Toronto

While I was watching the Griffins game, ESPN's Pierre LeBrun issued some new "rumblings"--as issued on TSN's latest Insider Trading clip, which includes the following news tidbits from LeBrun, Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie: LeBrun says that Kris Letang's agent will speak with Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero, and the team will have to make a decision as to whether to re-sign Letang for $7+ million, or to trade him, as he has a year left on his deal; McKenzie states that teams are more than kicking the tires on Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier, with the Flyers, Islanders and Maple Leafs intrigued by him. It may take Matt Frattin from Toronto or Matt Read from Philly; Dreger says that Bernier, Niklas Backstrom and Ray Emery are all being targeted by the Flyers, and as stated earlier this evening, whether the Flyers are actually buying out Bryzgalov is a murky and mysteriously rumorific situation, to say the least; Continue reading "LeBrun’s Rumblings and TSN’s Insider Trading segment = bomb-droppin’"

After all the hate that was spewed tonight all over my newsfeed, twitter, etc...I'd just like to say the following to an audience that will feel my pain:My cheering for the Spurs isn't about an irrational hate for LeBron and willingness to want to see him fail. He was my guy on the Cavs, win lose or draw, and he's still the #1 talent in the NBA, hands down. He had every right to leave Cleveland, and ever since Michael Redd and Joe Johnson declined teaming with LeBron many years ago (leaving us to our 3rd place Larry Hughes spoils), the writing has been on the walls that he was going to leave us. My only issue was and will always be he waited until every free agent under the sun had signed before he made his decision, leaving our immediate situation a disaster. Doing this to his hometown team was far worse than if he had just said "I'm done with this" after the Boston Series. But as that fan of a small market NBA team, if the Heat win another championship, against one of the best "teams" in the last decade (the Spurs being the epitome of relevance in a smaller market), it will prove that Free Agency Collusion and Buying Championships is in-fact, statistically, still the right strategy. It's bad enough that Boston, LA, Chicago, Houston, Miami and San Antonio have been a part of every finals (except '90 with the Bad Boys) since BEFORE I WAS BORN, it's simply worse to think that trend will do nothing but continue. That's right, one of 6 or 7 teams have represented their conference in the NBA finals every year for the last 30+ years. I root against the Heat because it's bad for the future of the NBA. If they win 2/3 straight finals, don't be surprised to see Cp3 and Howard team up, whether it be in Houston with Harden, or elsewhere to form another super team. And this will leave teams like Cleveland, Memphis, Toronto and others battling for the Table Scraps of the Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay or Andre Iguodala sweepstakes...irrationally outbidding one another for a chance to fill seats and stay financially relevant (while simultaneously handicapping future growth by being a .500 plus team). At the same time, a team like LA can "lose" for a year, and then trade a couple late round picks and Kwame Brown to get back Pau Gasol in his prime.#GoFigureAs a fan of the game, I know this has been the case since before I can remember, but it's even more of a reason to hope that the Spurs win on Thursday. That way a week from Thursday, the other 20 or so fan bases can approach the 2013 draft with some semblance of "that could be us" hope going into next season. After all the hate that was spewed tonight all over my newsfeed, twitter, etc...I'd just like to say the following to an audience that will feel my pain:My cheering for the Spurs isn't about an irrational hate for LeBron and willingness to want to see him fail. He was my guy on the Cavs, win lose or draw, and he's still the #1 talent in the NBA, hands down. He had every right to leave Cleveland, and ever since Michael Redd and Joe Johnson declined teaming with LeBron many years ago (leaving us to our 3rd place Larry Hughes spoils), the writing has been on the walls that he was going to leave us. My only issue was and will always be he waited until every free agent under the sun had signed before he made his decision, leaving our immediate situation a disaster. Doing this to his hometown team was far worse than if he had just said "I'm done with this" after the Boston Series. But as that fan of a small market NBA team, if the Heat win another championship, against one of the best "teams" in the last decade (the Spurs being the epitome of relevance in a smaller market), it will prove that Free Agency Collusion and Buying Championships is in-fact, statistically, still the right strategy. It's bad enough that Boston, LA, Chicago, Houston, Miami and San Antonio have been a part of every finals (except '90 with the Bad Boys) since BEFORE I WAS BORN, it's simply worse to think that trend will do n

