I’ve been thinking (always dangerous, granted) and I’ve decided that:
• Canadians who cared for the Montreal Expos should be grateful they moved to Washington, where they smell badly and may just be the major leagues’ worst team. Entering yesterday, the Nationals stranded 62 runners — most in MLB, by far — and were outscored 13-0 in first innings and 22-0 in the first three innings.
• The Blue Jays’ Roy Halladay may never again win a Cy Young Award because scouts suspect the Seattle Mariners’ Felix Hernandez, at 20, is about to establish himself as baseball’s top pitcher.
• The Blue Jays’ Gustavo Chacin will burn out before season’s end unless he figures out ways to throw more strikes and reduce pitches.
• The Jays should have picked up more than the mere $100,000 US they received from the Philadelphia Phillies last week for reliever Francisco Rosario. Clubs are downright desperate for bullpen help these days, which is why the Milwaukee Brewers are taking advantage and will collect significantly more than a hundred-grand for their spare reliever, Jose Capellan.
• Agent Gustavo Dominguez is in serious trouble. Philly GM Pat Gillick will testify in Florida today at a trial in which Dominguez is charged with illegally smuggling Cuban baseball players into the United States. The accused faces 45 years in prison.
• Since Doc Rivers is about to get a new contract to remain the Boston Celtics’ coach, and since Randy Wittman is about to be re-upped by the Minnesota Timberwolves, I have to believe Sam Mitchell still isn’t in the good books of the Raptors’ ownership/management.
• The Raptors are a decent team, after all, but I still think they’ll be hard-pressed to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.
• In this day and age of NBA showboating, the Raptors’ Chris Bosh is the finest non-flashy player in the league, next to the San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan.
• Tiger Woods is human. Twelve times before Sunday’s Masters, he’d led on Sundays and won. His incredible streak is over.
• Mike Weir has lost it.
• Professional soccer may just make it in North America this time. It was entertaining on the weekend.
• The CFL is awfully quiet these days. There’s no off-season buzz.
• Neither general manager John Ferguson Jr. nor his goaltender, Andrew Raycroft, deserve retention by the Maple Leafs. With them, a poor hockey team worsened.
• Hockey Night in Canada is in dire need of a facelift and, fortunately, CBC recently hired Scott Moore to perform the surgery.
• You should access my newest
