to cross-country bus rides on dangerous roads, players coming from the U.S. run the risk of getting food poisoning at neglected restaurants

TORONTO (AP) — Marcus Stroman doesn’t like the idea of his season being cut short. Lingering blister issues might leave the Blue Jays right-hander no choice.Stroman got roughed up early in his return from the disabled list Pat Tillman Jersey Limited , and manager John Gibbons said after a 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays that Toronto might have to shut Stroman down early.Making his first start since Aug. 17, Stroman (4-9) allowed four runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings. It was Stroman’s shortest start since Aug. 15, 2014, his rookie season, when he got only two outs against the Chicago White Sox.Stroman left a start Aug. 7 against Boston because of a blister on his middle finger, then was forced out early against the Rays on Aug. 12 and at New York five days later. He is winless in five starts.“There’s no doubt it’s still bothering him,” Gibbons said, adding the Blue Jays aren’t likely to push Stroman until the end of September if his finger doesn’t improve.“That’s probably what’s going to happen,” Gibbons said. “We’ll have to see, I don’t know yet.”Stroman declined to specifically address the blister, blaming his poor outing on a lack of feel for the ball. The competitive Stroman also made it clear he’s not interested in missing the final month of a frustrating season.“I don’t like sitting,” Stroman said. “I only get to go out there one every five days to begin with. Being out there every fifth day is a priority. I hate being on the DL. I hate watching. I hate not being out there. It frustrates me, it kills me inside. I’m going to do everything in my power to be out there.”Rays outfielder Mallex Smith said he hadn’t forgotten about Stroman holding Tampa Bay to one run over five innings on Aug. 12, and enjoyed turning the tables on the Toronto righty.“Definitely,” Smith said. “You come in with that mindset Authentic Jared Goff Jersey , ‘I’m going to get him back,’ and we did.”Kevin Kiermaier returned after missing Sunday’s game because of a sore back and had three hits and an RBI, coming within a home run of the cycle. Joey Wendle had three hits, Matt Duffy had two hits and two RBIs, and Tommy Pham reached base three times for the Rays, who are 11 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2013 season.“We have a lot of guys clicking on all cylinders at the plate right now,” Kiermaier said.Tampa Bay won its third straight and fourth of six following an eight-game winning streak that ended Aug. 28.Ji-Man Choi homered for Tampa Bay off Taylor Guerrieri in the seventh, a second-deck drive to right. The drive was Choi’s sixth, three of which have come against Toronto.Ryan Stanek opened for the Rays and left after a perfect first inning. Yonny Chirinos (3-5) followed with seven innings of relief, allowing one run and four hits. Jaime Schultz pitched the ninth.Rays catcher Nick Ciuffo was selected from Triple-A Durham and made his major league debut, batting ninth. To make room on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay put catcher Adam Moore on the restricted list, citing ‘improper documentation’ with his passport. He could still join the Rays in Toronto before the three-game series concludes.ROTTEN AGAINST THE RAYSToronto is 2-8 against Tampa Bay this season. The Blue Jays are batting .175 (53 for 303) in those games, their lowest average against any opponent.NO REUNIONThe Blue Jays won’t be seeing former 3B Josh Donaldson when the Indians come to Toronto for a four-game series that begins Thursday. Cleveland put Donaldson (left calf) on the 10-day DL Monday. Donaldson was traded to the Indians on Friday for a player to be named later.TRAINER’S ROOMRays: Smith was activated off the 10-day DL after missing eight games because of a viral infection that led to a brief hospital stay. … RHP Jake Faria will likely be activated Tuesday.Blue Jays: RHP Mark Leiter Jr., who was claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Saturday Jared Goff Jersey Elite , reported to the Blue Jays on Monday and pitched the ninth. Leiter became Toronto’s 35th pitcher of the season, a franchise record. Toronto used 34 pitchers in 2012. … INF Yangervis Solarte (strained right oblique) took batting practice Monday for the first time since his injury. Solarte has been out since Aug. 11.UP NEXTStanek will open for the Rays again Tuesday, while the Blue Jays will counter with rookie LHP Ryan Borucki. Over his past three starts, Borucki has a 10.03 ERA. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — For 10 years, ever since they bonded over baseball at work, Franlet Bencomo and Elbert Albarran haven’t missed an opening day game together.This year, however, they left their kids behind and ate a big breakfast before heading out to watch their beloved Caracas Lions because a hot dog inside the stadium costs more than 10 percent of the roughly $30 each makes a month at their minimum-wage jobs.