2 Curious Cases

2 things that are on our mind this week:

1. we were watching a NL baseball game last week on the telly that was a blowout.  late in the game, a reliever came up to the plate to bat and was facing another reliever on the hill.  this rarely happens as relievers will usually be pinch hit for in the batting lineup.  this rare occurrence prompted the announcers to begin a discussion on an “unwritten” rule of the bullpen. we suppose there are are many of these rules but this one in particular was “relievers will only throw fastballs to other relievers at the plate“.  which is exactly what happened.  we don’t know anything about this rule.  we had never heard of it and since it happened we’ve been searching the ‘net for more info and come up blank so far.  hence the “unwritten” rule label we gather.  but it certainly was a quirky thing to witness and made a lot of sense. the hitter in this situation is at the plate 99%  of the time in a blowout and deserves every chance to get a hit.  for the record, the hitter in this instance struck out.
2. been watching tennis of late.  the Rogers Cup event in Toronto got us watching a few games recently.  one was the Dinara Safina loss.  yesterday we watched the world #1 struggle again in her first round match at the US Open.  she barely won that match against a qualifier.  in both games, one thing become very obvious to us: her coach is a jerk.   he never smiled, gave any support whatsoever and was completely negative in both affairs.  there is tough love in sport but this goes WAAAAAY beyond that.  he is a jerk and doesn’t belong anywhere near any athlete.  Safina’s confidence is at an all time low and the role of the coach is to not only help with the physical aspect of the game but the mental as well.  we’ve never seen a tennis coach(or any coach of any sport) be such a downer, or not even lift a positive finger when their client is struggling. he even acted pissed when she won some crucial points late in her match. why this jerk is in her employ is beyond us but it makes for great drama!

A Case 4 Head Cases

Marco Scutaro get beaned in last nights Jays vs. Red SOX game and sits out the rest of the game as a precaution. Early statements from the team indicate Marco has a bruise on his head but they are still optimistic he will play tonight.
We realize the team is only 21 games out of the pennant lead so to err on the side of caution here is not that wise…waitaminute!

HEY JAYS! get your head on straight!  Head injuries in sport are the hardest to diagnose so give the guy (no matter what he says) a day or the weekend off.  HIS HEAD IS FREAKIN’ BRUISED from a Beckett pitch!  As we just saw with Scott Rolen when he got beaned in Cinci that early on it looked like he’d be back right away but then was out for a few weeks.  Rolen even came back and played 2 games out of 4 (and even hitting a homer) after the beaning b4 going on the DL because of it.

The last thing we’d like to see is a guy at the plate with his head not straight!

Sure, we can identify with wanting to play and get back out there right away.  Just this past week we fell off a horse  and of course we got right back on that horse once we dusted off.  So Scoots wants to play right away again and we get that.  ERR on the side of caution here!  We’re sure this isn’t the first beaner he has gotten and it most likely won’t be the last.

Don’t mess with the head!  Sit Scutaro!

All or Nuthin Duke

A quick word on Justin Duchscherer. The Oakland A’s Ace that has been recovering from surgery all season and who announced yesterday that he’s shutting down for the rest of the year due to depression.  It doesn’t surprise us that this has come about.  He’s been a pitcher that always gave nothing less than 110% and he seems like an “all or nothing” type of guy.  We can only speculate but he most likely puts a lot of pressure on himself to perform and coming back from serious injury must be a frustrating experience with that in mind.

Hopefully he comes back next year with this behind him much the same as Joey Votto had to do earlier this year. Supposedly he is a free agent at the end of the season.  It will be interesting to see if he signs back with the A’s for a discount or goes elsewhere to the highest bidder.  At 3.9 million this year, he was a bargain going into the campaign.  Is some1 out there willing to give him more than that with his history of physical aliments?

In the end, we don’t really care that you were a high fantasy draft pick for us this year Justin. Just come back when you are ready.  There is always a spot for you on our fantasy teams.

Sweeps and Horns

OK, so we watch the highlights of last nights Jays/Red Sox game that ended up being a Boston win to complete the sweep of the Toronto Boo Jays (time for a team meeting guys… enough with the errors!).  What do we see in the highlights?  Yup, a freakin’ broom!  Don’t they know that they are not allowed at the Roger’s Centre?  Sure, a broom is innocent and appropriate BUT ITS ON THE NOT ALLOWED LIST!  Tonight, we’re gonna show up with water pistols and airhorns and see what happens. If a broom can get past security, surely those things can too…

In Other News:

Tornadoes were reported in our area yesterday. Despite what you read and hear this morning, we have it on good word that indeed a horse was put down at the Royal Canadian Riding Academy in Newmarket due to injuries sustained during the havoc the storm created. Why that is not being reported on at the time of writing this post is beyond us.  Horses don’t count or are we experiencing a case of underreporting?  We can only speculate… but if Woodpeck knows a horse was put down, why wouldn’t the media know and why not report it?

The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is increasing its share in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (Leafs, Raptors, TFC amongst other things) just imagine if one of these teams won their respective leagues?  Would the Pension Plan make enough for all the teachers in the province to retire en masse?  “Just imagine“

What Not To Wear and Other Things

So we decided to do a little research today about what we can and cannot do at the Roger’s Centre since we’re going to the game on Friday.

