Im always thankful for

[jinshuiqian0713]

Over the winter, we wrote about the Blue Jays coming to terms with a pair of pitchers who were trying to become knuckleballers. They were Josh Banks and Tomo Ohka. Banks had been a Blue Jays draft pick who had a brief stint with the club in 2007 before moving on to San Diego and then Houston, compiling a career record of 4-8. The other was Ohka, a journeyman from Japan who spent time with six organizations, including the Blue Jays in 2007, where he went 2-5. Ohka, who turns 38 next week, was already sent to the minor league camp last week. Now there is a third. Hes 30-year-old Frank Viola III. If the name is familiar, it should be. Hes the son of former big league star lefty, Frank Viola Jr. Frank Jr. had a very good career, predominantly with the Twins and the Mets. He was the MVP of the 1987 World Series - the Twins first win ever - and won the Cy Young Award in the American League the following season - his final full season with the Twins with a 24-7 season. Frank "Sweet Music" Viola, as he was affectionately known, is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame. Viola actually finished off his major league career in a short stop over with the Blue Jays in 1996. He went 1-3 for the Jays and ended his career on May 28 of that year. His son chased that major league dream as well and pitched in the White Sox organization thtough 2007 before injuries appeared to cut his career short. He dabbled in the media doing Florida State League games and even had his own fishing show, but Viola III never gave up his dream of pitching in the majors. The next step was trying to master the knuckleball. He worked with the likes of R,A Dickey, Tim Wakefield and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and finally impressed the Blue Jays enough that they signed him last week. This doesnt necessarily mean the 30-year-old will make it to the big club. The Jays game plan is to have a knuckleballer or two in the minors to work with their catching prospects. That way, if they get called up to the Jays theyll be ready to work with Dickey without any major adjustment. Still, it would be great to see one of these knuckleballers eventually make it to the majors. Frank Viola Jr. incidentally is entering his second season as the pitching coach with the Mets Triple A farm club, the Las Vegas 51s. After writing about the passing of Dr. Frank Jobe, the man who pioneered Tommy John surgery last week, I discovered another interesting twist to the Tommy John story. Back in 1968, in a game at old Tiger Stadium, John was pitching against Detroit. In the first inning he hit Dick McAuliffe with a pitch. He later scored on an RBI single by Al Kaline. When McAuliffe came up again in the third, threw one pitch high and tight and then a 3-2 pitch behind McAuliffes head that sent him sprawling in the dirt. When he got up he dusted himself off and started to head to first glancing out towards John. McAuliffe claims that John taunted him by saying "What the F are you looking at?" That was the final straw for McAuliffe and he charged the mound. John got into a defensive position and the knee of the charging McAuliffe dug into Johns left shoulder. He suffered a separated shoulder and torn shoulder ligaments and missed the rest of the season. McAuliffe was suspended for five games and was fined $250.00. The interesting thing about John is that he resisted the advice to have surgery and let the shoulder heal with rest and rehab. The plan worked, though it took a while for John to get back to peak efficiency. 1974 was different. When Tommy John blew out his elbow, he said his arm simply felt dead. This time he agreed to surgery, which not only changed his career but revolutionized baseball in terms of treating this type of elbow injury. The Detroit Tigers have made history over the last three years, winning five of the six major awards handed out. They have won three straight MVP awards - the last two by Miguel Cabrerra and three straight Cy Young awards. The Tigers have made the postseason in each of the last three years. The only other time the organization did that was in the hay day of Ty Cobb in 1907, 1908 and 1909 when they dropped three straight World Series - two to the Cubs and one to the Pirates. This season under rookie manager Brad Ausmus, they will be trying to make the playoffs for the fourth straight time and for the first time in franchise history. Over the weekend, Tigers GM Dave Dumbrowski denied rumours he was listening to offers for starting pitcher Rick Porcello. In fact, he denied trying to trade any of his starters. But considering the Tigers have question marks at 3rd base and left field, you have to wonder a bit. Its still a bit too early to get too excited or too worried about this but Baltimore is 8-2 so far this spring and is scoring nearly eight runs-again, even without a rehabbing Manny Machado (knee) at full strength. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .S. Basketball Writers Association. McDermott, who finished his career at Creighton as college basketballs fifth-leading scorer, accepted the honour from Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson at AT&T Stadium, site of the Final Four. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. Rob Klinkhammer and Mikkel Boedker scored 63 seconds apart in the first period for the Coyotes, who handed the Kings their third straight loss and took over sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. Mike Smith made 36 saves. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .She struggled with a hacking cough, she was sick, and she twice celebrated too early, but she held her composure in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory on Saturday.On her third match point, she let her racket go before hearing a let call to what she thought was an ace. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Jeff Green and Jordan Crawford each scored 19 points, Bass added 15 points and had a game-saving block in the closing seconds Saturday, and the Celtics held on for a 103-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.OAKLAND – The Blue Jays will send three representatives to the All-Star Game on July 15 in Minneapolis. American League manager John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox announced that Jose Bautista would be his starter in right field as voted by the fans. For Bautista, its a fifth All-Star selection, all in a row. Hes the American Leagues starting right fielder for the fourth consecutive season. Bautistas hitting .300/.423/.529 in 83 games. His 60 walks and on-base percentage of .423 are the best in baseball. Bautista, for the second time, was the leading vote getter. “Its great to have the support and I feel thankful and appreciative of all the votes,” said Bautista. “Its nice to know that people are paying attention and theyre watching you succeed. To just know that people are paying attention and watching is always a pleasure to me. It takes a lot to sit in front of your computer and vote or go to the stadium and fill out ballots and take up some of your time. Im always thankful for that.” Edwin Encarnacion receives his second All-Star honour and second cconsecutive.dddddddddddd He was picked by Farrell, a managers selection. Encarnacion, as of Sunday, is baseballs leader with 70 RBI. His 26 home runs are second only to the White Soxs Jose Abreu (27). He will not appear in the All-Star Game due to a right quadriceps strain. Left-hander Mark Buehrle is a players selection and makes his fifth career All-Star appearance and his first since 2009. He was the starting pitcher for the American League in 2005, the same year his White Sox went on to win the World Series. Buehrle is 10-6 with a 2.60 ERA this season. He was selected by his peers in the players vote. “Obviously that means a lot because guys around the league are kind of paying attention and recognize what youre doing out there on the field; that means a lot,” said Buehrle. “Even if the manager selects you its obviously great but if the players select you its a little bit more.” Last season a Blue Jays team that would end up with 74 wins sent four players to the All-Star Game (Bautista, Encarnacion, Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar). ' ' '