Hallensaison 2011/12 » felt like we can represent the Eastern Confere

Imagine if you will a Jays team starting this season with Roberto Alomar at second base, Joe Carter in right field, Devon White in centre, John Olerud at first and Paul Molitor at DH. Not to mention a pitching staff, that includes Dave Stewart, Juan Guzman, Pat Hentgen and up-and-comers like Woody Williams, Al Leiter and Todd Stottlemyre. This team would also have three young prospects who could be the foundation of a great team for years to come in Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green and Alex Gonzalez. You might already be printing the World Series tickets. Well it didnt exactly turn out that way for the 1994 Blue Jays. They did win six of their first seven games and got off to decent 12-6 start including a six-game win streak. However it didnt last, and by the time the strike came in mid-August that led to the eventual shutdown of the season, they had faded to 55-60 and the dream of a three-peat gone with it. I painted that little scenario to show you how difficult it can be to predict division winners, let alone World Series champs. The 1994 Jays had most of the key components back from the team that had repeated in 1993, including having WAMCO intact as the top five hitters in the lineup (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter and Olerud). There were three missing pieces. Closer Duane Ward had injured his shoulder in the offseason and was never really able to come back and be the dominant bullpen stopper he had been. Shortstop Tony Fernandez and left fielder Rickey Henderson had been allowed to leave in the offseason as well. Still, there was more than enough talent for this team to contend. Darren Hall, a mere shadow of Ward took over as closer and recorded 17 saves. Veteran Dick Schofield played the bulk of the games at short and journeyman Mike Huff played left for the most part. I would submit the 94 Blue Jays had far more talent than the current Jays, yet they finished the abbreviated season five games under .500. You dont want to be a total buzz-kill about the 2014 Jays, because they do have talent. If they both stay healthy, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are capable of hitting at least 40 homers. Melky Cabrera, sans back tumour, is looking more like he could have been batting champ with the Giants a couple of years ago. Jose Reyes, again when healthy, is one of the top shortstops in the game. Brett Lawrie could be on the cusp of developing into one of the top third basemen in the Majors, and this is a free agent contract year for Colby Rasmus, so the pressure is on for him to produce. In other words, the offence should be there. As it has been the past two seasons, pitching is the question. The starting rotation has to log enough innings to give a solid bullpen the chance to produce results for the entire season, not just the first half, after which they could fade from overuse. If Drew Hutchison is the real deal, and it looks as though he just might be, the top three in the rotation looks pretty decent, though you always worry about the inevitable age-related declines of veterans like R.A. Dickey ( 39) and Mark Buehrle (35). The question marks are the 4 and 5 starters. Brandon Morrow has to prove he can put together a dominant healthy season and finally realize his vast potential. As for Dustin McGowan, youd have to have a heart of stone not to be pulling for this guy, whos battled through injury after injury to finally crack the Opening Day roster for the first time since 2008. Top prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman are waiting in the wings, but probably wont make significant contributions this season, unless there is another rash of injuries, or the Jays drop so far back, they just decide to go young. After calling the Jays to win 92 or 93 games a year ago and contend for a wild card spot, Im reluctant to make any kind of a call on where they will finish in 2014. But my gut tells me they will win 83 or 84 games and be battling for fourth with Baltimore or maybe even Boston. I really do hope Im wrong. Jays Elsewhere Not a really good well for Canadians in the Majors or ex-Jays. The Cubs released Canuck catcher George Kottaras, while Minnesota out-righted lefthander Scott Diamond of Guelph, Ontario to Triple "A" Rochester. Lefty Frank Viola, a Cy Young winner and World Series star in his days with the Twins, had a brief stint with the Jays near the end of his career. The now 53-year-old Viola is taking a leave of absence from his job as the Mets Triple "A" pitching coach at Las Vegas after undergoing open heart surgery. The man taking Violas place is Tom Signore, who was the Blue Jays Double "A" pitching coach at New Hampshire the past three years. So Signore will get to work with the Mets top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard, whom he also had in the Blue Jays system before he was traded as part of the package for R.A Dickey. Former Jays righthander Shaun Marcum was sent to their minor league camp by Clevleand. Marcum, who was dealt to Milwaukee for Brett Lawrie, has seen his career hampered by injuries. Over eight years in the bigs, the 32-year-old Marcum has a 58-46 record with a 3.88 earned run average. The Indians are hoping he can battle his way back at some point this season. J.P Arencibia was hoping to get some significant playing time in Texas this season to re-establish his career. When the Rangers number one backstop Geovany Soto went down for 10-12 weeks with torn meniscus in his right knee, it looked as though J.P would be the man but skipper Ron Washington has been more impressed with Robinson Chirinos. So it appears J.P., at least for now, is stuck as the backup. One Jay having a good week, in fact a good spring, is catcher Yan Gomes. He