Monthly Archives: April 2009

On to the Second Round: We like Chicago in an upset, Pens in a thriller plus the Wings and Bruins.

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

For the longest time, we have believed that the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is the most exciting.

What the hell, there are 16 teams. Of course, it will be exciting.

This year, however, we seem to be a little more enthused about Round 2. After all, in Round 1 this year, it went pretty much as we expected — and when I say “we,” I mean everyone who follows hockey closely.

With the exception of those who always believe (for reasons I still don’t understand) that Detroit will be upset in the first round, most hockey people picked at least six of the opening round series correctly.

For the record, here at rcsportsblog.com (you can follow us on twitter), we went 7-1 in the first round. The only outcome we did not select correctly was, of course, Anaheim’s upset of Jonathan Cheechoo’s San Jose Sharks.

Round 2 will provide us with two spectacular match-ups: Chicago and Vancouver and Pittsburgh and Washington. I can almost guarantee that those two series will double the excitement we saw in any series in Round 1.

So on with the show. Here’s our look at Round 2 of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs…

ROUND TWO

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes

The Bruins played wonderfully in taking out the Montreal Canadiens in the opening round in four straight games. Everything about this team, that now has home ice advantage throughout the playoffs as long as it keeps winning, screams “Eastern Division Champion!” Tim Thomas has been sensational in goal, the big defence led by Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman moves the puck quickly and does a solid job of clearing the zone and the forward lines were nearly flawless in Round 1. And while we took Carolina to knock off New Jersey in Round 1, the dream ends here. The Bruins dominated the Hurricanes during the regular season, winning all four meetings by a combined score of 18-6. There is no reason for that to stop. Bruins in five games.

No. 2 Washington Capitals vs. No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins

On the surface, this looks like a great series/ Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin of the Caps against Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins. Big names, big stars, should be exciting. However, the Capitals took three of four from the Penguins during the regular season and Washington’s only loss was the result of a shootout. Pittsburgh beat a tough Flyers team in six games, mainly because Philly’s goaltending was lousy. The Caps have not had lousy goaltending since the day head coach Bruce Boudreau decided to go with Simeon Varlamov. Still, the Caps were lucky to beat a dysfunctional Rangers team. Pittsburgh in seven games.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 2 Detroit Red Wings vs. No. 8 Anaheim Ducks

The Red Wings should waltz through this second round match-up against a team that was very lucky to make the playoffs. Thanks to the fact the San Jose Sharks seldom if ever bring their A game (or raise their level of play) to the playoff dance, the defending Stanley Cup champs get a team with a hot goalie and not much else. This season, the well-balanced, well-disciplined Red Wings went 3-0-1 against Anaheim. As TSN says, “The Red Wings sacrifice individual glory for what is best for the team, which speaks to the professionalism of those inside the organization.” Detroit has the best team in the NHL and while I love the Ducks’ Teemu Selanne and Randy Carlyle, the Red Wings win in four games.

No. 3 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 4 Chicago Blackhawks

Potentially, this is the best and definitely, the most exciting series of the second round. The teams went 2-2 against each other this season and this series should go right to the wire every single night. Both teams have exciting young players and, frankly, a match-up of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp against the Sedin Twins  and Alex Burrows, is more intriguing to me than the Crosby-Ovechkin dance. Ultimately, this series will come down to goaltending. Is Nikolai Khabibulin as good as Roberto Luongo when it counts? Stay tuned. This will be a dandy. Right now, I like Chicago in seven games. 

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If the Rangers don’t come back, Tortorella needs to go

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Sunday afternoon, the New York Rangers didn’t even give it the old college try. After two periods, the Rangers trailed Washington 5-1 and were lucky it wasn’t 11-1.

Make no mistake, this was head coach John Tortorella’s fault. In fact, the Rangers’ collapse from a 3-1 series lead on Wednesday to a 3-3 tie heading to Washington on Tuesday is absolutely Tortorella’s fault.

