CHICAGO - This road trip, the Blue Jays last of the three-city variety and the last against non-American League East opponents, hasnt gone according to plan. Really, this road trip is an extension of the entire month of August, which hasnt gone according to plan. After Sundays 7-5 loss to the White Sox, a game in which Toronto dug a deep hole early only to claw back but fall short, resulted in another lost series to a Chicago team with no playoff aspirations. The Jays are 1-5 on the road trip, with two in Milwaukee to go, 4-11 this month and fell behind yet another team - the Yankees - as baseballs playoff push kicks into its final six weeks. Star slugger Jose Bautista, known for his pragmatism when assessing the current state of affairs, didnt deviate from the course. "Weve got to play the same way we would if we were in first place," said Bautista. "Weve just got to come out here and try to win every single game and just hope that the guys that are ahead of us lose enough games that we gain that ground. Thats pretty much all you can control is the way you play and then hope for everybody else to lose some games. That certainly can happen. It happened to us." Players wake up on Monday morning members of a third place team. The Yankees beat the Rays on Sunday, moving ahead of Toronto in the division. The Jays are seven and a half games behind AL East-leading Baltimore. New York also moved ahead of the Jays in the hunt for the second wild card spot. Toronto is four games back of the leader, Seattle, and with Detroit and the Yankees in between, the waters get increasingly muddied. The pitching staff (4.90 ERA in August) is showing signs of fraying. Drew Hutchison followed up a tough start in Seattle with a poor outing on Sunday. Hutchison gave the Jays seven innings but he allowed six, two-out runs in the first inning thanks to, among other things, two walks, a grand slam and a two-run home run. The offence chipped away but couldnt overcome the damage. Edwin Encarnacion hit his first home run since returning from the disabled list, a positive sign for a ballclub that thrives off the home run and suffers more than most teams without it. Month-by-month, here are the Jays home run totals: April: 31May: 47June: 28July: 25August: 7 "It wasnt like we didnt have any shots," said manager John Gibbons after Sundays game. "We had them on the ropes and at the ballpark on a day the ball was flying we couldnt elevate anything, other than Eddies ball. And we need that. We need that to win." So its off to Milwaukee where, like Chicago, the Jays will be spared the Brewers best starting pitcher. Mike Fiers and Jimmy Nelson will provide the mound opposition for the two-game series, under National League rules, which begins on Tuesday. Its the next chance for the Jays to right the ship. CECIL GAINING STRENGTH Looking at the numbers, breaking it down into different blocks of time, Brett Cecil has the perfect description of his second season working in the Blue Jays bullpen. "I feel like the whole season for me has been up and down," said Cecil. "I started off well, seven appearances and everything to show for it. Then I had a couple of bumps and I feel like since then its continued to be up and down." Working backward from the most recent chunk of outings, Cecils run hot and cold. From July 20 to August 16: 12 appearances, 11 of which were scoreless, posting a 2.70 ERA. Between June 11 and July 19, Cecil had nine outings in which he allowed four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings (6.75 ERA). For the approximately month-long span from May 11 to June 10, which coincided with the clubs hottest stretch of the year, Cecil appeared in 11 games, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings. After 10 scoreless appearances to start the season, Cecils first hiccup came between April 24 and May 11 when he posted a 10.13 ERA over eight outings. Like left-handed relief counterpart Aaron Loup, whos already walked more than twice the number of hitters this season than he did in 2013, Cecils been bitten by the base on balls. Hes walked 21 batters in 39 2/3 innings this season, compared with 23 in 60 2/3 innings last year. The culprit isnt health. Cecil said he feels fine after battling elbow pain late in 2013. The problem is with his mechanics. Hes been falling off to the third base side too often as he completes his delivery. "With throwing so many curveballs, trying to figure out how to keep my fastball in the zone when I want to throw it," said Cecil. "It seems like Im way up in the zone or way down in the zone so Ive got to find that happy medium." Torontos 4.26 bullpen ERA is fifth-worst in baseball. It comes on the heels of a 2013 year in which the relief corps was the bright light in a down year, posting a 3.37 ERA (ninth-best) while pitching the third most innings (552 2/3). What role carryover fatigue has played in the decline is a matter of debate. "As far as Im concerned this has been another successful season to this point, out of the bullpen, and hopefully it only gets better," said Cecil. Adrian Sanchez Nationals Jersey .