Day 124

Work, Pack, Catch the 11:15 pm bus to Buffalo.

Game 108 – Welcome to your 2008 Blue Jays

Poor Scott Richmond cannot get any offensive help in his debut. It was a really brutal display by the Jays. They were down 3-2 heading to the bottom of the 4th and that is when the horror started. Lind led off the bottom of the 4th w/a 3B, so you’re thinking the Jays should tie it this up. However, this is the 2008 Jays and instead Wilkerson pops out in foul territory to 3rd, w/the infield back (so even a ground ball would have scored the run). Then the Rays bring the infield in and Zaun hits a ground ball right at Pena and the Jays still don’t score. So it was left up to McDonald to get a 2-out hit and all he could do was hit a fly ball leaving Lind stranded at 3rd.

Sadly that wasn’t the worst of it. In the 5th Inglett singled and Scutaro reached on an error. Add in a WP on the 1st pitch to Rios and the Jays have 2nd and 3rd none out w/3,4,5 due up. Well before you know it the inning was over and Inglett was still standing on 3rd. Rios tapped a ball back to the mound, then Overbay struck out, and after a walk to Stairs, Lind flied out, inning over, no runs.

The Jays did get back-to-back 2-out 1B’s in the 6th but couldn’t convert. They then went quietly from there.

It was a decent start form Richmond as he kept the Jays in the game and by all accounts should have been on the right side of the score rather than ending up the loser. Although he did not walk anyone he was not efficient, going deep into a lot of counts. He ended up throwing 92 pitches over 5.1 IP.

The Jays LH trio of Carlson, Downs, and Ryan threw 3.2 innings of 2-hit shutout relief. It is so nice to be able to watch a bullpen come in and shut the other team down.

The Jays came up empty in 9 AB’s w/RISP. However, I should point out the Rays were not much better at 1 for 9.

I would not have used Mench to PH for Wilkerson in the 6th. Even though a lefty was on the mound it was only the 6th, which means that spot in the order will come back up in the game and the Rays are RH heavy in the bullpen. So I’d rather have Wilkerson stay in there to face the lefty so he can face the RH later, then have Mench face the LH now and have to face a RH later. If there was a runner on base and the Jays had a chance to tie in the 6th then sure bring in Mench, but not to lead off the inning. With Rolen basically unavailable the Jays are already short on the bench.

I would however have used a PH for McDonald in the 8th. Assuming Rolen wasn’t even available to PH then I probably would go w/Barajas. I also would have had Eckstein PR for Zaun, and then both Barajas and Eckstein can just stay in the game. At that point in the game you have to sacrifice defence to give yourself the best possible chance to tie the game. Barajas does not exactly have a great avg. or obp. But he does have the power to hit it out or at least hit it by the outfielders and he is certainly better than McDonald.

Here are the stats:
Adv+: Navarro
P-Adv+: Richmond (1)
NAdv: Rios (11)
P-NAdv: Jackson

Day 123 – CDN Controversy

It is always exciting to see a MLB debut even if it is not some highly hyped prospect. Of course Scott Richmond being a CDN does add a little something to it.

As far as the Jays calling up Richmond preventing him from playing for Canada in the Olympics it really doesn’t bother me. There seems to be more uproar over this then when Colorado said no to Jeff Francis in 2004 and Francis didn’t even get to pitch in the majors. At the time Francis had spent most of the year in AA and Colorado said they wanted him to pitch more in AAA Colorado Springs (just moved up in July) in order to get used to pitching at altitude. Francis didn’t get the call to the majors until late Aug. after the Olympics were over. At least Richmond is missing the Olympics b/c he is pitching in the majors.

I think it is unfair to treat the Jays differently just b/c they are Canada’s only team. The fact is for a guy like Scott Richmond there is no guarantee he will get another shot to pitch in the big leagues. He is not a 1st round draft pick who it is just a question of when not if, there is an opening in the Jays rotation now and that may not exist when he would be coming back from the Olympics.

I’m sure many of the people complaining had no idea who Scott Richmond was, or that he was even Cdn before the Jays made this call-up. I first learned of Richmond when he pitched for Canada in the World Cup of Baseball last Nov. that took place in Taiwan. Thanks to Stadeo.TV I was able to watch the games live on the internet. I can’t say Richmond really looked anything special. What I do remember of him was he had a lot of natural movement on his pitches but struggled w/the command of them.

Game 107 – Having a devil of a time with the Rays

For the 3rd time this yr the Rays have beaten Halladay. In Orlando he went the distance (8 inning CG) giving up 5 runs in losing 5-3. Then in Tampa he lost 6-4 giving up 5 runs in 6 innings. Now he gives up 3 runs in 8 innings but loses 3-0. Halladay only gave up 1 run through the 1st 7 innings (a solo HR to Hinske, his 3rd against the Jays this yr). He ran into some problems in the 8th though, and it all started w/a 2 out BB (his 3rd of the game). Halladay got the 1st 2 batters of the inning then he walked Upton. That was followed by a 1B by Crawford and a 2-run 3B by Longoria providing Garza a little cushion.

Garza did not actually need the extra runs as he dominated the Jays. He gave up only 5 hits and 1 walk and faced only 3 over the minimum (thanks to 3 DP’s). Over his last 2 starts against the Jays Garza has thrown 16.2 innings w/o giving up a run. He has given up just 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 11. In fact in the 2 games only 4 runners have reached 2nd base and none have even made it to 3rd.

Lyle Overbay was the lone bright spot for the Jays offensively as he picked up a pair of 1B’s in 3 AB’s. Scott Rolen is now up to 18 hitless AB’s.

Onto the stats:
Adv: Iwamura
P-Adv: Halladay (4)

Day 122

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 106 – First Pitch Breakdown

A.J. was dealing today and this time there was no 9 hitter taking him deep as he won the rematch against Shields. Burnett only gave up 1 run and it was unearned (although it was his own error) in 7 innings. He did walk 4 batters though but he also struck out 10 (in fact his 1st 5 outs all came via the strikeout). Given the high walks and strikeouts it is amazing he only threw 110 pitches to get through 7 innings.

Of the 6 hits the Rays got off Burnett 4 of them were on first pitches. They clearly had the idea to jump on those first pitch fastballs. Only twice did they put the 1st pitch into play and not get a hit. Of course there were 5 others who swung at the 1st pitch and either swung and missed or fouled it off. There were only 6 Rays who took a 1st pitch strike. To complete the 1st pitch results Burnett threw 14 1st pitch balls out of the 31 hitters he faced.

Shields had a good start but it was a costly 2-run HR he gave up to Stairs in the 5th on what else, a 1st pitch. The Jays only got 5 hits off Shields but they made them count as Stairs HR drove in Barajas who was on base from a 1B. Then in the 8th Wilkerson and Inglett hit back-to-back 3B’s to give a little insurance to Ryan for the 9th.

Ryan did not actually need the insurance run as he retired the Rays 1-2-3 in the 9th. Before him Downs once again did his job going 1-2-3 in the 8th.

I thought the Rays may have elected to intentionally walk Inglett in the 8th. Inglett isn’t the typical player you walk but you had a RH hitting Scutaro on deck and I’d much rather face him.

The Jays went just 1 for 5 w/RISP, but the Rays were even worse as they went 0 for 10.

Rolen is really struggling right now as he is 0 for his last 15.

Here are the stats:
NAdv: Crawford, Longoria
P-NAdv: Burnett 2 (15)
WG: Longoria, Bartlett, Overbay (7)

Day 121

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 105 – Feels like 2002

Once again the Jays turned back the clock and made it look like Washburn was pitching in 2002. For the 3rd time this year Washburn breezed through the Jays lineup. This game he went 8 innings and gave up 1 run on only 4 hits (that is not a typo, only 4 hits). In 3 starts against the Jays, Washburn has gone 20 innings giving up 4 runs on 16 hits and 7 walks while striking out 10. That is good for a 1.80 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. I have no idea how Washburn can continue to baffle the Jays lineup.

Marcum looked good for 5 innings and then seemed to just hit a wall in the 6th. His body language on the mound did not look good during the 6th. I would have had him out after the 1B to Ibanez. Given the Jays lack of offence you couldn’t afford to let Marcum try to fight through the inning. Of course had Scutaro completed that DP off the bat of Reed then Marcum would have got out of the inning having only given up 2 runs.

The Jays managed to waste a rare McDonald HR as that represented their only run of the game. The team went 0 for 4 w/RISP.

Now for the stats:
NAdv: McDonald (2)
P-NAdv: Washburn
DE: Scutaro (4)

Day 120

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 104 – Knowing the OF

The Jays had no problem w/the knuckleball today as they scored runs in each of the first 6 innings for a total of 8, all off R.A. Dickey. Once the Mariners brought Corcoran in the Jays offence went dead, but the damage was done.

Alex Rios had a pair of solo HR’s and added in a BB and a SF (1 of 3 SF’s by the Jays). Inglett had 3 hits (2 of them 2B’s), drove in 2, scored 2, and drew a walk.

