Land of the Leaf

Oh where to start?  Well, the Blue Jays were swept by the team that everyone else in Canada loves and I don’t want to talk about it.  Yeah, it was a strong dose of reality juice, but it will be different next time.  I promise.

We’re still in first, remember that you Boston dick-heads.

My TSN2 feed cut out for a good while, which left me with an opportunity to take a look at what was going in Pittsburgh last night.  Evgeni Malkin is sickatating.

Speaking of Pittsburgh:

Former Buc Jose Bautista could see his playing time take a big leap.  Travis Snider was optioned (read: sent packing) to AAA-Las Vegas.  J.P. Ricciardi sure loves him some ex-Pittsburgh Pirates, so unless Adam Lind learns how to not look awkward in left field or Gaston chooses to go with Kevin Millar (who actually handles right handers better than lefties as a right handed hitter) then we could be seeing more of Bautista.

According to Griffin, it sounds like Snider may have went Hal McRae and had a little hissy fit after the news of his demotion.  He’s young, red-faced by nature, and looks loaded with testosterone.  It’s fine, nothing to worry about here.  He’ll go to triple-A Las Vegas, hammer some balls, spend some time in a few casinos, and be back before Manny Ramirez.  The demotion was bound to happen at some point, but those huge homers at the start of the season took a long time to land.

It’s off to Hotlanta for a weekend series, and World Series rematch for Cito Gaston and Bobby Cox.  We got this.

Damn Yankees
Tuesday’s baseball game was awesome, last night not so much.  Andy Pettitte didn’t have his best stuff, but that didn’t matter.  The Blue Jay bats couldn’t get shit going against him.  That heavy-set left hander with all the money takes the mound today and we’re countering with Brian Tallet.  Here’s hoping that the pern-stache can top the Hamburglar.

I don’t like to make rash decisions based on one performance, but I’m kinda over Scott Richmond right now.  Regardless, great story on Richmond from Ian at The Blue Jay Hunter.

Rethinking the NBA Finals, Got A Love Buzz for Jay Triano
Took in what I could of the Nuggets-Mavs series and all I can say is that the Nuggies have a legitimate shot at making the finals.  The hell with a Kobe vs. Lebron NBA Finals match-up, Carmelo vs. Lebron has got a lot more intrigue.  Follow the Nuggets’ quest over at Dunking Nuggets with my man Bryan Douglass.  I’ll take any excuse I can get to post a throw-back Raptors picture:

Speaking of the Raptors, Raptors Republic has an overview of the players that have worked out for the team thus far.  None of the names immediately jump of the screen, but we still don’t know what our draft position will be so no reason to get worked up yet.

Yours truly talked about the Jay Triano signing with Mr. Douglass of Fanball.com and the “Statsman” Paul Bruno on last night’s Statsman Show.  I’ll post a link when the file is available, but I can tell you that we’re all happy with the move.  (Link is up.  You can download it here:  Statsman Podcast Archive.  We go Triano around the 1:40 mark.)

Toronto FC and the Lone Goal Complacency
Chad Barrett scored the lone TFC goal last night, and that’s all they needed to defeat the Montreal Impact 1-0.  Toronto FC is getting too comfortable with the 1-0 victories.

Obligatory East Coast Chest Pump
If you read my own Hockeyhead blog (and you fucking better), then you’d know that I’m a big Sidney Crosby supporter.  I’m sorry, Ovechkin is a great player too but he’s sorta greasy.  Simeon VarLAMov has got a wonky glove-hand and the Penguins exposed it.  My boy Eyebleaf is coming around on Sid the Kid, and pretty soon you will too.

You knew it was coming.  Former Leaf and notorious dough-boy Kyle Wellwood is getting it done for the Vancouver Canucks in the playoffs.  I’m not going to say the Leafs should have kept Wellwood, that was a bad marriage from the onset.  What could you expect though?  Leafs’ management figured Wellwood to be a first line player, and he clearly doesn’t have the skill set for such a task.

We’ve all seen the infamous Wellwood “fat” pictures, never mind that it was the offseason and he was laid up with a leg in cast, and yes he’d probably prefer to have his face buried in a book rather than forechecking, but it’s a tough pill to swallow for Leaf fans because he’s actually showing some of the promise he once flashed in Toronto.

Wellwood was named the second star in the Game 1 victory over Chicago, he was arguably the best player for the Canucks, drawing praise for his play with and without the puck and chipping in with two assists.  He didn’t miss a beat after taking a stick above his eye and getting a tooth knocked out.  The fat is back, I don’t know from what, but he’s back.

In this installment, we take a look at Paul Maurice.  Paul was known here in Toronto as a the nice guy coach that just couldn’t make shit shine.  During his time as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it appeared Maurice had lost everything: the respect of the players, his composure, and ultimately his job.

Maurice took over the coaching duties in Carolina earlier this season and magically turned the team around and took them to the playoffs.  The Hurricanes knocked the Devils out of the playoffs last night and all the Leafs get is the prospect of dealing with the moody Ron Wilson again next season.  Congratulations to Paul Maurice on his success outside of Toronto (he had none here).

It goes to show that a roster of players built mostly from within the franchise (Eric Staal ain’t too bad), and the addition of proven veterans through trades and free agency will always have more success than stockpiling over-priced bums just because they want to be a Leaf.