Game 84 – All About Doc

What a joy it is to watch Doc pitch when he is on. He was on cruise control tonight giving up just 4 hits and no walks while striking out 6 in going the distance (one batter also reached on error). The Mariners only had one player reach scoring position, that coming in the 7th after back-to-back singles by Reed and Sexson. Halladay struck out Clement (w/Reed at 3rd) and then got Johjima to ground out. Halladay threw 84 strikes and just 31 balls and threw 1st pitch strikes to 23 of 32 hitters. He recorded 16 outs via the ground compared to 5 in the air, and leading the way w/7 assists was Scutaro.

The Blue Jays didn’t exactly tear it up against Dickey scoring just 2 runs, but tonight that was enough. They went 1 for 9 w/RISP. They did manage to come through in a bases loaded 1 out situation and at least get the 1 run, which for this offence is something that doesn’t always happen.

I would have walked Wilkerson in the 6th w/2nd and 3rd and 2 out. Although Wilkerson isn’t exactly a threat I’d take my chance w/the righty vs righty matchup of Dickey vs Eckstein (and a force at all bases).

I would have stuck w/the bunt in the 9th and McDonald up at 0-1, but it is not a bad idea to switch it up and try the hit and run. McDonald is a very good hitter to use for the hit and run b/c he makes contact often, but I would wait for McDonald to get ahead in the count before putting on the hit and run. If he is behind in the count I would stick with the bunt.

The hit and run ended up worst case scenario but Wilkerson must have had trouble picking up where that ball went off the bat b/c he had plenty of time to get back to 1st.

Now for the stats:
Adv: Scutaro (1)
P-Adv: Dickey
WG: Overbay (5)
ME(r): Wilkerson (2)
ME(f): Reed

Day 93 – Camping

I’m flying into Vancouver b/c I’m doing something a little different for this leg of the trip. I’m going camping w/a friend of mine who lives in Vancouver. My friend picked me up at the airport w/the camping gear already packed so we could go straight from the airport to our campsite. We were staying at Deception Pass State Park. The campground is north of SEA and right on the coast. Once we found our site and got our tent set up we headed into SEA. It ended up taking us about 2 hrs to get from campground to ballpark. As we were navigating our way to Safeco Field we kind of lucked out finding some street parking near the ballpark that was free.

I have been to SEA to see baseball on 2 prior occasions, but both were at the Kingdome. In fact the last time I was there they were just building Safeco Field. The one thing I don’t remember is so many Jays fans coming down to see the games. I wouldn’t be surprised if 1/3 of the attendance was Canadian. The stadium itself was pretty nice, certainly fits in w/all the other new ballparks of this era.

After the game we wandered around looking for a place to eat but there wasn’t much of interest so we just headed back to the campsite and stopped to eat along the way.

Game 83 – Pitcher’s Duel?

Great game from Burnett giving up just 4 hits and no runs over 7 innings. He did walk 4 (1 intentional) but struck out 11. The problem is those walks and strikeouts drove up his pitch count to 119 and forced him out. He pitched out of a 1st and 2nd none out in the 4th (although by his own doing w/back-to-back walks) and he pitched around a leadoff double in the 7th.

The Jays didn’t exactly give Burnett much support, taking until the 6th to score a run and then adding nothing more. The Jays struggles against lefties continued. They did hit 4 2B’s (Rios had 2 of them) in the game but only managed the 1 run in large part thanks to their 0 for 13 w/RISP. They even had 2 leadoff 2B’s but both times the next batter (Barajas and Overbay) went down looking. In the 3rd they had 1st and 2nd none out but Eckstein hit into a DP.

The Braves for their part were not much better going 0 for 8 w/RISP. In particular McCann went 0 for 4, 3 of which came w/RISP. It was also a tough game for Brandon Jones going 0 for 4 w/3 strikeouts.

That is a combined 0 for 21 w/RISP and all 5 times the teams had a runner at 2nd w/none out the next hitter failed to advance them.

The Jays did not give Teixera a chance to come up w/a hit w/RISP as they intentionally walked him twice when he came up w/a runner at 2nd and 1st base open. I wasn’t a big fan of the 1st intentional walk in the 6th although it wasn’t unreasonable. With McCann hitting behind Teixera, either way Burnett is going to have to face a lefty and there is not much of a dropoff between the two hitters. So I’d rather just go after Teixera and try to get him rather than put another runner on base, especially in a tie game. Plus if you fall behind Teixera you can always just decide to walk him then. However, in the 8th w/Downs on the mound it makes sense to face McCann rather than the switch hitting Teixera.

Always nice to see Ryan come in and have a quick 1-2-3 inning to save it. It is funny how quickly people turn on closers when they have a couple bad games in a row like Ryan did at the start of June. It certainly was a bad week for Ryan w/a couple blown saves and losses but now he is once again pitching great. The problem for closers is when they struggle, their struggles are coming at a very visible time in the game, but it is going to happen. All closers are going to blow a few games every year (w/the exception of that one amazing year by Gagne).

On with the stats:
NAdv: McCann, Francoeur, Barajas (4), Eckstein (4), Overbay (9)
P-NAdv: Reyes 3, Burnett 2 (9)
WG: Lillibridge, McDonald (5)

Day 92

Baseball, Eat, Pack.

Game 82 – The Fall of the Big Three

How nice to see the Jays respond in the 8th inning for 3 runs after ATL had scored 4 in the top half. The 3 runs pushed the Jays lead back to 4 to regain the breathing room they had and took away any momentum the Braves had generated. I think that is a big lift when the offence is able to come right back like that after a late rally from the opposition.

Good start from John Parrish in is return to the majors. He has had a great year in AAA, but his problem has always been his control. Tonight he walked just 2 in 6 innings and if he can keep his command he could at least hold his own in place of Marcum. It sounds like the Jays plan to skip the 5th spot the next couple times so it may be awhile before we see if Parrish can repeat this success.

I don’t get using Downs in the 7th inning when the Jays are up by 5. My only guess was since Cito already had him warming up while the Jays were putting the 4 spot on the board in the bottom of the 6th he decided to just let him come in the game and get some work (he hadn’t worked in 2 days). Based on Cito’s usage of Downs so far my guess is he was going to use him for 2 innings, but since the Jays were up by 5 he just let him get his 1 inning of work in and then pulled him. It almost backfired as Tallet gave up 4 runs in the 8th inning.

Watching Teixera play defence is a real treat. Sure everybody knows about his offence, and boy is he hot right now, but he is in my opinion the best defensive 1B in baseball. He has made several nice plays so far this series and something that really doesn’t get quantified is all the errors he saves his infielders by scooping their throws. Teixera just looks so smooth making all the plays.

Nice to see Lind doing some of the little things. First he picked up a SF in the 6th and then picked up the advance by hitting a ground ball to the right side to move the runner to 3rd w/less than 2 outs in the 8th.

Wells had himself a nice game despite starting 0 for 2, as he then followed it up by hitting a solo HR, got a 1B, and then a 2-run 2B in consecutive innings.

It is interesting to note how much all 3 of OAK’s big 3 have struggled since leaving OAK. These 3 were all supposed to be perennial Cy Young contenders and have not come close since. Mulder and Hudson have both battled injuries and even when healthy haven’t exactly been lighting it up. While Zito has been very mediocre even though he is the highest paid pitcher in baseball (that truly may be the worst contract in baseball; I would never pay any starting pitcher that much).

Let’s check the stats:
Adv: Lind (1)
P-Adv: Acosta
Adv+: Blanco
P-Adv+: Tallet (2)
NAdv: Barajas (3)
P-NAdv: Bennett
ME(r): McCann
ME(f): Ohman

Day 91

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 81 – Stolen Base Timing

Well the Blue Jays did almost nothing offensively today as they didn’t even get a chance to fail w/a runner in scoring position. They managed just 3 1B’s and a BB and 2 of the runners were erased on DP’s.

It was an ok start from McGowan, still haven’t seen his best. Don’t like seeing 3 BB’s. Also he was leaving the ball up too much as he ended up w/5 outs via the ground and 11 in the air. Furthermore, 7 of the 8 hits were in the air to the OF incl. the HR he gave up.

I wouldn’t have brought McGowan out to start the 8th. Although he had only thrown 96 pitches, as mentioned above he was leaving too many pitches up in the strike zone. Plus you are only asking for 2 innings out of your bullpen and the 2nd man up in the inning was Teixera who already had homered and doubled off McGowan.

