It's nice to see the Blue Jays finally snap their funk. On Friday night, after more than 10 days of bad baseball, they finally picked themselves up and put a W on the board. Not only that, we won another series! Though we're still a game behind the Sox after a loss today, it is good to be back in contention (or feeling like it anyway).
The biggest news of the day, perhaps, came from Paris! At the fourth round of Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal, the four time French Open champion, lost his first ever match in Paris to an unseeded Swede named Robin Soderling. It wasn't close either, as Soderling knocked off Rafa in four sets. This changes the landscape of the tournament in a huge way. Federer faces minimal competition now as Djokovic was knocked off yesterday too. Andy Murray's chances of winning just went up by a whole lot and so did Andy Roddick's.
It's been an incredible tournament already. So many seeds are out early, in addition to the aforementioned, James Blake, Marat Safin, Nadia Petrova, Radek Stepanek, Gilles Simon, David Ferrer, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Fernando Verdasco, and defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic.
Aleksandra Wozniak the Canadian and Serena Williams will go ahead tomorrow on Centre Court. Federer will play there too. It's going to be a wild ride no matter what. I'm lovin' tennis a whole lot right now.
-D
Sunday 31 May 2009
Saturday 23 May 2009
Downhill
Casey Janssen-3 runs in 6 innings. Roy Halladay-0 runs in 7 innings.
Jays offense=first in the league.
Jays are in a 5 game losing streak.
You didn't expect to see those four lines mixed together, did you?
Well, it's happening right now and it's a bit painful to watch. We have led the high-octane AL East since day 1 and that lead is in serious jeopardy now. Both the Red Sox and the Yankees are just 0.5 back of the Jays. Fortunately, the Red Sox lost their second straight as well today.
The offense has been pathetic in the last 5 games. They were shutout yesterday, for what I presume to be the first time this season. They scored 3 runs today. They scored just 5 runs in three games in Boston. What happened to Aaron Hill's clutch hitting? What happened to Adam Lind's RBI machine?
Brett Cecil was shook up big time with 5 homers on Wednesday. He was sent down to AAA along with Robert Ray and Travis Snider. Overall, the rookies held the fort well and if Janssen and Romero return to form soon, we could still be playing .600 play through the summer, provided the hitting climbs out of this funk.
A losing streak was inevitable. It was a matter of time before the Jays slipped downhill for a while. Now, if they want to truly show baseball that the 09 Jays are contenders, they must get up fast. We can still win the next 3 of 4 games on this road trip and go home with a 30-20 record.
French Open's back!! Nadal's reign on clay has been challenged by Federer and Djokovic last week. Should be an exciting one. I'm rooting for Federer to make a breakthrough in this one, but Nadal's the prohibited favourite going into Roland Garros.
-D
Saturday 16 May 2009
Three!
So the White Sox have lost another to the Jays earlier this afternoon. Toronto's 24-14 now! Woot! I was down at the game last night and that was a blast!
I was downtown on a history field trip and got down to the Rogers Centre around 4:30. Got a bite to eat, slice of pizza with water for 3 bucks. Met my friend Kevin, negotiated with the scalpers to get 2 tickets for $20. Got in line at 5:15 and the gates opened right on time at 5:30.
I entered the stadium and ran down to the outfield baselines. There were 8 White Sox players playing catch. I asked Matt Thorton (or so I thought) for a ball and he said he'd hook me up one later. And he did. I gave that ball to Kevin and went up into the right field seats for BP home run balls.
There was a ball lying in the White Sox bullpen and I got a groundskeeper to toss it up. I chased a couple homers but couldn't get my hands on one. A couple Blue Jay fans kept asking DJ Carrasco to toss up a ball. DJ looked at them and asked them while smiling: "Where's your White Sox gear?" I waved my White Sox cap at him and he pointed at me to show: "Like that guy!" So that was number three of the day. At the end of BP, I tried unsuccessfully to get a couple autographs.
During the game, Kevin and I sat near the first base dugout, 32 rows back. The game itself was really exciting, especially when we pounded the Sox for 6 runs in the fourth. After the third out of that inning was made (flyout to CF Scott Podsednik), I sprinted down the steps to the camera bay with my White Sox cap and held out my glove. Scotty Pod ran in and tossed the ball to me just like that. It was nicely rubbed up and simply awesome.
At the end of the game, Kevin and I made our way down to the Jays dugout. I yelled for Vernon Wells to toss me the game ending ball but he gave it to a kid on my right. No biggie. I asked Brian Butterfield if he could give me the line up cards, but he said they requested the cards to be turned into the umps. So I thanked him and said no worries.
Fun night! Snagged four balls-personal record!
-D
I was downtown on a history field trip and got down to the Rogers Centre around 4:30. Got a bite to eat, slice of pizza with water for 3 bucks. Met my friend Kevin, negotiated with the scalpers to get 2 tickets for $20. Got in line at 5:15 and the gates opened right on time at 5:30.
I entered the stadium and ran down to the outfield baselines. There were 8 White Sox players playing catch. I asked Matt Thorton (or so I thought) for a ball and he said he'd hook me up one later. And he did. I gave that ball to Kevin and went up into the right field seats for BP home run balls.
There was a ball lying in the White Sox bullpen and I got a groundskeeper to toss it up. I chased a couple homers but couldn't get my hands on one. A couple Blue Jay fans kept asking DJ Carrasco to toss up a ball. DJ looked at them and asked them while smiling: "Where's your White Sox gear?" I waved my White Sox cap at him and he pointed at me to show: "Like that guy!" So that was number three of the day. At the end of BP, I tried unsuccessfully to get a couple autographs.
