TORONTO -- The starting rotation was identified as the weak link in the Blue Jays disappointing 2013 season but the men in charge of improving batting in recent seasons paid the price Monday. The 73-89 American League East team announced that hitting coach Chad Mottola and first base coach Dwayne Murphy would not be back with the major league staff. Mottola just completed his first season as the Jays hitting coach, a job Murphy held from 2010 to 2012. Bench coach DeMarlo Hale, pitching coach Pete Walker, third-base coach Luis Rivera and bullpen coach Pat Hentgen will return in their current roles under manager John Gibbons, the team said in a statement. Rivera was promoted from coaching assistant to third base coach for the 2013 season. Hale came over from the Baltimore Orioles while Walker moved from bullpen coach to succeed Bruce Walton as pitching coach. The Jays had a team batting average of .252 last season, 15th in the majors. Toronto was fourth in home runs with 185 and 11th in RBIs with 669, and the team had the sixth fewest strikeouts. In his season review, general manager Alex Anthopoulos pointed the finger at instability in the starting rotation as the teams biggest problem. The teams expected starting rotation -- R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, Josh Johnson and Ricky Romero -- cost US$46.75 million in salaries in 2013 and finishing with a combined 30-36 record. Dickey and Buehrle accounted for 26 of those wins. At the plate, catcher J.P. Arencibia regressed. Arencibia slugged 21 home runs but hit just .194 and struck out 148 times in 2013. Other Jays hitters also had bumpy times at the plate. Murphy, 58, batted .246 with 166 homers and 609 RBIs in 1,360 games with Oakland, Detroit and Philadelphia, winning six Gold Glove Awards as an outfielder. He joined the Jays system as a coach in January 2005, eventually becoming roving hitting instructor. He was named Torontos first base coach in June 2008 and added hitting coach duties for the 2010 season when the Jays hit a record 257 home runs. This season, he served as first base and outfield coach while yielding hitting duties to Mottola. Mottola, 41, began his coaching career in the Blue Jays system in 2007 after concluding a 16-year playing career that included 59 major-league and 1,801 minor-league games. A former first-round pick, he hit 239 homers in the minor leagues and four in the majors. He spent three seasons as hitting coach for the Jays Class-AAA farm team, then located in Las Vegas, before being promoted to the big club. Adidas Human Race ελλαδα . He still wanted out. "It just seemed like the direction they were going didnt fit what I thought my career was going to be," Kesler said. "At the end of the day I want to win a championship and I want to win it now, and four years is a little too long for me. Adidas NMD R2 Ελλαδα . -- A year ago, Flavia Pennetta was close to retiring from tennis. http://www.nmdgreece.com/ . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Adidas Gazelle γκρι . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Adidas NMD φθηνα . Rasmussen didnt have a decision during his four appearances in May, when he gave up two hits and no runs in two innings. Toronto used five relievers while pulling off the second-biggest comeback in franchise history on Friday night, rallying from an 8-0 deficit to a 14-9 win.EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. – It may end up being the key matchup in the first-ever playoff series between the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. A stingy defence led by Drew Doughty against an explosive offence led by Hart Trophy nominee Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. "Hit and hope," is all Kings head coach Darryl Sutter would say on Friday when asked how his team can slow down the Ducks dynamic duo. Luckily, Sutters top defenceman was willing to go a bit more in-depth. "Ive played Getzlaf and Perry so many times," said Doughty. "Ive played with them [most recently at the Sochi Olympics], I know exactly how they play. I study how they play. Theyre two of the hardest players to play in the league, no matter who is the third guy on that line. Its such a hard line to play against. But, like I said, Ive studied how they play so many times that I know exactly what theyre going to do and it just comes down to out-competing them, being a better player in every situation. "Its going to be tough for me to do, but I have to do it." Doughty, who averaged 26:31 of ice time per game during the first round win over the San Jose Sharks, will see a lot of Anaheims top line along with his defence partner Jake Muzzin. "Those two have been together for a long time," said Muzzin when asked about Getzlaf and Perry. "They have a lot of chemistry between each other and they kind of know where theyre going to be on certain plays. So you have to be very clear on where they are on the ice and be very vocal with each other on defending that top line." But the adjustment shouldnt be too tough for the Kings. Doughty is expecting a similar series to what his team experienced against the Sharks. "Theyve got really good forwards, especially their top guys are really good like San Joses," he said. "I think we can take advantage in some parts of the game with their defence, like we could with San Jose as well. I think Anaheim has maybe a little bit better of a goalie, so itll be harder to get it past him. I think its going to be the same type of game. Theyre going to get in on the forecheck. Their forecheck is a little bit different, but they actually come harder than San Jose, surprisingly. So we know theyre going to create off that." And Doughty