Happy Monday!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Edmonton Eskimos drop two straight, but can they get back on track against BC? The Toronto Blue Jays get some solid contributions from a top prospect in a week where they’re accused of “stealing signs,” and a couple of former Oilers move on from the NHL for very different reasons.
In the GABBYs: Real Madrid, Oscar Pistorius, Eri Yoshida, the Lake County Fielders, the US ski team and Tiger Woods.
In the second game of a double header on Thursday night, the Calgary Vipers had their way with the Edmonton Capitals, hammering them 16-3.
First baseman C.J. Ziegler had his finest game as a Viper, going three for five, with two home runs and four runs batted in. Shortstop Wilver Perez and second baseman Jimmy Rohan each had three hits as well, while centerfielder Jonny Kaplan scored four times while batting in the leadoff spot.
Ziegler now has 17 home runs, which is good enough for third in the North American Baseball League. Daryl Jones of the San Angelo Colts leads the League with 21 home runs. Jones’ teammate Cory Patton, who is also a relief pitcher for the Colts, is second with 18 home runs.
Edmonton won the first game of the double header 15-8.
The Vipers improved to 33-23 and a two game lead on the Edmonton Capitals in the Northern Division.
Calgary plays Edmonton again this evening at Foothills Stadium. Game time is 6:30pm.
Calgary Vipers (Wikimedia Commons)
The Calgary Vipers announced on Tuesday the signing of right handed pitcher Henry Maybee of Surrey, British Columbia.
Maybee, spent the last five seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization after being drafted in the 19th round in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.
At 6’4″, 235 pounds, Maybee brings a huge presence to the mound. A product of Morehead State University, the 26 year-old has pitched with the Great Falls Voyagers in the Pioneer League, the Kannapolis Intimidators of the South Atlantic League, the Winston-Salem Dash of the Carolina League and the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League.
The signing of Maybee was the second significant signing by the Vipers within the last week. On Thursday, the Vipers signed first baseman C.J. Ziegler from the Lake County Fielders. Ziegler is currently second in the North American Baseball League with 15 home runs. The native of Tucson, Arizona is also batting .337 with 43 runs batted in.
Calgary is currently 31-22 and a game ahead of the second place Edmonton Capitals in the North Division.
What a couple of weeks for the Lake County Fielders of the North American Baseball League!
In a series of events that is sure to have people questioning the legitimacy of the NABL itself, the Fielders have gone through a stretch that has seen them lose a manager, an interim manager, 23 players and a play-by-play guy…all since July 9th!
The underlying issue here seems to be money – apparently the team, which is co-owned by actor Kevin Costner, has been a bit tardy when it comes to the paychecks. The Lake County Daily Herald says the first one to go was manger Tim Johnson, who quit the team via email after telling his players that he hadn’t been paid since the start of the season!
Eleven Fielders players refused to play that night against Jose Canseco and the Yuma Scorpions, some out of support for their former manager, others because they hadn’t been paid in a while either. It’s tough to say if this, too, was a form of protest, but interim manager Pete LaCock used pitchers as position players and position players as pitchers on the night, which wound up being an 8-3 loss (and a win for Scorpions pitcher Jose Canseco!). LaCock resigned after the game.
If you think the craziness ends there, you’re wrong! (more…)
Novak Djokovic (Wikimedia Commons)
The best two tennis players on the planet will play Sunday morning on a Canada Day long weekend treat. Rafael Nadal of Spain though will no longer be the number one player in the world Monday morning, even if he wins on Sunday. Novak Djokovic will be the world’s number one after his four set win Friday over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. That is because Djokovic had an opportunity to generate more points over the last two weeks because of his poorer performance than Nadal last year.
Sunday’s final is on NBC at 7am Mountain Time.
Here are the other weekend events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–7am–Wimbledon–Women’s Final–Petra Kvitova vs. Maria Sharapova–NBC–Maria Sharapova will be going for her fourth Wimbledon Championship tomorrow morning, having won each Grand Slam title except the French Open once. This is Kvitova’s first Grand Slam final, but has made some noise in the first two grand slams. She reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and round of sixteen at the French Open. Head to head, Sharapova has won the only meeting, having defeated Kvitova 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals at Memphis last year.
