Latest news with #BlueJay


Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. just got a custom bat from an Ontario company. Here's the story behind it
The winning Toronto Blue Jays have been the talk of town as of late, and the same could be said about Ontario-based bat company Backyard Bats, which has created a buzz in the baseball world. A custom-made bat from Backyard Bats, a Windsor-based company, is Blue Jays' superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s newest toy at the ballpark. A post shared by Backyard (@backyardbatco) In 2004, in a backyard shed in Windsor, Ont., Paul LaMantia was hand-spinning bats out of a passion for baseball. His best friend and college baseball teammate, Ryan LaPensee, a former Major League Baseball player for the Arizona Diamondbacks, reached out to LaMantia last spring, with a vision of taking the handspun wood bats to the next level. Their mission was 'to provide players with the highest grade luxury equipment available in the baseball industry today on both sides of the border,' said the company website . By December 2024, that dream became a reality. The brand was approved by the big leagues, becoming MLB-certified, and the bats were ready to get into the hands of professional players. A post shared by Backyard (@backyardbatco) During this year's spring training, LaPensee met Guerrero Jr. and gave him a sample bat to test. 'My jaw was on the floor with how far he could hit the baseball with the bat,' LaPensee said after Guerrero Jr.'s test run. Blue Jays manager John Schneider, whose brother is the COO of the company, wanted to get the bat into his star batter's hands, said LaPensee. So on Friday, July 18, LaPensee was at the Rogers Centre in Toronto to hand-deliver four custom bats ahead of the Blue Jays' game against the San Francisco Giants. Guerrero Jr. used it during batting practice, while teammates George Springer and Alejandro Kirk watched. 'He had a big smile on his face,' LaPensee said after viewing batting practice along with his family. 'To hear that loud bang off the bat was cool,' he added. The custom-made 'VGJ27' bat would later be used in a live game that evening, where the Blue Jays shut out the Giants 4-0. A post shared by VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR (@vladdyjr27) Backyard Bats has also found its way into the hands of big league stars like Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos, and Blue Jay Davis Schneider, among others. When asked how many other stars in the league are using the bats, LaPensee admitted he's already 'lost count.' The bats range from range from $99 for youth bats, to $209 for custom pro batch bats. Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays, who currently hold first place in the AL East division, take on the New York Yankees tonight (July 23) in Toronto, before heading to Detroit to play the Tigers in a four-game series that starts on Thursday, July 24 at Comerica Park. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .


Global News
3 days ago
- Sport
- Global News
Blue Jays sweep Giants with 8-6 victory
TORONTO – Bo Bichette had two doubles and two RBIs, George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger each homered and the Toronto Blue Jays swept the San Francisco Giants with an 8-6 victory on Sunday afternoon. Guerrero and Alejandro Kirk added RBI singles. Starter Jose Berrios pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on 89 pitches. Berrios allowed eight hits and walked one batter while striking out five. Yariel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth in relief to earn the save. Robbie Ray made his 21st start of the season for the Giants. The left-hander went 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and five hits. Ray also walked five batters and struck out three. Story continues below advertisement Former Blue Jay Matt Chapman hit a two-run home run, his 13th of the season. Heliot Ramos, Andrew Knizer, Brett Wisely and Jung-Hoo Lee hit RBI singles. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Attendance was announced as a sellout at 41,693, and the game lasted three hours two minutes. BICHETTE DOUBLING UP Bichette took sole possession of second in the American League with 27 doubles on the season. As of Sunday afternoon, Bichette is six doubles behind fellow shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals. MANOAH START Alek Manoah made his second rehab start on Sunday for the Dunedin Blue Jays in High-A as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The 27-year-old threw 28 pitches (16 strikes) in two innings of work, allowing three hits and one run. Manoah notably did not walk a batter, an improvement from his first start in which he walked two and hit a batter, and also struck out two. Manoah last appeared for the Blue Jays on May 29, 2024. He made five starts for the club in the 2024 season, posting a 1-2 record with a 3.70 ERA in 24.1 innings of work. COMING UP The Blue Jays will host the New York Yankees on Monday for the start of a crucial three-game series. Story continues below advertisement Kevin Gausman (6-7) is expected to get the start for Toronto, while Carlos Rodon (10-6) is expected to start for New York. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2025.


Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Blue Jays sweep three-game series against Giants with 8-6 victory
TORONTO – Bo Bichette had two doubles and two RBIs, George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Addison Barger each homered and the Toronto Blue Jays swept the San Francisco Giants with an 8-6 victory on Sunday afternoon. Guerrero and Alejandro Kirk added RBI singles. Starter Jose Berrios pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on 89 pitches. Berrios allowed eight hits and walked one batter while striking out five. Yariel Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth in relief to earn the save. Robbie Ray made his 21st start of the season for the Giants. The left-hander went 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and five hits. Ray also walked five batters and struck out three. Former Blue Jay Matt Chapman hit a two-run home run, his 13th of the season. Heliot Ramos, Andrew Knizer, Brett Wisely and Jung-Hoo Lee hit RBI singles. Attendance was announced as a sellout at 41,693, and the game lasted three hours two minutes. BICHETTE DOUBLING UP Bichette took sole possession of second in the American League with 27 doubles on the season. As of Sunday afternoon, Bichette is six doubles behind fellow shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals. MANOAH START Alek Manoah made his second rehab start on Sunday for the Dunedin Blue Jays in High-A as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The 27-year-old threw 28 pitches (16 strikes) in two innings of work, allowing three hits and one run. Manoah notably did not walk a batter, an improvement from his first start in which he walked two and hit a batter, and also struck out two. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Manoah last appeared for the Blue Jays on May 29, 2024. He made five starts for the club in the 2024 season, posting a 1-2 record with a 3.70 ERA in 24.1 innings of work. COMING UP The Blue Jays will host the New York Yankees on Monday for the start of a crucial three-game series. Kevin Gausman (6-7) is expected to get the start for Toronto, while Carlos Rodon (10-6) is expected to start for New York. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2025.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
IBM plans to build first-of-its-kind quantum computer by 2029 after 'solving key bottleneck'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. IBM scientists say they have solved the biggest bottleneck in quantum computing and plan to launch the world's first large-scale, fault-tolerant machine by 2029. The new research demonstrates new error-correction techniques that the scientists say will lead to a system 20,000 times more powerful than any quantum computer in existence today. In two new studies uploaded June 2 and June 3 to the preprint arXiv server, the researchers revealed new error mitigation and correction techniques that sufficiently handle these errors and allow for the scaling of hardware nine times more efficiently than previously possible. The new system, called "Starling," will use 200 logical qubits — made up of roughly 10,000 physical qubits. This will be followed by a machine called "Blue Jay," which will use 2,000 logical qubits, in 2033. The new research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, describes IBM's quantum low-density parity check (LDPC) codes — a novel fault-tolerance paradigm that researchers say will allow quantum computer hardware to scale beyond previous limitations. "The science has been solved" for expanded fault-tolerant quantum computing, Jay Gambetta, IBM vice president of quantum operations, told Live Science. This means that scaling up quantum computers is now just an engineering challenge, rather than a scientific hurdle, Gambetta added. Related: Google's 'Willow' quantum chip has solved a problem that would have taken the best supercomputer a quadrillion times the age of the universe to crack While quantum computers exist today, they're only capable of outpacing classical computer systems (those using binary calculations) on bespoke problems that are designed only to test their potential. One of the largest hurdles to quantum supremacy, or quantum advantage, has been in scaling up quantum processing units (QPUs). As scientists add more qubits to processors, the errors in calculations performed by QPUs add up. This is because qubits are inherently "noisy" and errors occur more frequently than in classical bits. For this reason, research in the field has largely centered on quantum error-correction (QEC). Error correction is a foundational challenge for all computing systems. In classical computers, binary bits can accidentally flip from a one to a zero and vice versa. These errors can compound and render calculations incomplete or cause them to fail entirely. The qubits used to conduct quantum calculations are far more susceptible to errors than their classical counterparts due to the added complexity of quantum mechanics. Unlike binary bits, qubits carry extra "phase information." While this enables them to perform computations using quantum information, it also makes the task of error correction much more difficult. Until now, scientists were unsure exactly how to scale quantum computers from the few hundred qubits used by today's models to the hundreds of millions they theoretically need to make them generally useful. But the development of LDPC and its successful application across existing systems is the catalyst for change, Gambetta said. LDPC codes use a set of checks to detect and correct errors. This results in individual qubits being involved in fewer checks and each check involving fewer qubits than previous paradigms. The key advantage of this approach is a significantly improved "encoding rate," which is the ratio of logical qubits to the physical qubits needed to protect them. By using LDPC codes, IBM aims to dramatically reduce the number of physical qubits required to scale up systems. The new method is about 90% faster at conducting error-mitigation than all previous techniques, based on IBM research. IBM will incorporate this technology into its Loon QPU architecture, which is the successor to the Heron architecture used by its current quantum computers. Starling is expected to be capable of 100 million quantum operations using 200 logical qubits. IBM representatives said this was roughly equivalent to 10,000 physical qubits. Blue Jay will theoretically be capable of 1 billion quantum operations using its 2,000 logical qubits. RELATED STORIES — IBM's newest 156-qubit quantum chip can run 50 times faster than its predecessor — equipping it for scientific research — Scientists just built a massive 1,000-qubit quantum chip, but why are they more excited about one 10 times smaller? — Error-corrected qubits 800 times more reliable after breakthrough, paving the way for 'next level' of quantum computing Current models have about 5,000 gates (analogous to 5,000 quantum operations) using 156 logical qubits. The leap from 5,000 operations to 100 million will only be possible through technologies like LDPC, IBM representatives said in a statement. Other technologies, including those used by companies like Google, will not scale to the larger sizes needed to reach fault tolerance, they added. To take full advantage of Starling in 2029 and Blue Jay in 2033, IBM needs algorithms and programs built for quantum computers, Gambetta said. To help researchers prepare for future systems, IBM recently launched Qiskit 2.0, an open-source development kit for running quantum circuits using IBM's hardware. "The goal is to move from error mitigation to error correction," Blake Johnson, IBM's quantum engine lead, told Live Science, adding that "quantum computing has grown from a field where researchers are exploring a playground of quantum hardware to a place where we have these utility-scale quantum computing tools available."


