said. "We really played well in the second period." Tar

When the word finally came out that Japanese star pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was being posted, I was convinced he would sign with the Texas Rangers or New York Yankees, with the LA Dodgers and Boston Red Sox being outside possibilities. Now if I had to make a wager, Id say the Seattle Mariners or Arizona Diamondbacks. Over the weekend, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports suggested the Diamondbacks might be willing to trade their former closer J.J. Putz to the Yankees for Ichiro Suzuki. Why, I wondered, would the Dbacks want a 40-year-old future Hall of Famer in the twilight of a great career? Then it hit me! What better way to convince Tanaka to sign with them than to offer him the chance to play with the greatest Japanese player of all time. But if its not just the money, Seattle is probably an even better choice for Tanaka. The Mariners have already shown a willingness to spend by luring free agent Robinson Cano away from the bright lights of New York and they already employ one of Tanakas best friends in baseball. Hisashi Iwakuma has quietly emerged as a star in Seattle the last two seasons. I say quietly because hell always be pitching in the shadow of "King Felix" Hernandez. In two years, though, hes put together a 23-11 record with a 2.84 ERA and 286 strikeouts. He made the American League all-star team last season but couldnt pitch in the mid-summer classic since he had made a start for Seattle on the Sunday, just before the Tuesday night game. He also finished third in Cy Young voting in the American League behind the Tigers Max Scherzer and the Rangers Yu Darvish. Tanaka and Iwakuma were teammates with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan from 2007 through 2011 and are reportedly good friends. Though Iwakuma put together a 107-69 record with a 2.75 ERA in Japan, he went through his share of adversities. In 2006, pitching motion rules were put into effect that forced Iwakuma to alter his delivery. In past, Japanese hurlers had been allowed to momentarily stop in mid-delivery before throwing to the plate. This was designed to throw off a hitters timing but now would simply be ruled a balk. Iwakuma changed, but altering his delivery led to shoulder problems and then elbow surgery that would cost him the bulk of two seasons. Iwakuma bounced back, though, and won the ERA title in 2008 as well as the Eiji Sawamura Award; the Major League equivalent of the Cy Young. Even Iwakumas move to the Majors didnt go smoothly. Oakland won the bidding rights for him prior to the 2011 season. The sides couldnt come to terms on a contract, though, and Iwakuma wound up spending one more year in Japan before finally earning free agency at age 30 and signing with Seattle. Iwakuma will be 33 years old in April and would seem to be the perfect one to show Tanaka the ropes in the Majors. The only complication might be Iwakumas contract. He will be make $6.5 million with the Ms in 2014 and has a club option for $7 million in 2015. Tanaka could get close to twice that amount per season. That could be difficult for the Mariners to rationalize and explain to Iwakuma, whos already given them two very good seasons. Still, Ive got a feeling Seattle will find a way to get this done. The Tanaka negotiations must be completed by January 24 at 5:00 PM. Darvish took until the day before this deadline to sign with Texas. With spring training rapidly approaching, I can see this one getting done in the next week to ten days. Once Tanaka has a new home, it will only serve to intensify the bidding for free agents Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana, Matt Garza and maybe even Bronson Arroyo. The Class of 2014 inductees for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced on Wednesday at 2:00 PM. Im sticking with the same three selections I talked about months ago; Braves pitching legends Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and White Sox two-time MVP, Frank Thomas. I counted at least 10 other worthy Hall of Famers on this ballot, but thanks to PEDs and the sheer back-log of quality candidates, Im convinced only the aforementioned three will get in. As for Jack Morris, whos on the ballot for the 15th and final time, I dont care what his career ERA was; any man who was the staff ace on three World Series winners (84 Tigers, 91 Twins, 92 Blue Jays) belongs in the Hall of Fame - end of story. Check out Morriss numbers in 1992 with the Blue Jays at age 37. 240.2 innings pitched, 21-6 record, 4.04 ERA, six complete games and one shutout. Remember, the Blue Jays had Tom Henke and Duane Ward as the 1-2 punch in the pen. The onus wasnt on Morris to pitch that many innings or that many complete games. He just did, he was that good. Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys . Make the extra pass, take care of the ball, play defence and get more out of his bench. Wholesale NBA Jerseys .com) - Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns each scored 12 points in the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats 70-55 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ .com) - Devon Johnson ran for a school record 272 yards with four touchdowns and No. Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic . Despite 11-1 records, theyre out and Big Ten winner Ohio State is into the national semifinals. Clearance NBA Jerseys . Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres came to an agreement on a big trade that may only offer incremental improvement to the Blues in their quest for a Stanley Cup. ST. LOUIS -- With Vladimir Tarasenko and T.J. Oshie both out of the St. Louis Blues lineup, captain David Backes stepped up to fill the void. Backes scored twice in the third period, giving him 23 goals on the season, and the Blues skated to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night. One of Backes goals never even reached the net. He was awarded a goal with 1:11 left when he broke in on the Jets empty goal and was pulled down by Jacob Trouba. "That doesnt happen a whole lot," Backes said. "Sometimes when things arent going perfect for you, you take them any way you can get them. Hopefully, its the start of a little streak here." Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice wasnt too pleased that it happened Monday. "I dont think that game should have gone to 3-1," Maurice said. "I dont think thats an automatic goal. I dont think its a slash. He goes down, maybe they locked feet. But its not unimpeded progress. That game should be still 2-1 in my mind. "But 2-1 is still a deficit for us." Ryan Miller made 16 saves for the Blues, who are 7-0-1 since he was acquired by trade from Buffalo. St. Louis has won three straight and eight of nine. Western Conference-leading St. Louis has an NHL-best 101 points. It is the sixth time in franchise history that the Blues have reached 100 points. Backes has 23 goals this season. Brendan Morrow added a goal, and Jay Bouwmeester had two assists in the Blues win. Eric ODell had the lone goal for Winnipeg, and Al Montoya mmade 23 saves.dddddddddddd Montoya thought his team fell into the Blues trap. "This is what that team does," Montoya said. "They get up by a goal and they hold the fort." Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said his team could easily have had a bigger lead. "We made a game of it because we couldnt pull away in the second period when we had all the scoring chances," Hitchcock said. "We really played well in the second period." Tarasenko is expected to miss six weeks because of a hand injury sustained Saturday against Nashville. Oshie, whose first child was born earlier Monday, should be back for Wednesdays game at Chicago. Backes broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal at 13:09 of the third period when he swatted in a rebound of Ian Coles shot. After a listless first period, St. Louis took a 1-0 lead just 1:44 into the second. After Winnipegs Devin Setoguchi failed to control a bouncing puck, Derek Roy took it and broke in on left wing. He centred a pass to Morrow on the right side for a shot into the open net. The Jets took advantage during 4-on-4 play to tie it at 1:55 of the third. Evander Kane skated down left wing with ODell on a 2-on-1 break. Kane centred a pass to ODell, who faked a shot and then beat Miller with a backhand. NOTES: St. Louis is 38-1-5 when scoring first and 30-0-4 when leading after two periods. ... Winnipeg is 8-13-5 against the Central Division. ... Hitchcock moved into sole possession of third place on the teams career win list with 119. ' ' '