khandor’s sports blog

Despite the best efforts of this corner to assert otherwise over the course of the last 2+ years, there are still a fair share of individuals who would try to suggest that the image which exists of Toronto, Canada in the hearts and minds of most American-born professional athletes is that of a backwater wasteland.

Well … for the  benefit of those people:

Why Pro Athletes Love Toronto

Today, however, Toronto is a road trip just about every pro athlete looks forward to. Some say the city has a cool, international vibe that increasingly stands out. Some like the plentitude of cheap concert tickets—a boon for athletes with big posses—or the convenience of the must-be-19 drinking law. (Rookie guard DeMar DeRozan of the Raptors, who is 20, was ordering chocolate milk at dinner before his teammates told him the good news).

Athletes get a warm welcome at the city’s relatively libertine gentlemen’s clubs which, according to a spokeswoman for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau, tend to “clear out the champagne room” for visiting athletes. And it helps that the tentacles of the tabloids and gossip Web sites rarely extend this far into the frozen north. “People like to come here to party,” says Raptors power forward Chris Bosh.

Basketball stars like LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jamaal Magloire of the Miami Heat (a Toronto native) have come to Toronto for fun—even during the NBA offseason. Since the Buffalo Bills began playing annual games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome) in 2008, an increasing number of NFL players have started passing through “the 416,” which is the city’s area code. Baseball players, who’ve been coming here since 1977 to play the Blue Jays, have good memories.

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From a reputable source like the Wall Street Journal, no less.

Nuff said.

Yes, yours truly devotes a fair bit of place in this blog to the sport of basketball … and rightly so.

There is no better sport in the world … which combines the elements of team play, individual play, a high degree of explosive physicality, the use of intricate strategy & tactics, offense, defense, fluid & dynamic changes of possession [which includes rebounding], fast-paced full-court action, a much slower-paced half-court game and intelligent thought, by a group of individuals working in harmony with one another, in pursuit of a common goal, yadda, yadda, yadda …

That said, however … visitors to this site should NOT maket the mistake of thinking that ”hoops” is the ONLY area of sporting interest [and expertise?] that your trusty correspondent is consumed by on a regular basis … given the diverse nature of the actual content on this blog.

With this fact in mind …

Earl Weaver: A MIND FOR THE GAME Before laptops, spreadsheets and VORP, the wizard of Baltimore was winning pennants by following his own internal baseball calculus
“TEAM SPEED? GET SOME BIG#$@&*%$*! WHO CAN HIT THE #$@&*%!$* BALL OUT OF THE PARK!”

On a Saturday afternoon in mid-March, the most irascible manager in the history of the Baltimore Orioles is watching an Orioles pitcher get pasted, one hitter after another. This is only a spring training game at quaint Fort Lauderdale Stadium, not something that counted back at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, on 33rd Street. But Earl Weaver, cap pulled low, that leprechaun’s twinkle in his eyes gone dark, does not like what he sees. All of his great teams—and they were all pretty great—were built on a foundation of reliable pitching. ¶ He won the pennant one year by making only 167 pitching changes in 159 games. Another year he won a championship by using 12 pitchers—not just in the World Series but the whole season.

Whack!

“Mix in a wild pitch or something!” the old manager blurts out.

Whack!

“Oh, my God!” Weaver croaks. Another shot, some 400 feet of solid contact, disappears out of sight, foul.

Whack!

“Who the hell is pitching?”

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is by far the best article these eyes have read this week.

Click the link, read it for yourself and enjoy it in its entirety!

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PS. Therein you will find: 1. Details of The Littliest General That Could and Did!, plus, 2. A further, brief, glimpse into the mind at-work in these parts. The Earl of Baltimore was, no doubt, a man well ahead of his time. “A blop, a blast and a three-run homer … back-boned by terrific pitching & solid defense.”  What more in life can any sane man ask for … game after game after game after game after …

PPS. A slew of BONUS POINTS for the first visitor who can correctly identify all three of the major motion pictures with a key “character” included in its plot with the name ”Baltimore“, or a derivative of that word, each with a most definite “string” attached to the world of sport.