Let’s go through the timeline:

1) On Wednesday night of last week, Tortorella was clearly upset with the craziness of Sean Avery, so even though the Rangers won 2-1, Tortorella benched Avery for Friday night’s game. The big-time coach was going to teach his nutbar a lesson.

2) So Avery doesn’t play on Friday and the Rangers get drilled 4-0. During the game, Tortorella gets into it with a fan and tosses a water bottle into the crowd. The league suspends Tortorella for one game. In other words, Tortorella does exactly what Avery does — acts like an idiot — only Tortorella gets his ass suspended.

3) Suspended, Tortorella makes a brain-dead move before Sunday’s game. After 190 consecutive appearances, Tortorella tells his tough guy, Colton Orr, to “sit this one out.” Without Orr in the lineup, the Caps can do whatever they want. And they do. Even Alexander Ovechkin starts pushing Rangers around. With no Orr, the Rangers have no heart or soul, fall behind 5-1 after 40 minutes and get whipped 5-3.

If the Rangers lose Tuesday night, Tortorella should not be invited back next season. He’s not only a hot-head, a guy just as crazy as Sean Avery, but he’s a  lousy hockey coach who knows nothing of team chemistry and courage.

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Hawks take it to lethargic Flames

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Sitting in front of the 46-incher watching the Chicago Blackhawks drill the Calgary Flames, I can’t help but think that the Flames forgot how to win.

On one hand, it’s no surprise that the Hawks are winning at home. After all, they win a lot of games in front of those crazy fans at the United Centre. On the other hand, it’s hard to believe that after slipping past Calgary  3-2 and 3-2 in the first two games of the series (games that could have gone either way), the Hawks have come back home and made a joke of Game 5. At least, after two periods.

It’s already 5-1 and the Hawks have owned this game from the opening faceoff. And they’ve owned it because the Flames have let them have it. After two hard-hitting, attack-attack-attack games in Calgary, the Flames started out on their heels in this one and then just went ahead and dug themselves a hole.

The Flames played with emotion in Games 3 and 4 at the Saddledome and dominated both nights. Now, two days after winning 6-4 on Wednesday (after winning 4-2 on Monday), the Flames have backed away from their hard-hitting, hard-checking attack and allowed the Hawks to, once again, take the game to them.

That strategy doesn’t work against a young team with as much skill as Chicago. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Brian Campbell, Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, Martin Havlat et al, just eat up the wide-open, no-hit style the Flames have thrown at the Hawks (Saturday) tonight.

Now, granted, I know that the intensity with which the Flames played on Monday and Wednesday, is almost impossible to maintain. It’s extremely difficult to bang and crash like that every, single shift, every single night. Especially, when a number of your bigger players are nicked up.

But that’s the only way Calgary will beat Chicago. If they don’t go back to that style on Monday, they’ll lose the series.

Tee time anyone?

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Hatton Meets Pacquiao on May 2. Could be the Fight of the New Century

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It is, perhaps, the most anticipated legitimate boxing match in decades.

I say legitimate, because the recent Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya 150-pound event was just that: An event. A one-time exhibition. It was not a title bout. People watched Pacquiao take out the aging (or aged?) De La Hoya, much like they’d watch a car wreck. It was ugly and interesting at the time, but so one-sided, it was hardly memorable.

 

However, what we will witness on May 2, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, could very well be the best boxing match of the new century. It’s the pound-for-pound king, Manny Pacquiao (48-3 with 36 knockouts), against the hard-nosed British entertainer Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs), going nose-to-nose for Hatton’s WBO junior welterweight (140 pound) belt. 

 

Two decades ago, this fight would barely create a ripple. However, in this new age of talent, speed and star-power, a fight between the two best little men in the game now carries the cachet that the heavyweight crown once carried alone. 

 

In fact, with the heavyweight division now dominated by slow, gigantic Russian bears who simply pummel their opponents into submission, a scientific battle between two skilled, fast and tough 140-pounders is enough to get the heart racing. This fight has all the ingredients – athletic skill, two international superstars and two young men who have become heroes in their own lands.

