B14 OTHE GLOBE AND MAIL | WEDNESDAY,APRIL8,2020
CORNERED BLISS SPEED BUMP BIZARRO
“We are not ready at this time to
endorse any particular format for
staging games in light of the rap-
idly changing public health situa-
tion caused by the coronavirus.”
Half of the MLB clubs hold
spring training in Arizona, the
other half in Florida. Arizona’s ad-
vantage is 10 spring training ball-
parks plus the Arizona Diamond-
backs’ Chase Field all within
about 50 miles. Florida’s spring
training ballparks are spread out
by as much as 220 miles.
“It allows for immediacy of a
schedule, where you might be
able to begin it and televise it, pro-
vide Major League Baseball to
America,” said Scott Boras, base-
ball’s most prominent agent. “I
think players are willing to do
what’s necessary because I think
they understand the importance
of baseball for their own liveli-
hoods and for the interest of our
country and providing a neces-
sary product that gives all the peo-
ple that are isolated enjoyment.”
“It gives them a sense of a re-
turn to some normalcy,” Boras
added. “You talk to a psychologist
about it and they say it’s really
good for a culture to have sport
and to have a focus like that,
where for a few hours a day they
can take their minds off the diffi-
cult reality of the virus.”
Baseball’s season had been set
to start March 26, but spring train-
ing was halted on March 12. After
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention recommended re-
stricting events of more than 50
people for eight weeks, MLB saidit would not open until mid-May
at the earliest.
Texas Rangers president of
baseball operations Jon Daniels
said MLB is examining different
options and he didn’t want to
speculate. “But, obviously, we’d
all love to find a way to play, pro-
vided we could do safely, and that
would be the priority,” he said.
The players’ association would
want to survey its members to de-
termine whether they would sup-
port such a plan, one of the people
said.
“You’re going to be largely sep-
arated from your families and
you’re going to have to function in
a very contained way. It’s not a
normal life, this idea,” Boras said.
“You’re going to have an identi-
fied group of people. You’re going
to have a constantly tested group
of people. And you’re going to
have a very limited access of those
people to the outside world so
that you can assure a very uncon-
taminated league, if you will, to
produce a product that is inspira-
tional to our country.”
Chase Field, with artificial turf
and a retractable roof, could be
the site of daily tripleheaders, Bo-
ras said.
MLB and the union reached a
deal March 26 to advance US$170-
million in salary to players for the
first 60 days of the season. As part
of the deal, players would get only
prorated portions of their salaries
if the regular season is cut from its
usual 162 games and would re-
ceive no additional salary if the
season is scrapped.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArizona:StateishometoChase
Field,10spring-trainingballparks
FROMB13In place of on-field baseball action
postponed by the COVID-19 pan-
demic, The Globe and Mail brings
you a computer-simulated tourna-
ment involving four of the greatest
Canadian teams, using the statis-
tics-based software of the sports-
game company Strat-O-Matic. Two
first-round series eliminated the
1981 Montreal Expos and the 1985
Toronto Blue Jays, leaving the 1993
Jays and the ’94 Expos to compete
for the mythical Macdonald-Cartier
Cup.
A
sked at a news conference
earlier in the week about
the series between the 1993
Toronto Blue Jays and his 1994
Montreal Expos, all-star outfiel-
der Moises Alou predicted an out-
come of sorts. “It’s going to be
wild,” he said, giving no tips at all
to the betting people. And, then,
in Game No. 1, he went out and
fulfilled his prophecy. A three-
run home run off Jays starter Juan
Guzman in a crazy at-bat in the
bottom of the fourth inning rep-
resented all the offence the Expos
would need to take a 1-0 series
lead in the Macdonald-Cartier
Cup final series.
Scheduled starters for Game
No. 2 are Toronto’s Dave Stewart
(12-8, with a 4.44 earned-run aver-
age in 1993) and Montreal’s Pedro
Martinez (11-5, with a 3.42 ERA in
1994).
With Marquis Grissom and
Cliff Floyd on base after consecu-
tive singles to open Montreal’s
half of the fourth inning, Guzman
threw a sinker that had more dip
in it than his Jheri curl hairdo.
