Thomas & Thomas (Bruins & Blue Jays) - invitation for House, Rick, Cliff, and the Trouts

Okay, the Boston Bruins won again on Saturday night and have tied their Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals with the Montreal Canadiens at three games apiece following a heart-stopping 5-4 triumph.

Incredibly, Montreal rookie Carey Price allowed four third-period goals for the second straight game, and five overall in back-to-back outings. Shades of the Bruins' Andrew Raycroft in the 2004 meltdown?

Not that the Bruins' Tim Thomas was stellar himself, allowing four goals, including a seemingly back-breaker with 10 minutes left (which gave the Habs a 3-2 lead) and another with 4:04 left, just 11 seconds after the B's had taken a 4-3 advantage.

But Boston-Montreal, Game Seven? Will the Bruins complete the shocking comeback, or will the Habs put an end to Boston's run?

Either way, Tim Thomas has been brilliant in the series. Had it not been for Thomas, the series might have been over in four straight.

Now on to another Thomas: designated hitter Frank Thomas of the Toronto Blue Jays.

I am curious to see what the other OA mates have to say about this (namely House, Rick, Cliff, and the Trouts).

The big story about the Blue Jays on Saturday wasn't about their 3-2 win at Rogers Centre over the Detroit Tigers.

Nope, it was that Frank Thomas was benched in favor of left-handed hitting Matt Stairs, who went 2-for-3 with a run scored in Thomas's usual No. 5 spot in the lineup against Detroit.

Thomas reportedly will see even less playing time in the immediate future.

Thomas, who has 516 lifetime home runs, is mired in a 4-for-35 slump and is batting just .167 with three dingers and 11 ribbies in 60 at-bats this season. Stairs is currently batting .333 with a homer and 3 RBIs in 42 at-bats.

Thomas reportedly didn't shake hands with his teammates after Saturday's contest and didn't stick around to speak to reporters, though he did express his anger prior to the game.

The Blue Jays denied that the decision to sit Thomas was due to the $10 million option for next season in his contract, which kicks in if the veteran DH reaches 376 plate appearances in 2008.

Is the benching of Thomas justified? After all, Thomas has been slumping (zero for his last 13), as had the Blue Jays.

However, all Thomas has to do is look over at the visitors' dugout and see that Tigers veteran Gary Sheffield, hitting just .192 this year, is continuing to be in the Detroit lineup.

Jason Giambi is hitting .116 with two homers for the New York Yankees, and of course the first baseman/DH still has a job.

And wasn't David Ortiz in Boston struggling too? The Red Sox DH cracked a grand slam on Friday night in Boston's 11-3 win over the Rangers, but is batting just .134. Ortiz was hitting a paltry .070 after the Red Sox-Yankees series last weekend.

I am indifferent as to whether or not the "Big Hurt" should remain in the everyday lineup, and am in no way suggesting Thomas is in the same caliber at this point of his career as Ortiz is.

And what can the Jays do when they do have an option in Stairs, who is taking advantage of his playing time?

We'll have to see exactly what Toronto manager John Gibbons intends to do with his platoon of Thomas and Stairs as the Blue Jays try to stay in contention in the AL East.

Thoughts? House, Rick, Cliff, and the Trouts - here's your chance to weigh in.

Rockies, Padres, and salaries...

The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres had another epic on Thursday night to follow up on their one-game playoff last October.

Thursday at Petco Park in San Diego, the Rockies and Padres went scoreless after nine innings as aces Jeff Francis and Jake Peavy both brought their "A" games to the mound.

After the Rockies scored in the 14th to break the deadlock, the Padres responded with a run of their own.

The game dragged on until Colorado got the go-ahead run in the 22nd inning, and hung on for the 2-1 victory.

Interesting game, if you happened to catch any or all of the action. But it only brought on a disagreement on the Zonk on OA (www.overanything.com), which once again had to do with players' salaries.

Someone commented that there was no sympathy for the players on both sides being tired from the 22 innings because they're all highly paid, which brought about the rebuttal as to why fans like to bring up salaries in any sporting discussion.

My question is, why shouldn't salaries be brought up? It's fair game since it's heavily publicized by the media.

Every time a top free agent flops, for example, he gets talked about a lot. Obviously, Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants has been scrutinized by many already for not giving a lot of quality innings in his brief stint thus far in 'Frisco.

And seriously, shouldn't highly-paid athletes be expected to do more? I mean, if they have to play for over six hours, which was the length of the game in San Diego, so be it.

