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TORONTO – Chad Jenkins is living the life of the 25th man. On his fourth recall this season, hes been on charter planes and stayed in five-star hotels. Hes ridden buses along freeways and turnpikes and stayed in not so five-star hotels, which is the routine of minor league life. Sometimes, most of the time in fact, hes been a reliever. During his last stint in Buffalo, with the Triple-A Bisons, he was a starter. There was that time, shortly into the season, his recall was announced and then retracted because he hadnt spent the first 10 days on option to the minor leagues. Its been a whirlwind, to say the least. "Its funny, I think after the second send down this year a teammate of mine in Buffalo goes, I dont know how you do it. Id be so mentally wrecked I wouldnt know which way I was going," Jenkins told TSN.ca. "Its funny. I laugh, you know, there are times when it really gets to me and I have like a rough day and Im down and out." There are other days, too, like when he was traveling with Buffalo in Louisville, Kentucky. His parents had come to visit from their Atlanta-area home. Jenkins was in a bad mood, moping and struggling to accept the up and down nature of his role. The Bisons had a game that night and not long before first pitch, something clicked. "At the end of the day I realized that I get to play a sport for a living and no matter where I am Im healthy, my familys healthy and thats all that really matters," said Jenkins. He feels a part of this team this time round. Jenkins is pitching. He threw a clean inning on June 4 in Detroit, using his patented sinkerball to induce three groundball outs. The next day he left an out from his first career big league save, hurling two-and-a-third scoreless innings in relief of J.A. Happ. Fast forward five days, to Tuesday night, when Jenkins put up another three-and-a-third scoreless frames in relief of Happ. The Jays lost but Jenkins, as is the demand of the long reliever, stopped the bleeding and gave his team a chance to win. Thanks to his three outings since the last recall, his ERA has dropped from 9.00 to 2.79. "Im not a big stat rat but I dont like seeing my ERA in the nines and I had to sit on that for two weeks," said Jenkins. "Every opportunity I get, in the end, is to the help the team win but at the same time its like, a little pride in myself. I dont like seeing such a high number beside my name." Jenkins had made four starts for Buffalo prior to rejoining the Jays. Thrust into the bullpen, he was forced to rearrange his routine. "Whats tough is when I start, I pitch, day off, side, two days off and pitch again," said Jenkins. "Your body gets into a routine. You run long distance. I lift heavy weights because thats just how I like to work out. I get back here, I switch my lifting. I lift every other day, every two days, just trying to get my body going. I stretch a lot more." Hes doing his best to "preserve bullets," as pitchers will say. Jenkins has incorporated a number of mobility exercises, including the use of the foam roller to loosen up his core muscles. He doesnt need to throw more. Hes been doing plenty of that. "Im getting hot it feels like every night," said Jenkins. "I know since the second day in Detroit Ive had one day when I havent thrown off a mound. Arms holding up great, I cant complain there and hopefully I can keep it going." Manager John Gibbons has been a vocal supporter of Jenkins. The 26-year-old former first round pick often is the odd man out because the Jays can send him to the minor leagues without first exposing him to irrevocable waivers. Jenkins doesnt have a hard fastball and isnt a strikeout pitcher. Despite being selected 20th overall in the 2009 draft, hes come to believe the cautionary tale he heard from a minor league teammate shortly after turning pro: its hard to make it to the big leagues; its even harder to remain in the big leagues. "I didnt really heed that warning," said Jenkins. "Now that Ive been racking up a lot of miles I know for a fact its hard to stay." Pillar optioned to Buffalo The Blue Jays sent down Kevin Pillar before Wednesday afternoons series finale with the Twins. The move seemed strange, although the purpose was two-fold. First, the club needs relief help with its two long men, Todd Redmond and Chad Jenkins, unavailable on Wednesday due to their recent workloads. Reliever Bobby Korecky fills the need and its likely only for one day. "The thinking was, weve been talking about it the last couple of days anyway, we havent faced many lefties lately and for this next, pretty much this whole road trip, even when we get back, we dont face a lefty starter," said manager John Gibbons. "Send him down and get him some at-bats instead of sitting out there rotting." Toronto embarks on a three-city, 10-game road trip, which starts in Baltimore on Thursday. The Orioles will throw four right-handers at the Jays. Based on the pitching matchups the Jays believe they will see, the Yankees and Reds will each throw three right-handers. When the Jays return home on June 23 to play New York, the Yankees will throw three right-handers. The Jays arent scheduled to see a left-hander until their home series against the White Sox, which begins on June 26. In the absence of Colby Rasmus, Pillar has been part of a platoon with Anthony Gose in centerfield. In 38 plate appearances this season, Pillar is hitting .243/.237/.324. Three of his nine hits have been doubles. Jays make hay Despite the Jays recent slide, four losses in five games, the club has wrapped up a stretch in which it played 