Day 183 – The End is Here

There was no continental breakfast at this hotel so that is why I ordered a large pizza last night. I figured I could use one last Papa John’s pizza plus I could have the leftovers for breakfast. Furthermore, all the coupon offers I have been getting from Papa John’s e-newsletter usually only apply to large pizzas.

It was nicer day today w/no rain except a small 5 min sprinkle during the game. The Blue Jays finished the season w/a win ending my odyssey on a good note.

I grabbed something to eat after the game before picking up my bags from the hotel and making my way down to the greyhound station. I was hoping to make a 6:40 bus that would get me home 4.5 hrs ahead of the next bus that left at 8:30.

I made the 6:40 bus and was on my way home. The bus went through Pennsylvania and New York and there were a number of stops along the way. Eventually though I made it home bringing an end to my odyssey.

It was an absolutely amazing experience, I couldn’t ask for anything more (other than the Jays making the playoffs). If the situation were right I would love to do it again, but for now it is back to the real world of working 5 days a week.

One last set of handshakes

Game 162 – Going out with a Bang

The Jays won their season finale finishing 10 games over .500. Thanks to Wells’ 2 HR game the Jays finished w/1 player reaching the 20 HR mark. Those homers represented 4 of the 5 RBI’s Wells got on the day. It was all part of a 4 for 4 day for him pushing his avg up to .300.

Litsch ended the season on a good note throwing 7 innings giving up just 1 run on 3 hits. Litsch retired the first 10 batters of the game. Litsch’s big mistake was beaning Roberts on a 1-2 pitch w/2 out in the 6th. Litsch had struck out the first 2 batters of the inning and had a chance to make it an easy inning. Instead it brought Markakis up who singled and then Mora followed w/a 2B to drive in their only run.

Cito decided to pull out the hit and run for maybe the 3rd or 4th time. He used it w/Scutaro at bat and Inglett on 1st in the 5th inning and nobody out. I don’t like the fact he used it on the first pitch after a new pitcher had just walked the first batter he faced. Scutaro ended up fouling off the pitch.

Wells and Scutaro each went 2 for 2 w/RISP and the rest of the team went 2 for 9.

Snider did not end the season well finishing 0 for his last 9 while Lind finished 0 for his last 8. For Snider it included 4 strikeouts. I’m not sure he is quite ready to be in the big leagues. He hit well (.301 avg/.338 obp/.466 slg) but there were times when he looked outmatched and out of place. He showed flashes of how good a hitter he can be, but he also struck out 23 times in 73 AB which is more than the # of hits he collected (22). I think he would be better served to spend at least a half yr at AAA to start next season.

Brandon League pitched the final inning for the Jays and he recorded 2 outs on the ground and had 1 strikeout. For League that means he finished w/a 2.18 ERA. He did have a 1.30 WHIP mostly due to the 15 walks in his 33 innings. However, he kept the opponent batting average down to .230 and the slugging at .320. He did not blow a save picking up 1 save and 5 holds. Note however how League improved. In his first 16.2 IP he walked 14. In his last 16.1 IP he walked just 1. If League is able to continue to show that kind of control he will be one of the most effective relievers in baseball. It is also worth pointing out that over his last 8 outings he did not record a single out in the air. He got 17 outs on the ground while striking out 4 finishing the season w/a 3.71 ground ball to fly ball ratio.

One last time, here are the stats:
NAdv: Rios (12)
P-NAdv: Simon
ME(r): Inglett (2)

Game 161 – Baseball Impossibility?

Another night, another rain-shortened game. This time it was BAL coming out on top 2-1. The difference here is they called it w/the Jays threatening to tie it. After Overbay hit a leadoff 2B in the top of the 7th they went into a delay. They tried to get the game going again but to no avail so the game was called w/the tying run standing at 2nd base.

The hit by Overbay was just the Jays 4th hit of the game. All 3 of their other hits came in the 2nd inning including a solo HR by Wilkerson. Brian Bass retired them in order in the other 5 innings.

It wasn’t a particularly good start from Parrish as he gave up 9 hits and walked 1 over 5 innings. However, he gave up just 2 runs so he kept the Jays in the game. The Orioles stranded 8 runners in those 5 innings as they went 3 for 11 w/RISP.

I’m not sure if this is the first time this has ever happened or not, but Brian Bass started the game, recorded every out, and did NOT get a complete game. The reason being Lance Cormier came in to start the 7th but did not record an out. The only other scenario I could see this being true is if the visiting starting pitcher went 8 innings and then was replaced for the bottom of the 9th and the home team wins the game before the new visiting pitcher records an out (the starting pitcher could also start the bottom half of the inning and even record an out or two, just as long as the relief pitcher does not record any outs). However, that would result in either a loss or a no-decision for the pitcher. Bass actually won tonight’s game and I have to think he may be the 1st pitcher to ever do the following: Win his start while recording every out but not get a CG. Note I included the word “start”, b/c I believe there has been a pitcher who entered the game in the 1st inning w/none out (the starting pitcher got hurt before recording an out) and proceeded to pitch the rest of the game recording all 27 outs and he got the win but no complete game.

Going to the stats:
NAdv: Payton, Millar
P-NAdv: Parrish 2 (5)

Day 182 – Jays find new way to strand leadoff 2B

It was pouring rain when I woke up so wasn’t really able to go anywhere outside the hotel. It rained most of the day but it had let up in the evening, allowing them to start the game tonight. Unfortunately the rain didn’t stay away and the game had to be delayed in the top of the 7th. The timing of when the umpires went to delay was a little suspicious to me. Overbay had just led off the top of the inning w/a 2B and the Jays were trailing by one. Why start an inning and then call for the tarp after just 1 batter? It seemed to me they didn’t want the Jays to tie it b/c that would mean if they didn’t finish the game that night the game would have to be suspended and completed another day. With the Orioles ahead as of the last complete inning and still leading they could call the game and it would be considered a finished game.

After about 35 mins of delay the rain had really let up and it was basically just mist in the air. However, it was another 10 mins before the grounds crew came out and rolled off the tarp. They started working the field to try and get it ready to resume play. They even made an announcement that they were going to resume play in 15 mins and they invited everyone left to come find a seat wherever they wanted. So I made my way down to the lower section and as I started to walk down the aisle the rain picked up and the grounds crew hurried to once again cover the field w/the tarp. It was only another 15-20 mins before the game was officially called w/the Jays tying run standing at 2nd base and none out.

Although it was disappointing to see the Jays lose in that fashion it meant I now had 161 games in the books w/just one final game to go.

Game 160 – A Game of Firsts

Thanks to some rain Scott Richmond picked up his 1st major league win, CG, and shutout. Richmond made it through 6 complete innings for the 1st time and it ended up being enough to get the CG as the game was called in the top of the 7th. Richmond also did not allow his usual 3 runs instead allowing none. He gave up 4 hits, walked none, and struck out 3. Only 1 runner even reached 2nd base.

