Its only two starts, but Chien-Ming Wang appears to be just what the doctor ordered for the Blue Jays beleaguered pitching staff. He has taken the team deep into both games hes pitched and picked up the victory Sunday at Arlington, pitching seven shutout innings while walking two and striking out five. The Blue Jays were able to get Wang, who starred for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007, winning 19 in each of the those seasons, simply because the Yankees felt he couldnt help their big club. They released him from his Triple A deal at Scranton-Wilkes Barre of the International League, allowing him to sign on with the Blue Jays. In a certain way, it reminds me of the success the Jays had with another Yankee discard, Doyle Alexander. In 1982, Doyle went 1-7 for the Yankees with a 6.08 earned run average. He got off to another rocky start in 1983 going 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA. Then out of frustration one night, he punched a wall and broke his hand. On May 31 of 1983, the Yankees released the 32-year-old Alexander and some wondered if his career could be over. The Blue Jays signed him on June 21 of that season, and suddenly Doyle was reborn. He went 7-6 for the Jays the rest of the season and, more importantly, shaved his earned run average to 3.93. Things only got better the next two seasons under skipper Bobby Cox. Doyle won 17 games in 1984, and 17 again in 1985, the year the Blue Jays won their first division title. In fact, Doyle pitched the division clincher against the Yankees on a Saturday afternoon at Exhibition Stadium on the second last day of the regular season. Doyle had a very strong and serious personality. Bobby Cox left after the 85 season and returned to Atlanta to become general manager of the Braves. Whether it was Cox leaving or some other reason, "Dour Doyle" as he came to be known, slipped a bit in 1986. He was 5-4 with 4.46 ERA when he was ultimately swapped to Coxs Braves in July for a young starting pitching prospect by the name of Duane Ward, who would eventually become part of the greatest 1-2 relief punch the Blue Jays ever had with Tom Henke. Alexander had his moments after leaving Toronto, especially in 1987, when he helped Detroit beat out the Blue Jays for the East Division title on the final weekend of the season at Tiger Stadium. Still, overall, he never again reached the heights he enjoyed in Toronto. Over two full seasons with the Blue Jays and parts of two others, he went 46-26 with a 3.56 ERA. Though he won 194 games over his career, the best span of Doyles career came in Toronto. Truth be told, over those Toronto years, I enjoyed watching him pitch more than any other Jays starter. The man knew how to pitch. He could change speeds and vary his location as well as anyone Ive ever seen in a Blue Jays uniform. No, he could not blow people away like a Roger Clemens and he wasnt Dave Stieb or Roy Halladay, but when he was on, he could make hitters look foolish. The circumstances are different with Chien-Ming Wang. The Yankees werent fed up with him. They just didnt have a spot for him, what with Michael Pineda going on rehab and expected to finally pitch for the big club in the near future. But the Yankees could get stung on this one, just as they did in 1983 when they released Alexander. The Blue Jays should be so fortunate. Playoff Watch If you look at the American League standings from last year, four of the five teams that made the post-season are holding down playoff positions right now outright with the only exception being the Yankees and Texas, who are tied for the second Wild Card position. Both teams are struggling right now, especially at the plate. The team that has stepped up is Boston. Theyve gone from also rans to first place in the AL East under John Farrell. If this continues the rest of the campaign, Farrell is going to be a shoo-in for American League Manager of the Year. Along those same lines, if the BoSox win the East, Dustin Pedroia would have an excellent shot at the Most Valuable Player Award, though Ive got a feeling in the end it will boil down to a battle between the Orioles slugger Chris Davis and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers. The Blue Jays are coming off a great 6-1 road trip, just when they needed it most, to climb to within five and a half games of the second Wild Card spot. But theyve got to come close to sustaining this pace through the end of this month. They have 13 games left in June, including 10 against the East: three at home this weekend against Baltimore followed by three at Tampa Bay and four at Fewnway Park in Boston. Going 8-5 would keep them in the conversation at least about having meaningful games down the stretch. Alejandro Villanueva Steelers Jersey . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Dermontti Dawson Steelers Jersey . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. http://www.steelerspronfl.com/ . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. Jack Butler Womens Jersey . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Diontae Johnson Youth Jersey . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. LOS ANGELES -- Blake Griffin is apologizing to?Los Angeles Clippers?fans for punching the teams assistant equipment manager last season, an incident he says was 100 percent my fault.He was suspended four games and docked nearly $860,000 in pay for the altercation in January at a Toronto restaurant. Griffin broke his right hand and Matias Testis face was severely swollen. Testi no longer works for team, having left in late July with no reason given by the Clippers, who open training camp Tuesday in Irvine.Griffin says not a day goes by that he doesnt think about the incident and says he feels like he let down longtime Clippers fans. The 27-year-old forward expressed his thoughts in a letter posted Friday on The Players Tribune website, where he is listed as a senior editor.I dont want to dwell on it, but I think I owe it to Clippers fans to say it once again before the season begins: Im sorry, he wrote.Griffin was limited to 35 games last season because of a left quadriceps injury. He averaged 21.4 points and 8.4 rebounds. The Clippers lost to Portland in six games in the first round of the playoffs.We all know the narrative going into this season, he wrote. Everyones like, `Oh, they lose in the playoffs every year. Same old Cllippers.dddddddddddd All I have to say to that is this: Were the same core group that beat the defending-champion Spurs in seven games just 17 months ago. I know 17 months seems like forever, especially in NBA time, but we know how small the margins are between winning and losing, and how quickly the narratives around teams can change.Griffin said missing most of last season was a wake-up call for me.When I was hurt and basically sitting around going stir-crazy, it made me realize that basketball was like therapy for me, he wrote. No matter what was going on in the real world, if I could just get to the gym, everything else disappeared.Griffin said a few days after the altercation he received a call from his older brother Taylor, who said, Man, what are you doing? This is not you. What are you doing this for?I was crushed, Griffin said. To hear that from him, somebody Ive looked up to my whole life, who always tells me what I need to hear, thats when I had a pretty big realization about who I am, and who I want to be. I dont want to say what that realization was. I just want to go out and show you. ' ' '