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!

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“

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!

A New Lease on BLoGGiN’? Or Tweetin?

Well, posts here at The Hills have been intermittent to say the least and this is just an update on our current status. We never started out to be a regular blog that kept up with sports everyday (though we do keep up with sports everyday).  There are many great blogs out there that already do that.  Rather we started out to say things only when we felt we had something to say.  Now our Twitter feed is becoming that way.  More so since we regained a regular connection to the Net.  That is all fine and dandy.  So woodpeck just wanted to plug our Twitter feed since that is where our quips are ending up and when we have something major and long winded to say, it will show up here at The Hills.

Funny how times change and how what technology we have at our disposal enacts that change.  But judging by the 2 week trend of how we’ve been posting, more thoughts are ending up in Twitter (rightly or wrongly) than here.  We’ve seen some blogs post a roundup of their tweets.  Perhaps that is something you’ll see here every so often.  But we can’t get our head around why you’d repost them when they are already on the ‘net?  Seems a tad too self promoting from our point of view.

Speaking of sports though, we are most likely getting to a Jays game this week.  Either Thursday or Sunday.  That will get blogged if it does happen.

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…

The Best Friday of the Summer?

WOW!  what a great day yesterday was to be a sports fan in Toronto:

• World Series back2back reunion brings back the team and many great memories
• the most expensive team in the universe plays an entertaining game in town
• Rios might be claimed off waivers!

Memorable day indeed!  Though we weren’t at the Real Madrid game, we caught the second half on the telly and the sheer magnificance of watching the worlds best in our backyard was amazing to behold.  plus we scored a goal.  that was the icing baby.  what a day!

As for Rios, at this point we believe anything we can get for this guy is great. We can also accept some1 just taking his contract off our hands but we prefer the first choice.  Even a few picks would suffice.  Time for a change of scenery for Rios we thinks. It could be the best thing to happen to both parties.

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!!

Post Game Recrap: Phillies at Jays

10-0!!!
At least we got to watch a lot of Jays pitchers help the Phillies with an extended BP while we worked on our tan!
Jmac got our most cheers even b4 taking the plate and hitting a couple of hits. No matter how bad BJ Ryan gets, we’ll never shower him with boos, but something is still amiss with his game. Dunno why V-dub’s throw back to the infield in the fourth inning was so lackadaisical. That in our mind cost us the game. Any chance of a comeback became that more impossible when the Phillies took advantage of it.
200 level baseline seats rule. Great vantage point! ‘Nuff said. Hope to be back at a game sooner rather than later!