ETROIT -- Jimmy Howard failed to stop Alex Ovechk

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- After watching Esmil Rogers stumble, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons pulled out a baseball maxim. "Some of our top guys are putting together some good at-bats and some things like that," he said. "The key is pitching though. Thats going to take us as far as were going to go this year. Were trying to iron some things out, find out whos going to do what. We want strike-throwers." Rogers, in the mix for the Jays fifth starter, struck out six in his three innings Thursday in a 7-5 exhibition loss to the Houston Astros. But he also walked two and gave up four runs on five hits including two homers. "First inning he was good. Then he was shaky after that," was Gibbons pithy assessment of Rogers performance. "The key to him is throwing enough strikes. He could be a heck of a pitcher when he gets the ball into the strike zone. Weve seen it before, thats where he runs into trouble." With spring training entering its final weeks, the Jays are still looking wondering about their starting rotation. Gibbons pronouncement on pitching, while accurate, is hardly soothing to Toronto fans. Barring injuries, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Brandon Morrow are expected to emerge as the first three starters. Rogers is competing against Drew Hutchison, J.A. Happ, Ricky Romero, Todd Redmond, Kyle Drabek, Marcus Stroman, Sean Nolin and Dustin McGowan for the fourth and fifth spots. Hutchison has drawn praise from general manager Alex Anthopoulos -- "We think Drews got a chance to be outstanding" -- while Gibbons called Romero "the big talk of camp right now." But questions remain. Rogers likely did not do himself any favours Thursday after a 1-2-3 first inning that featured a groundout and two strikeouts. Things went downhill from there. "My pitches were a little bit high," he said. "I lost my control." Teenage shortstop Carlos Correa, a 19-year-old who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, and Jon Singleton hit back-to-back homers for Houston in the third inning off Rogers. Correa then drove in two more runs with a blast to centre in the eighth off Neil Wagner. In between, he made a slick fielding play in the fourth to throw out Brett Lawrie. Rogers said the Singleton homer came off a change-up, a pitch he suggested he might put aside for the time being. Starter Dallas Keuchel pitched four scoreless innings as Houston (7-6) posted its fourth straight win in the spring. The last time the Astros won four in a row in the Grapefruit League was in March 2011. McGowan was the best of the Blue Jays pitchers with two scoreless innings despite not having pitched in 10 days after being sidelined by a stomach bug that saw him lose eight pounds. The only blemish on his outing Thursday was a walk. McGowan still thinks of himself as a starting pitcher but, with only four spring innings under his belt, he is behind others. "Theres what I want to be," he said. "If Im there, great. If Im in the bullpen, also great. Its a win-win situation, I think." Houston went ahead 2-0 in the second on a Cesar Izturis single after Rogers dug himself in a bases-loaded hole with two walks and a single. Lawrie did his bit for the Toronto defence, gunning down Jesus Guzman at the plate before the Izturis hit. The Blue Jays (6-8) scored three in the fifth off Collin McHugh to cut the lead to 4-3. Houston made it 5-3 in the sixth via a sacrifice fly. Houston threatened again when Toronto pitcher Jeremy Jeffress loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs. He struck out one before giving way to Wagner, who struck out another and then escaped the inning when Ryan Goins made an eye-popping fielding play off a ball that flew off the pitchers body. There was action in the bottom of the seventh as Anthony Gose somehow turned a shallow fly ball into a triple when sliding Houston outfielder Adron Chambers was unable to chase the ball down. Kevin Pillar then was drilled by Josh Zeid with the Jays outfielder taking a long look at the Astros pitcher as he left the batters box. Gose scored on a fielders choice when Pillar was cut down stealing second, cutting the lead to 5-4. Gose also scored on a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 7-5 after Correas second homer extended the Houston lead. Keuchel has yet to give up a run in nine innings this spring. He scattered six hits over his four innings Wednesday, striking out two with no walks. The game featured half-brothers Cesar and Maicer Izturis, both starting at second base and batting ninth (the older Cesar for Houston and Maicer for Toronto). Toronto outhit Houston 13-12. The contest, which lasted three hours 11 minutes, drew 4,510 to Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on a 15-degree day. Thurman Munson Jersey . The 31-year-old Russian dominated the No. 3-ranked Ferrer throughout, breaking the defending champion and local favourite four times on the indoor hard court. Aroldis Chapman Yankees Jersey . -- Andy Granatelli, the former CEO of STP motor oil company who made a mark on motorsports