Chris Waters ran his scoreless streak against the Jays to 14 innings before the Jays finally broke through in the 6th. Rolen came up w/a 2 strike 2 out ground rule 2B to drive in 1. That put runners at 2nd and 3rd but Snider was robbed of a hit by Markakis to end the inning.

In the 7th the Jays got right back at it as Thigpen led off the inning w/his 1st career HR. But wait, after a pair of hits and an RBI ground out by Bautista the umpires called for the tarp and the game went into a delay. After over an hr the game was finally called leaving the Jays w/the win but it put into question whether Thigpen’s HR would stand. I myself wasn’t sure at first as I knew they changed the rules about 3 or 4 yrs ago regarding games being suspended and called early. I know the rule changes had more to do w/if the visiting team tied the game or took the lead in the current inning w/o it being complete the game would be suspended instead of going back to the last complete inning and ruling the home team the winner. Another change made was if a game was tied after the last complete inning it would be suspended and continued from the point it left off whereas before the game would be played again in its entirety, but the stats would count (so yes it was possible to have a tie in baseball). What I didn’t know is whether the stats now counted for the partial inning if they did not affect the outcome of the game. Apparently even the players didn’t know and it was reported that Thigpen had tossed away the ball in the clubhouse. Eventually they found out that all the stats counted and Thigpen retrieved the ball.

Checking the stats:
NAdv: Wells (9)
P-NAdv: Waters
WG: Rolen (14), Markakis

Day 181 – Extra Security

I found a cheap flight into Washington so I’m going that route this morning. I finished packing my stuff once I got home from last night’s game and had to catch the bus to the airport since the subway hadn’t started up yet.

I had to connect in Montreal and the waiting area at the gate was enclosed off w/the door locked when I got there. I found another place to sit and wait before coming back closer to the departure time. Apparently they have extra security for flights to Washington. They had a couple security people there when you walk in and they scan you with the hand scanners, make you take off your shoes, they do a full search of your carry-ons.

Once in Washington I had to take the subway to the train station where I could catch a train to Baltimore. It is a little over an hr train ride.

I was staying downtown again but in a different hotel. I was still within walking distance of the ballpark, just a little further east.

I was worried about getting the games in this wkend b/c of the rain they have been calling for up the east coast. I would hate to lose a game since at this point they won’t bother making it up as it doesn’t matter to the playoffs. It would suck to have to say I went to all 161 games. So far so good though, as they got through 6+ innings tonight w/the Jays ahead, enough to make it an official game.

Game 159 – Doc wins # 20 in final home game

Congrats go out to Doc Halladay for picking up his 20th win of the year. He did it in fine form going the distance using just 96 pitches. Granted the Yankees had a # of regulars sitting and you could tell the Yankees hitters were being a little more aggressive up there than usual. Halladay gave up 6 hits and walked 1 leading to 2 runs while striking out 5. His lone walk hurt him as it led to the 2nd run. He walked Ransom to start the 5th, who went to 3rd on a Cabrera 1B then scored on a DP ball. Halladay really put it on cruise control after the 5th as he retired the last 13 batters. Halladay recorded 17 of the outs on the ground (5 in the air).

The Blue Jays bats were alive today and made sure Halladay was going to get that 20th win. After leaving the bases loaded in the 2nd, Wells got the Jays going w/a 2-run HR in the 3rd. Wells then followed it up w/a 2-run 1B to cap a 3-run 4th inning and chase Pavano. Snider and Zaun had back-to-back RBI 2B’s in the 5th and Scutaro followed back-to-back BB’s w/an RBI 1B in the 7th to account for the remaining runs. The Jays 8 and 9 hitters, Snider and Zaun, combined to go 5 for 7 w/a BB, driving in 2 and scoring 4. The team went 6 for 13 w/RISP.

This was the last start for Pavano as a Yankee in what has to be one of the worst contracts ever and he didn’t leave a good impression (not like this start was going to change that). The Yankees will no longer have to worry about what body part Pavano has injured now. Mike Wilner has mentioned that Pavano is a guy he would like to see the Jays sign and I agree. You should be able to sign him for a low base salary with some built in incentive bonuses, it is a low risk move. Let’s not forget that Pavano had a decent year and a very good year in the 2 yrs prior to signing w/the Yankees. Those 2 yrs led to him getting the big payday from the Yankees (4 yrs – 40 mill) and along w/Matt Clement’s signing in BOS (I believe 3 yrs – 33 mill, which didn’t work out either) set the new price for future starting pitchers that fit that tier including Burnett, Lilly, and Meche.

Here are the stats:
WG: Halladay (1)

Day 180 - Don’t Take him for Granted

Nice to see Doc pick up that 20th win tonight. I even saw Doc breaking out a smile during the post-game handshakes. Of course how else would Halladay get the win, none other than with a complete game. I can’t say enough how much of a pleasure it is to watch him pitch every 5th day. If you’ve never been to a game with Halladay pitching you owe yourself to look up the pitching rotation and pick a day when Halladay will be pitching. Get a seat behind home plate (no matter the level) and just watch how Halladay works to the batters. If you’re lucky it will be one of those days where he really has it going and it will be a thing of beauty, but even on those other days it is still a treat to watch.

I said my goodbye’s to the Rogers Centre as I probably will not be back until March when the World Baseball Classic arrives.

Game 158 – Final Performance

Aside from an inning or two this offence has really looked flat on this homestand. It seems like the long win streak and then losing 3 of 4 in BOS has took everything out of them. The offence did more of the same tonight w/just 5 hits in 10 innings and none of them were w/RISP (in 4 AB’s). However, they did nice situational hitting in the 1st. After a leadoff 2B, Scutaro hit a ground ball to the right side to move him over then Rios hit the SF to score him. They had a similar scoring opportunity in the 4th as Rios leadoff w/a 2B but Wells grounded out to the left side failing to advance Rios and the next 2 Jays were retired w/Rios not moving. After Wells’ 2-out 1B in the 1st the Jays managed just 3 hits the remaining 9 innings.

Burnett had a strong start to finish off his Jays career (yes he’s opting out). He gave up 7 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 2 walks, and struck out 11 in 8 innings. Sure it wasn’t the Yankees ‘A’ lineup but a good performance nonetheless. Unfortunately a win was not in the cards tonight.

It was not a good night for Carlson. I had no problem w/Cito leaving him in as long as he did. Carlson had a fairly easy 9th inning using just 12 pitches and 4 of the first 5 guys due up in the next inning were LH. Carlson then fell behind Miranda 1-0 before he hammered a 2B to right. The big mistake though was walking Moeller. Moeller was being asked to give himself up and attempt to bunt. You have to pound the strike zone when the guy is showing bunt like that and take the out they’re giving you. Moeller even showed bunt on one of the 2 strike pitches before pulling back and taking it as a ball. Even if Moeller successfully moves the runner you have 2 open bases to work w/as you attack Gardner, Cano, and Abreu. The next batter, Gardner, did get the bunt down and Carlson then hit Cano on the 1st pitch to load the bases. With Abreu up, Carlson got beat on another 1-0 pitch as Abreu hit it out to right for the grand slam.