In an outing that likely sealed his fate as the odd man out of the Rockies rotation, Jeff Francis allowed eight runs on 10 hits in six innings of work, inflating his ERA to 6.58 in an 8-3 Rockies loss. Toronto starter Esmil Rogers retired the Rockies in order in the first. Francis, however, did not fare as well. He allowed six hits in the first inning, resulting in four runs, which would be all the Blue Jays needed in this one. Francis then retired the next 11 hitters he faced before Melky Cabrera's single and Edwin Encarnacion's 19th home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth extended the Toronto lead to 6-0. At that point, the Rockies still were without a hit against Rogers, but Jonathan Herrera broke up the no-hitter with a one out single in the top of the sixth. Toronto responded in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back home runs from JP Arencibia and Maicer Izturis, extending their lead to 8-0. The Rockies started the seventh with three straight hits, a ground-rule double from Carlos Gonzalez and singles by Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario, which along with an RBI ground out and an error netted the Rockies three runs, cutting the deficit to 8-3. The Rockies managed just a Rosario walk in the last two innings, losing their second straight to the Blue Jays and dropping to 37-35 on the season. They will look to salvage a game in tomorrow's series finale as Juan Nicasio takes the hill against Mark Buehrle. Source: FanGraphs Roll Call Info Total comments 977 Total commenters 43 Commenter list Andrew T. Fisher, DeepPurple, ES46NE10, FieldGreen, Greg Stanwood, HiRanchBuff, Jordan Freemyer, Junction Rox, LeetheTree, MOtorboat, MissR, Mr. Rockie, Nephelimdream, Nick95, OFSM, Paleface Destro,PurpleToPurple, RhodeIslandRoxfan, RockedUp, Rockie Nation, RockyMountainWay91, Rox the Casbah,Roxman4ever, RoxnSox09, SDcat09, Sjamb, The Lodo Magic Man, Thnikkaman, WalkInRight, WanderingRoxFan,WhiskeyDrinkingMan, Yokel, bluejays13, butterfly, chickenfoof, everever, holly96, idj2, oldcoachB, prettyinpurple,rockiesfan4ever, sleepyteak, steakman Story URLs http://www.purplerow.com/2013/6/18/4443026/colorado-rockies-game-72-jeff-francis-vs-esmil-rogers Top Commenters: Nick95 - 131ES46NE10 - 109PurpleToPurple - 100SDCat09 - 99RockyMountainWay91 - 50

Toronto events on June 17th, 2013 DANCE | Luminato Presents: Evening Illuminations - A Conversation with Mark Morris The Luminato Festival continues its Evening Illuminations series tonight with a special live conversation with Mark Morris. Morris is an American choreographer and director who began his career as a dancer, and has received a Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award, a New York City Mayor's Award for Arts & Culture, and many other accolades. He has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, and created many works for different ballet companies, most notably the San Francisco Ballet. He will discuss the different productions he is bringing to Luminato this year: L'Allegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and L'Allegro Movement Project with an old colleague from early in his career, Gerard Mortier. TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West) $20 CULTURE | Soirée Québec The Bureau du Québec à Toronto presents Soirée Québec, tonight at Roy Thomson Hall. This event celebrates Québec's National Day, and will feature a performance of the modern circus troupe Flip FabriQue's show Attrape Moi. Flip FabriQue is a young performance group made up of international calibre talent, with members who have worked previously with Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize. There will also be over twenty exhibitors, providing samples of amazing culinary delights, as well as promoting and educating attendees about Québec's landmarks and tourist attractions. Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street) 7PM $8 FILM | Female Eye Film Festival The Female Eye Film Festival begins its five day run tonight. This is an Ontario festival showcasing the work of female directors, and celebrating independent cinema created through the "female eye" since 2001. Over the course of five days, the festival will showcase films from a wide spectrum of genres, and include a question and answer segment with the directors at the conclusion of every screening. There will also be artist talks, a photography exhibit, and award ceremony, and both opening and closing night galas. Tonight's opening night and reception takes places at the WARC Gallery. The festival runs until June 23rd. WARC Gallery (401 Richmond Street West, Suite #122) 7PM BOOKS & LIT | Book launch for Lisa Moore's novel Caught Newfoundland author, Lisa Moore, launches her new novel, Caught this evening at Ben McNally Books. Moore's first novel, Alligator, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as was her earlier short story collection, Open. Moore is known for incorporating Newfoundland in to her work. Caught is an adventure story, and is being compared by critics to the tradition of the earliest narratives, such as The Odyssey, with the hero in this case being a young Newfoundland drug dealer, on the run and traveling to find an ex-partner. Ben McNally Books (366 Bay Street) 6PM Also Of Note Method Man & Redman How High Tour Sound Academy Ontario Craft Beer Week Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly. Lead image from Mighty Fine, screening at the Female Eye Film Festival

Photo by ~EvidencE~ in the blogTO Flickr pool

The champs aren’t dead yet.

