Friday, September 7, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Another one bites the dust: Blue Jays lose third starting pitcher to injury this week
Adversity is inevitable throughout the course of a 162 game season. However, the adversity the Toronto Blue Jays have faced this week alone is more than enough to cripple even the deepest team in Major League Baseball.
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It began on Monday when starting pitcher Brandon Morrow felt a pull in his side nine pitches into his start against the Washington Nationals. He was later diagnosed with strained oblique muscle and placed on the disabled list. A timetable for his return has not yet been established.
[Related: Updated MLB Power Rankings]
On Wednesday, Kyle Drabek exited his start against Washington after feeling a popping sensation in his right elbow. The 24-year-old right-hander was not overly concerned about the ailment immediately after the game, insisting that he didn't feel any discomfort, but was evaluated on Thursday morning and then diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament on Friday.
He'll receive a second opinion from noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews on Monday, but Tommy John surgery will be the likely result.
That brings us to Friday night, where Blue Jays skipper John Farrell handed to the ball Drew Hutchison desperately hoping the 21-year-old could work deep into game and take some pressure of his overworked bullpen. Unfortunately, nine pitches in — the same number Morrow lasted on Monday — Hutchison called for Farrell and the training staff after feeling discomfort in his own right elbow.
He was replaced by left Aaron Laffey, who got them to the third inning. Carlos Villanueva followed with four scoreless innings and earned the victory as Toronto pieced together an impressive 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
But the victory will only serve as temporary relief while the team awaits word on the severity of Hutchison's injury. Assuming he's forced to miss time, Farrell will be left with only three healthy starters: Ricky Romero, Henderson Alvarez, and Brett Cecil, who was just recalled to replace Drabek.
''I've never seen this,'' Blue Jays manager John Farrell said."
'We're getting challenges thrown at us from every different angle and health right now is certainly the big one."
Challenges to say the least. The depth of the Blue Jays system is about to be tested like never before, as is their resolve in the ultra-competitive American League East. We'll be watching closely to see how they respond.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. vs. Batmobile. Who ya got?
OK, be forewarned: this is basically a big ad for Mountain Dew and the new Batman flick. We all good with that? Fine, let's roll. Dale Earnahrdt Jr. and the iconic "tumbler" from "The Dark Knight Rises" (they don't call it a Batmobile, but we know that's what it is) took to Michigan International Speedway for some hot laps. And while Junior's car clearly had the speed edge, the Batmobile likely would have put the 88 into the wall with little trouble had Batman (or whoever was driving the thing) been so inclined.
Alas, Junior's car doesn't appear in this movie the way it did in last summer's Transformers 3. Too bad; would have liked to see how Junior Nation would fare against Bane's army of creepy acolytes.
"The Dark Knight Rises" hits theaters July 20. Mountain Dew is on sale now. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. is hoping desperately to win his first race since 2008 this weekend.
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No Grand Slam in 2012: Bubba Watson misses cut
If Bubba Watson has only one miracle shot for the ages in him, it's a good thing he used it when he did, back at Augusta. Because the way he played this week at Olympic, it wouldn't matter if he fired ten heroic shots from the trees.
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Watson missed the cut at Olympic by a single stroke, carding a 71 on Friday that couldn't offset the 78 from Thursday. And while he bombed his driver halfway to Los Angeles, his short came couldn't close the gap. On Friday, he rose to as much as 11 over par, but even two late birdies couldn't save him.
In the battle of Man vs. Olympic, Bubba fought bravely, but in the end, Olympic won. "It's a lot better than I am," Watson said after Thursday's round. "That golf course is too tough for me."
Of the marquee pairing with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Watson was the most likely to get rattled by the large crowds and passionate cheering for his playing mates. And indeed, Watson never seemed particularly comfortable. Perhaps he's like Mickelson, at his best when he can sneak up on a golf course. Olympic was having none of that this week, and now Watson has a few weeks to calm his nerves before trying again to become the first man since Padraig Harrington in 2008 to win more than one major in a year.
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DTotD: CAR goalkeeper beats up the goalpost
Central African Republic recorded a major upset by going to Egypt and winning 3-2 in an African Cup of Nations qualifying match. But before that happened and while Egypt still led 2-1 early in the second half, CAR goalkeeper Geoffrey Lembet went briefly insane.
Lembet was receiving treatment on the pitch and when the referee told him to go off so the physio could continue to look him over, Lembet snapped. First he punched the nearest goalpost, then he walked over to the far post and laid into it with a dizzying combination of punches that had to turn his hands into sacks of bone chips. The physio then wrapped him in a bear hug to calm him down.
And the disconcerting sight of watching a grown man beat the snot out of a goalpost was apparently the inspiration/fear instilling moment his teammates needed, because after that they scored twice to defeat Bob Bradley's side (see U.S. fans -- it could be worse than a 1-1 draw against Guatemala).
Anyway, Artur Boruc is hoping Geoffrey Lembet will be his new best friend.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
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Woods, Mickelson, Watson gallery lives up to supergroup hype
SAN FRANCISCO — This is going to come as a surprise, but golf and professional wrestling have nothing in common. We've never seen Tiger Woods take a metal chair to the back of Phil Mickelson's head (although I'm sure he's thought about doing it numerous times), or Lee Westwood give a sidearm shimmy to Rory McIlroy.
Golf is a dignified game ... or so we thought. If you closed your eyes for a moment during Friday's round, you could've sworn you were sitting ringside at a battle royal pitting three of golf's most recognizable names against each other in a fight for ultimate supremacy.
"Tiger and Phil and Bubba in the same group is going to be huge," Rory McIlroy said early in the week about the Woods, Watson, Mickelson grouping. "If I was a golf fan I'd want to watch that group, because I'm sure you'll see some fireworks. So it should be a good group to watch. "
While there weren't a whole lot of fireworks, fans still showed up in droves, lining Olympic Club's fairways at least ten deep and craning their necks in an attempt to see the most talked about grouping in major championship history.
Just like a professional wrestling match, fans made it known who they were rooting for during the first two days of the tournament.
I came here to see you Bubba, not Tiger Woods!
Please follow us on Twitter, Bubba!
Go Phil! You're the only family man in the group!
15, baby! That's all that matters! (Reference to Woods going for his 15th major championship.)
And those were just a few of the shouts that were of the PG variety. Without question, the fans that followed the Mickelson-Woods-Watson group more than lived up to their end of the bargain, turning the grouping into a circus atmosphere.
If that's what the USGA was going for they should consider the experiment a success. It was clearly the most talked about item of the early week and everyone, and I mean everyone, wanted to tell their friends they'd been a part of the crazed atmosphere.
Even Fred Couples and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers showed up to take in the action, walking inside the ropes with media and tournament officials. When star athletes and golfers not even in the group start showing up to tag along, you know you're onto something big.
While some fans left grumbling about spending a majority of the time trying to get a decent spot to see the action, it was clear from the buzz and excitement that grouping three big names together at a major championship works.
Sure, it might clog up one particular area of the course or keep the fans from following other groups, but at the end of the day, what really matters is putting on the best show possible on golf's biggest stage.
"I could get used to this," one guy told his buddy as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson walked by.
So could a lot of other golf fans. The big question now is if we'll see another supergroup in the near future.
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