I was surprised to see Gotay trying to steal in the 5th w/Teixera at the plate. Unless you can be 100% sure you have it stolen, I don’t like taking the bat out of your clean up hitter who has the ability to hit it out of the ballpark or at least into the gaps, especially when he is hot. Even if Gotay is successful all it might do is have the opposition intentionally walk Teixera or at the very least pitch very carefully to him not worrying whether they walk him.

Moving onto the stats:
WG: Jones, Overbay (4)
ME(r): Blanco

Day 90

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 80 – HR Trot

Great start from Litsch and he really needed it as he has been struggling. He went 8 innings giving up just 3 hits and 1 run. I would have actually pulled him after he issued his 1st walk to Bako in the 8th following the 2B to Patterson. The walk was a sign to me that he was out of gas but Gaston stuck w/him him and it paid off as Litsch got Hairston to end the inning.

The Jays were able to put up 7 runs (5 earned) against the NL ERA leader, Edison Volquez. You think of all the pitchers the Jays have struggled against and yet they have no problem w/Volquez who has been on fire this yr. The Jays showed some power w/a HR and 3 2B’s. They also came through w/a 3 for 10 w/RISP.

Overbay came up w/a big 2-out bases loaded hit in the 3rd to drive in 2 runs. Prior to Overbay the Jays hadn’t even got a hit in the inning but thanks to a HBP, 2 BB and an error the Jays had scored 1 and loaded the bases. The Overbay hit allowed them to take advantage and open the game up a bit, something the Jays have sorely lacked this season.

Give some credit to Lincoln and Affeldt as they came in and were perfect through 3.2 innings. It just didn’t matter as the Reds weren’t coming back.

It is nice to see that not all players feel the need to take their time running the bases when they hit a HR. Scott Rolen ended up crossing home plate about 2 secs after Stairs, who was on 1st base.

Now to the stats:
Adv: Rios (1), Wells (3)
P-Adv: Volquez 2
Adv+: Wells (1)
P-Adv+: Volquez
NAdv: Phillips
P-NAdv: Tallet (2)
ME(f): Rios (3)

Day 89

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 79 – Walks

It was a rare off night for Halladay giving up 5 runs. What was concerning was the 4 walks he gave up. The most costly one was to Phillips in the 1st. Halladay was ahead 0-2 and then threw 4 straight balls to put Phillips on setting up the 2-run HR to Griffey. Interesting enough Halladay did strike out 7 in the game. You get so used to Halladay pitching gems that you forget he is human and will have bad nights.

The Jays did manage to come back and take Halladay off the hook but lost it in the 10th due to more walks. Wolfe walked the 1st 2 batters to start the 10th and the Reds cashed one in w/o a hit using a sac bunt and a SF. There is not much you can do as a manager when a new reliever comes in and can’t hit the strike zone.

Neither team took advantage of the opportunities they had as the Reds went 2 for 11 w/RISP and the Jays went 2 for 12. The teams did combine to hit 3 HR’s, all of them 2-run HR’s w/the runner on 1st.

I would not have had Lind bunting in the 8th after the leadoff walk. If you had a better bunter at the plate then I’m ok w/the move, but I wouldn’t trust Lind to be able to get a bunt down. However, Lind proved me wrong and successfully dropped down the sac bunt. The only problem was Scutaro and Inglett followed by going down swinging.

The Jays big chance to win the game came in the 7th after tying it in the 6th. They loaded the bases w/none out but Rolen popped up to 2nd and then Overbay hit into the 1-2-3 DP. How many times can the Jays waste these types of opportunities?

Nice to see Rios continue picking up hits even if the power isn’t there, he had another 3 tonight. On the negative side Rolen went 0 for 5 and was the only starter not to reach base.

Onto the stats:
Adv: Griffey, Wells (2)
P-Adv: Harang, Halladay (3)
Adv+: Dunn, Stairs (4)
P-Adv+: Weathers, Halladay (5)
NAdv: Rolen (4)
P-NAdv: Weathers
DE: Ross

Day 88 – Back on my own

My parents left in the morning to continue visiting friends/relatives in Ontario before they headed back to MB. So that meant it was back to normal for me, no more restaurant adventures.

Game 78 – Bats Welcome Cito Home

So the bats didn’t waste any time getting going in Cito’s return to Toronto. They score 6 in the 1st and 5 in the 2nd sending 11 and 10 men to the plate. Along the way they hit 3 HR’s and for the game compiled an 11 for 23 w/RISP.

Leading the charge were Scutaro w/4 hits (all 1B’s) and Rios w/4 hits (3 1B’s, 1 HR). Overbay also chipped in 3 hits (2 1B’s and a 2B) and a BB. Rolen led the way w/4 RBI’s courtesy of a 3-run HR and RBI 2B.

A good start from Burnett although it did not look good walking 2 following the leadoff single by Phillips in the 2nd after the Jays just put a 6 up on the board. However, Burnett pitched out of it only giving up 1 run and from there he cruised the rest of the way only letting 1 other guy reach 3rd base.

Now for a look at the stats:
Adv: Wilkerson (2)
P-Adv: Weathers
Adv+: Rios 2 (4), Overbay (1)
P-Adv+: Arroyo, Majewski 2
NAdv: Griffey, Wells (4), Wilkerson (5), Lind (1)
P-NAdv: Arroyo, Affeldt 2, Burnett (7)
WG: Janish, Scutaro (7)
DE: Votto
ME(f): Hopper, Votto

Day 87 – The Great One

After work met up w/my parents outside Rogers Centre to go to the game. After the game I suggested we go eat at Wayne Gretzky’s. Despite being a huge Gretzky fan, he is the reason the Kings are the hockey team I cheer for today and I have enough cards and collectibles of him to fill up a room, I’d never gone to his restaurant. I’ve wanted to go but just never think of it at the right time. Well finally I made it there and it was pretty cool to walk around the restaurant and see all the memorabilia.

It was interesting who I ran into at the restaurant; while my dad was taking my picture by one of the display cases in the restaurant who did I see walk by, it was Jesse Litsch. Apparently the post-game spread wasn’t enough for him.

Day 86 – Baseball Steak

I left Cleveland around 2:15 am and had to connect to a different bus again in Buffalo. Luckily this was break was less than an hr and I managed to get home around 10.

I got a little more sleep once home and then headed into work to get a few hrs in before my parents arrived. Now that the wedding was over and I was back in Toronto they were coming to stay w/me for a couple nights.

I decided that I should take my parents out for Mother’s/Father’s day. I know it is well after the fact but it is not like I can take them out on those days so I figured why not do it now. And who said we should only appreciate our parents on specific days. So we decided to go to The Keg Mansion, which is the regular Keg restaurant most of you are probably familiar with but it is located in a mansion, which if I remember correctly was once owned by Vincent Massey. The interior still looks like a house just w/a bunch of tables everywhere. Interestingly enough I have never actually been to any Keg before. I’m not sure why we never went as a family in Winnipeg, I guess it has something to do w/the cost. I was looking over the menu trying to decide what I wanted and there I saw a Baseball Steak. So naturally I had to go w/that. The steak was so thick that they could only cook it to medium-rare, which wasn’t that big a deal for me since I usually eat my steaks medium.

Game 77 – Lind has arrived

Now that is more like it as the Jays score 8 runs on 11 hits to salvage 1 game in PIT. The Jays went 4 for 9 w/RISP and they even kicked in 2 SF’s. They also got 2 HR’s, including 1 from freshly recalled Adam Lind. My guess is Cito said he wanted him up, and hopefully they will finally give him his chance. As if the HR wasn’t enough Lind also had a 1B and BB.

I thought it was weird the Pirates would use Sanchez to PH in the 4th and then have him bunt. The guy is a former batting champ, and sure that was somewhat of a fluke but he is still a good hitter. Why not just leave Snell in there to bunt even if you are pulling him or at least use one of your other less accomplished bench players.

It was not a strong start from McGowan and if not for that bad bunt by Sanchez who knows what happens in that inning. Prior to Sanchez they had 5 straight 1B’s, after McGowan got the next 2 to end the inning w/o anymore damage.

The bullpen pitched well as the only 2 runners they allowed in 4 innings were on Scutaro’s error and a 1B to Gomez. I mentioned on Fri how Gaston used Downs for 2 innings but that seemed like it was just based on the fact it was tied and the low pitch count. However, this time he brought Downs into the game in the 7th w/a lead probably knowing he wanted 2 innings out of him. I guess the one thing is they do have tomorrow off so you don’t have to worry about losing Downs for the next game, but we’ll have to see if Cito keeps this up.

