The last two seasons injuries have ruined any chances the Toronto Blue Jays might have had of contending, especially those to th

Posted in IYH Forums by jokergreen0220 at 08:18, Jul 13 2017

The last two seasons injuries have ruined any chances the Toronto Blue Jays might have had of contending, especially those to the pitching staff. Brendan Langley Youth Jersey . This time around the injury bug has bitten hard on the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay has three of their elite starting pitchers sidelined right now. Over the weekend, Alex Cobb strained a left oblique muscle during a stellar performance against the Cincinnati Reds. Hes gone four-to-six weeks. Lefty Matt Moore is due to play catch on the side today in Baltimore as doctors are trying to decide if he needs Tommy John surgery or whether his left elbow will get better with treatment and rest. Right hander Jeremy Hellickson, who also has an elbow issue, is hoping to be back in May or early June. Even a team as deep and talented as the Rays cant afford to lose three starting pitchers. The Red Sox also have problems. Star second baseman Dustin Pedroia has had to return to Beantown to get his left wrist checked out. Shane Victorino is out as well with a thumb injury and 39-year-old closer Koji Uehara is being examined to determine the cause of shoulder stiffness. The Yankees are no different. They lost their new closer David Robertson to the 15-day DL with a groin muscle pull, first baseman Mark Teixiera is injured again, catcher Francisco Cervelli has a hamstring problem, second baseman Brian Roberts had to sit out with back tightness and team captain Derek Jeter missed two games in a row over the weekend with quad tightness. The Yankees were so thin in the infield, they had to move Kelly Johnson back to third base, rookie Yangervis Solarte to second and have Carlos Beltran play his first game ever at first. The Baltimore Orioles biggest concern is star third baseman Manny Machado, who continues to rehab his surgically repaired knee. The Blue Jays have a few problems of their own with Maicer Izturis tripping on the dugout steps Sunday in Baltimore and spraining his left knee and then having to go on the 15-day DL. On the plus side, Jose Reyes and closer Casey Janssen could be back by next weekend in Cleveland and lefty J.A. Happ is already back up from Triple-A Buffalo. The bottom line is, the Blue Jays, Yankees and Rays are locked in a three-way tie for first in the A.L East at 7-6. The Orioles are second at 5-7 and the Red Sox are bringing up the rear at 5-8. By the weekend, the Jays should have the healthiest line-up in the division and this is the time for them to take advantage of their rivals injury woes and do some real damage. - The team that has really come of nowhere in the first two weeks of the season is the Milwaukee Brewers. Coincidentally, they had an identical record to the Blue Jays a year ago at 74-88. They are off to a torrid start this time around, winning nine-straight through Sunday and a 10-2 record. This is the second-best start in franchise history after 1987 when they started the year 13-0. Their starting rotation of Yovani Gallardo, Kyle Lohse, Matt Garza, Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta have nine quality starts in 12 games, and the staff ERA is a sparkling 1.80. Ryan Braun has had a good bounce back year, so far, from his Biogenesis PED suspension and has made a successful move from left field to right to clear a spot for youngster Khrys Davis, who is regarded as a budding star. The other big story for the Brewers is closer Francisco Rodriguez, once a star with the Angels. He stepped on a cactus is Spring Training and was still pulling out spines until about a week ago. His left foot, his plant foot when throwing, was so tender that he had to pay extra attention to his delivery to keep it consistent. K-Rod has been perfect so far, going four-for-four in save situations. The teams payroll, according to Cots Baseball Contracts, is about $103.4 million. Thaats roughly $29 million less than the that of the Jays. The interesting thing is that they have a dozen players on their roster making the minimum of between $500-534K. In other words, there is a good mix of veterans and youth. The Brewers lead the NL Central by three games on the St. Louis Cardinals and they open an early season showdown series at Miller Park on Monday night against the Redbirds. - There is a Milwaukee connection to one of the players the Blue Jays have in Buffalo. Juan Francisco is a 62", 245-pound first/third baseman, who was released by the Brewers during spring