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. Cardinals Jerseys 2019 .com) - There may be a debate in Philadelphia about who should be the starting quarterback of the Eagles. John Gant Cardinals Jersey .That is precisely what they got Sunday.The Ravens trailed at halftime and never built a comfortable lead against lowly Jacksonville, yet did just enough to squeeze out a 20-12 win to stay in the thick of the AFC playoff race. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/164...-cardinals.html. Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. Matt Wieters Jersey .com) - Nathan MacKinnon scored the winning goal in the shootout as the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Stan Musial Jersey . The Nuggets leading scorer, Lawson is characterized as day to day by the team. Hes averaging 17.9 points and 8.9 assists. Lawson suffered the injury late in Denvers win Sunday at Sacramento.ST. LOUIS -- David Backes and the St. Louis Blues power-play unit found that the best way to break out of a slump is to get back to basics. Alexander Steen scored his league-leading 15th and 16th goals and the slumping power play woke up with three goals in a 7-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night. St. Louis has won seven of nine and is off to the fastest start in franchise history with 12 wins in its first 17 games. Colorado lost back-to-back contests for the first time this season. Backes, Derek Roy, Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Stewart and Jay Bouwmeester also scored for the Blues, who have won their last five home meetings with the Avalanche. T.J. Oshie added four assists for the first four-point game of his career. The Blues were 3 for 4 on the power play, breaking out of a 1-for-15 skid that spanned the previous five-plus games. Roy, Backes and Stewart scored on the power play. Oshie had two power play assists. "We simplified and started shooting the puck," Backes said. "We got a few ugly ones in front to start it off. From that, we hopefully learned our lesson that scoring one out of 20 that are pretty isnt worth it, when we can score a couple a game if we just do things the hard way and shoot the puck." The three man-advantage goals are a season-high for the Blues. "A lot of it has to do with how much we were shooting the puck," Oshie said. "We were getting to the right spots and getting some bounces. The last couple of games, I dont think we were getting those bounces. "Tonight we were shooting and we found the net." Steen, who pushed the lead to 3-1 with his first goal at 7:16 of the second period, has a point in 12 successive games, a career high. He took a slash in the third period and was not available after the game, though St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said Steen was fine. St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak improved to 10-2-2. The Blues had just one power play goal in their previous five games. "Weve had a lot of good looks on the power play, but tonight, we wwere rewarded for our looks," Hitchcock said.dddddddddddd "I thought the Backes unit showed great continuity. It looked like they were threat every time." Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Ryan OReilly scored for Colorado, which lost 2-1 at Carolina on Tuesday. Avalanche goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere lost for the first time this season after winning his first five starts. He was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 14 shots, but re-entered at the start of the third. Giguere, who gave up five goals on 165 shots in his first five games, was looking to become the first Colorado goalie to begin the season 6-0. He finished giving up five goals on 23 shots. The Blues scored four times over 11:50 in the second period to break open a 1-1 game. "It feels good to be playing the right way and get a win against a good team," Oshie said. Backes put his team ahead to stay 2-1 with a power play goal 2:49 in the second period. He jumped on a rebound at the side of the net off a shot from Roy. Roy, who added two assists, got the St. Louis attack started with a power play goal just 1:54 into the game. It was the first man-advantage goal given up by Colorado on the road this season. The Avalanche were 20 for 20 on kills over their first seven road games. Colorado appeared frustrated after the four-goal blitz, taking three fighting majors in the final 3:14 of the second period. Three Colorado players were given 10-minute misconducts in the third period. "They scored on three power plays and that was the story," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "I think its a good learning process for us." The Blues have scored first in their last nine games. NOTES: The Blues signed D Carlo Colaiacovo to a one year free-agent contract. He was not in uniform on Thursday. ... The Avalanche had given up two goals or less in nine of their previous 10 games. ... The Blues had 10 shots or more in their last eight periods. ... The game featured three fights in the second period after the Blues took control. ' ' '