 

This will be an epic encounter between two small pit-bulls, each with the heart of a lion. The Filipino, Pacquiao, is coming off his “Great Statement,” the demolition of the legend, Oscar De La Hoya. After Manny took Oscar apart in eight rounds back in November, De La Hoya’s career came to an abrupt end. Pacquiao is the only four weight-division champion of Asian descent in the history of the sweet science and what he did to De La Hoya that night was the stuff of boxing legend.

 

But this time Pacquiao will not be in the ring alone. Across from him, staring him down, will be the biggest British boxing phenom since Joe Calzaghe, and experts will tell you that Hatton is far superior in every way to Calzaghe. When Hatton, the latest fighter to wear “the Hit Man” moniker beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. and filled the MGM Grand Garden in December of 2007, he stepped out of Calzaghe’s shadow and into his own universe. Pound-for-pound, he might be the greatest British fighter of all time.

 

The Las Vegas oddsmakers clearly see Pacquiao as the better pure boxer, and the tougher fighter In fact, right now, Pacquiao is listed as the odds-on favourite at 2/5. A Hatton victory sits at 7/4, which represents solid value, but shows that the exerts believe he’s outmanned.

 

But since 2007, Hatton has improved dramatically and, in an amazing turn of events, is now trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr. He’s such a showman — so much fun to watch — that his antics inside the squared-circle often get in the way of his brilliant technical skills. But make no mistake, even though Hatton’s reach is two inches shorter (despite the fact he’s an inch taller than Pacquiao) than his opponent’s, he is a world champion for a reason. He has speed, excellent skills and a big heart. 

 

And Pacquiao knows it.

 

“I expect Ricky to be coming forward and to fight me toe-to-toe,” Pacquiao said during last week’s international conference call from Manila. “I like that. I’m not looking for a knockout. I don’t want thoughts of a knockout distracting me from the job at hand. I tell you I don’t want any distractions in my mind.”

Pacquiao told the international media that he expected Hatton to “walk into my punches because of his aggressive, come-forward style.”

Not surprisingly, Hatton guarantees that he will be aggressive.

“Both of us refuse to go backwards and that is the key to the fight,” Hatton told The Mirror. “Whoever ends up going backwards is going to lose. Manny fights toe-to-toe and so do I. But I punch harder and have more technical ability. My superior technical ability is going to shock Manny more than the size and power aspect.”

On May 2, live on HD pay-per-view at the new Upper Deck Sports Bar at McPhillips Street Station (on that spectacular 16-footX9-foot HD screen), two of the greatest boxers alive today will meet up in what should be one of the greatest fight of this, or maybe any other decade.

Tickets are on-sale now at McPhillips Street Station Casino. It would be a shame to miss this one for this one will be memorable.

 

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Nobody playing better than Red Wings, and for all the right reasons

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I have a dear friend, Scott O’Neil, who is the production manager at 92-CITI-FM. He’s the guy who makes all my NHL, NASCAR and NFL Reports sound so good.

 

O’Neil is like most sports fans. When it comes to anything other than his two favourite teams, he’s a smart, sophisticated fan who can look at objectively at any issue — either on-field or off.

 

However, when it comes to his two passions — the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Red Wings — he can get downright apoplectic. Nervous, cranky, bitter. When his teams don’t win, he’ll be happy to whine about it for hours on end.

 

In fact, before the playoffs started last week, he was giving it the old “woe-is-me” routine about his beloved Wings and how they were going to get ambushed and upset by the Columbus Blue Jackets, a decent club, but a club that shouldn’t be in the same league as the Red Wings, let alone the same opening-round series.

 

So while Scotty was going off about how “Ozzie had to be at his best,” and how “Kronwall can’t take any stupid penalties,” and about how “this team will get frustrated by (Columbus goalie) Steve Mason and start taking too many offensive chances,” I couldn’t help but wonder what it’s like to love a team so much that you actually become irrational when talking about them.

 

Anyway, after the Wings disposed of Columbus 4-1 and 4-0 in the first two games on the Western quarterfinal, I tried to figure out exactly why the Red Wings are so successful.