Let’s see the stats:
Adv: Scutaro (5)
P-Adv: Hughes
NAdv: Ransom, Wells (8)
P-NAdv: Hughes, Burnett (20)
ME(f): Moeller

Day 179 – Farewell A.J.

It was a solid final start for A.J. It was a classy thing for Cito to have Burnett go out to warm up in the 9th so he could take him out and allow the fans to give him an ovation. It is amazing how loud the ovation was for him given he’d only been here 3 years and most of the fans have complained about him for over 2/3 of that time. It is a given Burnett will be opting out but there is a slim chance he will end up signing back here. I doubt it and frankly for the price it will cost I don’t want him back. I have been a Burnett supporter since J.P. signed him. I thought it was a good contract and I would be glad to see him back in a Jays uniform for the $12 mill/yr he would get in the remaining 2 yrs of his current contract even if it meant throwing on another yr or two for the same price. However, I don’t think Burnett is worth the $15 million/season he is going to get.

Sure Burnett has said all the right things about how he likes it in Toronto, pitching with Doc, having Arnsberg as his pitching coach, how he “grew up” here, but the fact of the matter is about 99% of the upcoming free agents say that about their outgoing team. A.J. is not going to accept a 4 yr $48 million deal to stay w/the Jays over say a 4 yr $60 million deal (and that is on the conservative end) to go somewhere else.

Game 157 – Adjusting your strike zone

The Jays bats were not up to the task against Mussina tonight. Mussina shut them out through 5 innings giving up just 4 hits. From there 5 relievers held the Jays to just 1 run. A big problem for the Jays was the strikeouts. They struck out 14 times and 8 of them were looking. Yes, Vanover had a wide strike zone but the Jays hitters have to adjust. Once the umpire establishes that he is going to call it on the black (and then some) you have to start swinging at those pitches b/c he is going to keep calling them there. Yankee pitchers took advantage and kept throwing it outside. The Jays kept taking it and Vanover kept calling them strikes.

Litsch picked up a few strikeouts of his own, 8 of them (3 looking). Litsch went 7 innings giving up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs (2 earned). It was good to see him get back to throwing strikes and not walking players after a couple of high walk games. I have to say Litsch has impressed this season. After seeing him last year I didn’t think he was good enough to repeat it over an entire season. Litsch did have a rough patch and had to be sent down to AAA but he has come back up and is pitching well again. By no means is Litsch over the hump. Baseball is all about adjustments and hitters will adjust how they attack Litsch. Litsch will have to make adjustments right back, but as long as he continues to show the control he has so far in his brief career he will continue to be successful. With the way the Jays pitching staff is shaping up next season they will certainly need him.

I didn’t have a big problem w/Vanover’s strike zone b/c at least he was consistent. However, he blew a call at the plate when Cano scored on the PB in the 7th. I really thought Litsch got the tag down in time and it was the kind of play that umpires seem to love to call the runner out on. Given the Jays lost by 2 maybe it doesn’t matter, but it does effect how the Jays play the final 2.5 innings (at the time it put the Jays down by 3).

I didn’t agree w/the Yankees intentionally walking Lind in the 8th w/runners at 2nd and 3rd and 2 out. The only benefit was it sets up a force play at every base. The danger is you are putting the go ahead run on base. As far as the batters go you got another LH in Overbay instead of Lind. I guess the other thing to consider is Overbay is really struggling recently. He was 0 for his last 13 and 2 for his last 23.

Checking the stats:
ME(r): Gardner

Day 178

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Day 177

Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 156 – Consistent Pitching Lines

What’s new? For the 4th time in his 4th major league start Richmond pitches at least 5 innings but not more than 6 and gives up 3 runs. Check out these lines from his 4 starts:
5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, Loss
5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, No Decision
5.0 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, Loss
5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, Loss

Even his walks and strikeouts have been very similar. The sad part is none of them were enough to get a win. Hopefully he gets one more shot in BAL to get that elusive 1st career win. I didn’t think Richmond would get through 5 given he hadn’t started or even pitched since the end of Aug when he was still in AAA. The Jays managed to get 83 pitches out of him. The big damage against him was a 2-run HR by Ortiz that Ortiz basically reached out and hit a ball down the LF line that just cleared the wall. The ball really fooled me, I thought it was just a lazy fly ball but Snider just kept drifting back until he ran out of room.

The Jays offence was unable to take advantage of Daisuke’s early wildness. He threw at least 2 balls to 7 of the first 8 hitters he faced. As a result he threw 45 pitches in the first 2 innings. Over the next 5 innings he threw just 64 more pitches. When you have a guy struggling w/his control you cannot be chasing pitches especially when already ahead in the count. Yet there was Rolen swinging at a 2-0 pitch well out of the strike zone down and away in the 2nd inning. Maybe the fact that there was a runner at 3rd w/less than 2 outs may have made Rolen a little too aggressive, trying too hard to drive in that run.

If you thought Richmond’s starts were similar compare this start by Matsuzaka and his first start against the Jays this season (it came at the end of Apr at Fenway). In both starts he went 7 innings, gave up 2 hits, 0 runs, and walked 2. Only the strikeouts differed, as he struck out 6 today and 4 in the Apr start. Taking it a step further he threw 69 strikes in both starts and the balls were off by a whopping 2 (40 this start, 42 in Apr).

Watching Daisuke pitch from the full windup w/Wells on 3rd in the 2nd I couldn’t help but think you could steal home. The only danger is Matsuzaka being a RH pitcher might see the runner breaking and be able to pitch the ball out (assuming a LH batter is up since pitching out to a RH hitter would only take the catcher further away) making it easier for the catcher to get out from his crouch and apply the tag.

Here are the stats:
Adv: Lind (5)
P-Adv: Matsuzaka
NAdv: Ortiz, Scutaro (7)
P-NAdv: Matsuzaka, Wolfe (2)
WG: Rolen (13)

Day 176 – Even Series, Really?

The Jays finish the season having split the 18 games w/Boston this season. It is the 2nd straight year the Jays have gone 9 – 9 against BOS. However, looking at the Runs For and Runs Against tells a different story. The Jays outscored the Sox 91 to 60 (52 to 33 at Home and 39 to 27 in BOS). The Jays were 5 – 4 at home and 4 – 5 on the road. I think this sort of sums up the season for the Jays. Their run differential points to them being so much better.

