TORONTO - From this there will be no going back. Dustin McGowans time as a major league starting pitcher is over. Hes off to the bullpen to reprise the role in which he was so effective last season. He knows what to expect. He no longer has to worry about the relative brevity of his starts and the effect its had on the bullpen. There will be less stress about the pain in his arm on days in between starts. He wont have to concern himself with tiring and the role elevated blood sugar levels - McGowans a type 1 diabetic - may be playing in the fatigue. Theres a feeling of relief about being a reliever. "Yeah it is, actually, to tell you the truth," said McGowan. "That was one thing, when I left the office today, I kind of felt like there was a weight lifted off of my shoulder a little bit. Like, now I know what I can go do and what I need to do." McGowan met with manager John Gibbons in the skippers office on Thursday afternoon. Hed pitched into the fifth inning on Wednesday, leading to another night of taxing work for the bullpen. The question Gibbons had: how are you feeling? McGowan, as he promised he would be, was honest with his response. "Recovery is starting to get slower and slower and I was the first one that said that I would tell them when I started feeling a little sore," he said. The problems began after McGowans start in Pittsburgh, he said, when he noticed that hed be sore for the next four days, until the day before he was scheduled to pitch again. There was mutual agreement to pull the plug on the starting experiment. "To be honest with you I think it will prolong his career," said Gibbons. "I dont know how many total innings he threw last year but hes got to be close to that number this year. I think it would be a shame for him to get hurt out there again and his careers over." McGowan agrees. "Whos to say if I tried those two more starts, what if something did happen," said McGowan. "Thats something I didnt want to happen." McGowans had three significant shoulder surgeries, which wiped out his 2009 and 2010 seasons, most of 2011 and the entirety of 2012. He returned as a reliever last June and pitched well in 25 appearances, posting a 2.45 ERA and striking out a hitter per inning. The 32-year-old can now forge a relief career in peace. Last September, he asked for one more chance to start. He got it, in large part because Toronto failed to land free agent Ervin Santana and because J.A. Happ struggled in spring training and began the season on the disabled list. The reasons why dont matter, though, the fact is he got the opportunity. "I asked for the opportunity and they gave me the shot," said McGowan, whos 2-2 with a 5.08 ERA in 39 innings pitched this year. "Its been a little rocky but I got the opportunity and Im glad I did." WHO REPLACES McGOWAN? Given the Blue Jays roster volatility, its impossible to predict with certainty who will get the first shot at McGowans spot. Toronto has an off day on Monday, in between three-game series in Texas and Boston, meaning manager John Gibbons can push back a fifth starter as far as a week Saturday when the Jays are back home and playing Oakland. From the current roster, Gibbons could go young and give Marcus Stroman his first career start. He could give the ball to Todd Redmond, a noted strike thrower. Stroman, 23, has worked to mixed reviews in five appearances during his first stint in the big leagues. He got his first major league win, pitching 1 1/3 innings in an extra inning victory at Philadelphia on May 6. Following another scoreless appearance against the Phillies on May 8, however, Stroman has since eight earned runs and 11 hits in three innings over two outings. "Just got to make pitches," said Stroman. "Hitters are hitters and you can never give them too much credit. Just got to really make pitches, bear down, its the best hitters in the world so you dont have room to make mistakes and they hammer mistakes." Here are the pitching matchups for the weekend set in Texas: Friday - RHP Drew Hutchison (1-3, 4.37) vs. RHP Yu Darvish (3-1, 2.33)Saturday - LHP Mark Buehrle (7-1, 2.04) vs. LHP Robbie Ross (1-5, 5.04)Sunday - RHP R.A. Dickey (4-3, 4.53) vs. RHP Nick Martinez (0-1, 2.38) RASMUS TO THE DISABLED LIST He was hoping to avoid it but Colby Rasmus went on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 13, with tightness in his right hamstring. "He wasnt healing quick enough," said manager John Gibbons. "Its tough to play shorthanded so this way he can go on the DL, get rid of the thing completely and hell be good to go in a couple of weeks." Anthony Gose was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to take Rasmus roster spot. Gibbons plan is to platoon Gose, who hits left-handed, with right-handed hitting Kevin Pillar.
