A Hero's Welcome

When the Toronto Blue Jays released Reed Johnson back in Spring Training, there was sure to be backlash from the fans. A lot of people thought that it wasn't fair that he was released. There's some justification for that statement as most of his 2007 campaign was injury plagued. Let's remember, the guy his over .300 in 2006.

But JP Ricciardi didn't have enough faith in him and went after a less injury-prone player in Shannon Stewart.

So when Reed returned to Toronto on Friday, sure enough he was the one healthy while Stewart was injured. Now I've criticized the Jays here before (probably unfairly at times) but I really believe they made the wrong move by cutting Reed. Yes, hindsight is 20/20. In a game where it is an unwritten rule that "you don't lose your job due to injury", the Blue Jays went directly against it. And it has cost them.

Coming into Friday's game, Reed had more RBI than anyone on the Blue Jays! Of course he has a lineup full of perennial all-stars but that fact just jumped out at me when he came up to pinch hit in the 9th. He grounded out but was still cheered unceremoniously nonetheless.

Enter Saturday. The Reed-off man (as I like to call him) was in the starting lineup against a pitcher he has known for more than 6 years. Wouldn't it be something if he could burn the team that let him go? It didn't start off too well as he grounded out to 3rd his first time up.

Standing in the on-deck circle with 2 outs in the 2nd inning, trying to scout a guy he's seen for years with a perfect seat in left-field, Johnson got another chance to burn the Jays. David Eckstein booted a sure 3rd out at short and up trotted Reed. The next thing you know... BANG. A line drive out to left-field and.... OVER THE WALL for a 3 run HR! The camera panned to JP and his face was priceless. I think every Reed Johnson fan savoured that moment. Even though I love Doc, you had to be rooting for Reed this weekend. While optimistic commentators and Blue Jays executives will tell you the season isn't over, it really is. Don't buy into that "long season" bulls*** or the fact that the Jays are still at .500. If the Jays were still in the race, the Reed HR would have been bittersweet. But it was great to see him jog around the bases and still get an ovation from the smart fans at Rogers Centre. If I was there, I would have definitely gave him a standing-O.


Predictions

3 out of 6 is pretty bad. At least I called 33% of the games dead on (a nice way of looking at things). Italy and France looked sluggish while the Germany/Croatia match is probably the upset of the tournament so far.

Lets try this again then shall we? It's gonna be a lot tougher because its much more difficult to predict the last leg of round robin matches. Teams rest their players and in one matchup, a team may actually want to lose.

3rd leg of matches:

Portugal vs Switzerland - Tough one to call. The Swiss are playing for pride in this one and don't want to go... stay home empty handed. If weather conditions are bad, Portugal may just let its substitutes play. All they need is a tie to clinch first. Im going to say Switzerland goes away with a point at 1-1. Nuno Gomes and Barnetta the goal scorers.

Czech Republic vs Turkey - Cant see Turkey advancing in this group. They just barely beat the Swiss in their previous match. Turkey may also still have key-injuries in their lineup. 1-0 Czech with Baros the goal scorer.

Germany vs Austria - A must win type of scenario for Germany. Podolski is questionable to play and Schweinsteiger is suspended. Those are two key players that Germany may miss but they still have the talent to overcome a weak Austrian team. Germany did look sluggish last time and maybe some of it continues in this match. 1-0 with Klose the goal scorer.

Croatia vs Poland - Poland will need a lot of help to finish 2nd in this group and may get it from Croatia. Poland needs a win but it will be hard to compete with a team that just beat the favourites. The dark horses of the tourney may rest their players in the 2nd half but don't expect a Poland win. Riding the momentum of the Germany game, Croatia wins 2-0 with goals from Olic and Modric.

France vs Italy - These two countries have been the clowns of the tourney thus far. Both teams have screwed up twice with neither team collecting a win. I'm going to say they both screw up again and tie 2-2 giving neither a chance to advance. Goals from Ribery and Henry for France while Toni scores both for Italy (he's gotta break out at some point).

Netherlands vs Romania - Quite possibly could be the greatest conspiracy in soccer EVER. If Netherlands loses this game, both France and Italy will be out regardless of what either team does in their match. Romania can still advance in this group with a tie here if Italy and France tie their game. But if you are Holland, the smart thing to do is to rest your players almost completely. Maybe 20-25 minutes for the starters and thats it. Of course, there is a sense of pride here as well. If Holland could escape the group of death with the maximum amount of points, they'll have a huge chip on their shoulder going into a quarter-final matchup with Russia/Sweden. I'm going to say Romania takes this one 2-1 with Mutu scoring both for Romania and Robben scoring early for Holland. No one would be happier than me if Italy and France were both out of this tourney... they've lost me too much money over the past couple of weeks.

Spain vs Greece - The defending champs are out after 2 matches. Kind of sad for Greek fans but even their coach called 2004 a miracle. Having not scored a goal through 2 matches, it shows how lucky they were 4 years ago. Their defense is their strength but if you can't score, you can't win. Spain can score. I don't think they'll have a strong sense of urgency but I think they'd like to advance with the 9 points. 1-0 Spain on a goal by David Villa (this guy will win the golden boot).

Russia vs Sweden - The most competitive of the 3rd leg of matches in my opinion. The winner of this match gets Holland so I don't know how much celebrating will be done afterwards. I liked Sweden to finish 2nd in the group all along so I'm going to stick with it. They may be old, but they've played well in the first two games. 1-0 with a goal from Larsson.

DD




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