I was thinking about Melky Cabrera the other day and his odds of being named Comeback Player of the Year. After all, he was a disaster in his first season with the Jays in 2013. It was only after the fact we learned he needed surgery to have a tumour removed from his back, which seriously impeded his abilities last season to be the player he had been in San Francisco and Kansas City. Right now Melky is hitting .298 with 11 homers and 37 runs batted, and is playing better defence in left field than at any point last year. Hes even beginning to put the PED suspension in the review mirror. Yes, he would be a worthy pick for American League Comeback Player of the year. This really is a fascinating award. Its often said it is one no player really wants to win because it means at some point your career has gone off the rails or youve suffered a serious, possibly career-threatening injury. Only one Blue Jays player has even won the award. On May 29 of 2008, second baseman Aaron Hill suffered a concussion when he collided with teammate David Eckstein. Hill missed the remainder of the season. He came back though with a vengence in 2009, batting .286 and 37 doubles, 36 homers and 108 runs batted in. He went to the All Star Game in St. Louis in July, was named Blue Jays Player of the Year, and ultimately, American League Comeback Player of the year. Its interesting that there are actually three versions of this award. The original and the one with the most historic cache was established by the Sporting News in 1965. The Players Association created its version in 1992 followed finally by Major League Baseball in 2005. Two players won it after coming back from heart attacks, Tony Conigliaro of the Red Sox in 1969 and Scarboroughs own John Hiller - the Tigers starter turned closer. In addition to Hiller another Canadian "Hall of Famer" Fergy Jenkins won the award in 1974 with Texas. In 1976, the National League honours went to Tommy John, naturally for the year he had after undergoing the landmark elbow reconstruction surgery that still bears his name. In the American League, three men have won the award twice - Norm Cash of the Tigers, "Boog" Powell of the Orioles and Royals right hander Bret Saberhagen. In the National League, the club is even more exclusive. former Expos first baseman Andres "The Big Cat" Galaragga won in Colorado in 1993 and Atlanta in 2000, while former Blue Jays right hander Chris Carpenter won twice with St. Louis in 2004 and again in 2009. former pitcher and current broadcaster Rick Sutcliffe stands alone as the only player to win in both leagues. He did it in 1987 with the Cubs and 1992 with Baltimore. Talk about impressive runs, from 1977 through 1979, future Hall of Famers won in the National League three years running, with Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell and Lou Brock so honoured. But the ultimate comeback story is unfolding this season in Cincinnati. Heck this guys entire career has been one gigantic comeback story. Alfredo Simon is a 33 year old right-hander out of the Dominican Republic. He was signed back in 1999 by the Phillies as an amateur free agent. But in those days he went by the name of Carlos Cabrera. He hid his true identity so he could conceal his true age. The Phillies thought he was younger and didnt find out the truth until 2004. Simon has bounced around a lot and didnt actually crack the Majors until 2008 with Baltimore. He had brief snatches of success with the 0s saving 17 games in 2010 and starting 16 in 2011, but in 2012 he was claimed on waivers by the Reds off the Orioles. Before this season, Alfredo Simon had a career record in six years of (17-18) with 19 saves. He had been with six organizations, three of them twice. Yet the other night at 33 he become the National Leagues first 10-game winner this season. In fact he is (10-3) with a 3.05 ERA and he is convinced he can pitch 200 innings this season even though his previous high was 115 2-3 with Baltimore in 2011. A truly amazing story. All of which brings us to Ricky Romero, whos been slogging it out in Triple-A Buffalo trying to find the old Ricky who used to be the ace of the Blue Jays staff three years ago. We learned Thursday, that Ricky had to undergo surgery on his left knee and is done for the rest of this season. Ricky will be 29 years old next season and in the final guaranteed year of his contract. The Jays will be paying him another $7.5 million dollars. Maybe the knee surgery will make a difference and Ricky can author the kind of comeback story that Alfredo Simon has. One more thing on Simon. He had to battle back from Tommy John surgery as well after getting injured in just his second start for the Orioles in 2009.. This weekend marks a special anniversary at Rogers Centre. Saturday it will be 14 years since the only no-hitter in the history of the facility was pitched there. Oaklands Dave Stewart accomplishing the feat on June 21, 1990. Ironically later that same night, Fernando Valenzuela no-hit St. Louis. It was the only time in Major League history