I have to say I’ve been impressed w/Inglett. I didn’t think he could keep hitting so well while playing everyday. His defence at 2B is ok, I think it could improve if he were able to focus on one position. The problem for him is his best position is probably 2B and the Jays already have Hill (assuming he is ready to resume his career next season). I am not a fan of the idea of moving Hill back to SS. Hill is a great defensive 2B and I don’t think he fits well as a SS. A middle infield of Hill and Inglett is too weak defensively for a team built on pitching and defence. Plus as well as Inglett has hit, if the Jays want to be contenders next yr they cannot rely on Inglett to repeat this kind of success.

It was a nice start from Purcey limiting the Mariners to 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings while collecting his first ML win. Purcey walked 1 and hit 1 batter so it looks like we can chalk those control problems in his 1st 2 starts to jitters, at least that is the hope.

Zaun almost didn’t score on the 1B by Inglett in the 6th. One of your jobs as a runner at 2nd is to know where the outfielders are playing. Knowing where the outfielders are playing allows you to read the hit immediately as to whether the ball will drop in or not. You also should know the speed of the outfielders. Of course there are some balls that you just cannot tell and that is when you have to look to go half way which means if it does drop you more than likely will have to be held at 3rd. The hit by Inglett though was a no doubter that it was going to drop.

Beltre and Jose Lopez combined to do all the damage against Purcey and the Jays. They hit back-to-back 2B’s in the 2nd then Lopez hit a 2-run HR following a Beltre 1B in the 6th. The Mariners went just 2 for 9 w/RISP. Ichiro picked up his 1st hit of the series in the 9th after going hitless his 1st 9 AB’s.

Now for the stats:
Adv+: Lopez
P-Adv+: Purcey (2)
NAdv: Vidro
P-NAdv: Purcey (2)
WG: Overbay (6), Rolen (10)
DE: Lopez
ME(f): Burke

Day 119 - McGowan Needs Surgery

The bad news about McGowan came out that he will indeed need surgery. He will be gone the rest of this season and possibly some of next year. Best case scenario is he is ready to start next season. It certainly hurts their chances of climbing the standings over the final 2+ mths. I don’t know how long this injury was bothering McGowan but he never really seemed to find his groove this season. After breaking out last year he didn’t exactly light up the league, but then again he wasn’t exactly pitching that bad. If he is not ready to go at the beginning of next year they will probably need some rotation help given they are already going to lose A.J. when he opts-out at the end of the year. The hope was that McGowan would be ready to step into that #2 role, but now that will be left up to Marcum.

Game 103 – PFP

The Jays managed to come back not once but twice to win the game. First they scored 1 off of Putz in the 8th to tie it. Then they scored 2 in the 10th to win it after allowing 1 run in the top of the 10th. The Jays could have ended the game a lot earlier as they went 3 for 14 w/RISP. The Jays had bases loaded 1 out in the 5th but Scutaro lined into a DP. They left runners at 2nd and 3rd in the 6th. After they scored 1 in the 8th to tie it they still had 1st and 2nd none out, but Rolen grounded into a DP and Lind struck out.

Parrish had an ok start lasting 5 innings while giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and a walk. The biggest problem from Parrish was he had to throw 93 pitches to get through those 5 innings. The bullpen was there to bail him out though as Camp, League, and Ryan combined for 4 1-hit shutout innings before Carlson stumbled giving up 1 run in the 10th.

Unlike the Jays the Mariners did not waste their scoring opportunities as they went 3 for 6 w/RISP. The Mariners only stranded 3 RISP and 6 in total. The Jays left 7 RISP and 12 in total.

It was an interesting bottom of the 10th inning for the Jays. After the leadoff 1B by Zaun, McDonald laid down the bunt but Lowe made an error on the play. I think teams need to do more PFP (Pitchers Fielding Practice) during the season b/c pitchers make way too many errors on bunt plays.

Cito then elected to have Rolen bunt but he made a bad bunt towards 1st and the Mariners forces Zaun out at 3rd. I agree w/the call to bunt there b/c Rolen has been struggling and I think he is a good enough bunter to be able to get a sacrifice down. The problem was he should have bunted the ball towards 3rd base b/c you want the 3rd basemen to field the ball leaving 3rd base unoccupied. So after Lowe gave the Jays a gift, the Jays gave it right back.

After Lind flied out to center the Jays were down to their last out and Wilkerson had a full count. The 3-2 pitch came and I saw the HP umpire Guccione flinch before deciding against it and calling it a ball, setting up a bases loaded situation. Up steps Mighty Joe and drills the 1st pitch deep to right. Ichiro was in shallow and I’m thinking there is no way he gets that. Back tracks Ichiro and it looks like he is there and going to make the catch but he kind of awkwardly leaps and drops the ball. Jays win, Jays win.

I thought it was weird the Mariners twice went to the bullpen in the middle of counts. They brought Jimenez in for Batista w/a 2-0 count on Barajas. Then they brought Green in at 1-0 on Scutaro. I’m not sure if it is b/c the pitchers weren’t warmed up in the bullpen yet or what, but I am not a fan of bringing in a reliever in the middle of a count.

Now for the stats:
Adv: Wilkerson (3)
P-Adv: Batista
Adv+: Barajas (7)
P-Adv+: Putz
NAdv: Rolen 2 (10)
P-NAdv: Putz, Lowe
ME(r): Wilkerson (3)

Day 118 – Return Home

Got back from BAL ok, was just a quick 1.5 hr flight. Since my only sleep so far was the 1.5 hrs on the plane I went to bed as soon as I got home, around 9:45. After a few hrs sleep I went into work for the afternoon before heading down to Rogers Centre for the game.

Game 102 – Finish Them

Another strong start for Halladay having no problems w/BAL. When your bullpen has to throw 4 innings to complete a previous game earlier in the day it really helps having Halladay start the 2nd game knowing he will eat up some innings. Halladay went 7 innings giving up just 1 run.

The offence jumped on Daniel Cabrera for 11 hits and 7 runs in 5+ innings. If not for a strong throw from Markakis to nail Stairs at the plate in the 2nd and send the Blue Jays away w/nothing from a bases loaded 1-out situation it could have been a lot worse. As it was the Jays scored in 4 consecutive innings from the 3rd to the 6th providing more than enough support for Halladay and the bullpen.

Daniel Cabrera was struggling to put away the Jays as they continually got hits when behind in the count. Lind and Wilkerson had back-to-back 1B’s in the 2nd on 1-2 and 0-2 counts respectively. He gave up a 1B to Wilkerson in the 4th on 1-2 and Scutaro hit a 2B on 0-1 in the 5th. In the 6th Rolen singled on 0-1, Lind followed w/a 1B on 0-2, and Zaun singled on 0-1. For a guy w/as good of stuff as Cabrera he should have a huge advantage when getting ahead and should not be giving up so many hits. However that is the knock on Cabrera, he does not have good control. Although this game he only walked 2 and beaned 1, but he was throwing too many hittable strikes. There is a big difference between just throwing strikes and throwing quality strikes.

I was surprised to see the Orioles not bring the infield in after the WP in the 6th put runners at 2nd and 3rd w/none out. Wilkerson was up to bat and the Orioles were already down 4-0 and you have Halladay on the opposing mound. If you’re the Orioles I don’t think you can afford to give up anymore runs.

Rios had some trouble reading the ball off the bat of Mora in the 4th. Rios initially broke to this right and then had to quickly adjust his route and run back. Rios did not catch up to it and it went for a 2B. Rios still seems to be adjusting to how to read the ball off the bat when playing in CF.

Scutaro and Lind led the way for the jays w/3 hits a piece. The team went 5 for 15 w/RISP.

Nick Markakis showed off his arm in this game picking up a pair of OF assists. The 1st he nailed Stairs at the plate trying to score on a fly out w/a great throw on the money. The 2nd was simply b/c he made a throw to the plate that was low enough the cut-off man could cut if off. Wilkerson tried for 2nd after his 1B as Markakis’ throw went towards the plate to try and get Lind trying to score from 2nd. However Huff cut it off and they had Wilkerson caught up between 1st and 2nd.

The opposite of Markakis’ throw was from Payton as he airmailed a throw to the plate trying to get Scutaro. The throw was well over the cut off man and Overbay easily took 2nd base.

Let’s see the stats:
Adv: Rios (2)
P-Adv: D. Cabrera
Adv+: Scutaro (4), Wilkerson (2), Zaun (3)
P-Adv+: D. Cabrera 3
NAdv: Rios (10), Scott
P-NAdv: Halladay (8), D. Cabrera
WG: Payton
ME(f): Payton

Day 117 – Let’s Play 1.5

With the suspended game being completed today that meant they pushed up the start time to 12:00 from the originally scheduled time of 12:30. The suspended game was completed around 1:30 and then the originally scheduled game started around 2:00. They did all of the pre-game ceremonies (ceremonial 1st pitch, anthems) in the morning before resuming the suspended game so in between games they just had the grounds crew working on preparing the field.

Luckily I wasn’t flying home until the next morning anyway, so the later finish didn’t really effect me. I stopped at a seafood restaurant by the harbour and just did some walking around before making my way back to the hotel to pickup my bags and catch a train to the airport. I then found a place to settle in at the airport for the night. They actually have a really nice waiting area in one section of the International Terminal of Baltimore airport. They have nice couches that you can actually lie on, unlike most airports where all they have is the connected seats that have armrests in the way. There are also tables to use as well as several electrical outlets in the area.

