Hey everyone,
Sporting thoughts are rather scattered today, so I will go to the old Twit format on this one:
- Ian Mendes has an interesting idea to determine playoff opponents. I'm afraid I don't share Ian's excitement for watching a guy in a suit flip a piece of cardboard (make it Evanka Osmak and now we're talking!), but I get what he's saying. My initial reaction is HELL NO, but the idea does have merit. I'd be concerned about it becoming a circus sideshow, however. My main playoff format gripe is awarding the third seed to a division winner, no matter if their points total is inferior to another team - I'd start there if I were to change the format.
If the Jays don't win another series this year, you can blame it on the Ottawa Sports Guy Hex. On Saturday my record streak of consecutive Blue Jays games watched to start a season came to a close as real life caught up to me and prevented me from tuning in to the 10-2 loss at the hands of the White Sox. It was worth it though: I was at a fantastic event organized by my beloved girlfriend Laura and our friend Lola (hint: it's not too late to donate to this great community cause).
I'm a bit concerned about the state of the four-spot in the Jays rotation. As long as Romero is out, I don't see Brian Burres securing many wins. I'll echo what the message boards are clamoring about: SIGN PEDRO. Seriously. That would be some major karma having Pedro Martinez and Kevin Millar in the same clubhouse again. Pedro was always destined to win a World Series for a Canadian team. Pedro could eat up innings at the end of the year when the Jays will have to scale back the workload on young arms like Romero, Purcey and whoever else comes up to fill the holes (Fabio Castro anyone? The Big Turk brought this to my attention: Castro had another strong outing today for New Hampshire. 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K. His ERA dropped to 0.83 on the season (21.2 innings, 24/3 strikeout to walk ratio, 0 HR allowed). He already has MLB experience, so I would not be surprised if they promote him straight from AA to the Majors at some point this year). SIGN PEDRO. I love the Man. I love the Legend. SIGN PEDRO. Put me down for a Pedro Jays jersey right now if he signs. Come on JP: DO IT.
I'm a little late to the party here, but I'd like to use my corner of the intrawebs to lend my voice to the rising chorus of people who think national anthems should not be played before professional sporting events. I've been saying this amongst friends and family for years now, but only recently have I heard my sentiments echoed by prominent figures. Imagine my shock when uber-nationalist Don Cherry was one of them.
The Bahrain GP got off to one of the most exciting starts I can remember. There was passing, jostling, and more passing. Drivers jockeyed for position over the first couple of laps, highlighted by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton trading 3rd place a few times. For a few moments, it looked like were going to witness a race for the ages - then it got as bland as the desert backdrop.
I really have nothing against Bahrain and its desert. I'm just bitter about Montreal having its F1 race revoked after 44 of the past 46 years because of unpaid ransom demands by Bernie the Pirate, only to be replaced by locales that have no F1 tradition or even much interest. Sometimes I cannot contain it. As Zach de la Rocha once so eloquently put it: "I'll give you a dose but it could never come close to the rage built up inside of me".
Hi again, just wanted to point you towards two excellent posts regarding the war of attrition going on between Rogers Sportsnet and CTV Globemedia (TSN2). In case you're not aware, the first Jays series against the Red Sox was acquired by TSN. They then turned around and announced that it would be shown on TSN2, which Rogers customers don't have access to. Rogers owns the Blue Jays.
I don't have much to add to their excellent posts except to say that I've already gotten a subscription to MLB.tv, so you have to wonder how much longer I'll remain beholden to the traditional TV networks. They play this game at their own peril: I can stream from my PC to my TV so I'll get those hidden games in HD, which is exactly what Expressvu can offer*, even if I were deemed worthy of receiving it as a Rogers customer.
1. Dustin McGowan
All joking aside, didn't you feel 100x better seeing Scott Downs coming out of the pen for the save last night? No drama, no anxious moments, just 1-2-3 game over. As it should be. Also nice to see Rios start swinging the bat and actually getting on base. Welcome to the party, Alex. My buddy Big Turk and I were discussing his struggles the other night, and it's like being the parent of an underachieving teenager: you want to smack him because he doesn't seem to care that his grades are in the shitter. Of course we have to remind ourselves that Alex has never been one to exhibit much emotion, whether he's hitting .320 or .230.
And so ends the Montreal Canadiens centennial season. I have to tread carefully here because so many of my friends and family are die-hard Habs fans. I was reminded of this yesterday when my cousin scolded me on Facebook after I mentioned in my status that I thought fans of the Tricolore take joy from booting people out of town. I should perhaps re-frame what I said.