CanuckX … if you happen to be reading this … hopefully you will choose to participate!

[Please Note: There are probably a lot more than just three such films in the History of Motion Pictures but, in this instance, you will need to name the right three {3}, in order to good home a winner in this contest. That said ... Even if you happen to guess wrongly, and you list other films which are not the correct answer, in this case, there's still a fairly good chance that all those who visit here and view these two specific blog entries [i.e. this one and tomorrow's, where the correct answers provided] will leave better off for the experience after A. reading what you wrote and, B. hopefully, enjoying the video clips provided.] 

Ready? On your mark. Get Set. And, go.    

[leave your answers in the Comments section]

Fading Blue Jays should take a gamble on ‘bargain’ Pedro
Pedro, who first established his career as an Expos starter back in the mid-’90s, is reportedly looking for $5 million for the rest of ‘09. Coincidentally, that’s what the Jays have available. If Martinez were to make his first start the day after the all-star break, July 17, it would be against the Red Sox. What an incentive to get ready.

If manager Cito Gaston then scheduled him every fifth game (not fifth day), Pedro would be asked to make 15 starts in the second half. If Halladay pitches in the All-Star Game, which is likely, and if he pitches on the Saturday vs. the Red Sox and works every five days (not five games), Doc could make 16 starts. Given good health, the two would make 31 of the Jays’ final 72 starts.

The remainder of the rotation would include Tallet, left-hander Ricky Romero and Canadian righty Scott Richmond, with Casey Janssen back in a setup role.

Get going. Would Pedro respond to an offer of $2 million guaranteed, with $1 million for 1-5 starts, another $1 million for 6-10 starts and a final $1 million for 11-15 starts? That’s his $5 million that he wants – but he has to earn it.

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Richard Griffin’s take here is right on the money.

Once the Blue Jays conclude inter-league play [later this month], recall Travis Snider [LF, LH] from the minors, and return a healthy Roy Halladay [RH] to their Starting Pitching rotation [which should happen fairly soon, coming back from his slight groin strain], adding an established No. 2 Man, the calibre of Pedro Martinez, to the tune of $5.0 M for what’s left of just this season, is precisely what Toronto needs to do in order to remain in the AL Wild Card race for the balance of the schedule.

THIS would be a far cry from making a gigantic financial investment over the course of a number of years in the form of a brittle-armed mediocre pitcher like AJ Burnett … while still giving their loyal fans a steadfast sign that the New Order Jays, operating once again under the expert direction of Paul Beeston [former CEO during the glory years] are intent on playing with the Big Boyz in the AL East Division.

This year’s team is plenty good enough to challenge into September, back-stopped by the 1-2 punch of Halladay & Martinez.

On Tuesday, SI.com published its review of owners in the NFL, MLB, NBA & NHL, listing both the top 5 and the bottom 5 in each of these leagues. These are the bottom 5’s, respectively:

[Number Rank, Owner, Franchise, Purchase Year, Purchase Price, Current Value, Winning %, Playoff Seasons, Championship Season]

National Football League
5 Denise DeBartolo York, 49ERS, 2000, N/A, $865 M, .417, 2, 0
4 Mike Brown, BENGALS, 1991, N/A, $941 M, .351, 1, 0
3 Dan Snyder, REDSKINS, 1999, $750 M, $1,538 M, .488, 3, 0
2 William Clay Ford, LIONS, 1964, $5 M, $917 M, .411, 9, 0
1 Al Davis, RAIDERS, 1966, $180,000, $861 M, .569, 21, 4 