I mean, after all, a lot of hitters failed in the game to drive home the winning run in the first 21 innings.

So, if they had to play the equivalent of two full games and some, too bad.

How can it not be about money and salaries in professional sports?

Don't tell me that New York Mets fans out there are happy with Johan Santana's 1-2 start in the 2008 season. Yes, Santana has a fine 3.05 ERA and will turn his won-loss record around soon. I'm sure those who root for the Mets, however, expected a 3-0 record and an ERA around 1.50 instead.

I mean, the lefty is expected to be the savior in Queens and is making almost $17 million this season. And a 1-3 record for that money?

I made a big deal last season too about high-priced players' salaries, when Roger Clemens made his mid-season comeback for the cross-town Yankees and was outpitched in his second start by the less heralded Oliver Perez of the Mets. Clemens, by the way, had received a $28-million prorated contract to pitch for the Yanks--which worked out to about $4.5 mil per month--and Perez was just a .500 pitcher making less for the season than what the Rocket was earning in a month.

And throughout the 2007-08 hockey season, I also brought out salary comparisons (thanks to Globe and Mail's NHL salary database) when taking shots at high-priced goaltenders when they get outplayed by rookies or other lesser likes making ten times less money per season.

How can salary not be a factor in talking about athletes?

The Rockies-Padres game was the longest since 1993. And I point out something else that happened 15 years ago too, and it had to do with the feud between former Met ace Dwight Gooden and then manager Dallas Green.

I quote from Champions! The Saga of the 1996 New York Yankees by John Harper and Bob Klapisch, about Gooden recollecting an incident from '93:

Doc had suffered what he called "a real bad game" against Florida and was "hung out to dry" by Green.

"I just didn't have it that day. It was just one of those things," Gooden said. "But he (Green) kept sending me out there every inning... After the game, he told the reporters, 'Gooden makes a lot of money, he should pitch a lot of innings.'

Well, I would have to take Green's side here. After all, if you're the ace of the staff and you're one of the highest-paid players on the team--Gooden was No. 2 behind Bobby Bonilla on the '93 Mets--you damn well better suck it up for the team.

So, really, if the Rockies and Padres and any other team out there has to go 20-plus innings to settle a ballgame, that's their job.

No sympathy here.

Flaws with SOM -- (R-2-RJC Part 4)

I was having a conversation with Cliff C. here on the zonk about flaws with Strat-o-Matic.

Don't get me wrong; I play SOM regularly, but still, lots of things could be better.

- the computer manager often makes dubious decisions and lets middle relievers stay in far too long. Not only that, the computer manager usually doesn't do lefty-lefty pitcher-hitter matchups (ie. bring in a lefty pitcher when I have a lefthanded bat at the plate) the way real life baseball is managed.

- too many times, the starting pitcher stays in the game and pitches into the 10th innings...unheard of for over 30 years now (other than the rare occasions).

- star players actually get pinch-hit for by the computer manager in late innings, when it doesn't happen in real life.

I would like to add too, that the post-season settings aren't realistic. You still have a 40-man roster (because they expand rosters automatically after Sept. 1st) and your pitching rotation is screwed--they actually continue with a five-man rotation and use dubious starters to open the series--unless you go in and program them yourself or release all those players (because if you don't, someone that has a minor daily injury will be replaced by someone else on the roster, which isn't realistic).

And a whole lot of others...though I can't remember right now. Anyone else out there have such issues with the game?

Response to RJ Challenge, Part 3 !! :D

I've never liked the Yankees.

And in this post, I talk about Chien-Ming Wang and his struggles last night in the Bronx against the Red Sox.

Obviously, I am not a Wang fan, and the post clearly states that...

In the New York Yankees' 15-9 slugfest over the Boston Red Sox at the Bronx on Tuesday, Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang was lucky.

Eight runs in four-plus innings, and Wang's ERA ballooned by over 2.5 runs.

And yet Wang still didn't get the loss.

Life must be good with all that run support.

Now, Wang's ERA is not so impressive anymore at 3.81 and only 13 K's in four starts.

That's why you don't hand out major awards in the first month of the season.

For more on this, check out:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/18272-Chien-Ming-Wang-Please-Don-t-Say-Cy-Young-170408

Response to R.Jessup's challenge! Part 2

Well, another post here, thanks to Rick Jessup challenging me to post regularly. I wonder where the housemates are too, since you all have posting access!

