The last two seasons injuries have ruined any chances the Toronto Blue Jays might have had of contending, especially those to the pitching staff. This time around the injury bug has bitten hard on the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay has three of their elite starting pitchers sidelined right now. Over the weekend, Alex Cobb strained a left oblique muscle during a stellar performance against the Cincinnati Reds. Hes gone four-to-six weeks. Lefty Matt Moore is due to play catch on the side today in Baltimore as doctors are trying to decide if he needs Tommy John surgery or whether his left elbow will get better with treatment and rest. Right hander Jeremy Hellickson, who also has an elbow issue, is hoping to be back in May or early June. Even a team as deep and talented as the Rays cant afford to lose three starting pitchers. The Red Sox also have problems. Star second baseman Dustin Pedroia has had to return to Beantown to get his left wrist checked out. Shane Victorino is out as well with a thumb injury and 39-year-old closer Koji Uehara is being examined to determine the cause of shoulder stiffness. The Yankees are no different. They lost their new closer David Robertson to the 15-day DL with a groin muscle pull, first baseman Mark Teixiera is injured again, catcher Francisco Cervelli has a hamstring problem, second baseman Brian Roberts had to sit out with back tightness and team captain Derek Jeter missed two games in a row over the weekend with quad tightness. The Yankees were so thin in the infield, they had to move Kelly Johnson back to third base, rookie Yangervis Solarte to second and have Carlos Beltran play his first game ever at first. The Baltimore Orioles biggest concern is star third baseman Manny Machado, who continues to rehab his surgically repaired knee. The Blue Jays have a few problems of their own with Maicer Izturis tripping on the dugout steps Sunday in Baltimore and spraining his left knee and then having to go on the 15-day DL. On the plus side, Jose Reyes and closer Casey Janssen could be back by next weekend in Cleveland and lefty J.A. Happ is already back up from Triple-A Buffalo. The bottom line is, the Blue Jays, Yankees and Rays are locked in a three-way tie for first in the A.L East at 7-6. The Orioles are second at 5-7 and the Red Sox are bringing up the rear at 5-8. By the weekend, the Jays should have the healthiest line-up in the division and this is the time for them to take advantage of their rivals injury woes and do some real damage. - The team that has really come of nowhere in the first two weeks of the season is the Milwaukee Brewers. Coincidentally, they had an identical record to the Blue Jays a year ago at 74-88. They are off to a torrid start this time around, winning nine-straight through Sunday and a 10-2 record. This is the second-best start in franchise history after 1987 when they started the year 13-0. Their starting rotation of Yovani Gallardo, Kyle Lohse, Matt Garza, Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta have nine quality starts in 12 games, and the staff ERA is a sparkling 1.80. Ryan Braun has had a good bounce back year, so far, from his Biogenesis PED suspension and has made a successful move from left field to right to clear a spot for youngster Khrys Davis, who is regarded as a budding star. The other big story for the Brewers is closer Francisco Rodriguez, once a star with the Angels. He stepped on a cactus is Spring Training and was still pulling out spines until about a week ago. His left foot, his plant foot when throwing, was so tender that he had to pay extra attention to his delivery to keep it consistent. K-Rod has been perfect so far, going four-for-four in save situations. The teams payroll, according to Cots Baseball Contracts, is about $103.4 million. Thaats roughly $29 million less than the that of the Jays. The interesting thing is that they have a dozen players on their roster making the minimum of between $500-534K. In other words, there is a good mix of veterans and youth. The Brewers lead the NL Central by three games on the St. Louis Cardinals and they open an early season showdown series at Miller Park on Monday night against the Redbirds. - There is a Milwaukee connection to one of the players the Blue Jays have in Buffalo. Juan Francisco is a 62", 245-pound first/third baseman, who was released by the Brewers during spring training. The Jays picked him up to add a little punch with the Bisons. The 26-year-old left-handed hitter has provided just that. In fact, last season he hit 18 homers split between the Brewers and the Atlanta Braves. The knock on Francisco is that hes not every good defensively, but hes turned into a good pick-up for Buffalo especially since the Brewers are picking up $331,967 of his salary. - Tuesday marks the 11th-annual Jackie Robinson Day where the MLB honours the man who broke the colour barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The year before Jackie broke in with the Dodgers organization, he played with the old Montreal Royals in the International League. I was curious to find out who was the first African-American to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs in that same league. It didnt happen until 1951. In July of that year, Jack Kent Cooke, the communications mogul who later owned the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Kings, bought the Leafs. A week-and-a-half later, he signed two African-American players, pitcher Leon Day and catcher-third baseman Charlie White. Later in that season, another black pitcher, Frank Barnes, joined the Leafs. He only made two appearances with the club and had an ERA of 45. Of the three, though, according to my research, Barnes is the only one of the trio still alive. He is 87-years-old. Yankees great Mariano Rivera was the last player to wear the number 42. Now that Rivera has retired, the number 42 will never be worn again. . Johns, N.L., to Thunder Bay, Ont., after a deal was announced to build a new $106-million "event centre" in the Lake Superior community. . He was 40. Firefighters were called about 11 a.m. Friday because Brown was unresponsive at his home near the Inner Harbor, fire spokesman Battalion Chief Kevin Cartwright said. He said Brown was dead when firefighters arrived.
