Black- and Whitelist » Hwang Seok-ho

TORONTO - Jose Bautista entered Wednesdays play at or near the top of most of baseballs important offensive categories. The 33-year-old is the league leader with 34 walks. His 1.058 OPS and 191 OPS+ are the best in the game. Bautistas hit nine home runs, which ties him for fourth in the majors. Hes reached base safely in each of the Blue Jays 33 games to begin the year. Thats a club record. "I think Ive had a pretty strong first month, as strong as I might have had ever in my career," Bautista told TSN.ca during a conversation in Philadelphia. "But the seasons long and its hard to look at small samples and how thats going to portray into a complete season. I try not to pay attention to those things and just focus on the preparation and the work and my effort and hopefully at the end of the year everythings taken care of itself." As teams around the league rely more heavily on spray charts and advanced offensive data, Bautista, like most sluggers around the league, often hits with three infielders on the left side of second base. The percentages show that if Bautista hits the ball on the ground, most of the time hell pull it. With that in mind, hitting coach Kevin Seitzer has encouraged Bautista to occasionally take pitches the other way. Manager John Gibbons believes the approach helps Bautista stay on breaking pitches down and away. He sees those often as opposing pitchers often work around him or, at least, are particularly careful about keeping the ball out of the middle of the strike zone. "The only difference I see with him is hes taking some hits the other way and I think its making him a tougher out," said manager John Gibbons. "You hear some people who complain about, well, hes a home run hitter, youve got to do it this way. Well, you know what? His home run numbers havent suffered one bit." Bautistas coaches and teammates took notice of his approach in the 10th inning of Tuesday nights 6-5 win over the Phillies. Melky Cabrera led off with a single. Bautista worked a 2-2 count and with the infield pulled around to the third base side he pushed a 93 miles per hour fastball through the gaping hole where the second baseman would usually stand. Cabrera advanced to third on the play and one out later scored the game-winning run on Juan Franciscos sacrifice fly. Manager John Gibbons called it "winning baseball." "Its good to see, thats what winning players and winning teams do, the little stuff," said Jose Reyes. "In that situation he didnt try to hit a two-run home run and pop it up to the infield or something. He just tried to move Melky over, he saw that huge space there at second base and he hit the ball that way, first and third and we win the game right there." Outfield coach Tim Leiper paid Bautista the ultimate praise last week, equating his pregame preparation and in-game adjustments to that of a coach. Bautista doesnt want the label but he is involved in every pitch. From the dugout hes studying the opposing pitcher, watching for tendencies that may indicate which type of pitch will be thrown. Not a base stealer himself, Bautista tries to help his faster teammates get a read on a pitchers move. Defensively, hell involve himself in outfield positioning based on his extensive knowledge of hitters. "I try to pay attention to things like that and I share all kinds of information with my teammates," said Bautista. "I also encourage them to share stuff that they know and information that they have with me. I like to listen to that kind of stuff and put it into my database, I guess." Gibbons recalls a game in Kansas City early last year when injuries to Jose Reyes and Brett Lawrie forced Bautista from his usual spot in right field and in to play third base. Bautista would frequently hover around the mound in between outs, giving the pitcher a scouting report on the next hitter. "Joses not just out there playing," said Gibbons. "He studies this and hes paying attention to whats going on. Hes played against a lot of these guys over the years so hes got a pretty good idea of what they do." The Blue Jays entered Wednesdays action with a record of 16-17 following a 4-4 road trip to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Like on their previous road trip, they left some games on the table due to poor, late-game pitching. Bautista isnt panicking, however, because the American League East remains tight six weeks into the season. Torontos just a game and a half back of first-place Baltimore. "The only thing that would matter if we were 15 games back," said Bautista. "That would mean wed dug ourselves a big hole to come out of. From that perspective it doesnt really matter. What matters is how we play from here on out and weve got to focus on that." Adidas NMD R1 Herr Rea . And fellow Leaf, Jake Gardiner, hiking in Whistler. NMD Skor Rea . 