Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced he will be having a second shoulder surgery that will end his season and possibly his career. 

This, if you can recall, is the same man who has pitched through considerable pain more than once during his career.  I was reminded of this when watching Tiger Woods fight through the pain in his knee to win the U.S. Open - only to have season-ending surgery after the tournament.  Like Schilling, certain people felt Woods' injury was fake or some bogus story.  Perhaps these people have never played through pain, or perhaps these people cannot stand these two athletes so much that they will say anything to tick them off.

Regardless, these 'people' don't have a clue nor should they be taken seriously.

In fact, a lot of these people are here on this site on Foxsports blogging about it.  The same people who can't get an All-Star vote right.  The same people who recently crapped on Ken Rosenthal for questioning the New York Mets decision to fire Willie Randolph in the middle of the night on the west coast.  The same people who hailed Kobe Bryant as the most clutch player in the NBA - who proved once again that he's no more clutch than the next superstar.  The same people that call Chad Johnson selfish for celebrating a touchdown but applaud Brett Favre for throwing snowballs at teammates on the field.

So when I read about your comments regarding Curt Schilling as a (bleep) or a (bleep), my head shakes as I wonder how people can be angry at a man who's played the game the right way, kept his integrity off the field intact and has come through in some of the most pressure-packed games of our time.  We are a culture that supposedly embraces athletes with guts, yet people seem so eager to cut Schilling's guts out whenever they get the chance.  In case you haven't noticed, he is the anti-Jose Canseco, the anti-Barry Bonds, the anti-Rafael Palmiero and the anti-Roger Clemens.  

He may go into the Hall of Fame.  He may not.  He may wear his heart on his sleeve.  Is there a problem with that?  No.

And I would not call pitching with 1 leg in the 2004 World Series selfish either.  I doubt Schilling cares about the self-glory more than he cares about beating New York and winning championships.  The guy is a true winner, a true bulldog, and a type of human we may not see from the new crop of pitchers coming up. 

Appreciate what he has done for this game and the memories he has brought on the field.  Although I am a fan of most of the things he says off the field, people seem to complain about it more than people complain about Ozzie Guillen. 

In a world where athletes get arrested, cheat the game, cheat on their wives, we've actually been able to put a guy like Curt Schilling in that category of an athlete that fans can hate so much.  Goes to show why organizations, sports talk shows and paid-writers on this particular site do not take you seriously.

Curt Schilling deserves better.

Woke up this morning to read a terrible headline on foxsports.com's website stating the NLCS suffered it's lowest TV ratings in history.  Apparently people have decided they would much rather watch garbage, over-the-top drama shows than a team that is in the midst of perhaps one of the greatest runs in Major League Baseball history.

We've seen some great runs by MLB teams in recent years.  One of the most famous runs that people talked about for years was the 35-5 record of the Detroit Tigers to start the 1984 season.  They went on to win the World Series.

There was the 2001 Seattle Mariners who, despite losing in the ALCS to the New York Yankees, had an incredible regular season.  However, people quickly forgot how good they were because they didn't get the job done.

Then there was the run in 2002 by the Oakland Athletics in which they ripped off 20 consecutive victories to propel themselves into first place in the West Division.  They went on to have an unmemorable playoff loss to the Minnesota Twins.

But the biggest reason why this run is special is thanks in part to the 1-game playoff victory as well as the 7-0 start to the post-season.  That doesn't cover their 13 wins out of 14, including 11 in a row, just to climb from 4th place on September 16th to tied for 2nd on the very last day of the season.  Nobody saw this coming - and anyone who says they did ought to be a betting man for a crime family.

They got spanked 3 games in a row prior to the 11-game winning streak, once by Philadelphia (12-4) and twice by Florida (7-6 - not a spanking, and 10-2 - a total spanking).  What was impressive about their climb in the standings was that all the wins came against teams that were above them in the standings.  Then they blew right by Los Angeles after sweeping them and then tore apart San Diego.  Then they administered some more punishment on LA before swiping two of three against the team they just eliminated last night, Arizona.  They didn't have the luxury of crushing Pittsburgh or Cincinnati during their run.  They beat teams that were considered contenders all year long.