 

Here’s a five-point conclusion:

 

1) Chris Osgood is a much better goaltender than the so-called experts think. Nobody wants to give Ozzie any credit, but he’s been superb for a number of post-seasons and looked unbeatable in Game 2 this past weekend.

 

2) The Wings play just as well in their own end as they do in the opposing end and they’re frightening in the offensive zone.

 

3) The Red Wings special teams are better than any other special teams in the game today — when they want to be. The Wings scored three power-play goals in Game 2 and allowed none. In Game 1, they scored one power play goal and allowed none. This Wings team, right now, is just about perfect. 

 

4) They aren’t bored anymore. The 82-game regular season appears to bore the Wings to tears. They have not shown either cockiness nor boredom in the first two games of the post-season. 

 

5) The Wings move the puck better than any team in hockey. Some teams can’t complete one pass in a row. Watching the Wings breakout, you’ll often see them complete five, six, seven passes in a row. No team handles the puck better and no team breaks out of its own end quicker (OK, maybe Boston’s break out is just as good, but they don’t handle the puck as well).

 

The Wings are a great team that should win their second straight Stanley Cup title. However, saying that that suggests that another team’s goalie won’t steal a series from the Wings and we’re already watching Nikolai Khabibulin, Henrik Lundqvist and Roberto Luongo steal series right now.

 

What is it that one very smart general manager once said? “We call it the Stanley Cup playoffs because we can’t call it goalie.”

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The New Yankee Stadium: A Band Box Joke.

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

Canwest Park here in Winnipeg, is a gorgeous 7,000-seat minor league ballpark that cost $22 million. It’s dimensions are 325 down the leftfield line, 325 down the rightfield line, 375 to the gaps and 400 feet to straightaway centrefield.

 

The New Yankee Stadium is 318 feet down the leftfield line and 314 feet down the rightfield and that old fashioned “short porch” in right that contributed mightily — more than steroids ever would have — to Roger Maris’s 61 home runs in 1961, has been reconstructed for your historical enjoyment.

 

It is, for lack of a better term, a $1.5 million band box. In fact, in this day and age, it’s a joke and just like those geniuses who built Comerica Park in Detroit had to bring in the leftfield fence, the idiots in New York who built a “porch” that made sense in the dead-ball era will have to do something to make the new Yankee Stadium just a little more than a quirky little joke.

 

For $1.5 billion, the Yankees gave their players and fans all the amenities of a five-star hotel in a ballpark best suited for Senior Amateur Baseball.

 

In the first three games at the new Yankee Stadium, there have been 17 home runs. That could be a result of bad pitching, but as Tim McCarver so aptly put it on Saturday’s Fox broadcast, “It’s April. What’s going to happen in the home run months of July and August?” 

 

Here’s the real problem: Asdrubal Cabrera’s grand slam during Cleveland’s 22-4 shellacking of the Yankees on Saturday afternoon would have been a routine out in every other ballpark in the majors.

 

The new Yankee Stadium is obviously a beautiful piece of modern design and engineering. Outside the actual playing surface. The field’s dimensions make for a less-than-realistic major league stadium. In fact, the size of the playing field of the new Yankee Stadium has been designed for the low minors.

  

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Toews Shows How Good He Is.

Posted on April 17, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

I have to admit, I was thrilled watching Winnipeg’s own Jonathan Toews and Cam Barker play so well against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

 

Toews dominated the ice on almost every shift and Barker showed that he’s a force on defence, perhaps even a future all-star.

 

Both players were appearing in their first Stanley Cup playoff games against a very good — and an extremely gritty — Calgary Flames team that quite honestly played an almost perfect road playoff game on Thursday night.

 

In the end, Toews played more than 17 minutes, had an assist and was a plus-one in a 3-2 Chicago win in overtime. In fact, it was Toews who set up Barker’s first-period goal. Barker, by the way, had a goal AND an assist and was also a plus-one.

 

In fact, the NHL’s own panel of experts selected a Barker shift midway through the third period as the game’s “best shift of the night.” The Hawks’ No. 1 draft pick in 2004, did have a terrific shift midway through the final period when he freed himself up for two great scoring chances.

