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OWINGS MILLS Drew Lock Jersey , Md. (AP) —The Baltimore Ravens opened training camp Thursday with a revamped roster, a rewritten playbook and a starting quarterback who last summer didn’t have a lick of NFL experience.Operating in idyllic temperatures and under a clear blue sky, the Ravens began the process of coming up with a sufficient encore to last season, when they won the AFC North to reach the playoffs for the first time in four years.Much has changed since rookie QB Lamar Jackson replaced Joe Flacco and fueled a 6-1 finish that earned Baltimore its first home postseason game since 2012.After taking over for Ozzie Newsome as general manager in January, Eric DeCosta was put into scramble mode after the defense lost Terrell Suggs, Eric Weddle, C.J. Mosley and Za’Darius Smith to free agency. DeCosta signed free agent safety Earl Thomas to replace Weddle, but the league’s No. 1 ranked defense in 2018 will be pressed to find pass rushers to replace Suggs and Smith, who combined for 15 1/2 sacks.Just as important, this training camp will go a long way toward determining how good a replacement Patrick Onwuasor is for Mosley, a standout middle linebacker who led Baltimore in tackles in each of the past two years before leaving to join the New York Jets.“It really doesn’t matter who we lost,” outside linebacker Matthew Judon said. “Those were some key guys, but we’re going to have guys step up.”On offense, free agent running back Mark Ingram will spend the summer learning an attack designed by offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who overhauled the playbook after replacing fired Marty Mornhinweg.“It’s a different type of an offense, we’ve expanded our defense and we’ll be doing things we haven’t done before,” coach John Harbaugh said after practice. “There will be some unknowns. We need to find out what we do well, what we don’t do well, and see what direction our capabilities take us.”Suggs was the defensive leader and Flacco was the voice of the offense last summer. New mentors will likely emerge in the weeks ahead, but for now, the makeup of the team on the field and in the locker room is probably going to take some getting used to.“The Ravens of this year are not like the Ravens of last year,” defensive tackle Brandon Williams said. “Coming in http://www.broncoscheapauthenticstore.com/dre_mont-jones-jersey-cheap , it feels like a new team. But at the same time, we know our mission.”Baltimore has every intention of getting back to the playoffs, and this time the team intends to get far beyond the first round. The process started Thursday and will continue right up to the opener in Miami on Sept. 8.“We just have to keep working at it every day,” Ingram said. “These training camp practices, it’s a race to get better.”The offense will center around Jackson, the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner who starred after taking over for an injured Flacco on Nov. 18 against Cincinnati. Jackson’s ability to run, pitch and throw makes him a weapon unlike Harbaugh has ever had before.Jackson ran for a whopping 695 yards last season. That part of his game needs no improvement, but he threw for more than 200 yards only once, and thus will focus this summer on building a rapport with a variety of receivers , most notably top draft pick Marquise Brown.Brown is still recovering from a foot injury, but he passed the team’s conditioning test and could be on the field as soon as next week.NOTES: DT Michael Pierce was delighted to be practicing after being deemed ineligible for minicamp for being out of shape. Pierce lost around 30 pounds since then, despite taking a vacation in Italy. “Very impressed with the progress Michael Pierce has made,” Harbaugh said. … G Jermaine Eluemunor, RT Orlando Brown Jr. and LB Shane Ray failed the conditioning test and did not practice.
MIAMI — The Arizona Diamondbacks are thrilled that left-hander Robbie Ray is coming off the disabled list to start Wednesday in the third contest of a four-game series against the Miami Marlins.

The teams have split the first two contests with Arizona winning 5-3 on Tuesday, due in large part to John Ryan Murphy’s three RBIs.

Meanwhile, Ray (2-0, 4.88 ERA) is off to a slow start compared to his breakout year of 2017, when he went 15-5 with a 2.89 ERA, making the All-Star Game for the first time. He also finished seventh in the Cy Young voting.

On Wednesday, he will make his first start since April 29, when he was sidelined by a strained right oblique.

“I feel ready for this,” Ray told mlb.com. “I feel like I’m in really good shape. My arm feels good. My oblique is fine. I want to pitch and give us a chance to win.”

Ray, who averaged 30 starts in each of the past two years http://www.eaglescheapauthenticstore.com/shareef-miller-jersey-cheap , will be making only his seventh appearance of 2018. He won his first two starts and then had four no-decisions and lasted just 1 1/3 innings on the night of his injury.

He has only two quality starts this year and was going to make a rehab appearance Monday night at Triple-A Las Vegas when the Diamondbacks coaches called him to tell him to come to South Florida instead.

Two rehab starts, Ray said, were enough.

“My first (rehab) start was rough,” he said. “After not pitching for eight weeks, there was some rust to knock off. But that second start, I felt good. All my pitches were working in all four quadrants, up, down, in and out.”

Ray, who has averaged 93 mph this year on his fastball, made his major league debut in 2014 and has improved his strikeout rate per nine innings in every season (6.0, 8.4, 11.3, 12.1).

So far this season, Ray has improved in that stat again, striking out 14.6 batters per nine, which would lead all major league starters if he had enough innings to qualify.

Part of the strikeout formula for Ray, which began last year, is using his curve more, adding one more plus pitch to go with his fastball and slider.

On Wednesday, however, the Diamondbacks will be careful with Ray, not wanting to push him for too many innings in his first game off the DL.

“We’re just going to see how each inning goes Zach Brown Jersey ,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We will make adjustments from there.”

Ray is 1-2 with a 3.06 ERA in three career starts versus Miami.

Meanwhile, the Marlins will counter with their own left-hander, Wei-Yin Chen (2-4, 6.70 ERA), who has been a major disappointment for Miami ever since signing a five-year, $80 million contract prior to the 2016 season.

Chen, who has mediocre velocity with an average of 90.5 mph on his fastball, is 9-10 in his time with the Marlins.

The Marlins are 5-6 this year when Chen starts. Chen has managed only two quality starts this year.

Chen, who turns 33 next month, is averaging 6.5 strikeouts per nine, which is the worst mark of his career. His 4.5 walks are also on track to be a career worst.

In other news, the Marlins on Wednesday will get back manager Don Mattingly, who served a one-game league suspension Tuesday. Miami’s Dan Straily was also suspended, as the pitcher and his manager were faulted for their roles in a beanball war that broke out against the San Francisco Giants on June 19.

The Marlins are also expecting the return of catcher and All-Star candidate J.T. Realmuto, who missed the previous two starts after being hit with a foul ball while squatting behind the plate.

Realmuto, who is hitting .308 with 18 doubles, three triples, 10 home runs, 32 RBIs and a .916 OPS, was struck on his left wrist.

“He’s got a lot more range of motion now,” Mattingly told The Miami Herald. “The X-rays were negative, but we want to get the swelling and the soreness out of there.”