Studying.
It may be February, but spring is here.
R.A. Dickey is the best and he’s ours and happy spring training.
I got to go on the It’s About the Money radio show/podcast last night to talk about the Blue Jays’ offseason and the expectations and excitement brewing for 2013. I feel pretty good about it.
I come in around 19 minutes, but listen through, because Brien and Stacey do a great job on this thing. I’m thrilled they had me.
Click above or here to listen.
I write some things about the Calgary Flames for Book of Loob now, and this is my first post! Includes requisite Flames grumpiness, lots of exclamation points, SVEN, Martin Gelinas, and some digs at most teams in the Northwest division. Have at it!
When I moved to Toronto in the fall of 2006, I was 17 years old. I’d grown up in suburban Calgary, independent to some degree but far enough away from things that my parents would often have to drive me to the C-Train station. Calgary was familiar; I spent most of my time doing the same things in the same neighbourhoods, and I never really thought anything of it.
Toronto was uncharted territory. It was new and exciting and wildly confusing, and I spent a lot of time poring over transit maps and riding the subway to figure out what was going on. My first TTC Ride Guide had all kinds of markings and annotations and addresses scrawled on it, and it wasn’t until it started disintegrating at the seams that I reluctantly picked up a fresh one. I used it every day and got to know the city intimately, soon able to plot my routes anywhere with barely a glance at the colourful, spidery transit lines.
Whenever I’d go back to Calgary, though, it was usually the same old. I was back in familiar territory and going to familiar locales. Most of the exploration stayed east.
My friend Greg Wisniewski asked if I’d contribute to his 2012 wrap-up series over at Baseball is Magic. I wrote a little piece about Barry Zito’s insane performance in Game 5 of the NLCS. It’s up now and you can go read it! Hooray.
In case you are interested, here’s the box/play-by-play of NLCS Game 5, and of Zito’s other postseason appearance, NLDS Game 4.
I ripped that title off from Matt English, who is much funnier than I am. And he made this:
A selection of Blue Jays transactions over the past month:
October 21: Manager John Farrell released from contract, traded to Boston with David Carpenter for SS Mike Aviles.
November 3: Mike Aviles & Yan Gomes traded to Cleveland for RHP Esmil Rogers.
November 8: Free agent Maicer Izturis signs. RHP Jeremy Jeffress traded from Kansas City for cash.
November 19: Henderson Alvarez, Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jeff Mathis, Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Jake Marisnick traded to Miami for Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck.
Free agent Melky Cabrera signs.
November 20: Blue Jays name John Gibbons manager.
It’s been quite a month. (see the full list)
Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun published a blow-by-blow account of the blockbuster trade with Miami, going all the way back to talks in July after three starting pitchers went down; it’s absolutely riveting, and should be required reading.
Gibbons’ hiring—well, we’ve got quite the running game with this new lineup, and Gibbons has less of a penchant for bunts and playing for one run than Farrell did, so we’re already making improvements. I like it a lot.
I actually refrained from writing about any of this because what can you even add? The Marlins trade still doesn’t even seem real. The Blue Jays’ first four hitters in the last game of the season were Rajai Davis, Adeiny Hechavarria, Brett Lawrie, and Adam Lind. If the projected lineups hold, they’ll open the season with Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion.
I can’t even believe it.
In case you’re into that kind of thing, I have a personal tumblr now, which you can check out at http://blog.ruhee.ca.
Come hang out.
