Wayne Gretzky has resigned as coach and director of hockey operations for the Phoenix Coyotes. I wonder if this has anything to do with the whole Jim Balsille situation and the air of uncertainty surrounding the franchise. I have the utmost amount respect for this guy.. and it’s not only because he was a legend in a sport I follow quite intensely (though that’s certainly a reason). I wonder what he’s going to do next.

As for the Jays, their dismal season is going to come to an end soon. They will at least have a winning home record, but that doesn’t explain the overall record significantly below .500. I couldn’t spend too much time following the Jays this season, but I don’t think I missed anything impressive. To their credit, they’ve been decimated with injuries.. From the standpoint of an optimist, I will look forward to 2010, when some of their better pitchers finally return from injury. If they don’t do much in 2010, the team will pretty much be hopeless when Roy Halladay leaves (and yes, he is going to leave.)

Again, I would like to reassert the fact that in the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays can only SNEAK into the playoffs if a combination of the following happens
1. The Yankees and/or Red Sox have a number of injuries at the same time (to players like CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, etc.)
2. The Blue Jays revive their major league best pitching staff from 2008
3. Vernon Wells starts to play.
4. Rogers is willing to put forth a better budget.

In other words, they need a perfect season. Of course, paying BJ Ryan 10 million dollars just to go away does not help. Releasing an all-star calibre player in Alex Rios for nothing in return doesn’t either.

I am by no means a fan of the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, I have a geographical affiliation with the team.

Anyways, I felt I needed to get that bit of sports commentary out. Thanks for reading.