The Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Blue Jays both have at least one thing in common with each other.Nobody ever expects either of them to win.
It's a tough time of the season for sports fans. On one side, half the country is watching every last second of every Leafs game waiting to see if the team can qualify for the playoffs.
Meanwhile on the other side of the city, the Boys of Summer spent most of this past Friday getting ready for opening day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
What it all really means is that if you are even the slightest bit into sports, then this is one of the best times of year on the sports calendar.
Leafs, Jays, golf and Final Four NCAA basketball, which came to an end Monday night when the University of Connecticut beat Butler 53-41 to claim the national championship, means there is always something on TV.
As if all that wasn't enough, the hometown beloved Junior A Yorkton Terriers hockey team, for the second time this season, are also an option on the TV set.
That means there are at least three hockey rinks in the country that will be jam packed in this, the second week of April.
Beautiful.
Back to baseball for a second. The Blue Jays know what a lot of people are probably thinking right now. They know they have been deemed baseball's Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-players.
In many pre-season polls, they have been picked to fall below the Baltimore Orioles, into last place in the American League East division.
None of the players are apparently letting any of that affect the way they think. The skepticism about the team around the entire continent right now isn't unmerited. In saying so long to veterans Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, John Buck and Shaun Marcum, Toronto has lost a ton of experience, which is an important asset to have, especially in the AL East.
The Jays won 85 games last year, mostly because they pitched better than anyone in their right mind could have ever expected them to. And they hit home runs at a rate that led the entire MLB by a country mile.
Also, Toronto has a new manager for this season, rookie John Farrell. Farrell spent the past four years as Boston's pitching coach, and also spent part of the early 1990s pitching against the Jays; he has an interesting perspective on a team that is probably more talent-laden then anyone gives them credit for, and who is likely headed in the right direction.
While most expect the Leafs' season to be done in about three-and-a-half days' time from today, they brought everyone on board for a pretty good ride over the past couple weeks. Six of their last seven games have resulted in victories. The Rangers won on Monday night and that did not help.
Saturday was interesting. The Leafs and Jays were both on TV one after the other, and coincidentally, both clubs won their games.To go from the hot sun of the baseball diamond to the ice cold confines of the hockey rink is fun.
The Jays play in Oakland the same day the Terriers play game 4 of the SJHL Credit Union Cup tonight.
While SJHL playoffs are just coming to an end, the NHL playoffs are just beginning, set for April 14. Toronto is trying to catch Buffalo, the NY Rangers, and Carolina. The Thrashers were eliminated over the weekend.
Should Saturday's game against the Canadiens go into a shootout, the team's playoff mystery could come down to Toronto's last shooter.
On the other side of it, Toronto took two of three against Minnesota at the Rogers Centre. In the first game, Jose Bautista crushed his first homer. Adam Lind hit one that went third level in right field. J.P. Arencibia, their new catcher, went deep. Twice. When it was done, Starter Ricky Romero had a tidy 13-3 win, becoming the first Jays left-hander to win a season opener since Jimmy Key in 1989. One of the key players in the Roy Halliday trade, Kyle Drabek pitched well in his Toronto debut and won it on Saturday, 6-1. When they traded Marcum to Milwaukee, it guaranteed Drabek a spot in the starting rotation. Attendance at Sunday's game was 35, 505, pushing the total for the three-game series to 110, 683.
If there's anything you'd like to see covered by Game 7, please forward your suggestions to the Yorkton This Week sportsdesk by phone (306) 782-2465.