If someone came up to you in August and said, "one team will win 13 of their last 14 to force a 1-game playoff and win that playoff game", you would have maybe thought of Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minnesota or even Seattle.  Colorado would have been in your top 10 but certainly not option #1.  Perhaps the shock of seeing Colorado this far in the playoffs is the reason why some may believe that this is the greatest run of any team over the course of a 20-25 game span.  

Whether or not you believe that is your call.  Nobody can take away what appears to be one of the most clutch performances by any team who could have folded up and played .500 ball and nobody would have thought any less of them. 

The people who have chosen not to watch this team has missed the opportunity to witness baseball history.  If they become World Series champions it will become part of sports history and those who watched this amazing performance will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives.

Maybe even Eric Byrnes.

"Not only will Josh Towers lose the baseball game, he will give up a bomb to Barry Bonds...if he gets within a foot of the plate Bonds will put it in the lake." - The Dan, on his show yesterday morning.

Now, I was not correct with the part of the lake but when you get to watch the great Josh Towers as much as I do you become graced with the knowledge that allows you to make easy predictions like that one.  It still feels good to be right on the money sometimes, with the lake exception.  There I got extra cocky.  Oh well.

- Ichiro's quote that he'd rather punch himself than go to Cleveland was absolutely hysterical.  Has this guy always been a total comedian or is this something he picked up while he was learning the angles in Center Field?  All I know is that was one funny line and he should come up with more gems for us to read.

- The fight woke Carlos Zambrano up.  That was something I called last week on my show as well.  Sometimes when guys are underacheiving they need to blow off some steam and do something like that.  Remember in 2002 when Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent got into a scrap in the dugout?  Well after that incident Kent started to catch fire and started hitting like the best player in the game.  I'm not suggesting that players who are underperforming should fight a teammate but sometimes guys need to do something to wake themselves up.  Randy Johnson did that in 1998 just before he was traded to Houston.  He was high and tight to Kenny Lofton, who still loves to #### about pitches not even close to hitting him.  Unit was yelling that it was a slider (and it was), then was high and tight again which got him ejected, benches cleared and he was angry.  Right after that start Johnson was a machine and had an incredible second half.  I expect to see the same thing go down for a Zambrano who's chasing a fat contract and wants to prove that he can keep himself together when the chips are down.

- The US Open is wide open this year in my mind.  With Phil's wrist and Tiger's lack of unquestionable dominance opens doors for the rest of the field to walk through.  I know I've talked about this already but the closer we approach the more I think there could be a US Open champion not named Phil or Eldrick.  As for Tiger, I wonder how the process of fatherhood has changed him?  Not to say that it has prohibited him from being focused on golf but this is a new thing for him and now he does not have his father to lean on for advice.  Then again, he could win the US Open and all the questions can be thrown out.

- Asante Samuel must be locked up by the New England Patriots in order to be the favourite to win the Super Bowl.  They have always had question marks on their secondary dating back to when Ty Law got injured during their 3rd and final championship title run of their dynasty.  Without Samuel, an injury to Rodney Harrison this season will prove costly.  This is not the wide receiver position where they can let a guy walk, this is defense where you can't rely on others to step up and replace what Samuel brings to the table.  He's also very young with a very bright future ahead of him which makes me think New England would be nuts not to sign him.

- Game 3 tonight between San Antonio and Cleveland, and I made a prediction today that Cleveland would jump out to an early lead and barely hang on to win.  Pretty far out there huh?  Well if there was any game Cleveland would steal it would be this one.  They have the fan support plus if LeBron drops 30 they have a chance to win the game.  This game will all hinge on how they can stop the big 3 on San Antonio from scoring and the role players on Cleveland stepping their game up.  The way the series has gone so far, this may be their only win of the series because San Antonio looks as hungry as ever. 

I know I've cracked Larry Hughes a lot despite his injured foot.  However, he has been dissapointing the entire season and has gotten worse with the injury.  Clearly somewhere down the line he was healthy and playing like horseshit.  Well at least he's been consistent.

- Jerry Buss' kid needs to drink some shut up juice and stop ruining things for his dad.

