A look at whats happening all around the majors Monday:---DIVISION DUST-UPJosh Donaldson and the first-place Blue Jays roll into a pivotal series at AL East-rival Baltimore. Donaldson had his first three-homer game Sunday in a 9-6 win that gave Toronto a sweep of Minnesota. Fans in Canada threw caps onto the field to celebrate the home run hat trick. The Blue Jays hold a slim lead in the division over the Red Sox and Orioles.MINUS ONERick Porcello (17-3, 3.23 ERA) tries to become the first 18-game winner in the majors when the Red Sox host the Rays. Boston will be without second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who left the team Sunday night following a death in the family. The Red Sox did not put him on the bereavement list, though, and hes expected to return Tuesday.TUESDAY MORNING IN JAPANRangers right-hander Yu Darvish and Mariners opponent Hisashi Iwakuma both came to the big leagues before the 2012 season. They will start against each other in the majors for the third time -- and first since April 2013 -- in the opener of a three-game series between AL West rivals. Darvish and Iwakuma split their previous two meetings in the majors, with each winning at home. They squared off six times in Japan, with Darvish earning three wins and Iwakuma two.ACE IS UPCubs right-hander Jake Arrieta (16-5, 2.62 ERA), leading the NL in wins, opens a seven-game homestand against the Pirates. Last time out, Arrieta gave up two hits in eight scoreless innings to beat San Diego.TALL ORDERIn his first major league start this season, Mets right-hander Rafael Montero faces All-Star ace Jose Fernandez (13-7, 2.91 ERA) and the Marlins in the opener of an important four-game series between wild-card hopefuls at Citi Field. Set to be recalled from Double-A Binghamton, Montero was tabbed to fill in for Jacob deGrom, who is skipping a turn to regroup from two poor starts. Miami, however, scored only 13 runs on the 2-4 homestand it just completed.IMPERFECT 10The Twins have lost a season-worst 10 consecutive games heading into their series at first-place Cleveland. Left-hander Hector Santiago (10-8, 5.16 ERA), who starts the opener, has not pitched since Aug. 20 because of a sore left thumb. Minnesota has allowed eight or more runs in a franchise-high six straight games. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. Cheap NFL Jerseys CHina . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. http://www.wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/ .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. Wholesale Jerseys China . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. With an empty Coke can, a plastic bottle, or even just a stone, we used to play football. Drop down a pair of jumpers for goalposts and you have an instant pitch in classrooms, corridors, and even the little patio at my grandmas house, where I played epic matches against my sister. To form a basic game of football cost absolutely nothing. And yes, cricket too: with improvised bats from bits of wood and balls shaped from scrunched-up paper. You can pretend to be a national legend when stroking a sphere of rubbish along the floor with a rolled-up umbrella.However, if you actually take the field and formally upgrade, the financial costs of playing football and cricket rapidly diverge.Ask Durham, relegated from top-flight cricket because they couldnt balance their books.Ask mum and dad when their son or daughter picks up a bat.Ask the club cricketer walking to the crease on a Saturday afternoon, where the rising price of playing is at its most extortionate. Before even being picked for his team, the treasurer will have asked for his annual subs, and while not as wallet-emptying as joining a golf club, these could be anything from ￡100 upwards, along with a weekly match fee - the last time I played league cricket, this was ￡15 a game.Still, our amateur is eager, and he has paid his bills and is striding to the middle. Depending on whether he wants his boots to fall apart before he scores that century, or he rightly understands that his feet are precious - my dad once broke his ankle darting for a quick single when one set of spikes stuck and the others slipped - and need support, he could have forked out anything from ￡20 for a pair of clodhoppers to ￡125 for a pair of cutting- edge Asics that promise to help him run quicker between the wickets.Inside this boot is a sock - white, because no one rates a player wearing any other colour. And for a day standing in the field this sock might include ventilation channels and be constructed from choice Merino wool and polypropylene to wick away moisture and set you back ￡10-￡15 a pair. And unless youre a cricket brute who thinks its okay to take guard in a pair of chinos, youll be wearing whites: a shirt and pair of trousers that may or may not be included in your team subs.Youre dressed for the sport and youve paid to be on the pitch. Now you need protection.Before pads, the Gentlemen and Players of yesteryear would suffer gangrene from cricket-ball welts. So you don modern leg guards that make you look like a stormtrooper, especially in addition to that brand new helmet, the second one you have bought in two seasons as your old lid didnt conform to the latest ECB British standard regulations banning movable grilles. Still, safety is paramount, and if your teeth get knocked out, your dentist becomes part of the cricket-cost eqquation, rather than the landlord after you buy that round in the pub after the game.dddddddddddd Besides, at your level, batting on the occasional minefield wicket, you need all the defence you can get against a ball weighing 5? ounces, travelling up to 90mph - not to mention costing anything from ￡5 (if you want to bowl with something shaped liked a potato after ten overs) to ￡90. You also need hand-stitched gloves (even cheap gloves are handmade, due to their design complexity) to defend your digits, and a priceless box. Finally, and most importantly - and most expensive - your bat. Your beloved blade, an extension of your body. The bat you choose represents something of your character, and perhaps your financial situation. Some men buy flashy cars in a mid-life crisis, others buy bats. Interviewed on Test Match Special this season, fellow writer Jon Hotten wondered if the pricey clefts of his team-mates would ever make more runs than they had cost in pounds. The problem is that bat quality does tend to equal bat price. You can get lucky with a bargain plank, and find the middle pings even when the grain wavers and the knots spoil the finish, but the best willow will cost.So there our club player stands, kitted out and settled up with the treasurer, ready to face his first ball of the season, a delivery that will pitch on a wicket tended and maintained by professional ground staff. Even the mangiest of park tracks will, despite appearances, have been mowed, weeded, scarified and rolled. A strip will have been painted on, sightscreens erected, and quite possibly an umpire who is not one of your mates will be adjudicating, and expecting a few quid in exchange for listening to bowlers swear at him all afternoon.Cricket costs. It drains pockets of the impoverished keen. Its simply not a cheap sport when played properly, and I do wonder how many kids from less privileged backgrounds dont get into the game because they, or their parents, cant afford it. Good schools, usually private, provide proper facilities. Bad comprehensives cant afford a manicured square and paid coaches. Vandals set fire to my own schools artificial strip a week after it was laid.Thankfully, beyond the governing bodies who ultimately dole out cash coming in from the clubs, amateur players and spectators, there are benefactors: sponsors, broadcasters, great charities, like Chance to Shine, dedicated mums and dads who dig deep so their children can take the pitch in proper whites and proper kit, and the generous clubs who subsidise the less well-heeled player.Cricket costs, but its also a sport people obsess about. A sport we love. And when were in love, we find a way. Cheap Jerseys ' ' '