Major League Baseball
5 Ted Lerner, NATIONALS, 2006, $450 M, $406 M, .419, 0, 0
4 Jeffrey Loria, MARLINS, 2002, $158 M, $277 M, .502, 1, 1
3 David Glass, ROYALS, 1993, $96 M, $ 314 M, .432, 0, 0
2 Tom Hicks, RANGERS, 1998, $250 M, $405 M, .489, 2, 0
1 Peter Angelos, ORIOLES, 1993, $173 M, $400 M, .486, 2, 0

National Basketball Association
5 R-Johnson/M-Jordan, BOBCATS, 2004, $300 M, $284 M, .417, 0, 0
4 Chris Cohan, WARRIORS, 1991, $130 M, $335 M, .409, 3, 0
3 Michael Heisley, GRIZZLIES, 2000, $160 M, $294 M, .388, 3, 0
2 Cablevision/J-Dolan, KNICKS, 1997, $300 M, $613 M, .439, 7, 0
1 Donald Sterling, CLIPPERS, 1981, $12.5 M, $297 M, .341, 4, 0

National Hockey League
5 Predator Holdings LLC, PREDATORS, 2007, $193 M, $164 M, .499, 1, 0
4 Atlanta Spirit, HAWKS, 2004, $80 M, $158 M, .519, 1, 0
3 Charles Wang, ISLANDERS, 2000, $187.5 M, $154 M, .416, 4, 0
2 Alan Cohen, PANTHERS, 2001, $101 M, $163 M, .443, 0, 0
1 MLSE, MAPLE LEAFS, 1994, $102 M, $448 M, .471, 8, 0 

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Now …

Which of those 20 separate owners also happen to have a 2nd franchise in one of the other 3 leagues?

MLSE also owns the Raptors [NBA, 1998, N/A, $400 M, .454, 5, 0].

If you combine the efforts of the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, might it be accurate to say that MLSE is possibly the worst owner of them all?

Current Franchise Value: $848 M
W-L Record: 920-1984
Winning %: .464
Playoff Seasons: 13 [of 26]
Championship Seasons: 0 [of 26]

You make the call.

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Manny suspended 50 games for PED use
Major League Baseball suspended Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez for 50 games on Thursday for use of a performance-enhancing drug.

Ramirez, in a statement released by the Major League Baseball Players Association, attributed the suspension to his use of a doctor-prescribed medication and waived his right to challenge the discipline.

The New York Times, citing people in baseball briefed on the matter, reported that urine samples provided by Ramirez showed traces of substances that raised concerns among baseball officials, but it was unclear if it was enough to suspend him. The officials investigated further, according to the New York Times, and found evidence in Ramirez’s medical files that he was using human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a fertility drug for women that has been known to be used by athletes to generate the body’s production of testosterone after steroid use.

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A sobering piece by die-hard Red Sox & Ramirez fan Bill Simmons:

Confronting my worst nightmare
We look at the 2004 banner again. I always thought that, for the rest of my life, I would look at that banner and think only good thoughts. Now, there’s a mental asterisk that won’t go away. I wish I could take a pill to shake it from my brain. I see 2004 and 2007, and think of Manny and Papi first and foremost. The modern-day Ruth and Gehrig. One of the great one-two punches in sports history. Were they cheating the whole time? Was Pedro cheating, too? That 2004 banner makes me think of these things now. I wish it didn’t, but it does. This makes me sad. This makes me profoundly sad.

My son can read it in my face. I am sad. He can see it.

“That’s OK, Dad,” he says, rubbing my shoulder. “Everyone cheated back then.”

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PS. It’s a great read. Take the time to read it all. Then, if you have any, go give your kids a hug; and, your Dad [or Mom], too. It’s a different world today. 

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise to those of you who visit this space regularly that the Blue Jays are off to a 6-2 start this season and sit in first place in the AL East Standings.

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Jays’ kids shine in comeback victory
The most obvious difference in the surprising Blue Jays and their league-leading offence this April comes down to two guys that weren’t even on the roster last April. Travis Snider, 21, began the year at Dunedin, while Adam Lind, 25, had been exiled to Triple-A Syracuse.

