The Great Train Robbery

I went to Wal-Mart after work to pick up some supplies the night of November 13, 2012. Before I entered, Bob McCown of Prime Time Sports said that Serena Williams was due on the popular Canadian syndicated radio show at 6:20pm.

Once inside the store, my android phone started buzzing and ringing like crazy! What happened, I thought, as I checked my phone in the frozen food section. At first, I misread everything on the screen, and thought the following:

"Oh, we picked up Josh Johnson. How about that?"

When I returned home, and the reports from MLB.com, Facebook, and Twitter tweets poured in, I realized just how big and massive this trade turned out to be.

Toronto Blue Jays acquire:

• SS Jose Reyes; three-time all-star, 40 stolen bases last year, 2011 batting title winner (.337 BA, 1st in National League), due to make $92 million over next five years
• SP Josh Johnson; 8-14 win-loss record on one of the worst teams in the NL, 3.81 ERA, one year left on his contract
• SP Mark Beuhrle; 13-13 last year, fastball throwing lefty, gutsy, 33 years old, threw 2 no-hit games.
• 2B Emilio Bonifacio
• C John Buck

PEACE OUT! Former Marlins star Jose Reyes, pictured above, joins JJ, Beuhrle,
Bonifacio, and Buck on the trading block to Toronto
 in blockbuster deal between the two clubs.

Miami Marlins acquire:

• SS Yunel Escobar
• SS Adeiny Hechavarria
• SP Henderson Alvarez
• C Jeff Mathis
• Minor league prospects Anthony DeScalfini, Jake Marisnick, Justin Nicolino

What does this mean for baseball fans in Toronto? For the first time since 1993, when Toronto was last in the postseason and this happened, the Blue Jays are legitimate playoff contenders in the American League, if not in all of Major League Baseball. Their division, the American League East Division, is wide open: The Yankees are vulnerable with the health status of Derek Jeter and their starting rotation up in the air, The Red Sox and new manager John Farrell are rebuilding (sidenote: John Farrell sent Blue Jays fans a friend request LOL), the Rays are in steady decline, and the Orioles are a wild card o_O Now, or maybe next year, is the time for Alex Anthopoulos to make his move.

Before everyone goes bananas on pitchers' win-loss records, please bear in mind that statistic is a double-edged sword. They are a basic level understanding of a pitcher's ability, however a more advanced understanding of the game will tell you a pitcher's wins and losses are more a reflection of a team's performance behind him, and a minor reflection of the opposition the pitcher faces with every outing. The Miami Marlins finished the year 69-93, which is good for dead last in the National League East Division, so Johnson and Buerhle combined for 21 wins; that's thirty percent of the Marlins' win total between two pitchers: The former coming off tommy john surgery in 2011, while the latter started 31 games and won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove from the pitcher's mound. The pride of the Blue Jays pitching staff is to have groundball pitchers, or pitchers that throw down in the zone, which is a key asset in the ultra competitive, hard-hitting AL East, so Buehrle and Johnson are a nice addition ^_^

I'm a little disappointed the Blue Jays lost SS Hechavarria and SP Alvarez, because they represented the future of the organization, similar to their prospects. I wish them the best of luck in a town, which according to Twitter, is full of vitriol for the Marlins organization for going through with another "fire sale". Without the world championship his Marlins won in 2003, Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria probably wouldn't have a team with which to sell all its star players, nor would he have a baseball-only stadium with a retractable roof built with taxpayers' money.

Nevertheless, it feels good to be a Jays fan today ^_^ Any chance the season can start tomorrow? o_O

Farewell Farrell

Back in RED: John Farrell makes his return to the
Boston Red Sox organization as manager in 2013.

Game 6 of the National League Championship Series is tonight at 7:30 ET between the St. Louis Cardinals and the hometown San Francisco Giants. The Cardinals lead three games to two in the best-of-seven series, and missed a glorious opportunity to close out the series at home in the previous game, but Giants starting pitcher Barry Zito stymied the Redbirds in over seven innings of work to secure a 5-0 Giants victory.

The big news of the day, however, is the Boston Red Sox signing of former Blue Jays manager John Farrell as their next bench boss. Toronto excused Farrell from the last year of his contract so he could take the Boston job. Going with him is pitcher Dave Carpenter, but in return the Blue Jays picked up infielder Mike Aviles.