The pitch may or may not have
hit Alou on the toe of his front
foot, but the batter was selling the
former as he began to jog to first
base. Home plate umpire Dave
Phillips called him back, though.
He had called the pitch, which
catcher Pat Borders had scooped
up clean, a ball.
Alou argued the call, as did his
father, Expos manager Felipe
Alou. In the seats, Expos super-
fan Donald Sutherland was be-
side himself. Expos mascot Youp-
pi! hopped around on one big fur-
ry foot, feigning injury in a way
that taunted Phillips to the point
that the umpire threw the mascot
from the ball game.
“Youppi!’s a jerk,” said Los An-
geles Dodgers manager Tommy
Lasorda, serving as a guest com-
mentator on NBC’s broadcast of
the game. Those two have a histo-
ry. The lovable, colourful Lasorda
is something of a mascot himself- he might be jealous of Youppi!
When the at-bat finally contin-
ued, a brush-back pitch from Guz-
man further riled up the crowd.
Two straight strikes evened the
count. Alou lined the fifth pitch to
deep left field to settle the con-
frontation.
Up to that point in the game,
Guzman was cruising like
Smokey Robinson. After the na-
tional anthems were performed
by Gino Vannelli, the Jays’ Rickey
Henderson opened the game
with a walk, a stolen base and a
run scored on a one-out ground-
out to second base by Roberto
Alomar. In the second inning,
Paul Molitor lofted a solo home
run off Expos starter Ken Hill to
give the high-priced team from
Toronto a 2-0 lead.
Hill, 16-5 on the season, settled
down. He departed after six in-nings, leaving things in the hands
of Mel Rojas, Gil Heredia, Jeff
Shaw and closer John Wetteland,
in that order. The Jays threatened
somewhat in the top of the ninth
when John Olerud reached baseon an error. But Tony Fernandez
grounding into a double play
ended any comeback hopes.
The Expos celebrated on the
field. Youppi! was missed. The
crowd sang along to the strains of
Leonard Cohen’sClosing Timeon
the stadium public address sys-
tem:Yeah, the women tear their blouses
off
And the men they dance on the pol-
ka-dots
And it’s partner found, it’s partner
lost
And it’s hell to pay when the fiddler
stops
It’s closing timeClosing time? Hardly. This thing
has only begun.Alou’shomerlifts’94Exposover’93Jays
Outfielder’sdingerputs
Montrealaheadtostay
inthefourthandgives
histeama1-0series
leadoverToronto
BRADWHEELER
MontrealExpoMoisesAlou,seenhittingahomerunina1994game,
droveinthreerunswhenhewentdeepagainstthe1993TorontoBlue
JaysinGame1oftheMacdonald-CartierCupfinal.ERIC RISBERG/AP‘93 Blue Jays AB R H RBI AVG ‘94 Expos AB R H RBI AVG
R.HendePsonLF3100.000 M.GPissom CF 4 1 2 0 .500
D.White CF 4010 .250 C.FloydLF 4110 .250
R.AlomaP2B 4011 .250 M.Alou RF 3 2 2 3. 667
J.CaPtePRF 4000 .000 L.WalkeP1B 4 0 0 0 .000
J.OlePud1B 4000 .000 D.FletchePC 3000 .000
P.MolitoP3B 4121 .500 W.CoPdePo SS 4 0 2 1 .500
T.FePnandez SS 3 0 1 0 .333 S.BePPy 3B 4 0 0 0 .000
P.BoPdePsC 3010 .333 M.Lansing 2B 3 0 1 0 .333
J.Guzman P 1 0 0 0 .000 K.HillP2000.000
A-W.CanatePH 0000 — M.RojasP 0 0 0 0 —
A.LeitePP 0000 —G.HePediaP 0000 —
B-T.WaPdPH 1000 .000 C-L.FPaziePPH 0000 —
M.TimlinP 0000 —J.ShawP 0 0 0 0 —
M.EichhoPnP 0000 —J.WettelandP 0000 —
Totals 31 2 6 2 Totals 31 4 8 4BOXSCORE
GAME 1: 1993 Toronto Blue Jays at 1994 Montreal ExposA-Pinch Hit FoPGuzmanIn 5thInning
B-Pinch Hit FoPLeitePIn 7 thInning
C-Pinch Hit FoPHePediaIn 7 thInning‘93 Blue Jays 110000 0 0 0 - 2 6 1
‘94 Expos 000300 0 1 - 4 8 1‘93 Blue Jays (0-1) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
J.GuzmanLOSS(0-1) 4 4 3308 153 6. 75
A.LeiteP 2 20010 02 6 0.00
M.Timlin 1 2/3 1 1 1 2 2 0 19 5.40
M.EichhoPn 0 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.00
Totals 8 8 443101‘94 Expos (1-0) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
K.HillWIN(1-0) 6 42212 1913.00
M.RojasHOLD(1st) 0 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0.00
G.HePediaHOLD(1st) 0 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.00