Restaurant Decor

Game 101 – How to win a game w/o pitching that day

With the rain cutting short A.J.’s performance the bullpen had to pick up a few innings in order to close the game out. Well that they did as Carlson, Camp, and Downs threw 4 shutout innings giving up just 2 hits. As a result A.J. picked up a win on a day he didn’t even throw a pitch (he last threw probably some 16.5 hrs ago). Burnett was looking good during the innings he did pitch as he did not walk a batter while striking out 7.

I think those 3 add-on runs the Jays scored in the 8th were big. They came back the next day to resume play from where it was suspended and the Jays had to protect a 2-1 lead. You come out on a new day and the whole rhythm of the game has changed. I think those 3 runs kind of deflated the Orioles hopes of coming back.

I’m surprised the Orioles left Cormier in to pitch to Stairs only to intentionally walk him. They then brought in another RH to face Rolen, who then had to face Lind. I would have brought in the lefty to face Stairs, then intentionally walked Rolen, and the lefty could then also face Lind. Even if the Jays PH Mench for Stairs then you still have the choice of your lefty going after either Mench or Rolen.

The Jays did not exactly light up the RISP #’s as they went 3 for 15 but they managed to score 5 runs. Meanwhile the Orioles were only 1 for 8 w/RISP.

It was particularly a bad game for Adam Jones who has had a lot of success against the Jays so far this yr. He went 0 for 4, striking out twice and grounding into a DP.

For the Jays both Rios and Stairs struck out 3 times. At least Rios managed to pick up 1 hit and he stole a base and then scored what proved to be the winning run.

Let’s go to the stats:
Adv: Barajas (1)
P-Adv: Guthrie
Adv+: McDonald (1), Overbay (2)
P-Adv+: Guthrie 2
NAdv: Barajas (6), Millar, Jones
P-NAdv: Burnett (13), Downs (3), Cormier
DE: Hernandez

Day 116 – Extra Day

I went to 2 museums today, first was the Baltimore Sports Museum, then the Babe Ruth Museum.

The Baltimore Sports Museum covers both Baltimore Sports teams and Maryland natives. It had a section focusing mainly on Ruth, and had a lot on the Orioles. It also covered both the Colts and Ravens. They had a section on the Negro Leagues and the Minor Leagues. They also covered some of the “smaller sports” as well as College sports. They also had a section highlighting some athletes who are Maryland Natives.

After I finished looking around the museum I walked a couple blocks to the Babe Ruth Museum, which is located in the house he grew up. It covered various aspects of Ruth’s career and was a nice little walk through.

I have to say that having a 4 game series works out so much better. The problem w/just 3 days is the 1st day I’m usually just getting into the city and checking into my hotel before going to the game. The 2nd day it is nice to sleep in to make up for the lack of sleep I usually get when travelling on day 1. But if I sleep in that generally doesn’t leave it a lot of time to do any exploring around the city before the game. On the final day, I’m usually checking out of my hotel in the morning and the majority of the time the final game is an afternoon affair. So I go to the game and then afterwards I may have a little time before having to head to the airport or bus station. If there is that additional day in there it gives me a lot of time to go see some things around the city since I’ll wake up at an appropriate time.

They were celebrating the 1983 World Series Championship Team tonight. The pre-game giveaway was 1983 pennants. I thought it was pretty cool that they were having it while I was there since I was born in 1983 and the Orioles were the 1st team to ever win the World Series in my lifetime.

Sat through another rain delay tonight that led to my 1st ever suspended game. The rules of MLB are a game is official after 5 innings. Although the Jays were winning 2-1 at the time the rain came, they had taken the lead in the top of the 6th and BAL had not yet had a chance to have their bat. Therefore the score reverted to the end of the 5th inning in which they were tied 1-1 and that meant the game had to be suspended and completed at a later date (in this case tomorrow before the regularly scheduled game). However, the Jays 2nd run does count as they will pickup the game exactly where it left off with the Jays up 2-1 and batting in the top of the 6th w/Overbay on 3rd and 2 out.

Game 100 – Buying Time

It was good to see the Jays actually hit a lefty for once. Furthermore, they bailed out Marcum not once but twice. It is a nice change having the offence pick up the pitching for once. The Jays scored 6 off Olson and they didn’t stop adding 2 off Cabrera, 1 off Castillo, and 1 off Sarfate. The Jays went a very impressive 5 for 7 w/RISP.

There were numerous hitting stars as Eckstein went 2 for 3, Rios doubled and homered (his 2nd in 3 games) and Adam Lind had 4 hits (2 1B, 1 2B, 1 HR). Everybody but Scutaro reached base (not counting his FC).

It was not a good start as Marcum could not even make it through 5 to qualify for the win. We can only hope this is just rust (after all he did only have 1 rehab start) and not pointing to something else wrong w/him (still injured, new injury, change in mechanics). Now Marcum has always been a fly ball pitcher but when those fly balls regularly start turning into HR’s he is in trouble. He gave up 3 HR’s tonight.

The Blue Jays bullpen was once again up to the task. Carlson, Camp, Downs, and Ryan combined to close the door allowing just 1 run and 4 hits over 4.1 IP. Ryan actually gave up most of it as he gave up 2 hits and 2 walks (the only BB’s from the bullpen) leading to one run scoring. Ryan however got Hernandez to flyout to strand the bases loaded and pickup the save.

Melvin Mora was the big hitter for the Orioles picking up 4 hits (2 1B, 1 2B, 1 HR) and 5 RBI. Meanwhile Brian Roberts went 0 for 5 failing to be on base for any of the 10 hits the 2 through 5 hitters produced.

I have to give credit to Barajas for taking his sweet time getting to the plate to bat in the 3rd. It is one of those little things that I’m sure Marcum appreciated. The reason he did it was b/c the first 2 batters of the inning got out on 2 pitches, meaning Marcum would have minimal rest to go back out there on. Barajas did his best to at least give him a few extra seconds.

On to the stats:
Adv+: Barajas (6), Mora
P-Adv+: Marcum (4), Sarfate
WG: McDonald (6), Wilkerson (4)

Day 115 – It’s all about timing

I had a nice long sleep to make up for the lack of sleep I got at Tampa airport and on the flight to BAL. Once I was up and checked a few things on the internet I went walking downtown and walked by the harbour. I stopped at this pub for lunch and it worked out that it was ½ price appetizers that hour so I ordered wings and chicken fingers. Needless to say I was pretty stuffed afterward. At least I was able to get back out and start walking right away to walk it off.

Just something I spotted along the way

It is interesting that this would be the year that the Orioles reach the 50 million fan mark at Camden Yards, given they don’t even get 20,000 out on most nights. It is amazing to think that they are the fastest ballpark to reach that number when you look at it now. I did the math and unfortunately I will not be in Baltimore when the 50th millionth fan walks through and wins $50,000 plus season tickets for 5 yrs. Nor will I be around when the 100th millionth fan walks through (which wins $100,000 plus season tickets for 5 yrs).

Game 99 – Knowing the arm strength

The bad starts for Litsch continue. This time it is the Orioles hitting him to a tune of 6 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 4.2 IP. Litsch started well retiring the first 6 in order, but then gave up 3 in the 3rd and 3 more in the 5th.

Brandon League had another solid outing in relief going 2.1 IP giving up just 1 hit, though he did walk 2. He retired 5 outs via the ground compared to just 1 in the air, a good sign he is regaining his command and getting downward movement.

The Jays had plenty of chances to score against Liz as he allowed 11 runners in 5.2 IP (6 of them BB’s). On top of the walks Liz issued, he also threw 15 first pitch balls to the 27 hitters he faced, so he was pitching from behind most of the night. The Jays had the bases loaded w/1 out in the 5th and scored just 1 run while they also loaded the bases in the 6th, this time w/2 out and scored nothing. The Jays ended up 2 for 9 w/RISP.

When the Jays put Inglett in RF, he may very well have the worst arm of any RF in baseball. His throw on the Scott 1B in the 5th that scored Huff from 2nd was pathetic. If I were the opposition I would be taking the extra base (1st to 3rd, 2nd to home, etc.) on at least 95% of the balls hit to Inglett.

That was a pretty risky move by Overbay trying to get into 3rd on the Barajas 1B in the 2nd w/nobody out. One of the cardinal sins in baseball is to make the 1st or 3rd out at 3B and he came awfully close to doing so.

Here are the stats:
Adv: Fahey
P-Adv: Litsch (3)
WG: Mora
ME(r): Mora

Day 114 – Free Upgrade

Had about a 1 hr layover in Charlotte. Charlotte is one of the nice Airports to kill time at. There are good places to sit and work on your laptop w/an electrical outlet nearby. Plus the internet is free at the airport.

Once I arrived in Baltimore I took the train downtown as I was staying closer to downtown this time. My hotel was only about a 30 min walk from Camden Yards. When I went to check in the hostess told me that they had to do some repairs to the room I was supposed to stay in so she wanted to know if it was ok if they gave me a suite instead. Of course I was ok with that. I actually had a bedroom and a living room in my hotel room.

It was nice being able to walk back to my hotel rather than have to take the bus. The last time I was in Baltimore the bus I had to take to get to my hotel didn’t run all that often so if the game finished at the wrong time you could be in for a long wait.

