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Written by Canadian Press
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As much as he tries to avoid the issue, as much as he tries to act like everything is business as usual, Roy Halladay sure seems like someone who has one foot in, and one foot out the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse right now.
The ace right-hander was given the honour of starting for the American League in Tuesday's all-star game, yet all anyone wanted to ask him about was his availability on the trade market and his thoughts on a bevy of rumoured destinations.
In answering the endless questions Monday it's clear that Halladay is a torn man, struggling with his burning desire to pitch in the post-season and his longstanding preference to do it for the Blue Jays.
He wants the latter but isn't likely to get it, so he'll consider a move to fulfil the former. And as the frenzy over his future plays out - heightened with the media horde's assembly in St. Louis this week - he finds himself being pulled both ways.
"I'm trying to keep my head out of it either way, as opposed to trying to think of where you would want to go and all that stuff," Halladay said when asked if he felt like these were his final days with the Blue Jays.
"That gets complicated, so I'm trying to keep emotions out of it, as much as I can."
That's only going to get tougher and tougher to do, as even at the news conference introducing him and San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum as the Midsummer Classic's starting pitchers, host Bob Costas got in on the action, saying Halladay was "representing, at least for now, the Toronto Blue Jays."
Halladay met the crack with an uncomfortable laugh, but posturing by various suitors and the Blue Jays aside, that seems to be the prevailing feeling around the game.
Even Halladay seems to be coming to terms with it, as despite his repeated assertions that it's still too early for him to consider which teams he'd accept a move to (he has a full no-trade clause), he did say that playing in a major media market like New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Los Angeles wouldn't be a problem for him.
Neither would switching leagues, quashing a couple of questions insiders had wondered about.
"I'd rather hit than have to face (Derek) Jeter, A-Rod, (Hideki) Matsui, (Mark) Teixeira and all the other guys (in the AL East)," quipped Halladay.
The tipping point for him will be based primarily on a team's ability to win.
"There's a point in your career where you know you need to take a chance and try and win," he said. "I've always hoped that's going to be Toronto and I've believed in what we've done, it could still be, but I think at this point I'm ready to take a chance of trying to win.
"I honestly hope that's in Toronto."
That doesn't seem likely, particularly after general manager J.P. Ricciardi invited offers for the 32-year-old last week. Ownership would have been notified of his plans in advance, and someone as savvy as Ricciardi wouldn't waste the time of his bosses with a whim.
What it all means for the club's long-term plans is unclear, but you don't deal Halladay with an eye toward making a run in baseball's toughest division next year. Also unknown is what's driving this for the Blue Jays, a desire to strip all the way down and rebuild, or some form of less painful retooling.
"It could be two-fold," said Halladay. "Maybe we don't have that chance and we do have to take a step back. Or they feel like this an opportune time to see what we can bring in and if we make this a stronger organization. I don't think I can blame them either way.
"I've always kind of got the feeling from Day 1 that this was more of a kind of feel our way through it and see what's out there and what can happen. So it can go either way."
Just getting to this point has not sat well with Blue Jays fans, who long for the team's first post-season appearance since 1993. Reaction seems to uniformly support Halladay no matter how things play out, with scorn heaped upon Ricciardi and the team brass.
Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay, who's been both a prospect dealt for an established star and later a star dealt for prospects, says it's an uncomfortable time for all involved.
"Nobody wants to hear the rebuilding term, fans won't sleep better at night knowing they got a great haul for Roy Halladay and in a couple of years it's really going to pay off," said the native of Trail, B.C., who'll bat fifth for the AL. "I understand that but the reality of the business is that's how some teams are constructed for a long run rather than a short-term fix.
"The players in the clubhouse, they understand the position. As much as you don't want to give up the best (pitcher) in baseball, they also know he's not going to be there forever."
The 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner acknowledged that many of his teammates have been asking him questions about his future with the team and he's filled them in as best as he can. They wonder what it means for the club's direction, but it's beyond their control.