training. The Jays picked him up to add a little punch with the Bisons. The 26-year-old left-handed hitter has provided just that. In fact, last season he hit 18 homers split between the Brewers and the Atlanta Braves. The knock on Francisco is that hes not every good defensively, but hes turned into a good pick-up for Buffalo especially since the Brewers are picking up $331,967 of his salary. - Tuesday marks the 11th-annual Jackie Robinson Day where the MLB honours the man who broke the colour barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The year before Jackie broke in with the Dodgers organization, he played with the old Montreal Royals in the International League. I was curious to find out who was the first African-American to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs in that same league. It didnt happen until 1951. In July of that year, Jack Kent Cooke, the communications mogul who later owned the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Kings, bought the Leafs. A week-and-a-half later, he signed two African-American players, pitcher Leon Day and catcher-third baseman Charlie White. Later in that season, another black pitcher, Frank Barnes, joined the Leafs. He only made two appearances with the club and had an ERA of 45. Of the three, though, according to my research, Barnes is the only one of the trio still alive. He is 87-years-old. Yankees great Mariano Rivera was the last player to wear the number 42. Now that Rivera has retired, the number 42 will never be worn again. Chad Kelly Broncos Jersey .com) - The Toronto Raptors set their sights on a second straight victory with the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting the Air Canada Centre tonight riding a two game streak of their own. Jake Butt Broncos Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. http://www.broncosonlinenfl.com/broncos-demarcus-walker-navy-blue-jersey/ .com) - Nino Williams posted 18 points and seven rebounds, as Kansas State edged No.CHICAGO - Anthony Rizzo slammed a two-run homer, Tsuyoshi Wada pitched five strong innings, and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 2-0 on Tuesday night in a game that was halted after 4 1/2 innings because of unplayable field conditions following rain at Wrigley Field. After a brief but heavy downpour, the game was delayed 4 hours, 34 minutes before it was called off at 1:16 a.m. Fewer than 1,000 fans remained. When the rain and the wind intensified in the middle of the fifth inning, home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt stopped play. The grounds crew couldnt get the manual tarp fully in place, leaving large portions of the infield exposed to rain for more than 10 minutes. The Giants lost for the seventh time in 10 games and fell 4 1/2 games behind Los Angeles in the NL West race. Rookie Javier Baez walked with one out against Ryan Vogelsong in the first inning before Rizzo homered over the right-field bleachers for his 29th shot of the season. Of his 23 homers since May 8, 13 gave the Cubs the lead and two others tied games. He also had a single. After the rain eased, it took nearly 1 1/2 hours for workers to remove water from the infield and spread dozens of bags of compound on the dirt area. Wendelstedt, Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Cubs skipper Rick Renteria tourred the infield, but after additional repairs followed by another lengthy delay with little or no activity, play was halted for the final time. Chad Kelly Jersey. San Francisco had at least one hit in each inning but was 1 of 10 with runners on base. Angel Pagan and Joaquin Arias had a single and a double apiece. Wada (3-1) scattered six hits and walked none. Vogelsong (7-9) allowed three hits and two walks in four innings. TRAINERS ROOM Giants: The status of C Hector Sanchez is on hold after he sustained his second concussion of the season last Saturday while on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Fresno. ... 2B Joe Panik is day-to-day because of a dislocated left pinkie. He was injured on a head-first slide against Philadelphia last Sunday. Cubs: Top prospect Kris Bryant returned to the lineup with a double and a walk in four plate appearances for Triple-A Iowa on Monday. The third baseman sat out one game and was limited to a pinch-hitting role in another because of a bruised left foot. UP NEXT: In a matchup of veteran right-handers, the Giants Jake Peavy (1-3, 3.86) will oppose the Cubs Edwin Jackson (6-13, 5.74) on Wednesday night. Peavy lost 12 of his last 13 decisions —the last nine with the Boston Red Sox. 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