appears to have won the number one job with Cleveland after the Indians moved Carlos Santana from catcher to third base. The Jays traded Gomes and veteran utility infielder Mike Aviles to the Indians for righthander Esmil Rogers in the previous offseason. Considering how Gomes has progressed and Rogers has faltered this spring, the Jays might like a mulligan on that one. Victor Moses Jersey . -- Barry Bonds is all set to return to the San Francisco Giants. Cesc Fabregas Chelsea Jersey . - The Minnesota Vikings have ruled Christian Ponder out for Sundays game at Baltimore, because the quarterback has not yet passed all of his post-concussion tests. http://www.chelseasoccerjerseysonline.com/womens-willy-caballero-chelsea-jersey/ . And thats good news for Canada. Kelly, who plays No. 8 at the back of the scrum, is captain of the Canadian womens team. Marcin Bulka Jersey . Of course that doesnt mean hes ignoring it. Thats actually rather impossible given the behind-the-scenes access to the Toronto Maple Leafs the network is getting. Cesar Azpilicueta Jersey .com) - Matt Duchene picked up the deciding goal early in the third period and added an assist, as Colorado escaped with a 4-3 victory over Dallas at Pepsi Center.MIAMI -- Erik Spoelstra said he mentioned how daunting the task would be only once. Back in September, when the Miami Heat assembled to begin training camp, Spoelstra addressed his team about furthering its championship legacy and how rare it is for a team to find its way to the NBA Finals in four consecutive seasons. "Weve never brought it up since then," Spoelstra said. Itll get brought up now. The seed the Heat coach planted in the Bahamas at that training camp took root. The Heat are finals-bound -- for the fourth straight time. The sputtering stretches of play in March and April, surrendering the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs to Indiana, winning 12 fewer games in this regular season than a year ago, they all seem moot and meaningless now. The Heat have a chance at a third consecutive NBA title, with the finals starting Thursday night against San Antonio in a title-series rematch. "Its amazing to make it to one finals," Heat forward Shane Battier said. "To do it four times in a row for some of these guys, its a tremendous, tremendous accomplishment and it speaks volumes to the dedication, luck, and perseverance that you need to do it." Spoelstra spoke of that luck factor when he gathered his team for a locker-room huddle moments after the celebration started Friday night, after Miami wrapped up its fourth straight East crown with a 117-92 win over Indiana to win the series in six games. His words were interrupted twice by LeBron James, which nobody minded. "We dont take this for granted," Spoelstra said. "No, sir," James added, nodding. "We do not take it for granted," Spoelstra repeated. "No way," James interjected. "How tough it actually is and how many things have to go our way," Spoelstra continued. "Four times, you guys who havent been here with us the whole time, you guys inherit everything that weve experienced." Only six current Heat players appeared in the 2011 post-season, Miamis first of the "Big 3" era and the last in which it actually lost a series. James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Udonis Haslem are the last holdovers. Battier and Norris Cole arrived after the 2011 finals loss. Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Rashard Lewis -- all playing huge roles these days for Miami -- came after the first title run of this Heat era in 2012.dddddddddddd The core of last seasons title squad, with the exception of amnestied Mike Miller, was back to try it again this time around. Even with all that talent, with that championship experience, Spoelstra knew a tone had to be immediately set when the season began. "What I was really encouraged about was our attendance and commitment in training camp in the Bahamas," Spoelstra said. "Right from there, and we communicated during the summer that, if were real about this, about how difficult that journey is, that you cannot shortcut, that we would show it immediately in training camp." Theyre still showing it now. Miami is 12-3 in these playoffs, 8-0 at home, and has won a road game in 15 straight post-season series. The Heat will need to extend that streak to win the NBA Finals; the Spurs will hold home-court advantage. "Obviously, going through the weeks and weeks and weeks and grinding months of a regular season, it was a toll on all of us," James said. "But I felt like down the stretch, if we could get healthy, we could get everyone in uniform and have our full strength, it didnt matter what seed we were. I felt like we can represent the Eastern Conference again in the finals if we had the health, and we were able to accomplish that." At times, like Friday night, they make winning look easy. Collectively, they insist its much harder than it appears. "You still have to go out and do it every single night," Allen said. "Its the toughest thing Ive ever done and I guarantee the guys in this locker room would say the same thing." Only the Lakers and Celtics have appeared in four straight finals, with Boston (1984-87) the last to do so. Wade was 5 when that run ended, James was 2, and Cole, Michael Beasley and Greg Oden hadnt even been born. Now the Heat are in that club. And regarding what Spoelstra said in that first-day conversation, the point of his words then has become perfectly clear to his team now. "Having a chance to win is always a special thing," Bosh said. "We always talk about not taking it for granted from Day One. We know its a very long season. It has its rewards in the end if we stick together and do what were supposed to do. But it hasnt really hit us yet. I would rather it hit me in two weeks." ' ' '