TAMPA – Mark Buehrle spun a gem on his 35th birthday, pitching as if he had evening plans to celebrate. "Go home, drop the family off at the airport so time to go home and clean up the house and get it ready for getting stuff shipped," said Buehrle of what will be a quiet night. Buehrle made his noise on the mound, tossing 6 1/3 innings of seven-hit, one-run ball against a Yankees lineup that featured every starter save for an injured Jacoby Ellsbury. He threw 94 pitches, 59 for strikes and was his usual efficient self, issuing no walks. He didnt strike out anyone, either. The Blue Jays won 3-1. "Hes looked a little different this spring," said manager John Gibbons. "Everythings just right. His locations on. I think hes popping the ball a little bit better. Of course I saw him last year, I hadnt seen him in any spring before that but I know hes feeling good and I think hes a little bit surprised about how good he feels and thats a good thing." Buehrle hadnt pitched in a Grapefruit League game since March 7. On that day, he threw 31 of 44 pitches for strikes and was insistent that his changeup was the best it had been in any game in three years. In between, Buehrle made two starts in minor league games. Cognizant of his opponent, Buehrle threw fewer offspeed pitches on Sunday, focusing on his fastball. "We face these guys a lot so I came out and just said, hey, lets work on a lot of fastballs, location," said Buehrle. "I dont want to say trick them because obviously Ive been in the league for 12, 13 years so they know what I throw but just didnt want to show them everything." The plan is for Buehrle to start on Friday night in Montreal, the first of two exhibition games the Jays will play against the New York Mets at Olympic Stadium. Pitching coach Pete Walker draws up the assignments and didnt give Buehrle the choice of traveling or staying back in Florida to throw in a minor league game. Thats just fine with Buehrle, whos looking to pitch in front of a large crowd, in a large stadium, this close to opening day. "It definitely helps out," said Buehrle. "You get in that atmosphere, the adrenaline pumps a little more, theres a bigger crowd even coming here, everything just kind of clicks and it just becomes real once the game starts." Fridays start wont be Buehrles first at the Big O. His only previous outing came on June 18, 2004, an 11-7 White Sox win over the Expos. Buehrle pitched six innings but, as he put it, he got his "ass kicked." He allowed seven runs on 10 hits and got a no-decision. Reyes Update Jose Reyes wasnt in the Blue Jays lineup on Sunday, one day after leaving Saturdays win over the Tigers in the fourth inning with stiffness in his left hamstring. "It feels a little better," said manager John Gibbons. "We still dont think its a big deal." Reyes is listed as day to day. The Second Catcher Erik Kratz and Josh Thole are in a battle for the second catchers job behind Dioner Navarro. Its going down to the wire. "The number one job is going be able to catch Dickey," said Gibbons. "You want some offence but the number one thing (is) theyve got to be able to catch Dickey." Navarro played in 89 games for the Cubs last season, far and away his most since appearing in 115 games for the Rays in 2009. With that in mind, the Jays anticipate the second catcher having to play more. Kratz offers more offence but Dickey is most comfortable pitching to Thole. Dickeys thrown 565 2/3 career innings with Thole as his battery mate. Henry Blanco, at 127 innings, ranks a distant second. "I think theyve both done a good job so its a tough call," said Gibbons. Dickey, as he did last spring when the decision was made to take Blanco over Thole, insists he doesnt have, and insists he doesnt want, input in the process. Timeline for Roster Finalization Gibbons hopes to have his final roster determined before the Blue Jays leave for Montreal, where theyll play two exhibition games versus the Mets on Friday and Saturday, before the club departs on Thursday evening. "Well have a good idea before that what the roster is going to look like," said Gibbons. "Of course, well bring some extra guys with us anyway but well know in the next couple of days; with the catching, anyway." Kent Bazemore Jersey . The 23-year-old Woods, Tiger Woods niece, closed with a 4-under 69 at Royal Pines to finish at 16-under 276. Lee also shot 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Australian tours. Woods birdied the par-5 15th to open a two-stroke lead, hitting a wedge from about 120 yards to 4 feet. Caleb Swanigan Blazers Jersey . - Jerome Verrier scored the winner 8:24 into overtime and Louis-Phillip Guindon stopped 46 shots as the Drummondville Voltigeurs edged the host Val-dOr Foreurs 4-3 on Friday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. https://www.blazerslockerroom.com/Nik-St...Edition-Jersey/. Clevelands manager had just watched his team lose 5-3 to Kansas City, which completed a 2-6 homestand and dropped the