two no-nos have been thrown on the same day. Three years later Stewart won a World Series with the Jays and later became their assistant General Manager. Alex Carter Lions Jersey . - Defenceman Robyn Regehr was placed on injured reserve by the Los Angeles Kings on Friday with an upper-body injury. Laken Tomlinson Womens Jersey . You can catch all of the action live NOW on TSN and TSN GO. The Eastern Conference finals are set with Montreal scheduled to host the New York Rangers in Game 1 on Saturday, but the Chicago Blackhawks are still waiting for an opponent in the West. http://www.Jerseyslionsshop.com/Womens-Travis-Swanson-Authentic-Jersey/ . Dustin Brown said it felt unbelievable. The top-seeded Isner lost to the dreadlocked Brown in the second round of the U. Travis Swanson Lions Jersey . When it comes to the struggling New York Knicks, Derek Fisher might be running out of ways to motivate them... so hes resorting to stating the obvious. Ameer Abdullah Lions Jersey . -- Pete Rose sounded bowled over.NEW YORK -- Aaron Hill was ready to wait all night to get this game in. Hill had a two-run homer wiped out by a rain storm that postponed the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets in the fourth inning on Friday night after a delay of 2 hours, 11 minutes. "To get a win ... yeah," Hill said. "We need a few of those." The game will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader on Sunday. The first game will start at 1:10 p.m. Manager Kirk Gibson said the Diamondbacks, who are in last place in the NL West at 18-31, will likely call up a pitcher for the makeup start Sunday. The Mets will go with Daisuke Matsuzaka in the second game of the traditional twinbill. Rafael Montero will make his regularly scheduled start in the opener against Bronson Arroyo. Matsuzaka has been pitching out of the bullpen this season but the converted starter doesnt see going deep into the game as a problem. "I pitched yesterday but just one inning, did not throw too many pitches," Matsuzaka said through a translator. "I do not think 100 pitches should be a problem" The Diamondbacks are flying back to Arizona after the game Sunday. They host the San Diego Padres on Monday night but the doubleheader was the only option for the teams that do not meet again this season. They have no common days off the rest of the way. "Id rather stay," and wait it out, Gibson said, "but I can see it was raining." Last seasons series between the teams at Citi Field was also plagued by rain. "Good old New York," Hill said. Hill gave Arizona the lead in the second inning with a homer off Bartolo Colon that just cleared the fence in left field. Rookie Chase Anderson allowed one hit and a walk in his third big league start for the Diamondbacks. Dark clouds rolled in during the bottom of the third inning and the public address announcer made a request for fans sitting in exposed areas to move to protected areas. After Colon pitched a perfect fourth, thhe grounds crew brought out the tarp and rain began to fall shortly after.dddddddddddd The Mets swept the Diamondbacks in a three-game series in Arizona April 14-16, but the teams are in very different places now. The Mets are 6-14 in May while the D-backs are 9-9 even though they were just dropped three straight at St. Louis. Hill connected on a two-seam fastball from Colon after Miguel Montero led off with a nubber up the third base line for a hit. Mets manager Terry Collins before the game talked about how Colon, who turns 41 Saturday, needs to use his off-speed pitches more to be effective. He started out Hill with a slider then threw him four straight two-seamers. Colon has had an up and down start to his first year in New York. He gave up two runs in eight innings in his previous start, a win over Washington, but yielded seven runs in 5 2-3 innings against the Yankees five days earlier. He entered 3-5 with a 5.34 ERA. Anderson gave up a two-out single to David Wright in the first and walked former Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young leading off the second. Wilmer Flores grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning and Anderson was perfect in the third. "I felt like I was starting to roll after that third inning," Anderson said. "If we went to the fourth, fifth, I felt pretty good." NOTES: Mets C Travis dArnaud (concussion) took BP on the field. His next step before getting MLB doctors approval is catching a bullpen session. When he is finally cleared to play in games, Collins thinks dArnaud will need 8-10 rehab at-bats. ... Diamondbacks RHP J.J. Putz (forearm strain) has been playing long toss and is nearing a bullpen session, Gibson says there is no timetable yet for his return. ... Gibson was watching on a TV in his office his son Cam play in the Big Ten baseball tournament. Cam had four hits in a win over Illinois. ... Up Next: Arizonas Josh Collmenter (2-2) is scheduled to face New Yorks Zack Wheeler (1-4) Saturday. cheap nfl Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys cheap nfl Jerseys wholesale Jerseys ' ' '