as a car owner, innovator and entrepreneur, has died. http://www.yankeesrookiestore.com/Yankee...ra-Kids-Jersey/. Raonic, the mens No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., needed more than three hours to overcome Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 and become the first Canadian man into the fourth round at Roland Garros. Randy Johnson Jersey .ca NHL Power Rankings, finally overtaking the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks, who rank second and third this week. Phil Rizzuto Jersey .Y. -- Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney was mired in a shooting slump, and his woes coincided with a late-season swoon by the Orange.DETROIT -- Jimmy Howard failed to stop Alex Ovechkins shot in the final seconds of regulation. But that was the last time he let a puck get past him in a successful return to the ice. Patrick Eaves scored on Detroits seventh attempt in a shootout and Howard denied Washington seven times, giving the Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the Capitals on Friday night. Howard made 26 saves after missing four games with an injured left knee. "I felt surprisingly good," he said. "I didnt have any issues at all with the knee, which I think is a great sign because I came back last time and still felt it every once in a while." Ovechkin tied the game with 7 seconds left in the third period, but was one of seven shooters who couldnt score on Howard. "I had opportunity before to put puck in the net," Ovechkin said. "Howard played really well." Detroits Gustav Nyquist scored a tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, but the Red Wings couldnt prevent the NHLs goal-scoring leader from sending the game to overtime. The Capitals pulled their goaltender late in regulation and the move paid off. After a short break on the bench, Ovechkin had time and space to wind up for a slap shot from above the circles that sent the puck past Howard and into the net to make it 3-all. "Ovechkins a dangerous guy," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. Ovechkin has 39 goals this season, his highest total since scoring 50 times during the 2009-10 season The banged-up Red Wings welcomed back two key players: Howard and Henrik Zetterberg Zetterberg had missed two games with a back injury. "I think Zetterberg on the bench really helped," Babcock said. "I dont care who you are, when a lot of your best players arent there, youre wondering where the next goals coming from." Michal Neuvirth stopped 42 shots to match a career high. One of his first was perhaps his best, flashing his glove to snag Nyquists shot off a rebound just in front of the net midway through the first period. He also gave Washington a shot to win in the shootout, stopping the first six shots he faced. "Very frustrating being so close to a win, but at least we got one point," he said. Jason Chimera put the Capitals ahead 1-0 at the 15:24 mark of the first period on a power play and teammate Casey Wellman tied it at 2--all midway through the third, scoring on his third straight shot in a 2-second sequence.dddddddddddd "Took a couple of whacks at it and it went in," Wellman said. Washington had a chance to tie the game again when it went on the power play with 3:29 left in the game. Howard, though, helped the Red Wings stay ahead by smothering a shot from Ovechkin. "He made huge saves on the penalty kill late," Babcock said. "They had good chances and he made great saves." The lead didnt last much longer because Ovechkin made it 3-all late in regulation. "People dont realize how hard that shot is," Capitals coach Adam Oates said. "The ice is terrible at that time, the pass comes a long way. Just to get good wood on that puck is very difficult. He seems to shine at that moment." Drew Miller tied the game early in the second and Danny DeKeyser gave the Red Wings their first lead late in the period. "All in all, the guys worked really hard and we scored a goal late," Oates said. "I think the guys gotta feel pretty good about that. Yeah, you want to win it, but I think they feel pretty good." Howard helped, too, and will be on the U.S. team at the Winter Olympics in two weeks if he can stay healthy. Detroit star forward Pavel Datsyuk missed his 12th straight game with a lower-body injury. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said he hopes Datsyuk can play at least one game in the next week. The captain of Russias team has vowed he will be healthy enough to go for gold in his home country, but he declined to talk to a reporter following a postgame chat with Ovechkin, an Olympic teammate, that lasted about 10 minutes. Datsyuk often picked up, bent and extended his left leg as he talked with Ovechkin. "We just talked about his injury," Ovechkin said. "I hope hes going to be OK." NOTES: Washington defenceman Mike Green was scratched with a concussion, a night after he was hit hard into the boards on a check by Columbus Boone Jenner. "Were going through the process of testing him," Oates said. ... Nyquist has scored in five of six games and has 10 goals in 29 games this season, putting him in contention to repla