EEight different forwards have scored goals

I always enjoy going over the baseball transactions every day just to follow the career paths of players or coaches, or even managers, I may have dealt with in the past. Cheap Shoes Outlet Stores . The other day, one name in particular caught my eye: Roy Howell signed on to be the manager of the Seattle Mariners Triple-A farm club in Tacoma. Of course, I had to make sure, it was the Roy Howell I was thinking of and it turns out it was. Roy Lee Howell came to the Blue Jays in their very first season in 1977. He had the fiery red hair and, later, the beard to go along with his gamer personality. Howell, a third baseman by trade, was the fourth-overall pick of the Texas Rangers in the 1972 draft. In the spring of 1977, he lost the Rangers third base job to longtime Rangers star Toby Harrah. Pat Gillick quickly pounced and pulled off his first significant in-season trade in franchise history on May 7 of that year, getting Howell in return for pitcher Steve Hargan, infielder Steve Mason and $200,000. Howell never had great numbers, in fact, his batting average peaked at .316 in 1977 and his best production year was 1979, when he 15 homers and knocked in 72 runs. But that first year with the Jays, he had a game for the ages at Yankee Stadium, no less. Howell slugged a pair of home runs, two doubles and a single, driving in nine runs as the Blue Jays came up with, by far, their biggest victory of their inaugural season pummeling the Yankees, 19-3. Those nine runs batted-in in a game is still a franchise record. Remember that 1977 was the year the Yankees won their first of back-to-back World Series. Howell spent four years with the Jays, then moved on as a free agent to the Milwaukee Brewers and finally to the San Francisco Giants. He came into managing late. Only three years ago in 2011, he became the skipper of the independent Pennsylvania Road Warriors of the Atlantic League. After that, he worked his way up in the Mariners organization as a hitting instructor. He wasnt actually supposed to be the skipper at Tacoma this year, but then fate stepped in. John Stearns, who was coaching on the Ms big league staff had to step down for health reasons. Rich Donnelly, a long time Major League coach, who had just been hired at Tacoma was promoted to Seattle to replace Stearns and, just like, that Howell, at age 60, was the new manager of the Rainiers. I looked back at that 1977 Blue Jays roster and its interesting, if not amazing, how many got involved in coaching or managing after their playing days were done. The most prominent include Alan Ashby, who went on to become an even better broadcaster, Phil Roof, Ernie Whitt, whos managed the Canadian mens team among others, Canadian Dave McKay, who worked for many years in Oakland and St. Louis with Tony LaRussa. I counted nine in total, including Doug "the Red Rooster" Rader, who had big league managerial stints with Texas, the White Sox and the Angels. Rader was also a coach on LaRussas staff in 1992, when they lost to the Blue Jays in the ALCS. Who knows? Maybe in the next couple of years Roy Howell will get his Major League shot. - Drew Hutchison will be starting for the Blue Jays Friday afternoon at Dunedin against Clay Buchholz and the Red Sox. If Hutchison continues to pitch the way he has this spring and holds his own against the BoSox, you can pretty much guarantee he will make the opening day roster as the number-four or five starter. Ricky Romeros big test is Tuesday at Lakeland against Detroit. Though Ricky has pitched well in two extended relief outings this spring, this will be his first start where he should face predominantly Major League hitters. If he gets through the outing unscathed, he will definately be in the conversation for the fourth or fifth starters slot. - The other day, a Tampa Bay Rays prospect by the name of Jeremy Moore crashed a monster home run off Marcus Stroman over the "batters eye" in dead centre field at Dunedin and drew the praise of skipper Joe Maddon. I wanted to learn a little bit more about Moore, so I did a little digging. He was a sixth-round pick of the Angels in 2005, a speedy outfielder who could handle all three positions well. Though he seemed to be progressing well through the minors, he was bothered by a bone spur and other issues in his hip. That seemed unusual for somebody so young, but doctors felt the beatings he took as a four-sport star in growing up in Louisiana, including football, had done the damage. Moore ultimately had to undergo hip surgery at age 24, though, thankfully, not hip replacement surgery like Bo Jackson. Moore missed the entire 2012 season before signing a minor-league deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After batting .211 with seven homers and 31 runs batted in last season in his comeback year, the Rays saw enough in him to sign Moore in January. Though he may be a long shot to make the Tampa Bay opening day roster, he has hit four homers this spring and has the versatility the Rays covet. Impressing Joe Maddon doesnt hurt either. Jeremy Moore is the kind of player you really pull for. - Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York pointed out that the Blue Jays could be on hand in New York for "Derek Jeter Day." Sunday, September 21, the Blue Jays are in New York and that is the Yankees final Sunday home game of the regular season. Nothing is official yet, but the Yanks did hold "Mariano Rivera Day" on the final Sunday of last season. So there is a chance, the Blue Jays will be part of the grand farewell of one of the Yankees all-time greats. Authentic Shoes Wholesale .B. -- Canadian pairs skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford went from elated to frustrated in the span of a few minutes. Shoes From China Wholesale . The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the league hasnt announced the award. Crawford was the Clippers third-leading scorer and the NBAs top-scoring reserve with 18. http://www.cheapshoes.us.org/ . Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Doug Martin broke the news that hes cleared for full activity moving forward.BROSSARD, Que. - Brian Gionta knows what happened the last time the Montreal Canadiens opened a playoff series with a pair of wins on the road. It was in 2011, and the Boston Bruins stormed back to win on a Nathan Horton shot off a defencemans leg in Game 7 overtime. Before that was 2006, when the Canadiens took the opening two games in Carolina only to drop the next four, partly through losing star centre Saku Koivu to a series-ending eye injury from an accidental high stick by Justin Williams in Game 4. Both times, the team that came back to beat the Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup. After taking their opening two games of this years playoffs with wins of 5-4 and 4-1 over the Lightning in Tampa, Fla., Gionta doesnt want history to repeat itself. "Its huge, but at the end of the day, we fell into that trap against Boston a few years back," the Canadiens captain said Saturday. "We won two games in their building and we came back and let off the gas a bit. "So we need to make sure that our focus is on (Sunday) night and make sure we do what we did in the first two games." Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is set for Sunday night at the Bell Centre, where a wall of sound from the 21,273 spectators is expected to greet the Canadiens. They didnt skate after a late-night flight home from Tampa, but the message from the coach Michel Therrien and his staff was about taking care of business on home ice. "We all understand that the farther you get in the playoffs the more difficult the games are to play," said Therrien. "Were glad were back at home, but I like our focus. "We have a business mentality. Its about preparing ourselves for (the next game)." Therrien has much to be pleased about. His team has had the edge on the Lightning for all but the first period of Game 2 on Saturday night, when strong goaltending from Carey Price kept the game scoreless until Montreal took control in the second frame on a power-play goal from David Desharnais and Rene Bourques first of the game. Brendan Gallagher and Bourque added goals in the third before Teddy Purcell got one — on a power play plus the goalie pulled for an extra attacker — at 18:01. The Desharnais goal broke a nine-game drought for the Montreal power play. They have also been getting scoring from all four lines. EEight different forwards have scored goals, which takes some pressure off the top unit of Desharnais, Max Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek. Best Cheap Fake Shoes. Desharnais got his first goal in 12 career post-season games, while Paciorettys assist on the same tally was his first point in six career playoff games. The line combined for 22 shots in two games, so it should produce more as the playoffs go on. The Canadiens also took advantage of the absence of Tampa Bays injured top goalie Ben Bishop by beating Anders Lindback eight times in two games and adding another against Kristers Gudlevskis — the Latvian who made 55 stops in a 2-1 loss to Canada at the Sochi Olympics. Gudlevskis let in one goal on three Montreal shots. And they held Tampa Bay star Steven Stamkos to two goals, both in Game 1, and no assists, although the gifted sniper has nine shots on goal. So the Canadiens are in good position to win a playoff series for the first time since goalie Jaroslav Halaks heroics got them to the Eastern Conference final in 2010. But they know how far away that goal is. All-time, the Canadiens are 49-5 when leading a best-of-seven series 2-0, but have lost three of the last four times in that situation. "Theyre going to make adjustments," said Gionta. "Its the playoffs and youve got to try to read what theyre going to do, make adjustments on the fly, and see what happens. "I thought we did a fairly good job of that (Friday) night. We need to do it again." Giontas line with centre Lars Eller and left-winger Bourque has been particularly solid. Eller entered this years post-season with two assists in eight career games, but now leads the team with a goal and two assists. Bourque was a target for fans all through a sub-par regular season with nine goals in 63 games in which he was made a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. He sat out five straight games in March. He may get a warmer reception after two solid games in Tampa, including his first career playoff game with more than one goal. "Since hes back in our lineup, before the playoffs, Rene Bourque was playing the way we expect him to play," said Therrien. "We dont judge players only on goals and assists. "What I like is that hes engaged in the game. Hes physical. Hes going hard to the net and he got rewarded." ' ' '