- I don't care if JR Smith is 21, 16 or 40, you need to stop at the stop sign.  When you disobey the laws of the road you run the risk of doing serious damage to your car and whoever is inside of it.  Nobody knows what kind of automobile crash lies ahead of them but you are more likely safer in a vehicle when you obey the rules of the road.   You may blame it on youth, I blame it on irresponsibility and stupidity.  You don't have to be older to know better, otherwise the laws of a 16 year old being a licensed driver would change to 18, 19 or even 21.  That won't happen, so he should know better than to run a stop sign.

Now, because his friend is now dead there could be some problems down the road where he could be liable.  This reminds me of Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers.  Heatley was speeding along with his high performance car and hit a brick wall, killing his friend Dan Snyder.  The Snyder family pleaded to be lenient on Heatley and they were.  Will the law and the victim's family be so forgiving for Smith?  Maybe, but there was a debate amongst a few people I know regarding both incidences and some feel Smith will be worse off than Heatley and racism could be one of many reasons.  That's up to you to decide.

- Speaking of hockey, lots of people are throwing out the changes that need to be made for hockey to succeed.  Question is, if they get on a major TV network what will that do?  Will people all of a sudden start watching?  No, so why would a major network bother with the NHL when they know people won't watch?  It would not make any sense for a TV company to give hockey the time or day to give them reasons why they should be on TV over shows that people may actually watch.  Little changes like pushing the nets back closer to the backboards like they did years ago and ending the season before June is a start.  But there are a lot of tweaks that must be made before anyone can take the game serious again.

Tomorrow is "Mail it in" Wednesday so if you have e-mails just send to chevradionoise@gmail.com.  Also, we have phone lines which I've been told works toll-free.  What's The Deeley-O is back this Thursday so make sure you enter in.  Send your e-mail to the e-mail address above and ask all the wonderful questions you've always found odd, fascinating or confusing in regards to Canada or their relation with the US.  Cheers.

I remember rolling into work one morning listening to the irritation sports channel in Toronto (seeing I'm the only sports dude on my station), and heard them asking why George Bell was not included in the best players the Jays have ever produced. Major League Baseball came up with a 'Hometown Heroes' vote which will be unveiled during the World Series. I believe Joe Carter was the winner in Toronto, which it really should have been Roberto Alomar. However not very many people have forgotten the epic homerun by Carter or the spitting incident from Alomar. People have forgotten how Alomar was the best all-around, clutch player during his tenure in Toronto as well as one of the biggest homeruns in the 1992 ALCS off Dennis Eckersley. Regardless, other baseball cities really screwed things up.

Take Washington, for example. They really did not get it right with their nominations. They were using recent players such as Jose Vidro and Brian Schnieder (yes, Brian Schnieder), yet they used Gary Carter as well. If they were using old Montreal Expos, then where was Dennis Martinez, Andre Dawson or Tim Raines in the nominations list? How could they be abolished and Brian Schnieder be put on? If it was pure Washington I would understand but to take Gary Carter and forget about the rest of Montreal's history is absurd.

And this wasn't a process done by the franchise themselves, they used a 10 person committee which you would think had more baseball historical knowledge of each team. Guys like Harold Reynolds, Don Sutton and Tim McCarver were part of this process. Did they all of a sudden miss 10-15 years of baseball over the last 30 years or so?

Take Arizona: Jay Bell, Luis Gonzalez, Matt Williams, Randy Johnson and Todd Stottlemyre. Todd over Curt Schilling?

How can the Marlins not have Gary Sheffield? Or how can Seattle not have Alex Rodriguez?

Here's a great one - Texas: Jim Sundberg but not a 2 time MVP in Juan Gonzalez, or even Ruben Sierra.

Can you imagine the Angels without Nolan Ryan but they have Jim Abbott and Chuck Finley instead. Sure, avoid a guy who had a few no-hitters, a bunch of complete games and miles of strikeouts during his tenure in California.

You all can take a look at this if you want: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/
press_release.jsp?ymd=20060717&content_id=1560868&
vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb#nominees

This
is absolutely ridiculous and the panel that developed these nominations should be abolished from ever making baseball decisions AND if they are voters for the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, their votes should be ripped away from them.  Some teams might be correct, but some of these teams have players that make you shake their head.   

