For the third time in his career, Toronto native Joey Votto, the first baseman slugger for the Cincinnati Reds has been named the National League player of the week.
Votto batted .583, had two home runs, five runs batted in, a .655 on base percentage, and a .917 slugging percentage this past week.
On the season, the Reds slugger is second in batting average at .349, fifteen points back of Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Juan Segura at .364. He is also third in runs scored with 33, behind Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies at 36 and Shin-Soo Choo of the Cincinnati Reds at 35.Votto also has six home runs and 20 runs batted in for the year.
Speaking about red hot, so too is Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera. The Tigers slugger and reigning American League MVP is trying to become the first player in Major League Baseball history to win the triple crown in back-to-back years. He currently leads the American League with a .387 batting average and 47 runs batted in, and his 11 home runs are only one back of Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays, Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees, Mark Reynolds of the Cleveland Indians and Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles, who each have 12.
For the first time in 50 years on Saturday, the only run in a Major League Baseball game came on the first pitch.
In Arizona’s 1-0 win over Miami on Saturday, Gerardo Parra, the Diamondbacks’ right fielder, hit a home run on the first pitch of the game off of Marlins’ starter Tom Koehler.
It would also be the last run scored in the entire game.
The last time that the only run was scored in the entire game from the first pitch was on September 2, 1963. According to Sports Illustrated, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hit a home run as the Reds defeated the New York Mets 1-0. This was Rose’s rookie season in Cincinnati. Rose, who went on to be one of the most controversial players of all time because he was banned from baseball for admitting to betting on the sport, is the all-time leader in hits with 4,256.
Arizona meanwhile move into first place in the National League West with the victory.
Wayne Gretzky is the greatest hockey player of all-time. Heck, he is also the greatest athlete of all-time. But I think it is safe to say that right now Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the best hockey player in the world right now.
On Friday night, Crosby showed just why he is so great. In a dominating performance, Crosby had a hat trick by the early portion of the second period in a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in game two of the Eastern Conference semi-final that put the Penguins up 2-0 in the best-out-of-seven series.
Crosby will now have the opportunity to showcase his skills north of the border this weekend as Pittsburgh travels to Ottawa for game three of the Eastern Conference semi-final (Sunday, CBC, 5:30 p.m.). I know the Penguins are loaded with talent that includes Evgeni Malkin and Jarome Iginla, but the bottom line is when healthy Pittsburgh is Crosby’s team.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–MLB–New York Mets @ Chicago Cubs–WPIX–11:00 a.m.–Two teams in fourth place in their divisions play today at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are 17-24 in the National League Central, while the Mets are 16-23 in the National League East. First baseman Anthony Rizzo, who represented Italy at the World Baseball Classic, with nine home runs, 29 runs batted in and a .522 slugging percentage. While so far this season, the Mets have been led by third baseman David Wright, who leads the team with a .312 batting average, .418 on base percentage and a .536 slugging percentage.
Major League Baseball is stepping up to the plate and suspending umpire Fieldin Culbreth.
A monumental mistake was made on Thursday in a game between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Houston Astros.
Last night in Houston, the Astros made a pitching change and replaced reliever Paul Clemens with Wesley Wright. However while Wright was on the mound and throwing his warmup pitches, Astros manager Bo Porter made a pitching change and brought in reliever Hector Ambriz.
The problems in 2013 are continuing for the Toronto Blue Jays.
On Tuesday night at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, Blue Jays’ starting pitcher J.A. Happ was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of Rays’ center fielder Desmond Jennings during the second inning.
The baseball went into the right field bullpen off of Happ’s head.
There is no report yet on the injuries Happ sustained, but it was reported that Happ was in stable condition at the Bayfort Medical Centre in Tampa Bay.
Line drives off the bat in baseball can be one of the most dangerous instances in sport. Pitchers sometimes just do not have the appropriate time to react.
The 2013 World Men’s Hockey Championships will commence this weekend with Canada playing two games in Stockholm. The first will be against Denmark on Saturday (TSN, 8:00 a.m.) and the second will be against Switzerland on Sunday (TSN2, 8:00 a.m.).
There are four Oilers and one Flame on Team Canada. Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Devan Dubnyk and Taylor Hall are the Oilers, while T.J. Brodie is the lone Calgary Flame.
Other notable players representing Team Canada are Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith, Carolina Hurricanes sniper Eric Staal, Florida Panthers defenceman Brian Campbell (defending Lady Byng winner) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos, who was second in the NHL in scoring with 29 goals and 57 points. (more…)
It should come as simply no surprise to many that the Toronto Blue Jays are 10-18 and dead last in the American League East with a record of 10-18 (9.5 games back of the first place Boston Red Sox).