I should be angry and flip a nearby table, but I'm not. This was a deal between the two basement dwelling teams in the American League East Division: One decimated by injuries and under performing pitching to finish below the expectations of management and fans alike, the other with enough in-fighting and threatening behaviour from its former manager Bobby Valentine to provide more drama than an ABC soap opera. Farrell's laid back approach is a contrast to the fiery, button pushing Valentine, who wilted under the intense media pressure found in Beantown; Farrell has enough friends and cohorts in the Red Sox organization to do well, so you wonder why it took so long to get him? For more on this story, click here for Ian Browne's column in MLB.com

According to reports through baseball, Farrell was to be Terry Francona's successor, but by the time of the infamous September collapse of 2011 and Francona's firing John Farrell already finished his first year of the three year stint with the Blue Jays. Unable to sign him away from my Jays, Boston went with "Bobby V", who was caught in the ultimate "Catch-22":

• WIN: Media spins story Valentine won with Francona's crew
• LOSE: Rumours of secret meetings with management and angry players, volatile radio interviews, and ambiguous Twitter statements calling for the removal of Bobby Valentine get national exposure. Oh, by the way, Valentine gets fired.

Personally, I would hold out until Boston traded Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz in exchange, so to get only Mike Aviles on top of giving up another pitcher confuses me, o_O seeing as the Red Sox wanted Farrell so badly! Alas, what's done is done. Look for the microscope of criticism to fall heavy on Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopolous, staff, and players in 2013.

Phil's thoughts: If the Red Sox win the World Series in 2013, I'm going to throw up.

It's My Last Day: Yunel Escobar

In preparing to write this piece, I made a quick study of my writing career. Nothing too elaborate, mind you, I took an account of the number of years I wrote about life, people, events, sports, baseball, and other various things. I made writing "my thing" after a meeting with my English professor in 2004; his name was Mr. Jacobs, and he encouraged me to write, because he thought I could be very good at it. That was really BIG for me, because up until that point I didn't think I could write at all o_O

Moving on, I decided to list the number of years, give or take, I spent writing and separated them by field and/or topic since 2004:

Academic writing: 4 years
Sports writing: 4 years
Baseball writing: 5 years
Life writing: 5 years

Blue Jays shortstop Escobar NOT wearing eye black.

That's eighteen years worth or written work o_O I'm surprised I don't have carpal tunnel LOL All kidding aside, there are a few times when writing became really difficult. For example, when I wrote about abortion about three years ago, I did not experience or feel like my life was under threat, praise God, but I worried I would lose my ability to write professionally. I am still writing, which is great, but I am constantly under threat that my words could harm someone emotionally or physically. Yes, it do receive feedback, both positive and negative. Sometimes, I receive feedback within a half hour of posting what I wrote (Hi Nichole LOL). I am happy for the positive feedback, but I must admit it isn't all roses and daisies; I lost friends over things that I wrote as well, from times I took a stand for what I thought was right according to my faith, beliefs, and so forth, to times when I was a complete jerk for which I spent many weeks and months apologizing for afterward. It's that last point I want to dwell on, because when you take the time to think what to write about, find a writing utensil, find a piece of paper or fabric to write that thought out, and then showcase it for many dozens and hundreds of people to see you are bound to run into problems.

Case in point: Last Saturday, the Toronto Blue Jays were losing another home game to the visiting Boston Red Sox during their weekend series. The game would take on added significance when a fan's photos of Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar revealed an inflammatory, controversial, and derogatory slur written in his native Spanish on his eye black. Toronto is a multicultural city, and the largest city within a country proud of its multiculturalism and diverse population; to call out any particular group of people with a written, derogatory term, take a public stage, and transmit that image to many thousands of people paints the person (Escobar), his teammates, his coaches, his team (Blue Jays), his management, his organization (Rogers), his city (Toronto), his province (Ontario), and country (Canada) in a bad and inaccurate light.

Since the leaking and duplication of the controversial photo on the internet and the story's publication on various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, The Toronto Blue Jays organization and Yunel Escobar came forward, and Escobar publicly apologized saying it was "a joke", and it was "not meant to offend anyone". Escobar received a three-game suspension for his conduct from a "collective" of baseball people such as the Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, coach John Farrell, commissioner Bud Selig, and Public Relations officials, according to AA on Canadian radio hours after the press conference, but to many critics and fans of the game it is not enough.

No Laughing Matter: Escobar received a three game ban
for displaying an inflammatory slur on his person during last Saturday's
game against the Red Sox.

