BOSTON – Its not yet June and thanks to the advent of the two wild card spots in each league, only two of 30 teams can make the argument to their fans that theyre out of the playoff hunt. With apologies to the Arizona Diamondbacks, a club that made offseason moves with the intention of contending and will now give new hire Tony La Russa time to assess the damage of a disastrous start, the Houston Astros and the Chicago Cubs have dropped far enough in the standings to consider the postseason unachievable. The Cubs have a prized piece at the front of their starting rotation. He is 29-year-old Jeff Samardzija, the ace of a bad baseball team whos expected to top the wish list of teams looking to bolster their pitching staffs ahead of the important games of August and September. Dont let the numbers fool you. Samardzija is good. The Cubs are not good. He is winless in nine starts this season despite posting a big league-best 1.62 ERA. In fact, Samardzijas winless skid stretches to 16 if you go back to last year. Chicago, with its impotent offence, doesnt score him any runs. An even crueler fate: Samardzija pitched seven scoreless innings against the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field, departing with a 2-0 lead, only to watch his closer and defence implode in the ninth. The Cubs lost in extra innings. Word around the Blue Jays is if the club is in contention approaching the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, ownership would be willing to loosen the purse strings to acquire additional help. Toronto needs help in its starting rotation with two spots in perpetual question. J.A. Happ is filling one at the moment. Somebody will fill the other come Saturday. Its expected to be Liam Hendriks, a former Minnesota Twin whos off to a strong start at Triple-A Buffalo. Blue Jays catcher Dioner Navarro was a Cub last year and caught Samardzija 10 times. "Hes really good," said Navarro. "I think hes one of those guys the numbers last year didnt show what hes capable of. Hes a horse. He wants the ball. He wants to win. Hes still got that football mentality. Hes that type of player." Samardzija features a sinking fastball, which he pumps up at 91 miles per hour at the low end, 97 at the high end. Hell spike a splitter; he throws a backdoor slider and a cut fastball. "Hes got everything, man," said Navarro. "Hes got it." Should Samardzija land in the American League East, a real possibility considering the interest hell likely draw not just from the Blue Jays but also the injury-riddled Yankees and maybe others, hell quickly find himself in a home run-friendly division with home run-friendly parks and lineups that stretch deep. Its not the National League Central. Navarro doesnt think he would have a problem adjusting. "I believe so," said Navarro. "I think hes a strikeout pitcher. Hes a swing and miss type of guy. I believe that hes got what it takes. I think the most important thing that hes got is hes a really competitive guy and he wants to win. Obviously hes going to have to make some adjustments coming from the NL Central to the American League East but I think hes going to be a huge asset if we get the opportunity to get him." The Cubs reported asking price for Samardzija in the offseason involved both top pitching prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman. Needless to say that would be a steep price to pay. It may, however, be the going rate. With so many teams jumbled around the .500 mark and no sign of that changing in the foreseeable future, Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer should have a number of intriguing offers to peruse. If Cliff Lees elbow problem is anything serious for the Phillies, another potential chip comes off the market and Samardzijas price goes up further. How about that? The perpetually weak Cubs will be dealing from a position of strength. CHECK OUT THE PODCAST Episode 5 of The Baseball Podcast, #TBP, is available online. TSN 1050 contributors Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com and I discuss Fenway Park, the Blue Jays red hot offence, the persistent issues with the back end of the starting rotation, Jose Reyes defence and whether the media is too easy on general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Click here to listen. Antonio Callaway Jersey .Ryan Anderson had 14 points for the Pelicans, who trailed 78-63 after three periods before trimming the deficit to 86-83. Jrue Holiday had 13 points and Eric Gordon added 12 for New Orleans.Mike Scott and Jeff Teague each had 11 points for Atlanta. Cleveland Browns Jerseys .com) - The Miami Heat will try to close out the Charlotte Bobcats Monday night in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference first round series. http://www.brownsauthenticproshop.com/Yo...-Browns-Jersey/. The deal will pay Hainsey $3 million for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons and $2.5 million in 2016-17. Austin Seibert Womens Jersey . The Yankees made the moves before Tuesdays game against Baltimore. Robertson was listed retroactive to Monday. Robertson posted two saves in three games as the replacement for retired Yankees closer Mariano Rivera before getting hurt. Britton Colquitt Jersey . In an interview with La Presse this week, the five-time Stanley Cup champion and three-time NHL scoring leader specifically took aim at wingers Thomas Vanek and Max Pacioretty, saying they cant show up in a 7-4 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final and come up empty in Game 6.Sochi, Russia - Alexander Radulov recorded two goals and an assist and Sergei Bobrovsky posted a shutout to lead Russia into the quarterfinals on Tuesday with a 4-0 win over Norway at the Sochi Olympics. Captain Pavel Datsyuk added three assists to help the Russians take down the Norwegians and set up a quarterfinal matchup against Finland on Wednesday. The Finns received a bye to the quarterfinals after posting a second-place finish in Group B. Bobrovsky, a goaltender for the NHLs Columbus Blue Jackets, made 22 saves to keep the Norwegians off the scoreboard. It was the first win of the tournament for Bobrovsky, who was a tough-luck loser in 3-2 shootout loss to the United States in group play. The host Russians are under enormous pressure to win gold in Sochi and they are hoping to take the same road Canada used en route to its Olympic title at the 2010 Vancouver Games. The Canadians were the sixth overall seed coming out of the preliminary round four years ago in Vancouver, but still went on to capture the gold medal. Lars Haugen stopped 27-of-30 shots in the loss. Norway failed to record a single win in four games at the Sochi Olympics and was outscored by a 16-3 margin in the tournament. Norway played Tuesday without forward Mats Zuccarello, the lone NHLer on the teams roster. The New York Ranger missed the contest due to a hand injury. Zuccarello failed to score in any of Norways three games in the group stage. Russia opened a 1-0 lead early in the second period on Radulovs goal at the 4:12 mark. Radulov charged through the neutral zone and down the right wing before wheeling around the net and sending a backhand shot on net. The puck hit off the skate of Norways Morten Ask before finding its way into the net.dddddddddddd The goal was the first for Russia, not including shootouts, in 101 minutes, 28 seconds. The Russians dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the United States on Saturday and followed with a 1-0 shootout win over Slovakia to end group play on Sunday. Norway was whistled for a penalty 1:35 after Radulovs goal, but Russia was unable to convert on the ensuing man advantage. The Russians had plenty of offensive zone time on the power play, but couldnt get one past Haugen. However, Russia was able to extend the lead to 2-0 later in the second period. Radulov received a pass from Datsyuk in the left circle and hit the post with a backhand attempt. The puck then hit off Haugens back and briefly stayed out of the net until Ilya Kovalchuk knocked it across the line from the right side of the crease. Vladimir Tarasenko had a chance to extend the Russian lead to three goals, but he was stopped by Haugen on a breakaway with just under four minutes gone in the third period. Alex Ovechkin missed a breakaway attempt later in the third period. The Washington Capitals superstar appeared to be tripped by a Norwegian player on the breakaway, but no call was made. The Russians started slowly, firing just seven shots on net in a scoreless opening period. Norway had six shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes and both teams failed to convert on a power-play opportunity in the first. Russia padded its cushion with a pair of goals in the final two minutes of play. Radulov recorded an empty-net goal with 1:07 remaining and Alexei Tereshenko scored with the goaltender back in the game just 27 seconds later. ' ' '