adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Opening day win gives Toronto Blue Jays early psychological boost – TSN

Published

 on


TORONTO — It’s only one game of 162 and the Toronto Blue Jays could be a .500 team by Saturday evening.

In other words, it’s a long season and outlining wins in April as “big” or “important” would be best described as reactionary and a touch sensational.

300x250x1

But this was one for the psyche.

An important ‘W’ for a young team trying to prove it should be taken seriously as a World Series contender and not just as a collection of exciting talent on the come up.

Great teams have a knack for emerging victorious in the close ones, doing the little things right — fundamentals were not this club’s strong suit in 2020 — and that’s exactly what the Jays were able to do as they kicked off a season with expectations as high as they’ve been in half a decade.
Beating Gerrit Cole is rare. For anyone.

His Houston swansong in 2019 saw the Astros go 26-7 in Cole starts, sending him towards a well-deserved, massive $324 million payday in free agency.

In his first season in pinstripes, the Yanks were 8-4 in his starts.

That means his team has a 76 per cent chance of winning on days Cole starts.

But to begin 2021, they’re 0-1.

Earning $36 million this season alone, each of the Yankees ace’s starts is worth well over a million bucks.
Last year, Cole faced the Jays twice and beat them twice.

The combined score in those games?

Yankees 25, Jays 3.

Not good for the psyche to say the least. They erased those memories Thursday afternoon in front of 10,850 human fans. Disappointed ones.

No matter if it’s April 1 or September 1, a win is a win is a win and beating this Yankees team in a Cole start — a horse they’ll have to face in key divisional games for years to come — is a confidence-builder that can only help later on down the line.

It’s worth repeating: This one is all about the psyche.
But they only got two runs off him and Cole looked as dominant as ever with eight punch-outs over 5.1 innings, you say?

Pounding the big righty is never the expectation.

A couple timely hits — Teoscar Hernandez, who hasn’t stopped crushing baseballs since the summer of 2019 provided the big, game-tying homer in the sixth, a 437-foot shot off a hanging slider from Cole — execution on defence, and winning a close one is the only realistic calculation when facing a pitcher this good, and that’s what the Jays did.

The gloves did their part and the bullpen — even if the five free passes issued by relievers almost killed them — did theirs.

After a shortened 2020 season that was marked by miscues in the field led to an end-of-season promise from the front office to get better defensively, it’s another win for the psyche.

“Our defence was outstanding today,” said Charlie Montoyo, who earned his 100th win as Blue Jays manager. “It was good to see all the things we worked on in spring training carry over into the first game of the season. (Cavan) Biggio was great at third base. (Marcus) Semien with that nice play in the hole. Bo (Bichette) made nice plays at short and Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) looked really good at first base picking the balls in the dirt. Every inning is high-leverage so you’ve got to play good defence against a good team like the Yankees and we did that today.”

On the opposite side of the pitching equation, everyone knows by now that the Blue Jays’ rotation is a huge question mark.

That makes winning Hyun Jin Ryu’s starts all the more important.

The Jays did that last year, going 9-3 when their ace took the ball, and it led them to a postseason berth.
It’s an easy equation for any team: You expect to win when your ace is on the bump.

While both aces did what was asked of them on this day, each pitching into the sixth inning and exiting with the ball game tied 2-2, it was the Jays clawing their way to a team win and finding a way with pristine fundamental baseball.

Armed with a potent offence, Montoyo’s message to his club to start the year is a simple one, and, for one day at least, the message has been received.

“I told our team, for us to win and get to the playoffs and do well during the season, it’s going to be pitching and defence.” 

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

Published

 on

The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

300x250x1

Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Senators score 5 in 1st, cruise past Sabres

Published

 on

“I thought that we were ready to go,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We got some pucks at the net, we got people at the net. Took advantage of our opportunities and, I think, built a nice lead. And then I thought, in the third period, we continued again. Our goaltending was good. Made some key saves. But I thought we shut them down in the third period good.”

Shane Pinto had a goal and three assists, and Brady Tkachuk, Boris Katchouk, Jakob Chychrun and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators (31-36-4), who have won three in a row. Korpisalo made 34 saves.

“If you want to win, you need balance,” Pinto said. “And we had that tonight and it’s going to be big for the back-to-back tomorrow (against the Chicago Blackhawks) to have that same thing. So, going to need all the guys on board.”

JJ Peterka and Connor Clifton scored for the Sabres (34-34-5), who have lost four of six. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on nine shots before he was replaced by Devon Levi, who made 31 saves in relief.

300x250x1

“We wanted, I guess, to play as individuals,” Clifton said. “I’m disappointed we let ‘Upie’ down, he’s the heart and soul of this team. He’s kept us in so many games, and just to not show up and play that careless style, give them freebies all over the place. … Yeah, obviously, the first 20 really dictated the rest of the game.”

Artem Zub gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead at 2:37 of the first period. He stuffed in a loose puck on the goal line after Katchouk’s shot was redirected by Mark Kastelic between Luukkonen’s pads.

Katchouk made it 2-0 at 4:56, tipping Parker Kelly’s shot from the top of the right face-off circle past Luukkonen.

“It’s keeping the consistency with good effort, right habits,” Katchouk said. “The small things matter so much in this game. And obviously, it worked out tonight with the tip. But kudos to my linemates. ‘Kels’ and ‘Kassy,’ they worked hard to get the puck as well. Those two battle hard every night as well. We feed off each other, and it’s good to play with them.”

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

Published

 on


* public_profileBlurb *

* public_displayName *

300x250x1

* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending