Land of the Leaf

Peter Zezel passed away yesterday at the age of 44.  Zezel was always considered “one of their own” by Leaf fans despite only playing in Toronto for parts of four seasons.  Toronto born, or Scarborough raised, however you choose to put it, Zezel first made his mark in the OHL with the Toronto Marlboros in the early 1980’s.  The news of his passing hit hard in Toronto, our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Peter Zezel didn’t have his best offensive years in Toronto, but he played an integral part on two of the better Maple Leafs teams from the last 40 years.  He appeared in the 1986 film Youngblood, which is a much better hockey film than Slap Shot, and he continued to be active in the Toronto sports community over the last few years.  Several excellent stories and tributes from a number of bloggers have delineated some of Zezel’s memorable hockey moments and human side, here are some links to a few:

Remembering Peter Zezel [Down Goes Brown]

Peter Zezel [Bitter Leaf Fan Page]

Ode To Peter Zezel [Toronto Sports Media]

"I'm just gonna use my bat to get to first, then I'll drop it, I promise."

Breaking Up The Bush-Party
Current Milwaukee Brewer and former Blue Jay Dave Bush took a no-hitter into the eighth inning yesterday (again) against the Phillies.  Due to my unrequited malevolent desires for most former Jays’ arms (except Billy Koch for some reason that alludes me), I was praying for someone, anyone to break Bush’s bid for history.  Matty Stairs clobbered a ball off the foul pole when he entered the game as a pinch-hitter.

Bush has a knack for taking no-hit bids late into games.  Many of us will remember Lyle Overbay busting up another Bush no-hitter last summer.  And back in 2004 when Bush would have actually had any level of relevance on this blog, he had taken his seminal steps into the eighth inning no-hit biz for the Blue Jays in just his third Major League start.

I liked Bush back then, but he’s since become nothing more than a “Pitch or Ditch” candidate in fantasy pools.

Matt Stairs.  Matty friggin’ Stairs.