Game 98 – Suicide or Safety?

This game was decided by the bullpens as neither starter was impressive. The Jays scored 1 in the top of the 2nd and TB answered back in the bottom half w/1. The Jays then scored 2 more in the 3rd but the Rays answered back w/3 in the bottom half to take the lead. Parrish got the hook after 3, but the Rays stuck w/Jackson. The Jays once again got to Jackson in the 5th for 3 more runs to once again take the lead and chase him from the game. The Rays bullpen gave up 3 more in the 7th while the Jays bullpen threw 6 shutout innings.

The Jays bullpen has been great this year and they certainly proved it in this game. It turned out to be a good move by Cito going to the bullpen so early as they gave up just 2 hits and 2 walks over the 6 innings. It does burn their bullpen out somewhat for tomorrow using up 6 relievers, but none of them threw more than 19 pitches.

The Rays tried to get some innings out of Jackson but he continued to struggle. The Rays have a couple good arms at the back of their bullpen now, but they don’t have anywhere near the depth of the Jays. That lack of depth is what kept the Rays from keeping this game close and giving their offence a chance to come back. It is something the Jays bullpen has done, keeping the Jays in games only their offence never actually comes back.

I believe the Jays bullpen is a big reason why the Jays run differential suggests they should have a much better record. The Jays rarely get blown out. On the odd day a starting pitcher struggles (which is rare given the Jays strong rotation), the bullpen is able to come in and stop the bleeding causing the Jays to lose a lot of close games. Most teams will use their 10th, 11th and 12th men on the pitching staff when trailing, well for the Jays those are guys like Frasor, Tallet, and Camp who are pitching very well. Other teams don’t have that luxury of having those caliber arms at the bottom of their bullpen and sometimes that means games get well out of reach.

The block of the plate by Zaun in the 4th was outstanding. Gomes was clearly there ahead of the ball but Zaun blocked him right off the plate to get the out. Zaun is one of the best in the business at blocking the plate.

I would have much rather see Gaston just go for it and put on the suicide squeeze rather than play it safe and use the safety squeeze in the 6th. For those of you unfamiliar the difference is a suicide squeeze the runner from 3rd is running on the pitch, whereas a safety squeeze the runner waits until the batter gets the bunt down and then depending on the location of the bunt decides whether to go. If you’re going to put the bunt on w/1 out then I think you might as well use the suicide. The reason I say 1 out is b/c if you use the safety squeeze and it is not a good bunt forcing the runner at 3rd to hold you now need a hit to score him. If you do a safety squeeze w/none out then even if the runner is forced to hold you still have a runner at 3rd w/less than 2 out. McDonald is a good bunter so I would trust him to be able to get a bunt down. He did get it down but for a safety squeeze to work you have to bunt it harder and get it past the pitcher.

Great game for Alex Rios with a HR and 2 doubles driving in 3. Just maybe he can find that power stroke in the 2nd half. I would love to see him get hot and just carry the offence for a wk or 2. Marco Scutaro also chipped in w/a 3-run HR and Scott Rolen reached base 4 times (1B, 2B, 2 BB).

Now for the stats:
Adv: Lind (2)
P-Adv: Hammel
Adv+: Rios (5)
P-Adv+: Hammel
WG: Zaun (1)
ME(f): Parrish (1)

Day 113 – Rays Tank

Before the game I went to check out the sting rays that they have at Tropicana Field. They have the Ray pool beyond the OF wall and before the game fans can go in and touch the rays or even feed them. Just going in to see them is free, but you have to buy the ray food if you want to feed them. The stingers have been neutralized so they cannot actually sting you when you pet them. I thought that was a rather interesting experience to have at a ballpark, it is definitely something unique.

Say what you will about how bad the stadium looks, but at least the Rays management is doing other things to make the ballpark experience enjoyable. From the Ted Williams Museum, to the Rays tank, to the numerous activities they have around the concourse, and even the cheap parking they have around the stadium they are at least doing a good job in other areas. Plus they even have a winning team on the field now.

I was surprised by the # of fans they got out this weekend. From all the small crowds I heard they got I was expecting less, although for a 1st place team it is still not good. The announced crowds this wkend were 23,706, 32,669 (are there that many MC Hammer fans?), and 21,037. The ones that do show up are pretty noisy, of course most of the noise is b/c they have decided that cowbells are in style. I can’t say I’m big on the Rays promoting people to go out and get cowbells to bring to the game, and not just b/c I’m cheering for the opponent. I wouldn’t want to hear them in Toronto either, they are not made for baseball.

After the game I went back to my hotel to pick up my stuff and then had to walk back downtown to the greyhound station. I took the greyhound into Tampa. I then had about 45 mins before the next city bus was leaving for the airport so I walked around Tampa for a while. The annoying thing was I had to carry my bag and suitcase around.

I spent the night at the airport before leaving early in the morning for Baltimore.

Game 97 – Feel My Power

2 blown calls were the difference in this game. The 1st was on the Iwamura bunt in the 6th. I actually thought he was safe until I saw the replay back at my hotel. That one was close so I don’t blame the umps for it. However, the Crawford swinging bunt up the 1st base line was clearly foul when Halladay picked it up. It was an absolutely brutal call by Mike DiMuro. What made it worse was he was unwilling to ask for help. I’m not one in favour of replay but I do think there are occasions where an umpire needs to ask for help. I saw the replay in my hotel and saw that it was indeed foul. The thing is why would Halladay pick up the ball if it wasn’t foul. I actually think I saw DiMuro look away for just a split second (maybe checking if the runner from 3rd was coming towards home) and it happened to be just as Halladay went to pick it up and therefore he didn’t see it roll foul.

Now I hate to blame the umps for the game but that call was just so bad. However, the umps didn’t give up the hit before or the hit after those 2 plays, or the grand slam. Although you can argue Halladay didn’t really give up any of those hits except the grand slam. The inning started w/Zobrist pounding a ball into the ground that took a huge hop right over Rolen for a hit. Then there was the Iwamura bunt which replays showed was an out, and the Crawford foul ball. Then Pena hit a bloop just over Scutaro’s head and in front of Lind. Halladay managed to finally get an out by striking out Hinske, but then came the Longoria AB. Longoria had fouled not 1, but 2 pitches off his foot and was hobbling around but he kept fouling off pitches until on the 10th pitch of the AB he hit it out. It was a pitch that Halladay just left up and Longoria didn’t miss it.

Now to keep piling it on DiMuro, his strike zone was shifted by almost a ft. He was calling the ball well off the outside corner to a RH batter a strike, but he wasn’t giving anything on the corner to a LH batter. The fact that 6 batters went down looking I think gives an indication as to the confusion over the strike zone.

The game only got worse for DiMuro after the 6th. He threw out Brad Arnsberg in the 7th when he had gone out there to visit Carlson. Arnsberg must have really said something b/c when is the last time you saw a pitching coach get thrown out. DiMuro wasn’t done there as next he tossed League in the 8th after he hit Navarro w/a pitch. The pitch did not look intentional at all and given League’s control issues I don’t see where he got off throwing him out. Apparently he just wanted to pile it on the Jays.

My rule of thumb regarding the job an ump does is did you notice them? The best umpires are the ones you don’t notice. So given how much time I just spent writing about DiMuro, just underscores how bad a job he did.

I should probably mention that Halladay actually walked 3 batters in the 1st 3 innings including the 9 hitter Zobrist on 4 pitches. Now I’m not putting this all on DiMuro but the fact that Halladay couldn’t buy a call on that outside corner to lefties certainly affected his pitching (the Rays had 7 LH’s in the lineup).

Meanwhile the Jays offence was shutdown by Garza for 7.2 innings getting just 2 hits. They woke up in the 9th rallying for 4 runs off 3 Rays pitchers. They even managed to get the tying run up to bat, but it was too little too late.

Just writing about this game has me in a bad mood.

Here are the stats:
Adv+: Scutaro (3), Crawford, Pena
P-Adv+: Halladay 2 (7), Reyes
NAdv: Overbay (10), Hinske
P-NAdv: Halladay (7), Garza
ME(f): Barajas (2)

Day 112 – U Can’t Touch This

I didn’t venture too far from the hotel in the afternoon. Utilized the pool they had there as it was quite warm out.

Within Tropicana Field they have the Ted Williams Museum. A lot of it is about Ted Williams obviously, covering his playing days as well as the time he fought in the war. There also was a section dedicated to all the great hitters of the game. It was really nice to walk through and see all the hitters that have played the game, it was like a mini hall of fame.

The ballgame started at 6:10, an hr earlier than usual, I guess b/c of the concert they have afterwards. This is all part of their summer concert series where they hold a concert after about 6 or 7 Sat home games. Tonight’s performer happened to be MC Hammer as part of the ‘90’s night promotion.

The concert is held in RF where they setup a stage. Everyone who attended the game was allowed to stay and watch from the stands. However, if you had a wristband you could go down on the field (in the fenced off area of RF) to watch the concert. I did not know about the wristband thing before hand but as it works out I ended up getting a hold of one. I was talking to some of the scalpers trying to get a good deal when a guy came along saying he had an extra ticket that he wanted to get rid of (he had a pair of season tickets and was attending by himself). So I ended up buying his ticket and as an added bonus he said he would give me a wristband for the concert that comes w/the seat. I believe the way it works is any season ticket holders or people who bought ticket packages (ie. 5 game, 20 game, etc.) get wristbands.

After the game once they had the stage all setup I made my way down to the field. I didn’t really care about being down there for the concert but this was the 1st time I had ever stepped onto a major league field. It was a pretty cool moment for me. I also got to feel what field turf is like (it is the same stuff they use at Rogers Centre). You can notice a little difference when walking on it. When you touch it, it is slicker and has less give to it.

Oh yeah, there was a concert going on. I was surprised that it was actually like a full concert. I thought it might be like 4 or 5 songs but it lasted over 2 hrs. It was pretty bad, almost to the point of it being funny. If it weren’t for the fact that I wanted to soak in every moment I could on the field I would have left. Well that and it is not like I had anything else to do that night. I actually wrote a blog or two while sitting on the field as MC Hammer continued to perform.

Game 96 – Those power hitting 9 hitters

What is it w/Burnett and 9 hitters? He seems to either be walking them or giving up HR’s. In Anaheim it was Sean Rodriguez who took him deep which brought LAA within a run and setup their comeback vs Ryan in the 9th. This game it is Ben Zobrist who takes him deep for a 2-run HR to give TB a 2-1 lead which ended up the final score. Of course you have to take into consideration it was the 2-out walk to Hinske that was on base for the HR. When you have a 2-run lead w/2 outs and nobody on you can’t be afraid to go after the hitter. There is no excuse for walking a guy in that situation.

Although Burnett only gave up 5 hits in his 7 innings he struggled w/his control. He walked 3 and hit one batter. He also started the game off w/1st pitch balls to the 1st 4 batters and ended up throwing 16 1st pitch balls of the 29 hitters he faced. Pitching behind that much will usually hurt you a lot more, but this time Burnett got away relatively unscathed the only problem was their was no offence to back him.

I think tonight the Jays lack of offence had a lot to do w/Shields. I think Shields got a few more fly balls than he would like (10 outs in the air and 6 on the ground) but they all seemed to find their way to outfielders gloves. All told Shields gave up just 4 hits and 2 walks and he never had more than one baserunner in an inning. The lone run came on a HR from Lind.

Not surprising neither team had any success w/RISP. The Jays went 0 for 4, while the Rays went 0 for 5.

I don’t think I would have bunted w/Inglett in the 8th. Although he is facing a lefty, I’m not big on playing for the tie when you are on the road. Plus Lind is already in scoring position so a hit can score him anyway. Although Inglett was in the midst of an 0 for 9, so maybe him swinging away isn’t the best but even if he pulls the ball then it accomplishes the same thing as a sac bunt. Of course my preference would be to bring your best hitter w/RISP to the plate, who just so happens to be on the bench, in David Eckstein. The Rays probably would have brought in Balfour at that point but I’ll take that matchup over Inglett/Howell.

It was not a good game for basestealers as Rios, Crawford, and Iwamura were all caught stealing. In Crawford’s case he was actually picked off but you could see he was going as he took a step toward 2nd and then realized he was dead.

There was almost a costly mental mistake from Rios in the 2nd inning. After he caught the fly ball from Hinske against the wall he didn’t throw the ball in right away as he started to jog it in. The problem was that was only the 2nd out and Navarro had already tagged and moved to 3rd. The Rays 3rd base coach picked up on it and had thoughts of sending Navarro home but Rios realized quick enough and got the ball in so it didn’t cost them any extra bases.

Let’s get to the stats:
NAdv: Upton
P-NAdv: Burnett (12)
WG: Wilkerson (3)

Day 111 – Catwalks

Had to put in a couple hrs at Buffalo greyhound terminal before making my way to catch a city bus to the airport. There are city buses that take you from the greyhound station to the airport however it only starts running around 5:30 am. There is an earlier bus you can catch at like 4:25 if you are willing to walk 10-15 mins to where you need to catch it.

Catching the 4:25 bus is the only bus that gets to the airport early enough for the 1st flights of the day. My flight wasn’t actually until 7:15, but I figured I might as well take the early bus so at least I know where I have to walk to catch it for future trips. Plus I like the walk and it is either wait at the bus station or wait at the airport.

When I got to the airport I got some bad news as I found out USAir was now charging $15 if you want to check even one bag. Now my luggage is small enough to carry on, but the problem is I have liquids for my contacts that are too big to carry on so I have to check them. All this does is encourage people to carry more bags on and the overhead bins are already always stuffed full. I don’t see why they don’t just raise the prices of flights and hide the cost there. It is kind of annoying to show up for your flight and then have to pull out your credit card to incur another expense.

I had about a 45 min layover in Philadelphia before continuing on to Tampa. Got into Tampa and unfortunately I did not have enough time to get from the airport to downtown Tampa to catch the next greyhound to St. Petersburg. The next one after would get me there way too late since there was a game that night. There actually is a city bus that goes across the bay but it only runs a couple times a day at commuter times. So I had to take a shared van which wasn’t too much more then what the greyhound + city bus would cost me.

Once I was all checked into my hotel it was off to find my way to the ballpark. I had about a 20 blocks east and 8 blocks south walk ahead of me. It was hot and very humid and it was nice knowing that they had a dome.

The ballpark is not much to look at either from the outside or the inside and I can’t exactly blame the fans for not wanting to come out when the Rays were bad. Now that they are good it should be a different story and they should come out regardless of the stadium. The fact that they have catwalks that are in play is ridiculous. Especially since for one of them if a ball hits it, the ball is still considered live and in play. For those of you who follow the Jays you may remember McDonald catching one off the catwalk a couple yrs ago.

It is amazing how much stadiums copy in between innings entertainment from other stadiums. Now I don’t know who did it first, but for those of you who have been to Rogers Centre this year and have witnessed one of the Jays For Justice cartoons well TB has a similar one. The animation looks like it is done by the same company, but at least it was a different storyline.

While I’m on the subject of in between innings, the one I can’t stand being copied is the Milwaukee Sausage Race. Other stadiums have their twist to it, some are ok, others lame. For example, Washington races Presidents, Toronto did Chili’s last year (thankfully they quit it this year), Texas races dots (yes, dots), TB races pepsi products, etc. The Milwaukee Sausage Race is the only good one b/c it is an original.

Day 110 – Extra Off-day

Went into work today then I had to come home and pack as I was taking the 11:15 pm bus to Buffalo so I could fly to TB.

Day 109 – Sports Day Off

Just thought I’d share this piece of information here on this offday. This is one of only 2 calendar days during the entire year in which no professional sports game is played (at least among the big 4). If you’re curious the other is the day before the MLB All Star Game.

Day 108 – All Star Game

I have to say that was a really good all-star game. Sure it was long and went into the early hrs of the morning (although for me that is my usual time anyways), but it was very entertaining. Its not like it was dragging along there were several good scoring opportunities for both teams throughout extras. It almost made me feel like I was still watching the Jays the way they were leaving runners on base and failing to get any hits w/RISP.

One of the big issues was the fact that had the game gone even 1 inning longer we very well may have seen a position player come into pitch. It is not that big a deal. How often does a baseball game go 15 innings? The Jays have had 1 so far this year. That was only the 2nd time in All-star history a game went that many innings and a game has never gone past the 15th. However, I do have a couple suggestions to avoid running into that situation:

1) If a pitcher is unable to pitch due to throwing a lot of pitches on Sun, then replace him on the roster. If a player is injured, they replace him, so shouldn’t they do the same thing w/a pitcher unable to pitch.
2) STOP trying to use all your players. I think it all started when Cito Gaston got heavily booed for not using Mike Mussina in the ’93 all-star game when it was in Mussina’s home ballpark of Baltimore. The whole reason Mussina was even warming up in the bullpen that night is another issue, but the point is managers now try every way possible to get every player in the game. Pitchers who are regularly starters are only going 1 inning and often the manager is using some of the closers for only 1 or 2 outs. Is it really asking that much to have a couple of the guys who are starters to throw 2 or dare I say even 3 innings. Since pitch counts are now the way of determining how long to leave a pitcher in, why not at least leave starting pitchers in for an extra inning if they say have a 10-pitch inning.

The fact is had this game only gone 9 innings both teams would have had plenty of pitchers unused and this would have been a non-issue. However, since it went a rare 15, and the teams were on their last pitchers it has been blown out of proportion.

While I’m on the topic of pitchers in the all-star game, when are they going to recognize set-up relievers. I know there has been the odd non-closer reliever selected, but the fact is the way the game is now played, basically every team has a guy who is specifically a set-up guy (or at least a LH and RH set-up guy). So should there not be at least one on each team. Instead of having the players vote in 3 relievers which always turn out to be closers, why not have them vote for 2 closers and 1 reliever or even leave the 3 closers but add in a vote for a reliever. This year that reliever for the AL very well could have been Scott Downs.

Day 107 – The Josh Hamilton Show

I decided I would not include the all star festivities in my travel plans for various reasons.
1) I want to be able to enjoy the whole all star week of festivities when I attend. If I went now I would only make the HR derby and the Game.
2) Being in NY, hotel costs are a lot more plus I’m sure the tickets were a little more expensive than it would be at other stadiums.
3) I could use the break.

