Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Happy Canada Day!!
The Toronto
Blue Jays chased the Kansas City Royals out of town yesterday,
winning three games out of the four game series. The Jays now get to
face the Boston Red Sox in Toronto.
The Sox are
reeling after a rather unpleasant adventure across the pond. For the
first time in history, two major league teams-the New York Yankees
and the Boston Red Sox, squared off on European soil. Two games were
played in London, at the site where the Olympic Games took place
recently. The Red Sox simply were trounced in both games.
Two of the
Yankee players, Edwin Encarnacion and Masahiro Tanaka had their
passports ready to hand over to the customs officer. Encarnacion is a
relatively new addition to the Yankees, as he spent the first part of
the season with the Seattle Mariners. As a Mariner, he traveled to
Tokyo to play in the opening series this season. Tanaka played in the
Japanese League prior to his time with the Yankees.
In 2014,
Major League Baseball stretched its wings by playing a game in
Australia. The Dodgers beat the Diamond Backs in that tilt. The Cubs
beat the Mets in 2000 in a regular season game in Tokyo. It appears
that this is just the tip of the iceberg for these games. MLB has a
huge storage facility in London to tuck away all of the equipment
used in the game: lights, towers, outfield fences. They will be ready
for another sell-out in merry old England.
DiDi
Gregorious of the Yankees was the only European-born player in the
contests. He was born in the Netherlands, but grew up in Curacao, one
of the “ABC Islands”: Aruba and Bonaire are the others. Even with
all of the travel the players experience in a 162 game schedule, many
experienced jet lag from flying across the Atlantic.
The first
game they played ended as the second-highest scoring game in history
between these two teams. On August 21, 2009, the Yanks and Sox
battered pitchers to score 31 runs. Last Saturday, they managed 30
runs, the Yanks prevailing 17-13. Each team scored six runs in the
first inning. Neither starter was able to complete the first inning.
Aaron Hicks gave the Yankees a 6-0 lead with a home run off Rick
Porcello, sending him to the showers after recording one out.
DJ Le Mahieu
got the first hit for the Yankees. Mookie Betts singled for the Red
Sox to get them on the board. That opened the floodgates for both
teams.
The Red Sox
now trail the Yankees by more than ten runs. Both teams have stacked
rosters, and have been able to fight the injury bug with suitable
replacements.
The All Star
Activities will give most major leaguers a slight respite from the
regular season this coming week. One bright spot for Blue Jay fans
will be the appearance of Vladimir Guerrero Junior in the “Home Run
Derby”. It is an interesting contest that takes place prior to the
actual game. Many of us wished that he would have declined to take
place in the contest. More than one fine hitter has been negatively
affected by his appearance in the contest. It is not a natural event
for a baseball player, and the timing in different. Good luck,
Vladdy.
The hockey
and the basketball worlds are currently are in a frenzied mode, as
the teams are vying for free agents, and are trading to improve their
rosters for next season. The big fish in the pond is Kawhi Leonard,
who led the Raptors to the NBA Championship. He has not yet decided
where he will hang his hat next year. Wherever it is, he will be well
compensated.
And the CFL
is well underway. The Argos took another one on the chin Monday
night, after a spectacular lightning delay in Saskatchewan. It is an
18 game season, plenty of time to turn things around. The Tiger Cats
look strong, at least for now.
Enjoy!!!
James Hurst
July 2,
2019.
-- James Hurst 613.399.2278 sportslices.blogspot.ca
# posted by James Hurst @ 9:56 AM 
