Monday, May 31, 2010 2:24 PM EDT
Jays will give Doc his due
The Toronto Blue Jays did not honour former ace Roy Halladay’s perfect game with a video-board presentation but they will do so at some point later this week, according to team spokesman Jay Stenhouse.
The Blue Jays open a crucial nine-game set Monday with the first of a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays. They’ll face the Rays again next week at the Trop after three games at the Rogers Centre against the Yankees.
The Rays went into Sunday’s game with four pitchers with sub-3.00 earned run averages, the first American League team to boast of that many on May 30 since the 1981 Oakland Athletics – whose group of four included current Blue Jays bullpen coach Rick Langford.
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Monday, May 24, 2010 1:45 PM EDT
Marleau to Toronto makes sense
Go ahead: buy your Patrick Marleau Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys.
Let’s cut all the garbage: Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said last week that he wanted to add a first line winger with some muscle and scoring touch. This isn’t “moving heaven and earth” to get John Tavares. The draft was too big a puzzle to pull that off.
But throwing money at a guy? Burke can do that better than anybody and remember: for better or worse he usually does what he says he’ll do.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 5:28 PM EDT
Adieu, Randy Ruiz
Well, damn. There they go. The Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday released the Babe Ruth of the blogosphere, positionally-challenged slugger Randy Ruiz, after apparently reaching the logical conclusion that the legimate Major Leaguers on their team have done an OK job of hitting home runs that they have no need for a 32-year-old career minor leaguer. Ruiz signed to play some place in Japan. God bless.
Jeremy Reed can’t possibly be worse than Ruiz was when it comes to making contact and even if he is at least he can track down and catch the odd ball.
The classic Ruiz at bat was Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers when with a run in and runners on the corner and two out in the seventh inning against a failing Scott Feldman he swung at the first pitch and flied out to right. Meaningless in terms of the outcome of a game but a remarkable selfish at bat for a guy who needed to be on everybody’s good side.
Ruiz was affable enough. And he seemed to be loved by the odd blogger and even odder radio hosts (just joking Wilner), including callers who seemed to be undert the mistaken impression that he was a 23-year-old “prospect.” Like Scott Richmond is “a prospect.” Dude’s a friendly guy but he’s too old to be that mediocre. Hell, John McDonald’s the nicest man in the planet but he shouldn’t be on a team that’s serious about winning because he can’t hit. It’s good, I guess, to fill the spunky white guy quota and keep the accidental fan interested – ooh, he makes such nice plays! – but even a guy who uses his bench less than Cito Gaston couldn’t do much with Ruiz and McDonald” one guy who can’t catch and has dumb-ass at bats and another guy who can’t put the ball in play.
Anyhow, coupled with president and chief executive officer Paul Beeston’s pronouncement Wednesday that the team will be in position to add legitimate players should it keep up this successful run, the move augers well for serious baseball fans. Adieu, Randy Ruiz. Unfortunately, we knew you all too well.
Monday, May 17, 2010 5:37 PM EDT
Inter soccer boss slams Steve Nash
In the middle of our great Steve Nash love-in, it behooves us to mention that the Special One – Inter’s Jose Mourinho – doesn’t think much of Nash’s soccer acumen. (Beyond the fact he’s a Tottenham supporter, that is …)
Mourinho took offence when he heard Nash’s comments that Inter’s style of play could be replicated by playing with “10 goalkeepers.
“Fortunately, he plays basketball,’ Mourinho says. “He understands nothing about football.”
Inter Milan has won the Italian Cup and Serie A title and will face Bayern Munich in the Champions League final Saturday in Madrid.
Thursday, May 13, 2010 1:22 PM EDT
Les Glorieux ride again
The Montreal Canadiens ability to captivate us shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, how many “legendary” franchises owe so much of their recent history to surprise championships?