“Now we have to eat beforehand, watch the game and go straight home” said Bencomo, in line for tickets six hours before the start of Friday’s season opener. “There’s no other way.”Throughout Venezuela, as winter league play gets under way, fans are having to make similar sacrifices to feed their passion for “pelota,” — the word for ball that’s used to describe the national pastime.Hyperinflation has pulverized incomes while putting ticket prices out of reach for many. Others are avoiding the ballpark for fear of getting mugged or because they don’t know how they’ll get home amid a nationwide transportation crisis. In response, more daytime games are being played.Venezuela’s eight professional teams are struggling. For the second straight year Authentic Brandin Cooks Jersey , state-run oil company PDVSA had to step in with a $12 million lifeline to pay for everything from imported baseballs to the salaries of the seven foreign-born players — most of them minor league prospects from the U.S. — on each team’s roster.During the offseason, vandals picked through stadiums, stripping bathrooms of metal faucets. Groundskeepers have been battling water shortages in several cities. Meanwhile, ticket prices remain a mystery, with some clubs changing them by the week to keep pace with inflation forecast by the International Monetary Fund to soon reach 10 million percent.In Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, the situation is so dire that the Aguilas (Eagles) team canceled its opener and five other home games this month after an inspector hired by Major League Baseball ruled their diamond didn’t meet minimal safety standards. The club said several of its light towers had the copper wiring stolen and the state government, which owns the facility, hasn’t come up with the relatively modest sum of $39,000 needed to repair the lighting. Still, the Eagles will be playing on the road.Venezuela’s once highly competitive winter league has been in decline for years.While many of the 70-plus Venezuelan players on big league rosters return home for a few games each season, most arriving this year, such as Los Angeles Angels pitcher Eduardo Paredes or Detroit infielder Harold Castro, are little known and don’t reflect the nation’s powerhouse talent. Meanwhile, major league organizations have shut down all their academies in the country.Venezuela is scheduled to host the Caribbean Series in February at Barquisimeto http://www.arizonacardinalsteamonline.com/pat-tillman-jersey , one of the city’s hardest hit by power outages that have roiled much of the country. Last year’s tournament, which brings together the champions of five Caribbean winter leagues, was moved from Barquisimeto to Guadalajara, Mexico, following deadly protests against Venezuela’s socialist government.Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, a former Venezuela league president and prominent opposition leader, said he remembers going to the stadium with his father during the 1960s oil boom and watching future Hall of Famer Earl Weaver manage the Cardinals in Barquisimeto. Pete Rose, after winning rookie of the year honors, and Barry Bonds are among other major leaguers who played in Venezuela during its golden era.“Back then there wasn’t such a big difference between salaries in the major leagues and what Venezuelan teams could pay,” he said.In something of a departure from his normally fierce criticism of President Nicolas Maduro, Aveledo applauds the government’s decision to spend part of its dwindling supply of dollars on baseball — even if he acknowledges that there are more pressing needs.From field crews to ticket scalpers to hot dog vendors, thousands of families depend on baseball to make a living, and Aveledo says the stadiums have long served as a sporting sanctuary where fans of all classes and political backgrounds can set aside their differences and mounting hardships.“It is one of the few things that unites us,” he said. “For the three months the season lasts, there’s a different vibe in the country.”Indeed Authentic Josh Rosen Jersey , last year stadium attendance rose 5 percent amid the political and economic crisis, although it remains down by a third from a peak in the 2013-2014 season.It’s not just the fans who have to endure sacrifices.Former All-Star shortstop Ozzie Guillen said he was tempted to skip returning home to manage the La Guaira Tiburones (Sharks) for the third straight season.In addition to cross-country bus rides on dangerous roads, players coming from the U.S. run the risk of getting food poisoning at neglected restaurants. And they have to deal with frequent power blackouts, like the one that postponed Monday’s game between the Bravos (Braves) and Magallanes in Valencia.“But I’m not here to cry,” said Guillen, who for the first time since growing up in poverty near Caracas said he has been without running water at his home in a well-to-do district of the capital.Guillen, the first Latino to manage a World Series winner with the 2005 Chicago White Sox, said Venezuelans’ passion for the game shows no sign of fading despite the country’s problems. While ticket and beer prices are rising fast, he insists the ballpark is still the “cheapest bar in all of Venezuela.”“I know things are difficult for the fans,” said Guillen, whose reputation for speaking freely about politics has sometimes gotten him in trouble. “But the game still brings more happiness and joy than sadness.”