"You can't worry about it," said Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill, who'll join Halladay in the starting lineup and bat eighth. "Yeah it's out there and in the media now, it's interesting to think what can happen because we would have never thought something like this could happen, but if it comes to that point, you deal with it."
Still, it can't feel good.
Other contenders are talking about making a run at Halladay and their players are lobbying him to consider their club - "Doc opened up to me, me and Doc did a lot of talking," said Dodgers second baseman and former Blue Jay Orlando Hudson - while the Blue Jays lick their wounds having lost 12 of 15 to sit 44-46 at the break.
Minus the 10-3 Halladay, they'd be a train wreck.
"I've always said, that would be the hardest part for me about any of this, not only teammates but coaches, having to explain that and leave, that would be the hardest thing," he said. "It's tough. Even though nothing's happened and it's just talk, it makes that part of it hard sometimes."
Hard enough to make starting the all-star game look like a piece of cake.
Halladay joins Dave Stieb (1983 and '84) and David Wells (2000) as the only Blue Jays to start in the all-star game, perhaps one final highlight for the team's fans.
He'll be up against last year's NL Cy Young Award winner, Lincecum, who is 10-2 with a 2.33 earned-run average. He made the all-star team for last season's game at Yankee Stadium but was unable to pitch because he was ill.
"This is a great accomplishment for me," said Lincecum, sporting a black-knit cap over his shaggy hair. "I think tomorrow the big thing is going to be just getting to the field. And after that, just getting on the field."
If only things were that simple for Halladay.
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Written by Associated Press
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By early afternoon, the line was 15 people wide and hundreds deep, stretching the length of a cavernous corridor near the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Hundreds of boisterous mixed martial arts fans of every age, race, fitness level and tattoo taste whooped and fidgeted in the refrigerated casino air.
They queued for hours Friday just for the chance to attend a brief weigh-in for UFC 100, Saturday night's landmark show in the league's hometown. And though this line was long, the really big crowds were in the nearby convention center, where the first UFC Fan Expo is expected to draw well more than 20,000 this weekend.
UFC's self-celebratory weekend also includes big fights, of course. Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar's bout with interim champ Frank Mir is the headliner, while pound-for-pound candidate Georges St. Pierre has a dangerous meeting with Brazilian kick specialist Thiago Alves.
UFC 100 is shaping up as a benchmark for how far MMA has progressed in the nearly 16 years since the first event — and a gauge for just how big it still might become.
"I always believed in the sport and our athletes," UFC president Dana White said moments before the weigh-in. "The questions were always if the timing was going to be right."
That time already has arrived. A sport that wasn't allowed on pay-per-view just seven years ago because of its brutality will be shown live in 75 countries, while the local crowd will fill the Events Center, a large closed-circuit telecast at Mandalay Bay and another ballroom on the Strip.
The Fan Expo — a combination of an MMA convention, a grappling tournament and a reunion for some of the sport's most successful fighters — has been even more popular than White suspected. Thousands of fans paying at least $40 apiece gathered autographs, cheered on grapplers and perused booths offering everything from nutritional supplements and MMA gear to golf equipment and college educations.
The hoopla culminates with a card that provides a neat cross-section of the sport's various draws, including a nod to UFC's popular weekly television show, "The Ultimate Fighter," with the season-ending showdown between Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson, who coached the teams in the program's most recent edition.
Lesnar and Mir are hulking musclemen who would look at home in an NFL locker room, a spot Lesnar briefly occupied with the Vikings. They've met before, with Mir handing Lesnar the only loss of the former pro wrestler's impressive transition from showbiz to competitive sport.
Mir, a Las Vegas native, has a better perspective than most on the sport's growth and maturity. He remembers his slack-jawed childhood wonder at seeing MMA pioneer and UFC 1 champion Royce Gracie's multifaceted skills on television. Mir immediately wanted to know more about the sport.
"I think that we're kind of genetically wired at birth to be a certain type of individual," Mir said of MMA fighters. "The same kind of guy that will jump out of an airplane, or go bungee jumping. The same kind of guy that signs up to go into the military and doesn't just sign up to go fix cars, but he wants to sign up to be a Ranger and be the first guy into battle."
