Fussball » more room to move. Another face-off idea, an

There could be some history made on Friday night in Buffalo. Mike Hessman of the Toledo Mudhens needs one more homer to break the all-time International League career home run mark. Before you say "big deal" as I was tempted to do, you should know who Mike Hessman is and how he made this journey over a long and varied career. First off he was born in Fountain Valley, California, and grew into the dimensions of a true slugger. He is 65" and 215 pounds. He was chosen in the 15th round of the 1996 MLB draft by Atlanta. He made it to the "Show" with the Braves in 2003. He had a long looping swing and struck out too much and generally over a short-lived big league career, the 3B/1B also seemed to be stuck behind better players such as Chipper Jones. Besides Atlanta, Hessman also made pit stops in Detroit and with the New York Mets between 2003 and 2010, hitting .188 with 14 home runs. Over time Hessman became a fixture in the International League. Now 36, he has slugged 258 homers in the "I" to tie the late Ollie Carnegie, who spent the bulk of his career playing in Buffalo. Carnegie played his final season with the Bisons in 1945. These two were a study in physical contrasts. While Hessman is 65", Carnegie was only 57" and weighed 175 pounds. Surely the Major League home run record is more impressive and more prestigious. Babe Ruth broke Roger Connors career mark of 138 back in 1921. The Bambino ran that total up to 714 by 1935, and that mark endured until Hank Aaron broke it on April 8, 1974 at Atlanta against Al Downing and the Dodgers. So Babe Ruth held the career home run record for 53 years. Carnegies mark of 258 has stood since the year he retired as a player in 1945. If you do the math, thats 69 years. Oddly enough Carnegie never played in the Majors, largely because he didnt start playing pro ball on a regular basis until he joined Buffalo at age 32 in 1931. Before that he played mainly semi-pro or amateur ball and held down a regular job. Nowadays 258 home runs doesnt sound like all that imposing a number. But remember today, its all about player development. If you dont make the Majors by your mid-20s or maybe late 20s if youre lucky, youre going to be out of a job. You have to have a special talent and be a unique individual, as Mike Hessman must be to stick around until the age of 36. Hessman had a bit of a scare about a week ago. He had to have some tissue removed from his nose and his forehead. Luckily it proved to be non-cancerous. He missed three games this week waiting for the swelling on his face to go down, then went 0-for-3 at Coca-Cola Field on Thursday afternoon. Friday night is the series finale at Buffalo and it would only seem fitting that he would hit his 259th homer in the city where Ollie Carnegie spent the bulk of his career and is enshrined in the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. When Hessman ultimately does break this record, he has other mountains to climb. He is also third on the all-time list of homers hit in the minors. Buzz Arlett is number one with 432, Nick Cullop has 420 and Hessman checks in with 403. Scoring Big Pitching and defence may win championships, but you cant deny the fact that the Blue Jays offence could carry them a long way. Theyve scored 311 runs in 61 games and slugged 87 homers, tops in the American League in both categories. You can add the total home runs for the Royals and Yankees and get 77, 10 fewer than the Jays, or the Rangers and Red Sox and get 85, still two less than the Blue Jays. In the runs scored category, the Jays have rung up 57 more than the second-best team in their division - Baltimore (254) - and then you drop off to Boston and the Yankees at 240 and Tampa Bay at a paltry 228. Boston was the runaway leader in runs scored in the American League last season with 853 and ultimately won the World Series. Im just saying. Unusual Moments This is something that happens so rarely in baseball, yet it happened twice in the last week. The Angels Garrett Richards and Clevelands Justin Masterson both struck out the side on nine pitches. Another oddity came on Wednesday when the Phillies 35-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins struck out four times in a game for the first time in his career, earning the famed "Golden Sombrero". The opposing pitcher though was Washingtons Stephen Strasburg, so well cut Rollins some slack. Rollins incidently is up to 2,226 hits now for his career. He needs nine more to pass Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt as the Phillies all-time hits leader. Since the Phils are having such a dismal season, the feeling is growing that Rollins will waive his 10-and-5 rights and will agree to a trade once the record is broken. The Tigers would be a perfect fit. The Atlanta Braves lead the National League East. Yet strangely enough, they have been held to 0 or 1 runs in a game a Major League-high 18 times. At the Draft If youre wondering why the Blue Jays used their ninth-overall pick in the Draft Thursday night to take a pitcher who just had Tommy John surgery in May, consider this. Veteran baseball writer Danny Knobler has seen Jeff Hoffman out of East Carolina pitch and said this of him: "He could be Justin Verlanders brother". Say no more! Wholesale Air Max 720 Australia . Nick Holden scored two goals and had an assist and the Avalanche held off the Nashville Predators 5-4 Saturday night for their fourth straight victory. Air Max 720 Australia . - Carter Verhaeghe scored the winner with 41 seconds to go as the Niagara IceDogs edged the North Bay Battalion 3-2 to even their first-round series at a game apiece in Ontario Hockey League playoff action on Sunday. http://www.wholesaleairmax720australia.com/ .C. -- Colin Kaepernick raced into the end zone, then pretended to rip open his shirt with both hands imitating Cam Newtons Superman touchdown celebration. Wholesale Air Max 720 . Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory. Air Max 720 Australia Sale .com) - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mat Latos had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his right elbow last week, the teams official site reported Wednesday.TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger have the latest on expanded video review, changes to overtime, face-off modifications and the NHL potentially allowing kicked-in goals. Are GMs any closer to a consensus on expanded video review that would include goaltender interference? Bob McKenzie: I wouldnt go as so far as to say that theyre reaching consensus, but they are having some scintillating conversations that we never heard before on goalie interference and that is this - in the breakout group that they had today, a couple of the general managers, Brian Burke and Bryan Murray amongst others, said that, if they want to go to review goaltender interference, they would like the referees to be able to it on the ice, in the penalty box with a monitor there, NFL-style. Thats never really been discussed before. The NHL has always been hesitant to do it. It will be interesting to see whether it gets any support from the larger group on Tuesday. Darren Dreger: Additonal video review is generally a hot-button topic at these meetings. Weve talked, seemingly, on an annual basis about the coachs challenge. Well again, that has legs. Theres some concern as to how you work out the details. The devil is in the details with the criteria. If the puck leaves the zone, does that nullify the coachs challenge? If theres a change in possession, does that nullify the challenge? I think you could see some real traction on additional video review for goaltender interference, but also the puck off the net that ends up in the goal and, perhaps, looking at offsides, like the Matt Duchene goal scored last year. That still haunts the NHL and video review could have stopped that. Could we see it expanded in time for the playoffs? Dreger: Very, very unlikely. I think its a long shot at best because theres a review process that the NHL has to go through that includes the competition committee and, ultimately, the Board of Governors would have to sign off on it during the Stanley Cup finals. Ken Hollands proposal for a three-on-three overtime, as they try to reduce the number of shootouts, seemed to be gaining momentum. Has it now hit a major roadblock? McKenzie: It certainly seems ass if that momentum has dissipated.dddddddddddd Everybody who was talking about it at the November general managers meetings in Toronto arent talking about it now. Glen Sather, New York Rangers general manager, called three-on-three overtime a pipe dream. Nobody seems to be talking that up too much, but what they are talking about is, potentially, doing a dry scrape of the ice before overtime instead of after, when they normally do it before the shootout, and going to the long change format, that is with the goaltender in the same position as he is in the second period, furthest away from the teams bench. A much harder change that usually results in more goal-scoring in the second period. Face-offs and Face-off markings were also under scrutiny on Monday. What options for change are there? Dreger: Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues pitched a novel idea, stealing from the Olympic tournament, in how the alignment was used in the Olympics, with the spacing between the hashmarks. In the NHL, theres just a three-foot separation. In the Olympics, it was five feet and, should the NHL consider that, it would create more space and there would be less contact, so the forwards could have some more room to move. Another face-off idea, and I think its a long shot at best, is trying to get rid of wasted time in throwing the centremen out of the face-off circle when hes completed an illegal draw. Move that centre back one foot is an idea that was pitched on day one. Some are intrigued by it to the point that they want further discussion, but I dont see this one flying. Is the NHL seriously considering counting all goals kicked in with the skate on the ice? McKenzie: Well, they are certainly talking about it and its a big step forward. They are looking at a liberalized kicking-in of goals, but were going to wait to see. You just never know. Dreger: Im sure the Players Association will have some input on that and, certainly, any overtime modifications being made. We know that Mathieu Schneider, Joe Reekie and Rob Zamuner will attend Tuesdays meetings and the sense is that they have some thoughts of their own on some tweaks or changes that might help grow the game. ' ' '