The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball’s most storied franchise. The gold standard. A World Series win, or at least a berth in the World Series, is to be expected. In the NBA the Los Angeles Lakers rule the roost, and, like the Yankees, they too are a usual pre-season pick for the title. The NFL does tend to surprise, but the New England Patriots have become the model franchise and they are expected to be there at the end. That fact is even more pronounced in top-tier European soccer leagues.
Yet here are the Canadiens – les Glorieux – playing in the hockey capital of the world in one of the most recognizable uniforms in all of pro sports; the franchise that provides most of the texture for the history of not just the NHL but the game of hockey itself. And as has been chronicled in so many places, their recent Stanley Cup runs – including this one – have been unexpected and characterized by galvanizing individual performances. Yes, Jacques Martin is the model of the modern cautious coach – but there is no shortage of daring or panache in Mike Cammalleri’s game or that of Jaroslav Halak.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010 5:24 PM EDT
Lunch leftovers
Damned lousy lunch-time leftovers …
Can I say once again how surprised I am at the whiny response of fans to the logical decision to move the Blue Jays series against the Philadelphia Phillies from the Rogers Centre to Philadelphia?
I mean, really people: the G20 decided in November to move this portion of the conference to Toronto from Huntsville. In February, the city made a formal request to get the G20 moved out of Toronto. In other words, the final – final – decision was not made until well after the baseball schedule was released.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:36 PM EDT
The only answer
This was the only way to solve the scheduling conflict between the G-20 and the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the end, one simple factor over-rode all else: however baseball re-worked the schedule of the three-game series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Blue Jays – Roy Halladay’s homecoming – the simple fact was that the possibility of protests meant there was absolutely no guarantee that, for example, the TTC Subway would not be shut down as a security measure. All jokes about Blue Jays attendance aside, the last thing the integrated security services wanted was 20,000-30,000 people coming out of the Rogers Centre to join a crowd of protesters. Or, as president and chief executive officer Paul Beeston said: "We would have been bringing people down into an area in which people aren't being asked to come to."
I’m told that a revenue-sharing arrangement has been worked out between the Blue Jays and Phillies that will mitigate the Blue Jays lost revenue. "We will be revenue neutral out of this," said Beeston. From the Phillies point of view, of course, the revenue generated from three dates in which Citizens Bank Park would otherwise be vacant is a bonus. But the revenue sharing still had to take into account the cost of opening and servicing the ballpark. "The might come out ahead a small amount," said Beeston.
Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:13 PM EDT
Build it for football
The sense in Hamilton is that they’ll screw this up somehow – that the stadium that was supposed to be built here for the 2015 Pan Am Games that nobody seems much interested in will never see the light of day because it’s an issue too big to be handled by a city council that always seems bereft of ideas.
Thursday, Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young flatly rejected a cock-eyed idea to wedge the stadium in the city’s West Harbour. Here’s The Spec’s website piece and here’s a design of the place with more background.
As usual, there are two sides to this argument. Young’s a great guy and god love him for bankrolling the Ti-Cats but there is no such thing as a private businessman without an agenda, so let’s just put that out there and be done with it. But civic politicians never cease to amaze me: they see waterfront and they think automatic success! Camden Yards! Picturesque views!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010 4:31 PM EDT
Relax about Bosh's tweet
Hello.
I’m back and wondering just what the hell is the fascination with Chris Bosh’s rather benign ‘tweet’ asking for suggestions on where he should play next season?
Anybody who has noticed his fascination with social media and multi-media platforms can’t seriously be either taken aback or surprised that he’d keep communicating during his free-agency through Twitter. Frankly, my guess is he’s already planning a video on his trek through free agency, which is why his appearance at Tuesday’s Lakers game and subsequent tour to the Lakers dressing room is to be expected. It won’t be the last time you’ll see Bosh on TV during the playoffs. If the NBA was the NHL, he’d probably be on one of those talking head playoff panels talking about important stuff like how “getting the first goal is huge.” ‘Cause you need a player to make you know it’s really, really, really important to get the first goal.
