Over the winter, we wrote about the Blue Jays coming to terms with a pair of pitchers who were trying to become knuckleballers. Sacha Kljestan USA Jersey . They were Josh Banks and Tomo Ohka. Banks had been a Blue Jays draft pick who had a brief stint with the club in 2007 before moving on to San Diego and then Houston, compiling a career record of 4-8. The other was Ohka, a journeyman from Japan who spent time with six organizations, including the Blue Jays in 2007, where he went 2-5. Ohka, who turns 38 next week, was already sent to the minor league camp last week. Now there is a third. Hes 30-year-old Frank Viola III. If the name is familiar, it should be. Hes the son of former big league star lefty, Frank Viola Jr. Frank Jr. had a very good career, predominantly with the Twins and the Mets. He was the MVP of the 1987 World Series - the Twins first win ever - and won the Cy Young Award in the American League the following season - his final full season with the Twins with a 24-7 season. Frank "Sweet Music" Viola, as he was affectionately known, is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame. Viola actually finished off his major league career in a short stop over with the Blue Jays in 1996. He went 1-3 for the Jays and ended his career on May 28 of that year. His son chased that major league dream as well and pitched in the White Sox organization thtough 2007 before injuries appeared to cut his career short. He dabbled in the media doing Florida State League games and even had his own fishing show, but Viola III never gave up his dream of pitching in the majors. The next step was trying to master the knuckleball. He worked with the likes of R,A Dickey, Tim Wakefield and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and finally impressed the Blue Jays enough that they signed him last week. This doesnt necessarily mean the 30-year-old will make it to the big club. The Jays game plan is to have a knuckleballer or two in the minors to work with their catching prospects. That way, if they get called up to the Jays theyll be ready to work with Dickey without any major adjustment. Still, it would be great to see one of these knuckleballers eventually make it to the majors. Frank Viola Jr. incidentally is entering his second season as the pitching coach with the Mets Triple A farm club, the Las Vegas 51s. After writing about the passing of Dr. Frank Jobe, the man who pioneered Tommy John surgery last week, I discovered another interesting twist to the Tommy John story. Back in 1968, in a game at old Tiger Stadium, John was pitching against Detroit. In the first inning he hit Dick McAuliffe with a pitch. He later scored on an RBI single by Al Kaline. When McAuliffe came up again in the third, threw one pitch high and tight and then a 3-2 pitch behind McAuliffes head that sent him sprawling in the dirt. When he got up he dusted himself off and started to head to first glancing out towards John. McAuliffe claims that John taunted him by saying "What the F are you looking at?" That was the final straw for McAuliffe and he charged the mound. John got into a defensive position and the knee of the charging McAuliffe dug into Johns left shoulder. He suffered a separated shoulder and torn shoulder ligaments and missed the rest of the season. McAuliffe was suspended for five games and was fined $250.00. The interesting thing about John is that he resisted the advice to have surgery and let the shoulder heal with rest and rehab. The plan worked, though it took a while for John to get back to peak efficiency. 1974 was different. When Tommy John blew out his elbow, he said his arm simply felt dead. This time he agreed to surgery, which not only changed his career but revolutionized baseball in terms of treating this type of elbow injury. The Detroit Tigers have made history over the last three years, winning five of the six major awards handed out. They have won three straight MVP awards - the last two by Miguel Cabrerra and three straight Cy Young awards. The Tigers have made the postseason in each of the last three years. The only other time the organization did that was in the hay day of Ty Cobb in 1907, 1908 and 1909 when they dropped three straight World Series - two to the Cubs and one to the Pirates. This season under rookie manager Brad Ausmus, they will be trying to make the playoffs for the fourth straight time and for the first time in franchise history. Over the weekend, Tigers GM Dave Dumbrowski denied rumours he was listening to offers for starting pitcher Rick Porcello. In fact, he denied trying to trade any of his starters. But considering the Tigers have question marks at 3rd base and left field, you have to wonder a bit. Its still a bit too early to get too excited or too worried about this but Baltimore is 8-2 so far this spring and is scoring nearly eight runs-again, even without a rehabbing Manny