Every day pretty well, I check out the Blue Jays minor league stats to see whos trending upwards and whos tailing off.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Hoodie . Saturday, the boxscore for Double A New Hampshire really caught
my eye. Bostons farm club, the Portland Sea Dogs throttled the Fisher Cats right
in their own ballpark. It was the most lopsided defeat in franchise history and
the biggest shutout loss. That wasnt the biggest story though. It was the young
man who started that game for New Hampshire, Aaron Sanchez. Regarded by many as
the Blue Jays top pitching prospect, Sanchez didnt get out of the first inning.
In fact he didnt even record an out. My first though was that maybe he was
injured, but I called the Fisher Cats early Monday morning and was assured Aaron
is alright. He just struggled mightily with his command. Sanchezs line was
pretty ugly. He faced only six batters, walked four and a hit another, and the
only batter to make contact reached on an error by first baseman Mike McDade.
Though he didnt give up a single hit, Sanchez was charged with six runs, though
only three were earned. Sanchezs entire season so far has been rife with growing
pains. Hes 1-3 with a fairly respectable 3.54 ERA. However in just 48.1 innings,
hes walked 34 men while hitting another seven versus 41 strikeouts. Its hardly
time for the Blue Jays to panic. Sanchez looked great at spring training this
year and wont turn 22 until July 1. Still, I wouldnt be looking for a quick
call-up to the "Big Club", if any of the Jays starters falter or get hurt.
Sanchez still has a ways to go on the developmental curve. On the flip side of
that coin is right hander Deck McGuire. The Jays drafted him number 11 overall
in 2010 out of Georgia Tech. In 2012, at Double A, he seemed to hit a wall and
had a terrible season. Last year, again at Double A with New Hampshire, he had a
bounce-back season and has continued to grow this year with the Fisher Cats. On
Saturday after two strong starts with the Fisher Cats, McGuire was promoted to
Triple A Buffalo. While not as highly regarded a prospect as Sanchez or
Marcus Stroman, the Jays may yet get something out of McGuire, who turns 25 on
June 3. After detailing Kyle Drabeks struggles over the past two columns, its
only fair to mention how good he was last Thursday at Louisville. He pitched
eight shutout innings, striking out five and walking only two in what became a
4-2 victory for the Bisons. Ricky Romero, whose struggles have been epic this
season at Buffalo, was due to rejoin the club Monday after spending a few days
in California to attend his brothers college graduation. Ricky is pencilled in
to start the Memorial weekend holiday Monday game at Indianappolis. The Blue
Jays Mark Buehrle is well on his way to a 14th straight season of pitching 200
or more innings. As things stand right now, only three other pitchers have put
together a string like that of 15 years or longer. The trio includes Gaylord
Perry (15 years), knuckleballer Phil Niekro (15), and lefty Warren Spahn (17).
All three are Hall of Famers. They also won over 300 games each. Buehrle (8-1)
on the season has 194 wins at age 35. With their recent spurt, including six
straight wins, the Blue Jays only have to go 62-49 the rest of the way to finish
with 91 victories. Thats a number that should put them in the post-season for
the first time since 1993. Around the Majors What in the name of Bobby Valentine
has gone wrong with the Red Sox? The defending World Series champs, making like
Valentines team of two years ago, have dropped 10 in a row and have been swept
in consecutive series by Detroit and the Blue Jays at home and Tampa Bay on the
road. Theyre in last place in the AL East, eight games back of the Blue Jays and
six games out of the second Wild Card position. On the plus side, Bostons farm
system is reputed to be strong, especially at Double A Portland. The Sea Dogs
second baseman, Mookie Betts, is a sparkplug speedster who because of the
presence of Dustin Pedroia may ultimately wind up in Bostons outfielder sooner
rather than later. From the "go figure" file, the Texas Rangers have used a
Major League-high 39 players so far this season and have utilized the disabled
list 17 times. Yet in the same week they found out that Prince Fielder and
Jurickson Profar were gone for the season, the Rangers went into Comerica Park
in Detroit and took three out of four from the powerhouse Tigers, outscoring
them 35-15. Houstons rookie right fielder George Springer has had his moments
defensively, but he is really picking it up at the plate. Hes slugged four
homers in the last three games, including two on Sunday to give him seven on the
season to go with 22 runs batted in. The Astros though still have the worst
record in the Majors at 19-32. Until the other day, I did not know that in his
pitching days Babe Ruth threw sidearm. In his relatively brief time on the mound
as a full-time starter, he was regarded as the best lefty in the Majors. The
best pitcher period, in those days, was Walter Johnson. "The Big Train" also
threw sidearm. Makes you wonder why that style barely exists in the Majors
today.
Joc
Pederson Dodgers Jersey .com) - The fading Ottawa Senators have a chance
to make up some ground in the playoff race on Tuesday night as they play host to
the New York Rangers.