Remember back when the Edmonton Trappers were an MLB affiliate, and players like Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi and Johan Santana rolled through town on occasion?
Well, another big name from that era is at Telus Field all weekend!
Jose Canseco, a man once destined for Cooperstown, is now almost 47 years old and playing for and managing the North American Baseball League’s Yuma Scorpions alongside his brother Ozzie. He certainly had the numbers to back up a Hall of Fame claim, but his literary work, namely “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big,” derailed any hope of that ever becoming a reality. Back in 2005, no one believed him. Nowadays though, no one looks at players from that era the same way.
On Thursday night at Telus Field, Canseco says blacklisted or not, he feels like he made a difference to the game he loves. (more…)
Happy Monday!
The guys from “15 Minutes of Fame” are back at it for another week, breaking down the top stories from across the world of sports. This week, we’re discussing the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup (and the city of Vancouver’s reaction), we make some NHL Awards & Entry Draft predictions, and the Edmonton Eskimos kick off the preseason!
In the GABBYs: The Capitals run up the score, Boston continues to win, Terry keeps his tattoo and lots more!
Tonight the Calgary Vipers will host the Edmonton Capitals for the eleventh time this evening.
The Vipers have played twelve times in the North American League this season, and ten games have come against the Capitals.
I’m sorry, but in a ten team league, the Calgary baseball fan simply needs more variety to generate overall interest. I understand the economic implications with the new league that exist and it is significantly cheaper to play Edmonton than the teams in Texas, that the Vipers don’t play at all, but to play them eleven times in their first thirteen games is, shall I say it, complete overkill.
The Capitals are 6-4, and have played their first ten games against the Vipers. How can you simply evaluate your overall skill level of your team when you play the same team over and over again?
Teams in the Canadian Football League don’t have the right to complain when they play one team four times in a CFL season.
In all the Vipers will play the Capitals 29 times in a 96 game schedule. Simply too much!
The Calgary Vipers announced the signing today of former St. Louis Cardinal Troy Cate to their pitching staff.
Cate, 30 years of age, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2007 Major League Baseball season, pitching 14 games with twelve strikeouts, nine walks and an earned run average of 3.38. Over that time, Cate pitched entirely in a relief role and didn’t have a decision.
Since then Cate, has spent time pitching in the Pacific Coast League with the Sacramento River Cats (AAA affiliate of the Oakland Athletics) and the Nashville Sounds (AAA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers).
A native of Fallbrook, California, Cate was a 6th round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 2002 Major League Baseball Amateur Entry Draft out of Brigham Young University.
Jose Canseco (Glenn Francis, Wikimedia Commons)
The North American League just got significantly interesting.
Yuma Scorpions General Manager and former Calgary Vipers’ General Manager Peter Young announced the signing of controversial Major League Baseball star Jose Canseco as team manager today.
Canseco will also be a player and bring his twin brother Ozzie on board to help him. Ozzie will be the bench coach and hitting coach. Jose, meanwhile is expected to play designated hitter and first base. Ozzie is also expected to play, but it is not reported at what position, just yet.
The signing means that the Canseco twins will be coming to Edmonton and Calgary this summer. Yuma is scheduled to play at Foothills Stadium in Calgary against the Vipers for a five game series from June 28-July 2 and again from August 18-21. Yuma is scheduled to play at Telus Field in Edmonton against the Capitals from June 23-26, August 12-14, August 16, and in a rare scheduled doubleheader on August 17.
Canseco, 46, the 1988 American League MVP, admitted to using steroids in 2005, and also claimed that 85% of Major League Baseball players took the illegal substance as well. Recently, Jose had Ozzie show up in his place at a boxing event in Hollywood, Florida.
Loading ...
|
Edmonton Sports Blog – Any Sport Any Time is proudly powered by
WordPress
|
 |