Why? Well, the majority of their top off-season acquisitions came from losing cultures. Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Emilio Bonifacio were all on a terrible Miami Marlins squad last year that underachieved significantly. They also signed pitcher R.A. Dickey from the equally bad New York Mets and outfielder Melky Cabrera from the San Francisco Giants, who was nowhere to be found on the Giants’ World Series Championship roster because he was suspended in August for taking high levels of testosterone.
The Edmonton Oil Kings are one win away from returning to the Western Hockey League’s Championship Final. On Sunday, the Oil Kings will play the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome in game six of the Eastern Conference Final, leading the series 3-2.
On Friday night in Edmonton, the Oil Kings had a similar start in game five of the series to what they had in game four. Complete dominance. The Oil Kings scored three first period goals en route to a 5-1 victory. Game six can be seen on Sunday afternoon on Shaw at 4:00 p.m.
This week on 15MOF we update the Boston Marathon bombings, look at an apology (of sorts) from the Edmonton Oilers, check in with the latest player to go under the knife and we cheer on the Edmonton Oil Kings.
In the GABBYs: David Ortiz, Stephen Curry, Keith Yandle, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Yovani Gallardo & the supporters of Argentina’s Huracan football club. The Punchline this week is Liverpool striker Luis Suarez!
It looks more and more like the Edmonton Oilers will not make the postseason in 2013. However, there is a still a mathematical chance after their impressive 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
The Oilers played a complete hockey game Friday night at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Jordan Eberle scored one goal and two assists, while Justin Schultz and Magnus Paajarvi had multi-point games.
The Oilers are now eight points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets with five games to go in the season. The next game on their schedule will be Sunday night against the Anaheim Ducks (Sportsnet, 6:00 p.m.). It is basically simple. Their remaining five games, of which four are at home, are mandatory for the Oilers to win.
The biggest story heading into Saturday is Tiger Woods. According to CBS there was a possibility that Woods would be disqualified heading into the third round of the Masters (Saturday, CBS, 1:00 p.m.) for dropping his ball in an illegal area after his approach shot on the 15th hole hit the flag stick and went into the water. Woods apparently dropped his ball two yards back from where he should have dropped it.
However, according to ESPN, Woods was only given a two stroke penalty after officials reviewed the tape. Do you think Woods was given preferential treatment by officials because of his status or is a two-stroke penalty considered harsh enough? Please comment at www.anysportanytime.ca. One thing is for sure, and that is a major golf tournament with Tiger Woods boosts television ratings significantly more than a major golf tournament without him.
I admit. I am very skeptical of the Toronto Blue Jays this season. I am not completely convinced the core group of talent that Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has brought in is the right mix.
In many ways, the Blue Jays are trying to do the same thing that the Miami Marlins did last season and that is to bring in several missing pieces and contend for the playoffs. It was a disaster for the Marlins last year, and the Blue Jays not only made several offseason acquisitions, but they acquired four Marlins in the process.
The slow start at 2-5 for the Blue Jays was no surprise to me. However, the win on Tuesday in Detroit was as much of a character win you can get at this stage of the season. The Blue Jays were losing 6-1 on the road against the defending American League champions, when the offensive flood gates opened.
The Blue Jays scored three times in the sixth inning, highlighted by a Mark DeRosa two-run RBI double, and a three-run RBI double by J.P. Arencibia in the seventh inning en route to a 8-6 victory.
The Blue Jays may only be 3-5, but the impressive comeback win could bring definitive confidence in their locker room going forward.
This week on 15MOF we look at the up-and-down Edmonton Oilers as they flirt with a playoff spot, the NHL’s Winter Classic announcement and we make our NCAA national championship predictions.
In the GABBYs: Traded NHLers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Prince Fielder, Mike Rice, Vuvuzela attacks and the Blue Jays. The Punchline this week is the LA Lakers!
This weekend is an extremely significant one when it comes to the history of Canadian tennis. Team Canada is tied 1-1 with Team Italy in the quarterfinals heading into a key doubles match today and two singles matches on Sunday.
This afternoon (Saturday, Sportsnet, 4:30 p.m., joined in progress) Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver will take on the Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Daniele Braccaili. It will be interesting to see how much energy Pospisil has in the tank after he lost a five set marathon to Andreas Seppi on Friday afternoon. Canadian head coach Martin Laurendeau ridiculously went with Pospisil over Jesse Levine, who is overall a much better tennis player.
Sunday’s matches are right now Milos Raonic versus Seppi (Saturday, Sportsnet, 3:00 p.m.) followed by Pospisil versus Fabio Fognini.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
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