but there will be plenty for coach Rick Pitino to use in the

TORONTO - On Wednesday afternoon, before the Blue Jays concluded their three-game series with the Colorado Rockies, TSN.ca sat down with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to discuss the clubs recent winning streak, managing expectations and his health. The following is the transcript of the interview: TSN.ca: R.A. I think back to some of the things that you said after some starts earlier on in the year when things werent good. I think you used the word "sad" after a game in New York, just the way that things were going for the team. Youve talked about, youve wrote about it in your book, about managing regret. When things are going well for yourself and for the team, is it important to manage your way through the good times so that you dont get overconfident? DICKEY: Sure. I think its important to celebrate whats going on. I think thats very important. I think theres a way to do that that allows you to stay in the moment and not think too highly of where youre going or where you are. But as hard as we take defeats and not pitching or performing up to our expectation, its healthy for us to celebrate things when they do go well. TSN.ca: In terms of where youre at here right now, youve had some very good starts of late. Health-wise is the issue with your neck completely and totally out of the way? Because if you look at your miles per hour it seems like your velocity is back. DICKEY: Yes, Im over the hurdle of the neck and back issue that had plagued me for the better part of the first couple of months and Im thankful for that because it really allows me to do my work in between innings and get back on a normal routine. Im getting back to mechanically the way that I was last year and thats encouraging. TSN.ca: How difficult was it, R.A., to pitch through that because we sit up there or we watch you on TV and youre out there and youre doing your thing. You didnt give any visible signs out there on the mound to the naked eye but how tough a stretch was that for you? DICKEY: Well its tough in the sense that I want to be what the Blue Jays gave up to get me. I want to be that good and so when youre not that good it can play tricks on your mind and you really have to focus and have some vision about where you want to go and work to that end. Now, a lot of times when you do have an injury youre limited in how much work you can do and even what youre able to produce on the field sometimes it can affect that. But with the type of pitch I throw and the style of pitching I exhibit on the field Im able to take the ball sometimes when maybe as a conventional pitcher I wouldnt have been able to do that. I try to be thankful that Im able to do that and put up some quality innings even when Im not feeling great because I throw a knuckleball and Im able to do that. TSN.ca: You talk all the time, specific to your pitch, about the process and how you are learning everyday. Are there things that you take now that youre healthy, out of that month, month-and-a-half long stretch when things werent so good, whether its in your mechanics or in your delivery, have you grown out of that experience? DICKEY: I think Im growing out of that experience. When youre nursing injuries your body is going to choose the path of least resistance. A lot of times thats not the most mechanically efficient way. For me, Ive gotten into some bad habits protecting my condition and my muscle memory started to learn those bad habits and it takes a couple of starts and some good times in between your bullpen to first be able to identify what those differences are and correct them. Im getting to the place where I know what I need to correct and I feel like Im healthy enough to correct them so thats a good sign. TSN.ca: As a professional athlete does doubt, I mean youve been through so much and youve detailed it, does doubt ever creep into your mind? Maybe not so much for yourself but for the team? The expectations were so high at the start of the year and to get off to that 10-21 start through 31 games, was there ever any doubt that hey, maybe were not going to be able to turn this around or do you have to be relentlessly optimistic? DICKEY: Well, I think theres something to trying to have a bullet proof confidence and a short-term memory. I think thats important but were not cyborgs, were human beings and when things dont go like you anticipate them going you ask questions about those things and those questions sometimes do lead to doubt. We would be lying, everybody in here would be lying if we said we didnt have any fear or doubt. Its just, as athletes, we learn how to manage those things so they dont impact the way that we work, the way that we perform. But sure, yeah, I doubted myself and just got to the place where I needed to take the next step forward and was able to do that where it didnt impact me. We all go through that, everybody to a man in here deals with the same emotions that you would deal with away from the field. TSN.ca: Is it easier or more difficult to maintain a winning streak than it is to snap out of a funk? When youre on a skid Im sure it seems like its never ending. When youre going through what youre going through right now, Im sure you never want it to end. DICKEY: Yeah, theyre similar in that regard. I mean, when youre going badly, its tough. You feel like you may never win another game and then you win another game and youre like, oh okay, we can do this again. When youre winning like we have been winning, you feel like when you come to the park theres nobody in the world that can beat you. Its just the psychology of competition, really. Were not afforded the luxury of panic in here, we cant, so we have to be steadfast in our belief in one another, our belief that we have the pieces in here to win a championship. So thats what were doing, were leaning on that belief and really encouraging one another. Were also growing closer as a clubhouse culture. I think when you throw a bunch of people in a clubhouse like we were thrown into at the beginning of the year and I had to go to the WBC and others had to break off from the team you miss something. You dont really know what that something is but you miss it. Slowly but surely I think weve really grown to be comfortable around one another and thats a big deal. TSN.ca: Getting Reyes back very soon and considering that outside of that ninth inning home run in the first game of the win streak against Chicago that Jose Bautista had, I think hes had only three singles in the last six games in some 23 at bats, when you consider that you have gone on this stretch without Reyes and essentially without Bautista at his offensive best, are those little takeaways that as a club you can put in your back pocket and say if, man, we get Reyes back and Bautista gets hot, theres not necessarily a ceiling? DICKEY: Yeah, you know, I think thats an encouragement, sure, but at the same time, the way that baseball is rarely do you ever have all nine people in the lineup going at full capacity all at once. Jose hadnt been playing like hes capable of playing so Edwin picks him up and Lindo picks him up and Izturis gets some big hits. I havent been pitching like Im capable of pitching and so Buehrle picks me up and we pick each other up. Thats part of being on a good team is that you dont have to feel the pressure of having to be at your very best and not give up any runs every outing or, you know, the walls are going to crumble down around you. You have the luxury of looking to your left and seeing Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson and others, Rogers, whos stepped up just incredibly. Thats part of being on a good team is that we pick each other up. TSN.ca: In terms of the snowball effect and I mean this more in a fun way than a pressure way, you dont want to be the starting pitcher whose start snaps the streak? DICKEY: It would be unprofessional of me to want it any more badly than I wanted it two weeks ago. That part doesnt change. You know, you cant say today Im not going to be the guy because every time I go out there I want to win the baseball game, period, whether were on a 50-game win streak or a 50-game losing streak, it doesnt matter. So that part doesnt change. As competitors we want it to last as long as it possibly can and we all want to do whatever we can do to make it last that long. TSN.ca: When you first arrived here you talked about the opportunity to be a Canadian for a little while. How are you enjoying the city, how is your family adjusting and how different have you found it from Nashville and other places youve been? DICKEY: Well its a little bit different but difference doesnt always suggest that its bad. I enjoy the differences between Canada and America to be honest with you. Ive really enjoyed my time. I think the fan base is a very fair fan base. I know that Ive felt encouragement when I should and Ive also felt disdain when I should. Thats part of having a passionate fan base and I wouldnt want it any other way. Lucas Nogueira Jersey . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Devin Robinson Raptors Jersey . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. https://www.raptorsrookiesshop.com/Tracy-Mcgrady-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Numbers Game examines the deal that sees Michael Del Zotto and Kevin Klein switch places. The Predators Get: D Michael Del Zotto. Marc Gasol Jersey . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Marc Gasol Raptors Jersey . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December. PHOENIX -- Louisville coach Rick Pitino has played in the most difficult arenas in college basketball. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina.Hes faced some of the games best guards through the years. Bobby Hurley, John Wall, Sherman Douglass.Never before had he seen a combination like DeWayne Russell and the rowdy Grand Canyon Havocs.Overcoming a dominating performance by Russell and Grand Canyons boisterous student section, No. 14 Louisville escaped with a harder-than-expected, 79-70 win over the Antelopes Saturday night.It made us a much better team tonight, Pitino said. Whether we go to Duke or Kentucky, nothing will be as tough an environment as this.Pitino agreed to this rare road game against a small, private school out of respect for GCU coach Dan Majerle.The Cardinals (7-1) won in a blowout the first game of the series a year ago at home, but faced a much more difficult challenge heading to the desert.Grand Canyons student section is secretly one of the best in college basketball, racing to their seats before the game to create a rave-like atmosphere .The Cardinals knew Russell, the Antelopes blur of a point guard, would be able to score, yet had no way of stopping him, no matter what they did.And as Russell continued to pour in shots on his way to a career-high 42 points, the students known as the Havocs pushed the Antelopes within reach of the biggest win in school history.Ive never seen anything like it, Majerle said. Ive seen some great performances and thats the most amazing thing Ive seen.After struggling to find an offensive rhythm in the first half, Louisville started to find the mark with good passing. The Cardinals hit 17 of 31 shots in the second half and had a 22-point advantage in the paint to pull away.Deng Adel scored 15 points, while V.J. King and Ray Spalding added 14 each for Louisville, which played without 7-foot center Anas Muhmoud (concussion).Our passing was great in the second half, Pitino said. That was the difference.Missing three starters, Grand Canyon (3-4) led Louisville at halftime and kept the Cardinals close until the midpoint of the second half.Russell was the reason.The wisspy 5-foot-11 senior weaved his way through Louisvilles defense despite facing constant traps and double teams, scoring on pull-up jumpers and a pair of 3-pointers for 18 points by halftime.dddddddddddd Russell closed it with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put Grand Canyon up 37-36 at halftime.Russell kept his one-man show rolling in the second half, bringing the crowd to its feet again and again, including a baseline teardrop shot that appeared to float as high as the shot clock.Coach Majerle told me where the traps were going to come from, how they were going to defend me and I just did the best I could to execute the plan, said Russell, who hit 14 of 27 shots.Louisville put together a short run midway through the second half to go up 10 and kept its cushion despite Russells performance.BIG PICTURELouisville had another rough night shooting from the perimeter and had a hard time shaking a small school that isnt in Division I yet. Not what the Cardinals had in mind on the trip to the desert, but there will be plenty for coach Rick Pitino to use in the film room and practice.Grand Canyon schedules games like this -- it also has Duke and Arizona on this seasons schedule -- to gain exposure and experience against big-time programs. The Lopes fell short, but will benefit in the long run.POLL IMPLICATIONSScraping past a the Lopes could cost the Cardinals a few spots in the poll Monday.UNEXPECTED LIFTWith the Cardinals struggling to get any kind of flow offensively in the first half, coach Rick Pitino turned to Matz Stockman.The junior from Norway played a total of 15 minutes through the first seven games, scoring five points. He came alive when given the chance against GCU, scoring 10 points and grabbing three rebounds in the first half.I never I thought Id see the day where Id call timeouts and run plays for him, Pitino said. But thats what happened and he executed it beautifully.UP NEXTLouisville hosts Southern Illinois on Wednesday night.Grand Canyon hosts San Diego State on Wednesday night. ' ' '