KISSIMMEE, Fla. Aledmys Diaz Astros Jersey . -- Halfway through his six spring training appearances, R.A. Dickey feels like an old pitcher with a new beginning. "Its like getting to start over and do it the right way. You feel like youre getting a chance to reboot," Dickey said Sunday after pitching five shutout innings for the Toronto Blue Jays in a 4-3 exhibition loss to the Houston Astros. "It makes you somewhat regret not being able to invest the time that was really needed last year." Dickeys first spring with the Blue Jays was interrupted by the World Baseball Classic. A year after winning the NL Cy Young Award with the New York Mets in 2012, he went 4-7 through May with a 5.18 ERA. "You dont know that in the moment, and youre getting to do a really fantastic honour," he recalled, "but having spent a lot of time with my guys on the team and getting to prepare my body, (this spring) just feels normal." Dickey threw 82 pitches in five innings in his third spring start, giving up four hits and a walk while striking out four. He plans to get up to 95-100 pitches in his next two starts, then perhaps dial it back for his final spring outing before pitching in the season-opening series at Tampa Bay. "Being older, I know what I need to do to prepare, and this is one of the things that helps me feel confident when I take the mound, knowing that Ive gone deep in games in the spring," he said. "That way when it happens during the season Im able to do it right from the get-go and not have to build into it. It works for me. Everybodys different." Marwin Gonzalez and Carlos Perez drove in runs for the Astros in the eighth inning off losing pitcher Jeremy Jeffress. Jason Castro hit a two-run homer for the Astros in the sixth. The Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead in the eighth on a play in which the Astros lost a replay challenge for the second straight day. Steve Tolleson beat a close play at the plate, scoring on a double by Erik Kratz. "If its that close, then its definitely worth challenging because theres no telling what angle they may end up getting that can actually overturn it," Houston manager Bo Porter said. STARTING TIME BLUE JAYS: Asked about the diminished expectations for the Blue Jays this season, Dickey deadpanned: "I think were terrible, and I dont want anybody to take us seriously. I think because of last year, were probably going to get walked all over every game." ASTROS: Rudy Owens, a 26-year-old left-hander who has yet to pitch in the major leagues, matched zeroes with Dickey for three innings, giving up one hit. "I never faced that calibre of hitters, but its something Ive dealt with and Ive been doing for my entire career," he said. "Its time for me to step up and I did." TRAINERS ROOM Toronto manager John Gibbons on the post-Tommy John surgery outlook of pitcher Drew Huthison: "You dont even think of Tommy John; modern medicine is so good. Its almost like when you draft these guys and sign em, do Tommy John right away because sometimes they end up better than they were to begin with." NICE IMPRESSION Kratz drove in two runs with a single and a double while catching Dickeys knuckleball for five innings. "Calling knuckleballs is an anxious proposition so hes got to navigate that some. He did a good job," Dickey said. Jimmy Wynn Jersey .com) - The Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics both entered Wednesday nights game riding lengthy losing streaks. Roberto Osuna Astros Jersey . Specifically, thumbs up to the Canadian-based teams in the NHL, or at least most of them. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/jr-richard-astros-jersey/ . The unrestricted free agent agreed to terms with the club on Thursday on a one-year, two-way deal worth $700,000.TORONTO -- Playing the second half of back-to-back games, the Toronto Maple Leafs refused to use fatigue as an excuse. Coach Randy Carlyle noticed his players were tired and how much that played a role in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night at Air Canada Centre. But inside the locker room the talk was much more about a lack of execution. "Theres never an excuse: Injuries, tired, its all B.S.," goaltender James Reimer said. "Those are all excuses. Theyre useless." Winger Mason Raymond, who scored Torontos only goal, scoffed that he and his teammates "simply got embarrassed." They committed turnovers that led to all three Panthers goals and were never really able to keep up. "I echo those remarks as something that we cannot be proud of our performance tonight," Carlyle said after the Leafs (17-16-3) lost for the fifth time in their past six games. Tomas Fleischmann, Sean Bergenheim and Brad Boyes scored for