During the game, Kevin and I sat near the first base dugout, 32 rows back. The game itself was really exciting, especially when we pounded the Sox for 6 runs in the fourth. After the third out of that inning was made (flyout to CF Scott Podsednik), I sprinted down the steps to the camera bay with my White Sox cap and held out my glove. Scotty Pod ran in and tossed the ball to me just like that. It was nicely rubbed up and simply awesome.
At the end of the game, Kevin and I made our way down to the Jays dugout. I yelled for Vernon Wells to toss me the game ending ball but he gave it to a kid on my right. No biggie. I asked Brian Butterfield if he could give me the line up cards, but he said they requested the cards to be turned into the umps. So I thanked him and said no worries.
Fun night! Snagged four balls-personal record!
-D
Saturday 9 May 2009
Busted...Again
It was a long week for me. It was a long week for baseball.
Manny Ramirez got busted for steroids and has been suspended for 50 games. I wonder how many players would have tested positive if this type of punishment had been established in the 90's?
I've never liked the guy. He always struck me as an arrogant rich boy who thinks he can do anything he wants and get away with it. Some people say it's "Manny being Manny". Now that he's been caught for performance enhancers, I can only thank KARMA.
Jays lost another winnable game yesterday. We had runners on base, it seemed, every game, but we still walked away with a 5-3 loss. Richmond was solid save for that one rough inning. Otherwise, Tallet's going on the mound today, in 45 minutes time against Oakland again. We've got to win this series and bring some momentum going into a VERY IMPORTANT home series against the Yankees.
I'll be down at the Rogers Centre again next Friday.
-D
Manny Ramirez got busted for steroids and has been suspended for 50 games. I wonder how many players would have tested positive if this type of punishment had been established in the 90's?
I've never liked the guy. He always struck me as an arrogant rich boy who thinks he can do anything he wants and get away with it. Some people say it's "Manny being Manny". Now that he's been caught for performance enhancers, I can only thank KARMA.
Jays lost another winnable game yesterday. We had runners on base, it seemed, every game, but we still walked away with a 5-3 loss. Richmond was solid save for that one rough inning. Otherwise, Tallet's going on the mound today, in 45 minutes time against Oakland again. We've got to win this series and bring some momentum going into a VERY IMPORTANT home series against the Yankees.
I'll be down at the Rogers Centre again next Friday.
-D
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Sailing Right Along
Over the weekend, the Blue Jays swept their first series of the season, putting down the O's in three fabulous games that were won on basic baseball skills-pitching, hitting, defense.
But hold on a sec. Let me just say that I got TWO baseballs from Friday night's match. I got there for BP as usual. I asked the groundscrew in the bullpen to throw up a ball that was lying on the grass/turf. He tossed it up to my friend instead. No worries. That was cool.
For the next half an hour, there were quite a few homers that came to my section. One headed right for the first row. I lined myself up with it. I stuck my glove out, instead it zoomed by and richocheted off the second row. This other, older man and I struggled for it. I swooped it up blindly and the two of us made peace.
That was the only ball I received in BP. We wandered around for most of the game. The ushers let us go down to the Jays dugout with two outs in the ninth. I darted down to the dugout roof as soon as the ball was put into play. The Jays came out in celebration. Travis Snider and one other player had a ball in their hands. I yelled for it. Snider tossed it to another section. The other player tossed it in my direction, but being the short kid I am, I stood no chance against the taller, more aggressive, and may I say gloveless people behind me.
However, I made my way to the end of the dugout where the batboy was still cleaning up. I asked him if there was any chance of getting a ball. He said to wait up a sec. After he finished his business, he took some balls out of a bucket and handed to all the kids who he had promised. What a nice guy! This ball was nicely rubbed up with mud. It might've been game used as there was a little brown scuff.
Friday night was fun! And especially because earlier in the day, I had been declared the winner of my school's student council elections. So as of right now, I am the President-elect of the Student Leadership Council. There's a hell lotta work to do but when your hardwork pays off, it's an amazing feeling. I have alot of ambitious plans for next year and I'm really excited to start working with the new council.
-D
But hold on a sec. Let me just say that I got TWO baseballs from Friday night's match. I got there for BP as usual. I asked the groundscrew in the bullpen to throw up a ball that was lying on the grass/turf. He tossed it up to my friend instead. No worries. That was cool.
For the next half an hour, there were quite a few homers that came to my section. One headed right for the first row. I lined myself up with it. I stuck my glove out, instead it zoomed by and richocheted off the second row. This other, older man and I struggled for it. I swooped it up blindly and the two of us made peace.
That was the only ball I received in BP. We wandered around for most of the game. The ushers let us go down to the Jays dugout with two outs in the ninth. I darted down to the dugout roof as soon as the ball was put into play. The Jays came out in celebration. Travis Snider and one other player had a ball in their hands. I yelled for it. Snider tossed it to another section. The other player tossed it in my direction, but being the short kid I am, I stood no chance against the taller, more aggressive, and may I say gloveless people behind me.
However, I made my way to the end of the dugout where the batboy was still cleaning up. I asked him if there was any chance of getting a ball. He said to wait up a sec. After he finished his business, he took some balls out of a bucket and handed to all the kids who he had promised. What a nice guy! This ball was nicely rubbed up with mud. It might've been game used as there was a little brown scuff.
Friday night was fun! And especially because earlier in the day, I had been declared the winner of my school's student council elections. So as of right now, I am the President-elect of the Student Leadership Council. There's a hell lotta work to do but when your hardwork pays off, it's an amazing feeling. I have alot of ambitious plans for next year and I'm really excited to start working with the new council.
-D
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