(SportsNetwork. Buffalo Sabres Winter Classic Jerseys .com) - Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander endured one of the worst years of his career this past season. But on Thursday, Verlander can put a seasons worth of frustration behind him, as he takes the ball for the Tigers in the decisive fifth game of the American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. "Its not just another game," Verlander said. "The season is on the line. The whole season, the way we battled and played as a team, comes down to one game. May the best team win. You cant treat it like another game, you know. Its a little bit different. There is more to it. Its going to be fun. Its what you play the game for. Its exciting. This is what you dream of as a kid, to be on the mound in a clinching game." Of course, Verlander was in this exact same position last year and responded by striking out 11 in a four-hit shutout to propel the Tigers to the ALCS. He was equally as dominant against the As in Game 2 of this series, but did not get a decision, despite tossing seven scoreless innings in his teams 1-0 loss. Verlander, though, was 13-12 during the season and finished the year with his highest ERA (3.46), lowest strikeout rate (23.5 percent) and lowest innings total (218 1/3) since 2008 and battled through reduced velocity. However, the 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner started to show signs of the pitcher he has been down the stretch and pitched to a 2.27 ERA in his final six starts of the regular season. "I think its just some of the adjustments I made, one of the maybe a thousand that I tried to make this year," he said. "It was definitely a grind all year. Then it reached a point where I realized it was going to take awhile, that it wasnt going to be one thing I had to fix." Oakland, meanwhile, has relied on a lot of young arms this season. If they want to play another game theyll need to lean on another, as for the seventh time in their last 10 postseason games the As will hand the ball to a rookie hurler. Sonny Gray takes the ball as he did in Game 2 versus Verlander and the Tigers and will try to duplicate that performance which saw him strike out nine batters over eight scoreless innings. A 23-year-old righty, Gray has just 11 big league starts under his belt. Yet, Oakland manager Bob Melvin chose him rather than 40-year-old Bartolo Colon, who won 18 games this season and was second in the AL with a 2.65 ERA. "Obviously, we had two great options there with Bartolo," As manager Bob Melvin said during a late-afternoon conference call Wednesday. "We looked at it at a bunch of different angles. We have a lot of smart people in our front office and in our baseball operations and the short of it is it came down to Sonny and the last game he pitched in similar conditions in our ballpark. So thats the route were going to go." Including the Game 2 assignment, Gray pitched to a 1.66 ERA in seven home starts. Hes also struck out 47 batters over 48 2/3 innings of those outings. "Hes got a power arm and lot of talent, but its hard to know -- like in Game 2 -- how a young guy is going to react," As shortstop Jed Lowrie said about Gray. "But he went out there with all the confidence in the world and performed pretty well." Detroit staved off elimination on Tuesday, as it rallied twice and held on to beat the Athletics, 8-6. Victor Martinez homered in the win, while Game 1 winner Max Scherzer, who relieved starter Doug Fister in the seventh, escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth with two strikeouts and a line drive for the Tigers, who are trying to get back to the ALCS for the second straight year. "To be able to get out of that jam, I mean, thats something Ill never forget," said Scherzer. "Thats something Im not really asked to do, and tonight I was." Lowrie hit a two-run homer and knocked in Oaklands first three runs as the As built a 3-0 lead through the first 4 1/2 innings. Oakland will be trying to buck a trend of Game 5 failures on Thursday. The As have lost all five Game 5s they have played in the ALDS and are a miserable 1-11 in potential clinching games since losing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds back in 1990. Detroit, which lost four of seven games against the As during the season, has beaten Oakland the last two times these teams have met in the postseason. The As only win against the Tigers in the playoffs came in the 1972 ALCS, which started a run of three consecutive world titles for Oakland. The winner of tonights contest will play Game 1 of the ALCS in Boston on Saturday. Authentic Dominik Hasek Jersey . MacLean clocked 8:24.91 seconds, eclipsing the previous mark of 8:27.59 set by Brittany Reimer of Victoria at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal. MacLean and Tabitha Baumann of Ottawa -- second in 8:32.37 -- both went under the qualifying standard to be nominated to the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific teams. Authentic Patrik Berglund Jersey . Louis and Ryan Kesler have demanded to be