My argument here is that stability creates a winning atmosphere. I thought the Canadiens had figured that out and I foolishly believed that Bob Gainey (pictured, right) and Guy Carbonneau would anchor the "bleu, blanc, rouge" for years to come. As seen earlier this season, though, patience is thin among the Canadiens fan base and they are hungry for blood. Never mind that their best player, Andrei Markov, missed the last part of the season and playoffs due to injury: someone must to pay for this embarrassing 4-game sweep. That person will almost surely be Bob Gainey. I urge you to look around the landscape and identify possible candidates to replace him, Habs fans. You'll see that a) there aren't very many good general managers available and b) those that are good are not likely to step into such a viper's pit. Gainey had assembled a team that was touted as a Stanley Cup contender by many experts at the beginning of the season (including most Habs fans). Now that it hasn't happened, you'll throw the guy out on the street? Come on now, take a deep breath.
Twenty games in 20 days. That's what's staring the Blue Jays straight in the face right now. The opponents for these games will be; Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles in California of Earth in the Milky Way and the Oakland Athletics. Before the season started, you could have said with confidence that the Jays were better than the Rangers, Royals, Orioles and maybe the A's. The way they've played early on, the Jays could win every series. Surely they won't as the law of averages must catch up to them some time. But as commenter Jeremy at Batter's Box puts it:A 10-10 split would put them at 20-14, a .588 percentage. Roughly a 95 win pace.Then again if they go .500 the rest of the way they'll finish 6 games in the black, but that's no way of looking at the future. No, my rose-tinted glasses will remain firmly in place and I'll predict 14 wins out of the 20, putting them 24-10 for the season on May 11th.
Ah, so this is what fingers to keyboard feel like...I had forgotten! Taking a week and a half off has not been kind to my blogging schedule, but alas here I am with another edition of The Twit.
- The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway, and I'm casually interested. It's a fun tournament and I am a hockey fan (although as I've stated before I won't be writing about it much because the last thing we need is another Canadian writing a half-assed hockey blog). When your team isn't in the tournament, though, it becomes quite the test of endurance to watch hockey every night for 2 months. I'll watch the Jays instead, thank you very much. From what I have seen, however, the Bruins, Canucks and Blackhawks look real good. I'm still hoping the Capitals will squeeze their way past the Rangers because Alexander Ovechkin is the most exciting entity to watch on skates at the moment.
Racing's first (Mark Webber finished second, also making this the first Red Bull one-two finish). Felipe Massa once again finished out of the points after his car died while the race was under caution: very embarassing for Ferrari. Brawn Racing was strong once again, finishing third and fourth. As an aside for those of you who follow F1 through this blog, the front defuser utilized by Brawn Racing was found to be legal by the court of arbitatrion last week. They therefore retain all their points and the rest of the grid can scramble to come up with their own variations of the Brawn Diffuser.
Dammit! And here I was starting to think the Jays would go 162-0! Ok maybe not, but that two game winning streak to start the season was fun, wasn't it? Didn't really feel like letting go of it, to be honest. 
If you're a casual sports fan you may not be aware that the North American sports world is in the midst of a long-standing, ever-mutating battle between traditional "American" sports and soccer. This battle involves fans, owners and media, and it happens on both a conscious and sub-conscious level. The battle is the following; how to resist the growth of the world's most popular sports in its final holdout region, USA and Canada.
When the US successfully bid on hosting the 1994 World Cup, FIFA forced a concession from the organizing committee; America would have to establish its own national soccer league. Major League Soccer was born, and this time the people put in charge did it the right way. They fostered a slow growth of the league, waiting until markets developed and genuine demand presented itself for expansion. The seed was planted. Now the naysayers claimed that a National league could never work, people didn't want the product shoved down their throats, the NASL proved that soccer could not sustain itself. Note the escalation in sophistication and volume of the arguments.
Seven years on, soccer's made some incredible strides. The signs are everywhere: Toronto FC selling out every home game they've ever played, Vancouver being awarded an MLS expansion franchise for 2011, Montreal and Ottawa practically begging for a franchise, 55,000+ at Olympic Stadium for a CONCACAF Champions League match, no less than three cable channels dedicated to soccer, UEFA Champions League matches every week on TSN, Premiership on Sportsnet and The Score. On Sunday night, I noticed something incredible during the broadcast of the Braves-Phillies MLB season kickoff; on the news crawler at the bottom of the screen, alongside fellow categories "MLB", "NBA", "NHL" and "NCAA" were "MLS" and "Soccer". When soccer's turn was up, scores from the English, Italian, Spanish and Mexican leagues flashed across the screen. I smiled. When the "Worldwide Leader" deems you worthy of real estate on its crawler, you've officially arrived.
Soccer has arrived, and is here to stay. The media has finally evolved into embracing the sport. More and more news organizations, both online and traditional, have a soccer columnist on staff. Soccer highlights take up more and more time on sports news shows. The debate is no longer "can soccer catch on in Canada?", it is "how big will it get?". You think there's a lot of coverage now? Just wait until Canada's Mens National Team finally qualifies for the World Cup - only 5 years to Brazil 2014!