On to the stats:
Adv: LaRoche, Rivas
P-Adv: McGowan (4), Frasor (3)
Adv+: Rios (2), Michaels, Bautista
P-Adv+: McGowan 2 (7), Snell
NAdv: Sanchez
P-NAdv: McGowan (14)
DE: Overbay (2)

Day 85 – Taking the Long Road

A little different view of the park. No these were not my seats.

Afternoon game to get to today so it was check out of the hotel and back to the ballpark. After the game I just put in some time walking along the river that goes through downtown before catching the bus. I also caught some of the College World Series on TV while I was eating. I didn’t see any of the Jays 2008 draftees playing though.

Many of the buses from Pittsburgh to Toronto are scheduled for between 10-11 hrs. But the one I was taking at night (the only one available after the game) was a 13 hr trip. The large reason for the longer trip was b/c it went to Cleveland (and has scheduled a 3 hr layover) before going on to Buffalo. We arrived late in Cleveland just shortly before midnight so all that meant was the wait was shorter as the bus left at 2:15 am to Buffalo. I will pick up in Cleveland in tomorrow’s blog.

Game 76 – Who need’s good RISP numbers?

Well despite not having an AB w/a RISP, the Pirates scored 6 runs and won the game. First it was the Brewers scoring 7 and not leaving a runner on base, now this. The Pirates hit not one, not two, but three 2-run HR’s, all w/the runner at first. The longball was the only thing hurting Litsch tonight as those were the only 6 runners he allowed.

The Jays threatened in 2 innings, scoring 1 in the 4th and leaving the bases loaded and scoring 2 in the 6th and ending the inning w/a runner thrown out at the plate. I hate to pick on Leyva already but Barajas was out by a mile. Yes there was 2 out but Cito already had Wilkerson on deck to PH for Litsch so in this case I would have held Barajas and took my chances w/Wilkerson, even against a LH. Although I would rather have seen Zaun in the on deck circle. Maybe this was Leyva not realizing how slow Barajas is, or maybe he just wanted to be really aggressive, but I don’t think down 3 in the 6th is the time.

For your information the Jays went 3 for 5 w/RISP, but did hit into 1 DP. And the game only took 2 hrs 3 mins to play.

As far as the stats are concerned, well there were none.

Day 84 – PNC Park

Nothing special today, just walking around seeing the sites of Pittsburgh. It was a night game so I made my way to the ballpark via the Roberto Clemente Bridge. They actually close down the bridge to vehicle traffic before the game and keep it closed until after the game. It is a very nice ballpark, great sightlines. You can walk around the outfield concourse and you are walking basically right along the river. They have a little section where they have statues to honour some of the great Negro league stars.

A view of the Roberto Clemente Bridge from PNC Park

I got a pretty cool giveaway for this game, a Roberto Clemente collectible plate. The funny thing was on the plate it has a note stating “Not for Food Use. May Poison Food”. It was Roberto Clemente night and they had Roberto’s wife and kids there to accept Roberto’s All Time Rawlings Gold Glove award.

Game 75 – New Manager, Same Team

The Jays certainly had no problem showing Cito exactly what is wrong w/this team as they got shutout for 12 innings and lost 1-0. Although they did manage 1 hit w/a RISP, but it was just an infield hit so it didn’t score anyone. They ended up 1 for 6 for the game. Let’s not forget the Jays also hit into 2 more DP’s.

On the other side the Pirates only managed a 1 for 8 w/RISP and their lone hit was also of the infield variety not scoring a run, but it helped lead to the only run of the game thanks to a rare error from McDonald. Not to make excuses, but it was a tough bounce for McDonald and there is no time to try and catch it on the good hop. Plus even if he makes the play and throws the runner out at the plate, the Pirates would still have bases loaded w/1 out.

Already you can see some different managing philosophies from Gaston as he let Downs go 2 innings. Although Downs only threw 9 pitches in his 1st inning and the game was still tied so why not extend him. He also brought Ryan into the game in the middle of an inning. Of course Gibbons did this lots w/Ryan in 2006 but since TJ surgery has always used Ryan only to start innings.

I am surprised that he did bring Ryan in at that time, not b/c it was w/a runner on base but b/c it was not yet a save situation. Unless your closer is able to throw more than 1 inning I see no point in bringing him in until you have a lead to protect. If you are on the road and if you are going to win then no matter what at some point you will need to protect a lead for 1 final inning. Why not save your closer for that point? Of course you could argue that sometimes it is better to use your closer in the most important situation, which doesn’t always come at the end. Truthfully that is a strategy I wish you would see more often, using your best relief pitcher (usually your closer) in the 7th or 8th if the situation calls for it. But for now let’s just consider an extra inning game. Unless you get into a man at 3rd less than 2 outs situation it is hard to pick a spot that is the most important since you don’t know how many times you will have to go through the lineup. I would still bring in a lefty after Wolfe gave up the 1B in the 11th since 3 of the next 4 hitters were LH, but I would have brought in Carlson.

Based on tonight’s lineup, let’s hope Gaston is going to use McDonald as Halladay’s personal SS.

That line drive off Halladay was very scary. I couldn’t believe he was still standing there. And not that it is all that important compared to Halladay’s well being, but how did that manage to bounce right to Rolen to end the inning. It goes anywhere else and the Pirates score a run as they had bases loaded.

Now for the stats:
Adv: Michaels
P-Adv: Frasor (2)
Adv+: Wilson
P-Adv+: Carlson (1)
WG: Rios (3), Mientkiewicz, Wilson
ME(r): Wilson

Day 83 – Gibbons Out, Cito In

After spending a fairly quiet night in MIL airport and actually managing to get a couple hrs sleep in it was off to PIT. Got to PIT early and so when I arrived at my hotel my room wasn’t ready yet. I decided to just wait in the lobby rather than leave my bags at the front desk and go for a walk. The reason being I had a feeling that Gibbons could very well be getting the axe so I wanted to get on the internet ASAP. After getting swept in MIL and w/2 other managers already fired the chain had started.

Sure enough there was the news that Gibbons had been fired, but what’s this they replace him w/Cito Gaston. I did not see that one coming. I never understand why fans always want to bring back former managers and players as if there aren’t equally as qualified replacements out there, but in this case they actually did bring back a former manager and my initial reaction was why Cito. More on the coaching changes below.

Once my room was ready I got checked in and headed downtown. There was some sort of Arts festival going on so I just sort of wandered around before heading to the ballpark. I’ll leave the ballpark talk until tomorrow’s post so I can get on w/the coaching changes.

Although I have one thing about tonight’s game before moving on. For all those of you who have frequented the 500 level of the Rogers Centre you’d know this person, but I got quite a surprise when during the game I heard someone yell “When I say Alex, you say hit …” There were 3 Jays fans sitting in front of me and when we heard it we all looked at each other and thought it couldn’t be. Yes, that’s right Maureen along w/a group of other Rogers Centre Employees made the trip to PIT for the series and were a couple of sections over. Interestingly enough she only did the chant for about 3 hitters and then I never heard it again the rest of the night.

I am glad they fired Gibbons as I believe him to be on the minus side of my +/- 5 games won or lost (net) by a manager. I’ve wanted him fired for about 2 yrs now. I gave him a full year to learn (2005) but come 2006 I wasn’t seeing enough out of him to warrant him staying on. And yes they won 87 games in 2006 and finished 2nd, but I’m never one to use records to determine how good a manager is. I will say this though, I have seen improvements from him. Of course the one thing I as a fan can never tell is how much goes on inside the clubhouse between manager and players and therefore have no way of evaluating that part.

As for his replacement, I have nothing against Cito, I’ve always thought he should get another shot at managing, I just didn’t think it should come w/the Jays. However, when you sit back and look at the reasons it starts to make some sense. First, there are no internal options on the current coaching staff so they have to look elsewhere. Second, they had to go w/someone proven. No more Buck Martinez, Carlos Tosca, John Gibbons (all 1st time managing at the ML level). Third, if they are serious about still trying to win this yr you’d like someone familiar w/the team. Now I don’t know how much Cito actually saw of the team in his day-to-day as assistant to Godfrey but at least he has been showing up a few days every yr at spring training. It may not be much but it is more than someone from outside the organization would have.

As far as the other coaching moves well it basically has to do w/Cito wanting his own guys in Tenace and Leyva. They replace Denbo and Peavy. It is hard to believe all the hitting woes are due to Denbo, given these are major league hitters who generally are pretty set in their ways and are not going to change much everytime they get a new hitting coach. As for Peavy well if you’ve been reading you know my feelings on him (good riddance). Although I should point out I don’t have a problem w/Peavy as an OF coach, just not the 3B coach. If you stick him at 1B like last year I’m ok with it.

