Houston made two acquisitions, getting R

The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) is halfway over, and what better way to spend the mid-season break than to look back at the first half? Whether its the world champions struggling or upstarts rising to the challenge, action in the RLCS never disappoints. Without further ado, here are our picks for the most disappointing team and the teams that most exceeded expectations.Underperformer of the TournamentThe RLCS has not been kind to certain teams in the first half of the season, and these teams have a lot of catching up to do to end up in the playoff spots.NAs G2 Esports, the world champions, have been underperforming more than any other team in the world over the last month. The drop in results is unprecedented; two months ago G2 was unquestionably on top of the world of Rocket League and now they sit at 0-3, which is almost out of playoff contention. G2s game score doesnt bode much better as they have only won two of the 11 matches they have played and they did not look cohesive even in victory.G2 is underperforming for a multitude of reasons, some they have admitted and others the community has inferred. When two members of the three-player squad, Cameron Kronovi Bills and Ted Over Zero Keil, move residences in the same month, practice may of course slip. The problems seem deeper though. G2 does not look like a team, instead seeming to play like three individuals and its painfully different from the style that won them the title World Champions of RLCS Season 1. If G2 can return to its fast-paced consistent style from Season 1 anything is possible, but the team has a lot to do during these next two weeks.A look at the stats does not brighten the hopes of any G2 fans, as G2 simply has not put up good numbers anywhere. G2 has shot less than anyone else with 6.44 a game. This may sound like a rather benign stat, but in RLCS Season 1 where they managed to win, they outshot everyone other than runners-up FlipSid3 Tactics. When you dont shoot, you dont score; G2 has scored the fewest goals of any team from either NA or EU, scoring only 1.18 times per game. To compare that to two of its counterparts: Mockit Aces scores nearly 3 times that many goals a game (3.25) and Exodus, the number one North American team, scores more than twice that (2.82).Wherever G2s issues stem from, it does not have long to fix them. We will all wait with bated breath to see if it can revive in the second half of the season.Overperformer(s) of the TournamentFor underperformer of the tournament there could really only be one answer, but for overperformer there are two.Deception and Red Eye, two teams most predicted to be near the bottom of the barrel in their respective regions, are pulling out many more results than anyone but the players themselves thought they would.First off, Deception. The players from Deception had to know they had people unhappy they made it into League Play, yet they did not care if others thought they were undeserving. The very first game of the tournament Deception came out and took Exodus, one of the better teams in the world, to game five. Deception sits on a precipice: one upset and it may make it into the top six and the next stage, yet its loss to Vindicator suggests that a slow fall has already begun.Whatever anyone says about Deception, the squad has a nearly 50 percent W/L result so far (8-9). Deception has been pushing teams to the limit and beyond. Deception also has provided some of the most exciting games in RLCS, scoring the third most per game in the world at 2.47 goals per game. If Deception can tighten up its defense it could legitimately move towards the status of top team come the second half of the season. Either way it will always be very entertaining to watch.Red Eye ... is an interesting team. Most people have them as the sixth or seventh best team in Europe, and that ranking is not necessarily unfair to them. Halfway through the season they sit in fourth though, and that begins to raise questions, are they actually good enough for a top half finish?They currently sit in fourth with a 10-6 game score and look to be prepared to comfortably qualify for the regional playoffs. As a team, Red Eye has very quietly been going about its work and sit in a Grand Finals spot currently; the question for them is truly if they can hold onto that or not. Their stats across the board are very good: second in Win percentage (62.5 percent), fifth in goals per game (2.12) as well as fifth in shot per game (7.81). If Red Eye shores up its game during the next two weeks, it could easily be seen as a Grand Finals contender and perhaps even more.Whether its the world champs crashing, the upstarts pushing towards the top, or even the quiet team unexpectedly sitting in a Grand Finals spot, RLCS has left nothing to desire for hungry Rocket League fans. With the midseason break on at the moment teams will be working hard to try to improve their current positions and look towards regional playoffs in a months time. Will these teams stay consistent or defy predictions? Only time will tell.All stats thanks to Parallel.GG. Dries Mertens Belgium Jersey . Listen to the game live on TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et. The Raptors traded Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, in exchange for Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. Thomas Meunier Belgium Jersey . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. http://www.belgiumsoccerpro.com/Mousa-Dembele-Belgium-Jersey/ . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. Axel Witsel Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Toby Alderweireld Belgium Jersey . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. HOUSTON -- Marcus Stroman pieced together his best performance of the season on Monday night.However, his offense didnt support him, striking out 22 times.Carlos Correas RBI double in the 14th inning gave the Houston Astros a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.Stroman gave up one run and three hits, while striking out a career high 13 and walking one.Thats the best I have ever seen him, Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin said. Electric fastball. Cutter-slider was awesome. Curveball was good, and he mixed in some changeups, too. Overall, he looked composed on the mound. I told him he was looking like Pedro Martinez out there. He was nasty today.Stroman said he felt relaxed, strong and had a good groove with Martin early on.I think it was the mix of pitches me and Russ had going, Stroman said. I was hitting on my slider. I also my sinker going. Everything plays off my heater. Once thats down, I can use all my other pitches.Jose Altuve, who homered earlier in the game, opened the 14th inning with a single to shallow left field off former teammate Scott Feldman (5-4), and Correa followed with his hit off the fence in right-center field.Feldman was traded from the Astros to the Blue Jays earlier in the day.It was a little different, but you see some crazy stuff in baseball, Feldman said. Ive played long enough that it doesnt really affect you. I felt fine when I was out there. I made a couple bad pitches, and unfortunately, lost that game.Martin tied the score with a leadoff homer in the ninth against Astros closer Will Harris, who has blown three of his last five save chances.We couldnt get any offense going other than that one home run by Russ, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. That was it.The 22 strikeouts by Astros pitchers were the second-most in franchise history, one shy of the record set in 2003 against the Chicago Cubs.We strikeout, Gibbons said. If you watch us, thats part of what we do. You play those extra innings against some pretty good arms, we are going to have some strikeouts. Its not ideal.Houston got its ninthh walk-off win this season, and 14th overall with its last at-bat.ddddddddddddMichael Feliz (7-1) pitched a perfect 14th inning, following Chris Devenski 4 1/3 perfect innings after entering the game in the ninth.Altuve gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a two-out shot off Marcus Stroman into the first few rows of the Crawford Boxes for his 19th home run of the season.Astros starter Doug Fister gave up four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings. Fister has now allowed three runs or fewer in 17 of his 21 starts this season.He was coming off one of his worst starts of the season, giving up six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings on July 26 against the New York Yankees.TRADE DEADLINEBlue Jays: Toronto acquired RHP Feldman from the Astros, LHP Francisco Liriano, C Reese McGuire and OF Harold Ramirez from the Pirates and RHP Mike Bolsinger from the Dodgers.Astros: Houston made two acquisitions, getting RHP Lupe Chavez from the Blue Jays for Feldman and INF/OF Yordan Alvarez from the Dodgers for RHP Josh Fields.TRAINERS ROOMBlue Jays: OF Ezequiel Carrera (left Achilles strain) was placed on the 15-day disabled list ... INF Ryan Goins (right forearm tightness) came back from a medical rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo and was removed from 15-day DL ... Josh Donaldson was held out of the lineup on Monday with left hamstring soreness but pinch hit in the 12th inning and stayed in to play third ... SS Troy Tulowitzki (thumb) was held out of the lineupAstros: INF Marwin Gonzalez (right hand soreness) and CF Carlos Gomez (right hamstring strain) are day-to-day and were held out of the starting lineup.UP NEXTBlue Jays: RHP R.A. Dickey (7-12, 4.66 ERA) gets the ball for the Blue Jays on Tuesday looking for his first win since July 10.Astros: RHP Lance McCullers (6-4, 3.18 ERA) starts for the Astros on Tuesday coming off his second-straight double-digit strikeout performance and third in last five starts. ' ' '