This morning, I posted on my Facebook wall that I could forgive Escobar for this incident, but anything less than suspension for the year would be unacceptable, and I stand by those words. Contrary to preceding and comparable incidents (See Ben Chapman, John Rocker, Delmon Young), Escobar thought, planned, and executed this act, and to make matters worse did it in 2012 with Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and Pinterest and nationwide television audience and so on...! My reaction and judgment would be the same had another player write the N-word on the baseball cap: If anyone did the same thing in their line of work, whether he was the world's greatest CEO or the assistant to the junior mail room executive, he would have their things in a box taking them out to his car! The debacle that was the press conference, the less than appropriate three game ban handed down not by the GM, but a "collective", and the weird apology Escobar made without taking proper ownership of his actions probably made me angrier than I was this morning, hence all the exclamation points and run-on sentences >_<

I'm sorry you had to read this. I would rather discuss other things baseball, or rant about the precedence of the WHIP statistic over win-loss record, but I must write about the hot topic issue of baseball at the moment. It saddens me, too, because when the Toronto Blue Jays traded for Yunel Escobar from the Atlanta Braves two years ago I was excited. He did a lot of highlight reel things on the diamond, when he started playing here, and although 2012 was a rough year I was more than willing to give the Blue Jays a pass. Now, I'm not so sure anymore -_-

No doubt you noticed there are no pictures of Escobar doning the controversial eye black in question. I did that on purpose; I thought about, planned, and executed it with the purpose of not transmitting those  images on my blog. No, I'm not sorry.

Quick Pitch!

Greinke Tossed

Y U NO LET ME PLAY? Zac Greinke (right) pleads his case for umpire Sam Holbrook
moments after being ejected for dissent.

Milwaukee starting pitcher Zac Greinke lost his cool, and then his place on the mound after being ejected in the first inning against the Houston Astros. On the play in question, Astros second baseman hit a grounder to Brewers first baseman Corey Hart, and Greinke ran over to first base to field the subsequent throw from Hart. Altuve reached safely, however, and that allowed teammate Jordan Schafer to score from third base for the game's first run. Umpire Sam Holbrook called Altuve safe, and in frustration Greinke fired the baseball into the ground; Holbrook saw Greinke's reaction as dissent, and ejected the pitcher from the game. Greinke was apologetic, but the damage was done. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke argued the call, and threw in some choice words for Holbrook, who proceeded to eject Roenicke as well (I never liked him anyway).

Both of the Milwaukee Brewers' broadcasters sided with Greinke and Roenicke, but under the rules open dissent is grounds for ejection (See Brett Lawrie from 2012, Yadier Molina from 2011). Both broadcasters agreed the umpire made the right call, but to lambaste him for ejecting Greinke is cynical. I expect MLB to come down on them like they did White Sox fan/broadcaster Ken Harrelson earlier this season. Taking your frustration out on a baseball isn't the smartest thing to do either. Milwaukee went on to lose to Houston 6-3, yet the difference in the game was losing Greinke, who the scorers credited with the loss, in the first inning after throwing only four pitches. What are your thoughts?

GET ALL OF IT! Yankees left fielder Andruw Jones circles the bases
for one of his two homeruns in the first game of the double bill against
the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, which they won 6-1.

Double Sized Treat ^_^

The hometown Boston Red Sox and their rivals, the visiting New York Yankees, treated both sets of fans to a rare double bill at Fenway Park this afternoon. The Yankees won the first game 6-1 thanks to a stand-out performance from Andruw Jones. After belting two homeruns on consecutive pitches, Jones assisted on a double play by snaring a fly ball from left field and doubling up Bosox baserunner David Ortiz at first base, with Yankee first baseman Mike Teixeira making a key, yet artsy, grab on the relay.

Pedro Ciriaco (right) receives congratulations after
plating another run during Boston's 9-5 comeback victory against
the New York Yankees.

Fans of the Rebel Alliance, er, Red Sox can take heart as Boston won the second game of the double header thanks to a pair of minor league call ups from Pawtucket ^_^ Mauro Gomez and Pedro Ciriaco combined for seven hits, four runs, and five RBIs in front of a less than stellar Yankee defense, which gave up four errors in the . Ciriaco also flashed the leather from shortstop (not too shabby); if we see more of those kinds of plays from him, we might see more of Pedro in the big leagues.

Jury on Jays: Midseason Analysis

Ricky Romero pitched a stellar six innings ^_^ Yet, Jays lose 2-0 T_T

My Toronto Blue Jays lost to White Sox 2-0 in Chicago, and spoiled a rare gem from lefty Ricky Romero. With one game left in the series before the All-Star Break, the Jays look to finish the first half of the season with an even .500 record with 43 wins. This is shades below what most fans in Toronto expected from their ball club; slugger Jose Bautista is returning to form, after his slow start, and hit a league-leading twenty-seven homeruns. One of the major disappointments about the 2012 campaign is decline and fall of Adam Lind in the No.4 spot; he returned from triple-A Las Vegas to find his form that was good to him in 2009, the year in which he won the Silver Slugger Award. We'll see if it did any good after the Break.

Blue Jays pitching is also in dire straits. Rife with injuries, what is left of the starting rotation reminds me of the  infamous story of the Oakland Athletics of early 1980s (See Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders). Pitchers like Ricky Romero, Brendan Morrow, and Brett Cecil has stellar campaigns, yet suffered from an inconsistent bullpen that could not close the door (namely Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch, both are now toiling with the New York Mets).

The All-Star Break will signal the beginning and ending of winning and losing streaks with the inactivity of regular season play, and this could the change of fortune Toronto needs to get back to winning ways in time for the pennant, er, playoff race.

Dazed & Confuzzled

My favourite Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista launched his nineteenth homerun yesterday in a loss against the surging Washington Nationals at the Rogers Center. Bautista found his groove again, but at a cost the Blue Jays dropped five of their last six games since the start of this latest chapter of inter-league baseball, which I like to call "Give the Yankees easy games to win so they can make the playoffs again" baseball. Bautista sits third in the major league homerun race with nineteen HR, two behind White Sox clean up hitter Adam Dunn, and three behind the leader, Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton (According to MLB Stats, as of June 14th, 2012).

As a Blue Jays fan, I'm disappointed with this offensive slump, and with both starting pitchers Brendan Morrow and Kyle Drabek out of the lineup for fifteen days, and potentially six starts between them, our chances to build off the success of late 2010 and 2011 are beginning to slim down.

GIANTS' Matt Cain celebrates after throwing the
22nd perfect game in modern MLB history

Speaking of inter-league wackiness, how long would it take for the Major League Baseball to switch to an all-designated hitter format for both American and National leagues? I suppose when, after a very close pennant race, the losing team will complain the winning team had the luxury of using a DH in their inter-league contest while they had to suffer with their pitcher swinging and missing in the penultimate last game of the season for both teams. When the Houston Astros announced they were leaving the National League, I said professional baseball would become all-DH by the start of next season, and if not then by the start of the 2014 campaign when they realize inter-league cost one team a chance at the postseason because they did not have the luxury of inserting a designated hitter in their 162nd game lineup card.

Before I forget, I would like to congratulate San Francisco Giants' star pitcher Matt Cain, who became only the 22nd pitcher in the modern era of Major League Baseball to throw a perfect game. He tossed fourteen strikeouts against the Houston Astros last night in San Francisco to preserve a 10-0 victory, and a spot in history as the first Giant in the 130-year history of the franchise to retire all 27 batters he faced in one game ^_^ Well done, Matt Cain! Now, if only I could buy cream coloured baseball pants to wear during for city ball? For more on this game, click here to go to MLB beat writer Chris Haft's account of this historic game.

SIXTEEN INNINGS? o_O

THE GOOD

Lawrie (left), Arencibia, and Vizquel celebrate JP's game-winning HR

 I'm not sure if this is a by-product of the JP Ricciardi era of Blue Jays history, but whenever a game went into extra innings I thought the Jays would find a way to lose that game. In tonight's history making season opener in Cleveland against the Indians, the Blue Jays shut down the Tribe, who roared out of the gate 4-0 after the second inning, and then came back to tie the game in the ninth, take the lead and win in the sixteenth! Credit for game-winning hit goes to Blue Jays catcher JP Arencibia, whose three-run homerun in the last frame put Toronto into the lead to stay ^_^ Something about those uniforms just looks right, don't you agree?

Something I found just as impressive, if not more, is the maturity and focus of Blue Jays starting pitcher Ricky Romero. In the previous two seasons, Romero would cap off poor performances and bad innings with an angry, glove slamming tirade in the dugout. However, after giving up four runs to Cleveland in the second inning, Romero entered the dugout in a calm and measured manner similar to one Roy Halladay of years past ^_^. When the head man or the leader is calm, then the team is calm and ready to tackle the task at hand: Joe Montana did it, Tiger Woods had it, Roy Halladay does it, and now so does Ricky Romero ^_^

THE BAD

I don't know what is worse: The Marlins wasting a solid outing from free agent, Cy Young winner Mark Buehrle, or the ghastly jerseys they wore o_O Everything looks alright on the front, I suppose. The black long sleeve shirt coupled with the alternate black jersey takes your eyes off the giant, multi-coloured "M". However, the back of the jersey is a real piece of work o_O ORANGE NUMBERS?! Considering Johnny Cueto's seven-inning, three hit shutout performance, the colour of the Marlins' numbers is irrelevant when all their numbers are the same: ZERO.

THE UGLY

I would make a reference to Shin-Soo Choo starting a dust up in an otherwise tight, extra-inning affair against the Blue Jays in Cleveland, but unfortunately I still can't take my eyes off that awful thing just off his left shoulder -_- If a baseball team dressed in a similar garb with an African-American equivalent to "Chief Wahoo", the game would be suspended, the public relations director, marketing director, general manager, and all who sowed on those patches would be fired on the spot. #Justsaying