Game 155 – Drive for 20

Jon Lester has been a different pitcher when facing the Jays at Rogers Centre than at Fenway. Lester has faced the Jays 4 times this season, 2 at Rogers Centre, 2 at Fenway. In his 2 starts at Fenway he has thrown 16 innings and given up 5 hits and 1 run. In 2 starts at Rogers Centre he has thrown 9.1 innings and given up 16 hits and 12 runs. It looked like Lester would be gone early from this game having given up 5 runs in the first 2 innings but he settled down and followed w/5 scoreless innings. Regardless of whether your team comes back those are big innings that really help save your bullpen over the course of a season.

The early offence was enough Halladay to pickup win 19 on the season keeping his shot at 20 alive. It wasn’t vintage Halladay as he gave up 6 hits, walked 3 and allowed 3 runs. He had to throw 106 pitches over his 6 innings, of which 45 were balls. He recorded more outs in the air (8) than via the ground (7).

With Downs shut down for the season it was the new Jays trio of Carlson, League, and Ryan to shut the door on the Red Sox. Each of them threw an inning and only League gave up a hit.

I thought Leyva should have sent McDonald on the Scutaro 2B. I know there was only 1 out but McDonald was running all the way from 1st and you have to take advantage of the Sox OF arms whenever possible.

I don’t know what Cora was thinking trying to get Scutaro at the plate in the 2nd. That early in the game you have to take the sure out. It is doubtful they would have turned 2 but they could have easily got the force at 2nd. Frankly, unless it was the 9th inning and that was the winning run Cora shouldn’t have been coming home on it. He really had no shot at Scutaro and in rushing to make the play ended up throwing it away. As an infielder you have to have a good idea what you’re going to do if a ball is hit to you in that situation b/c you cannot afford to hesitate. However, you still have to pickup the runner and where he is b/c you don’t know what kind of jump he will get.

Rios reached base all 4 times tonight. He had 2 1B, a walk, and reached on a fielder’s choice. He also stole a base but did not score any runs in part due to Wells and Overbay going a combined 0 for 7, including hitting into 2 DP’s, behind him. For Rios that was his first stolen base since Aug. 12th and his first attempt since Aug. 21st. Not sure if that is a result of Cito not giving Rios the green light as often or simply Rios just not stealing.

Let’s see the stats:
Adv: Ortiz
P-Adv: Halladay (7)
WG: Wells (9)
ME(f): Cora

Day 175

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 154 – Umps side with Sox, Again

Burnett pitched well but one inning and one bad call dampened his night. With 2 outs in the 5th and runners at 1st and 3rd Burnett got Youkilis to swing at a 2-2 pitch. The only problem was neither HP ump Fieldin Culbreth nor 1B ump Jim Reynolds agreed. That pushed the count full and on the next pitch Youkilis hit a ground ball up the middle. Then w/Burnett still a little pissed about the Youkilis AB he fell behind 2-0 to Casey before Casey drilled a 2-run 2B to right. The umps didn’t give up the hits to Youkilis or Casey but they blew a call that would have had the Jays out of the inning w/no runs scored. I hate to pick on umps b/c by and large they do a fantastic job but the Jays last 2 games against BOS have had several bad calls.

Making his 5th start against the Jays in the span of 1.5 mths, Paul Byrd made out ok. He gave up 6 hits and 1 walk for 3 runs in 6 innings. 5 of the 6 hits he gave up were doubles including 3 consecutive doubles in the 2nd. He was able to strand the others though as the Jays were 2 for 7 w/RISP against him (2 for 10 in the game).

The Jays had the tying run on 2nd w/none out in the 9th thanks to Lind’s little infield hit that Papelbon threw away past first. The Jays could do no better than move him to 3rd though. Rolen got ahead 3-1 but hit a weak line drive to short failing to move the runner. Zaun then grounded out to 2nd, which did move the runner. Snider went down swinging to end the game (his 3rd K of the game).

The Sox scored the winning run thanks to some wild relief work. Tallet got the 1st out in the 8th before giving up an infield 1B to Bay. He then walked Kotsay on 4 pitches. With 2 switch hitters coming up Cito decided to go to the RH Camp. I would have stuck w/Tallet there. I realize Camp is very good at getting ground balls and therefore you can try and get a DP ball, but I prefer Tallet pitching to a RH over Camp pitching to a LH. Camp also struggled to throw strikes as he walked Lowrie on 5 pitches to load the bases. Camp then got the ground ball from Varitek the only problem was it was a slow chopper to short that the Jays could only get one out of.

Sometimes pitchers just don’t think when fielding a ball. They just instinctively reach out w/their bare hand. Burnett did that in the 2nd today and it cost him as he couldn’t catch it cleanly w/the bare hand. Aside from the fact he had time to catch it w/his glove and still throw out Bay, why would you risk doing something to your throwing hand, it is not like that’s important to him. At least this ball wasn’t hit that hard so he wasn’t in any real danger of hurting himself but numerous times I’ve seen pitchers reach out w/their hand on balls hit fairly sharp back up the middle.

Here are the stats:
Adv+: Ellsbury
P-Adv+: Burnett (4)
NAdv: Rolen (12)
P-NAdv: Papelbon
WG: Burnett (2), Wells (8)
ME(r): Ortiz
ME(f): Youkilis, Scutaro (4), Rios (6)

Day 174

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 153 – Experimenting for Next Year

The Jays did not exactly bang around the LH Olson but they did enough. Olson is one lefty they have hit very well this year. In his 2 previous starts this yr vs the Jays they scored 7 runs in 3.2 IP and 6 runs in 4.2 IP. Tonight they scored 3 in 5.2 IP. Olson didn’t help himself much by walking 3 and hitting 1 batter. He threw 46 balls to just 53 strikes. He threw 15 first pitch balls to the 25 hitters he faced.

The Blue Jays went just 1 for 6 w/RISP, but the one was big. Zaun hit a PH 2-out 2-run 2B to give the Jays the 3-2 lead. Although I don’t know what Zaun was thinking trying to stretch that into a 3B and testing the arm of Markakis. Markakis has one of the strongest and most accurate OF arms in baseball and w/2 outs it is not worth taking that risk trying to advance to 3rd when you are already in scoring position.

Litsch was ok in this start but I wonder if he was feeling the effects of pitching on 3 days rest last start and still throwing 111 pitches in that start. He was on his regular 4 days rest tonight but struggled w/his control. He threw 107 pitches tonight (59 strikes, 48 balls) and walked 4. This coming after walking 5 in his last start. Prior to these 2 starts he had never walked more than 3 this season and now he has done it twice. Litsch gave up just 4 hits which is what kept the runs to just 2 in his 6 innings. The Orioles didn’t help themselves by going 1 for 4 w/RISP against Litsch (1 for 6 in the game). Their only runs came after Litsch walked the bases loaded in the 5th and then they got a 2-out 1B to score 2.