For a team so very unfamiliar with long winning streaks (they haven't won more than six in a row since 2008) the current seven gamer must be very satisfying for the Toronto Blue Jays. Not only that, but they've posted a combine score of 41-11 in those games. Indeed, these are heady days for the Jays. Of course, it behooves us to heed Mike Wilner's oft-repeated observation: a team is never as good as it looks at it's best, nor as bad as it looks at it's worst. Still, in may ways this team is preforming now in a manner consistent with pre-season expectations (shaddup Adam!) and they are finally seeing the results.Since May 5, when the team inexplicably found it's footing, the Blue Jays are 24-15 (a .615 winning %) for the second best record in the AL in that span (one game behind Oakland and WTF is up out there anyhow?) which is a pace which, were it maintained the rest of the season, would result in 91 wins - that puts you right in the thick of the wild-card race. On the other hand, it's a pace that over a full season would get you 100 wins and certainly it's debatable whether this team is of that caliber. On the third hand, Jose Reyes is imminently ready to return, one assumes Brett Lawrie will be back at some point and step up his game, and Josh Thole is already an upgrade on Henry Blanco (and more besides, if Gibby will give him some of JP's mostly empty at-bats). And the best part is that, apart from Adam Lind, the horses of the offense are not performing at an unsustainable rate.Here are the teams top six offensive producers over the last 38 games (and the rest have been no great shakes):Cabrera - .312 - .356 - .446 - .802Bautista - .285 - .370 - .487 - .857Encarnacion - .297 - .387 - .561 - .948Lind - .388 - .417 - .642 - 1.059Rasmus - .250 - .320 - .508 - .827DeRosa - .266 - .329 - .484 - .813Yes, DeRosa is doing more than he's done since his peak years five years ago, but it's not insane and it's in half as many at bats as the others so it's not like the team is being driven by it. Lind is the obvious outlier but going forward, a regression is easily balanced by the presence of Reyes. It's reasonable to assume the offense IS this good.On the mound, the bullpen has been, frankly, insanely good.Janssen - 3.55, 1.11Cecil - 1.40, 0.52Delenbar - 1.50, 1.11Loup - 0.90, 0.65Oliver - 2.25, 1.13Perez - 0.00, 0.50Wagner - 0.96, 0.96 (when does THAT ever happen?)The Starters?Dickey - 4.53, 1.45Buehrle - 3.46, 1.19Johnson - 1.86, 1.14 (only 3 starts)Rogers - (as Starter) 1.77, 0.98 (4 starts)Wang - (tiny sample) 3.14, 1.53 (2 starts)Morrow - 6.14, 1.36 (4 starts)Jenkins - 3.60, 1.47 (3 starts)Ortiz - 3.77, 1.60 (3 starts)Happ - one start, irrelevantRomero - dittoOrtiz is probably gone for the duration, Jenkins has been flailing at Buffalo for some unknown reason, so lets ignore them looking forward. Over the last 13 games the staff as a whole has an ERA of 1.98 and they have piled up a 10-3 record in a not unrelated result. obviously that won't last but it's this kind of run that playoff teams occasionally have.Morrow was reported today to have suffered a setback last night and it seems clear he'll not be back before the ASB. IF he gets and stays healthy, those numbers surely get better and one would think that Rogers would regress some, but the two should balance out (in theory, anything could happen in real time). Buehrle is back consistent with his career numbers, and Dickey while disappointingly inconsistent, is in a range where it's reasonable to assume he is more likely to improve than to regress further. That means that in a rough-and-dirty look ahead, your rotation success largely turns on whether Josh Johnson is finally in his groove or not. This is still a group that can be above average enough to support the offense, particularly as long as the bullpen is so VERY good.In terms of the playoffs, at the end of play on May 4, the Jays were 8.5 back of the wild card with nine teams to overcome in order to qualify. Now, 38