Every couple of weeks the scenario seemed to change and every couple of weeks we would all write down our view on who should take which award.  Now that today is the final day (maybe) of the baseball season, we can clearly define who the 2006 Cy Young and MVP award winners are for this MLB season.

NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb

- Such a difficult choice seeing that everyone in the league has 15 or 16 wins.  Not to mention Trevor Hoffman has far and away been the best closer this season in the National League.  The top 3 would be Webb, Chris Carpenter and Hoffman.  Webb gets the slight edge because he has been there the entire season.  Had Carp not gone to the DL, he probably takes it.

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana

- A great season from the lefty who had great competition for 5 months of the season with Roy Halladay, until Doc ran into some arm trouble as well a 2 rocky starts prior to his injury.  Johan could have been eyeing his 3rd straight Cy Young, but putting a second trophy on his mantle allows him to join a class of great pitchers that this game has ever seen.  Though I wonder if his teammate Francisco Liriano (Johan Jr.) would have taken the Cy Young if he was healthy (odds are, probably not but very close).

NL MVP: Ryan Howard

- Time to cave in to the 'Ryan Howard Hype-Train'.  Had St. Louis not collapsed and Albert Pujols mashed like a god down the stretch I probably would have stayed with him.  But Pujols has been big for the Cards when their backs have been right up against the wall.  That still won't take away the MVP from the man who has simply been amazing, especially after the All-Star break where he won the homerun derby in July.  After years of killing Triple-A pitchers, Howard has finally shown exactly what he can do at the Major League level.  (Honourable mentions: Lance Berkman and Miguel Cabrera for great seasons playing on teams that were dead at one point in the season).

AL MVP: Justin Morneau

- Time to get off the Jermaine Dye train and hop onto the Canadian bandwagon.  Morneau has been one of the big reasons why the Twins surged from May onward.  When Minnesota was nowhere to be found, Morneau was about ready to challenge Russell Branyan for the biggest power-bust hitter in the bigs.  And then Morneau just went unconscious.  Now, Dye had a great year and so did David Ortiz, but now we're talking about MVP's on a 3rd place team.  Vladimir Guerrero?  Well he played like an MVP but we can't give it to him.  Then there is Derek Jeter, who's only fault is playing on a team full of studs and even with his great season still may not be the MVP of his team.  Then again, Morneau may not be the MVP on his team either (Joe Mauer, Santana).  So having said that, what will seperate all the candidates?  Who has the best numbers on the teams in the playoffs?  Must go with Morneau.

Rookies of the year: Justin Verlander (AL) and Dan Uggla (NL), barely beating Ryan Zimmerman.

This has been fun, but its been tough as well.  Now bring on the playoffs.

 

The short list of candidates have about 5 more weeks to show how worthy they are for these awards.  You've already seen several posts in Blog-Nation already regarding which players have a shot, so this will just be quick and to the point.

AL MVP: Jermaine Dye

Why?: I cannot shake off the fact that he has been the heart and soul of that Chicago team despite the fact that nobody realizes it.  As much as I love David Ortiz, I still put more worth in Dye's ability to play the position where there is more wear and tear than having to DH.  This is what puts Dye ahead of Jim Thome, his Chicago teammate. 

Derek Jeter stepped his game up when guys like Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield went down along with a few others.  To me, a loaded team like New York should always be in the hunt for post-season and nobody should be shocked to see them either in first place or near the top of the wild card standings.  Having said that, how can I clearly say Jeter is the MVP on his team?  Sure he's a leader and he is clutch, but the MVP award is more than that.  Sorry DJ. 

Having said all of that, who's the clear MVP of Minnesota?  Mauer?  Morneau?  Johan?  Nathan?  If I have to ask that many questions, then how can we pick a clear winner from the Twins.  All of them have been great and the season they have all put up should not go unnoticed.

As for Vladimir Guerrero, he gets props if the Angels overtake the Oakland A's.  Vlad should always be in the mix as long as his team does well in the standings.  Lastly, Manny Ramirez has quietly put up huge numbers even with Ortiz taking a lot of his runs away.  He should garner more attention for the award than he has gotten.