Since the pitching has been great there is no way you can get rid of Arnsberg or Walton, so they stay.

Butterfield is a great coach so I’m glad they kept him. I would have loved to see them move Butterfield back to 3B but that might be viewed as a demotion and it may have been Cito’s preference to have Leyva there, someone who is familiar w/his managerial style. Plus Buttefield is the most familiar w/the players so it may help Cito w/the in-game decisions having someone knowledgeable about the current roster, at least until Cito gets more familiar himself.

That leaves Whitt at 1B. You could guess by Whitt’s demotion from bench coach to 1B, the Jays did not really want him here. I’m not sure why they didn’t just let him go in the offseason instead of hoping he would reject the demotion. The reason he was let go now was b/c they needed to bring in someone to coach the OF’s. With Peavy gone and his replacement, Leyva at 3B, not an OF coach they had to bring someone else to coach the OF and the only coaching spot left is 1B. So in comes Dwayne Murphy, out goes Whitt.

Postgame fireworks: Conveniently on the day of Gibbons firing.

Game 74 – Can a HR be a bad thing?

One batter too early. That was the difference between the Jays making a huge comeback down by 8 after being no-hit for 7 innings and losing. What I mean is they got the HR one batter too early. One of the things I hate to see when a team is rallying late in the game is a player hit a HR before the tying run reaches the plate. The reason is I find more often than not it kills the rally. It allows the pitcher to regroup and take a breath, whereas if you just keep getting 1B’s, 2B’s, etc. you keep the pressure on the pitcher and don’t allow him to relax. Early in the game, I’ll take the HR b/c you want whatever runs you can get, but once it hits the late innings all that matters is the batter does not get out (HR is the same as a 1B), until the tying run is at bat.

Having said all that, the Jays rally did not end w/Inglett’s slam, as Barajas legged out an infield 1B (yes that Barajas). Seeing that how could the Jays not comeback, but it was not to be as Stairs struck out to end the game.

I’m not sure why Rios thought that ball should be a ground rule 2B. Now it wasn’t easy to tell from my vantage point but it looked like the ball kind of stuck at the bottom of the wall. Unless they have specific ground rules then that ball is in play. It is not like Wrigley Field where if a ball gets lost in the ivy it is ruled a ground rule 2B. Rios compounded his mistake by deciding to pick the ball up even though Fielder was already at 3B. If Rios believed it to be a ground rule 2B he has to put his arms up like he did but then he cannot touch it until the umpire has made a ruling on it. I’m not sure why it took so long for Fairchild to rule on the ball. As an umpire he better know the ground rules and should have waved it off right away so Rios could have picked it up w/o allowing Fielder any extra bases instead of running out there to get a closer look. I don’t mean to take blame away from Rios b/c he should have just played the ball and it would have been a 2B anyways so there is nothing to be gained by ruling it a ground rule 2B (there were no runners on base).

That is the 2nd time in the last 3 starts Burnett has given up 8 earned runs. Unlike his last time, where he fell apart in the 5th, he struggled the whole game, giving up 2 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, none in the 4th, and 2 in the 5th. By retiring the side in the 4th he may have bought himself a little leeway but after the BB to Branyan I would have pulled him. That was the 4th BB of the game and he had thrown 1st pitch balls to 11 of the 24 batters faced (he went on to throw 1st pitch balls to the remaining 3 hitters he faced).

Needless to say w/only 1 baserunner in the 1st 7 innings the Jays chances w/RISP was limited, but they made the most of the chances they got in the 8th and 9th going 3 for 6. The Jays even managed to hit a pair of HR’s. However it wasn’t enough as the Brewers also slugged 2 HR’s and hit just slightly worse w/RISP at 3 for 7.

Now for some stats:
Adv+: Branyan
P-Adv+: Burnett (2)
ME(f): Rios (2)

Day 82 – You never know what you may find

My parents left in the morning to continue on for ON while I had one more game in MIL to attend, this one an afternoon affair.

After the game I walked downtown to explore. As I wandered the streets I came across a plaque which stated this was the location where the American League was born. I thought it was pretty cool to just stumble upon the right street. By about 8:30 or 9 it was time to catch a bus back to the hotel to pick up my stuff and then on to the airport to spend the night.

Game 73 – Shut Down Innings

In 3 of the 4 innings the Jays scored the Brewers answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Those are the kinds of things you hate to see from you pitchers. When your offence gives you some support you want to go out there and have a shut down inning to keep the momentum on your side and the pressure on the opposing pitcher.

The Blue Jays once again struggled w/RISP going 1 for 9. They had 10 hits and 6 walks but only scored 4 of them, standing 10 (they also hit into 2 DP’s).

I would have used Rios to PH for Stairs in the 7th instead of Mench. You have a chance to tie the game so I go w/the better hitter and not worry about where you are going to put the pitcher in the order. And already being the 7th w/2 outs there may not be another good opportunity to use Rios.

I was surprised to see Downs come out for the 8th. There were 3 RH’s due up and the Jays were behind so why not just use Frasor to start the inning.

A good game for Zaun as he had a HR, RBI 2B, BB and even his lone out was an RBI ground out. Vernon also had a good game w/3 hits and 2 runs scored.

It was a good attempt by Marcum to get Hart at the plate in the 4th but sometimes early in the game it is better to take the sure out and avoid a crooked #. It is one of those things where you pretty much have to have a good idea before the pitch what you are going to do if it is hit back to you.

Now for some stats:
Adv: Overbay (1), Branyan
P-Adv: Marcum (5), Sheets
NAdv: Braun
P-NAdv: Camp (2)
DE: Counsell

Day 81 – Tailgating

My parents decided to go to a mall in the morning so I just slept in and then caught up on things on my laptop. Once they got back we went for lunch and just came back to the hotel afterwards (my parents needed to take a nap before the game). Although my parents had their car we decided it would be easier to just take the bus to the game.

One of the unique things about MIL baseball games is the quantity of tailgating. Having been to numerous ballparks now I can say MIL by far has the most tailgators. At most ballparks you probably won’t see anyone and the ones that do are just the odd grp of people here and there. My only guess why it is so big in MIL is the football mentality has transferred over to baseball and now it has become a part of Brewer baseball.

One yr my parents and I even joined in on the tailgating. Of course we didn’t have a BBQ like most people but we picked up pizzas on the way to the ballpark. We ate the pizzas while sitting in the back of our truck (we left the camper at the campsite) in the parking lot.

Game 72 – Making Them Count

I didn’t really think McGowan pitched that bad and I certainly wouldn’t have pulled him so soon. Yes he gave up 3 HR’s but they only resulted in 4 runs. McGowan had only given up 4 hits and had yet to walk a batter, he even had 5 strikeouts. I realize sometimes in NL play you have to pull you starter early b/c you want to PH for him but I don’t think the 5th inning was the time.

The bullpen had the same issues as McGowan, giving up only 3 hits and a walk but 2 of the hits were HR’s (scoring 3). All the HR’s meant the Brewers did not leave a runner on base (1 runner was erased on a DP). Not often you are going to see as many as 7 runs scored and the team not leave a runner on base.

The Jays did not do much offensively only managing 4 hits all 1B’s, and Parra did walk 4. The Jays best opportunity came in the 7th when they had 1st and 2nd none out but failed to score. They ended up 0 for 6 w/RISP in the game. They also hit into one DP extending their major league leading total.

Onto the stats:
NAdv: Eckstein (3), Fielder
P-NAdv: McGowan (13), Parra

Day 80 – Scalper Lessons

Flight wasn’t too early today (departs 10:15) so that was nice for a change. Made the trip in 2 short spurts as the flight went to CLE and then onto MIL. Got into Milwaukee around 1:00 and caught a bus downtown and then caught another bus that took me west to where I was staying in Wauwatosa about 7 miles from downtown.

I got settled into the hotel and then headed to the ballpark. This is not my 1st visit to Milwaukee nor Miller Park. Along w/Minnesota this is where we often came during our summer vacations to see baseball. Most of those trips were to County Stadium. However, Miller Park opened in 2001 which happened to be the year I was moving to Ontario to start university. My parents drove me down w/all my stuff so we made our way through the states and caught a couple ball games (2 in Minnesota, 1 in Milwaukee). Luckily they weren’t selling out Miller Park every game so there were tickets available, but we bought ones from a scalper anyway. However, let this be a lesson for those of you who buy tickets from scalpers. Make sure all the tickets are together if that is what you want. We ended up w/2 tickets together on the 3rd base side, about 5 rows up from the Astros dugout but the 3rd ticket was on the 1st base side about the same distance up. My dad negotiated the deal, but I was there to and could have checked the tickets.