Of course I still watched the HR derby on TV (or should I say the Josh Hamilton show). However, by the end I was barely paying attention to it. I usually work on something while watching the derby and as the derby went on I found myself paying less attention to the TV and more to my computer. The problem is they have too many rounds and eventually the HR’s they are hitting are nothing new. The other problem is players have become more selective at the plate, sometimes for no other reason than to get a breather. The players have realized that to win they need to have some energy left for all 3 rounds so they are taking more pitches in order to catch their breath.

The Josh Hamilton show was really impressive and I do believe I mentioned something about him back in April after watching him crush a few homers off Jays pitching when they were in TEX. The guy has got some amazing power and now we see why this guy was a 1st overall pick.

Cudos to Justin Morneau for winning the derby (that’s right Hamilton did not). That very well be a flaw in the set-up, but I guess the thing is if you don’t wipe the slate clean before the finals you could have the possibility that the winner would already be decided before the hitters go in the final, eliminating any dramatic conclusion. That’s exactly what would have happened here, Hamilton was so far ahead based on cumulative HR’s there would be no point playing the final.

I have to say Morneau was my darkhorse pick. While most people were predicting a LH hitter would win, I didn’t hear anyone mention Morneau. They all went w/Hamilton or Utley or Berkman (if he was going to hit LH). Yes it had a lot to w/him being CDN but he also had the experience of being in it before and he was LH.

Game 95 – Why did they stop using a 4-man rotation?

I can’t say I agreed w/bringing Burnett back on 3 days rest given he had thrown 112 pitches his last time out. However, he was great in this start. He allowed just 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 HBP through 8 innings and no runner even reached 3rd base. He was even being efficient throwing just 89 pitches, so out he came for the 9th. He did give up a solo HR to Giambi and a 1B to Posada forcing him to leave w/1 out in the 9th, but it was a very impressive performance. Burnett ended up throwing 98 pitches (69 for strikes) and he threw 1st pitch strikes to 23 of 32 hitters.

The Blue Jays actually beat a lefty doing all the damage within 4 batters to start the 2nd. Mench leadoff w/a 2B, Rolen singled him home, and after a 4-pitch walk to Lind, Scutaro hit a 3-run HR. That was all the offence the Jays would muster. The Jays ended up going 3 for 11 w/RISP. Their best opportunity to add-on came in the 4th when they had 1st and 3rd none out but Scutaro fouled out to RF and Rolen got thrown out trying to tag and score.

Going back to the 2nd inning, why was Scutaro attempting to bunt. I know it is easy to say this knowing the outcome, but I did think this at the time. I’m not a fan of bunting early in the game, I’d much rather play for a big inning then settle for 1 run. Plus even if Scutaro was successful getting the bunt down then you have Johnny Mac and Inglett due up needing to get a hit. Even if it were late in a game I don’t think I bunt unless you have a pinch hitter ready for McDonald. As it turns out it was a good thing Scutaro couldn’t get the bunt down.

It was good seeing Mench pick up a pair of 2B’s against Pettite. He has hit lefties very well his entire career and he has gotten off to a slow start this year against righties and lefties. If Mench can start providing some pop against lefties then maybe the Jays can actually win a few games when a lefty starts.

Onto the stats:
Adv+: Rolen (3), Scutaro (2), Lind (2)
P-Adv+: Pettitte 3
NAdv: Rodriguez, Rolen (8)
P-NAdv: Pettitte, Burnett (11)
WG: Rolen (9)

Day 106

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 94 – Defensive Let Down

The game started off great (minus the Jeter leadoff HR) as the Jays scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st. It looked like they could chase Rasner early. Instead Rasner shut them down for the next 4 innings and the bullpen combined for 4 shutout innings only giving up 1 walk. The Jays did however have a couple more chances against Rasner as they loaded the bases in the 2nd w/2 out, they had 1st and 2nd none out in the 4th w/2,3,4 due up, and they had a leadoff 2B in the 5th but none resulted in runs. The Jays finished 2 for 13 w/RISP.

Litsch was not sharp at all in this game. However, if not for some shaky defence who knows what Litsch’s line would have looked like. First it was Scutaro bobbling what would have been an inning ending DP ball in the 2nd instead it allowed one to score on the play, kept the bases loaded and 2 more came in later in the inning. So instead of the Jays being out of the inning up 4-2, they were down 5-4. In the 3rd inning it was a 1-out nobody on error by McDonald allowing Cano to reach base that started a 3-run rally for NY w/all 3 runs coming after there were 2 outs.

Litsch actually had a chance to get out of the 3rd w/no damage as he had 2 outs and the 9 hitter due up. However, Gardner came up w/his 2nd hit of the day and his 2nd and 3rd RBI’s. On the Gardner 1B, Overbay really should have cut that ball off. Inglett’s throw was way off line and they weren’t going to get Cabrera (the runner from 2nd). The throw was over Overbay’s head but not by much, nothing he couldn’t reach w/a little jump. They would have easily had Gardner caught between 1st and 2nd and been out of the inning, but instead Gardner ends up on 2nd the inning continues and Jeter gets a base hit to score him. Now sometimes the cutoff man may not know exactly how far offline a throw is but that is where one of his teammates (presumably the catcher) has to let him know to cut the throw off.

All told Litsch was charged w/8 runs in 2.2 IP. However, 5 of those runs were unearned and if you assume the DP in the 2nd that cost them one more. So it actually could have been just 2 runs off Litsch and 3 total for the Yankees, making it 4-3 Jays. Of course you change one play and that changes everything that happens afterwards, but it certainly makes this game seem a lot closer than it actually was.

The Jays bullpen wasn’t quite as good as NY’s but it still did a nice job holding down the Yankees. The bullpen went 6.1 innings giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks.

I was not a fan of Cederstrom’s strike zone this game. I think he was giving the Yankee pitchers the benefit of the doubt on those corners, but not giving the same width of the plate to Blue Jay pitchers.

Now for the stats:
NAdv: Stairs (6), Scutaro (3), Rolen (7)
P-NAdv: Rasner 3
ME(f): Overbay (2)

Day 105

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 93 – Domination

Well Halladay certainly made his case for starting the all-star game. He goes the distance shutting out the Yankees on 2 hits, 1 walk, and 2 HBP while striking out 8. The Yankees only had 2 runners reach 2nd and none made it as far as 3rd. Until Jeter hit that 2B down the RF line in the 9th, I thought the lone hit keeping Halladay from a no-hitter was going to be the mis-read fly ball by Wilkerson in CF.

A much different Chamberlain tonight than in his starter debut. The Jays managed to get 3 1B’s in the 3rd to push across 2 runs and then added a solo shot in the 6th. Otherwise Chamberlain looked pretty solid. He also did not walk a batter and struck out 9 in his 7 innings.

The Jays did manage to go 3 for 7 w/RISP. It was a good day for Overbay as he got 3 hits (1 2B), drove in 1 and scored 1.

I don’t mean to take such a negative view but that play by Scutaro and McDonald wasn’t anything special. The fact is you see it all the time on DP’s, you just don’t often see it just to get an out at 1st. The last and only time I remember seeing it live was when I saw the Mets play in MIL and Rey Ordonez gloved a ball going up the middle then flipped to Edgardo Alfonso who threw onto 1st. I think you don’t see it much b/c players figure they have a better shot at getting the runner if they just stop and plant or try some sort of Roberto Alomar jump and throw. The other reason is the play requires both infielders to be heads up and ready for the situation, if one isn’t then it fails and you look bad for not throwing to 1st yourself.

Let’s see the stats:
Adv+: Inglett (1)
P-Adv+: Chamberlain
NAdv: Jeter
P-NAdv: Halladay (6)
WG: Lind (1)
ME(f): Cano, Wilkerson (2)

Day 104

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 92 – The RBI Groundout

Twice in 3 games, after not happening the 1st 89 games, the Jays win in a walk-off. This time they were down 5-2 headed to the bottom of the 8th where they scored 2 to close to within one. Then in the 9th against BAL closer George Sherrill they loaded the bases w/1 out before Overbay hit a SF to tie it and Lind came through w/the game winning hit (1 of his 3 hits on the night).

It was a good start from Parrish and he did it on 11 days rest. He went 7 innings giving up 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. That’s 2 good starts now from Parrish and he has walked 4 in 13 innings which isn’t great but that has typically been his problem.

The winning hit by Lind to win it was the Jays lone hit w/a RISP in 7 AB’s. However, the Jays were managing to push across those runners once they got to 3rd w/less then 2 out. In fact the Jays 1st 4 runs all scored on groundouts. For 2 of the 4 the Jays managed to score the runner from 2nd w/none out by nice execution. First they advanced the runner to 3rd using the 1st out then scoring them on the 2nd out.

I think based on how late Eckstein squared around to bunt in the 4th he was actually trying to bunt for a hit. Not a bad idea since even if he doesn’t beat it out, it may go as a sac bunt. However, I think that would have been a good spot to use the hit and run. You have a 2-1 count, Guthrie is a ground ball pitcher and Eckstein handles the bat well. The hit and run is something I haven’t seen much from Cito. Granted the 3 best guys for it, Eckstein, Zaun, and McDonald, seem to be finding themselves on the bench more often than not.