http://www.authenticbasketballshoppacer ... -jersey/.4 seconds left and dribbled up court, weaving through Pitts defence. . Already owning gold from competition in Vancouver in 2010, Loch posted a combined four-run time of 3:27.526. That included a track-record third run of 51. . -- At the beginning of training camp, Andrew Bogut set a goal to play all 82 regular-season games and regain his place among the NBAs best centres.PITTSBURGH -- The New York Islanders up-and-down, fast-paced tempo always seem to bring out the worst defensively in the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fortunately, for the Penguins, captain Sidney Crosby was there, helping his team prevent a second home collapse in four weeks against the upstart Islanders. Crosby scored with 1:16 remaining on Friday to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Islanders during a game that saw New York rally from a pair of two two-goal deficits for the second time in two games against Pittsburgh. "We had the lead, so they started taking chances, and we kind of got sucked into playing that style of game," Crosby said. "Instead of managing the puck, we were taking chances and throwing the puck everywhere, and when you play that game, whoever scores the last goal is going to win." Thats exactly what happened and Crosby provided the late game-winner. Crosbys 12th goal of the season was also the 250th of his career, and the Penguins captain also had an assist. Chris Kunitz had two goals and an assist, Evgeni Malkin added a goal and two assists, and James Neal had two assists. Malkins goal ended his career-high 15-game scoring drought. Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff, playing for the first time since Nov. 2, stopped 32 shots in his fourth NHL start. "We had a lot of chances, but that wasnt our best game," Crosby said. "We probably couldve put it away early, but they hung around." Thomas Vanek scored twice for the Islanders in his first game after missing five with an upper-body injury. Vanek has three goals and two assists with New York since being acquired from Buffalo last month. Colin McDonald also got his second of the season for New York. Kevin Poulin made 30 saves for the Islanders. He started his sixth straight game in place of injured starter Evgeni Nabokov, who is out with a groin injury. The two teams combined for six goals through two periods, but things settled down in the third. With less than 90 seconds left, Kunitz got the puck to Pascal Dupuis behind the net, and he centred it to Crosby, who got the tiebreaker for the Penguins. "It was kind of a patient third period from both teams, and there wasnt much going on," Crosby said. "A lot different from the first two periods." The Penguins won their third straight and fourth win in five games to rebound from a three-game skid. Pittsburgh also won its third straight at home -- and fifth time in six games at Consol Energy Center, where the Penguins are 10-3 while having allowed just 24 goals. Pittsburgh, tops in the Metropolitan Division, thumped rival Washington 4-0 on Wednesday night and gained a measure of revenge from a heartbreaking loss to the Islanders four weeks earlier. However, it wasnt easy for the Penguins, who werent nearly as disciplined defensively on Friday. The Islanders, tied for last in the Metropolitan Division entering Friday, lost for the seventh time in nine games, but the matchup with the division-leading Penguins brought out thhe best in New York, as it has done recently.dddddddddddd Pittsburgh, which survived a six-game playoff series against the underdog Islanders last season, held third-period leads of 2-1 and 3-2 four weeks ago before New York rallied, scoring three times in the final 7:14 for a 4-3 victory. The Islanders nearly did it again, coming back from early deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 before Crosbys heroics. "We were flirting with danger and we realized that in the third," Crosby said. Malkin has been productive with 14 assists in 15 games -- 12 coming in nine November games -- but had no goals to show for it. He previously scored Oct. 17 during a 4-1 win at Philadelphia and it showed as emotion poured from Malkin, who aggressively pumped his fist and slammed his stick against the end boards after beating Poulin midway through the second period. "Its a good moment for him to get the goal," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "Hes played some really good hockey and has done some really good things. To see the puck dribble over the line was a great moment for him." New York committed three penalties in the first 7:42 of the game, and Kunitz made the Islanders pay, staking the Penguins to a 2-0 lead with two power-play goals in 7:55. Crosby and Malkins slick tic-tac-toe passing sequence set up Kunitzs first goal 4:04 into the game. Kunitz scored his second less than four minutes later, blowing a slap shot past Poulin after taking a pass off the rush from Neal. Kunitz thought he had the natural hat trick with 1:10 left in the first period, but a high-sticking call on Malkin before the puck went in negated the goal. That allowed Vanek to trim the Penguins lead to a goal 1:46 into the second period. Malkin helped the Penguins regain the two-goal advantage less than 5 minutes later. Malkin initially passed to an open Neal on the left wing but he dished it back to the Penguins superstar, who slid a shot underneath Poulin with a defender draped on his back. Malkins goal gave the Penguins life as Pittsburgh buzzed the Islanders zone looking for more. The Islanders weathered the storm, tying the game a little more than 5 minutes later with two goals in less than 2 minutes. McDonald started the comeback, beating Zatkoff with a wrist shot to the blocker side off the rush. Vanek scored his second of the game soon after, finding a loose puck during a scrum in front after the Islanders capitalized on a Penguins turnover. "I think in the second period we had opportunities, but it was up-and-down opportunities," Bylsma said. "At that point, we were not in a game we wanted to play regardless of the score." NOTES: Penguins F Beau Bennett left the game with an injury and will be re-evaluated. ... Islanders D Andrew MacDonald and C Frans Nielsen will also be re-evaluated Saturday. ... The Penguins and Islanders meet in two weeks at the Nassau Coliseum. ... Both teams are in action Saturday, Pittsburgh visiting Montreal, while the Islanders continue a three-game road swing at Philadelphia. ' ' '