Miller Park is ok, it has a retractable roof, which is nice, but it doesn’t have that retro feel that a lot of the other new stadiums have. They do have a slide setup in the OF where their mascot Bernie slides down every time MIL hits a HR (which happened way too often tonight).



After the game I made my way by all the sports bars looking for a place to eat that wasn’t filled w/smoke. Clearly they haven’t banned smoking in all indoor places in Milwaukee yet. I managed to find an Italian restaurant and I went in but it was empty. However, a waitress came and said they were still open so I ended up eating my whole meal as the only one in the restaurant. Although, I heard several people come in and pick up orders to go.

After eating I went back to the hotel expecting my parents to now have arrived. My parents were driving to ON for my cousins wedding so the timing worked out that they could stop over in MIL. They indeed had arrived sometime that evening but were asleep by the time I got back, although my Dad woke up when I came in.

Day 79 – Scheduling Oddities

The Jays are off today b/c of one of those weird scheduling decisions. Sometimes you really wonder how much they check over the schedule the computer program comes up with. It is not often you see a team get an off-day both before and after a series but it probably has something to do with Interleague series having to be 3-game series and fit into this 2.5 wk period.

Game 71 – Pitching Ahead

Another rough start for Litsch as all the baserunners are catching up to him. Litsch struggled w/command and as a result he got hit. He threw 1st pitch balls to 12 batters, of which 5 got hits. Of the 16 batters he threw 1st pitch strikes to, only 3 got hits (2 of them were 1st pitch hits). Furthermore, here are the counts to the batters in the 3rd inning when they put the ball in play and the results: 2-1 (2B), 0-2 (Lineout), 1-0 (1B), 2-0 (1B), 1-0 (1B), 0-1 (Flyout), 2-0 (1B), 2-2 (Flyout). Notice the pattern, when he is behind he gets hit, when ahead he gets outs.

Again the Blue Jays offence did little for most of the game. They picked up just 1 hit off Lilly through 6 and despite 5 walks could not score. Once the bullpen came in the Jays woke up and scored 4 runs, but it was too little too late as they had already fallen behind 7-0. For the record the Jays went 1 for 8 w/RISP.

Once again Pinella went to Marmol w/the Cubs up by 6. Like I said he is going to wear him out.

Had Barajas held on to the throw from Wells on the Lee 1B they could have been out of the inning w/only 1 run scored instead of 4 (and those 3 runs ended up representing the difference in the game).

I’m not sure why Gibbons left Camp in so long. Granted after giving up hits to the 1st 3 hitters he faced in the 7th he then retired 7 of 8 and ended up only throwing 29 pitches. However, w/the off-day tomorrow why not get someone else in there to pitch the 9th. Camp had thrown 23 pitches up to that point and you can’t assume he is going to only need 6 pitches to get through the 9th.

Here are the stats:
Adv: McDonald (1)
P-Adv: Eyre
NAdv: Theriot
P-NAdv: Litsch (3)
WG: Mench (2)
DE: Barajas (2)

Day 78 - Shadows

I’m sorry but why did they have to delay the game for 3 mins due to the shadows from the roof closing. Why Pinella came out and argued to get them to delay the game is dumb. When teams play twilight games you get shadows all the time coming across the field and you do not delay the games so why now.

Game 70 – No Such Thing as a Sure Thing

You’d think riding the momentum of last night’s exciting victory and Halladay vs Marquis would lean in the Jays favour. However, this is baseball and that 2 out error by Eckstein in the 2nd that allowed one to score just seemed to turn everything around. The error extended the inning for Reed Johnson to step up and hit a 3-run HR and w/the Jays offence you had the feeling they were done already.

All the Jays could manage was one hit through the first 7 innings against Marquis. Apparently the Jays finally realized it was Jason Marquis and not Fergie Jenkins on the mound and got 3 straight hits to load the bases to start the 8th. Pinella then brought in Marmol and true to form the Jays only got one, and even it was thanks to a bases loaded walk. For the game the Jays ended up 1 for 6 w/RISP.

The Cubs have big problems if Pinella does not trust anyone else other than Marmol to come in and protect a 6-run lead in the 8th inning, even if the bases are loaded. Marmol has already logged a lot of innings and if Pinella is not careful he’ll be out of gas come Oct.

Not often you see Halladay only go 5 innings but I think he could have gone another inning. It wasn’t that bad a start given the fact if Eckstein makes the play then Halladay is out of the inning w/o giving up a run and he only gave up 2 the rest of the way. At least it gave some of the Jays seldom used relievers a chance to get a few innings.

Let’s check the stats:
Adv+: Eckstein (2)
P-Adv+: Marquis
NAdv: Inglett (3)
P-NAdv: Marmol
ME(f): Wells (1), Overbay (1)

Day 77

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 69 – Friday the 13th

Burnett really struggled w/his control but managed to only give up 2 runs. However, his pitch count hit 111 in 5.1 IP and he was done. The bullpen was once again great as Wolfe, Camp, Carlson, Downs and Ryan combined to shut down the Cubs the rest of the way.

The Jays managed to score just enough thanks to back-to-back HR’s by Stairs and Rolen. Beyond that the Jays didn’t do much offensively. Rios did have a good game though w/3 hits (2 of them 2B’s).

It was the right move by Peavy sending Barajas in the 6th. When there are 2 out you have to force that play to be made, especially w/the way the Jays are hitting w/RISP. Oh by the way the Jays went 2 for 9 this game.

It was nice to see the Jays on the opposite side of a blown opportunity. The Cubs had the bases loaded w/none out in the 6th and after a strikeout and a single to score 1, Wolfe induced the ground ball DP off the bat of Theriot. How many times have we seen the Jays do that this season? The Cubs did end up matching the Jays as far as hitting w/RISP this game, also going 2 for 9.

Now for the stats:
Adv+: Edmonds, Stairs (3)
P-Adv+: Gallagher, Wolfe (1)
NAdv: Hoffpauir, DeRosa, Stairs (5)
P-NAdv: Gallagher, Burnett (6), Wolfe (1)
ME(r): Theriot

Day 76 – Welcome Back Dirtbag

I have to say I’m surprised to see the # of Cubs fans that have showed up for the series. I knew they would have a decent turnout given the Cubs are pretty popular across the US/Canada and may only trail NYY and BOS in popularity, but it did exceed my expectations.

Then again maybe it was all those Jays fans who keep calling into Wilner on the post-game show complaining that they got rid of Reed Johnson. That was quite the ovation Reed got when he stepped to the plate in the 9th. I really thought given the injury to Soriano, we would have saw Reed start but w/him entering in the 9th in a close game, it made for a very awkward applause. You want to show your appreciation for the player but at the same time you don’t want to disrespect the current players who are trying to win the game, especially the pitcher trying to close it out.

The ovation Johnson got was probably the 2nd loudest ovation for a returning Jay I have witnessed (excluding Flashback Friday’s, I’m talking about active players returning in another uniform), trailing only Delgado’s return. I moved to TOR in mid Jun. ’06 after graduating university and it just so happened the 1st home series for the Jays after I moved in was the NY Mets and the return of Carlos Delgado.

I can’t help but wonder if Johnson’s return didn’t come for another 2 or 3 yrs would he still get the same reception. Now I’m not saying he wouldn’t get a loud cheer, I’m just not quite sure it would be as loud. I think b/c his Blue Jays days were so recent combined w/the way he left the team (being released) and his replacement not exactly producing seems to have enhanced Johnson’s popularity.

Guys like Johnson will always be popular among the fan base b/c they play all out and play the game the right way. Although he really hasn’t caught on here, there was the same reception for David Eckstein in his return to Anaheim at the end of May (apparently during interleague STL never played in Anaheim). I think the fans haven’t got behind Eckstein b/c he is replacing McDonald, who only became popular last year once he started playing everyday and the casual fans realized how good he is defensively.

Day 75 – Odd Off-day

Nothing special done w/the rare off-day in the middle of a homestand. Just put in some extra time at work and got a chance to actually relax at home.

Game 68 – King Felix

That Felix Hernandez kid sure can pitch. I remember when I first saw him pitch live when Seattle was playing in Toronto in Sept. of 2005 (I was on co-op in Toronto at the time). All he did was go out and throw 6 innings of no-hit ball until it was broken up in the 7th.

