Posts Tagged ‘Jesse Litsch’


April 30-May 1 Weekend Sports Preview–NHL Playoffs, MLB, World Figure Skating Championships

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (David J. Philip, Associated Press)

The National Hockey League playoffs will dominate my television viewing this weekend, but this morning I will have a little diversion.

The World Figure Skating Championships takes place in Moscow, and Canada is in an excellent position to win a second Gold medal. Olympic Gold medallists Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue of London, Ontario currently lead the ice dance competition after the short program. The long program goes this morning (11am, www.cbc.ca), with Virtue and Moir leading Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White 0.53 points. Virtue and Moir have 74.29 points and Davis and White have 73.76 points. Keep an eye out for Virtue’s leg however, as she was recently diagnosed with compartment syndrome. The team had to pull out of the Four Continents event leading up to the Worlds.

Here are the other events I’ll be watching:

Saturday–1pm–NHL Eastern Conference Semi-Final, Game 1–Boston Bruins @ Philadelphia Flyers–NBC–Last year, the Bruins and Flyers played an epic Eastern Conference semi-final with the Flyers winning in seven games after they lost the first three in the series. This year, the Flyers have the home ice advantage. I like Boston in this series because they seem to be more stable than Philadelphia at the goaltending position. Tim Thomas is playing better now than when he won the Vezina Trophy two years ago.

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Blue Jays demotion of Litsch doesn’t make sense

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Jesse Litsch (Otto Greule, Getty Images)

I think most Toronto Blue Jays baseball fans have agreed with the majority of moves by General Manager Alex Anthopoulos.

But his decision today to demote Jesse Litsch to AAA Las Vegas is definitely a head scratcher.

Litsch, the Blue Jays fourth starter was 1-1, with a 3.64 earned run average, with sixteen strikeouts and seven walks. He beat Oakland, threw five shutout innings against Seattle, and had an adequate outing in giving up four earned runs in six innings against Boston at Fenway Park on the weekend. You would think with those types of numbers and the Blue Jays in a rebuilding mode, that Anthopoulos would keep Litsch up with the big club.

The team had to make a move because closer Frank Francisco was ready to come back from a pectoral injury that put him on the disabled list during spring training.

But the Blue Jays sent the wrong man down to the Pacific Coast League. Jojo Reyes has been awful for the Blue Jays  this season, going 0-2 with a 6.75 earned run average. He has not been Major League worthy in his first three starts in Toronto and should either be released or demoted.

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Kerrzy’s Notebook: Play Ball!

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

We’re officially one week into the new MLB season and already some interesting trends are developing around the league, specifically in the American League East.

For one, the Toronto Blue Jays are looking like a pretty solid ball club early on!

The Jays kicked off the regular season with a 13-3 rout of the Minnesota Twins last Friday and followed that up with a 6-1 win the next night, before losing a close 4-3 ballgame on Sunday. Earlier this week, the Jays opened up a three-game set with the Oakland Athletics by scoring a pair of come-from-behind wins at the Rogers Centre to sit at 4-1 with…three percent of the season in their rear view mirror.

Still, it’s a good start! (more…)

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