Jose Bautista hit a solo HR in the 1st inning. That is the 2nd time in 4 games he has hit a solo HR in the 1st inning out of the 2 spot in the order. I don’t get Bautista hitting 2nd. He hits for a low avg and doesn’t get on base that much. He has some power so when he is in the lineup I’d rather have him hitting down the lineup. Sure it is nice having a guy hit a HR in the 1st inning to get that early lead but if nobody is on base in front of him it is only 1 run. Plus the lack of getting on base doesn’t help set the table for the heart of the order.

Looking at Bautista defence at 2B tonight I can’t say I like him at that position. Luckily he is done the depth chart there so we shouldn’t see him there very often should he be on the roster next season. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try him there now when the games don’t mean anything and just see what you have got in him. You need to determine exactly how versatile he could be coming off the bench. 2 plays stuck out that and they came on back-to-back plays. The first was the Cintron bases loaded single in the 5th. I think that is a ball a second basemen should be able to get to and get an out but at least they have to be able to knock it down and keep it in the infield. Then on the next play Markakis hit a groundball to Bautista and instead of just going to 1st for the final out he waited for Scutaro to get to the bag at 2nd and just got the out. There is no reason to make a play that close when you have an easy out at 1st.

It was nice to see Cito use Wolfe in an important situation and even nicer to see Wolfe respond w/a three up three down inning. I think Wolfe has done a good job out of the bullpen and can be relied upon more than he has.

Onto the stats:
DE: Millar
ME(r): Zaun (2)

Day 173

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 152 – Welcome back Offence

It was nice to see the Jays offence wake up and decide there is still something left to play for this yr. After Purcey gave up 5 runs in the top of the 5th the Jays came back w/5 of their own in the bottom half closing the lead back to 1. That ended a 13 inning scoreless streak for the Jays. The Jays then added single runs in the 6th and 7th to take the lead. The Orioles tied it up in the top of the 8th only to have the Jays respond right away in the bottom of the 8th w/1 to regain the lead.

The Jays only picked up 3 hits through the first 4 innings. In the 5th however, they went 1B, 3B, HBP, 1B, FC, 1B, 2B. Rios led the way w/3 RBI on a 2B and a HR. Rolen also had a nice day w/3 hits (2 2B, 1 3B), drove in 1 and scored 2 runs. The Jays went 4 for 12 w/RISP.

I don’t know why Cito used McDonald instead of Thigpen to PR for Zaun in the 6th. He had to bring Thigpen in anyways to catch so why not just use him as the pinch runner. I think Thigpen and McDonald are pretty comparable in speed. Plus if you keep McDonald on the bench then you can bring him in later for defensive purposes. Of course we’ve seen Cito not bring in McDonald defensively before so no reason to think he would this game.

Not a good outing for Purcey tonight. I’m not quite sure he is ready for a spot in the rotation. He seems to be too inconsistent. He has had a few great starts but there have been a number of bad ones too. His last 7 starts have been 0 runs in 6 IP, 5 R in 4 IP, 1 R in 8 IP, 5 R in 3 IP, 0 R in 8 IP, 4 R (3 ER) in 6.2 IP, and now 6 R in 5 IP. He gave up 11 hits and 1 walk tonight. It was an interesting 5th inning as he gave up 1B, 1B, 2B, 1B, HR, 1B and then struck out the next 3.

Here are the stats:
Adv: Inglett (3)
P-Adv: Bass
Adv+: Markakis, Mora
P-Adv+: Purcey 2 (7)
NAdv: Zaun (3)
P-NAdv: Bass
ME(r): Inglett (1)

Day 172

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 151 – Yawn

The Blue Jays looked very flat tonight. After losing 3 of 4 in BOS killing what little hope they had left of making the playoffs they came back to Toronto and just looked lifeless. They were up to their usual tricks against a LH starter picking up just 4 hits off Waters as he went the distance for his 1st career CG and shutout. The Jays had just 1 runner reach 2nd as Snider hit a 2B. He was stranded there as the Jays grounded out in their only 2 AB’s w/a RISP.

Bad news for the Jays as Marcum left in the 3rd w/an injury. He certainly wasn’t looking good to that point as he had walked 3 already and given up 2 hits and 1 run. He had thrown 52 pitches (28 strikes, 24 balls). Marcum also walked the 9 hitter, Juan Castro, after getting ahead 0-2 by throwing 4 straight balls. Castro would end up scoring the 1st run of the game. Depending on serious it is I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marcum shut down for the rest of the season.

The Jays bullpen did their job very nicely having to eat up a lot of innings. Parrish went 3 giving up 1 run. That would prove to be the only run the bullpen would give up. Wolfe making his 1st appearance since his recall threw 2 scoreless innings. Tallet followed w/1 and Frasor and Carlson combined to get through the 9th. The one problem was the high # of walks. The bullpen walked 5 batters, bringing the Jays total to 8 for the game.

The Orioles went 0 for 8 w/RISP, but apparently they didn’t need it. They also hit into 3 DP’s, including 1 w/the bases loaded and 1 out.

Let’s see the stats:
NAdv: Mora
P-NAdv: Parrish (3)
WG: Frasor (1)

Day 171

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Day 170 – You can’t make everyone happy

Along the way between Boston and Buffalo the driver pulled over to give us a 15-20 min break. One of the things he said was he didn’t want to punish us by not giving us a break in order to make up time b/c of greyhound being late. The problem w/that statement is by taking a break that may be the difference between me making my connection and being too late which would be a far greater punishment given the wait at Buffalo is like 2.5 hrs if I miss the connection.

Wouldn’t you know it we got into Buffalo about 7:45 (30 mins behind schedule) and 15 mins after the scheduled departure of the bus to Toronto. The last time I was lucky in that the bus leaving for Toronto was late leaving, this time not so much. The bus had already left by the time I got there so it meant sitting and waiting for the 10:15 bus.

Because I didn’t get home until the afternoon I didn’t go into work until 6:30. There was no game tonight so I could work late.

Game 150 – Bad Calls in Beantown

Well the Jays struggles against lefties showed up again today. They managed only 4 hits and 1 run off Lester through 8. The lone run coming on the 2nd batter of the game when Jose Bautista hit a HR over the green monster. Lester threw just 7 first pitch balls to the 30 hitters he faced. 2 of the 7 got hits (incl. the HR by Bautista) and 1 walked.

The Blue Jays did however come to life in the 9th off Papelbon. Papelbon had thrown 8 scoreless innings against the Jays this season coming into this game. The Jays got 3 straight hits to start the inning and if not for a blown call the Jays would have had the tying run on 2nd. Overbay hit a fly ball off the monster in left and tried for 2nd but was thrown out. I couldn’t really tell one way or the other whether he was safe or not but later when I saw the replay it showed he was safe. Papelbon then retired the next 2 on groundballs to end the game.