1 Caroline Wozniacki and three-time champion Serena Williams cruised into the semifinals, while last years runner-up Vera Zvonareva succumbed to Aussie Samantha Stosur in Thursdays womens quarterfinal action at the U. http://www.nmdsverige.com/. Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto. Adidas NMD R2 Sverige .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign. Adidas Continental 80 Herr . -- During a players meeting following the All-Star break, Jermaine ONeal promised his teammates to play the rest of the regular season like he would never play again -- because he very well might not. SEOUL, South Korea -- Arsenal striker Park Chu-young is going to his third World Cup for South Korea despite concerns about his lack of game time in the Premier League. Hong Myung-bo picked Park among nine Europe-based players in the 23-man South Korea squad he announced Thursday. The South Korea coach unveiled a youthful and predictable squad -- with just one player, Kwak Tae-hwi, older than 30. The selection of Park has been a point of serious national debate in recent, weeks simply because the 28 year-old forward has played so little for Arsenal since his move to London in August 2011. A fine goal in his first national team appearance in a year against Greece in March helped him make the cut. "Among Korean forwards, I couldnt find another attacker to replace Park," Hong said. "I have thought long and hard about this selection and decided on the final list just last night." Other English Premier League players Ki Sung-yeung and Kim Bo-kyong were also selected. Park is likely to be the lone striker in Brazil with German-based Son Heung-min expected to appear on the left side of midfield. There are five survivors from the squad that reached the second round in South Africa 2010, a second ever appearance in the knockout stage in South Koreas eight World Cup appearances to date. Goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryung, Ki, Kim, Park and Bolton Wanderers midfielder Lee Chung-yong are hoping to at least repeat that feat in June. South Koreas best-ever World Cup performance was in 2002, when it cost-hosted the tournament with Japan and reached the semifinals under with Hong as captain. The 45-year-old Hong also coached South Koreas Under-23 team, containing many of the players in his current squad, to the bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics "Brazil is going to be the biggest challenge," said Hong, who took over as coach last July after Choi Kang-hee guided the team through an unimpressive qualification campaign. "But we go as one team to give the best performance that we can. We have a team with a lot of international experiennce and we have the players who can show what they can do at the highest level.dddddddddddd" Hong admitted that the position that gave him most problems was at left-back. Park Joo-ho of FC Mainz in Germany returned to South Korea early to try and recover from injury but ran out of time and has been replaced by QPRs Yun Suk-young. As Hong promised, there were few surprises in the squad. Pohang Steelers attacking midfielder Lee Myung-joo, perhaps the standout player of the 2014 K-League season, has been overlooked. Of the 20 outfield players in the squad, just three play in the domestic league. Hong said "Lee has been excellent for Pohang this season," but explained that he wanted more cover for defensive midfielders and took Park Jung-woo and Han Kook-young. The captain will be announced after the squad has gathered. After a training camp in Paju, the South Korea squad plays a friendly against Tunisia at home on May 28 before travelling to Miami for a pre-World Cup training camp that includes a warm-up game with Ghana on June 10. South Korea starts its Group H campaign against Russia on June 17 before taking on Algeria and Belgium. ------ Squad: Goalkeepers: Jung Sung-ryeong (Suwon Bluewings), Kim Seung-gyu (Ulsan Horang-i), Lee Bom-young (Busan IPark) Defenders: Kim Jin-soo (Albirex Niigata, Japan), Yun Suk-young (QPR, England), Kim Young-kwon (Guangzhou Evergrande, China), Hwang Seok-ho (Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Japan), Hong Jeong-ho (Augsburg, Germany), Kwak Tae-hwi (Al Hilal, Saudi Arabia), Lee Yong (Ulsan Horang-i), Kim Chang-soo (Kashiwa Reysol, Japan). Midfielders: Ki Seung-yeung (Sunderland, England), Ha Dae-sung (Beijing Guoan, China), Han Kook-young (Kashiwa Reysol, Japan), Park Jung-woo (Guangzhou R&F, China), Son Heung-min (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Kim Bo-kyoung (Cardiff City, Wales), Lee Chung-yong (Bolton Wanderers, England), Ji Dong-won (Augusburg, Germany). Forwards: Koo Ja-cheol (Mainz, Germany), Lee Keun-ho (Sangju Sangmu), Park Chu-young (Arsenal, England), Kim Shin-wook (Ulsan Horang-i). 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