traded. http://www.cheapnhlsabresjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-scott-wilson-jersey . "It was awesome," he said. Coming off an ugly three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees, Toronto found itself in a deep hole early after the Reds put an eight spot up on starter Liam Hendriks (six runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched) and Todd Redmond in the second.VAL GARDENA, Italy -- Canadas Erik Guay gained a measure of revenge by winning the prestigious Val Gardena downhill Saturday, a year after missing out on the victory because of changing weather. Guay, from Mt. Tremblant, Que., clocked one minute 56.65 seconds down a Saslong course lined with huge jumps and filled with tricky terrain, making up time over the last few gates to edge Kjetil Jansrud of Norway by 0.12 seconds. "It is sweet," Guay said. "I skied really well and took the chances necessary." It was the fourth career World Cup victory for Guay, who also won gold in downhill at the 2011 world championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Johan Clarey of France finished third, 0.24 back, and overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal was fourth, 0.29 behind. Bode Miller placed fifth, 0.39 behind, for his best finish in a speed event this season. Miller took last season off to recover from left knee surgery and he is improving race by race as he prepares for the Sochi Olympics in February. Miller would have made the podium if he was just a bit faster on the flats and said getting his equipment dialed in after so much time off was a big factor. "Theres so many details, you never know what it is thats really causing the problem," the 36-year-old two-time overall World Cup winner said. "The fact is we just dont have the whole thing together right now. Were close, and were getting there." Miller made up more than half a second on the technical lower section. "On the top I didnt feel like I was going fast," Miller said. "I took a little bit of risk in some parts and pulled off some decent turns and I skied pretty well but its one of those courses where theres not enough to it to bring it back in with my technical ability." Guay thought he had won this race last year until a drastic weather change helped later starters on a shortened course, with Steven Nyman of the United States taking the win and Rok Perko of Slovenia claiming second, relegating Guay to third. "I had a great run last year," Guay said. "In my mind I skied the best that I could have with my start number and not to take anything away from Nyman and Perko but the conditions do change and thats the reality of our sport. "I know that ski racing is like that," GGuay added. Authentic Vladimir Sobotka Jersey. "Ive been on the good side of the hundredths and Ive benefited from good weather sometimes. So you take it when you can and you forget it when youre on the other side." While it wasnt quite as drastic as last year, when winds played a role, changing light once again made a big impact. Guay, Svindal and Miller had to deal with less light on the gliding section on top but then all three racers excelled on the more technical section of the course. The highlights of the Saslong are the camel bumps, which launch skiers into the air for nearly 80 metres (90 yards), and the twisty and technical ciaslat section -- two areas that come one right after another midway down. There are also numerous little bumps and jumps, making for constant air time. "A lot of times Val Gardena goes under radar with Wengen and Kitzbuehel getting so much attention but I think its one of most fun courses on the World Cup," Guay said. Guays performance was all the more impressive considering that he had left-knee surgery in the off-season and missed most of preseason training. Jansrud also had left-knee surgery after a crash in the super-G at last seasons world championships in Schladming, Austria. Jansrud took silver in giant slalom at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Saturdays result matched his best downhill finish from March, 2012, on home snow in Kvitfjell. Clarey also finished third in this race four years ago for his only other career podium. He stood first when the 2011 race was abandoned beause of strong winds after 21 racers had completed their runs. "Its unbelievable for me," Clarey said. "I almost quit skiing five months ago after my back injury." In the overall standings, Svindal moved 175 points ahead of Marcel Hirscher, who does not race downhill. Svindal also leads the downhill standings, 53 points ahead of Guay. Nyman was an early starter and made a big mistake midway down and had to make an acrobatic recovery to avoid injury. But his race ended there. Brice Roger and David Poisson of France also fell. Poisson slammed into the safety netting at full speed but eventually got up and skied down. The circuit moves over the Gardena pass for a giant slalom Sunday in Alta Badia, where Ted Ligety will attempt to duplicate his dominant win from last season. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '