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The Oakland As, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim remain the top three clubs in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings. Of those teams, the As have loaded up on starting pitching and the Angels have added Huston Street to improve their bullpen, but the Nationals havent yet made a big move, but they are still challenging for top spot. Making the Gillette Move of the Week, the Boston Red Sox, who have won eight of nine, moved up from 27 to 20. They have a chance to get right back into the playoff race if they can do some damage against AL East opponents Toronto, Tampa Bay and New York over the next dozen games. The Pittsburgh Pirates are up, from nine to five, with catcher Russell Martin quietly having a terrific season, and the Cleveland Indians are up from 18 to 14, following the lead of left fielder Michael Brantley, who is having a breakout campaign. While newly-acquired third baseman Chase Headley may be having a career-worst season, he could help the New York Yankees, who also climb, from 19 to 15. Heading the wrong way, the Kansas City Royals are 3-10 in their past 13 games and drop from 14 to 19, while the Miami Marlins sink from 17 to 24 with a 5-9 record in the past 14 games. The Toronto Blue Jays, who were ranked as high as number two a month ago, continue to slide, down from 15 to 16 this week. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Freddy Galvis Blue Jays Jersey . Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. Joe Carter Jersey . Down 2-1 after Rick Nash scored on a penalty shot, the Oilers ran off four unanswered goals in the remainder of the second period on the way to a 6-3 victory on Sunday. http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-...uchholz-jersey/. -- The Atlanta Braves added to their extensive wave of long-term deals with their young stars on Sunday by agreeing to a $42 million, four-year contract with All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. Marcus Stroman Blue Jays Jersey . - San Diego Padres centre fielder Cameron Maybin is going to be out two to three months after rupturing his left biceps tendon during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. Jesse Barfield Blue Jays Jersey . Colorado came up big against Chicago last spring, and repeated that performance Tuesday night. Varlamov stopped 36 shots and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche in a 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks.CHICAGO -- As their win total plummeted last season, one thing remained steady for the Chicago White Sox -- their faith in Robin Ventura. The White Sox rewarded their manager with a multi-year contract extension Friday, announcing the move hours before their annual fan convention opened. The terms were not disclosed. The extension comes after the White Sox dropped from second in the AL Central in Venturas first season to last with 99 losses in his second year. "You lose 99 games, there are going to be questions like that, about where this organizations headed and why they think the people in charge are the right people to get them through their end goal," general manager Rick Hahn said. "I would say we saw in 2012 and 2013 two extremes in terms of being a first-place club and being a club that was a disappointed in terms of performance. Throughout each of those extremes, Robins leadership was unwavering." Venturas contract was set to expire after this year. He turned down an extension before the 2013 season, leading to speculation that he might not want to stick around much longer, but he insisted that wasnt the case. He wanted to give Hahn -- then in his first season as GM -- a chance to work with him before making a long-term commitment. "I just felt it was important for Rick to have a full year of doing the job, us working together," Ventura said. "Then, you have the ability and freedom to decide if Im the right guy for the job. Nothing really changed in my mind of where I want to be and what I want to do. Its just more of it being his first time going through, I just wanted to make sure he had the ability and the freedom to do that. Now with the way last year went, the off-season, a lot of communication, a lot of talks of where were headed, how were going to do it -- Im excited to just keep going." Hahn, who got bumped up from assistant GM in October 2012 to replace the promoted Ken Williams, called it a selfless act by Ventura. "(It) allowed me the latitude to get comfortable," Hahn said. "It speaks to what kind of good man he is and actuallly makes a decision like this all the easier because of it.dddddddddddd" A former All-Star third baseman, Ventura had never managed at any level when he replaced Ozzie Guillen. And the results his first season were promising. The White Sox led the Central for much of 2012 before finishing second to Detroit with 85 wins, but there was a huge drop-off last year. Chicago wound up last in the division at 63-99, giving Ventura a 148-176 mark in two seasons. The White Sox hit just .249 as a team and their home run total dropped from third in the majors at 211 to 19th at 148. With little speed, there was no way to make up for the drop in power, and compounding the problem was the poor play on defence. They went from leading the majors in fielding percentage to ranking 29th, with Alexei Ramirez committing 22 errors and tying the Cubs Starlin Castro for the major league lead among shortstops. "Its imperative that we show improvement," Hahn said. "Its imperative that we show growth, especially on the position player side. We feel we have the ability to contend. But the most important thing for us is going to be allowing these young guys room to grow." Venturas steady hand, his ability to relate, came up over and over on Friday. Its why the White Sox believe he is the right manager, particularly on a team with some key young players. They signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu to a six-year, $68 million contract, hoping he can add pop. Theyll have a full year with outfielder Avisail Garcia after acquiring him from Detroit in the midseason deal that sent Jake Peavy to Boston, too. Theyve added some youth, athleticism, to their lineup. They believe they have enough pitching to compete with Chris Sale leading the rotation, even if they didnt land Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka. And they insist Venturas the man to lead them. "He just doesnt miss on how to handle guys," longtime star Paul Konerko said. "Hes stern with them, he gets his point across. But for a team of this makeup, Robin is such a good fit. Im glad he would want to stay." ' ' '