NEW YORK – As the Blue Jays venture into Yankee Stadium for an important three-game series with their foes in pinstripes, there are a number of storylines to latch on to before considering who will take the mound for Toronto on Tuesday night. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . Its the first-place Blue Jays against the team closest to them in the American League East. Toronto enters the series with a four-and-a-half game lead on the Yankees. Its another chance, the second of what will be as many as six, to wave goodbye to New Yorks future Hall of Fame shortstop, Derek Jeter. Here in New York, the dulcet voice of the late, great public address announcer, Bob Sheppard, brings No. 2 to the plate. Jose Reyes is back in New York, too. He made his name over in Queens playing for the Mets. R.A. Dickey is here but wont pitch. He won the Cy Young award two seasons ago on the other side of the city. Oh, and dont forget about the Blue Jays rookies mound opponent on this Tuesday: a rookie himself, technically, the Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka, whos dominated the early days of his major league career like he dominated for years back home. Then there is Marcus Stroman. Its strange that this, essentially a homecoming for a young man raised in the Long Island town of Medford, is somewhat lost in the shuffle. Hes the 23-year-old who stunned general manager Alex Anthopoulos, blowing his bubble gum in the middle of his windup. The kid seems born for the spotlight, even if it will shine more brightly on others. "Im usually pretty good with dealing with things like that," Stroman said on Sunday. "I dont let anything get to me or get me overly excited or kind of get me out of my game. Im fine. Im in a good place mentally. I feel good going into it. I have kind of an off-day just to hang out with friends in the city and then it will be Game on Tuesday." Medford is a sleepy town, according to Stroman, more than an hour from New York City. Its closer to the upscale Hamptons, a drive of about 45 minutes. Medford has one high school, Patchogue-Medford High School, which Stroman attended before moving on to college at Duke University. The town will awaken this evening. Many of its inhabitants, in fact, will venture to Yankee Stadium to watch the hometown boy pitch. Stroman has purchased up to 70 tickets for close family and friends. He said hes been told by another 50 or 60 people theyve bought ducats. Hell have a throng of about 130 people here rooting him on. "Anytime you have an opportunity to pitch in front of a bunch of family and friends, its exciting," said Stroman. "I should have a lot of – a bunch of people texting me, bunch of friends from high school, college, a lot of people reaching out to me saying theyre going to be at the game so thats always exciting to pitch in front of people whove been there along the way." Stroman is 3-1 in his first year in the big leagues, 2-1 as a starter. Hes gone six innings in each of his first three starts, losing his last outing against the Twins. In two of those appearances, including the Minnesota defeat, he didnt walk a batter. He has impressed with his fastball. His breaking stuff, particularly his curveball, has baffled opposing hitters. Hes developing his changeup. Hes not developing confidence. He already has it. His coaches brag about it. "I certainly dont see him as a guy whos going to nibble and pitch around guys," said pitching coach Pete Walker. "Hes definitely on the attack. His walks have been down and I would like to think that thats going to continue with him. He certainly trusts his stuff. Theres no doubt about that." Growing up, Stroman went to Yankees games at the old stadium and saw the Mets at Shea. He didnt cheer for either team. He admired players. Like most native New Yorkers, he watched Jeter in awe. On Tuesday night, hell pitch to Jeter. He doesnt know what to expect. "I cant even tell you," said Stroman. "Im sure itll settle in once Im kind of on the mound but Im pretty sure it will be surreal." MLB Jerseys China . Villa has already confirmed his short-term deal and the Daily Mirror reported early Tuesday that Lampard will join him as both build up match fitness ahead of moves to the new Major League Soccer franchise New York City. Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Online . Greece was on the wrong end of a 3-0 rout to Colombia in its first game of the tournament. They surrendered a goal in just the sixth minute of the contest, and despite some promising attacking play, failed to crawl back into the match. Japan, on the other hand, struck first in its match with Ivory Coast, with Keisuke Honda putting his side into the lead in the 16th minute. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysusa.com/ . - Their offence is underperforming.PITTSBURGH -- The Philadelphia Flyers used dominating special teams to sweep a weekend home-and-home series against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins. Wayne Simmonds had two power-play goals in the first period, Matt Read had a short-handed tally and Philadelphia killed off all four Pittsburgh power plays in a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon. It was the second victory in as many days for the surging Flyers against their cross-state rivals. Philadelphia had a power-play goal, a short-handed goal and was a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill in a 4-0 win against the Penguins at home on Saturday. "The power play was good again, the penalty kill was good again," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "Lots of shots, lots of chances. We played a pretty solid game." Philadelphia improved to 5-1-1 in its past seven. Including playoffs, the Flyers are 10-2-1 all-time at Consol Energy Center (8-1-1 in the regular season). "I know the boys in this locker room love playing against them," said Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason, who allowed three goals on 48 shots during the weekend sweep. "Whether were in their head or not, we dont really care. We get amped up to play against them." Defencemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen and recent call-up Jayson Megna scored for the injury-riddled Penguins, who lost two straight in regulation for the first time since dropping three in a row from Nov. 6-13. During the final seconds, the Penguins Sidney Crosby hit the post with a backhand off a pass from Evgeni Malkin while skating down the right wing. "(The post) is all I gave him, though," Mason deadpanned. "Its part of the equipment." Pittsburgh still holds a commanding lead in the Metropolitan Division, but remained three points behind the Boston Bruins in the race for the Eastern Conferences top seed. The Penguins fell to 18-2 in March home games over the past three seasons. They were 10-0 at home last March. "The last two seasons, March has been too easy for us," Niskanen said. "We go through with just a breeze, and I think we go into the playoffs overconfident. Right now, were in a little bit of a bump in the road and were going to have to fight for it." Simmonds assisted on Brayden Schenns goal 2:06 into the game and then scored twice in a 6:54 span to give the Flyers a three-goal lead 14 minutes in. Reads goal was his third goal of the weekend for Philadelphia, which entered Sunday holding down the eighth and final spot in the conference standings. Making starts on consecutive days for only the second time this season, Marc-Andre Fleury made a lunging glove save on the first shot he faced Sunday, fromm Simmonds. Discount Baseball Jerseys. But he couldnt control the puck in his glove and it fluttered to Schenn in the slot, who slid it in past a diving Penguins defenceman Robert Bortuzzo for his 17th of the season. Claude Giroux assisted on Simmonds 20th and 21st goals, the first of which was with 13:13 left in the first when he deflected a Kimmo Timonen shot from the point. Simmonds made it 3-0 when he corralled a rebound while uncovered and beat Fleury to end his afternoon after just 13:41. "The way we started the game," Timonen said, "it was perfect." Under siege by a Philadelphia attack that Pittsburgh had issues dealing with, Fleury allowed seven goals on 55 shots in less than four periods covering 24 hours against the Flyers. Rookie Jeff Zatkoff replaced him. Without their top two goal-scoring wingers -- Chris Kunitz (lower body) and James Neal (concussion) -- for the second consecutive game, the Penguins were held to fewer than four goals for the eighth consecutive game. That hadnt happened to them since early in the 2011-12 season. A pair of defencemen pulled Pittsburgh within a goal with slap shots from the point that found their way through traffic and past Mason. Orpik was credited with his second of the season with 2:27 left in the first, and Niskanen tallied his 10th at 5:50 of the second. But Read had a short-handed goal for the second straight day, finishing a 2-on-1 break himself with a wrist shot for his 19th of the season. Megna tapped in a nice pass from Brian Gibbons to cut the Penguins deficit to 4-3 with 3:41 left in the second, but Pittsburgh failed to score on 11 third-period shots. Pittsburgh has the NHLs No. 1 power play and No. 2 penalty kill but lost the special teams battle 5-0 over the weekend against the Flyers. "We play Pittsburgh a ton of games a year, and our power play has been successful against them since Ive been there," Simmonds said. "I think we kind of know where theyre going to come from. "I dont want to say we try to pick them apart, but we know where theyre going to come from and we try to change our point of attack. And it seems to be working." Notes: The Penguins announced after the game that D Kris Letang was cleared to practice and will practice with the team Monday. Letang has not played since suffering a stroke Jan. 29. ... Penguins F Beau Bennett was cleared for full practice after missing the past 43 games with a wrist/hand injury. ... Penguins D Simon Despres was a healthy scratch. ... Giroux has five assists in the past three games. ... Crosby, who had 74 points over his first 45 career games against Philadelphia, was scoreless in the home-and-home series. ' ' '