 

Still, as outstanding as Barker was on Thursday, Toews was even better.

 

And frankly, it made me laugh. After reading all these so-called media experts — the ones who claim to know more than the coaches — continue to leave Toews off their personal selections for Canada’s 2010 Olympic team, I have to wonder how some of these clowns get credentials for the games.

 

If the Canadian team doesn’t have a leader like the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Jonathan Toews anchoring its third line, it will fail to win gold again. On Thursday, he not only had an assist and was plus-one, but he had three hits and won 10 of 14 faceoffs. He is one of the best players in the world and he shouldn’t have to prove it anymore.

 

It’s amazing to think the young man is not yet 21. 

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Ex-Wild coach Lemaire takes parting shots at, wait for it, the Montreal media.

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Here’s something that I’ve known for decades: The Montreal media’s obsession over the Canadiens — not over hockey, but over the Canadiens — borders on the insane.

 

Evidently, Jacques Lemaire knows it, too.

 

Lemaire told Charlie Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Tuesday that he’s not sure if he’ll ever coach again, but if he does remain in the game, it won’t be in Montreal. Even though  he became a Hall of Famer with the Canadiens and still owns a home.

“I would not go there,” Lemaire told the Pi-Press. “You don’t want to spend (with media) 20 minutes on hockey and 40 minutes on what surrounds the game. Not as a coach.”

“The media want to know what kind of shorts I’m wearing before the game. I want no part of that.”

Can’t blame him. The Gazette isn’t so bad, but Le Journal de Montreal is crazy. For a guy like Lemaire, who didn’t hog the limelight in Minnesota, it’s obviously not worth the aggravation.

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are Here: It’s prediction time.

Posted on April 12, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild assistant general manager Tom Thompson has a theory about the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It comes true most years, but somehow, this looks like a year in which it might come to pass in spades (although I don’t believe it). 

 

“The first round of the playoffs is always the most compelling round because you generally have two types of teams,” explained Thompson. 

 

“You have the teams that were successful all year and feel that if they don’t get to the final or win the Cup, their season was a failure. Then you have the teams that snuck into the playoffs and have nothing to lose. The top teams are often tight while the lesser teams have already done what they set out to do and by the opening round of the playoffs are as loose as can be. 

 

“That’s why there are so many great series and so many big upsets in the first round.”

 

He’s right, of course. The first round of the playoffs is always the most exciting. So without further adieu, let’s look at the 16 teams and eight matchups for the 2009 series which have already begun.

 

THE EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

No. 1 Boston Bruins (53-19-10) vs. No. 8 Montreal Canadiens (41-30-11).

The Habs and Bruins go at it again, a repeat of last year’s first round, in which the Canadiens outlasted Boston four games to three. But this year, things are different. Boston was the best team in the East and the second best team in the NHL and they are on a roll. It’s a team that allowed the fewest number of goals in the league (196) and has a wide-open offence to go with a stingy defence. The Habs were very fortunate to make the playoffs (they finished with the same number of points as Florida) and in six meetings this season, Boston won five of them, two in shootouts. Bruins in five.

 

No. 2 Washington Capitals (50-24-8) vs. No. 7 New York Rangers (43-30-9).

Second-place Washington with all that firepower – Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green are a good start — will face the seventh-place Rangers. The Caps have been very good this season and won the Southeast Division by 11 points over Carolina. They also won three of their four meetings with the Rangers. Capitals in five.

 

No. 3 New Jersey Devils (51-27-4) vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes (45-30-7).

New Jersey, which won the Atlantic Division, will play sixth-place Carolina after beating the Hurricanes in the season finale last week. However, Carolina won its first three meetings with the Devils this season and played much better hockey down the stretch than New Jersey. Hurricanes in seven.

 

No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins (45-28-9) vs. No. 5 Philadelphia Flyers (44-27-11).

Pittsburgh won four of the six meetings between the two teams this season, one in overtime and another in a shootout. However, all Philadelp[hia had to do to earn home ice advantage throughout this series was to win the final game of the season at home against the Rangers and they couldn’t pull it off. Pittsburgh has too much offence and is just playing better hockey at this time. Penguins in six.

