Sports Redux: Tim Wakefield + Rogers Centre = Awesome

If only Tim Wakefield could pitch in Toronto all the time. Wake shut down the Jays a month ago, and he did it again Thursday night, going seven innings and cruising to a 8-0 pounding of the Blue Jays, who have plummeted straight past "hapless". 26-5 was the final score of the three-game series.

Wake had a little early trouble. The Jays loaded the bases with one out, but Wake struck out Frank Thomas, then Miracle Mirabelli whipped the ball down to first to catch Troy Glaus on the rare strike-em-out-pick-em-off double play. That seemed to take the tiny bit of wind out of Toronto's sails. The offense hammered Roy Halladay, keyed by a six-run third featuring a 3-run blast by Mike Lowell.

The Blue Jays spent most of the day fretting about their retractable roof; they were hoping for a sunny day, so they could leave it open and hope the wind might affect Wakefield's knuckleball a little. In fact, Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi told NESN that they'd leave the roof open even if there was a downpour. No such luck for them.

So today, the Sox reluctantly depart Canada and come home for a long homestand, which will start tonight against the Orioles: Julian Tavarez against Brian Burres. The O's are flying high (well, high for them) after old friend Kevin Millar's four-RBI night helped beat the Devil Rays and move Baltimore into second place (the Yankees were slapped silly by Texas).

The Celtics, less than two weeks before the next decade of the franchise is determined, made the curious move of extending the contract of coach Doc Rivers. Terms weren't announced. With Celtic Nation divided as to whether last season's nightmare was Doc's fault (50% think it was mostly Doc's fault, but 50% think it was significantly Doc's fault), it will be interesting to see if stability on the bench will help the franchise as much as good health and one of the top two picks will. In playoff news, Detroit beat Chicago to take a commanding 3-0 series lead. Also in the NBA, Dirk Nowitzki is expected to be officially named MVP tomorrow, and will be the saddest recipient in the league's history. He'd trade it all to be in Utah for the weekend.

The NFL is thinking about messing with their schedule in years to come. One plan is to remove one preseason game (since everyone hates the preseason), and add a 17th game to the regular season, which will be played in some neutral site outside of the U.S. Some teams will go play in Europe, some in Mexico, some in Canada. One problem Bostonist sees with this is that most of the Cincinnati Bengals are probably forbidden by some treaty from travelling outside the country. But if there's any chance the Patriots can play in Toronto, by the healing waters of Lake Ontario, sign us up.

Toronto photo from the city's official web photo gallery.