XRAY - Model racing cars

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 Baseballs colour barrier in 1947, were subjected to annual speculation about their franchises relocation. 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. .Two San Francisco radio stations say they wont play the song during the duration of the World Series. A Kansas City, Missouri, station responded with plans to play the Grammy-winning track every hour from 7 a. . Summers has seen scant playing time with the Coyotes since being selected 29th overall by the club in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, having played in 47 career NHL games. http://www.ladodgersprostore.us/Fernand ... rs-jersey/. With Washington teammate Nene drawing double-teams coming off his big game against the Lakers, Gortat scored 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 100-92 win in overtime over Milwaukee on Wednesday night. . - Tom Brady and the Patriots routed the Bengals and quieted the doubters. . He was attracted by the punishing defence, the strong running game and a coaching staff he trusted. The 49ers announced Thursday that Manningham had signed a two-year deal to join the team he helped knock out in the NFC championship game two months ago in their latest offensive upgrade at wide receiver. HAMBURG, Germany -- Dominic Thiem fought from 5-2 down in the final set and held off a match point before upsetting the eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round of the Hamburg Open on Tuesday. The 55th-ranked Austrian saved five of the eight break points he faced and converted three of his 12 chances to defeat the Spaniard in 2 1/2 hours. Granollers, ranked 40 places above Thiem, was granted a first-round bye at the clay-court event. Thiem is now 2-0 against Granollers after also beating the Spaniard in his native Barcelona in April. Thiem next plays either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain or Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, who defeated German wild card Peter Gojowczyk 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. In other first-round matches, 2012 champion Juan Monaco of Argentina defeated Pere Riba of Spain 6-3, 6-1 and Slovakias Martin Klizan defeated Dutch player Igor Sijsling 6-4, 3-6, 6-0. Klizan now faces 2011 winner Gilles Simon of France, while Monaco will play Anndreas Seppi of Italy, with the winner taking on top-seeded David Ferrer in the third round.dddddddddddd The Spaniard, who accepted a wild card to the tournament, rallied to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. Third-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, who won the tournament in 2006, beat compatriot Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 7-5 for a third-round clash with the 14th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal or Lukas Rosol. Rosol reached the second round when German wild card Julian Reister had to withdraw with the Czech leading 6-4, 2-1. Polands Jerzy Janowicz defeated Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-0, 7-5 for a second-round clash with the fourth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. Also, German wild card Alexander Zverev eased past Dutchman Robin Haase 6-0, 6-2 to meet the fifth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, also given a first-round bye. Santiago Giraldo of Colombia advanced after defeating Benoit Paire of France 7-6 (6), 6-2 in their second round match. ' ' '