I'm a sucker for pitching duels. Pitching is my favourite aspect of baseball, and I love it when both pitchers are dialed in and making life miserable for opposing hitters. Clearly, I want the Jays offence to perform well and build up some solid numbers, but I'll take a game like last night every day of the week. Detroit's Edwin Jackson was the better of the two, pitching into the eighth inning while allowing a solitary run on two hits. David Purcey wasn't much worse, allowing two earned runs on five hits against a lineup stacked with all but one right-handed hitter.
pitching gave way to mediocre relief, and it became a fight to see who would give up the last run. Shawn Camp relieved Purcey and got three outs (although it got dicey there for a bit with the bases loaded). Brandon Lyon replaced Jackson and allowed the Jays to come back and take the lead. Not to be outdone, B.J. Ryan pitched the top of the ninth and gave up a solo home run to Brandon Inge, blowing his first save opportunity (uh-oh).
I guess now we know why the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario revoked the Rogers Centre's liquor licence for a couple of games this year. Some Toronto fans brought themselves into disrepute last night after causing a 10-minute delay in which Jim Leyland pulled his players off the field because of projectiles being thrown onto the surface. Stay classy, Toronto.
It's a strange occurrence when Roy Halladay is not the story on a night that he's the starter. No; this night belonged to the Jays bats, namely Adam Lind (4-5, 6 RBI) and Travis Snider (2-4, HR, 2B), who pushed 12 runs across, including eight against an over-matched Justin Verlander. Every Jay got a hit last night. It was great to see Aaron Hill turn a double play again and Lyle Overbay bashing a double to the gap, great to see Vernon Wells and Alex Rios having good performances overshadowed. Let's hope this fight for the spotlight happens many more times this year.
There are moments in soccer that happen fairly frequently (certainly more frequently than in any other sport), which inspire me in a unique way. Moments of beauty that whether or not I am a fan of a particular team, I simply must put aside rivalries and tip my cap. Such a moment did not occur in Toronto FC's 2-0 loss at the hands of the expansion Seattle Sounders. However, Manchester United provided moments worthy of a fairy-tale on Sunday morning.
First, after what the announcer called the "Siege at the Stratford End" (that end of the pitch being the name of the stands in front of which Villa was painstakingly trying to keep the ball out of the net), Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured, right) had a beautiful goal that was just another example of his brilliance (I acknowledge this grudgingly). By this time, Ferguson had made a curious switch of personnel. In taking Nani out of the game, he had replaced him with an unknown striker name Federico Macheda, a young Italian who had been plucked a few years earlier from the Lazio youth system. United supporters were befuddled by this selection, since there was a better-known young phenom striker also sitting on the bench.
NASCAR fans who read this column will be forgiven for feeling smug this morning as I write of an F1 race that had to be stopped because of rain; only a month ago I took a shot at NASCAR for ending their crown jewel race due to a rainshower. What goes around...
What we were left with was another win for Jenson Button, followed by Nick Heidfeld of BMW and Timo Glock of Toyota. If you don't follow F1 closely, those are not household names. Ferrari once again was left pointless, and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren finished 7th (I wonder what rule FIA will invoke to strip of his points this week?). Because the race was stopped with less than 3/4 of the race finished, only half the usual points were awarded.
Two races down in the calendar, and trends are starting to develop:
F1 - Malaysian GP:
The luster dulls a bit after Sebring this year, as Audi and Peugeot retreat to Europe to prepare for the 24 Hours of LeMans. Usually Audi have been regulars in this series, but they've blamed the economy to explain their absence this year. P1 will be Acura's playground, P2 will be a fight between an Acura and the Mazdas and GT1 is Corvette-only. Come to think of it, the only compelling class in ALMS this year is GT2. I hope that's how the sporscast treats it (ABC, 1:30 pm Eastern). I'll be watching to see what BMW did to improve on their dismal first race and if Panoz can continue running with the big boys.
Toronto FC's home opener should be a treat to watch. They went undefeated in their first two road games and the crowd will be as wild as ever at BMO Field. Haven't had a chance to catch either of their first two games, so this will be my first look at Canada's 2009 entry in MLS. I'll be checking for weaknesses that the Impact can exploit in the Voyageurs Cup! Interesting side note is that the Sounders' best striker, Fredy Montero, is staying behind to recover from what the team is calling "the flu". According to this report, that is quite the nasty flu.
Baseball is back, baby! Sunday night I'll be watching the World Series Champions take on the up and coming Atlanta Braves. It's been a long winter and the WBC disappointed, so my baseball taste buds need satiating! I normally would never watch the Braves play the Phillies in a regular season game, but it's opening night. John Miller will have the call, and we'll be treated to Citizens Bank Park in glorious high-definition. A Philadelphia night in early April can't be too warm, I imagine, but it can't be worse than game 6, err game 5, err game 5 and a half (?) of the World Series!
