ON THE MARK.

THANK YOU KESSEL!

That's what Bruins fans will be shouting tonight in Beantown when the Leafs and Boston square off in game one of their opening round series.  Phil Kessel is a marked man, and he must perform if the Leafs hope to win the series.  Unfortunately,  since being traded to the Leafs for two first round draft picks (Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton), Kessel has been abysmal against the Bruins.  That has to change.   Kessel has been averaging a point a game with the Maple Leafs the past two seasons.   He has 15 games of post season experience (with Boston) and has 15 playoff points.  He's fast and he's shifty but he's going to have to avoid the long stick of Zdeno Chara, his personal nemesis on the Bruins.  I think he can do that, and if Joffrey Lupul and Nazem Kadri and JVR  can create scoring chances and if James Reimer stands on his head, and if Randy Carlyle can outcoach Claude Julien, the Leafs will win the series in 7 games.  That's my pick.   Just like 1992-93 when the Leafs beat Detroit in 7, taking the finale on the road in overtime (remember Nik Borschevsky?).  Yup, Leafs in 7.    It's gonna happen.
     As for the Jays, I don't think they can continue allowing John Gibbons to make these managerial miscues.   I know the players aren't helping, but you've got to put a lineup together and stick to it for 5 or 6 games.   Make a decision on second base and shortstop right now.  Between Kawasaki, Bonifacio and Izturis, pick two starters and make one the bench guy.   Don't be shifting players around, like last night in the 7th when Gibbons replaced Bonifacio with Kawasaki (I have no idea why).   That meant Izturis, who started at shortstop, had to move to second while Kawasaki played short.   The first chance they got, they botched a potential double play ball that would've gotten the Jays out of the inning.   Then, to compound the problem, Gibbons took lefty Aaron Loup out and brought in Steve Delabar to pitch to Dustin Pedroia.   He walked him and then had to face Big Papi with the sacks drunk.   Yikes.  3 run double.  Sox lead.    If Gibbons would've left Loup in to pitch to Pedroia, even if he walked him, you'd have lefty versus lefty, Loup against Ortiz.  That would've been a much better matchup, don't you think?
     As it is, EE bailed out his manager big time.  The 5th deck shot was one thing, but that two-run blast in the 7th to give the Jays the lead for good was some kind of clutch hitting.  With Bautista hitting 3rd and EE fourth in the Jays batting order, things will definitely improve.  As for the pitching, Brandon Morrow was once again disappointing.  He throws way too many pitches out there.    Tonight Mark Buehrle needs to show that he's worth all the accolades and the money he's getting.   This is where veteran players earn their keep.   It's not April anymore, so you can't use that "slow starter" nonsense.  You need to get 7 solid innings from Buehrle, and you need to get more than 5 innings out of JA Happ in tomorrow's finale.    And by the way, can the pitchers and catchers get their signals straight out there?  I've never seen so many visits to the mound to make sure the battery knows what's going on.   C'mon.  1 is a fastball, 2 is a curve, 3 is a slider and 4 is the splitter or whatever odd pitch the guy has.  It's not that difficult, even though the Jays have made it seem that way.     One game at a time Jays fans.