Hits and Misses

Hits

Getting Hot - Going into the All-Star break the Toronto Blue Jays have won 5 of their last 6 with a sweep over the Baltimore Orioles and then took 2 out of 3 from the New York Yankees. The Jays have been winning with a solid combination of hitting and pitching instead of just relying on their pitching. Roy Halliday pitched an absolute gem last Friday going 9 innings giving up on 2 hits in a shutout of the Yankees (a game in which I attended). AJ Burnett also had an amazing start going 8 1/3 innings and only giving up 1 run on 8 hits on Sunday. Hopefully the Jays can keep up this pace and try and gain some ground in the AL East.

All-Star Gems – Josh Hamilton put on a show at the Home Run Derby on Monday night blasting 28 homeruns in the 1st round. This broke the old record, held by Bobby Abreu, of 24 set in 2005. Hamilton ended up losing to Canadian Justin Morneau but he clearly didn’t care. Also the All-Star game last night was real entertaining as it went 15 innings and saw Morneau score the winning run to push the AL winning streak to 12 years. The pitching was absolutely amazing, as the pitchers definitely looked more like all-stars than the batters.

Vinny – Earlies this week the Tampa Bay Lightning signed captain Vincent Lecavalier to a 11-year $85 million deal. I love this move as Lecavalier is one of the best, and not to mention classiest, players in the league. He also has has amassed a franchise-best 273 goals and 602 points since entering the league in 1998. This is just another great move by owner Oren Koules this off season.

Hit of the Week – Forrest Griffin wins the Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 86 by beating Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson via Unanimous Decision. Many fight fans were upset as they thought Rampage got robbed, me being one of them. However since then I have watched the fight multiple times and my opinion changed as Forrest definitely won. He is one of my favorites fighters and is very entertaining so I’m glad he won.

Misses

Favre Mess – The Brett Favre mess isn’t going away anytime soon and it’s starting to get annoying. Now there is a rumor going around that Favre will go to training camp with the Packers in an attempt to “call their bluff” as he believe they will not sit him. Lets hope this situation gets resolved sooner rather than later so I stop losing respect for Favre on a daily basis.

NY Idiots – NY fans booed Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis and all other Red Sox players during the All-Star game last night. I get the whole rivalry thing but these guys are on the AL team and if they do well then it helps the Yankees. Whoever wins the All-Star game gets home field advantage in the World Series so these Red Sox players would be helping the Yankees if they ever made it there. These fans need to get some class and realize that for one night everyone is on the same team.

Teddy Nolan – This week Ted Nolan was fired by the New York Islanders due to “philosophical differences” with the management. How bad of a guy can Ted Nolan really be? He seems to always get the raw end of the deal even when he does a decent job coaching. Granted the Islanders didn’t make the playoffs but no one could coach those scrubs into the playoffs. Also the timing is horrible as it’s now July. Clearly these differences have been lingering and the man should have been fired long ago if it’s that big of an issue.

Miss of the Week – Roy Halliday of the Toronto Blue Jays said in an interview this week that he is tired of the mediocrity on Toronto and wants to go somewhere where he will be able to win a world series. This is troubling news for Jays fans as the Doc is the only reason our team in not a complete laughing stock. Hopefully the Jays can do something about this and bring in some real talent. Not bums like Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay.