R.A. Dickey lost on Opening Day and Jose Reyes is on the disabled list. Stop me if youve heard this one before, because amazingly its a scenario that Blue Jays fans are now experiencing for the second straight April. Add in the fact that closer Casey Janssen was placed on the DL on the eve of the season, and you could argue things are even worse than they were a year ago for the Jays. Lets get it out of the way right off the top - it was Game 1 of 162. A baseball fan wouldnt feel uncomfortable about a teams chances after just one game, right? But theres no question that theres a sense of deja vu for Toronto fans after Mondays 9-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Bad starting pitching last April coupled with the injury to Reyes pretty much killed the Jays chances at contending by the time the calendar flipped to May. So is it an overreaction this time around to have that same ominous feeling that this is nothing more than a continuation of last season? Sure, Tampa Bay is considered a World Series contender and theres no shame in losing to former Cy Young winner David Price. But still. In the 1989 baseball cult classic film "Major League", it was commentator Harry Doyle, played by the legendary Bob Uecker, who said "a lot of people say you can tell how the seasons gonna go by the first hitter of the year." Willie Mays Hays legged out an infield single for the Indians in the movie, then got picked off first base. On Monday, Reyes never made it that far. In the first at-bat of the Blue Jays season, he pulled up while running to first base after aggravating the hamstring injury that had been bothering him during spring training. The team placed him on the 15-day disabled list after the game, meaning it will be the middle of the month at best before we see Torontos star leadoff hitter in the lineup again. The Blue Jays will play three more games at Tropicana Field this week, a place where they have not won a series since 2007. Then its home for three against the revamped New York Yankees to close out the first week of the season. Last year the Blue Jays finished the first week with a record of 2-4, and its entirely possible they could be in that zone again. Given, its very, very early. You cant judge a major league season by the first game. But do you feel uncomfortable about the Blue Jays after witnessing their Opening Day loss? Its Your! Call. Rich Gedman Red Sox Jersey . These teams will see plenty of each other in the next few weeks as three of the Canucks next nine games are against the Wild (after today they meet February 9th in Minnesota and again February 16th at Rogers Arena). Dustin Pedroia Jersey . Those who impressed in each of the three events were asked to attend the main CFL Combine which begins Friday in Toronto. https://www.cheapredsox.com/3021z-jhouly...ey-red-sox.html. Bookies were offering odds of 13/1 before kickoff that the home team Houston Dynamo would prevail by three goals to nil. Josh Taylor Jersey . Among the six changes: Drivers are now eligible if they have competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR or turned 55 in the calendar year before nominating day. Previously, drivers were not eligible until they had been retired for three years, so drivers can continue to compete and still reach the hall. Juan Centeno Jersey . He made the comment at a media availability Saturday prior to Game 2 of the Boston-Montreal playoff series when a Quebec reporter said there is sentiment in Quebec that the NHL looks more favourably on Seattle than Quebec City when it comes to future expansion.The Pittsburgh Penguins and Los Angeles Kings combined for 32 shots on goal, yet both won Monday night. Notes on Crosby, Fleury, Diaz, Gaborik, Schultz and more. FLEURY SHUTS OUT RANGERS, AGAIN Sidney Crosbys first goal of the postseason was the game-winner and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 35 New York Rangers shots he faced, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 2-0 win in Game Three and a 2-1 lead in the series. Crosby played 16:54, a threshold that he surpassed in 86 of 88 previous games this season and only had one shot on goal, but it found the back of the net, going five-hole on Henrik Lundqvist after being sent in on a partial breakaway by a Robert Bortuzzo pass. Crosbys goal gives him seven points (1 G, 6 A) in nine playoff games, which is below his standard, but getting off the goose-egg ought to alleviate some pressure. The Penguins other goal was a gift for Jussi Jokinen, who picked up an errant Rangers pass for a breakaway as he stepped out of the penalty box. Jokinen now has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the playoffs and, with four shots on goal, was the only Penguin with more than two shots on goal in the game. Back-to-back shutouts sure changes the view on the playoff performance of Fleury, who had allowed at least three goals in six of his first seven games in the playoffs, but hes stopped all 57 shots that the Rangers have sent his way in the last two nights. His save percentage is up to .919 for this postseason. While the Rangers held a possession advantage by games end, they gained that advantage on their punchless power play (now 0-for-30 in the past eight games) and once the Penguins had built their 2-0 lead. Before that point, the Penguins had 24 5-on-5 shot attempts for and 23 against (51.1%). After that, the Rangers held a 24-9 (72.7%) edge, but those are empty possession calories, a nature of the way the game is played by teams holding a multi-goal lead. The player sending the most shots toward the Pittsburgh net for the Rangers was D Raphael Diaz, who had six shots on goal and nine shot attempts in his first game of the postseason. Next was RW Rick Nash, who had eight shot attempts, but is still looking for his first playoff goal this year. Nash has two goals in 25 career playoff games. The schedule has been ridiculous for the Rangers, who have played five games in seven days, but tthey had better hope that getting back on a more normal schedule will be enough for them to solve a suddenly-hot Marc-Andre Fleury.dddddddddddd KINGS HOLD ON TO BEAT DUCKS Jonathan Quick stopped 36 of 37 shots while Marian Gaborik and Alec Martinez scored first-period goals, then the Los Angeles Kings held on (adding an empty-netter by Dwight King) to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1, taking a 2-0 series lead. Gaborik scored his playoff-leading sixth goal just 34 seconds into the game, after scoring the last two goals of Game One, and the Kings were off and running. Martinez, who finished the year strong (7 G, 8 A in 22 GP after the Olympics) now has two goals and five points in nine playoff games. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the night for Los Angeles was that D Jeff Schultz, playing with Robyn Regehr and Willie Mitchell injured, logged 19:58 of ice time, ranking fourth on the Kings blueline behind Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin and Slava Voynov. That might not seem like such a big deal -- someone had to play those minutes -- but Schultz didnt play a game in the NHL this season. He had 13 points (2 G, 11 A) and was plus-10 in 67 AHL games. Schultz was minus-10 in Corsi for Game Two but that ice time played into that deficit. Anaheims goal came on the power play from LW Patrick Maroon, their third-leading playoff scorer (2 G, 4 A, 8 GP), behind Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. The Ducks were dominating the possession game, but couldnt solve Quick and now head to Staples Center down two games in the series. With the ice tilted so heavily in Anaheims favour, the defence pairing of Ben Lovejoy and Cam Fowler was on for better than 80% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Anaheim was seven seconds away from winning Game One and carried the play in Game Two, yet still lost, so while they are facing a daunting task to come back, they have been able to handle the puck possession game against a Kings team that was the leagues best in that respect during the regular season. It may not do them much good, but its more encouraging than getting beaten from pillar-to-post in the first couple games. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '