(perhaps the persons protesting in the photograph above ought to consider a real global injustice – the lack of a level playing field for Canada’s lone Major League Baseball franchise)
The Used Car Salesman announced about an hour ago the June 25-27 Phillies/Blue Jays series, scheduled to take place at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, would instead be moved to Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park because of security concerns surrounding the upcoming G20 Summit. The Globe & Mail’s Jeff Blair considers the Commissioner’s move unavoidable ;
However baseball re-worked the schedule of the three-game series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Blue Jays “ Roy Halladay™s homecoming “ the simple fact was that the possibility of protests meant there was absolutely no guarantee that, for example, the TTC Subway would not be shut down as a security measure. All jokes about Blue Jays attendance aside, the last thing the integrated security services wanted was 20,000-30,000 people coming out of the Rogers Centre to join a crowd of protesters.
Beeston also said that the Blue Jays have requested that the 2011 regular season schedule include a trip to Toronto by the Phillies in order to allow the Blue Jays to properly honour Halladay, who was traded by the club this winter. The commissioner’s office is expected to go along with the request.
Bad enough Toronto faces NY, Boston and Tampa 57 times a season. Having already been left with 78 home games in 2010 instead of the requisite 81, Beeston is now asking MLB to give his club another 3 opportunities to have their brains beaten in by one of the NL’s top teams. Why just settle for a ceremonial tip of the cap from Halladay, Paul? Why not insist that MLB and the Phillies GUARANTEE the Cy Young Award winner be available to start, and if necessary, pitch a complete game in front of his old fans?