 

THE WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

No. 1 San Jose Sharks (53-18-11) vs. No. 8 Anaheim Ducks (42-33-7).

Although it’s No. 1 vs. No. 8, this is a matchup that features two of the most successful teams in the NHL since the lockout. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, the Ducks have gone 180-107-41 with four playoff appearances while the Sharks have posted a 197-94-37 mark with three consecutive 100+ point seasons, four playoff appearances and two Pacific Division titles (2008 & 2009). However, the Sharks were the President’s Trophy winners as the best team in the NHL during the regular season while Randy Carlyle’s Ducks were fortunate to make the playoffs. The Sharks also won the season series, 4-2. Sharks in five.

No. 2 Detroit Red Wings (51-21-10) vs. No. 7 Columbus Blue Jackets (41-31-10).

A tale of two cities: The Red Wings are the defending Stanley Cup champions while the Blue Jackets are in the playoffs for the first time in their eight seasons of existence. During the regular season, the teams split. Detroit won the first two meetings, Columbus won the next three (including an 8-2 win at Detroit on March 7) and Detroit geat the Jackets 4-0 in a statement game on March 17. I like Ken Hitchcock as a head coach, but Detroit has way too much of everything. Red Wings in five.

 

No. 3 Vancouver Canucks (45-27-10) vs. No. 6 St. Louis Blues (41-31-10).

The remarkable, red-hot Blues clinched the No. 6 seed in the final game of the year and put a cap on an amazing finish. From Feb. 15 to the end of the season, head coach Andy Murray’s Blues went 18-6-3. It was significant because on Feb. 15, the Blues were dead last in the West. This team finished the regular season by going 9-1-1 over its last 11 games and 5-1-1 on the road. Had the Blues lost their final game, they would have finished eighth — which would have meant a series with the top-seeded San Jose Sharks. Instead, they finished with the best second-half record in the League at 25-9-7. However, they have only four players who have ever won a playoff game. Vancouver, meanwhile, came back to claim the Northwest Division title by winning their last three games and going 6-3-1 down the stretch behind the tremendous goaltending of Roberto Luongo. This will be a match-up of two of the hottest teams in the game and two red-hot goalies – Luongo and Chris Mason.. Canucks in seven.

 

No. 4 Chicago Blackhawks (46-24-12) vs. No. 5 Calgary Flames (46-30-6). 

This series screams “Blackhawks!” Chicago swept the four-game season series with the Flames, winning 6-1 and 5-2 at the United Center and 3-2 in overtime and 5-2 at the Saddledome. Add it up. Chicago has more firepower and probably equal goaltending (Huet/Khabibulin vs. Kiprusoff). Chicago oputscored Calgary 19-7 during its four wins and really, the Hawks dominated the season. In fairness to Calgary, the two teams haven’t faced each other since the Hawks’ second win at Calgary on Feb. 5, but still, Hawks in six. 

 

* * *

 

THE 2008-09 NHL TROPHY WINNERS

 

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin captured his first career Art Ross Trophy as the League’s leading scorer with 113 points while Washington Capitals leftwinger Alexander Ovechkin won his second consecutive Maurice Richard Trophy for being the League’s top goal scorer with 56. 

 

Meanwhile, Boston Bruins goaltenders Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez earned the William Jennings Trophy as the goaltenders on the club that allowed the fewest number of goals — 196.

 

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After Nearly Eight Years, Jeff Zimmerman is Back in Baseball: Signs With Mariners

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

There is never any sense in giving up. 

Just ask former Winnipeg Goldeyes pitcher, Jeff Zimmerman. After five elbow surgeries and almost eight seasons out of the game, Zimmerman is back.

 

And he’s throwing 90 miles per hour with that same biting slider that got him into the big leagues more than a decade ago.

 

On Tuesday, Zimmerman told goldeyes.com that he had signed a one-year agreement with the Seattle Mariners and would start his formal comeback this week at the Mariners spring training facility in Peoria, Arizona.