warned against focusing too much on the Ducks dynamic duo, who combined for 74 goals in the regular season (28 per cent of Anaheims league-leading 263 goals). "For most of the season it wasnt really Getzlaf and Perry, who dominated our team," explained Doughty, "it was kind of the third, fourth-line guys like [Nick] Bonino, [Andrew] Cogliano and [Patrick] Maroon and guys like that so we got to pay special attention to them to." Getzlaf had one goal and one assist in the five regular season games against the Kings while Perry had two goals and two assists. Bonino had one goal and two assists, Cogliano had one goal, while Maroon had two goals in four games. Doughty remembers the Ducks secondary scoring being a key factor in the season series, which saw Anaheim win four of the five encounters, including an outdoor game at Dodger Stadium. But what stood out to Sutter during the regular-season showdowns? "We played two really good games in their building," Sutter said, leaving it at that. The teams split the two games at the Honda Center where the series will open on Saturday and where Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau will have the advantage of last line change. Sutter was in fine form on Friday in his meeting with the media, which lasted a little under three minutes with a good chunk of that being awkward silence following short answers. The fiirst question to Sutter was: whats the biggest challenge your team will face in the second-round series? "Were playing indoors," a deadpan Sutter stated.dddddddddddd "We heard originally the whole series was going to be played at either the Angels stadium or at the Dodgers. So now we found out today that theres actually four in Honda and three at Staples [Center], so weve got a lot of work to do to get that figured out." Its a little warm to play outside, a reporter retorted referencing the high of 35 degrees celsius in Orange County. "Its supposed to cool off, though," Sutter responded, not missing a beat. The Kings had no problem handling the heat against the Sharks as they became just the fourth team in NHL history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. And one player who has adapted well to the Hollywood spotlight is the 25-year-old Muzzin. Muzzin has proven worthy of the top-pairing assignment during just his second trip to the NHL post-season. Last year, Muzzin picked up three assists in 17 playoff games while averaging 15:50 of ice time per game. This year, Muzzin already has two goals and three assists through seven games while averaging 18:26 of ice time. "I think its just probably a little bit more experience," Sutter said. "If you take last years playoff where he was in and out of the lineup or didnt play that much, this year weve had to rely on him a little bit more to get him ready for playoffs and thats sort of just a continuation of that." "Jake was only on for one goal against in the whole series [against San Jose], shows you how good he was playing," said Doughty. "We did well offensively too [combining for 12 points]. The good thing about me and Muzz is when a teams emphasis is so hard on the forecheck, our breakout ability is really good where one of us can do it on our own. We can talk to each other, help out and I think that is the strength of us. We dont spend a lot of time in our D-zone. And when we do, were both physical, big guys who can pin a guy to have a loose puck and we can get it that way. We did really well in our D-zone, and thats why we were successful as a pair." Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns were held to just one goal over the final four games of the series against the Kings thanks in large part to the work of Muzzin and Doughty. "We were a lot better in our zone," said Muzzin when asked about the reversal in fortune in the series. "Getting pucks in and out, not giving them chances to create cycle opportunities and chances like that. [Jonathan Quick] made some big saves when called upon. But as a whole team, we definitely limited their chances by being quick in our zone and I think we had better gaps on the rush and better awareness on our changes and on the rush as well." NOTES: Jeff Carter and Willie Mitchell (lower body) did not take part in Fridays practice at the teams facility in El Segundo. Sutter said it was an optional skate and Carter took the option after working out off the ice on Thursday. Carter did see his ice time dip in the final few games of the Sharks series, playing 13:07 in Game 6 and 14:06 in Game 7 ... Anze Kopitar on whether theres any difference between facing Frederik Andersen and Jonas Hiller: "No, I dont think its going to matter too much, except for the left catch (Andersen) and the right catch (Hiller). Thats the biggest difference." ... Forward lines at practice minus Carter: Gaborik-Kopitar-Brown; Pearson-Nolan-Toffoli; King-Stoll-Williams; Clifford-Richards-Nolan. ' ' 'ando in the 19th minute. Real Salt Lake got a chance in the 34th minute, but Javi Morales free kick sailed just over the bar. RSL got another in the 40th minute when Grabavoys header off Luke Mulhollands cross was grabbed by Portland goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. Maximiliano Urruti had two opportunities for Portland early in the second half. His first shot was tipped by Rimando in the 58th minute and his second went just right of the post 2 minutes later. Grabavoy broke open the scoreless match with his left-footed goal in the 78th minute that sailed past a diving Ricketts and into the bottom corner. Rimando was the difference in the match, making a pair of dramatic saves of hard shots by Portlands Gaston Fernandez in the final minutes. ' ' '