Let’s see the stats:
Adv: Jones, Inglett 2 (2)
P-Adv: Guthrie, Johnson, Parrish (1)
Adv+: Payton
P-Adv+: Parrish (1)
WG: Rolen (8), Wilkerson (2)

Day 103

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 91 – So much for the Advance being a good thing

Burnett looked great for 5 innings giving up just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 and the Jays looked to be cruising thanks to a 7-run third. However, things quickly fell apart in the 6th as the Orioles went 1B, 1B, popout, BB, 1B, 1B, 3-run HR to close within 1 (8-7). That ended Burnett’s night and Carlson had to finish off the inning.

Yes that was actually a lefty on the mound for the Orioles that the Jays hit around. Olson was charged w/all 7 runs in the 4th inning getting pulled w/2 outs after facing 11 hitters.

The Jays scored what proved to be a huge insurance run in the 6th on back-to-back 2-out 1B’s by Barajas and Rolen scoring Wells. I would have actually PH Overbay for Barajas in that inning. If you were planning on using Overbay at some point anyways (which Cito should have been) and not giving him an entire day off why not use him there. The LH starter is already gone from the game and you’re already in the lead so why not get Overbay in there vs the RH and then get the defensive upgrade he represents over Barajas the rest of the way.

Since Cito did not use Overbay to PH for bring him in for Zaun and move Barajas to catcher. I’m sorry but other than arm strength, Zaun is the better defensive catcher and should be the one staying in the game. It’s not like Overbay hits like McDonald or a pitcher and should be put in the last spot due up in the order.

Wouldn’t you know as soon as the Jays move Rios over to CF in the 7th he gets tested by Huff trying to score from 2nd on a 1B. Funny how things workout. With 2 outs it was the right move sending Huff but Rios easily threw him out.

I think there was some hometown scoring in effect on the McDonald infield 1B in the 4th, must have been feeling sorry for him, they know he needs all the hits he can get.

Onto the stats: Interesting enough both teams started their big innings off w/1st and 2nd none out then followed w/a non-advance.

NAdv: Millar, Barajas (5)
P-NAdv: Olson, Burnett (10)

Day 102

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 90 – Finally

Finally the Jays are on the right side of a walk-off. It took 90 games but they have their 1st walk-off win. All it took was a 2-out ground ball right at Bynum and he let it go right through his legs.

This wasn’t just a game the Jays blew a lead and they reclaimed victory. The Jays found themselves down 6-2 before batting around in the 7th scoring 4 runs to tie it, setting up the exciting 9th.

McGowan wasn’t exactly dealing out there but for the 2nd straight start he got pulled awfully early. Last start it was after 76 pitches in 6 innings, this time it was 66 pitches over 4 innings. McGowan had given up 4 runs (only 2 earned) and 4 hits in his 4 innings of work.

I don’t like bringing in a reliever to have him intentionally walk the 1st guy like Cito did w/Downs. If you’re going to walk him use the guy already in there then make the switch. The reason being I don’t want a guy coming in fresh and then being forced to throw 4 straight balls.

I would have PH Zaun for Barajas to start the 7th. At that point you are down by 4 and need baserunners (Zaun has a much better OBP) plus there is a RH on the mound. Of course what happens, Barajas gets a 1B and starts a 4-run rally.

For the record, the Jays were 4 for 11 w/RISP compared to the Orioles 2 for 5.

Here are the stats:
NAdv: Rolen (6)
P-NAdv: Cabrera

Day 101

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Day 100 – Cutting it Close

The plane didn’t land in Chicago until around 6:20 some 40 mins late. So by the time the plane was at the gate and I got off it was probably around quarter to 7 and my connecting flight was scheduled to leave at 7. My gate was in another terminal so I was really pushed for time but I made it there around 6 or 7 mins before 7 am. I actually wasn’t even the last one there though as I saw other people come on after me. We were a little late leaving Chicago too, but at least I didn’t have any more connections to make.

I was back home by about 11:45. Because of the long travel and the 3 hr time change I just stayed home for the day instead of going into work. No game tonight so I was able to get a good sleep in and try to quickly adjust to the time zone.

Game 89 – New Hitting Philosophy

A day after knocking around Lackey the Jays are shut down by Garland, who went the distance. Garland gave up just 6 hits and 1 run while only needing 98 pitches to go the distance. This coming after Garland had thrown 115 pitches in 5 innings (44 of which came in the 1st inning) his last time against TOR.

I think the low pitch count is a sign of the different hitting philosophy of Gaston and Tenace. I’ve noticed it since they took over that the opposing starting pitcher’s pitch counts have not been rising as quickly.

It was not a good start from Litsch. It looks as though teams are starting to get to him and they are not leaving the runners on base anymore. All told he gave up 6 runs on 8 hits in 5.1 IP.

I have to say that was a weak attempt by Barajas at blocking the WP in the 6th w/the bases loaded. It is just another of the things that Zaun does better, but is hard to quantify. There have been several times where Barajas has looked lazy when trying to block balls in the dirt, not to mention some of the relay throws he has dropped.

How the Angels have kept Juan Rivera on the bench for the majority of the yr is beyond me. It is why I never understood the Hunter signing since they already had 4 OF’s (Rivera, Guerrero, Matthews, Anderson) and even a good 5th OF in Willits. Maybe they will play Rivera more given Matthews struggles this yr but they still have 3 more yrs left on the ridiculous 5 yr $55 million contract they gave Matthews. Wouldn’t Rivera look good as the Jays LF. I know Lind is up and playing well but you can alternate them in LF and DH as well as give the occasional day off to Wells/Rios (defensively at least). Let’s face it Stairs had a great comeback yr last yr but he is 40 yrs old and he is clearly not getting the job done this season.

Just have to add this, there is absolutely no excuse for Rios getting doubled off on the Wells flyball in the 9th when you are down by 6.

Let’s check the stats:
NAdv: Wells (5), Guerrero, Rivera
P-NAdv: Litsch 2 (5), Garland
WG: Litsch (3)
ME(r): Rios (5)

Day 99 – Bye Bye LA-LA Land

Afternoon game to wrap up the series so I checked out of my hotel in the morning and made my way to the stadium.

After getting something to eat after the game and picking up my luggage I went to the train station to head to the airport. The train was completely filled up so I had to just stand for the trip to LA (about 45 mins). I guess a lot of people were returning home after the long wkend.

Got to the airport in plenty of time as my flight was scheduled to leave at 11:40 pm. I say scheduled b/c it didn’t actually leave then as it was delayed and we didn’t leave until around 12:15. I had a connection to make in Chicago so I was a little worried. I’ll continue on this tomorrow.

Game 88 – Performing to the Norm

Sometimes this offence can surprise you. Today they go out and score 6 runs off Lackey (7 total) who had an ERA under 2 coming into the game (in fact it was still under 2 after the game). It is not unlike when they hit Edison Volquez around (who was the NL ERA leader at the time). Yet they can’t do anything against Jarrod Washburn, Greg Smith, or Jason Marquis. Of course that’s just baseball, on any given day any team can win and any pitcher can have a good/bad day. So there is a reason they play the games after all. Its not like sim leagues where the players perform very close to their prior performance. In real life players will exceed expectations or underperform for 1 game, 1 week, 1 mth, or sometimes even a yr by large margins. Sure more often than not over the course of 162 games players tend to perform at their career level (excl. 1st and last few seasons), but you just never know.

It was another strong start from Halladay going 7 while giving up just 2 runs. He struck out another 7 and continues to be among the league leaders (along w/Burnett).

B.J. Ryan must really be starting to hate Anaheim. He has now given up 4 runs in 1.2 IP over 2 appearances incl. taking the blown save and loss in one of them. Luckily Ryan came in w/a 4 run lead today and got a big DP from Napoli for the 1st 2 outs of the inning after the 1st 3 batters had reached.

Alex Rios is sure running wild against the Angels. He stole 3 bases today to go w/the 2 he stole yesterday, and he stole 2 in the series at Toronto earlier this yr. That makes it 7 for 7 in 8 games. By the way Rios ended up w/3 hits and 2 RBI’s on the day.

Rolen and Zaun were the only Jays not getting in on the hit action. Rolen in particular struggled, striking out 3 times. The team as a whole went just 2 for 10 w/RISP.

On the other side of the diamond Guerrero had a 2B and HR and 3 RBI’s while Figgins had 3 hits. Figgins did however take a bad risk in the 9th down by 2 trying to stretch a 1B into a 2B. He did make it in safely but he didn’t represent the tying run and more than likely w/2 outs the Jays would have played behind him at 1st allowing him to take 2nd on defensive indifference anyway.

Now for the stats:
Adv: Zaun (4), Kotchman
P-Adv: Downs (2), Lackey
Adv+: Kendrick
P-Adv+: Ryan (1)
ME(f): Kendrick

Day 98 – Manager’s Jersey

I took a walk around the area of my hotel to put in some time during the day and get some sun. Apparently I managed to find the one hotel in ANA that does not have a pool, so I couldn’t go for a swim to cool off in the afternoon after my walk. I had to settle for a shower.