Clayton
Kershaw Jersey . Julien coached the Bruins to the Stanley Cup championship
in 2010-11 and is the longest serving coach in consecutive seasons in the teams
history. Claude is one of the top coaches in the NHL and has consistently shown
a passion for winning, general manager Peter Chiarelli said Sunday in announcing
the signing.
http://www.baseballdodgersproshop.com/sandy-koufax-dodgers-jersey/ .ca. Hi Kerry, Welcome back! Im sure you heard Peter Forsbergs comments last
week regarding Canadian referees in the gold medal game. Seems to me that he was
questioning the integrity and impartiality.RECIFE, Brazil -- Costa Rica has
turned the table on the teams World Cup expectations. Or at least on everyone
elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with
another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to
secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. After
entering the tournament as an expected underdog in a group featuring three
former world champions, Costa Rica is now on top. "Maybe there are a lot of
people who didnt have faith in us because we were in the Group of Death, said
Costa Rica captain Bryan Ruiz, who scored the key goal. "But the other guys are
the ones who are dead and were going to the next round." Ruiz gave his side the
lead in the 44th minute, heading in off the underside of the crossbar following
a cross from Junior Diaz. Goal-line technology was used to show that the ball
bounced down and in after hitting the bar. There was a frenetic end to the first
half, as moments before Ruizs goal Costa Rica had a penalty appeal waved away
when striker Joel Campbell was bundled over by Giorgio Chiellini. Costa Rica
leads Group D with six points, while Italy and Uruguay have three each before
Tuesdays showdown. England has zero points after losing to Italy and Uruguay.
Italy (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), Uruguay (1930, 1950) and England (1966) have won
a combined seven World Cups. Costa Ricas only other appearance in the knockout
phase came in its World Cup debut in 1990, when it beat Sweden and Scotland
under experienced coach Bora Milutinovic before ultimately getting eliminated by
Czechoslovakia. "Those who havent supported us may believe in us right now,"
Ruiz said. Italy, meanwhile, can still advance with a win or even a draw with
Uruguay, since it leads on goal difference which is the first qualifying
criteria. "We gave our all. They did well to block every pass," Italy coach
Cesare Prandelli said. "Theres no worry now. We just need to regain our energy."
It was exactly 24 years ago to the day that Costa Rica beat Sweden 2-1 to
advance at the tournament in Italy. "There are no more Cinderellas in football,
especially in a competition like the World Cup," Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon
said. It marked the fourth consecutive World Cup in which Italy failed to win
its second match, although only in 2010 did the Azzurri not advance. "Well play
a great mattch against Uruguay," second-half Italy substitute Antonio Cassano
said.
Fernando
Valenzuela Dodgers Jersey. "Im convinced we will. ... If we regain our
energy we can (advance) comfortably." While it was nowhere near as hot as Italy
feared at the Arena Pernambuco -- 29 C (84 F) and 70 per cent humidity according
to FIFA -- the Azzurri still struggled to keep up with the speedy Ticos for long
stretches. Costa Rica coach Jorge Luis Pinto lined up five defenders but his
squad was able advance forward with one swift, sweeping movement -- just like in
the 3-1 win over Uruguay. "We did what we needed to do, we took away the game
from the Italians," Pinto said. The Azzurri hardly threatened until Mario
Balotelli had chances in the 31st and 33rd minutes. First, Balotelli was set up
with a long, vertical pass from Andrea Pirlo and tried to lift the bouncing ball
over the charging goalkeepers head but missed the target. Then the Azzurri
forward had an effort from beyond the area stopped by goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
"If we had scored goals on those two chances for Balotelli, the match would have
changed," Prandelli said. Costa Rica kept its poise after the threats from
Balotelli and in the 36th minute Buffon had to make a diving save to stop a shot
from midfielder Christian Bolanos. In the 43rd, Chiellini made an
uncharacteristic error -- gifting the ball to Campbell near midfield -- and then
raced back and committed what appeared to be a clear foul. However, Chilean
referee Enrique Osses motioned to play on. Prandelli attempted to stir things up
by adding Cassano, Lorenzo Insigne and Alessio Cerci in the second half,
providing the Azzurri with four forwards instead of just Balotelli, but the 2006
winners rarely came close to equalizing. "Its a deserved defeat," Prandelli
said. "They were much more aggressive than us. They kept coming constantly and
we werent able to stop them." ------ Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Ignazio Abate,
Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Matteo Darmian, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio
Candreva (Lorenzo Insigne, 57), Thiago Motta (Antonio Cassano, 46), Andrea
Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio (Alessio Cerci, 69), Mario Balotelli. Costa Rica:
Keylor Navas, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Michael Umana, Celso Borges, Oscar Duarte,
Christian Bolanos, Joel Campbell (Marcos Urena, 74), Bryan Ruiz (Randall Brenes,
81), Junior Diaz, Cristian Gamboa, Yeltsin Tejeda (Jose Cubero, 67).
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