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TORONTO - When R.A. Dickey takes the mound on Monday in Chicago, hell be pitching to the catcher with whom he is most familiar. Dickey has formed the battery with Josh Thole 66 times in his major league career. Nobody else comes close. Joe Mauers 20 games worked with Dickey is second most since he became a knuckleballer. "Im sure itll be like riding a bike for him," said Dickey of Thole reacclimatizing to the knuckleball. "Hes really good at it." "I suppose it shouldnt be too hard," said Thole. "Maybe a bullpen under my wing and should be fine going into the game." Thole was one of the less-heralded pieces of the trade which brought Dickey to Toronto. He was promptly signed to a two-year deal worth $2.5 million but had no assurances he would make the team out of spring training. He didnt. The role of back-up catcher went to the man he now replaces, Henry Blanco, who on Friday was designated for assignment. In a business where merit is preached but less often practiced, Thole earned his call up with strong offensive numbers at Triple-A and his handling of the Bisons pitching staff. In 41 games at Buffalo, Tholes hitting .322/.383/.510 with seven home runs and 31 RBI. He attributes his success at the plate to a routine implemented in spring training with the help of hitting coach Chad Mottola and Jon Nunnally, the hitting coach at Buffalo. "Just more so staying down through the ball instead of inside-outing balls like I have done in the past," said Thole. "I think its given me the opportunity to drive the ball a little bit more and still get on base and do what I feel like my game is." "This gives us a chance to get a little more offence," said manager John Gibbons. Gibbons may be looking to spell J.P. Arencibia, who has started every game but one in which Dickey hasnt pitched. Blanco was strictly Dickeys catcher. Thole will, for the most part, play the same role but could see additional time, perhaps in a scenario where a day game follows a night game. "We dont know how much hell play but Im sure hell play more than Henry did," said Gibbons. "But I dont know how its going to shake out yet." Dickey, more than anyone else, understands the business of the sport but lamented the loss of Blanco. "Henrys a friend and has been for a while, so to lose a friend, theres a human component to this that gets overlooked sometimes," said Dickey. "Its hard to lose a friend any time. From a performance standpoint, he obviously has done admirably and its for other people to tell you why he was sent out. We would be in a much worse situation if we didnt have a guy like Josh in the holster. In another organization where we didnt have Josh down there, you dont make the move, Im sure. But having Josh come up, who has a lot of experience with me, it should be a pretty seamless transition." LaROCHE RECALLED One day after optioning OF Anthony Gose back to Triple-A Buffalo, the Blue Jays recalled infielder Andy LaRoche. LaRoche, 29, was hitting .282/.358/.463 with the Bisons. In 403 career major league games with the Dodgers, Pirates and Athletics, LaRoche is a .226/.305/.337 hitter with 22 home runs and 113 RBI. LaRoche is the younger brother of Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche. Hell provide infield depth off the bench, particularly at third base in the absence of Brett Lawrie. Lawrie, 23, is rehabbing a sprained left ankle at the Blue Jays complex in Dunedin, Florida. Hes still in a walking boot, making Lawries timeline for a return uncertain. McGOWAN RETURNS After Fridays game the Blue Jays announced oft-injured right-hander Dustin McGowan had been activated from the disabled list. Hell be available on Saturday. McGowan, 31, made eight appearances at Triple-A Buffalo. He had an ERA of 7.00 but the Blue Jays were encouraged by his 12 strikeouts in nine innings. To make room for McGowan, pitcher Todd Redmond was optioned to Buffalo.Robert Gsellman Jersey .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. Lee Mazzilli Jersey . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/ . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. Jerry Koosman Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. Tom Glavine Jersey . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost.PHILADELPHIA -- Tom Koehler has watched his teammates play good baseball for the last month, and he was happy to finally help out.Koehler pitched eight strong innings, Ichiro Suzuki moved within four hits of reaching 3,000 for his career and the Miami Marlins pounded out 16 hits in a 9-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.Koehler (7-8) rebounded from a month-long slump with arguably his best outing of the season. He gave up two hits and only one of his three runs allowed was earned while striking out five and walking one while tying his career-high for innings. The right-hander had been 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA in his last five outings and hadnt gone more than five innings in any of his previous four starts.Step in the right direction, Koehler said. Were playing great baseball and Im happy Im able to contribute. I was trying to get back to what makes me who I am. I needed to pitch better than I have been and I did that tonight.Christian Yelich homered for the Marlins, who won three of four over the Phillies to cap a seven-game road trip 5-2. Miami moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the idle Mets for the second wild-card spot in the National League. The Marlins return home for an important 10-game series that begins on Friday night against the Mets.Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis homered for Philadelphia, which has dropped four of five.The Marlins gave Koehler a big lead in the fourth.Miami battered Jerad Eickhoff (6-11) for four runs on four hits -- all extra-base -- to take a 4-0 lead.Yelich led off with an opposite-field shot, tying his career-high with his ninth homer of the season. RBI doubles by Chris Johnson and Adeiny Hechavarria and Jeff Mathis groundout also plated runs in the frame.Just put good swings on good pitches to hit and good things happen, Yelich said.The Phillies got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the frame on Howards two-out homer that broke up Koehlers no-hit bid. The opposite-field shot gave Howard 14 for the season and 371 for his career, moving him out of a tie with Gil Hodges for 77th all-time.The Marlins got those runs back in the top of the fifth. Singles by Martin Prado and Yelich to start the frame put runners on first and third. Prado scored on Eickhoffs wild pitch and Yelich rreached when shortstop Freddy Galvis threw the ball away trying to get Yelich out at third on Derek Dietrichs infield single.ddddddddddddEickhoff had one of his worst outings of the season, matching season-worsts for innings pitch and hits allowed. He gave up six runs -- five earned -- on nine hits in five innings with six strikeouts and no walks.The funny thing is I thought I executed a lot of good pitches, Eickhoff said. Theres a couple times I got behind and had to make a pitch over the plate a little more and that kind of hurt me. They did some good damage to those pitches.Miami added three runs on five hits in the eighth off Daniel Stumpf. Marcell Ozuna had a two-run single and Koehler recorded his second RBI of the season with a single. Koehler is batting .097 with three hits in 31 at-bats.SUZUKI CLOSE TO 3KSuzuki hit an infield single in the third and a solid single to right-center in the eighth to bring his major-league total to 2,996. He is vying to become the 30th player all-time to reach 3,000 hits.Its been fun, Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. Hes a great guy to watch.The 42-year-old Suzuki joked that he had plenty of time to reach the milestone.Donny (Mattingly) said I was going to play for seven more years, Suzuki said through an interpreter. I should be able to get four more (hits) in seven years.STARTERS STREAK SNAPPEDEickhoffs outing halted Philadelphias starting pitchers streak of seven straight games with at least six innings. The last time Phillies starters had a streak as long was May 2014.YELICH LIKES PHILYYelich is batting .366 (34-for-93) in 22 career games at Philadelphias Citizens Bank Park.TRAINERS ROOMPhillies: OF Aaron Altherr had his rehab assignment moved to Double-A Reading on Thursday. Altherr has been out all year after injuring his wrist in spring training.UP NEXTMarlins: Marlins LHP Adam Conley (6-5, 3.61) faces Mets RHP Logan Verrett (3-6, 4.21) to start a three-game series on Friday night in Miami.Phillies: RHP Zack Eflin (2-3, 4.14) takes the hill for Philadelphia to open a 10-game road trip against Pittsburghs Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.11) on Friday night. ' ' '