to take roster spots; and secondly, receive a production boost from the returning core group of players already established on the team. Thus far, theyve done both as centre Adam Lowry and defenceman Ben Chiarot have graduated from the AHL to become full-time players in the National Hockey League, while a veteran like Chris Thorburn has provided more scoring this season than he had the last two years combined. As a result, this combination of growing from within is highly evident on the clubs third forward line. Since being assembled five games ago, the trio of Lowry and Thorburn along with another veteran, Evander Kane, has provided the team with energy and offensive production. Even in the midst of a current three-game losing skid, the Lowry line has been Winnipegs best, frequently forechecking with zeal and spending the majority of their minutes inside the oppositions zone. In fact, the three have become the embodiment of what kind of team and style head coach Paul Maurice wants the Jets to become in perpetuity. That identity has certainly been on display for most of the clubs 51 games this season. We play to our strengths, said Thorburn, who signed a three-year extension with the club last off-season. And our strength is size and speed. If were going, its intimidating and hard to play against. An injury to star forward Mathieu Perreault before the all-star break forced Maurice to juggle his lines. One of the moves was to elevate Thorburn to the third line while Kane moved up to fill Perreaults spot on the left side beside Mark Scheifele on the second line. And even when Perreault returned after missing two games, Thorburn stayed put with Lowry and Kane slipped back to join them to form an impressive unit. I thought (Chris) game had started to come even prior to (Perreaults) injury, said Maurice. For Thorburn, its been about opportunity. And now at 31-years-old and a veteran of nearly 600 NHL games, hes seized it. The correlation between playing time and offensive production is relevant. Since the move into the Top 9, his minutes have doublled in the last five games from under six to 13 per game and the points have followed.dddddddddddd Over that span, the rugged forward has three goals and four points in the last handful of games, which includes scoring the game-winning goal in a recent victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago. Maurice credits Thorburn and recently injured forward Matt Halischuk with the ability to be interchangeable parts for the team. That includes sliding up and down from the fourth line to the third or being able to play left or right wing effectively. Either way, Thorburn understands the value he can provide in being that type of player for the team, especially with the way the game is changing and players with one dimension to their game finding less of a place on NHL rosters. Im just trying to help the team, he said. We have some big bodies and durable bodies. Its been a wolfpack mentality. Weve done a good job of sticking together and being difficult for other teams to play against. And while many thought the growing from within mantra by the Jets last summer was a recipe for mixed results at best, the returns to date have been positive. At this point, the club employs what is considered three scoring lines and one checking line and theyve managed that without spending a fortune in free agency and firmly have become a playoff contender. Stay tuned! NOTES: As a franchise, the Jets have lost 14 straight games in Pittsburgh... Centre Jim Slater is 41 games away from tying Ilya Kovalchuk for the most games played in franchise history (594)... Like the stat or not, the Jets boast their top 13 scorers as plus or even players in the plus/minus category... The quickest game involving the Jets this season is a two hour, 11-minute victory in Buffalo on November 26. The longest game this season was a road shootout loss to Anaheim that took two hours and 57 minutes... Here are your Top 3 minutes leaders on the Jets this season: Toby Enstrom (24:05), Jacob Trouba (23:24) and Dustin Byfuglien (23:05)... Last week, the Jets announced they will add 278 premium seats to the MTS Centre for next season, bringing the total capacity for hockey at the venue to 15,294. That might not seem like a major increase, but the extra seats should generate $3-5 million (all figures U.S.) in additional revenue for the club – something theyll need with the salary cap in the NHL expected to rise next season to over $70 million. ' ' '