 

Zimmerman, who will turn 37 in August, has spent his entire career battling the odds. But this time, the odds were so long, nearly everyone in baseball believed they were impossible to overcome.

 

And to think, his long road to The Show started right here in Winnipeg.

 

In the spring of 1997, Zimmerman drove from his home in Alberta (he was born in Kelowna, B.C., all the way to Winnipeg, just to attend a Goldeyes open tryout camp at Winnipeg Stadium. The manager at the time, Hal Lanier, fell in love with Zimmerman’s darting slider and signed him to a Northern League contract and while Zimmerman, 24 at the time, didn’t tear up the league immediately, he did pitch consistently enough to finish with a 9-2 record, a 2.82 earned run average and a club-record 140 strike outs. With that he led all pitchers in earned run average and won the Northern League Rookie Pitcher of the Year award. 

More importantly, he signed a contract with the Texas Rangers organization and by April of 1999 had pitched himself into the big leagues.

At the time, Zimmerman became only the second Goldeyes pitcher to reach the big leagues (after Mike Cather), but little did he know where his rookie season in the Majors would take him.

With Texas, Zimmerman was an instant success. By mid-season he had a record of 7-1 with a 1.22 earned run average and was selected to pitch in the 1999 All-Star game in Boston. He had the baseball world at his feet after he came into the game at Fenway and shut down four of the National League’s most fearsome hitters – Brian Jordan, Jeff Kent, Vladimir Guerrero and Alex Gonzalez.

He was so good in his rookie season that he signed a three-year $10 million deal with the Rangers. 

It appeared as if he was on easy street.

But all was not well. Zimmerman was pitching more often than he ever had in his career and the pressure to throw his almost-unhittable slider was taking its toll on his elbow. By 2001, he had nothing left. His elbow was shredded and after going 4-4 with a 2.40 ERA in 2001, it appeared his career might be over.

He did everything he could to get back into baseball. He had not one, but two Tommy John surgeries. He had two other procedures and three scopes. In total, he had five invasive operations and seven procedures, but by 2005, it was apparent he’d never pitch again.

“I kind of gave up and admitted to myself that it was probably over,” Zimmerman said, via telephone from the Mariners camp in Peoria.

“So I just kind of went about the business of helping Andrea raise the kids and didn’t think much about it.”

But this winter, Zimmerman grew tired of “getting in my wife’s way,” so in January he picked up a baseball again, just to see if he could throw it without any pain.

What happened next was a shock. 

“Right away I was able to throw a baseball without any discomfort at all,” he said. “I sometimes find it hard to believe that after all that time, I was completely healthy again. I threw the ball in January and I had no trouble getting it into the high eighties. 

“So I called my agent and asked if he could get me a shot with a big league organization. He called back and said he’d set up a tryout with Seattle.

“So I threw for the scouting staff and then the next day, threw for the GM and the manager and the coaches. Long story short, they’ve offered me a contract. I’m a Seattle Mariner. 

Zimmerman expects to spend a few weeks working on his fitness and mechanics at extended spring training. Then he figures he’ll be assigned to the Mariners Double A franchise in Jackson, Tenn.

“It’s something I never expected,” Zimmerman said. “But here we are.

“I think having John Wetteland around to watch me throw was the difference. I played with John and he knew me when I was at my best.  He’s the Mariners bullpen coach and his words carry a lot of weight. He told them I looked like “the old Zim,” and that was huge for me. After I finished throwing, they all seemed genuinely happy for me. After hearing all the stories of my rehab woes, I got the feeling they were really happy to see me throwing like I used to throw.”

It’s been almost eight years since Zimmerman threw in the big leagues. In fact, he pitched in the last game in 2001 and hasn’t thrown in the majors since. According to Zimmerman, it now feels exactly as it did when he drove across the west and made the Goldeyes in ‘97.

“I feel exactly as I did that day in Winnipeg,” he said. “I’m nervous and excited. My body is full of energy and I can barely sleep. It’s the greatest feeling I could ever imagine.”

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