I was surprised to see not just one, but several Scoscia jersey’s at the game. That is maybe the 1st time I have ever seen anybody wearing a jersey w/the manager’s name on it.

Just thought I'd share this photo. What everyone in baseball is playing for.

Game 87 – Testing the Limits

Nothing seems to go right for the Jays these days. Burnett w/another horrible start giving up 8 runs (6 earned) on 12 hits. At least he didn’t walk anyone. You know things aren’t going your way when Kendrick gets jammed but the ball ends up going just inside the 1st base line and goes for a 2B (seems like those kinds of hits always go against the Jays). The 2B scored the 2nd run of the inning but then Burnett settled in holding them scoreless for the next 3 innings. However, in the sixth a misplayed flyball by Rios (which was horribly scored a 2B, talk about hometown scoring) and an error by Scutaro led to 3 runs and the Angels tacked on 3 more against Burnett in the 7th.

I would have had Burnett out of the game after the Kotchman 2B and the Izturis 1B to start the 7th. At that point it may not have mattered since the Jays offence wasn’t doing anything anyway, but it looked to me like Burnett was done and you’d like to keep a comeback as a slight possibility.

It took until the 8th inning for the Jays to get to Weaver as they went 2B, 3B to start the inning and chase Weaver. I would have left Weaver in and see what he could do in that situation. You’re still up 8-1 at that point and the next 3 hitters were a combined 1 for 8 w/4 strikeouts so far. Weaver had only thrown 106 pitches (just 8 of 29 1st pitches were balls) and sometimes you have to see how your starter will respond in those situations. Weaver wasn’t really showing signs of fatigue so why not see if he can regain his composure and pitch out of it. Of course having not watched everyone of the Angels games this yr maybe Scoscia already knows Weaver’s limit.

Here are the stats:
Adv: Hunter
P-Adv: Burnett (3)
Adv+: Izturis
P-Adv+: Burnett (3)
WG: Kotchman, Izturis
ME(f): Rios (4), Wells (2), Matthews

Day 97 – Independence Day

After the enjoyable visit w/my friends and their generous hospitality it was time to head off to the airport and onto Anaheim where it is back to staying in hotels.

I flew into LAX and caught a flyaway bus to union station. When I got to union station I found out some of the trains were not running b/c it was a holiday. Luckily there were still Amtrak trains running although they were charging higher fares for the holiday wkend then what I paid on my earlier visit to LA/ANA.

The train station in Anaheim is actually right across from the stadium but my hotel was about 2.5 miles away. I was staying in a different hotel this time in the opposite direction so I wouldn’t be near Disneyland. It was nice to see another area plus this one was just like a regular place, not all touristy.

They had a nice display before the game w/a large US flag in the OF and some jets flew over the stadium after the anthems. After the game they had a fireworks display. I was actually rather disappointed in it. For a 4th of July fireworks display it was rather pedestrian, I thought they might pull out all the stops.

Day 96 – If you could only see 1 movie all summer

My friend and his wife both had to work so I had the day just to relax. I’ve been to Vancouver before w/my family so I didn’t plan to go anywhere. I did go meet my friend for lunch at SFU, where he works, and got a brief tour. It is a very isolated campus, nothing else is anywhere near it.

After lunch I took the bus back to their place and just went for a walk around the neighbourhood and then caught up on the news I missed while we were camping until they got back from work.

After they cooked a nice meal and we went out to see a movie. There was a theatre nearby within walking distance that we went to, but it only had 2 screens so our choices were Hancock or Wall-E. My friend’s wife got out-voted 2 to 1 so we went too see Hancock. It was ok, not good but not bad, just another movie. What really hurts is that is probably the only movie I will see in theatres all summer. My movies to buy list is growing long and it is filled w/movies I haven’t seen. At least this way it saves me the money of seeing them in theatres since I would probably buy most of them anyway. And I always wait until movies at least get down to the 2 for 30 sections, so it is basically the same price as seeing it in theatre.

Game 86 – Cairo Power

What’s new, the Blue Jays struggle to do anything vs a LH. Interesting enough it was the Jays lefty bats doing the damage as Overbay and Lind combined for 3 of 7 hits vs Washburn and the lone 2 runs came on Lind’s 2-run HR following an Overbay 1B.

The Jays put up an 0 for 5 w/RISP and grounded into 2 DP’s. In the final 3 innings vs the Mariners bullpen the Jays only had 1 batter reach base and that was thanks to an error.

It was another so-so start from McGowan. There seem to be quite a few of those this yr from him. I was surprised to see McGowan pulled so early, especially given how efficient he was being. He had only thrown 76 pitches (53 strikes) through 6 innings. I didn’t see signs McGowan was tiring and he had retired the last 5 in a row.

The Mariners were a non-impressive 2 for 9 w/RISP but it was enough to defeat the Jays. The real killer was Miguel Cairo who hit a pair of 2B’s and drove in 3. Meanwhile Ichiro picked up 3 1B’s (2 of them infield hits), drew a walk, and scored 2 runs.

Nice to see League coming in and getting ground balls. He got 4 outs via the ground and none in the air. He still showed control issues walking 2 but at least he is getting the ball down in the zone.

Now to the stats:
NAdv: Cairo
P-NAdv: McGowan (15)
WG: Rolen (7)

Day 95 – S’more Bagel

Did a little experimenting for breakfast this morning. We still had a little bit of chocolate left over from last night so I made myself a s’more bagel. What a great way to start the day, bread, marshmallows, and chocolate.

After breakfast we walked down to the beach to go for a swim and since we were too cheap to buy shower tokens wash up. Well the only problem was the water was freezing, so it was a very quick get in, wash and get out.

Once we finished packing up the campsite we made our way in to SEA and did some shopping (well my friend did anyway, I just browsed). After grabbing something to eat it was off to the ballpark.

Got some rain tonight during the game so they had to close the roof during the game. SEA’s retractable roof just covers the field; it doesn’t actually enclose the stadium. The sides are still open.

Still a # of Cdns at this game but significantly reduced from either of the 1st 2 games since the holiday has passed.

After the game we drove back to my friend’s place in Burnaby.

So that ends my camping experience for this journey. It was a very fun change from the hotels and I owe a great thanks to my friend for organizing it.

Here are a couple pics of Deception Pass where we camped:

Game 85 – Is that allowed on Canada Day?

It was not a good start from Litsch even though he only gave up 3 runs (1 earned). I’ll give Litsch credit he seems to have quite a few of these starts always finding ways to give up hits but keep the runs down. It’s what he did last year and that’s why I wasn’t sold on him coming into this year, but he other than a recent rough patch he has doing ok this year. Of course, all those hits lead to more batters faced and therefore more pitches and that meant Litsch was done failing to get through 6.

The Jays actually scored some runs today, but the bullpen let them down. First it was Carlson who gave up a 2-run HR to Beltre in the 7th and then it was Downs who gave up a solo HR to Sexson in the 8th that tied it. After Downs walked 2 of the 1st 3 hitters (1 intentional) in came Camp to face Bloomquist. And it happened again, another walk-off loss for the Jays as Bloomquist singled to left-center. That is now 7 for those of you counting, and I am cause I’ve had to sit through all of them. At least there were only 24,586 people there and a number of them were Jays fans, not quite the same as NY, BOS, and LA.

The Jays really only did anything offensively in 2 innings, scoring 3 runs in each of the 4th and 6th. The Jays ended up 4 for 10 w/RISP. They were led by Wells and Lind, each w/3 hits (2 1B’s, and a 2B). Zaun would have joined them at 3 hits in the game if not for the horrible mistake by Wells. With Wells at 2nd and 1 out Zaun hit a line drive over the SS’s head for what should have been a base hit, but Wells retreated to 2nd base as soon as it was hit and didn’t look to see whether Betancourt caught it. By the time Wells realized it got over his head and into the OF he couldn’t make it to third. Therefore it goes down as a FC7-5.

Now I know there were none out but I think it was a bad hold of Rios in the 4th on the Wells double. It looked as though Rios was going to score easily.

Having watched Ibanez play a few games now, I have to say he takes a lot of bad routes to balls. And when you only have average speed you can’t afford those kinds of mistakes.

Let’s check the stats:
Adv+: Wells (2), Zaun (2), Lind (1)
P-Adv+: Rowland-Smith, Corcoran 2
NAdv: Rolen (5), McDonald (1)
P-NAdv: Rowland-Smith, Corcoran
ME(r): Wells (1)
ME(f): Litsch (1)

Day 94 – O Canada

We had gotten back to the campsite pretty late last night so we both had no problem sleeping in a little. Once we were up we went to pick up some groceries in the morning so we could do our own cooking. It was toasted bagels for breakfast, steak for lunch, and hot dogs for supper.

After we had enjoyed our steaks it was time to head into the ballpark. We managed to once again get our nice free parking spot.

I would say slightly less Cdn’s here on Canada Day than there were yesterday, but still a large #. Sadly the Jays blew a lead late and then suffered another walk-off loss. That’s not how it is supposed to go on Canada Day.

After the game we went back to our campsite and got the fire going so we could cook our hot dogs. We had also bought the necessary supplies in the morning to make smores. It was a late night as we just kept the fire going until we ran out of wood.