Indians 2 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central. Nassir Little Blazers Jersey . Team spokesman Donald Beauchamp said there was no new information on the 80-year-old Hall of Famers condition. The family has requested privacy. C.J. McCollum Jersey . -- Canadas Nicole Vandermade won the Four Winds Invitational on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory.TORONTO - The Toronto Raptors turned good defence into torrid offence Wednesday night as they lit up the slumping Sacramento Kings 119-102.Greivis Vasquez and Jonas Valanciunas combined for 21 points in a red-hot third quarter and the Raptors won their fourth straight while handing the Kings their seventh straight loss.Toronto (31-15) connected on 17 of 34 three-pointers, erasing the season high of 15. The franchise mark is 21, set in 2005 against Philadelphia.Tied 54-54 at the half, the Raptors outscored Sacramento 39-22 in the third when they converted eight of 10 three-pointers. Vasquez and Valanciunas had four points apiece in the first half before coming alive in the third.Toronto coach Dwane Casey pointed to the defensive efforts of Valanciunas and Chuck Hayes on Sacramento big man DeMarcus Cousins in the third.I thought the defence set the tempo for our offence, said Casey. We started being more aggressive offensively. Physicality. It was almost like we were afraid to touch them in the first half. And once we got into them physically, started putting our hands on them, touching them, starting blitzing Rudy (Gay) a little bit more — I think he only had five points in the second half — thats when our offence got clicking and got going in transition.Our best offence was our defence, added Vasquez, who finished with 17 points.Sacramento (16-28) has lost eight of its last 10.Neither team was really playing good defence, said Cousins. It was preached, it was said that whichever team decided to be the first team to play defence was going to win the game and they decided to play defence first. Thats the story.Cousins finished with 13 points and nine turnovers.Lou Williams had 27 points off the bench and Valanciunas finished with 15 as seven Raptors finished in double figures.Theyre playing with a lot of confidence and theyre talented guys, said Sacramento coach Tyrone Corbin, who finished his playing career as a Raptor.Ex-Raptor Gay, booed all night, led the Kings with 22 points. The rude reception was criticized by Toronto star DeMar DeRozan.He didnt do nothing. Quote me on that, stop booing Rudy, said DeRozan who had 12 points on the night.Canadian rookie guard Nik Stauskas, a first-round draft choice from Mississauga, Ont., making his pro debut inn Toronto, finished with eight points from 17 minutes.ddddddddddddCousins ran into foul trouble in the third quarter, picking up three fouls in short order. Toronto went on an 11-2 run with Valanciunas and Vasquez accounting for all the points as the Raptors led 73-66.Toronto reeled off another 10-0 run to pad the lead to 90-72 and went into the fourth leading 93-76. Vasquez was good on all four three-pointers he attempted in the third.The message of the night was Toronto is headed in the right direction.Were in a good place, weve got to keep growing and getting better, said Casey. Were not there yet but lets keep that positive vibe of getting better and doing it as a team and be proud of this team.Obviously we want to continue this winning streak and then continue to get better, added Vasquez. Were not far behind where we want to be but we cant be too happy. We still havent done anything. Were beating teams that were supposed to beat. Weve got to remain humble and hungry and understand we do have to prove ourselves.The Raptors wore their camo uniforms, complete with short sleeves, in honour of Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night. More than 400 military and their families were in attendance. Toronto was coming off a Tuesday night victory in Indiana that saw the team reach the 30-win plateau for the first time before the all-star break.Casey said his team played the first half like a team on the wrong end of back-to-back games. We played like a winning team in the second half, said Casey. A team that is on a mission, going somewhere with a focus. Sacramento was well rested, having not played since last Friday with Mondays game in New York postponed due to the expected blizzard.The Kings were coming off a 126-101 loss to Golden State on Friday that saw Klay Thompson score 52 points while setting NBA records for points (37) and three-pointers (9) in a quarter.Sacramento is 5-15 since Michael Malone was fired in mid-December with the team at 11-13.NOTES: Toronto is 72-37 since the seven-player trade with Sacramento on Dec. 9, 2013 ... The Raptors won 117-109 when the teams met Dec. 2 in Sacramento ... Olympian Clara Hughes was in attendance to publicize the Bell Lets Talk mental health initiative.___Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter ' ' '