Black- and Whitelist » bringing Federer back into the

TORONTO – Jose Bautista returned to the Blue Jays starting lineup, as the designated hitter, on Tuesday afternoon. He made his presence felt at first opportunity, hitting a home run to left-centre field in the first inning. The homer was Bautistas first since June 6, a span of 17 games. The slugger wasnt yet ready to resume playing defence. "I think the decision was made by Gibby to give me one or two days to kind of ease back into it," said Bautista. "Depending on how I feel tomorrow, possibly playing right field. If not, definitely in Oakland sometime." Bautistas bat is a welcome sight. However, because he couldnt play right field, manager John Gibbons was forced to send Adam Lind to the bench. The Blue Jays usually employ a first base-designated hitter combination of Lind and Edwin Encarnacion when an opponent starts a right-handed pitcher. Encarnacion started at first base on Tuesday. Baseballs leader with 59 walks and a .432 on-base percentage, Bautista did not take issue with Gibbons decision to keep him out of right field for at least one more day. "I want to play today and Im consciously not going to fight my manager because what hes doing I think is reasonable," said Bautista. "Same thing tomorrow. But if I feel well then theres no restrictions. Its not if I want to play and Im going to make it worse; I think Im old enough and disciplined enough to not risk making it worse by playing defence too soon." The Blue Jays went 3-4 in Bautistas absence from the starting lineup, including three-straight losses to the Chicago White Sox in games started by a left-handed pitcher. Toronto is scheduled to face three left-handers during its four-game set in Oakland, which starts on Thursday evening. The club could face two more southpaws next week in its three-game series in Anaheim. Lonnie Walker Jersey . At quarterback, all agree that Andy Dalton has been a wonderful surprise, but to truly progress he has to play his best in the playoffs. The two losses in the wildcard rounds keep the evaluation on Dalton open -- just like it did for Peyton Manning many years ago and Matt Ryan until last year. Bruce Bowen Spurs Jersey . There is no argument that the line of Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Thomas Vanek was one of the hottest in the NHL leading into the post-season, and they did combine for three goals and seven points, but it was the depth of all four lines that helped propel Montreal. https://www.spurslockerroom.com/Patty-Mi...Edition-Jersey/. Instead, Nonis and Kessel were sorting through the fallout of a wild melee with the Buffalo Sabres, one that saw Kessel suspended for the duration of the pre-season. DeMar DeRozan Jersey . Speaking on Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan on Thursday, Bernier said it was "very hard" at times being entrenched behind Jonathan Quick and is now excited at the prospect of getting an opportunity to compete with Reimer for the top spot with the Leafs. Derrick White Jersey . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere.LONDON -- Roger Federer fought back Saturday to reach the semifinals in the ATP World Tour Finals. On the back of a poor season, the 17-time Grand Slam winner overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third set to beat Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to reach the semifinals for the 11th time. The Swiss earned a chance to prove that -- despite his aging legs, aching back and recent lack of consistency -- he can still beat rival Rafael Nadal, his semifinal opponent. "I just have to have the right mindset to give it one last go, maybe play with a little less pressure than I have in previous matches with him," Federer said. "I just feel like I need to look at it more as being an underdog a little bit because of circumstances, because of my year, because of his year. Maybe that free swinging is what I kind of need to do a little bit more tomorrow." The 32-year-old Federer has endured a tough year and the elite event is his last chance to win a big title in 2013. Federer has just four victories against top-10 opponents in 2013 and has not beaten Nadal since 2012. The top-ranked Spaniard leads 21-10 in their head-to-head series, but Federer is 4-0 on indoor hard courts, having secured all four wins at the ATP Finals. Nadal, who returned to tennis in February following a seven-month layoff due to a knee injury, clinched the year-end No. 1 spot this week in a season in which he won the French Open and the U.S. Open. In London, the Spaniard qualified from his group unbeaten. "We know each other that well. Hes going to do exactly what he needs to do, Im going to try to do what I need to do," Federer said. "Hopefully its going to match up good for me. If not, he deserves it. Hes had a wonderful season." Novak Djokovic, who beat Richard Gasquet 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 in his final round-robin match to extend his winning streak to 20 matches since his loss to Nadal in the U.S. Open final in September, will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the other semifinal. Federer won only the grass-court event at Halle, Germany, in June.dddddddddddd. He regularly lost to unseeded opponents and secured his qualification for the Finals at the last minute. "The goal is always to win every tournament. But I think I had to be slightly more realistic in recent weeks and months," Federer said. "I knew that sometimes just getting a few rounds into the bag was positive." Both Federer and del Potro needed a win to progress from Group B and treated the crowd to a tense and entertaining back-and-forth match. Federer trailed in all three sets. Only once in 12 appearances has Federer failed to advance to the last four at the season-ending tournament for the top eight players. He struggled to return del Potros big serve in the first set and committed seven forehand mistakes as his rival opened up a 5-1 lead. Capitalizing on more Federer errors, del Potro broke again in the third game of the second set. The Argentine looked set for an easy win but failed to build on the momentum, double-faulting as Federer levelled at 3-3. Federer then gradually took the upper hand with a brilliant display at the net and played a nearly prefect tiebreaker as del Potro crumbled. Federer clinched the set with an ace. But Federer again started sluggishly in the decider, allowing del Potro to break as he hit two consecutive weak forehands. But the blip was temporary and, once again, his rival could not take advantage of his inconsistency. At 3-1, del Potro saved a break point but fluffed a forehand on the second one, bringing Federer back into the match. Hitting more confidently toward the end, Federer broke to go up 6-5 and saved a break point in the next game before closing out the match with his 10th ace. "I think I got two chances to win the match," del Potro said. "But in the end you have to be focused and to find the winners. I made the mistakes, and he was there really focused to take the chance." The mark of the champions. ' ' '