That call was not the only one to go against the Jays. Zaun hit a slow roller to 2nd and I thought he beat the throw. The ump, Dana DeMuth, did not agree. I wasn’t able to see the replay on this one so no 2nd look. The Zaun call may not have played a big role in this game (then again you never know), but the Overbay one certainly did. It completely changed that 9th inning taking the Jays tying run off the basepaths. Instead of having the tying run at 2nd and none out, they had the tying run up to bat and 1 out.

For the 3rd consecutive game the Jays were using a starter on 3 days rest. This time it was Halladay and he pitched ok. He gave up 6 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) in 7 innings. He walked none while striking out 5. Coco Crisp twice came up w/2-out RBI hits and neither was hit that hard. The first was a groundball through the right side and the 2nd a soft line drive into shallow LF.

B.J. Ryan came on to get some work in the 8th but he gave up what turned out to be a huge insurance run. It wasn’t exactly his fault though as Ortiz hit a sinking line drive to right that Rios came in on and went for the catch instead of laying back and playing it on the hop. Rios missed the ball and it went all the way to the wall giving Ortiz a 3B. Youkilis then hit a SF to centre.

Here are the stats:
Adv: Varitek
P-Adv: Halladay (6)
Adv+: Lind (5)
P-Adv+: Papelbon
ME(f): Rolen (1), Rios (5)

Day 169 – Why is it so hard to leave on time?

I tried to find a storage place for my luggage so I wouldn’t have to head back out to the hotel to pick up my stuff afterwards but the best I could find was a place that would only hold it until 5 pm. I figured that was cutting it too close to the end of the game even w/Halladay pitching today. That meant I had to catch the 5:50 train back to the hotel.

I arrived back downtown at the greyhound terminal around 8. It ended up being a long wait though as the bus was late leaving. I don’t know what it is about this bus leaving from Boston but the same thing happened to me the last time I took this same bus. This time we didn’t leave until around 9:15 (45 mins late). Once again I had to hope we would make up time so I wouldn’t miss my connection in Buffalo.

It would be a long ride tonight having to deal w/the fact the Jays just lost 3 of 4 killing that last glimmer of hope.

Game 149 – Blame it on Cito

Across the street from Fenway they always post the starting lineup using large player card photos.

The Jays playoff chances took a huge tumble. They needed to take at least 3 of 4 here just to put themselves in a position to challenge over the final 2 wks. Now, I’m sad to say even w/a win tomorrow and a sweep of BOS when they’re in Toronto next week the Jays are still going to be looking from the outside from Oct. When Downs tumbled to the ground trying to field the Ellsbury swinging bunt my heart just sank. Of all the plays to put the final dagger in the Jays it had to be that.

Things didn’t look good for the Jays off the get go as the Sox scored 2 off Litsch in the 1st and the Jays looked sloppy in giving them those 2. Litsch walked the leadoff man and then gave up a 2B to Pedroia. After a strikeout, Litsch threw a WP and when Zaun retrieved it and tried to make a fancy throw to Litsch to get the runner it got away from Litsch allowing the 2nd runner to also score. Litsch then went on to walk Youkilis (his 2nd of 5 walks) before getting out of the inning.

However, The Red Sox were in a giving mood as the Jays had 1st and 2nd w/1 out in the 2nd when Zaun hit a tailor made inning ending DP ball to 3rd except Lowrie bobbled and everyone was safe. The Jays went on to score 5 runs in the inning (only 3 unearned since you can’t assume a DP). From there both Litsch and Colon settled in. Colon faced the minimum over the next 4 innings (thanks to 2 DP’s). Meanwhile Litsch was through 5 having only given up the 2 runs.

The bottom of the 6th is where I believe the game turned. It all started w/Cito not going to the bullpen. Let me remind you that Litsch was working on 3 days rest for the 1st time in his career and this is his 1st full year in the major leagues. Through 5 Litsch had thrown 94 pitches, 54 strikes and 40 balls. That is not a good strike to ball ratio for Litsch, especially for someone who really relies on control. Even more telling was the fact Litsch had walked 4 batters already. To me it all spelled get him out of there before the walks catch up to him. The Jays only had to use Carlson and Tallet in the 1st game so they had plenty of arms to get through 4 innings.

Cito thought otherwise and tried to milk another inning out of Litsch. The results were not disastrous but I think it swung all the momentum to the Sox and really energized the fans. Litsch gave up a 2B to Youkilis to start the inning on a 5 pitch AB. He then walked Kotsay on 4 pitches, but still no sign of Cito. Bay then lined a 1B up the middle to load the bases w/nobody out (using up another 6 pitches from Litsch). Lowrie picked up a SF and finally out came Cito. Litsch ended up throwing 111 pitches (62 strikes, 49 balls). Litsch’s 5 walks were a season high (he hadn’t even walked 4 in a game before and had walked 3 only twice). The bullpen escaped the inning w/o anymore runs scoring as Carlson got PH Lowell to line out and League got PH Crisp to ground out.

I thought it a waste to have Carlson come in to face the LH Cora, which prompted Francona to PH the RH Lowell. I know Carlson threw an inning in game 1 today so you only want to use him for a batter or two, but why waste him on Cora. Given Ortiz is only 5 batters away why not save Carlson for him. Based on the way Cito used his relievers I’m guessing he used Carlson there since he figured he would be bringing in Downs to face Ortiz. The problem w/that is it required Downs to go more than an inning. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem w/using Downs for more than an inning but he has been struggling some recently and given the large # of innings he has thrown this inning I would be more comfortable having him just pitch the 8th.

The reliever I would be trying to get more than an inning out of is League. Why not go straight to him to face Cora, that way Francona doesn’t bring in Lowell. I’d rather have League vs Cora then Carlson vs Lowell. Plus that way you give League 4 hitters before Ortiz and depending on the situation you either let League pitch to him or bring in Carlson. If Carlson is brought in then I would have no problem allowing him to finish the inning. From there you have Downs for the 8th and Ryan for the 9th.

The way it played out League gave up a leadoff 2B in the 7th and got Pedroia to ground out (which moved the runner to 3rd). With Ortiz up Cito went to Downs who walked Ortiz and then got a ground ball from Youkilis but it was too slow to turn a DP so the Sox scored one. I actually thought Cito might have League intentionally walk Ortiz and then stay in to try and get out of the inning w/o Cito having to use Downs.

Two batters into the 8th the Jays lead was gone as Downs gave up a 2B and a 1B. After the a sac bunt and a ground out the Sox had the winning run on 3rd w/2 outs. Ellsbury battled Downs until on the 9th pitch of the AB hit a swinging bunt up the 1st base line that Downs went to field but tripped and fell. Ellsbury was safe and the Sox had the lead. I’m not sure if this had anything to do w/Downs tripping but during the Ellsbury AB Downs had stepped off the mound and was trying to clean his spikes. Camp came in to try and get the last out but gave up one more run before doing so.

As you can tell I would have handled the bullpen a whole lot differently. Would it have worked, who knows, but what started it all was giving the Sox life in that 6th inning and not getting a fresh arm in there in place of Litsch.

