My weekly opinions, observations and rants about some Canadian baseball stories:
I can’t wait to watch the Blue Jays No. 1 pitching prospect and their future ace, Kyle Drabek, make his big league debut on Wednesday night. But wait, the game is only on Rogers Sportsnet One, a channel not available on my service provider. I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but this is yet another example of how poorly timed the introduction of this new channel was.
So Jays fans, what do you think about Fred Lewis now?
Congratulations to Sechelt, B.C. native Ryan Dempster who won his 100th big league game this week. With this victory, he joined the select group of Canadians that have won 100 major league games that includes Fergie Jenkins (284), Kirk McCaskill (106) and Reggie Cleveland (105).
Question: Is Yunel Escobar as good as he thinks he is? And secondly, does he know how to charge a ground ball?
Why do I have a feeling that once the Jays cut Edwin Encarnacion loose this off-season that he will hit 30 homers for another team in 2011?
I can’t decide what’s more embarrassing: the Jays having only 14,658 fans on hand at the Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon to witness Adam Lind’s thrilling walk-off home run, propelling the Jays to a victory over the playoff bound Rays. Or is it more pathetic that only 26,907 watched the Rays battle the Yankees for first place at Tropicana Field last night? The Yankees/Rays game, which Tampa won 1-0 in 11 innings, also pitted two Cy Young candidates – C.C. Sabathia and David Price – against each other.
What worries me most about the Jays in 2011 is the improvement of the Baltimore Orioles under Buck Showalter. With the O’s playing the way they are, the Jays can’t bank on 12 to 14 wins against Baltimore next season.
Maybe the Rays fans are thinking their team is going to the playoffs one way or the other, so winning the division isn’t critical. But it isn’t a lock yet, and stranger things have happened. Or maybe a lot of them stayed home because it was a school night (that wouldn’t happen in New York). Anyway, another excellent post, Kevin.
Comments From Devon Teeple:
This Sportsnet one is a real shame.
I admit I’m not a Jays fan but it is always fun to put on a game after work you know.
Now games are being cut out for no reason except to drive revenue And increase subscriptions.
The O’s are just going on a late season tear because they have nothing left to lose. They’ll still stink and have a losing season in 2011. The Jays last year had a 9-game win streak going in September of a terrible season too.