Tuesday Morning Thoughts – July 28

Wouldn’t have expected a Toronto Blue Jays trade involving zero starting pitchers to keep me at work til after 3:30am this morning.

MLB
Congrats Jays fans. You now have the best left side of the infield in all of baseball. Troy Tulowitzki is a HUGE upgrade at short for the Blue Jays. Even if he’s actually played three less games than injury plagued Jose Reyes did in his two and a half years in Toronto. I do question what it might do to that locker room though. Reyes had his disappointing nights, and regular injuries, but he was a cornerstone of the Dominican trifecta running the room. Might AA have unintentionally upset the apple cart? In shipping out Jeff Hoffman, there’s one less piece to use to acquire a much needed ready to go arm. I didn’t think they would let Hoffman go. But hey, who cares! There are plenty more pros than cons to this trade. And look at that batting order: Travis, Donaldson, Bautista, Encarnacion, Tulowitzki, Smoak, Martin, Colabello, Pillar. Doesn’t look like a .500 team, does it? The next 72 hours are gonna be hella good.

On a Monday night at the end of July, there’s nothing better than a see-saw battle like the Rockies and Cubbies put on at Wrigley. Kris Bryant was the hero for the homeside.

Big night for Kolten Wong too. But I hate giving the Cardinals credit for entertaining me.

Age ain’t nothing but a number, eh A-Rod? 40th birthday last night. Dude still mashes. Disgusting.

SOCCER
Politicians are known to make some pretty daft comments. But most avoid saying things that not only would no one else agree with, but would make the majority of their supporters question ever decision they’ve previously made. Vladimir Putin doesn’t care though. He loves FIFA!

“People like Mr Blatter or the heads of big international sporting federations, or the Olympic Games, deserve special recognition… If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize, it’s those people.”

Yes. This coming from the guy that oversaw the $50 billion expenditure for Sochi 2014. Look Vlady, the world isn’t too thrilled about your questionable World Cup in Kaliningrad, so try to lay off the ridiculous comments for a minute.

I would be shocked if PSG land Angel Di Maria for as little as €40 million. I feel like that price would get Pep‘s attention. There’s probably another old guy at Bayern that LVG wants anyway. Claudio Pizzaro perhaps?

You’d think Miguel Herrera would want to lay low after Mexico‘s controversial Gold Cup title. But has he ever struck you as that type of guy? Of course not. When you celebrate victory the way he does, of course you go around punching journos in the neck. In security lines at the airport.

HOPE FOR TODAY
That there’s a story better than “Gilbert Arenas gets banned from County Fair for winning too many prizes.”

I love sports.

Monday Morning Thoughts – July 20

Going to try to get back in to the habit of writing these daily posts. After the weekend we just witnessed, it was hard to restrict every opinion to just 140 characters.

THE OPEN
I never thought I would ever open a multi sport post, with golf. But The British Open has been pretty compelling over the last four days. Especially if you’re an fan of wild weather captured on camera. Encouraged by the R&A there will be plenty of people who have called in sick to work today to enjoy what should be a ridiculous final round.

If 22-year-old Irishman Paul Dunne does pull off the miracle and win, as an amateur, he wouldn’t actually receive ANY of the $1.8 million purse. Because, amateurs don’t get paid. That would re-define the word ridiculous.

And here’s something that won’t surprise anyone that has ever been to a sporting event in Toronto. A ticket to the Pan Am Golf Medal Session will cost you $75. A ticket to today’s final round at The Open? $20.24.

BASEBALL
You can watch this game for 100 years and not see a championship deciding game end like the Pan Am gold medal game in Ajax last night.

If you didn’t see it, with Canada trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th inning and two runners on, American lefty David Huff‘s horrendous pickoff attempt at first base allowed Canada to plate a pair and walk off to claim back-to-back baseball gold medals. The U.S. haven’t won since 1967. Insert Leafs cracks below.

How amazing was it to see Marco Estrada “Chris Archer” the Rays? All the hype around Archer, fully deserved I may add, but everyone forgot Estrada nearly perfect game’d Tampa last month. Great momentum to take out west on their 6 game road trip. Starts in Oakland tomorrow.

For you doomsday preppers, you may want to get ready. It hadn’t rained in California since 2007. But, yesterday the Padres AND the Angels were rained out, marking the first time 2 Major League games were rained out in California on the same day since Sep. 24, 1986. Pretty sure I saw moths fly out of the tarp at Petco when they rolled it out…

Can someone please find the kid in suburban Detroit, maybe he’s even in Windsor, Ontario, that’s pitching as well as Justin Verlander used to? JV must’ve been Space Jam’d. How else can you explain how bad he’s been this season? At some point he’s got to show the Tigers a glimpse of what’s left. If he’s done, so are the Tigers in the Central. For a while.

Just give Dallas Keuchel the A.L. Cy Young award already. I don’t know if I’m more surprised to see the Astros still contending in the West, or that his beard hasn’t become an athletic disadvantage. At some point his hipster circle is going to turn on him… As long as he’s throwing career high lines like he did yesterday against the Rangers, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 Ks, it doesn’t matter who’s in his social circle. Though if I were management, I’d be concerned if he started dating Rihanna.

The second the Reds signed Aroldis Chapman, I was jealous he wasn’t pitching for my team. Yesterday with only 292 Major League innings pitched, the Cuban became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 500 strikeouts. Slow clap for ya, bro.

SOCCER
Full credit to the Canadian Womens Pan Am team for holding their own against Brasil‘s World Cup squad (minus only Marta). A 2-0 loss is nothing to shake your head at. But there’s something odd about a tourney, where a team with just 1 win and 1 loss can enter their final preliminary match knowing that anything better than a 4-0 loss would still see them through to the semis. But hey, won’t find a person in this country complaining. Good luck against Colombia on Wednesday.

And how does (assistant) referee Eric Boria give that penalty in the final minute of extra time? Costa Rica deserved to try their hand in a penalty shoot-out after Mexico wasted chance after chance in over two hours. I know everyone loves to see Miguel Herrera celebrate, but c’mon man!

Happy Monday everybody. May you go the entire day without being subjected to the song Steph Curry‘s daughter is dancing to.