by Barry Stagg
June 1994
Butler shunts out of Syracuse:Toronto bound
Rob Butler has managed to parlay a mediocre start with the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League into a recall to the Toronto Blue Jays. Butler was hitting just .269 with Syracuse on May 8 when the Blue Jays put in an emergency call for his services. Young Butler recognizes that this unforeseen opportunity to redeem himself is one that he must not mess up. The exploding nova that Carlos Delgado has become in the last few weeks has led the Blue Jays to realize that Delgado's ascent to the Baseball Hall of Fame will have to wait for him to learn how to handle the tougher pitching that he is now seeing since his early season bombardment of the outfield fences of the American League. Delgado has hit eight home runs for the Blue Jays but none of these have come since the middle of April and he now sits on the bench as the Blue Jays explore the talents of journeymen such as Darnel Coles and Mike Huff. Butler has the same talent that he exhibited last year in the Skydome and with renewed vigour and the dedication to onfield performance, he should be able to reclaim at least a portion of the leftfielder's job in Toronto.
The Blue Jays as a team are finding out that relief pitching is everything when it comes to staying in first place. Over the past several seasons the Blue Jays have enjoyed the luxury of having star relievers such as Duane Ward and Tom Henke. However this year Ward has fallen victim to the evils of tendinitis and he is facing possibly a full season on the disabled list. The Jays now have to face power houses in New York, Baltimore and Boston with several starters staggering and with a relief staff that looks more and more like the Syracuse Chiefs pitching staff everyday.
While the Blue Jays struggle as everyone's favourite target in the American League, their fellow tenants in the penthouse of sport in Toronto are attempting to drive their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Toronto Maple Leafs at this point are locked in a conference semi-final battle with the upstart San Jose Sharks. The Leafs, relying on the heroics of centre Doug Gilmour and the pure pugnacity of winger Wendel Clark are hoping to make it to the Stanley Cup finals after just missing out by a period last year.
The Leafs road to the Stanley Cup is likely to be blocked by the Vancouver Canucks in the conference final. The Canucks are looking like this year's version of last year's Leafs. Vancouver knocked off the Calgary Flames in the same upset fashion that the Leafs did with the powerhouse Detroit Red Wings last year. Now the Canucks are on the verge of eliminating the Dallas Stars and are looking for a repeat of their run at the Stanley Cup back in the 1982 season.
The Western Conference's opponents in the Stanley Cup final will come from either the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, or Boston Bruins. The last hope for involving a Newfoundlander in the finals disappeared when the Rangers eliminated John Slaney and the Washington Capitals in five games. However there will certainly be a Newfoundland presence in the finals if the Leafs are able to overcome the Sharks and the winner of the Vancouver/Dallas series. Many of the Leafs have put in time in St. John's with star goaltender Felix Potvan still being the most famous product of the early years of the St. John's Maple Leafs. Other lesser lights have come to the forefront in this playoff year. Players like big centre Mike Eastwood and centre/winger Kent Manderville are showing that they can carry a major part of the job of forechecking the Leafs' opponents into oblivion.
These are motherlode days for sports fanatics. Hockey and baseball of the highest possible calibre continue to collide on the television screens and many a bleary-eyed performance can be attributed to long nights of absorbing television signals piped in from far away places like San Jose and Seattle. Newfoundland fans especially contribute to this when the Leafs make their midnight starts in those games out of San Jose. Those red-eyed mornings are becoming badges of courage for the dedicated fan.
Until next month be proud, be prosperous.