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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. Authentic Red Berenson Jersey . Cammalleri suffered a concussion in the Flames 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The 31-year-old forward did not travel with the team to Carolina. Authentic Joe Mullen Jersey . "I love the game, its the best job you can have," he explained Tuesday as the players left Joe Louis Arena for the summer. "Ill sit down with my wife and well go from there. http://www.cheapbluesjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-doug-wickenheiser-jersey. Three pitches later, he was hugging Mike Napoli at home plate after his teammates winning home run. Napoli and Ortiz hit consecutive homers with one out in the 10th inning and the Boston Red Sox rallied past Minnesota 2-1 Wednesday, sending the Twins to their fifth straight loss. Authentic Al Macinnis Jersey . The future hall of famers stole the show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. Authentic Keith Tkachuk Jersey .com) - Nino Williams posted 18 points and seven rebounds, as Kansas State edged No.Lille, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Roger Federer lost and Stan Wawrinka won, as visiting Switzerland and France are tied at 1-1 following the opening singles at the 2014 Davis Cup final. The Swiss drew first blood on Friday when Wawrinka handled Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets, while the nightcap saw Gael Monfils douse the former world No. 1 Federer in straights, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, on some slow red clay in Lille. The acrobatic former top-10 star Monfils played near flawless tennis in taking advantage of the 33-year-old Federer, who failed to demonstrate his typical on-court prowess, perhaps due to a much-publicized back injury. Already ahead by two sets, a determined Monfils got his fourth break of the match to grab a 3-2 lead in the third, and he would keep Federer down from there. Monfils broke Federer once again to close out the rubber, which he did on his first match point with an easy backhand winner. The uneventful affair was over in 1 hour, 46 minutes, as Monfils popped 10 aces and tallied five breaks, while a stunned Federer failed to break his French counterpart on Day 1. Monfils struck 19 more winners than Federer (44-25), while the Swiss legend uncorked 11 more unforced errors (29-18). The 19th-ranked Monfils is now 10-2 in his career Davis Cup singles, while Federer fell to 37-8. The world No. 2 Federer is now 8-3 lifetime against Monfils, who pushed the Swiss icon mightily in their last meeting in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, where Federer had to save two match points before coming back to win in a five-set thriller. In the opener in Lille on Friday, the world No. 4 Australian Open champion Wawrinka bludgeoned the tennis ball in outgunning the former Aussie runner-up Tsonga on the Frenchmans home soil, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6--2.dddddddddddd Wawrinka was spot on with a sensational one-handed backhand and prevailed in 2 hours, 24 minutes by breaking Tsongas serve five times. Tsonga had to settle for only one break in the setback. The 29-year-old Wawrinka is now 3-3 lifetime against the 12th-ranked Tsonga, including wins in their last two meetings. The Swiss slugger also topped Tsonga on some clay in Madrid last year. Wawrinka improved to 21-13 lifetime in his career Davis Cup singles, while Tsonga fell to 16-5. Saturdays doubles match has a French tandem of Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau facing a Swiss duo of Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer, but expect Federer and Wawrinka to team up for that one if the great Federer is fit enough to play. The Wimbledon runner-up pulled out of last weeks championship match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London because of his back, a problem that slowed the Swiss legend mightily in 2013. Sundays reverse singles will pit the 17-time Grand Slam king Federer against Tsonga and Wawrinka versus Monfils. The best-of-five tie is being staged on an indoor clay court in front of a capacity crowd of 27,000 at Stade Pierre Mauroy. Thats the largest-ever crowd to watch a professional tennis match. Switzerland is captained by Severin Luthi, while France is guided by former Aussie runner-up Arnaud Clement. The French are 10-2 all-time versus the Swiss in Davis Cup play. The two nations last met in a 2004 quarterfinal that was won by France. The nine-time champion French are seeking their first Davis Cup title in 13 years, while Switzerland and the iconic Federer have never hoisted the coveted 114-year-old chalice. The Swiss finished as runners-up in 1992. 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