Lesnar combines that mentality with a temperament that leads White to describe him delicately as "a grouch" during fight week. Before White talked Lesnar out of storming away from a recent news conference several times, Lesnar (3-1) repeatedly spoke about his evolution into a well-rounded MMA fighter in recent months, rather than an incredibly strong wrestler with a heavy punch.
He'll have a chance to show his growth against Mir (12-3), who beat Lesnar by submission in the first round of their first bout in February 2008.
"I've improved dramatically since my first adventure of even thinking about getting into MMA," Lesnar said. "I'm not going to leave any stone unturned when it comes to submission, submission defense, striking and learning to defend everything. You're going to give some punches, and you're going to take some punches."
While Lesnar weighed in right at the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds, St. Pierre and Alves both are sleek, versatile athletes. St. Pierre's remarkably well-rounded skills in each of MMA's several disciplines are his biggest asset, but Alves is an outstanding striker who could cause trouble for Canada's popular welterweight champion.
"The pressure is always there for me," said St. Pierre, who has won his last five fights. "I'm always very nervous, and I think it's that nervousness that keeps me sharp and is going to make me perform better on the night of the fight. I'm learning better to deal with it."
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Written by Associated Press
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Dustin Pedroia doubled in a run in the eighth inning, Jon Lester outdueled Brian Bannister and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Friday night.
Lester (8-6) allowed four hits through eight innings, but Bannister (6-7) gave up just one hit through seven.
Then Mark Kotsay, playing with a calf injury, led off the bottom of the eighth with a clean single to center. Aaron Bates, called up to the majors for the first time on Monday, pinch ran and took second on Nick Green's sacrifice bunt.
Bannister threw a wild pitch in the dirt and Bates moved to third. Pedroia, coming off consecutive three-hit games, hit his first ball out of the infield on Friday for a double off the left-field wall to break the tie.
Bannister intentionally walked Kevin Youkilis before John Bale came on and retired David Ortiz on a groundout.
Jonathan Papelbon got the last three outs for his 23rd save in 25 opportunities.
Lester walked two and had eight strikeouts. Bannister went 7 2-3 innings, giving up three hits and four walks while striking out seven.
Both starters entered the game on a roll.
Lester was 4-1 in his previous seven starts with a 1.74 ERA. The last time he faced the Royals, he pitched a no-hitter May 19, 2008, at Fenway Park. In his previous game against them, he gave up one hit in eight scoreless innings on July 18, 2006.
Bannister had a 2.48 ERA in his last six starts but just a 2-3 record.
On Friday, he held the Red Sox hitless through four innings, allowing only walks to Youkilis in the first and J.D. Drew in the third.
But Jacoby Ellsbury led off the fifth with a single and got his 38th stolen base before Jason Varitek walked. Varitek was out at second and Ellsbury took third on Kotsay's force-play grounder.
With Green up, Kotsay took off for second and was caught in a rundown. Ellsbury raced home and appeared to slide in before catcher Miguel Olivo could tag him. After being called out Ellsbury bounced his helmet hard and was ejected by plate umpire Derryl Cousins.
But Rocco Baldelli, his replacement in center field came up with a big play in the seventh.
Jose Guillen led off and reached first on a throwing error by third baseman Youkilis then took second on a single by Mark Teahen, his sixth hit in eight at-bats in the series. Olivo sent Baldelli to the warning track in straightaway center.
Both runners tried to advance. Guillen made it to third, but Teahen was called out at second when he appeared to slide past the bag and was tagged out by second baseman Pedroia.
NOTES: The Royals obtained SS Yuniesky Betancourt and cash considerations from Seattle for RHP Danny Cortes and LHP Derrick Saito. ... Guillen has gone 13 games without an extra-base hit. ... Ortiz, who has 10 homers in his last 30 games, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. ... Kansas City hasn't had a day off in 18 days.
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