J.ShawHOLD(1st) 1 1 0000 0120.00
J.WettelandSAVE(1st) 1 0 0001 0130.00
Totals 9 6 2213 1Thursday, The Globe andMail
will run a game report and box
score of GameNo. 2 of the final
round of our computer-simulated
tournament. Scheduled starters
are Dave Stewart for the 1993
Toronto BlueJays and Pedro
Martinez for the 1994Montreal
Expos.NEXTUPR
ed Sox left-hander Chris Sale says he
has no regrets about the timing of his
recent Tommy John surgery and is con-
fident he can return as a stronger pitch-
er after his year-long rehab.
Sale had the procedure on his left elbow on
March 30, getting his ulnar collateral ligament
replaced by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.
The Red Sox said the surgery was a success.
Sale is expected to miss 14-15 months, which
would put him on track to return in the middle
of the 2021 season.
The Boston ace said having ob-
served and interacted with sever-
al teammates and friends who
had the surgery helped put his
mind at ease about the road he
has ahead of him to get back on
the mound.
“That’s kind of making the
light at the tunnel a little bit
brighter,” he said during a confer-
ence call on Tuesday. “If you’re
telling me all I have to do is work
really hard rehabbing this elbow,
we’re in. There’s no more discussion. So I have a
lot of confidence going forward to know that
my elbow is gonna be better than it was before.
Hopefully I get 10 more great years out of it.”
Sale plans to rehab at Boston’s spring train-
ing facility in Fort Myers, Fla., when it reopens.
But in the meantime, he said he is equipped to
begin the process at home while coronavirus
social-distancing restrictions remain in place.
The 31-year-old missed the start of spring
training with an illness the team described as a
flu that it said turned into pneumonia. The Red
Sox then revealed he had a flexor strain near
the elbow, but the team hoped he would avoid
ligament replacement surgery.
Sale said he first noticed an issue after throw-
ing a batting practice session in Fort Myers. He
said he was feeling fine during the workout, get-
ting up to 92 miles an hour with his fastball. But
hours later, he started feeling nervous after
feeling tightness in his arm and forearm. The
next day he informed the team training staff
and his doctors, who scheduled an MRI.
The Tommy John operation ultimately took
place 11 days after doctors recommended it be-
cause of scheduling difficulty brought on by the
coronavirus pandemic.
“At the end of the day this virus is more im-
portant than fixing my bum elbow,” Sale said.
“That was the big thing for us. That this was the
right thing to do at the right time
and would not affect anybody
that was suffering.”
A seven-time all-star, Sale is
109-73 in 10 major league seasons
and entering the second season
of a US$160-million, six-year con-
tract. But after helping the Red
Sox win the 2018 World Series, he
went 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in 25
starts last year. It marked his few-
est wins and starts, highest ERA,
and the first time he failed to fin-
ish among the top six in Cy Young
Award voting in any full season as a starter.
“There’s never a good time for this to hap-
pen. But if there ever was, this is probably about
as good as you can get with everything going on
with the season,” Sale said.
He said he has no regrets about not getting
the procedure done in the fall after he spent
time on the injured list during the season with
elbow inflammation.
“I appreciate the process and I wouldn’t have
been 100 per cent go as I was this past time. Be-
cause we turned over every stone. We did every
possible thing we could have to prevent this,”
Sale said.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSRedSoxaceSaleconfidenthe’ll
bestrongafterTommyJohnsurgery
KYLEHIGHTOWERBOSTON
Ihavealotof
confidence going
forward to know that
my elbow is gonna
be better than it was
before.CHRISSALE
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