in to ground weakly to first.In the second, Devon Travis groun

The Wests Tigers are confident Jack Littlejohn will inject some much-needed defensive starch into their halves as they continue their unlikely run into the NRL finals.The Tigers face the first of many make-or-break games in the run home against premiers North Queensland at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday afternoon with Littlejohn to deputise for injured No.7 Luke Brooks.While Brooks absence due to a knee injury will heap pressure on in-form five-eighth Mitchell Moses in attack, Littlejohn is shaping as a key figure in the last five weeks for the 10th placed Tigers.Its no secret that defence has been the deep flaw in the Tigers game this year - conceding the fourth most points (average 24.1 per game) and second most linebreaks (5.7 per game).Defence has particularly been a problem for the Tigers halves with Brooks missing the most tackles of any player in the competition with 85 and Moses making the fourth most defensive errors with 74.Littlejohn, who has just six NRL games to his credit with five appearances for Manly in 2014 and round one for the Tigers, stands at a lanky 187cm and has been tipped by his teammates as being able to hold his own.Hes a real competitor, a very physical half, back-rower Chris Lawrence said.Hes going to test the line and hes got really strong defence.Hes a competitor and hes going to do it to the best of his ability.Fullback James Tedesco said coach Jason Taylor had put a big emphasis on defence over the last two months and the fruits of their labour were beginning to show after conceding just three tries in their last two outings - wins against Parramatta and St George Illawarra.Our defence has probably been our emphasis over the back end of the year, Tedesco said.The last two weeks weve probably only let in two or three tries, which has been a big positive for us.Our attack has always clicked but weve just got to be more consistent. We do it for good parts during the game and then we slack off for 10 or 20 minutes and weve let a few tries in.Its just about staying in the grind and when we complete at over 80 per cent we tend to turn that into points. Lance McCullers Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. Hector Rondon Jersey . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/ . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Aledmys Diaz Astros Jersey .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Jose Altuve Jersey . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. CLEVELAND -- All those big sluggers and not one timely hit.For the Toronto Blue Jays and their power-packed lineup, the first game of the AL Championship Series was about wasted opportunities.The Blue Jays had runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings but left them there as Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber worked out of the jams. Toronto finished 0 for 5 in those situations and stranded a total of eight runners during a 2-0 loss Friday night.It wasnt like we faced the average Joe out there and he struggled, manager John Gibbons said. Kluber is one of the elite pitchers in the game.Francisco Lindors two-run homer in the sixth was the difference, as Toronto squandered a complete game from Marco Estrada.I dont think it was a lack of something we did, Gibbons said. I just thought they pitched that well, as did we.Toronto led all playoff teams by hitting .478 with runners in scoring position during the Division Series, after lacking that sort of production in the regular season. The Blue Jays batted .249 with RISP this year, which ranked 24th in the majors.Over the final eight regular-season games, the Blue Jays were 13 for 66 (.197) with one double in those situations. They couldnt move runners past second base on Friday either, stranding six in the first four innings.ddddddddddddTheir best opportunity came in the first inning when Josh Donaldson singled with one out and went to third on a double by Edwin Encarnacion. Kluber then struck out Jose Bautista and got Russell Martin to ground weakly to first.In the second, Devon Travis grounded into an inning-ending double play with two on. Martin whiffed to end a threat with two on in the third.Kluber is pretty good, thats all I know, Gibbons said. Hes got arguably the best right-hand breaking ball in the game. And he kept us honest with enough fastballs. And hes got that razor-blade slider thats tough to do anything with. A big strikeout pitch for him. He gets a lot of weak contact on them, really.Toronto also put runners on in the fourth, sixth and eighth but never pushed a run across. In the eighth, reliever Andrew Miller gave up a single to Donaldson but then struck out the heart of the Blue Jays order: Encarnacion, Bautista and Martin.If youre a fan of pitching it was a dream game for you, Gibbons said.---Follow Mitch Stacy at http://twitter.com/mitchstacyFor some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mitch-stacy ' ' '