The lone run Hernandez gave up was unearned and its not like he was wiggling out of jams all night. He only gave up 4 hits and walked 1 while striking out 8. The only sort of trouble he got into was in the 6th when the Jays had 2nd and 3rd 1 out w/the 3 and 4 hitters coming up. Hernandez struck out Wells and Stairs grounded out. A Cy Young is not too far off in the distance if he can just stay healthy for an entire season.

Not to be outdone, Marcum was matching Hernandez pitch-for-pitch. Marcum went
7, giving up 7 hits and walking 2 (1 intentional) while striking out 9. Marcum was actually a run ahead until the Betancourt triple tied it. Lucky for him Reed was caught off 2nd and got doubled up the batter prior. Marcum also managed to strike Ichiro Suzuki out twice and Suzuki has shown over the past few years he is one of the toughest players in baseball to strikeout.

Marcum left taking the no decision while thanks to Seattle’s run in the 9th Hernandez ended up a winner.

The Jays bullpen was shaky in this game issuing walks left and right. Downs came in to pitch the 8th and walked the bases loaded but gave up nothing else. Ryan pitched the 9th but he walked 2 before giving up a single to Ibanez w/2 outs to give the Mariners the lead. Ryan has been walking an alarmingly high # of batters this season. I’m not sure if he is just pitching more careful to batters this year since his velocity seems to be down just slightly from pre-TJ surgery or maybe he has altered his pitching motion causing him to throw more balls. Whatever it is hopefully he finds more consistent command b/c you hate to watch your closer give guys free passes (why else did so many Jays fans not like Miguel Batista as closer).

As for the stats:
NAdv: Johjima
P-NAdv: Marcum (5)
DE: Inglett (1)
ME(r): Reed

Day 74

Work, Baseball (afternoon game), Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 67 – 2-Hole

Great start from McGowan. Now if only he could do this on the road. I was a little surprised to see McGowan come out for the 9th but he had retired the last 7 batters and wasn’t showing signs of tiring throwing 1st pitch strikes to all 3 hitters in the 8th. Overall he threw 23 of 34 1st pitches for strikes.

The Jays didn’t exactly hammer Silva but they did hit 2 solo HR’s and went 2 for 4 w/RISP. It took them awhile to figure Silva out but they certainly seemed to be getting to him late as they had 3 straight hits in the 6th and again in the 7th. However, those only produced 1 run thanks to a DP in the 6th (after 1 run had scored) and a CS in the 7th.

Thanks to the pitchers this game breezed along in a cool 2 hrs 2 mins.

Tough day for Jose Lopez going 0 for 4 w/3 strikeouts, part of the 7 totalled by McGowan. I think that is part of the reason for the Mariners struggles, they have too many free swingers that lead to a lot of strikeouts.

I don’t get the whole batting Matt Stairs 2nd. Yes he is a LH bat and one who pulls the ball a lot so it is nice to have that hole on the right side when the leadoff man gets on, but I prefer to have a guy who gets on base a lot more than Stairs has been in the 2 spot. Plus I like someone who I feel comfortable hit and running with. Stairs is more suited to hit 5th or lower.

Now let’s see some stats:
Adv: Beltre
P-Adv: McGowan (3)
WG: Beltre

Day 73

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 66 – Un-clutch

I guess this is what happens when you put 2 of the worst offences against each other. The teams combined to go 1 for 20 w/RISP, 1 for 13 by the Jays and 0 for 7 for SEA. I guess that is why SEA turned to the squeeze bunt to score the winning run in the 10th, even w/the bases loaded.

The Jays had their chance to at least tie it up in the bottom of the 10th as they loaded the bases w/none out. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, the Jays failed to even score a run as Overbay grounded into a 3-2-3 DP and after a BB to Scutaro, Eckstein flied out.

It seemed like the Mariners just kept trying to hand this game to the Jays. They made 3 errors, had a PB, a WP, they walked 7 batters and all the Jays got was 2 runs. One of the errors came w/2 out in the 7th allowing the tying run to score. So maybe the Jays don’t even get to extras. Then what started the rally in the 10th was an error and a WP but the Jays couldn’t take advantage.

I’m a little surprised the Mariners even chose to pitch to Wells in the 7th w/1st base open and another RH hitter, Barajas, on deck. At the very least I thought they might pitch to him but give him the intentional unintentional walk hoping he would get himself out chasing pitches. In fact he did chase the 1st pitch and the 2nd one should have resulted in an out if not for the error.

Not often you see a player PH in order to bunt, but the Jays used McDonald to bunt for Stairs in the 7th. The move made sense given the Mariners had just brought in a lefty and Stairs can’t bunt and doesn’t hit lefties well. Plus the Jays are the home team down by 1 w/their 3 and 4 hitters coming up needing a hit to at least tie it and probably give them the lead. Also the only other options off the bench were LH’s Wilkerson and Inglett or RH Thigpen.

It wasn’t exactly a stellar outing for Litsch as he gave up 10 hits but thanks to the Mariners failure to get a hit w/RISP he only gave up 2 runs on a HR to the 2nd batter of the game.

Downs and Camp each had 1-2-3 innings in the 7th and 8th respectively. I would have left Camp in for the 9th as well. He only threw 7 pitches and the Mariners had the bottom of the order coming up, all 3 of whom were RH. Once a game reaches the 9th inning and the home team is not ahead then there will be no save opportunity for the closer so usually I am all for bringing in your closer ASAP. However, in this case I think it made sense to leave Camp in and save Ryan for the 10th should it go that far.

Now for the stats:
Adv+: Barajas (5)
P-Adv+: Putz
NAdv: Overbay (8)
P-NAdv: Putz
WG: Wells (3)

Day 72

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 65 – Pick Me Up

Not exactly a great start from Halladay, but then again if you take away Scott’s production (2 HR’s for 3 RBI’s) it would look pretty good. Not often you see Doc to hit 2 batters in a game, but this is the 2nd straight start he has done so and has now hit 5 in the last 3 games. Even worse he hit them on 0-2 and 1-2 counts.

Nice to see the Jays comeback in the 6th and bail out Doc giving him enough support to win. The Jays managed to score 5 runs despite going 1 for 5 w/RISP. They scored one run on the lone hit, then Wilkerson stole home as part of a double steal. That is the 2nd time they have successfully completed a steal of home as part of a double steal this season. They then added a solo HR, an RBI 2B and a SF to complete the scoring.

Always good to get Ryan back out there and grab the save after a couple rough outings. Hopefully that was just the blip on the radar that all closers go through at some point in the season. That is the true test of a closer being able to rebound from a rough outing or two and I think it is always best to get them back out there ASAP.

What was Trembley thinking using Quiroz as a PH in the 9th when they are down by one. I realize he is probably a better option than the LH Bynum but don’t they have a better RH bat left on the bench. I’d almost rather have Bynum stay in there and with his speed just try to bunt for a hit.

On to the stats:
Adv: Wilkerson (1)
P-Adv: Albers
NAdv: Markakis
P-NAdv: Halladay (5)
WG: Millar, Barajas (3)
ME(f): Bynum

Day 71

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 64 – Ugly

No lead for the Jays bullpen to blow this time as Burnett fell apart in the 5th. Burnett wasn’t exactly cruising through the 1st 4 innings having given up 3 runs but it quickly fell apart in the 5th. He had already thrown 81 pitches through 4 mainly b/c he was throwing a lot of balls and that is what got him in trouble in the 5th. After retiring Markakis to start the inning he fell behind Huff 2-0 and went on to walk him, then fell behind Millar 2-0 before giving up a 1B and then on 3 consecutive pitches the Orioles got 3 hits. 3 pitches later Cintron picked up a 1B and finally AJ was pulled after throwing 100 pitches. Looking at his pitch count doesn’t necessarily show that Burnett was at his limit but the fact he was struggling all game w/control and leaving balls up in that 5th inning that they were hammering shows he was done. So why did it take Gibbons so long to pull him. I would like to say I thought about pulling him before Payton cleared the bases with a 2B, but even though Payton already had 2 hits against Burnett in the game I wanted to see if Burnett could get out of the inning w/o allowing any runs. However, once the bases had been cleared I would have pulled him and I can’t believe he still didn’t get pulled after the Quiroz 2B. Even after the Payton 2B it was already 6 – 1, the Jays have a deep bullpen so why not get them in there and try to stop it there.

On the other side, Jeremy Guthrie had little trouble w/the Jays giving up just 1 run through 7. However the Jays made an attempt at a comeback once the Orioles went to the pen. They loaded the bases in the 8th w/1 out against Trachsel before McDonald hit into a DP. They did however breakthrough against Trachsel in the 9th for 4 runs, but it was too little too late. How Steve Trachsel still has a major league job, I don’t get. The guy has been awful for a couple yrs now, why does somebody keep giving him a chance.

