Shi Davidi is not dead. If the emails and comments are anything to go by, I may have given people the wrong impression when I noted recently that CP's estimable baseball beat writer is 'no longer with us'. I meant that in the literal sense, as in 'not in Florida'. Not as in 'has shuffled off this mortal coil'.
Shi himself messaged me. I'm sure his family was getting worried. I told him that my (virtual) powers are limitless and that the Star's travel budget does include a provision for witch doctors and raisings from the dead, not to be confused with the water cure.
So Shi is alive and well, though still labouring under the misapprehension (along with MLB.com's Jordan Bastian and the FAN590's Mike Wilner) that a constant Tampa diet of P.F. Chang's will not eventually kill him. They continue to insist to me that a nightly partaking of disstilled spirits will do likewise. We agree to disagree.
In the same place I mentioned Shi, I also dedicated Safety Dance to him. Don't you think Men Without Hats is a little cavalier for a funeral? April Wine? Well, that's respectful and touching. Coney Hatch? Absolutely. But not M.W.H. What this comes down to, people, (to quote the greatest gangster movie of them all) is a question of ethics.
One more day in Tampa. Game this afternoon against Houston, one of the few major league teams more anxious than Toronto to get the hell out of Florida and get the season started before they lose anyone else.
The Jays will board a flight Friday morning and head to Philadelphia. Night game on Friday and an afternoon tilt on Saturday. Off day Sunday in New York and then the season begins Monday afternoon. This should be a chilly one judging by the weather reports and there's a good chance of rain on Monday which would just, well, suck. If only New York had its own Doppler 9000 so that we could feel sure.
Both of the last two exhibition games in Philly will be pitched by bullpen committees. If their weather forecast is anything to go by, we may be stuck watching the team play cards in the clubhouse for most of Friday night. For the media contingent, these last two days promise to be the 'Will Alex Rios sign before the Yankee Stadium pre-game?' countdown.
Cathal Kelly
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