Here's some thoughts on Boston-Montreal:

What on earth is happening in the Boston-Montreal series?

The Boston Bruins were supposed to have been gone already, as many--including myself here on Bleacher Report--had written them off right from the start.

The Bruins drew the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs, and the Habs had won 11 straight heading into the series.

For more on this, check out: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/18323-Bruins-Canadiens-Back-to-2004-

The fall of Ottawa?

Well, Rick Jessup has once again challenged me to post regularly, and I am *always* up for a challenge.

Where to begin today? Well, Ottawa...seems like a good topic.

The Senators, once untouchable this NHL season, has fallen embarrassingly in a four-game sweep against the upstart Penguins, losing 3-1 Wednesday night at Scotiabank Place.

How the mighty have fallen. The Sens were once the top seed in the Eastern Conference, and even Bryan Murray--who fired John Paddock mid-season and took over behind the bench himself--wasn't able to right the ship.

If I got this correctly, Ottawa lost 30 of their final 48 games. Ouch.

Meanwhile, just twenty minutes ago, I saw a commercial advertising this week's W5 program on CTV - about how the city of Ottawa is becoming the crime city in Canada. Wow.

Fitting that both the hockey team and crime rate in the Canadian capital are brutal. Too bad.

I can only think back a decade ago when the Sens were that ultimate underdog, the little team that could, that was looking to make history. Ten years later, one Cup appearance isn't bad, but this team could have done a whole lot more.

I guess you start criticizing the team because you want them to win. In this case, I've been hard on the Senators at times because I cheered for them at one point.

My favourite Senator of all time was Ron Tugnutt, the ultimate underdog goalie. In Quebec, the unfortunate Tugnutt played well but the Nordiques had no defense to bail him out on a nightly basis.

By the time Tugnutt got to Ottawa, he was finally able to get his chance to lead a team in the playoffs. And with Dominik Hasek out of the Buffalo Sabres' lineup, Tugnutt and the Sens took the favoured Buffalo team to seven games in the 1997 playoffs before bowing out in overtime.

And, one of the biggest upsets in the last ten years - the No. 8 Sens upset the No. 1 New Jersey Devils in the 1998 playoffs with Damian Rhodes outplaying Martin Brodeur. Awesome! Knocking off Brodeur and the 100-point Devils.

In 1999, it was Tugnutt and Rhodes splitting time almost equally in goal, and the Tugger had a sub-2.00 GAA. But the Sens drew Hasek's Sabres, and the Dominator was simply spectacular and Buffalo shockingly won in four straight.

I was upset at coach Jacques Martin for his passiveness behind the bench and for rotating Tugnutt and Rhodes in the playoffs. It was like I wanted to win more than he did.

And you can imagine how difficult it was to take when Ottawa traded Tugnutt the following year to Pittsburgh for Tom Barrasso. Tom Barrasso?? Surprisingly, Barrasso played well in the playoffs but made headlines for the wrong reason - he swore on camera, didn't he? - and Curtis Joseph was a tad better, leading the Maple Leafs past the Sens.

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Tugnutt almost singlehandedly took the Pens into the third round. But alas, the 2-0 lead they had over the Philadelphia Flyers evaporated when they lost Game Three in OT. Game Four, another OT classic, took five extra periods before Keith Primeau ended things in favour of Philly. The Pens never recovered.

Damn Primeau.

And sticking with Tugnutt - I was upset he didn't re-sign with Pittsburgh. After all, the Pens were interested, and they had Jaromir Jagr, and Mario Lemieux was part-owner and could in theory, "un-retire" at any time (which he ultimately did the next season). But Tugnutt signed with a first-year expansion team - the Columbus Blue Jackets. Incredible.

After playing in Quebec and expansion Anaheim (in the Ducks' first year in the league), it was a shocker that Tugnutt wanted to go to yet another losing situation. Odd. (Well, if I remembered correctly, the Blue Jackets offered more money...)

Oh, right, Ottawa. 2003 - the Sens almost made it to the Finals, but fell victim to the Devils in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals.

2008? Well, as Jessup was asking, which head will roll this time around?

We'll have to see.

Trout is famous!

I used Trout's line "Prolonging the inevitable" in my newest Bleacher article. Check it out at:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/17593-Sunday-Night-Thrillers-Bruins-Devils-Flames-Victorious-with-Improbable-Third-Game-Triumphs