Last night Snider, the rookie left fielder, smashed a pair of tape-measure home runs to right field, and Lind, who has 12 RBIs in the first eight games, chipped in with a pair of doubles, leading the way to an 8-6 win at the Metrodome in front of 16,410 fans, moving the Jays’ division-leading record to 6-2.

Snider capped off a late-inning rally, rebounding from a four-run deficit, by crushing a two-run homer through an open exit in the upper deck in right field. It was his second homer of the game and his third of the season. The first was a line drive off the concrete façade in the same area of the upper deck that got out in a hurry.

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After pounding out 19 hits, including 3 doubles [Lind/2 & Barajas] and 3 more home runs [Snider/2 & Overbay], the Jays now lead the major leagues in Batting Average, Hits, Doubles [tied], Runs Scored and Overall W’s … despite having just 1 reliable Starting Pitcher on their active roster, at the moment, and a wonky Bullpen, anchored by their still struggling Closer.

If the team can somehow get a second consecutive solid start today out of rookie pitcher, Ricky Romero [LH], and then maintain their live bats on Wednesday, with almost-rookie pitcher Scott Richmond [RH] on the mound, there is every possibility that Toronto might just get to Thursday with their ace on the hill against the Twins’ top dog, Francisco Liriano [RH] - who is off to a slow start himself thi season - and have the chance to establish themselves early-on as a legitimate contender for at least a Wild Card spot this year in AL.

Considering the list of injuries which the Jays have sustained to their staff of young quality starting pitchers during the past 12 months alone … i.e. Casey Janssen, Dustin McGowan, Shawn Marcum and yesterday Jesse Litsch … it would simply be a remarkable achievement if they could somehome manage to contend this year for a spot in the AL Playoff race, on the strength of their coaching, hitting prowess and the singular arm of their pitching ace.

Have stranger things happened at different times over the course of MLB history?

e.g. Like the refreshing initial appearance of this once young man on the mound for the Detroit Tigers in the glorius summer of 1976.

You bet they have.

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R.I.P. Mark “The Bird” Fidrych … you were one of a kind. :-)

Don’t pop the champagne yet, these Jays are still mighty raw
Somehow, some way, the Jays find themselves undefeated after two games. On the heels of Roy Halladay’s sublime opening-night performance, last night’s 5-4 walk-off victory over the same Tigers featured an example of the ridiculous that might be expected when Doc’s not on the hill.

Last night’s win was about not giving up and overcoming adversity. Trailing 2-0 in the seventh, Jays’ left-hander David Purcey was trying to intentionally walk Brandon Inge.

On the first pitch of the at-bat, he airmailed the ball past a stunned Rod Barajas. The ball caromed off the backstop as Carlos Guillen bluffed down the line. Purcey took the return flip from the catcher, turned and spotted Marcus Thames off second, then airmailed a throw over a stunned Aaron Hill and into centre field, leading to the third Detroit run. Yikes.

“I think it’s something that he’ll probably be working on,” manager Cito Gaston said understatedly of the rookie mistake by a non-rookie. “It wasn’t even close.”

In recent years, such lack of fundamentals would have sucked the air out of any possible Jays’ comeback. Instead, these Jays, with low expectations coming out of spring training, overcame the young starter’s gaffe with two huge homers in the eighth and a walk-off sacrifice fly by Barajas in the ninth.

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A good example of what this version of the Blue Jays will NEED to pull off on a regular basis this season to become a legitimate contender for a Wild Card spot in the American League:

Jays/Tigers Box Score [04/07/2009]

* 7 solid innings of starting pitching from David Purcey [LH], in his first full season in the major leagues, yiedling fewer hits than innings pitched and striking out more batters than he walked, while surrending only 3 runs.