Another note on Litsch not looking right. He had Cash 0-2 in the 2nd inning then walked him by throwing 4 straight balls. You have 2 out and nobody on w/an 0-2 count to the 9 hitter, why are you not going right after him. That is unacceptable to walk him in that situation, heck it is unacceptable to walk a hitter like Cash anytime, which by the way Litsch did again to start the 5th.

Although it probably didn’t cost the Red Sox, Youkilis had a bad read when he was on 2nd and Bay hit a 1B to centre. I think Youkilis could have scored had he read the ball was going to drop in immediately. He did end up scoring anyways though on the next play.

Rios tried a little too hard to play hero in the 8th inning. With the Jays up by 1 and Bay at 2nd Lowrie hit a 1B to right-centre. Bay read it off the bat and was going to score easily but Rios came up firing anyway. He airmailed a throw way over the cutoff man’s head. Overbay was clearly frustrated when he saw the high throw from Rios. Luckily for the Jays Lowrie was playing it safe and just stayed at 1st.

Not to put all the blame on the pitching it should be pointed out that the Jays offence did nothing to put this game away after scoring 5 in the 2nd and they shouldn’t even have scored any in that 2nd inning. The Blue Jays did not strand a single runner the rest of the game. They only stranded 2 total, 1 in the 1st and 1 in the 2nd. Yes stranding runners is not a good thing but at least stranding runners means you are getting runners on base. The Jays did have 3 batters reach base in the final 7 innings (2 on singles and 1 on an error), but all 3 were erased on DP’s. At least it means the Jays went 2 for 3 w/RISP.

And now for the stats:
Adv: Pedroia
P-Adv: League (1)
Adv+: Bay, Lowrie
P-Adv+: Litsch (3), Downs (1)
NAdv: Ortiz
P-NAdv: Litsch (8)
WG: Snider (2)
ME(f): Downs (1)

Game 148 – Foul Tips

With the Jays quickly fading wild card chances in the balance and Burnett pitching on 3 days rest for the 2nd time this year he came up w/a huge performance. Burnett went 6+ innings leaving w/no runs allowed but runners at 1st and 2nd. One of the runners did score but the run charged to Burnett was unearned. In fact the Sox didn’t even get a hit in the inning to score the run. George Kottaras (a CDN who was making his major league debut) struck out but reached as the 3rd strike got away from Barajas. Crisp then hit a ground ball to Scutaro but Inglett couldn’t handle the feed at 2nd and was charged w/an error. Then w/Carlson in the game the Red Sox got a FC and SF to score one. Burnett gave up just 3 hits in the game, but he did walk 3 and hit one batter.

In 2 starts this year on 3 days rest Burnett has gone 14.1 IP and given up 9 H, 2 R (1 ER), 4 BB, 2 HBP, and 14 K, good for a 2 – 0 record. He hasn’t exactly faced easy opponents either doing it against NYY and BOS.

The Jays offence did their part facing Byrd for the 4th time this season, all within a span of 36 days. The big blow being the 3-run HR by Snider in the 5th. The Jays tacked on 3 more off the bullpen in the 6th, 2 of them driven in by Snider on a ground rule 2B. So it was a 5 RBI game for Snider (tying the Jays franchise record for a rookie). The Jays went 4 for 7 w/RISP.

Devern Hansack looked pretty good coming out of the Jays bullpen. He pitched the last 3 innings for the Sox facing the minimum. He threw just 27 pitches and he picked up 3 strikeouts.

In the 1st inning when Ellsbury stole 2nd if Barajas was heads up he could have dropped the foul tip. If a catcher drops a foul tip then the ball is considered dead, just like any other foul ball. However, if a catcher catches a foul tip then it is considered live, just as if the batter had never made contact. Since Barajas had no chance of throwing out Ellsbury he could have dropped the ball and Ellsbury would have been forced to go back to 1st.

How is this for the Sox finishing lineup: Chris Carter, Kevin Cash (making his major league debut at 3B), Jeff Bailey, Alex Cora, Sean Casey, Jonathan Van Every, Jed Lowrie, George Kottaras, Coco Crisp. Not exactly defending World Series Champion material. That is what happens when you schedule double headers in Sept. w/the expanded rosters and you get a one sided game.

Let’s go to the stats:
Adv: Pedroia, Ellsbury
P-Adv: Burnett (5), Carlson (2)
Adv+: Snider (2)
P-Adv+: Byrd
ME(r): Wells (3)

Day 168 – Eating Alone

It is a day-night doubleheader today so that meant I had to catch the 11:05 train, the only one before it was at 8.

The US Anthem before the 1st game may have been the worst one I have ever heard. The singer was trying to stretch out every single word and show off how wide a range of pitches she could reach. The anthem had absolutely no flow to it.

After the 1st game I went to one of the nearby restaurants. The wait was at least 30 mins to get a table. The whole area was very crowded since you had so many people who were only going to one of the 2 games. That meant you had all these people still hanging around after the first game while many people were showing up early for the 2nd game.

I got into a conversation w/a nice couple at the table beside me who had driven down for the day from Maine and were going to the night game. It made for a more enjoyable meal. That is probably the worst thing about traveling alone is the meals can be pretty boring. It is why I have enjoyed finding places to eat that had TV’s in them.

One thing I do notice when eating alone is you either get a waitress/waiter who will stick around and have a conversation with you or they basically ignore you the whole time your there. There doesn’t seem to be much inbetween. I guess some figure it is only 1 person so it will be a small bill and therefore a small tip while others see it as this person is probably bored and could use someone to talk to. I’ll tell you what I have no problem giving them no tip or very little when they basically ignore you. I strongly believe in the Mr. Pink theory about tipping (if you don’t get this, go watch Reservoir Dogs). My tipping starts at 0 and goes up as they do good things.

After taking the 1st game of the doubleheader the Jays had control of the 2nd game but slowly the Sox crept back in it late and came back to win. The day was looking so promising and now even w/Halladay starting tomorrow even the hope for a miracle no longer seems like it will be enough. It was a depressing trek back to the hotel tonight.

Game 147 – Knucklin’ in the Rain

Probably the last thing the Jays wanted right now was to face a knuckleball. On a drizzly night at Fenway the Jays could do nothing against Wakefield and his knuckleball. Wakefield gave up just 3 hits and NO walks in 8 shutout innings. Wakefield threw 65 strikes vs 29 balls. He only had 4 3-ball counts. 2 of the 3 hits for the Jays were doubles, but the Jays went 0 for 4 w/RISP.

Purcey did his best to keep the Jays in the game only giving up 2 runs (1 unearned) through the first 6. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep it at that as the Sox scored 2 more runs in the 7th. The final line for Purcey was 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 runs (3 earned), and 6 strikeouts in 6.2 IP. It was an ok start, although it did take him 120 pitches (52 were balls).

