All entries by this author
Mar 30th, 2023 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: In Brief
SPECIAL FROM ROB SPARROW, HIGH PARK, TORONTO. MARCH 30, 2023. 4:15 PM EDT. [NOTE FROM CW EDS : The Sparrow’s much awaited review of “Canada’s MLB Team” at the start of the fateful year of 2023 has arrived just in time for the Jays’ season opener in St. Louis today. And it is divided into […]
Tags: Alejandro Kirk, bigger bases, Bo Bichette, Brandon Belt, Charlie Montoyo, Chris Bassitt, Danny Jansen, Daulton Varsho, Erik Swanson, George Springer, John Schneider, Kevin Kiermaier, Lordes Gurriel Jr., Major League Baseball, Matt Chapman, pickoffs, pitch clock, Retrofitted Rogers Centre, Rob Manfred, shift in baseball, Teoscar Hernandez, Theo Epstein, Toronto Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., “Barrio” Home Run jacket Posted in In Brief |
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Apr 8th, 2022 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
SPECIAL FROM ROB SPARROW, HIGH PARK, TORONTO. APRIL 8, 2022.O the Joy of Opening Day 2022. Games provide distraction. In a world where one delicately navigates the atrocities and reckless tyranny in Ukraine, the continual struggle to cope with the ongoing complications and uncertainty of COVID-19, every little bit of joy matters. Baseball aficionados always […]
Tags: Baseball in Toronto, Blue Jays and pitching, Jays World Series?, new sports gambling in Ontario, Sports Toronto, Toronto Blue Jays 2022 Posted in Sporting Life |
2 comments
Apr 1st, 2021 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
SPECIAL FROM ROB SPARROW, HIGH PARK, TORONTO. APRIL 1, 2021. Life for the Toronto Blue Jays, like everyone else for that matter, was and continues to be upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. A year ago, Canadian government border restrictions forced them to be baseball’s version of the nomadic warriors playing all of their games south […]
Tags: Baseball in Canada, Canadian sports, Charlie Montoyo, good season for Jays 2021?, TB Ballpark, Toronto Blue Jays 2021 Posted in Sporting Life |
4 comments
Jul 25th, 2020 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
SPECIAL FROM ROB SPARROW, HIGH PARK, TORONTO. JULY 24, 2020. The sporting world, like most everything else, stopped earlier this year on March 11 when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz became the first athlete to test positive for COVID-19. In many ways the shut down of the NBA, and the other sports leagues that […]
Tags: Dr. Bill Schaffner, Dr. Rachel Levine, Major League Baseball, Marco Mendicino, MLB and coronavirus, Sahlen Field in Buffalo, Sports 2020, Toronto Blue Jays Posted in Sporting Life |
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Mar 28th, 2019 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
And then there were none … With the firing of John Gibbons at season’ end, and the off-season release of Troy Tulowitzki and trading of Russell Martin, the last vestiges of the best Blue Jays team in a quarter century are gone. Slowly it seemed and then suddenly, the faces on the famous September 2015 […]
Tags: Aaron Sanchez, Anthony Alford, Bill James, Blue Jays 2019, Bo Bichette, Cluster Luck Pythagorean model, Du Sean, Elvis Luciano, Joe Peta, Marcus Stroman, Sabermetrics, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Posted in Sporting Life |
1 Comment »
Mar 29th, 2018 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
From the outset of 2017 something was amiss. The day before the first full-squad workout in the spring, all-star Josh Donaldson suffered a tear in his right calf and did not find his stride until late July. Then Canadian Blue Jay prospect Dalton Pompey suffered a concussion at the World Baseball Classic and spent the […]
Tags: Aaron Sanchez, Baseball in Canada, Blue Jays 2018, Gregg Zaun, Halladay, John Axford, Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson, Lenny Frejlich, Rob Sparrow, Roberto Osuna, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Posted in Sporting Life |
2 comments
Apr 10th, 2017 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
Baseball is back in the great white north, signaling spring revival, while also commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Blue Jays’ inaugural game (April 7, 1977) at snowy Exhibition Stadium on the north shore of Lake Ontario. While it was an entertaining 2016 down at the ballpark known previously as the Skydome, last year once […]
Tags: Blue Jays 2017, J.A. Happ, Jose Bautista's late career, Josh Donaldson, Marcus Stroman, Russell Martin, Toronto baseball 2017, Troy Tulowitzki Posted in Sporting Life |
2 comments
Apr 8th, 2016 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
There is symmetry in numbers…200 of them to be exact. Â For that was how many days the Blue Jays had in 2015. Â A mercurial season that began in early April and ended on the 200th day in heart breaking fashion, eliminated on a cold and rainy Kauffman Field in Game 6 of the AL Championship […]
Tags: Blue Jays 2016, Jose Bautista, Marcus Stroman, Rob Sparrow on Blue Jays Posted in Sporting Life |
1 Comment »
Apr 11th, 2015 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
As the Blue Jays head north after one of the longest winters in recent memory, they come loaded with baggage and a lot of questions. Â Baggage in the sense that they now carry the longest playoff drought (21 yrs.) of any of the 124 teams in the four North American major sports. Â Compounded by questions […]
Tags: Alex Anthopoulos, Blue Jays 2015, Canadian sports and falling loonie, Dalton Pompey, Jose Bautista, Russell Martin Posted in Sporting Life |
1 Comment »
Apr 5th, 2014 |
By Rob Sparrow |
Category: Sporting Life
After an agonizing summer of 2013, and a long winter that brought about loss, the coming of spring is a welcome respite, and with it baseball. A disappointing 2013 season was made to hurt even more watching former Blue Jays skipper, and current Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell, hoist the World Championship trophy on […]
Tags: Alex Anthopoulos good or bad?, Bautista good or bad?, Blue Jays 2014, Canada baseball, Skydome, Toronto baseball Posted in Sporting Life |
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