16 of 19 games at home. Toronto went 13-6 in that span. The Jays have 29 games remaining before the All-Star Break, 20 of which will be played on the road. After the trip to Baltimore (four games), New York and Cincinnati (three each), the Jays will return home to play the Yankees (three games), the Chicago White Sox (four games) and the Milwaukee Brewers (two games). The pre-All-Star Break road trip will be a demanding one and will rack up the frequent flyer points. The Jays will go to Oakland for four games, to Anaheim for three games and then head east to play the Rays three times in Tampa Bay. Adidas Nmd Herren Deutschland . In question is whether 26-year-old Matt Frattin will be on it. A a€?mediocrea€? training camp, as Carlyle put it earlier this week, has Frattin lingering nervously on the bubble at the end of the exhibition season, pushed out of a likely job by Brandon Kozun, the small, but feisty winger determined to make the NHL for the first time. Adidas Nmd Günstig Kaufen" . Not to be outdone, Atletico Madrid bettered its title rivals by demolishing 10-man Getafe 7-0 with Diego Costa returning from injury to score with a brilliant bicycle kick. "It was an almost perfect night," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. http://www.nmdschuhesale.de/ . -- Top-ranked Stacy Lewis birdied the last three holes and five of the final six Thursday for an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Mi Jung Hur in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic. Ultra Boost 4.0 Weiß Deutschland . Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. Adidas Nmd Outlet . Peter Dawson took his long before he started the job. "I was playing an American one year at Oxford Golf Club, and he introduced me to this travelling mulligan," Dawson said.LONDON - One in four professional footballers said they suffer symptoms of anxiety and depression in a new study into the sports largely unexplored "dark side" of mental illness. The mental health of recently retired professional footballers was even more worrisome, with one in three reporting signs of anxiety and depression. Some 300 current and former professionals — from the Netherlands, Major League Soccer, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand — took part in the study for the players union, FIFPro. While football can draw on reams of scientific study about players physical injuries, little research has previously been done into their mental health, and mental health problems have remained very much taboo in the sport, FIFPro chief medical officer Vincent Gouttebarge said. "There is definitely some dark side of professional football," he said in an interview. "We dont talk about mental health issues in football, or we didnt talk about this issue," he added. "Its quite a macho culture so people do not talk about it." Gouttebarge said the studys findings suggest that professional footballers are no less prone to mental illness than other younger people in the general population. He said that might surprise fans who believe footballers live comfortable, worry-free lives, with media attention often focusing on the wealth of the most successful players. "Contrary to what people think, professional footballers experience psychological problems just like other groups in the population," Gouttebarge said. Among the 180 active footballers who responded to the lengthy questionnaire, 10 per cent reported symptoms of distress, five per cent reported signs of burnout and three per cent said they suffered from low self-esteem. Nearly 20 per cent reported problems with alcohol, which Gouttebarge said could include binge drinking and regularly drinking too much, and seven per cent said they smokeed.dddddddddddd The 121 former professionals who responded on average had 12-year playing careers and have been retired for five years. Fifteen per cent showed signs of burnout and 18 per cent signs of distress. One in three reported drinking problems, 12 per cent smoked, and 39 per cent reported suffering from depression and anxiety. Gouttebarge said that could include worrying, mood swings, difficulties sleeping, feeling stressed, not being sociable or a combination of symptoms. "Mental illness seems to occur among former professional footballers more often than in current players, and more often than in other populations. Consequently, mental illness among former professional footballers cannot be underestimated and should be a subject of interest for all stakeholders in football," the study said. Retirement was "really a critical period," with players abruptly losing the structure of regular training and the support of being in a club, Gouttebarge said. "You have to find a new life," he said. "It can put you under a lot of stress." Long-term injuries and surgeries that take players out of the game and away from close, regular contact with teammates can also be factors in mental health problems. Being forced to stop playing professionally because of injury or because clubs wont offer another contract can be particularly hard to cope with, Gouttebarge noted. "This has been recognized in other sports as a huge cause of mental health issues," he said. "The guy who is willing to retire or to stop his career is really (in) a different kind of situation to the one who is forced to retire." He called the study "a good first step" toward identifying the scope of mental health issues in football. The survey is expanding to players in France and from French-speaking nations in Africa, with plans to also study players in Spanish-speaking countries and Japan, Gouttebarge said. ' ' '