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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. Tim McCarver Cardinals Jersey . Nikolai Khabibulin was yanked in the second period, and the Ottawa Senators looked ready to put away a big road win. Mike Matheny Jersey . -- Wichita State is all alone in the record book. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/74t...rdinals.html.ca. Hi Kerry, Thursday nights Bruins-Blackhawks game had a goal by Patrice Bergeron initially waved off by the referee, but video review clarified it was a good goal. Wholesale Cardinals Jerseys .ca. The NHL Play of the Year showdown kicks off with some slick moves going head-to-head with a combination of soft hands and endless patience. Rogers Hornsby Cardinals Jersey .DeMarco Murray got his 20th carry late in the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, not long after Dez Bryant made his final catch of the day.Sure enough, a 44-17 win over Washington didnt change Dallas post-season position.KAPALUA, Hawaii -- On the golf course with the widest fairways on the PGA Tour, Zach Johnson believes that keeping the ball in the short grass is key to success. On a course that favours power players because the par 5s can be reached in two, Johnson didnt make birdie on any of them Saturday. Stranger still is that he matched the best score of the day and had a three-shot lead in the Tournament of Champions. The only explanation is that Johnson is playing some pretty good golf. "Am I surprised? No. Its only two days, so its halfway done for me," Johnson said after his 7-under 66 gave him a three-shot lead. "Im very comfortable as a competitor. One of my goals every year is those par 5s, and Im a little bitter about that right now. But Ill get over it." Defending champion Dustin Johnson birdied half of the holes at Kapalua for a 66 and was three shots behind, along with Matt Kuchar (68) and Jordan Spieth (70). Zach Johnson was at 13-under 133. Dustin Johnson approaches the Plantation Course differently. He birdied all the par 5s with his length, and only fell back with a pair of bogeys on the back nine when he missed short putts. Even so, he was in good position heading into the final two rounds of a tournament that ends Monday. "This golf course sets up well for me," Dustin Johnson said. "I can reach all the par 5s, and theres a few short holes where you can drive it up close to the green. So if I chip and it and putt it well, Im going to shoot a good score pretty much every time." So what does Zach Johnson make of that outlook? "I would say Im up by three gross, and by eight or nine net, based on that rationale," he said. Clearly, theres more than one way to get around a course built on a side of the mountain on the west end of Maui. Kuchar had his second straight round of 68 with some good birdies and a few bogeys. Spieth had said he shouldnt make too many bogeys on this course if he kept it in play, though he made one on No. 7 to lose some momentum. Even so, the 20-year-old Texan had few complaints after his opening two rounds of a new year. Webb Simpson and Michael Thompson, part of a four-way tie for the lead after the opening round, each had a 71 and were four shots behind. Masters champion Adam Scott, who can get within range of No.dddddddddddd 1 in the world depending on his two weeks in Hawaii, had a 70 and was seven shots behind. The Australian was in dire need to a low round to at least have chance going into Monday. Zach Johnson is going after his second straight win. The last one was unofficial, yet no less memorable. Johnson was four shots behind Tiger Woods in the World Challenge on the back nine and rallied to catch him, holed out from the drop zone on the 18th hole to force a playoff and then won on the first extra hole. Except for his Masters win in 2007, it might be the most famous of his 11 victories worldwide. "When youre talking about a guy thats done what hes done and raised the bar, any time you beat him -- especially if youre playing with him and come back from four shots with eight holes to go, its going to happen. So I can deal with that." Dustin Johnson has the power that is suited for Kapalua, and even though he had to withdraw from the pro-am with a sore neck, he appears to be hitting his stride. He twice had a batch of three straight birdies on the front nine to go out in 30 and claim a share of the lead, and even after missing the short putts on the 11th and 13th, he made three more birdies in the final five holes. Two of them were par 5s. Both times he had a look at eagle, missing from 20 feet on No. 15 and becoming the first player all week to reach the 689-yard, downhill closing hole in two shots. He two-putted from about 35 feet for one last birdie. That could be attributed to a slightly more typical trade wind, though Johnson still had to give it two pretty good pops with a driver and a 3-wood. The course played about a stroke harder than the opening round. Zach Johnson is starting his 11th year on the PGA Tour. He has won a major (Woods tied for second), played on three Ryder Cup teams and knows his limitation. He said while in awe of what Woods can do, he is past the stage of intimidation. And the same goes for Dustin Johnson. "Ive played with him a number of times, too," Zach Johnson said. "I like watching him hit driver. Hes not a whole lot different than a lot of the other guys I play with because they all hit it a lot further than me it seems like. ... I dont know. Dustin does not intimidate me." ' ' '