Wells did not miss a beat in his return as he went 2 for 3 w/a SF at the plate after entering for Stewart in the 2nd. I have to wonder how his wrist will affect his swing, particularly in the power department.

Now for some stats:
Adv: Quiroz, Huff
P-Adv: Burnett (2), Wolfe (1)
Adv+: Mench (2)
P-Adv+: Trachsel
NAdv: Huff
P-NAdv: Tallet (1)
WG: Huff, Overbay (3)
DE: Bynum

Day 70 – Quick Healer

Boy was it nice to see Vernon back so soon. I had heard on the pre-game that he had been activated but that he wasn’t going to start, in fact I think he arrived only shortly before game time. But when I saw Stewart get hurt in the 1st, I immediately anticipated Vernon coming out in the 2nd. Sure enough he did, but I have to say I was disappointed by the crowd reaction to him returning even once they made the announcement. I think he got a bigger reception walking off in CLE after making the great catch than he did returning in TOR.

Game 63 – How did that happen again?

Home sweet home, at least for 7 innings. In a game the Jays appeared to have in cruise control it all unraveled in the 8th. Marcum had shut down the Orioles through 7 on 6 hits but when Roberts hit his 100th pitch for a 2B that was the end of his night. I would have liked to have seen Marcum stay in but at the same time I understand the move given the LH Markakis due up who was already 2 for 2 against Marcum in the game. Given Downs was probably unavailable I would have went with Carlson rather than Tallet, but given the way Tallet has pitched this season it is hard to argue with either. However, it did not work out as Tallet gave up a 1B and a HR before getting 1 out. Then on came Benitez who gave up a HR to tie the game to the 1st batter he faced then after an error by Eckstein gave up another HR to Jones to put BAL on top.

The Jays did try and comeback as they got the 1st two on base in the bottom of the 8th and a PB setup 2nd and 3rd none out, but the Jays could only push one across via a ground out. That was part of the Jays going 3 for 14 w/RISP.

I don’t get why Gibbons continues to use Hit and Runs w/Barajas at the plate. Sure it worked out only b/c of a bad throw from Hernandez allowing Overbay to steal 2nd. Barajas is one of the last guys on the Jays I would be hit and running with as he swings and misses too much.

On to the stats:
Adv: Millar, Mench (2), Stairs (2)
P-Adv: Burres, Bradford, Marcum (4)
Adv+: Markakis, Barajas (4)
P-Adv+: Cormier, Tallet (1)
ME(f): Jones

Day 69 – Late Game Collapses

Once I got back to Toronto, I caught a few hrs sleep before heading into work in the afternoon. Then it was back to the ballpark to watch the Jays blow another game late in which it looked like the Jays were just cruising along toward victory. These are tough times to be a Jays fan.

Game 62 – How did that happen?

What a horrible ending. It certainly leaves a bitter taste to this road trip. The trip started off so good taking 3 of the 1st 4 including back-to-back double digit offensive output. But after 2 BSv’s and 3 walk-off losses the Jays end up 4 and 5 on the trip. Had you said before the trip the Jays would go 4 and 5, I would have been ok w/it, but when you lose games the way the Jays did it becomes a disappointment.

Of course if not for Melky Cabrera dropping that line drive in the 5th, which would have been an easy DP to end the inning instead it led to 5 runs for the Jays. So really the Jays never should have had the lead. Not sure what Inglett was doing so far off second on that play but he got lucky that Cabrera dropped it. In fact Inglett may be the reason Cabrera dropped it as he was looking to 2nd and in such a rush to throw the ball he took his eye off the ball for just a second and that is all it takes.

Something definitely looked wrong w/Chien-Ming Wang in this game. Now I have never been a fan of Wang, I think as players get more looks at him he’ll become more hittable, but like Jesse Litsch has always had good control and the 4 BB’s and 1 HBP certainly should be concerning for the Yankees.

A good day for Stairs as he had 3 hits incl. a HR and 2B and drove in 5 runs. Stairs isn’t quite having the year he had last yr but he is 40 now.

Rough start for McGowan giving up 5 runs in 5.1 IP. Not the type of start you want to see as his road struggles continue. The bullpen (Carlson, Frasor, Downs) picked him up nicely until Ryan.

Some of the reasons the Phillies hated Barajas so much were on display in this game. He had a PB in the 8th and twice he dropped easily catchable balls on plays at the plate. Both were one-hops but both were waist to chest high balls a major league catcher should be able to handle. The 1st one may not have mattered as I think Jeter would have been safe anyway unless Barajas did a great job of blocking the plate. The 2nd though they had Damon nailed at the plate if only Barajas would have held on. I was really surprised to see Damon even try to score on that play, but I guess w/2 outs that is why it is sometimes worth the risk. You force the other team to make the play rather than hope for the next batter to get a hit.

Although the Yankees were just 2 for 12 w/RISP they took advantage of their opportunities. They twice had runners at 2nd and 3rd none out (the 2nd time was actually bases loaded) and both times they got RBI groundouts (also moving the runner to 3rd) and then a SF. And hitting 2 HR’s certainly didn’t hurt.

Meanwhile the Jays managed to go 4 for 16 w/RISP. However they had bases loaded 1 out in the 3rd and didn’t score. They had 1st and 2nd none out in the 7th and 8th, but didn’t score. Then in the 9th after scoring 1 they had 2nd and 3rd w/none out but couldn’t score.

The Jays certainly had a chance to put the game away in that 9th but I figured even the 1 run giving them a 2 run cushion should be enough. Although, the Yankees getting out of that 2nd and 3rd none out situation w/no more damage really had the crowd pumped. Then Ryan came in and got the 1st 2 outs and it looked like there would be no Yankee threat but, suddenly A-Rod singles. OK no problem but then Matsui singles and suddenly the tying run is on base. I don’t agree w/the move by Girardi to then PH Giambi for Molina. By doing so he would have had no catcher should the game go extra as Posada was already out of the game. Plus I wouldn’t think the lefty Giambi is a good matchup vs the lefty Ryan (2 for 14 in his career). Nonetheless the move worked out making Girardi look like a genius but it really could have backfired. All it took was an absolutely horrible 0-2 slider from Ryan. There is a reason that on 0-2 you don’t throw anything close to the strike zone, if you miss your spot then it doesn’t end up in the wheelhouse. Even if the slider wasn’t flat it still would have got too much of the plate, not too mention the pitch was up above the belt.

This outing from Ryan just adds to his bad track record against the Yankees. Ryan has now blown 6 of his 10 save opportunities vs the Yankees. Not something you want to see from your closer.

There sure was a lot to talk about from this game, I guess that is what happens when the game lasts 3 hrs 53 mins (for 9 innings!).

Before this post gets any longer, let’s check the stats:
Adv: Abreu 2
P-Adv: McGowan 2 (2)
Adv+: Stairs (2)
P-Adv+: Farnsworth
NAdv: Stairs (4), Overbay (7), Betemit
P-NAdv: McGowan (12), Veras, Farnsworth
WG: Overbay (2), Rolen (6), Wilkerson (1)
DE: Barajas (1)

Day 68 – I Hate Walk-offs

After sitting through a painfully slow game (4+ hrs to play 9 innings) and having to watch and listen to the Yankees fans cheer after Giambi hit the walk-off HR it was time to head home.

About the HR, it felt like it was traveling in slow motion as it flew down the line and I watched hoping it would go foul. Once it landed and I saw the umpire wave fair, I just sat in shock. After what happened in ANA on the weekend, I couldn’t believe I was sitting through yet another walk-off win in a game that looked like the Jays had it well under control. That walk-off brings the total to 5 that the Jays have been involved this season, and all of them have come on the road, which means the Jays lost all of them. They seem to come in the worst places as 2 were in Fenway Park (back-to-back nights), 2 in ANA (back-to-back days), and then 1 in Yankee Stadium. Not fun to be a visiting fan at those games.

I caught a bus just before 9 pm to head home and wouldn’t you have it I ended up sitting beside a Yankee fan who had been at the game. It just felt great to relive the game as we talked about it.

Game 61 – Yankee Hit Streak

I would have to say this was just one of those games the Jays were never in. Mussina and the pen basically shut them down. Although the Jays did have a runner at 2nd w/nobody out twice and could not score either as they went 0 for 8 w/RISP.

Interestingly enough it was not the Jays hitting into all the DP’s for once (they did hit into 1 though). The Yankees hit into 3 DP’s but it didn’t stop them from putting 5 runs on the board.

