Guelph, ON (SportsNetwork. John Mitchell Jersey .com) - Despite having a losing record, the Montreal Alouettes find themselves in the 101st Grey Cup Playoffs, pitted against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Division Semifinal at Alumni Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Catch the action on TSN starting at noon et/9am pt. This time last year, the Alouettes were the cream of the crop in the division, sporting an 11-7 mark, but plenty has happened to Montreal in 2013 to keep the squad from reprising their role as the best in the East. In addition to firing first-year head coach Dan Hawkins after only a few weeks, the Als also lost the services of one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history in Anthony Calvillo. There were several other injuries and hurdles to overcome in order for Montreal to get at least this far, not the least of which was winning four of the last six games on the schedule. Granted, the team did benefit from Winnipeg being simply awful in its own division, as well as Edmonton fumbling along over in the West. In 2012, this division had only two representatives in Montreal and Toronto, the latter being the eventual champion, with both the Blue Bombers and Tiger- Cats sitting at home with 6-12 records. But this time around Hamilton, which was a dismal 1-8 on the road a year ago, returned to respectability with four wins in nine away outings and an overall mark of 10-8. However, the start to the new campaign was not entirely encouraging, as the Cats won just one of five games coming out of the gate. A three-game win streak brought the group back around, as did four wins in the last five games of the regular season While he may not have been around to finish every game for the Tiger-Cats this season, the good news for the offense is that Henry Burris was one of only two quarterbacks in the league to start all 19 games for their respective clubs, and the other (Mike Reilly) failed to make the Edmonton Eskimos very good. Burris came up just 73 passing yards short of 5,000 on the season as he led the CFL in that category. He managed to complete 65.8 percent of his attempts and tie for the second-most aerial majors with 24, but at the same time he was guilty of throwing the most interceptions (19), something the Montreal defense will have to focus on. As luck would have it, the Alouettes have one of the top pass defenders in the league this year in Geoff Tisdale who led the CFL in interceptions with seven, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Not that far behind Tisdale was Jerald Brown who had five picks of his own. Montreal matched Saskatchewan for the most interceptions with 24 this year, yet the Als still ended up with a minus-three in turnover margin. Unlike the Cats who had the luxury of fielding the same signal caller one week to the next, Montreal had a total of four different starters at the position, the most in the league. As it stands, it appears as though the job has been handed over to former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith who has been the starter in each of the last three outings. The Ohio State product has had marginal success lately with nine passing touchdowns and a pair of majors on the ground, but at the same time he has tossed five INTs and averaged a mere 2.5 yards per rushing attempt. While Hamilton was watching from afar last season, Montreal hosted the Argonauts in the division finals and ended up on the wrong side of a 27-20 decision, allowing Toronto to move on to the Grey Cup where it shocked Calgary, 35-22, at Rogers Centre. These teams faced each other a total of three times during the regular season, with Hamilton posting two victories, including a narrow 27-24 final in the most recent encounter two weeks ago at home. The winner this time around will be back in action next weekend, clashing with Toronto for the right to compete in the championship game against a representative from the West Division on Nov. 24 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. From a historical standpoint, both of these teams have appeared in the Grey Cup title tilt a total of 18 times, with Hamilton taking the honors on eight occasions and Montreal raising the trophy seven times. The Als last won it all in 2010 with a 21-18 triumph over Saskatchewan, the teams second straight championship and the third appearance in as many years in the final game. Jason Vargas Jersey . Joel Embiid was nearly unstoppable in the paint in the second half, and Naadir Tharpe seemingly couldnt miss. David Wright Jersey . Left-handed reliever Boone Logan agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/1090l-terry-leach-jersey-mets.html . When Reyes signed a US$106-million, six-year deal with Miami last month, there was speculation Ramirez was unhappy about being supplanted at short. But new manager Ozzie Guillen sold Ramirez on the idea. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Royals manager Ned Yost admitted that he often manages an entire game around getting the ball to reliever Wade Davis in the eighth inning and closer Greg Holland in the ninth. The fact that Yordano Ventura gave him six solid innings made things even easier. Ventura returned from a sore elbow to keep the St. Louis Cardinals off balance, and Kansas City rallied for three runs in the sixth inning before the bullpen closed out a 3-2 win Thursday night that ended a string of eight straight home losses to its cross-state rivals. "The bullpen was fantastic tonight," Yost said. Of course, so was Ventura. The hard-throwing right-hander was skipped his previous time through the rotation because of the ailment, but looked sharp in his return. Ventura (3-5) pitched to contact and took advantage of some sharp defence, which helped him to limit the damage whenever he ran into trouble. "Everything was good," Ventura said through a translator. "I wasnt nervous. I was very anxious. I wanted to pitch well to help the team win." He wasnt in line for the win until the Royals rallied for three runs off Michael Wacha (4-4) in the sixth inning, and Francisley Bueno and Davis each pitched a perfect inning in relief. Holland made things interesting in the ninth. Oscar Taveras led off with a grounder toward second base that Omar Infante fielded deep in the hole and threw awkwardly to first base. Umpire Dan Iassogna initially ruled the throw beat Taveras to the bag, but a video review showed that he was clearly safe. Holland proceeded to strike out Jhonny Peralta, but a wild pitch sent pinch runner Randal Grichuk to second base. Holland then struck out Jon Jay and Peter Bourjos to end the game. The Royals took the first two games of the four-game, two-city series at Busch Stadium, and then lost 5-2 in 11 innings on Wednesday night before taking the series finale. Kansas City improved to 6-2 against National League clubs this season, while its slumping cross-state rivals lost for the seventh time in their past eight games. The game was expected to be a showdown between two oof the games bright young pitchers in Ventura, with his 100 mph fastball, and Wacha, who emerged for St. Tim Tebow Jersey. Louis last season. Neither of them disappointed. Ventura left two runners aboard in the first inning and a runner on third base in each of the next three innings. Alex Gordon then helped him out of the fifth, when he threw out Yadier Molina trying to stretch a single into a double with a strong throw from left field. The call was confirmed after a review that lasted 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Wacha only allowed two hits through the first five innings before Alcides Escobar started the Royals rally with a double in the sixth. Nori Aoki followed with an RBI double and Eric Hosmer guided a single through a drawn-in infield to knot the game 2-all. Salvador Perez, who had been in a 2-for-24 slump at home, followed with a go-ahead single. "Wacha was real good up the point of the sixth inning and thats consecutive starts where weve had starters come out and be real good and just hit a wall," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "We just werent able to get enough offence back after that." The fact that Aoki had a part in the Royals sixth-inning rally was perhaps fitting. The outfielder was leading off in the first inning when he took a pitch low and inside. He was still leaning slightly over the plate when Molina tried to return the ball to Wacha, and the throw instead ricocheted hard off Aokis helmet and toward the third-base dugout. Aoki crumpled into a heap and lay in the dirt for several minutes before resuming his at-bat. He later grounded out, but hurt the Cardinals with his double during the Royals decisive rally. "Yadi was real apologetic," Yost said. "Nori was just like, OK, OK." NOTES: Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong left in the fifth inning with soreness in his left shoulder, which he hurt diving for a ball Tuesday night in St. Louis. Daniel Descalso replaced him. ... Royals RHP Jeremy Guthrie starts a four-game series against the Yankees on Friday night. Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn will start for St. Louis to open its three-game set in Toronto. ' ' '