pposed. "I know how the business side of it is, the long-term stuff,"

BALTIMORE – Hours before his Blue Jays dropped an 8-2 decision to the now-American League East champion Orioles, general manager Alex Anthopoulos was asked to clarify whether John Gibbons would return as manager in 2015. Gibbons indicated on Monday he wasnt certain of his future. "Hes under contract," said Anthopoulos. "Hes always under contract pretty much. I dont think theres anything to take care of. I think hes done a good job." The Jays have lost three in a row and sit five games back of Kansas City for the second wild card spot. With 12 games remaining, the Jays tragic number (the number of combined Toronto losses with Kansas City victories to produce mathematical elimination) is eight. The Jays must first surpass Cleveland and then Seattle before the Royals would be directly in their crosshairs. The task, needless to say, is a tall one. Realists would suggest the postseason dream is dead, that a comeback is impossible. Theyre probably correct. Oh, the use of "probably" is only a hedge until the math officially eliminates them. When the dust settles and the Blue Jays find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture for a second-straight season following high profile trades for the likes of Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey, the club will have plenty of questions to answer. This is a team that is ready to build around a young pitching nucleus of Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman and Drew Hutchison, with Daniel Norris waiting in the wings. There must be a focus on improving the middle of the diamond. Second base, which was handed to Ryan Goins at the start of the year and then was played by Brett Lawrie, Munenori Kawasaki and Steve Tolleson, must be addressed. The matter of second base is further complicated by the poor defensive season Jose Reyes had at shortstop. Perhaps he should be asked, or for $22-million per season, told, to move to second. Then, Anthopoulos could explore shortstop options. Theres also that matter of third base, which is Lawries if hes healthy. Given Lawries extensive injury history, its not safe to assume hell come close to 162 games next year. A contingency plan must be in place. All of that and we havent gotten to the outfield, where Anthony Gose appears poised to take over for Colby Rasmus in centre. Melky Cabrera should be retained but as an impending free agent, that matter is as much up to him as it is the team. If he goes, theres a hole in leftfield. Rightfield is the lone spot of stability out there unless Jose Bautista is dealt. These decisions certainly would involve Gibbons who, at least, would be asked to provide feedback. When asked whether he could assure that Gibbons would be managing the Blue Jays when players report to Dunedin next February, Anthopoulos didnt say "no." He also didnt say "yes." "Hes under contract," said Anthopoulos. "I mean, again, Ive said this before too, Im a big believer that no matter what position it is in the organization, grounds crew, administrative assistant, manager, coach, you support them until you dont support them. Until theyre no longer in those positions, you support them. I mean, that positions going to be that way whether were 100 games over .500 or were struggling. You know, we always support our staff." Gibbons is under contract, true. But Anthopoulos statement doesnt give us any sense into which way hes leaning because Gibbons will remain under contract until well beyond termination. The way the skippers deal works, if Gibbons is managing the Blue Jays on January 1st of a given year (say, 2015), his option for the following season (say, 2016) automatically vests. "I wouldnt make anything more of this," said Anthopoulos. Fair enough. But a firm Yes, hell be our manager would have gone a long way toward keeping the sniffing dogs at bay. 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Poor defending allowed the visitors to score in the second minute, when Leon Andreasens header from Christian Panders cross sent the ball inside the far post.HOUSTON -- IndyCar fined Marco Andretti $2,500 on Sunday for failing to heed to an order from race control during the Grand Prix of Houston. Andretti ignored a blue flag during Saturdays first race to give way to leader Takuma Sato as Andretti tried to stay on the lead lap. Race control could have perceived that Andretti was holding up Sato to allow Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe to catch the leader. Because Andretti ignored the blue flag, he was given a black flag and a drive-thru penalty. In addition to the fine, IndyCar placed Andretti on probation for three races beginning with Sundays race. Andretti Autosport was also fined $2,500. Andretti vehemently disagreed with the penalty following Sundays qualifying session. "My question was, what would have happeened if James was leading?" he said.dddddddddddd "Its the 20th lap of the race and the facts are I finished ahead of Sato. Because you have to fight. Its early in the race. If its late in the race, I would have moved over, they wouldnt have had to tell me to move over." Andretti had been spun by teammate Carlos Munoz earlier in the race to put him in position to be lapped by Sato. But his car was not damaged, and he went on to an eighth-place finish. Sato was involved in a later accident and finished 22nd. "I wasnt off the pace," Andretti said, arguing he was only in position to be lapped "because I got spun. If (the leaders) caught me by a whole lap, then they have a point. But I was one of the top three fastest cars out there." ' ' '