ff it, it will really hopefully allow me to do some regular things and

TORONTO -- On a day when Julio Cesar essentially said farewell to Toronto FC, fellow goalie Joe Bendik opted not to talk to the media. Perhaps he was ceding the day to the Brazilian No. 1, one reporter surmised. A day later, Bendik came clean. Chatting with journalists had conflicted with his tee time Tuesday. The 25-year-old American keeper, who shot a round of 79, comes with a certain amount of swagger. That ego took a jolt when, after winning Torontos No. 1 job in 2013, Bendik lost his starting role in pre-season to Cesar. "A hit to my pride today but luckily Ive got tons of it! Going to take in everything I can from a top shelf gk (goalkeeper) to better my abilities," Bendik tweeted, with a colourful adjective before tons, when Cesars signing was announced in February. Three months later, Bendik is back as Torontos No. 1. Cesar has left the club for the World Cup and is not expected back, with Englands Queens Park Rangers looking to cut short the loan agreement with MLS. Bendik says he is a better goalie for having spent time with the 34-year-old Cesar. "He did things for my career that I couldnt do over 20 years, probably," said Bendik, his post-practice calendar apparently a littler clearer Wednesday. "Just to see him play, see his professionalism was amazing. "Now I have to step in and start to play some games and continue what I did last year. And continue what Ive done the last three games." Cesar gave way to Bendik for both legs of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Bendik also played in Saturdays 2-0 league win over the New York Red Bulls when Cesar was laid low by the flu. Bendik came to Toronto in a December 2012 trade with Portland. The Timbers got forward Ryan Johnson and goalie Milos Kocic in exchange for Bendik, the third overall pick in the 2013 SuperDraft and allocation money. At the time, the goalie component of the deal seemed like a swap of backups with Bendik taking over for Kocic -- who believed he should have been No. 1 in Toronto -- behind the oft-injured Stefan Frei. But when Frei was injured in the first pre-season game in Florida in 2013, Bendik took over and started 33 games for Toronto. Frei was traded to Seattle at the end of the season and Bendik was rewarded with a new contract. When he heard Cesar was coming to Toronto, Bendik said he knew it could go "either amazing or terrible. Luckily its amazing." It helped that inside the team, word was that Cesar was likely going after the World Cup. Rather than being left out in the cold, Bendik knew in essence that he was having an extended training camp -- while having the opportunity to learn from one of the best goalies in the world. It was no coincidence that Nelsen, praising Bendik after he helped Toronto win a penalty shootout in the Amway Canadian Championship, said he would not be surprised to see his young keeper earn a call-up to the U.S. national team after the World Cup. Cesar was moving on. Bendik was back. For Nelsen, the Cesar acquisition was always a marriage of convenience with a short timeline. Cesar needed a place to play ahead of the World Cup and QPR wanted some salary relief. Toronto got a world-class goalie, a tutor for Bendik and the invaluable publicity of seeing Toronto FC by the name of Brazils goalkeeper at the World Cup. Having Cesar around would also help settle fellow Brazilians Gilberto and Jackson. Plus the short-term nature of the relationship means that the club will have some salary cap space come the summer. It was win-win. "Its benefited the league, its benefited the club and its benefited every single player here at Toronto," Nelsen said. It helped that Cesar, like Englands Jermain Defoe and American Michael Bradley, was a good citizen with an ego seemingly in check. They may be stars, but they dont act like it. Cesar met the media only periodically in Toronto. But he was always relaxed when he did, his arm invariably around translator Daniel Correia. "Thats Nellie," Bendik said, referring to Nelsen. "I think his No. 1 prerequisite is you have to be a good guy. You have to be a character in the locker-room. If youre not, he doesnt really care for it." Cesars relaxed way was infectious. Bendik, for one, says the Brazilians message was to let mistakes go, to look ahead rather than behind. When that advice comes from a Serie A goalkeeper of the year and Champions League winner, you tend to listen. "When he came, right away he took me under his arm and he wanted the best for me right from the start," Bendik said. "That helped me a lot to embrace the moment." Its help that Bendik says he will pay forward -- if he finds himself playing in his mid-30s with a young goalie. "I hope Im half the way he is," he said of Cesar. "Its been fantastic," said backup goalie Chris Konopka. "Working side by side with Julio, with the Brazil No. 1, hes as focused as he will ever be because hes preparing himself to be on the world stage, for basically the No. 1 team in the world," he added. "All eyes are going to be on him. It was definitely a unique and great experience working side by side with him." The goalies arent the only ones to praise Cesar. Captain Steven Caldwell says playing with Cesar has been one of the highlights of his career. "The impact hes had on me and everybody else at this football club is huge," said the Scottish defender. "In such a short space of time, for everybody to have the pleasure to see what its like to be a top, top professional and an outstanding goalkeeper is a real pleasure." "An outstanding human being," added Caldwell. The whole team plans to stay in touch with the Brazilian, by means of a chat group during the World Cup. No one will cheer louder than the Toronto FC dressing room if Cesar gets to hoist the World Cup. Lions Jerseys China . This week, topics cover the Blue Jays rotation, the futures John Gibbons and Alex Anthopoulos, protecting pitchers and a bonus question on his predictions for the MLB playoffs. Cheap Lions Jerseys . -- Kyle Busch edged teammate Joey Logano at the Bristol Motor Speedway finish line Friday night to become the all-time winningest driver in Nationwide Series. http://www.cheapdetroitlionsjerseysauthe...nson-jersey.com) - Jahlil Okafor had 21 points, Tyus Jones scored 16 with 10 assists and No. Wholesale Lions Jerseys . City has reached new heights under manager Manuel Pellegrini as they transition from big spending/immediate impact to perennial contender. Yaya Toures seeming discontent Tuesday may complicate that, as does the little issue of Financial Fair Play. Austin Bryant Jersey .Morse gets a $1 million signing bonus and salaries of $7 million next season and $8 million in 2016 under the agreement announced Wednesday.TORONTO -- In the end, Roy Halladay went back to his major-league roots. Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Halladay made the announcement at a news conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., site of the baseball meetings. "As most people know, I was very lucky to have a lot of people in the organization really develop and help me become the player I was able to become," Halladay said at a press conference . "And (with) the organization and the support of the organization, from the front office to the coaches to the players, it really turned my career around and it made a big difference in my career and thats why Im very fortunate to retire as a Blue Jay." Halladay spent his final four major-league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and went to great lengths to express his sincere gratitude to that organization and its fans. However, he also said he wouldnt have been able to get a shot with a World Series contender if not for the Blue Jays. "I want the Phillies organization to know, I want the fans to know how much I enjoyed my time there. How much they meant to me, how much they meant to my family and what a major part of my career they were," he said. "But to me the biggest thing was had I not been fortunate enough to come up with the Blue Jays and have the people around me that I did and have the people develop me that I did I wouldve never had that chance." Halladay was drafted 17th overall by Toronto in 1995 and made his major-league debut with an innocuous but telling two games three years later as a September call-up. His first game as a Blue Jay was unremarkable. In a five-inning start against the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays he gave up three runs and a homer but earned a 7-5 win. A week later, Halladay went the distance against Detroit. His stat line reads like what Toronto fans would come to expect: nine innings, eight strikeouts, no walks and just run, a homer in the ninth inning of a 2-1 victory. The dominant starter, however, wouldnt emerge until after several ugly seasons that involved an important trip to the minors. A serviceable season in 99 led to a disastrous 2000 when he finished with a 10.64 earned-run average in just 67 innings pitched. That was the turning point for Halladay. Instead of giving up on him, Toronto sent him to single-A Dunedin in 01 to rebuild his pitching mechanics. He was promoted through double- and triple-A until returning to the Blue Jays on July 2. His first game back was ugly -- six runs allowed over two-plus innings of relief against Boston. But Toronto kept him in the majors and he started every game the rest of the season, finishing with a complete-game shutout against Cleveland for a respectable 3.16 ERA. "There was a period of time I didnt know what was going to happen," Halladay said. "Where I probably wasnt as positive as I could be about what my future was going to be. "But I think through the support of my wife and people in the organization I was able to find people that really helped me see the mental side of it and see the positives and thats really where I felt my career changed." Halladay never looked back. In 2003 he went 19-7 in 02 with 2.93 ERA in 239.1 innings while earning the first of eight all-star selections. A year later he won his first Cy Young wiith a spectacular 22-7 record and 3.dddddddddddd25 ERA. Shoulder soreness landed Halladay on the disabled list twice in the 04 campaign but he earned another all-star nod the following year. Known for superb conditioning and a relentless work ethic, Halladay pitched no less than 220 innings every season between 2006-11. But he was unable to lead Toronto into the playoffs. With the Blue Jays languishing in the AL East and Halladays contract set to expire in 2010, Toronto shipped him to Philadelphia in December 2009 in the first significant move by GM Alex Anthopoulos. Toronto sent Halladay to the Phillies for minor-league prospects Travis dArnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor. "Toronto was hard for me, as much as I loved it there I felt like I needed to make the decision to give myself the chance to get to the playoffs," Halladay said. "Thankfully the fans understood that and were very supportive. "Hopefully they get a chance to experience that also because its a tremendous feeling." Toronto hasnt reached the baseball playoffs since winning its second straight World Series title in 93. Pitching with a contender certainly agreed with Halladay in 2010. He threw a perfect game May 29 against the then Florida Marlins. Then, in his first-ever playoff outing, he became the second pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter in the post-season, doing so against Cincinnati. The Phillies lost to San Francisco in the NLCS that season. His last shot at an elusive World Series title ended when Philadelphia was beaten by St. Louis in the 2011 NLCS, as the Phillies failed to make the playoffs the past two seasons. Halladay amassed a career record of 203-105 in 416 games, 390 being starts, and an ERA of 3.38. While many pitchers retire due to recurring shoulder problems, Halladay said hes walking away from the game at a time when his shoulders are feeling strong. But the veteran pitcher admits hes had to battle through back issues the last two seasons that have affected his pitching mechanics. "I had to change some things, do some things differently to be able to throw the ball and thats led to some shoulder issues," Halladay said. "But the big thing has really been the back. "Speaking with doctors, they feel like at this point if I can step away and take some of that high-level pressure off it, it will really hopefully allow me to do some regular things and help out with the kids teams. "I want to be active and continue to do the things I enjoy doing. The biggest thing is Im trying to avoid surgery." Halladay said hes content walking away from baseball not having won a World Series. "Im very fortunate I had a chance to get to the playoffs and experience that atmosphere," he said. "Ive always wanted to win a World Series and hopefully down the road I can be a part of it in a different aspect. "Im more comfortable knowing that I came a little bit short than to never had got that shot. I feel fortunate that I tried to absorb every minute of it that I could. I really dont have any regrets." Halladay also wants to be remembered for more than just wins or losses. "For me it was just not quitting," he said. "I definitely had some bumps in the road and even when things were good, youre going to have some bad days. "I didnt ever feel like when I took the mound I gave anything less than my best effort . . . and Im really proud that I feel like I was able to do that." 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