Tough start for Litsch giving up 12 baserunners in just 5.1 IP. Somehow he managed to only give up 4 runs though. This is exactly the type of start that scares me with Litsch. You can’t keep giving up all these baserunners and get out of it relatively unscathed. Eventually the runs are going to catch up to you.

Wilkerson really has to be more careful with his throws to the plate. He has done it a couple times now where he just sails it to home plate. You have to make the throw at a height where an infielder can cut the throw off otherwise the trail runner is going to continue taking the extra base. Alex Rios is very good at throwing at just the right height and distance where the infielder has the option to cut it off and if the throw goes through it still ends up being easy for the catcher to handle on a nice 1 bounce.

Speaking of Rios, what is it with him facing the Yankees? No matter how he is hitting coming into the series he just keeps finding hits against them.

Now for the stats:
NAdv: Rolen (3), Thigpen (1)
P-NAdv: Mussina, Ohlendorf
ME(f): Wilkerson (1)

Day 67 – Jersey Edicate

I wasn’t feeling too well today so I didn’t venture far from the hotel in the afternoon. Once I got to the ballpark I checked out the progress of new Yankee Stadium. It seems to be coming along, hard to really tell what it will actually look like inside.

One thing I hate about Yankee fans, are those that wear Yankee Jersey’s with player names on their back, especially a retired #. I’m sorry but you don’t need to say Ruth, to know a Yankee Jersey with #3 is Ruth’s jersey. For current players it is a little more acceptable given that not everyone is aware of whose wearing what # what with all the player changes that take place these days. Still the Yankee’s current players don’t wear their names on the back and therefore I say as a fan you don’t buy a Yankee jersey with a name on the back.

Game 60 – Over-hyped

All this hoopla over a pitcher who throws just 2.1 IP. When is the last time you saw a standing ovation for a starting pitcher who just threw 2.1 IP gave up 1 hit, 4 BB’s, 2 runs (1 earned) and even made a balk. Well that is NY for you and their over-hyped young players. Now I clearly think Chamberlain is the best of the 3, and the only 1 w/the chance to be an ace (Hughes maybe is a 2, and Kennedy is no better than a 4 or 5), but it is unbelievable how much attention is being paid to this one start from Chamberlain even though he will be on a pitch count and its basically an extended relief appearance. From everything I’ve heard and saw Chamberlain has the quality and quantity of pitches needed to be a starter so why not get 180-200 innings out of him rather than 80. Of course he will have to learn to be more efficient than he was in this game if he expects to succeed as a starter.

The big blow in this game came in the 7th as the Jays sent 11 men to the plate against 3 Yankee relievers and scored 6 times to blow the game open. The Jays were a slightly before avg .250 (3 for 12) w/RISP but did manage 5 BB’s and 2 SF’s as well.

All that was more than enough for Halladay and the pen. It was a typical day facing the Yankees as even Halladay had to use 102 pitches just to get through 6 against them. And even in a Halladay start the game still lasted 3 hrs 38 mins.

I was very surprised to see the infield in in the 1st inning w/Abreu up and damon at 3rd w/1 out. The Jays were up a run, you knew you would be getting to the Yankee relievers early and you have Halladay pitching. Why not concede the run on a ground ball rather than possibly play the inning into a crooked number. I’d take my chances in a tie game w/Halladay vs a bunch of Yankee relievers.

One thing I kind of hate to see is an umpire changing his strike zone late in the game regardless of score. Normally I grant some leeway in the early innings to allow the HP ump to establish his strike zone. Yes there is a defined strike zone, but I’ve accepted the fact that every umpire has their own. I just hope they stick to the same one the entire game. For the most part I think umps do stick to whatever strike zone they initially set but sometimes, particularly in blowout games that are running long, the umps seem to widen their strike zone just a bit. As a result you see a number of players upset w/calls late in the game. I definitely think Hickox was guilty of that tonight as he saw the game running past the 3 hr mark and the Jays up by 6 he increased the size of his strikezone. In the last 2 innings the teams combined to strike out looking 5 times, compared to 0 in the first 7 innings.

Leading the way for the Jays was Wilkerson w/3 hits, while Overbay and Stairs each walked 3 times, representing 6 of the 10 BB’s the Jays had in the game. Eckstein also nicely chipped in leading the team w/3 RBI’s.

Onto the stats:
Adv: Jeter
P-Adv: Tallet (2)
Adv+: Wilkerson (1)
P-Adv+: Giese
WG: Abreu
DE: Scutaro (3)
ME(r): Jeter

Day 66 – 2nd Time Around

Left LA just after 6 am on a non-stop flight to NY. The flight was approx 5.5 hrs and I slept the whole thing. I even lucked out and got the emergency exit row (1st row of coach) which meant I had extra leg space for the trip.

With the 3 hr time change it meant I didn’t get into NY until around 3 so by the time I got to my hotel I had to head in to the Bronx. This is the 1st of the ballparks that I am visiting for a 2nd time this season.

Yankee Stadium is really not in a great neighbourhood. I went to eat after the game at a nearby restaurant so I was there a little later at night and let me tell you its not really somewhere you want to hang around late at night. Of course there are several places to eat right there where you right across the way from the subway so as long as you don’t venture too far.

Day 65 – LA

So my original plan for this day was to try and catch the Dodgers game at night (they were opening a homestand). The problem was unless I rented a car or took a taxi there was no way for me to get back to Anaheim to pick up my luggage and then get back into LAX for my early morning flight. I tried looking into a few options where I could take my bags and leave them somewhere in LA where it would be easier to pick them up after the game but was unable to find anything accommodating.

So I had to scratch making it to Dodger Stadium for now and instead just took the day to relax. I did make my way to Disneyland after checking out and just walked around the perimeter. Later in the afternoon I just went to a park and sat in the shade reading.

Headed into LA around 7 pm to make my way to the airport. I was really delayed though getting out of Anaheim as the 7 pm train had some sort of problem and so it had to be pushed by the 8:15 train. All it meant to me was I would be spending less time at the airport. The train took me to Union Station and from there they have a bus service that takes you to LAX.

I then had the rest of the night at the airport. Did some work on my blog and I watched the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, prepping for watching Prince Caspian even though I have no idea when I will have time to go see it. I also managed to get about an hr worth of sleep.

Game 59 – Blink of an Eye

It was bound to happen eventually, Ryan wasn’t going to go the whole season w/o blowing a save. After Ryan go the ground ball to Overbay and they threw out Guerrero at the plate I thought that was the play they needed to get out of it. Then Ryan struck out Rivera and it looked like it was all but over but just like that the 1st pitch to Kendrick hits him to push in the tying run and before you know it Izturis bloops the next pitch into no man’s land. Game Over.

For the 2nd time this season the Jays lose back-to-back walkoffs (they lost 2 in a row in BOS). At least the fans in ANA are not nearly as loud as BOS, (especially since a lot left early) but its still not any fun watching the other team walkoff. The Jays inability to win more of these 1-run games is really starting to add up.

Not to be forgotten is the strong outing from Burnett minus one mistake to the 9-hitter Rodriguez. Sure Burnett could have come out for the 9th but if you can’t trust your closer who has yet to blow a save then he shouldn’t be your closer plus Ryan hadn’t worked in 3 days and there is an offday tomorrow. The 3 BB’s from Burnett are still a little concerning, although one was to Guerrero w/1st base open and 2 outs.

The Jays offence could have put this game away early as they had the bases loaded in the 1st w/2 outs after already scoring 1, but couldn’t get the 2-out hit. The Jays couldn’t cash a leadoff double in the 6th nor could they get anything w/1st and 2nd none out in the 9th. In total they went 0 for 7 w/RISP, although they did manage 1 SF (they have even struggled getting those in the runner at 3rd less than 2 out situations). The Jays also hit into 2 DP’s.

Nice game from Rolen going 3 for 4 w/a HBP, except his 1 out came the only time he had a RISP.

I don’t get Mench starting as the DH in this game vs a RH. Mench should be used strictly against LH’s unless he is on a real roll and right now he is not even hitting lefties that well. I would much rather have saw Stairs or Stewart as the DH.

Now onto the stats:
Adv: Mench (1)
P-Adv: Oliver
NAdv: Rios (9)
P-NAdv: Arredondo
DE: Eckstein (2)

Day 64 – Beach Volleyball

Wrapped up the series with an afternoon tilt. Didn’t do much afterwards, more exploring mostly. I managed to catch the Disney fireworks show from a distance.

One thing I don’t understand with Anaheim fans is the need to bring a beach volleyball to the ballpark and knock it around the stands during the game. There must have been at least 10/game getting batted around.