Doom and gloom abounds when sifting through the piles of MLB previews and predictions concerning your 2009 Toronto Blue Jays. The obvious steps backwards taken by the franchise are easy to point out: losing A.J. Burnett, Shaun Marcum out for the year, Dustin McGowan doubtful in his ability contribute this year, two rookies in the starting rotation, no free agent activity to speak of...yup, that's the easy part.
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Blue Jays starting rotation:
1. Aaron Hill
My advice to Jays fans watching their team this year is this; enjoy watching these young kids develop. It's going to be a hell of treat to watch Purcey, Lind, Snider and Romero come of age. Sprinkle a little greatness with Halladay, Wells and Rios and you've got a compelling product to follow. Some days will be frustrating, as stupid mistakes are inevitable with such a young team. But whatever you do, don't get down on these guys. Cito Gaston and Gene Tenace are going to work this bunch into a hitting powerhouse, and by the end of the season we'll have no trouble imagining a pennant in 2010.
Here's what the report from the stewards says:The FIA have revealed details of the new evidence that prompted stewards to strip McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton of this third place in the Australian Grand Prix and hand the place back to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, who had originally been penalized for passing Hamilton under the safety car.
According to the FIA, in the original enquiry into the incident, both Hamilton and McLaren stated that they had not deliberately let Trulli pass. However, in interview footage recorded immediately after the race - and not originally seen by stewards - Hamilton says he was instructed to move over for the Italian.
Furthermore, the FIA say that McLaren radio recordings contain ‘two explicit orders’ given to Hamilton to let the Toyota pass. Based on this new evidence the stewards ‘felt strongly that they had been misled’ by the driver and team, resulting in their decision to disqualify the world champion.
Full statement from the FIA:
PENALTY IMPOSED ON DRIVER NO 1 LEWIS HAMILTON AND COMPETITOR VODAFONE MCLAREN MERCEDES
SUMMARY OF KEY CONSIDERATIONS
At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.
From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing it appeared that Jarno Trulli’s car left the track and car No 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.
During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so.
The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:
a. Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.
b. Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.
The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.
Transcript of the radio transmission between Lewis Hamilton and his team:
Team: OK Lewis, you should need to make sure your delta is positive over the safety car line. After the safety car line the delta doesn’t matter but no overtaking. No overtaking.
Lewis Hamilton: The Toyota went off in a line at the second corner, ..., is this OK?
Team: Understood, Lewis. We’ll confirm and get back to you.
LH: He was off the track. He went wide.
Team: Lewis, you need to allow the Toyota through. Allow the Toyota through now.
LH: OK.
LH: He’s slowed right down in front of me.
Team: OK, Lewis. Stay ahead for the time being. Stay ahead. We will get back to you. We are talking to Charlie.
LH: I let him past already.
Team: OK, Lewis. That’s fine. That’s fine. Hold position. Hold position.
LH: Tell Charlie I already overtook him. I just let him past.
Team: I understand Lewis. We are checking. Now can we go to yellow G 5, yellow Golf 5.
LH: I don’t have to let him past I should be able to take that position back, if he made a mistake.
Team: Yes, we understand Lewis. Let’s just do it by the book. We are asking Charlie now. You are in P4. If you hold this position. Just keep it together.
Team: OK Lewis, your KERS is full, your KERS is full. Just be aware. You can go back to black F2, black Foxtrott 2.
LH: Any news from Charlie whether I can take it back or not.
Team: Still waiting on a response Lewis, still waiting.
Team: Lewis, work on your brakes please. Front brakes are cold.
Team: If we are able to use one KERS that would be good. If you deploy KERS please do so now.
Team: OK, Lewis, this is the last lap of the race. At the end of the lap the safety car will come in, you just proceed over the line without overtaking, without overtaking. We are looking into the Trulli thing, but just hold position.
Let me set the stage for you on what happened at the end of the Malaysian GP: Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel are locked in a heated battle for second and third place on the podium with three laps to go. (In my view), Kubica is overly-aggressive and is at fault for causing both cars to wipe out, ending their race. A full-course yellow is then necessary and the race finishes under caution with Jensen Button coming first and Rubens Barichello coming second. Because of the crash, Jarno Trulli is now in third and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. This is where the shenanigans begin.
Not only that, but Vettel was handed a 10 place grid penalty for his involvement in the Kubica crash. I've heard many opinions on this from experts and fans. At best, people thought it was a 50-50 blame share, a racing incident, and at worse it was Kubica's fault (my stance). The stewards once again saw it completely differently. Again, no explanation.
