Major League Baseball to Montreal. M | Forum
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Oct 27 '17
EDMONTON -- Mike Reilly has been one of the few positives in what is one of the worst seasons in Edmonton Eskimos history, yet the 27-year-old says the teams final three games are crucial for future of the franchise, the team and for himself. Derek MacKenzie Jersey . With games remaining against three western rivals, beginning Friday evening at home against the Calgary Stampeders, the Eskimos designated quarterback of the future says its critical the team does not "roll over and die." "Its important we compete and get some wins," he said. "Its tough to not fall into that mentality of things are lost and to hang your head. Its like when a game is over and youve lost, you have to flush it and not dwell on it. Yeah we havent had much success. But if we dwell on that were never going to get better." Reilly, who has started every game this season, says the 3-12 Eskimos have to treat the remaining games as playoffs "and try to get as hyped up for them as we can." "Treat them as the most important games of the season because honestly, for the future of this franchise, for the future of this team, we need to approach it like that. We need to have success these next three games to give everybody something to get excited about for next year." The native of Kennewick, Wash., vows hell personally be fighting every down until the end of the season because his job, like everyone elses on the team, is on the line. Reilly earned the starting job out of training camp -- aided by the season-ending knee injury to his main rival for the job, Matt Nichols -- and has proven himself a tough, capable competitor. But unless the Eskimos win at least one of the last three games they will finish with the fewest wins since 1963 when they were 2-14. As quarterback, Reilly has to share the blame. "I think were playing to save everybodys job," he says. "Im working to save my job, Im playing to save my teammates jobs, and Im playing to save the jobs of everybody in here because everybody here, coaching staff, players, are all important to me because theyre all put in a ton of work." Its a given there will be roster changes made and Reilly says the next three games are an "opportunity for everybody to show why they deserve to be around next year, and Im no different." "Im not that far removed from a backup," he added. "I remember what its like to stand on the sidelines and watch the game. So even through theres no playoffs this is three opportunities to get on the field and get better, try to make this team better, try to make this club better and get some momentum, get some hope going into next season. "For so long Ive been a backup and Ive spent so much time and hard work trying to get on the field that it would be a shame to give up and say Well, theres only three games left." Those games are against Calgary, B.C. and Saskatchewan, three western teams the Eskimos have to find a way to beat if they want to become competitive and get back to the playoffs. Defensive tackle Almondo Sewell, who was taken off the field on a stretcher last weekend but suffered no serious injury, will not play Friday. Nor will centre Alex Krausnick (knee). Brian Ramsay is expected to start at centre. Custom Florida Panthers Jerseys . Wayne and Cindy Tuck of Ilderton, Ont., closed out round-robin play earlier in the day with a 7-3 win over Finland but needed a win over Austria to reach the final eight. Reto Berra Jersey . Algeria led 3-0 at halftime, but withstood a stronger South Korean second half performance to claim its first World Cup win since 1982 and move into second place in Group H with one match left to play. Defeat for South Korea means it must now beat already-qualified Belgium to stand a chance of progressing to the knockout stages.MONTREAL - "The Rock" summed it up best. "It feels like I havent left," said Tim Raines, the former long-time Expo, current Blue Jays roving instructor and should-be Hall-of-Famer, just moments after stepping onto the turf at Olympic Stadium. While Raines was referring to the memories that came flooding back, he may have meant it literally. Nothing much has changed about the Big O. Its the same ride to the Pie IX stop on the famous Montreal Metro. The walk from the station to the stadiums dimly lit concourse is no different. Then, you emerge through one of the section corridors into a time capsule. The yellow seats, so often empty in the Expos final years, serve as a reminder of days gone by when fans would rap them up and down to make a clanging sound. The scoreboard, which still sits above the centerfield batters eye, hasnt been updated. Its not high definition or LCD or anything else that resembles what fans enjoy in the stadia of today. The players are different. Well, for the most part, if you consider that Blue Jays utility infielder Maicer Izturis made his major league debut in a Montreal uniform on August 27, 2004. Everything else is the same. "I was joking if they wanted me to do any fan mail," said Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, a Montreal native whose internship with the Expos, which included the responsibility of answering fan mail, launched his career in baseball. "I was getting ready to go." There was little chatter around the stadium of the 1994 players strike, which happened at a time when the Expos were 74-40, good enough for the National Leagues best record. The resurgent New York Yankees were the talk of the American League that year. What a contrast, those two organizations, in the two decades since. The Expos are gone, the proverbial stick of dynamite given to that 94 team by an uncommitted ownership, the 1995 club a shell of its former self. The Yankees have missed the playoffs only twice since. It took 10 years after the strike for the Expos, which experienced a kind of walking dead status once the likes of Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and others left town, to die off. The fans, descendants of the people who watched Jackie Robinson play in their city before he broke Major League Baseballls colour barrier in 1947, were subjected to annual speculation about their franchises relocation. Shawn Thornton Jersey. Finally it happened in 2005 with the city of Washington, D.C. receiving a third crack at getting baseball right (the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers each descend from failed Washington Senators clubs.) "I think the issues were, and its no knock against the stadium, but the location of the stadium, the fact it wasnt a retractable roof," said Anthopoulos. "Growing up in this city, like you would in Toronto but its a lot colder here in the winter, the winters are long and any bit of summer you can get you want to be outdoors. Its a tough sell to go all the way to the east end and be indoors for a ballgame." This is a 48-hour period for the Blue Jays and Mets to work out the final kinks before the start of the regular season. Just as importantly, its a chance for Montrealers to experience what once was and to pay a posthumous tribute to their beloved Gary Carter, which they did on Friday night. On Saturday, its the 94 Expos turn to feel the love. Larry Walker, Moises Alou and future Hall-of-Famer Pedro Martinez will be among those on hand. One can only hope this weekend serves to exorcise the demon just a little bit. Luis Rivera, the Blue Jays third base coach who played his first three big league seasons with the Expos from 1986-88, doesnt forget. "The crowds, they were loud and there was a lot of whistling, which I do a lot," he said. "It was about sometimes 20-thousand, 30-thousand, 40-thousand. I remember when Pasqual Perez used to pitch it was a packed house." Tim Raines, The Rock, he remembers too. "Its a very good baseball town," said Raines. "My first 10 years here we averaged two million fans a year. They dont just leave. I think ownership back in the day, right at the tail end, played a big part of the lack of success that they had here." Warren Cromartie, the former Expos great, has said the exhibition weekend is the first step toward the return of Major League Baseball to Montreal. Maybe hes right and one day well be able to say, "Les Expos sont la!" Maybe hes wrong and this is nothing more than a pipe dream. For the moment, its just nice to be back at Olympic Stadium. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ChinaCheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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