Some of the stuff we read at the A-Z guide was pretty self-explanatory and made some common sense.  Others had us scratching our heads:

• brooms not allowed (so much for “sweeps”). We see other stadiums allow brooms all the time on the highlight shows… why not here we wonder?
• the PA system is not available for finding someone who is lost or for paging.  So much for that game within the game.
• offensive clothing not allowed… uh, determine what is exactly “offensive”? Is Jays Suck offensive?  Surely to someone…
• the Jumbotron ( or Jaysvision …whatever! ed note: debateable that the Jays have vision… so why is the big screen called that now?) cannot show pitched balls not put in play, forced plays at 2nd base, “bean” balls &  fights/arguments.  Boo!

Who knew?

Stuff we read today that got us thinkin‘:

• Iran to send female skier to Winter Games
• J.P. Ricciardi is a horrible GM
• J.P. Another View
• Boston advances in bid to hold World Cup
• Why the Red Wings signed the all-reject free agent team

Getting 2 Know You

In light of some ppl in the athletic community daring to ask for a gender test for Caster Semenya, woodpeck wants to let the community at large know:

• has never had a gender test
• has never been tested for performance enhancing drugs
• never missed training camp
• never been thrown out of a game
• applied to be an official 2010 Olympic blogger and was rejected
• thinks Michael Owen will get injured b4 Oct. 1st.
• is going to the Jays vs. Angels game on Friday!
• still wishes he’d got that job as a mascot back in the day
• is stopping this list b4 it gets really, really stupid…whew!

Waiting 4 The Next Alx Rios

Bittersweet Goodbye Alex Rios.

We hardly got to see that “potential”.

Enjoy the Windy City and we’ll try to remember the good times instead of the gaffs.

There were less of the latter.  Ppl need to keep that in mind.

Also you were great for T-shirt sales.  Esp. with the ladies.

How will we ever replace u?

Who will be the name on the backs of all the babes from this day onwards?

Wells? Overbay? Lind? Hill? Tallet? Halladay?

These are the types of questions that need answering in this time of remorse.

Regretfully, you were just too expensive to keep

even though you did wonders at the Jays Shop

so… now we wait for the Next Alx Rios…

That was not the “Sweep” we we’re looking for…

The New York Yankees came into town and swept the Jays in a 2 game mini-series.  Its not really the losses that hurt, its the way it was done.  Words like sloppy and listless come to mind.  Woodpeck was in the crowd for the 2nd game that ended 8-4.  We were screamin’ for more from the Jays bats and pitchers and were left to the most part unsatisfied.  For the first time in our lives, we actually cheered for a Yankee as Eric “beefcake” Hinske stepped to the plate for what eventually turned out to be a RBI deep flyout.  Most ppl in our section gave him the gears but we have  a lot of respect for this guy who’s done quite well for himself after leaving the massive expectations of being a Toronto Blue Jay.  Speaking of not meeting expectations, Vernon Wells had a good night for a change.  A good at bat in the first brought home a run and 2 outstanding plays in the outfield left us thinking “maybe he’s worth half that contract after all“.  Marc Rzepczynski continues to impress and he was one of the reasons we were there.  Good to see him put in a decent outing against the most expensive team in baseball.  Its not til’ you see a pitcher in person can you judge his stuff and we have to give him credit, “he’s got good stuff“.  That bodes well for the  future.  Some poor calls and plays in the infield seemed to get the team down and they never got back up again. Most importantly was the dropped ball during the play at the plate by Rod Barajas.  Any team worth their mettle should be able to rebound from a missed opportunity like that.  The Jays did not.

Now only if the Jays can find another gear to take the fight to another level when the opposing team takes the lead and certain key plays don’t seem to go their way.  That right now seems to be the overall issue.  NO SECOND GEAR! Time for this team to find that next gear and start using it with confidence or its going to be a long August and September.

My team is anyone but the Yankees

IF there was only one thing the Jays could accomplish this year as a team, we’d want them to sweep the Yankees in our barn from here on.  2nite, the Doc should deliver the goods.  Tomorrow, Rzep hits the mound and woodpeck will be there.  Lookin’ fwd to seein’ his stuff in person and here’s to a nice 2 game victory stint! As we once read on a licence plate in New Hampshire, “My team is anyone but the Yankees.”  This week, that rings oh-so true!  We’ll have no voice left by the 3rd inning.

ps:

Note to self: save 5 bucks for a Rolen shirt in the JaYS shOP after the game.

pps:

woodpeck predicts by next Monday… Snyder up, “Someone” released.  (Millar perhaps??? Let the debate begin!)  Millar could also ride the pine until the Sept. callups… but seriously what was with him as the cleanup hitter the other day?  Dumb, Dum, Dummmm.

Introducing Harry!

Ah, the smell of summer in the GTA…. what’s that? A garbage strike? What an aroma! SPEAKING of things that stink, not being able to blog anymore from work really, really really bites.  Oh well, what can u do?  Gotta keep the job.  In the meantime, we’re “working” on a wireless solution to the issue and hope to be more regular asap.

In other news, we broke the bank and finally bought our own bowling ball for the summer league.  Yup, we spent a whoppin’ 20 bucks at a yard sale on a beauty of a ball named “harry” that also came with a fancy glove, bag and shoes(not needed, but will keep as spares).  “harry” debuted this past Monday with a 128 nite.  it was the most lane this 15 pounder had seen in decades or even ever since he didn’t have a scratch on him.  judging by the look of all the gear, we put “harry” as a product of the late 70’s.  we look fwd to using him in a revamped style and approach that will launch us to our goal of a 150 avg by the season’s end.  stay tuned!

In the meantime, GO JAYS GO!!