With the hiring of Jason Kidd as coach, new dates get put on our calendar and others take on more significance. Kidd will be at PNY Center again Wednesday and Thursday for more Draft workouts, his first real assignment. He'll also head to Yankee Stadium Wednesday for another milestone. June 19 - Kidd continues his round-the-clock promotion tour, throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. An All-State center fielder at St. Joseph's High School in Oakland, CA, Kidd will need no instructions. June 20 - Court hearing in Southhampton, NY. on Kidd's July 15 DWI. Kidd is expected to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge. June 27 -- NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Nets have their own first round pick, but no second round pick. Last year, the Nets used $2.75 million of their $3 million cash limit to buy second round picks used to acquire Tyshawn Taylor and Shengelia. If they don't use the $3 million on Draft Night, they lose it three days later. Tickets available here. The Nets are moving their Draft War Room to Barclays as well. Expect Kidd to be in place -- and on the air -- at the Draft.June 30 -- C.J. Watson will likely make it official and opt out of his 2013-14 deal ... a $1.1 million vets' minimum plus 20 percent ... and become an unrestricted free agent. Also, contracts for basketball operations staff expire ... as does the Nets $3 million cash limit for 2012-13.July 1 -- Andray Blatche, Jerry Stackhouse and Keith Bogans become unrestricted free agents. Free agents can begin talking with teams, but cannot officially sign until July 11. Rumors of signings begin hours after the midnight opening bell. New $3 million cash limit is put in place for the 2013-14 season.July 7-12 - Orlando Summer League, which includes the Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. Expect Taylor, Shengelia, Kris Joseph and the Nets pick(s) to participate along with some returning Springfield Armor players. What about Dominique Jones who the Armor signed after he was cut by Dallas? He and Kidd were teammates on Mavs' 2011 championship team. Will Bojan Bogdanovic play? He won't be signed but the Nets have played unsigned international draft picks before ... like last year with Shengelia.July 8 - European teams will hold first familiarization practices in their home nations as they begin preparations for FIBA Eurobasket.July 11 - First day free agents can sign contracts. Will Nets sign Bogdanovic? Nets are restricted to the mini-MLE of $3.2 million per over three years and the vets minimums, unless they can work a deal that gets them a trade exception. They can sign their own free agents and trade them but can't accept a player in a sign-and-trade.Also, beginning of one-week amnesty period during which the 14 teams that can still drop players will decide what to do. Possible amnesty candidates include: Tyrus Thomas of the Charlotte Bobcats, Metta World Peace of the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlie Villanueva of the Detroit Pistons, Linas Kleiza of the Toronto Raptors and Drew Gooden of the Milwaukee Bucks. Because they are over the cap, the Nets cannot participate in the blind auction that takes place after a player is put on waivers. They can sign a player if no other team bids on him, as they did with Blatche and Childress.July 27 - European national teams gather for full practices and "friendly" games prior to start of FIBA Eurobasket. In some cases, the national teams will play up to nine "friendly" games prior to the start of Eurobasket.August 1 - First guarantee in Kris Joseph contract comes due. If he is still under contract, he gets a $100,000 guarantee. He gets a second guarantee of another $100,000 on October 29, roster cutdown day. His contract remains partially guaranteed through the first week of January when all contracts are guaranteed.August 30 - September 11 - FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Caracas, Venezuela. Will

MIAMI—It is fitting that such a wonderful series, full of emotion and talent and transcendent performances on both sides, should come down to one game.Winner take all.Legacies on the line.With theirs in the balance, the Miami Heat found some deep reserve of resolve and determination, digging out of a deep fourth-quarter hole to beat the San Antonio Spurs 103-100 in overtime here Tuesday night and force a seventh and deciding game in the NBA final.LeBron James, without a basket in the entire third quarter and only 14 points to that point, ignited the fourth-quarter blitz as the Heat rallied from 10 down. Ray Allen tied it with a three-pointer with five seconds left in regulation time.James finished with 32 points — 18 in the fourth quarter and overtime — along with 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the series, which will be settled here Thursday night.There hasn’t been a more dramatic fourth quarter finish to an NBA final game in years — a series of big shots, each more pressure-packed than the one before.The final one, fittingly, came from the greatest three-point shooter in league history: Ray Allen nailed a corner three with 5.2 seconds left that created a 95-95 tie and capped two minutes of brilliance.Tony Parker had made a three and a runner in the lane to wipe out a three-point Miami lead with about two minutes to go. James had made a clutch three with about 14 seconds left that got the Heat within two.And when second-year Spurs swingman Kawhi Leonard missed one of two foul shots with about 12 seconds remaining, it made it a three-point game and set up Allen’s heroics.James missed a three to start the final play, but Chris Bosh grabbed the rebound, kicked it to Allen in the corner and his shot tied the game.A couple of costly Manu Ginobili turnovers in the overtime period and two clutch free throws by Allen with 1.9 seconds left sealed it for the Heat.The loss spoiled a marvellous throwback performance by 37-year-old Spurs elder statesman Tim Duncan, who had 30 points in a brilliant outing as he chases his fifth championship ring.But the help he so desperately needed did not come. Ginobili reverted to his early-series form and had just nine points, while Danny Green, whose three-point shooting brilliance had carried the Spurs, finished with only three points. The series deserves the drama of a seventh game, though.MOREDoug Smith’s Sports Blog

Tennis star Serena Williams raised eyebrows with comments made public Tuesday about a rape case involving high-school athletes in Steubenville, Ohio, that received national attention earlier this year.