finally ended with a defeat to Rafael Nadal. "I tho

Over the winter, we wrote about the Blue Jays coming to terms with a pair of pitchers who were trying to become knuckleballers. They were Josh Banks and Tomo Ohka. Banks had been a Blue Jays draft pick who had a brief stint with the club in 2007 before moving on to San Diego and then Houston, compiling a career record of 4-8. The other was Ohka, a journeyman from Japan who spent time with six organizations, including the Blue Jays in 2007, where he went 2-5. Ohka, who turns 38 next week, was already sent to the minor league camp last week. Now there is a third. Hes 30-year-old Frank Viola III. If the name is familiar, it should be. Hes the son of former big league star lefty, Frank Viola Jr. Frank Jr. had a very good career, predominantly with the Twins and the Mets. He was the MVP of the 1987 World Series - the Twins first win ever - and won the Cy Young Award in the American League the following season - his final full season with the Twins with a 24-7 season. Frank "Sweet Music" Viola, as he was affectionately known, is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame. Viola actually finished off his major league career in a short stop over with the Blue Jays in 1996. He went 1-3 for the Jays and ended his career on May 28 of that year. His son chased that major league dream as well and pitched in the White Sox organization thtough 2007 before injuries appeared to cut his career short. He dabbled in the media doing Florida State League games and even had his own fishing show, but Viola III never gave up his dream of pitching in the majors. The next step was trying to master the knuckleball. He worked with the likes of R,A Dickey, Tim Wakefield and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and finally impressed the Blue Jays enough that they signed him last week. This doesnt necessarily mean the 30-year-old will make it to the big club. The Jays game plan is to have a knuckleballer or two in the minors to work with their catching prospects. That way, if they get called up to the Jays theyll be ready to work with Dickey without any major adjustment. Still, it would be great to see one of these knuckleballers eventually make it to the majors. Frank Viola Jr. incidentally is entering his second season as the pitching coach with the Mets Triple A farm club, the Las Vegas 51s. After writing about the passing of Dr. Frank Jobe, the man who pioneered Tommy John surgery last week, I discovered another interesting twist to the Tommy John story. Back in 1968, in a game at old Tiger Stadium, John was pitching against Detroit. In the first inning he hit Dick McAuliffe with a pitch. He later scored on an RBI single by Al Kaline. When McAuliffe came up again in the third, threw one pitch high and tight and then a 3-2 pitch behind McAuliffes head that sent him sprawling in the dirt. When he got up he dusted himself off and started to head to first glancing out towards John. McAuliffe claims that John taunted him by saying "What the F are you looking at?" That was the final straw for McAuliffe and he charged the mound. John got into a defensive position and the knee of the charging McAuliffe dug into Johns left shoulder. He suffered a separated shoulder and torn shoulder ligaments and missed the rest of the season. McAuliffe was suspended for five games and was fined $250.00. The interesting thing about John is that he resisted the advice to have surgery and let the shoulder heal with rest and rehab. The plan worked, though it took a while for John to get back to peak efficiency. 1974 was different. When Tommy John blew out his elbow, he said his arm simply felt dead. This time he agreed to surgery, which not only changed his career but revolutionized baseball in terms of treating this type of elbow injury. The Detroit Tigers have made history over the last three years, winning five of the six major awards handed out. They have won three straight MVP awards - the last two by Miguel Cabrerra and three straight Cy Young awards. The Tigers have made the postseason in each of the last three years. The only other time the organization did that was in the hay day of Ty Cobb in 1907, 1908 and 1909 when they dropped three straight World Series - two to the Cubs and one to the Pirates. This season under rookie manager Brad Ausmus, they will be trying to make the playoffs for the fourth straight time and for the first time in franchise history. Over the weekend, Tigers GM Dave Dumbrowski denied rumours he was listening to offers for starting pitcher Rick Porcello. In fact, he denied trying to trade any of his starters. But considering the Tigers have question marks at 3rd base and left field, you have to wonder a bit. Its still a bit too early to get too excited or too worried about this but Baltimore is 8-2 so far this spring and is scoring nearly eight runs-again, even without a rehabbing Manny Machado (knee) at full strength. Nike Air Max 95 Mujer Rebajas . Calgarys Bo Levi Mitchell and Montreals Troy Smith will be the starting quarterbacks in a CFL season-opener for the first time in their careers. Both want to reinforce their No. 1 status. You can watch the game live in the first half of a doubleheader on TSN and TSN GO at 3:00pm et/Noon pt. Nike Air Max España .Y. -- Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney was mired in a shooting slump, and his woes coincided with a late-season swoon by the Orange. http://www.tiendasairmaxbaratas.com/zapatillas-air-max-axis.html . The two-time former Formula One champion downplayed his third-place finish three weeks ago in China and said progress is going slow for Ferrari as it tries to make up ground on Mercedes. Nike Air Max 90 Rebajas . JOHNS, N. Air Max 200 Hombre . David Perron had a career high four-point night with two goals and two assists as the Oilers experienced an offensive explosion, blasting the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-0 to record a rare home win for their second victory in a row.LONDON -- Roger Federer could play for another four years and add to his tally of 17 Grand Slam titles, according to former No. 1 Pete Sampras. Speaking ahead of an exhibition match against Andre Agassi in London on March 3, Sampras said on a conference call Wednesday that he is impressed by Federers longevity. "Im amazed that he is up for more tennis," Sampras said. "He has done everything in the game and he could walk away tomorrow feeling great about it. But he still wants to travel and compete and Im in awe of it. He is a true lover of the sport." Following a disappointing 2013 season marred by back problems, Federer started this year on a high. Now working with new coach Stefan Edberg, he reached the final of his first tournament, at Brisbane, and then made the semifinals of the Australian Open for the 11th consecutive year. His run at Melbourne included wins over 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. Sampras, who retired after winning his 14th Grand Slam title at the 2002 U.ddddddddddddS. Open, said Federer should be comforted by a streak that finally ended with a defeat to Rafael Nadal. "I thought his level was quite good," Sampras said. "When youre playing against Rafa and if youre not quite on your game then it can seem like youre struggling. Rafa is a rock. But I do see Roger building from that, I think hes going to do well this year." Asked if Federer could win another Grand Slam title, Sampras said the Swiss "can do it" if he plays his best tennis. "Thats why hes playing, I dont think hes playing for anything else but to win some more majors," said Sampras, adding that Federers best chance would be on his favourite grass surface, at Wimbledon. Sampras was 31 when he decided to hang up his racket for good, while the 32-year-old Federer has hinted he could keep playing until the Rio Olympics in 2016. "As long as Roger is enjoying it and hes healthy, I can see him playing for another two, three, four more years," Sampras said. ' ' '