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:
For the seventh time this season, pitcher has thrown a no-hitter in Major League Baseball. On Friday night, Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds struck out ten and walked one in a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bailey joins Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox, Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Johan Santana of the New York Mets, Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and a six pitcher effort by Seattle.
The Reds are one of four teams that have qualified for the postseason. They are joined by the National League East champion Washington Nationals, National League West champion San Francisco Giants and the National League wildcard champion Atlanta Braves.
In other baseball news, the Cleveland Indians have fired manager Manny Acta and named Sandy Alomar Jr. his replacement. The Houston Astros have also named Bo Porter their 2013 manager. Porter is currently the third base coach for the Washington Nationals.
A battle of the last two undefeated teams in the Canadian Football League will take to the field today at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.
The 2-0 Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the 2-0 British Columbia Lions (Saturday, 1pm, TSN).
The Roughriders have outscored the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Edmonton Eskimos a combined 60-17, while the Lions have outscored the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers 72-52.
This will be a contest between the Lions offense versus the Roughriders defense. If Geroy Simon and Arland Bruce III are able to expolit Craig Butler and Chris Mackenzie, the Lions should have a good day.
In what is becoming a trend in Major League Baseball, there was another no-hitter on Wednesday night.
This time it was a perfect game for San Francisco Giants’ right hander Matt Cain.
Cain, pitched the 22nd perfect game in baseball history in a 10-0 shutout win over the Houston Astros. It was also the fifth no-hitter this season, following Philip Humber, Jered Weaver, Johan Santana and the six Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
Cain also had a career high 14 strikeouts.
The perfect game came in San Francisco also came on the eve of the 2012 United States Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco–fitting because Cain is an avid golfer.
The ten runs San Francisco scored in the no-hitter was the most since the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles on September 1, 2007 on a no-hitter by Clay Buchholz.
Right fielder Gregor Blanco and first baseman Brandon Belt each had three runs batted in for the Giants, who are now 3.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West. The Giants do however hold the wildcard spot.
For the first time in club history a pitcher for the New York Mets has thrown a no-hitter.
Friday night in the big Apple, Johan Santana accomplished the feat as the New York Mets defeated the Saint Louis Cardinals 8-0.
But should Santana have been credited with a no-no? According to the Associated Press, Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran had a base hit down the line, but it was called foul by umpire Adrian Johnson. The replay clearly showed that the ball hit the foul line, meaning it should have been fair, not foul.
Santana becomes the third pitcher to throw a no-hitter this season joining Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox.
This week on the show, we look at the tragic death of former NFL star Junior Seau and the latest bounty suspensions from that league, as well as news from the NHL that Raffi Torres is appealing his lengthy suspension. We also look at the situation in the Nashville Predators camp, along with speculation that the NY Islanders might soon have a new home.
In the GABBYs: Leo Messi, Jose Mourinho, Jered Weaver, the NY Knicks, the Montreal Canadiens and Jeremy Affeldt. The Punchline this week is, once again, the Charlotte Bobcats!
In the second no-hitter in a week, Jered Weaver delivered magic last night in Anaheim.
Weaver struck out nine and walked one as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeated the Minnesota Twins 9-0. Phil Humber of the Chicago White Sox threw a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners on April 21 in a 4-0 win. Minnesota now has not recorded a hit in their last 15 innings.
The win comes at a time when the underachieving Angels are trying to salvage their season. After the Angels swept the Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays won two of three against Texas, the Angels are seven games back of the Rangers in the American League West.
Speaking of the Blue Jays, they were able to do something the Twins couldn’t do yesterday, and that was hit the baseball. Yunel Escobar had three hits, while Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson each delivered home runs in Toronto’s 11-5 win over Texas.
The Blue Jays are now three games back of the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League West and will start a four game series tonight in Anaheim starting tonight.
When Darren Clarke’s wife Heather died of cancer in 2006, the entire golf community mourned. But in the last five years, Clarke’s life has turned around a little. Last year, he got engaged to Miss Northern Ireland Alison Campbell, and after round two of the British Open on Friday, Clarke and American Lucas Glover are tied for the lead at -4.
Clarke, who is 42 years of age, is trying to become the third golfer from Northern Ireland to win a major. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 United States Open and Rory McIlroy won the 2011 United States Open.
Glover, meanwhile, is no stranger to major success himself, as he won the 2009 United States Open at Bethpage Black in New York.
However, Clarke and Glover are just the co-leaders in southeast England and have a long ways to go. A remarkable 31 players are within four strokes of the lead. Martin Kaymer and Miguel Angel Jimenez are in a group at -3, Americans Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and Dustin Johnson are in a group at -2, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and English amateur Tom Lewis are in a group at -1, and Y.E. Yang, Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia are in a group at even.
TSN’s coverage begins at 4am Saturday morning. I’m waking up when Garcia is teeing off, at 5:25am Mountain Time.
Ricky Romero, the ace for the Toronto Blue Jays, has been added to the roster of the American League for tomorrow night’s mid-Summer classic in Phoenix, Arizona.
Romero replaces Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox, who is currently on the disabled list because of a back injury.
Romero, deserved to be an All-Star in the first place. Despite his 7-8 record, he had a strong 3.09 earned run average, to go along with 101 strikeouts and 45 walks in 122 1/3 innings. He has also given up fewer hits (106), than innings pitched, another indicator for a solid start to the season.
The Blue Jays’ first round pick in the 2005 Entry Draft, Romero has pitched well despite missing some time with an oblique injury.
In other baseball news, former Toronto Blue Jay Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies (11-3, 2.45 ERA) will start for the National League and Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (11-4, 1.86 ERA) will start for the American League.
Carlos Beltran (.285, 15 HR, 58 RBIs) of the New York Mets has been selected as the starting designated hitter in the National League.
The Texas Rangers were the talk of the American League last year as they surprised many by not only getting by the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners to win the American League West to win the division, but getting by the New York Yankees to win the American League Championship Series in six games as well.
In comes third baseman Adrian Beltre from Boston and catcher Mike Napoli from the Los Angeles Angels (via Toronto) and out goes ace Cliff Lee to Philadelphia, designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero to Baltimore and closer Frank Francisco to Toronto. Beltre became expendable in Boston when they acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and moved Kevin Youkilis to third. On paper Lee would obviously be the most significant loss, but don’t forget, he only joined the Rangers at the trade deadline last year, when Texas had a huge lead in the division.
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