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Custom San Francisco 49ers Jerseys . He still wanted out. "It just seemed like the direction they were going didnt fit what I thought my career was going to be," Kesler said. "At the end of the day I want to win a championship and I want to win it now, and four years is a little too long for me. LOS ANGELES -- Jeff Hornacek and Doc Rivers played against each other for 13 seasons in the NBA. This was the first time they matched up as head coaches in a game that counted, and Hornaceks Phoenix Suns gave the Los Angeles Clippers a not-so-subtle reminder of how quickly turnovers can turn into fast-break points. Goran Dragic had 26 points and eight assists before sitting out the fourth quarter, Gerald Green added 21 points off the bench, and the Suns ended the year with a 107-88 rout of the Clippers on Monday night. The Clippers went up against a team that began the day averaging a league-best 19.1 fast-break points, and allowed 18 for the game. Phoenix scored the first nine points, seven off three Clippers turnovers. The Suns converted 20 turnovers into 20 points overall, including a three-point play by Dragic that gave them a 45-34 lead with 4:55 left in the first half. "This is our game. We try to play a fast, up-tempo game, and I think things are going to be much better if you play like that," Dragic said. "Playing a half-court game is really tough for us, so we have to push the ball and try to get everybody involved. And when we get into the open court, we have all those open shooters." The Suns have won 10 of their last 12 after a 9-9 start and trail the defending Pacific Division champion Clippers by a half-game for the top spot. "It was a huge win for us, especially in L.A.," Dragic said. "We knew it was going to be a hard game. Theyre a really good team, a playoff team, and they have a lot of stars. So our job was to play them strong -- especially in the first half -- and force them to play our rhythm. We did a good job of that." Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford each scored 15 points for Los Angeles, while Chris Paul had 11 points and seven assists. It was the most lopsided loss of the season for the Clippers, who beat the Suns the previous three times they hosted them -- by an average margin of 20 points. "I think we did a good job of being really unselfish and looking for each other," said Channing Frye, who put the clamps on Griffin following his 40-point effort over Utah on Saturday night. "We had 26 assists, so we did a better job of pushing the pace and executing. Its not like were shooting off the wall, but guys are taking the right shots most of the time.ddddddddddddHopefully we can remember how hard we played tonight and can continue that into the new year so we can stay in that groove were in." The Suns were 12 for 31 on 3-pointers against the Clippers, who came in with the leagues best defence against 3-point shooting (32.7 per cent). Dragic, who averaged only 9.2 points in his 17 previous games against the Clippers, powered the Suns to a 61-40 halftime lead with 20 points. Green added 14 in the second quarter, including a trio of 3-pointers that helped fuel a 16-4 run in the final 4:08 of the half. "We have a tendency every once in a while to go into a lull and give up some easy baskets, but tonight I thought we were really alert," Hornacek said. "When they rolled to the basket, we were there to help. And when they kicked it out, the guys were rotating. We just challenged every shot, and they didnt have a lot of easy shots." Los Angeles got no closer than 16 in the second half. Griffin and Paul both sat out the fourth quarter with the Clippers trailing 88-59 through three. "They just kept pushing it at us," Paul said. "On a night like this when our offence isnt going, we have to be able to rely on our defence. Tonight we couldnt. I dont think they caught us off guard. We knew how they were going to play. They hit us in the mouth early, and they just dominated us through and through. Luckily it only counts as one loss." Eric Bledsoe, who came in as Phoenixs leading scorer with an 18.4 average, played his first game against the team he spent his first four NBA seasons with and finished with seven points and four assists in 31 minutes. NOTES: This will be the first time in franchise history that the Clippers make it to New Years Day without a losing streak of more than two games in a full season. ... Griffin has drawn a league-high 123 fouls. The Suns fouled him six times. ... None of the Clippers other 11 losses were by more than 14 points. ... Los Angeles C DeAndre Jordan played 21 scoreless minutes in the first half with 12 rebounds. He finished with two points and 19 boards. ... The Clippers took their only lead, 14-13, on a pair of free throws by Griffin. ' ' '
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