CLEVELAND – Ask a Blue Jays fan still hesitant to believe in the team whether a 5-4, nine-game run through Baltimore, Minnesota and Cleveland would be satisfactory early in the season, and the answer likely would be in the affirmative. Dmitry Orlov Jersey . Yet its those defeats, snatched from the jaws of victory, which sting the most and Toronto had two of them on the trip. The Jays led 4-2 in the sixth inning when Aaron Loup walked the bases loaded and gave up a bases-clearing, three-RBI double to the Indians David Murphy. Cleveland had a lead it wouldnt relinquish, ultimately winning the game 6-4. The meltdown was relatively minor compared to Thursday nights eighth inning debacle in Minnesota, which saw three relievers give up six runs on just one hit and an unseemly eight walks in a 9-5 loss to the Twins. Its jarring because the Blue Jays bullpen has been consistently reliable. It raises two concerns about the pitching staff. First: the walks. Six more on Sunday afternoon for a season total of 81, which pending the behaviour of Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers in their game against the Dodgers later Sunday, ranks second-most in baseball. "The walks have killed us so far," pitching coach Pete Walker told TSN.ca before Sundays game. "I think its cost us a couple of ballgames." Walks just cost them another one. Second: with the exception of Mark Buehrle, the starting staffs inability to pitch deep into games. "Bottom line, weve got to get some innings out of our starters or our bullpen will be dead come May," said manager John Gibbons after Sundays defeat. Such was the dichotomy of Brandon Morrows performance on Sunday. His six strikeouts over five-plus innings belied the fact Indians hitters battled him throughout. Michael Bourn led off the game with a nine-pitch at-bat. He struck out. In the second, Michael Brantley put the Indians ahead 1-0 with a solo home run on the ninth pitch. An inning later, in the third, Jason Kipnis worked a full-count, 10-pitch walk. Morrow was done at 95 pitches one hitter into the sixth. He threw almost 30 per cent of his pitches (28 of 95) in those three plate appearances alone, leaving Gibbons to wish for more efficiency. "I havent been able to do it as much as I would like to," said Morrow of pitching into the sixth and seventh innings. "Today it was one long inning in the middle; without that I would have been in a better position to finish that sixth." Walker is preaching contact early in counts. He doesnt want pitchers worried about strikeout totals. He wants aggression and laments that radar gun readings are posted on electronic scoreboards. "Its trusting your stuff and really believing that your fastball is good enough that day," said Walker. "I think a couple of our guys might be down in velocity and sometimes that affects your approach. You dont see that 97 on the board and its 92, 93 and all of a sudden you dont trust that fastball in as much as you did last year." Its easy to fall in love with the radar gun and easy to forget that the Blue Jays best pitcher to this point, Mark Buehrle, no longer tops 84 miles per hour with his fastball. "I think it comes down to realizing its not the velocity, its the location," said Walker. "Your fastball is your fastball that given day and it needs to be located regardless. I think, for the most part, thats what we need to get back to and thats something were focusing on is fastball command and pitching inside a little more aggressively." Through 19 games Blue Jays starters have pitched 103 2/3 innings, averaging less than 5 2/3 innings per start. A team with playoff aspirations needs more. R.A. Dickey is presented with the next opportunity to join Buehrle in bucking the troubling trend. He starts Tuesday nights series opener at home with Baltimore. NAVARROS STRANGE ALLERGY If youve been to a Blue Jays game and noticed that Dioner Navarro kicks away the catchers box chalk outline before kneeling for first inning warm up pitches, theres a good reason. Navarros allergic to chalk. The problem dates back years to Navarros minor league days. He would come home after games with skin cracks on his hands. His wife put two and two together since Navarro would always swipe at the dirt to improve his grip, and she suggested he be tested for allergies. Now its habit for Navarro to kick away the chalk before the game begins. Mike Gartner Jersey .