* Timely power hitting from some combination of capable batsmen like Alex Rios [RF-RH], Vernon Wells [CF-RH], Adam Lind [DH-LH], Lyle Overbay [1B-LH], Travis Snider [LF-LH], Kevin Millar [IB/DH-RH], Scott Rolen [3B-RH] and Aaron Hill [2B-RH] … the latter two of whom went deep in the pivotal 8th inning last night.

* Solid clean-up work by the No. 1 bull-pen in the major leagues last season.

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What beleaguered pro sports fans in Toronto NEED right now is a team they can rally around to forget the misery that’s been on display this season with the sorry plights of the Argonauts [CFL], the Maple Leafs [NHL] and the Raptors [NBA], none of whom were capable of making the playoffs this season, letting alone contending for a league championship of some sort.

Let’s hope for the sake of all concerned that the Blue Jays can provide some entertaining, high calibre pro sports action once again, as they did throughout the 1980’s and the first half of the 1990’s when they were, without a doubt, amongst the best run organizations in all of North America.

As the 2009 MLB season begins for Toronto Blue Jays …

Jays off to booming start

Club offers ray of hope to T.O. fans

Starkman’s hope a constant through Jays’ ups and downs

it can be a lot of fun to think back and remember …

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Major League Baseball Comes to Canada

Opening Day for the Blue Jays, April 7 1977

Out! - That’s what the Blue Jays were, after the Tigers tagged them three times to win the AL East in a finish for the ages

Winfield [finally] proves clutch in October, Jays win Championship

Carter hits a dream blast, Jays walk off with World Series trophy 

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With Marco Scutaro [SS] now established as an everyday player in the middle infield, the return of Aaron Hill [2B] to the line-up, the addition of two solid everyday left-handed bats like Adam Lind [DH/LF] and Travis Snider [OF/DH], and the arrival of a veteran right-handed swinger with some pop as well, i.e. Kevin Millar [1B/DH], this year’s version of the Jays may not qualify for the post-season … given the injuries sustained last season to up-and-coming pitchers Shawn Marcum [RH-S}, Dustin McGowan [RH-S] and Casey Janssen [RH-S/R], plus the loss of mercurial AJ Burnett [RH-S], via Free Agency/Early Opt-Out … but what they just might be able to do is set the table nicely for another run to the top of their division during the 2010 campaign by re-establishing the team’s once potent offense which has been MIA for the last several years.

Once all hands are finally healthy, this team SHOULD/WILL be ready to take flight again, as they first did 20 years ago, under the steady guidance of a then much-younger skipper by the name of Cito Gaston.

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My how time flies …

A-Rod allegations: This is baseball’s worst nightmare
[Part I: On telling fibs to Agents of the US Federal Gov't]
It’s not surprising the game’s highest-paid player would try to skirt the system in 2003. What was more surprising out of the SI report was the suggestion that Gene Orza, the players unions No. 2 man, may have tipped off Rodriguez about tests. If it was done once, why not twice? The Major League Baseball Players Association should never be in the position to play sheriff, but it damned straight ought not to be an abettor, either.

“That’s the kind I’d like to buy,” Rush said. “It’s way, way fast. I tested it in Germany and it’s automatically five-tenths of a second faster. What I have is a standard sled. There’s a company in Germany called Dresden and they cookie-cut sleds. You’ll see guys buy those, and then start doing things to them. They know how to do little tricks and stuff. Me? I’m clueless. After four years I know how to do little things to make the sled how I like it, but I don’t know how to make it fast. There’s after-market companies that take your sled and supe it up. But that custom kind of work is expensive. What I have is a stock sled. I want a suped up sled.”

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The need to be suped up in some way is one of the problems plaguing our society today … whether it be in Major League Baseball, the NHL, the NBA, the NFL, Formula One, NASCAR, Bobsled Racing, or just everyday life … rather than having earned one’s own way to the top of the podium, gradually, over time, with authentic blood, sweat & tears.

This corner, on the other hand, much prefers a different course of action … which builds [a home, or business, or otherwise] brick by brick, board by board.