Machado (knee) at full strength. Geoff Cameron Jersey . - On the night Dirk Nowitzki overtook Dominique Wilkins on the career scoring list, Brandan Wright was a human highlight film all by himself. Chris Pontius USA Jersey . - Aroldis Chapman, with two black eyes, has returned to the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse four days after being hit in the face by a line drive. http://www.soccerusateamonline.com/Michael-Bradley-Copa-America-Jersey/ . The Maple Leafs may not have had a pick until the third round, but they have made the biggest move of the second day of the Draft, dealing defenceman Carl Gunnarsson and a fourth-round pick in the draft to the St.SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Hudson has spent most of the season leading the San Francisco Giants to victories. This time, his teammates backed him up on a rare off night. Michael Morse hit an RBI single with one out in the ninth inning after Hunter Pences tying double, and the Giants rallied to beat the New York Mets 5-4 Saturday night to extend baseballs best record. "It just tells you what kind of team we have," said Morse, who helped teammates tear off his jersey during a wild celebration on the infield. "We find a way." Angel Pagan had three singles, two RBIs and got on base all five times against his former team. He reached leading off the ninth when catcher Anthony Recker dropped the third strike and his throw pulled Lucas Duda off first base. Mets manager Terry Collins challenged the play but lost. Pence hit a double that scored Pagan and advanced to third on Buster Poseys deep fly to left-centre. After Jenrry Mejia (1-2) intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval, Morse sent a single to deep right and was mobbed by teammates before he reached second. San Francisco improved to 6-0 at home when Hudson starts. "Im as proud of this game as I have been of any of them," said Hudson, who allowed season highs of nine hits and three walks in five innings. "Even though it was probably my worst game from a pitching standpoint, these kinds of games are very satisfying because these are the games that most of the time your teams lose when your starting pitcher goes out there and doesnt really have his stuff. We were able to battle and win. Thats the mark of a championship club." It was Mejias first blown save in seven chances. The Mets have lost five straight. Jeremy Affeldt (2-1) tossed one scoreless inning to help the Giants (41-21) win for the ninth time in 11 games. Bartolo Colon gave up three runs -- one earned -- and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings for the Mets. The 41-year-old, who spent the past two seasons across the bay in Oakland, struck out four and walked two. Hudson, who began the game witth a majors-best 1. Antonee Robinson Jersey. 5 ERA, is the first pitcher in San Francisco history with an ERA below 2.00 through his first 12 starts with the team. Even with the tough outing, Hudsons ERA is 1.97. The Mets grabbed leads of 3-0 and 4-1, but stranded 12 runners on base. "We did a good job of limiting the damage," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. The Mets ended Hudsons scoreless streak at 16 consecutive innings in the second, when Duda doubled and scored on Reckers single. In the third, Duda broke his bat hitting an RBI single off the wall in right and Recker drove in another run to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. The Mets might have had more if not for a baserunning blunder. Ruben Tejada was tagged out between second and third after Duda stopped at third and Recker ran to second. With the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, Posey grounded into a double play to score San Franciscos first run. Colon then got Sandoval to fly out. New York extended its lead to 4-1 on a wild pitch by George Kontos in the sixth, but couldnt overcome an error by third baseman David Wright in the bottom of the inning. Wright fielded a grounder and misfired to second trying to get the lead runner with two outs. Pagan followed with a two-run single to bring the Giants within 4-3 and chase Colon. Pences single loaded the bases for Posey again, but Jeurys Familia struck out Posey on a sinking fastball clocked at 96 mph. NOTES: Giants reliever Santiago Casilla, who is on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring, threw 30 pitches in the bullpen. He is scheduled to throw again before Mondays game and could begin a rehab assignment as soon as Wednesday. ... The Mets optioned C Travis dArnaud to Triple-A Las Vegas after the game and called up C Taylor Teagarden. ... Collins said Wright, who has started the first 62 games this season, will likely get Sunday off. The Mets dont play Monday. ... Former Giants prospect Zack Wheeler takes the mound for the Mets against San Franciscos Tim Lincecum (4-4, 5.01 ERA) in Sundays series finale. ' ' '