Bosh is a guy who waited until he was in his mid-20s to get a tattoo and then did a film about it: First Ink. It was a sad thing to see, because getting a tattoo in the NBA isn’t an “edgy” thing to do: it’s simply a way to join the rest of the sheep and shows a complete lack of originality. It’s a bit like the guy who waits until he’s 50 to get his ear pierced, which for most of us would be a cry for help. Bosh is a guy who has routinely tweeted his social plans, so it stands to reason he’d change his Twitter location to “Everywhere” and get rid of any mention of himself as Toronto Raptors captain even though he is technically under contract to the team. Same with the website – which, as Chris Young of The Star points out, is down for maintenance.
The fact is that Bosh’s days with the Raptors were numbered when it all went south for the club and when voices from inside the organization started claiming that Bosh was the conduit for “outside influences” contributing to the teams downfall. Behind Bosh’s affinity for Twitter and playfulness is a guy who realizes that his shelf-life as a Raptor has expired. He isn’t upset about it. Nor is he worried about it. He’s going to have some fun with it and if you take it all that seriously? Frankly, it says more about you than it does about Bosh.
Monday, February 8, 2010 10:11 AM EST
Le Gros Chat jumps back into spotlight
So, allow me one last pull on the bell rope before I get to Whistler. Andres Galarraga, who is one of those players who occupies a special place in the hearts of a baseball team’s fans – kind of pudgy, always smiling and unfailingly polite when he was with the Montreal Expos – is expected to join the Detroit Tigers in spring training to help mentor Miguel Cabrera.
Galarraga. No name other than John Boccabella ever sounded as fine being introduced in French.
This is a wise choice, and one that has the fingerprints of Galarraga’s former Expos general manager, Detroit Tigers president David Dombrowski. Galarraga, whose nickname was ‘Le Gros Chat’ because of his smooth defensive work around first base, will also help Cabrera’s transition to first.
Cabrera, who like Galarraga is a native of Venezuela, made deadlines this past season when his wife called police citing domestic abuse. Cabrera has admitted problems with alcohol abuse and has said he has sought help.
Galarraga figured in one of my most lasting impromptu lessons in journalism when I was covering the Expos. He was injured, and like a smart—ass I took a shot at him for being spotted at a dance club while he was hurt. Galarraga was outraged (his wife read him the riot act, apparently) because he thought that I’d been off-base reporting on something I’d only heard second-hand. That pretty much torched the professional relationship (although I received a warm hug from Galarraga years later as he was playing out the string) but at the time I didn’t think much of it. A couple of weeks later, Galarraga’s teammate Dennis Martinez pulled me aside and wanted to know one thing:
“If you weren’t there,” he asked, “how do you know Andres wasn’t doing anything but sitting down having a drink? How would that bother his injury?”
That’s all Martinez said. The point was made, as it usually was with Martinez whom along with Pedro Martinez, Buck Rodgers and Felipe Alou probably taught me more about stuff than anybody outside of journalism. I had several rocky relationships with Expos players but the two that always bothered me were Galarraga and Tim Raines (who didn’t like the way I treated Floyd Youmans after his drug issues.)
(My favourite feud was a pitcher named Jim Bullinger. He used to throw baseballs at the press-box during batting practice and I remember then-colleague Jack Todd riding to my defence and referring to him as “Jim Bullslinger” in print. When he was hanging on by a thread with the Los Angeles Dodgers, I walked up to Bullinger years during spring training to wish him luck. He told me to ‘piss off’ in front of the L.A. writers and I remember Bill Plaschke saying: “Wow, you know you’re having a horse-(bleep) day when Jim Bullinger tells you to piss off.”)
Anyhow, a little baseball before I head off into the land of bobsleds, luges and skeletons. Spring training's just around the corner, isn’t it …..
Unwritten Rules Contributors
Jeff Blair
Jeff Blair is a general sports columnist with the Globe and Mail and previously worked at the Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald and Winnipeg Free Press. You can also follow him on Twitter at @GloBlair.
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