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime. Koda Glover Nationals Jersey . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Watch the 2014 NBA Draft on TSN, Thursday at 7pm et/4pm pt. https://www.cheapnationals.com/1577r-eri...-nationals.html. -- Kurt Buschs Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, in some ways, was like his career wrapped into one afternoon. Austen Williams Jersey . Alina Fodorova of Ukraine took third place. Broersen based her gold-medal performance on great high jumping, and finished with 4,830 points, while Theisen-Eaton, from Humboldt, Sask., set a national record of 4,768. Andrew Stevenson Nationals Jersey . He also had some help Monday night.Hibbert scored a season-high 29 points to help Indiana beat the Utah Jazz 97-86 Monday night, ending the Pacers six-game losing streak.UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Kevin Poulins sigh of relief and wide smile summarized the game for the New York Islanders after they stymied the Nashville Predators to end a four-game skid. Poulin made 32 saves to back the scoring of John Tavares, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Kyle Okposo as the Islanders stopped the Predators 3-1 Tuesday night after their disappointing trip. The 23-year-old Poulin, who has played well in a backup role to starter Evgeni Nabokov, was sharp throughout as the Islanders improved to 7-9-3. "I felt really good from the beginning," said Poulin, who won for the second time in six games this season. "I was seeing the pucks well all night and was glad to see us play a strong game as a team." Predators right wing Patric Hornqvist ruined Poulins shutout bid with his fifth goal of the season with 5:30 remaining. Nashville (8-8-2) was playing the sixth game of a seven-stop road trip. The Predators lost 5-0 at both Winnipeg and New Jersey before visiting the Islanders. They conclude their journey at Pittsburgh on Friday. "We were slow to the puck all night and they did a better job winning the 1-on-1 battles," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "Were going through a tough time. We have to tighten up and put together better efforts." Tavares opened the scoring with 4:30 left in the first period with a power-play goal, his eighth of the season. Tavares was alone in the slot when he took a pass from Frans Nielsen from along the left boards as Nashvilles David Legwand served an elbowing penalty. Tavares settled the puck before firing it past Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec, who was making his first NHL start. The 22-year-old Czech netminder was recalled from Milwaukee of the AHL last week to back up Carter Hutton, already the backup to starter Pekka Rinne who is out with a lingering hip infection. Bouchard scored his fourth of the season with 2:37 remaining in the first, also with an assist from Nielsen.dddddddddddd. Okposo increased the lead to 3-0 at 7:07 of the second, rifling a slap shot from the left circle past Mazanec for his sixth of the year. The Islanders collectively lifted their game as they were missing high-scoring left wing Thomas Vanek for the second straight contest. New York acquired Vanek on Oct. 27 from Buffalo for popular winger Matt Moulson. Vanek suffered an upper body injury early in last Saturdays loss at Columbus. "I like that we got our speed going and put together a solid team effort tonight," said Tavares, who assisted on Okposos goal and leads the Islanders with 22 points. "It was important that we came home and played a strong game like this. Hopefully we can build on it." New York beat Boston 3-1 in their previous home game on Nov. 2 -- when Vanek scored his first goal with the Islanders -- then lost at Washington, Carolina, Columbus and Montreal. The Islanders have had little success against the Predators through the years. The victory was New Yorks first against Nashville in regulation since April 2002 and their first win at Nassau Coliseum over the Predators since a 2-1 triumph way back on Nov. 7, 2000. Nashville had been 8-0-2 in their last 10 meetings with the Islanders, including a 3-2 home win on Oct. 12. "We played a solid game start to finish," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We were disciplined and our goaltender played very well. This was a total team effort." The Islanders host Los Angeles on Thursday before welcoming the Detroit Red Wings to Long Island on Saturday to complete the homestand. NOTES: The Islanders continued to be without D Lubomir Visnovsky (concussion) and D Brian Strait (upper body). ... The Islanders are 7-1-2 when they score at least three goals. ... Nashville scratched C Mike Fisher (lower body) plus LW Gabriel Bourque and D Mattias Ekholm. ' ' '