the Panthers (13-17-5), who won their fourth straight and sixth in their past seven games. With the victory, Florida crept to within six points of Toronto for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. "Were looking for progress," coach Peter Horacek said. "Were looking for consistency in our play." The Panthers certainly showed more consistency Tuesday than the Leafs, who couldnt get much of an attack going until the third period when Raymonds goal broke up Scott Clemmensens shutout and cut the deficit to two goals. Before that, Carlyle bemoaned his team being on the wrong end of far too many 50/50 puck battles. It didnt matter that the Panthers have the lowest payroll in the NHL because they didnt look like it. Torontos lacklustre play helped. "We just didnt play well enough. Thats the bottom line," Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. "We take pride in being a team that doesnt get outworked. Tonight we were outworked." Couple that with mistakes at inopportune times and the result was the Leafs 12th loss in 18 games at Air Canada Centre this season. Each of Floridas goals came as a result of a noticeable turnover. Centre Nazem Kadri was the first Leafs player to make a costly error, before some of the 19,076 fans even settled into their seats. Kadri lost the puck at the Panthers blue-line, and seconds later Fleischmann had a jump on Carl Gunnarsson and beat Reimer to make it 1-0 just 3:29 in. Sloppy play continued, but it didnt hurt the Leafs again until a disastrous defensive-zone shift in the second. Defenceman Jake Gardiner put the puck right on Bergenheims stick, but Reimer made a stop to keep the threat at bay. When the Leafs couldnt clear it, Bergenheim got it back in front and scored 5:54 into the second. "We had clear-cut possession of the puck, won a faceoff, it goes back to (Gardiner), they end up with a breakaway out of it," Carlylle said. Roy Oswalt Jersey. "Its pretty hard to defend a player in that position, and I told him so. Youve got to expect to have a higher level of execution than that in that situation." Boos predictably followed, and then continued when Phaneufs turnover directly contributed to the Panthers third goal of the game. Boyes poked the puck away from Phaneuf and scored seconds later on his own rebound thanks to some help from Bergenheim in front. "I made some mistakes tonight that are unacceptable," Phaneuf said. "Take responsibility for it." It couldve been even uglier had the Panthers converted on a short-handed odd-man rush in the third period. Shawn Matthias missed a wide-open net, and Toronto didnt have to stare down a four-goal deficit. The Leafs cut it to 3-1 not long after on their most opportunistic play of the night. Centre Peter Holland, filling in amid injuries to Dave Bolland and Tyler Bozak, held onto the puck long enough to get some traffic in front, and Raymond tipped the puck past Clemmensen 3:43 into the third. "I thought we got a little life after that," Raymond said. "We played some better hockey then." Aided by that third-period onslaught, Toronto outshot Florida 29-23, but Carlyle didnt like the lack of second opportunities. "I classified our game as we tried to plan shinny against an NHL hockey club tonight," he said. Clemmensen, who made 28 saves for the victory, was hardly stressed for most of the game. The veteran netminder acknowledged, as did Horachek and other Panthers players, that the Leafs were tired. But it was incumbent on the visitors to take advantage of that. "We were hoping to have a little bit more energy than they had," Clemmensen said. "Fortunately for us, we kept them off the board until the third period. That, in turn, kept the crowd out of it. That was big." This was their third victory in the past two weeks against a team being featured on HBOs "24/7" program. Florida beat the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10. As for the Leafs, the frustrating is growing bigger amid losses. And with the excuses thrown out, answers are also lacking. "Everyone is trying to turn it around," centre Jay McClement said. "It seems like we need all of us to step up and take the reins and change things. But it seems like were waiting too long to do that." NOTES -- Centre Trevor Smith broke a bone in his right hand when blocking a shot from the Panthers Shawn Matthias in the third period, Carlyle said. Smith has four goals and five assists in 24 games this season. ... Last years Calder Trophy winner, Jonathan Huberdeau, missed his second straight game with a foot injury. Horachek said the Saint-Jerome, Que., native could have played and is hopefully on target to be in the lineup Thursday when Florida visits the Ottawa Senators. ' ' '