Winnipeg Free Press
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Koskie to be inducted into Twins HOF
WinnipegElmwood Despite the strained relations between Canada and the United States, a number of Manitoba baseball fans will no doubt be at Target Field in Minneapolis on Sunday, Aug. 17. The Minnesota Twins are hosting the Detroit Tigers and a highlight of the afternoon will be the induction of Anola's Corey Koskie into the club's Hall of Fame. Koskie was born in 1973 and, according to his Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame biography, he got his start with the Elmwood Giants in 1989. In 1992, with the Giants junior squad, he was the Manitoba Junior League batting champion and named rookie of the year. Koskie was a multi-sport athlete, who played goal for the Selkirk Steelers of the MJHL at age 17, and volleyball for Manitoba at the national level. He focused on baseball once he earned a scholarship to play at Boone College in Iowa. File photo Anola's Corey Koskie will be inducted into the Minnesota Twins' Hall of Fame on Aug. 17. Koskie is arguably Manitoba's greatest baseball player. Koskie was selected in the 26th round of the 1994 major league baseball draft and began his pro career in the Gulf Coast League. He joined the Twins in September 1998 and appeared in 834 regular season and playoff games through third baseman had a .280 batting average and hit 101 home runs for the Twins. In 2001, Koskie had a very impressive season with 26 home runs, 103 runs batted in, and 27 stolen bases. He later played for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2005 and Milwaukee Brewers in 2006 before retiring. He and his family make their home in the Twin Cities. The honours kept coming for Koskie. In 1999, 2001, and 2006, he was named Manitoba Male Athlete of the Year by the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. His induction into the provincial baseball shrine in Morden, Man., took place in 2011. Two years later he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and in 2015, he became an honoured member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. That summer's induction class included former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado, Matt Stairs from Fredericton, N.B., who played for 13 teams in the majors between 1992 and 2011, former Montreal Expo Felipe Alou, and the late Expo executive Jim Fanning. In 1961, the American League Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and the team was renamed Twins in recognition of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. From 1961 until 1981, the home field was the Metropolitan Stadium in the suburban community of Bloomington south of the two competing cities. In 1982, the Twins moved to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The covered stadium was not a great place to enjoy a summer baseball game, but the Twins won the World Series in 1987 and 1991 while calling it home. Fans were thrilled when the excellent Target Field was constructed several blocks north and opened in 2010. Mondays A weekly look at news and events that matter in your communities. When Koskie enters the Twins HOF in August, he will be the 41st individual to be honoured since it was formed in 2000. He and Gary Gaetti are the only regular third basemen to be recognized. In addition to players, the Hall includes managers, executives and broadcasters. The first class included National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted players Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Kirby Puckett and owner Calvin Griffith. The fifth player was Kent Hrbek, a Bloomington product, who was the first baseman on the World Series champion teams. Pitchers Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat and catcher Joe Mauer are other Twins in the National HOF. Koskie is arguably our province's greatest baseball player. The one player who might compete for that honour is Brandon-born Russ Ford, the first Canadian to win 20 games in a major league season. He accomplished that in 1910 when he won 26 games for the New York Highlanders of the American League. The next season, he won 22 games and pitched for the AL in a benefit game that was baseball's first unofficial all-star contest. When Ford was inducted into the Manitoba Sports HOF in 2002, this columnist, who had researched his history, had the honour of accepting for him. The Ford family had moved to the US when Russ was a young boy and the Hall couldn't find any family members. T. Kent MorganMemories of Sport Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@ Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.