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. Dale Hunter Capitals Jersey . Hall had a goal and three assists in a 5-4 loss to San Jose on Tuesday, had an assist in each of Edmontons next two games the capped the week with a goal and two assists in the Oilers 4-2 win over Anaheim on Sunday. http://www.officialcapitalsfanstore.com/authentic-dennis-maruk-capitals-jersey/ . -- The San Francisco 49ers have re-signed cornerback Perrish Cox to a one-year contract. TORONTO -- Two "silly mistakes" led to two shots on net, and cost Toronto FC a victory in their first game back at BMO Field in almost a month. Nick DeLeon and Perry Kitchen scored on D.C. Uniteds only two shots on target Saturday night in a 2-1 victory over Toronto, putting an end to TFCs six-game unbeaten streak. "Two mistakes, two shots on goal, two goals, two stupid ones as well, two silly mistakes," said an unhappy Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen. "And it cost us three points." Luke Moore scored the lone goal for Toronto, which outshot D.C. United 19-7 -- 6-2 on net. "We were very disappointed because we felt we were right in the game, obviously," said captain Steven Caldwell. "Second half, we gave away two very sloppy goals, cost us in the end. "We rolled up our sleeves and did some lovely little stuff, and huffed and puffed. And just couldnt quite get that finish." Moore, who was originally slated to sit out Saturday night on a one-game suspension, scored in the 60th minute to tie the game 1-1, pouncing on a rebound off a shot by Jackson and poking the ball past D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid. "Disappointing for us," Moore said. "Weve made good strides over the last couple of weeks. Today we maybe took half a step backwards." Moore had received a red card and suspension in Torontos 1-1 draw at Chicago on Wednesday, but TFC appealed and the leagues Independent Review Panel rescinded both his one-day suspension and fine. DeLeon had opened the scoring in the 54th minute, dribbling in on net with Torontos Nick Hagglund draped all over him. DeLeon managed to shake Hagglund long enough to get off a left-footed shot that sailed past Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik and into the right corner. Toronto had been dominating possession and appeared poised to score again in the Eastern Conference showdown when Kitchen stunned the red-clad capacity crowd of 22,581 fans in the 70th minute, heading in a goal off a corner kick to put United back on top. Toronto hadnt lost an MLS matchup since May 3 -- 2-1 to New England at BMO Field -- and Saturdays result was a disappointing one for a team that has been marching up the Eastern standings and is on pace to claim its first playoff berth in franchise history. TFC (6-5-3) went into the game two spots behind second-place D.C. United (8-5-4) in the East. Toronto was reduced to 10 men for the last few minutes when Hagglund was shown a red card after Eddie Johnson, the last man back for United, went down in the 88th. "What frustrated me was how many times in the first half, and the game, that we broke away and they pulled us down, knocked us down and we continued and played on. And nothing happened," Nelsen said of the referees decision. ";Unfortunately when it came to our one, the player I think obviously sold a big dummy, did a big dive. Tom Wilson Jersey. . . He was the last man so the correct decision was the red, but if you look at it, there should have been a big pool of water under him when he did that big dirty dive." The referee originally pulled a yellow out of his pocket, but switched it to red several moments later, which puzzled Toronto players. "Theres a lot of things Ive seen that Ive never seen before, to be honest. But obviously I dont want to criticize referees because Ive never been a referee," said Defoe. "Its absolutely irrelevant what the call IS," Caldwell added. "The call WAS a yellow card and Ive never known anything like it. Are we going to start changing penalty decisions, reassessing everything from above, from the stands, and telling the referee in his ear? Essentially theres no point having the referee out there." Despite missing a man, TFC poured it on in the last couple of minutes, and had a couple of excellent chances to tie the game in injury time. Moore fired a blistering shot that glanced just wide of the left corner, the Daniel Lovitz, a second-half substitution, had a shot that was saved only by a spectacular highlight-reel effort by Hamid. "How he brought that down and showed his technique, it was fantastic. An incredible save," Nelsen said. The game marked the return of midfielder Michael Bradley, who received loud applause during team introductions. The Toronto midfielder is fresh off the United States heartbreaking exit from the World Cup in the round of 16. "I felt good, excited to be back," Bradley said. "Im disappointed that the game went the way it did, because this was a big game against a team close to us in the table and it would have been nice to capitalize." Bradley had a spectacular scoring chance in the 34th minute when Defoe found the American with a nice pass. But Bradley launched his shot just wide of the D.C. net. Defoe had his own scoring chance five minutes earlier when he slid onto a low cross from Justin Morrow, but Hamid got his hands on it. Morrow had a decent scoring chance early in the second half when he got the ball alone at the corner of the six-yard-box, but sent his shot wide of the far post. Caldwell said its important the players put Saturdays loss behind them. "We dont look back," he said. "We get another run of six plus games, hopefully six, seven, eight, nine, 10 games. Disappointing to lose that run, we were feeling good and playing very well. On a different day today we could have won the game." Toronto remains at home for its next two games -- TFC hosts Houston on July 12, then the Vancouver Whitecaps on July 16. ' ' '