NL MVP: Albert Pujols

Why?:  Had he stayed healthy for the entire season we would have been witnessing a possible shot at a triple crown.  Despite missing a month, he still has an outside shot, although he'd have to hit out of his mind.  How good would his stats be if he his out of his mind, seeing that he has mind-blowing numbers as is.  Also, his injury has hurt the Cardinals in the standings, among others like Rolen, Edmonds and Mulder.  Regardless, Pujols is the most dangerous hitter in baseball and epitomizes a true MVP.

The New York Mets have had a great season and have finally found the right players to take the team to the top of the NL East.  Carlos Beltran will command some votes, yet so will David Wright.  Wha about Jose Reyes, Paul LoDuca and Carlos Delgado?  They won't win, and shouldn't, but they certainly have the depth with the bats that is lacking in the rest of the National League.

David Ortiz Jr, oops, Ryan Howard (who looks like the Aaron Durley kid from the Little League tourney) has destroyed the ball this season.  If Philadelphia makes the playoffs he will gather some votes.  His problem might be his teammate Chase Utley.  The both of them might get some split votes as some believe Utley is the real MVP of the Phillies.  I don't disagree with that notion, as the two of them have been dynamite ever since the trade with Bobby Abreu.  But having voters split between the two hurts the both of them.

Is there a clear MVP on Cincinnati?  What about Los Angeles?  Nomar has been dinged so his shot is pretty much gone.

AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay

Why? Because I'm from Toronto and I'm biased.  No, just kidding.  Maybe because as of now he sits 1 win and 1 loss better than Johan Santana.  It's a two man race between the two unless Justin Verlander and Curt Schilling turn things up in the stretch run.  Francisco Liriano does not have enough starts in to garner any attention, but that might change.

NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb

Why? Because someone has to win it.  Seems that you either have a good ERA or a high win total in the NL.  Webb seems to be the one guy who happens to have both.  That title is wide-####-open, but I'd have to give the title to Webb if the season ended today.

Again, with 5 weeks left to go in the season it will have its upsand downs for many of the names mentioned in this post.  Catch the fever folks, the pennant races are about to heat up.

The Toronto Blue Jays have been very busy over the winter break signing players to prepare for the run JP Ricciardi said this team would make by 2006. Let's not argue over his decision to pay guys the x amount that he did (I think they overpaid but he adressed the needs of the ballclub with those pickups). In the midst of obtaining Troy Glaus from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista, there is at least one more move Ricciardi must make.

The real question is, whom? There are 5 guys holding down 3 spots; 3B, 1B and DH. Here are the following players: Glaus, Shea Hillenbrand, Corey Koskie, Lyle Overbay and Erik Hinske. Glaus will be third, Overbay will play first base. Odds are Hillenbrand and Koskie are the guys that will be trade bait. Koskie is a gold glove type third baseman who has not produced with the bat. Hillenbrand is a steady hitter with a questionable attitude. Which one of you do you trade? Answer Erik Hinske. Oops, he's not part of the options given because nobody wants his contract and lack of production that comes with it.

If there was a need for the Blue Jays right now it would probably be a bullpen arm. Though last season their bullpen was not a problem, that does not mean it won't be a problem this year. We have seen over the years how relievers can be lights out one year and putrid the next. Success seemingly comes and goes when you are a reliever, and only the best one's physically and mentally can maintain it. Having said all of that, another relief pitcher (hopefully one that does not crash and burn) would help the ballclub and free up more playing time for some of the guys. Hillenbrand can swing the bat, and if he will be the DH anyway, he's probably the guy you want to keep. However, if Glaus's shoulder is bothering him, play Koskie at third. And if there is a way to get rid of Hinske, tell Ricciardi. Although Hinske has been his boy since he traded for Hinske in 2002.

Odds on favourite to be traded is Hillenbrand. You'll get more out of him in a trade plus he will be a free agent after the 2006 season. The Blue Jays want to contend for this year and next. If I had to say who will be gone, I'd say Shea, reluctantly.