I would have had Purcey out a little earlier than Cito did. I would have pulled him after the Crisp 1B and brought in a righty to face Pedroia. I would then bring in a lefty to face just Ortiz and if the inning is still going a righty for the next several batters. As it was Purcey got the RH Pedroia to fly out to centre (not deep enough to score Lowrie) but couldn’t get the LH Ortiz.

I would have kept the bunt on the whole AB for Cash in the 8th (at least until he has 2 strikes). Instead Francona pulled it off on the 1-1 pitch. I’m not big on taking the bunt off mid AB. If you were willing to bunt on the 1st pitch why change it up. Now there are cases where maybe you show bunt to try and draw in the infield but w/Cash up you need to do whatever you can to get the runner over. The other case you might take it off is if the pitcher falls behind like 2-0, 3 – 1 then you can let the hitter take a rip and try and drive it into the gap. Cash ended up striking out looking.

Rolen is really struggling defensively these last 2 games. He made an error in the 9th inning yesterday. Then on the 1st play of this game he made another error. The next ball hit to him was by Lowell in the 2nd and although it was scored a hit I believe it should have been scored an error. The nightmare wasn’t over as the next ball he saw came leading off the 5th off the bat of Bay and he made another error. That means the last 4 balls hit to him (regardless of scoring) he was unable to make the play and get any outs. He finally cleanly fielded a ball the next batter as Lowell hit a line drive that he caught. He also fielded the next groundball hit to him w/o any problems. Only 1 unearned run officially scored b/c of his errors but if the Lowell hit in the 2nd had been ruled an error the run the Sox scored in the inning would have been unearned. That means this game could have been 0 – 0 through 6. At the very least the errors you make extend innings and cause your pitchers to throw more pitches.

Here are the stats:
Adv+: Lowell
P-Adv+: Purcey (5)
NAdv: McDonald (3), Cash
P-NAdv: Purcey (5), Wakefield
DE: Rios (1)

Day 167 – Anticipation

This was the 1st time I’ve actually had to spend time outside of security at O’Hare airport. I’ve passed through the airport several times on my trips but it has always just been to switch planes so I’ve never left the area inside of security. That means I had to do some searching around for the best place to kill a few hrs before my flight.

I was excited to be heading into Boston knowing that just maybe the Jays can get back into the playoff race. It won’t be easy doing it against Boston at Fenway but they are 3-2 and the 2 losses both came in the bottom of the 9th. The Jays have to take at least 3 out of 4 to keep their chances alive. They are 6.5 back coming into the series so 3 of 4 still leaves them 4.5 back. Nonetheless, 2 wks ago I didn’t think they would get this close.

Once in Boston just made my way to the hotel and then it was back into the city for tonight’s game. There was a drizzling rain all night and all the momentum the Jays had disappeared against the knuckleball. I was in the lower half of the 1st level but just high enough to at least be partially covered by the roof keeping most of the rain away.

Game 146 – Crazy 8’s

How many times have we seen a Shaun Marcum start be 0 – 0 through 5,6,7 innings? It seems like every other start he is involved in one of these games. He was up against Gavin Floyd tonight and neither one budged until the 8th when both teams broke out. The Jays looked to have broke the game open by scoring 6 in the top half. That is until the Sox answered right back w/4 of their own in the bottom half. All 10 runs in the game came in the 8th inning.

Marcum gave up only 3 hits and 1 walk through the first 7 innings and no runner had reached 3rd. He struck out Swisher to start the 8th but then gave up back-to-back 1B’s and was pulled. I would have left Marcum in at that point. They still had a 6-run lead and he was only up to 106 pitches. He was having long battles in the inning throwing 8, 5, and 7 pitches to the 3 hitters he had faced in the inning so far, but I let Marcum keep battling and see if he can’t pitch out of the inning.

I was also surprised by the fact that it was Downs who came out of the bullpen. I would think w/a 6 run lead even w/2 runners on that Cito would trust someone else to get the remaining 4 outs. Unfortunately Downs was not good tonight allowing both inherited runners to score along w/2 of his own while only recording 1 out. Downs threw first pitch balls to all 3 batters he faced and fell behind them 3-1, 3-1, 1-1. Giving up the 2B to Dye is one thing but Thome should not be crushing a HR to straight-away centre off him.

All told the Jays threw 1st pitch balls to 10 of 12 hitters in the 8th and 9th inning and it led to 4 runs. The first 7 innings Marcum threw just 9 first pitch balls in shutting down the Sox.

Ryan may have struck out the side in the 9th, but it was far from a sure thing. He hit the 1st batter and a 2-out error by Rolen put the tying run on base. It took Ryan 25 pitches to get through the inning and only 14 of them were strikes.

This game really slowed down once Floyd was pulled as Ozzie decided to play every matchup possible. He brought in the LH Thornton to face the 2 lefties Lind and Overbay. Then in came the RH Wassermann to face the 2 righties Barajas and Rolen. With 2 lefties due up on came the LH Ramirez. He was pulled for the RH Carrasco to face 3 right-handers. Finally the LH Logan came in to face a lefty. The way it worked out each of the 5 Sox relievers recorded just 1 out, that means each of the last 6 outs were recorded by a different pitcher.

I don’t get why Rolen didn’t slide back into 1st after rounding it too far in the 8th. I’m not sure if he didn’t see the throw coming to 1st or simply decided not to slide.

The hit by Rolen was one of many big 2-out hits by the Jays in that 8th inning. In fact 5 of the Jays runs came w/2 out. Floyd was pulled after giving up 1 run and he was leaving the bases loaded. Thornton struck out Lind for the 2nd out but then Overbay got a 2-out 1B, Barajas an RBI 2B, and Rolen a 2-run 1B.

The Jays also loaded the bases in the 9th w/1 out but Wells popped out and Lind struck out. The Jays finished 6 for 14 w/RISP.

Rios managed to reach base all 5 times, but only scored 1 run. He had 2 hits, a walk, reached on an error, and reached on a fielder’s choice. Scutaro was on base 4 times via 3 hits and a walk.

Looking at the stats:
NAdv: Overbay (11)
P-NAdv: Floyd
WG: Inglett (5)
DE: RamirezME(r): Rolen (6)

Day 166 – Getting Fingerprinted

Checked out of my hotel and took my bags w/me into the city to store at Union Station. They had interesting lockers there that had a rather high-tech locking/unlocking method. You select a locker to use and how you are going to pay for it, and it takes your fingerprint on the scanner. It prints out a slip of paper that identifies your locker # and has a keycode on it. When you come back to take your stuff out, you enter the keycode and it scans your fingerprint to verify your identity.

I did most of the same during the day as yesterday just walking around exploring the area. I just headed in a different direction today, spent some time walking around Grant Park. Since I was in Chicago I made sure to find somewhere to get some deep dish pizza and that was my pre-game meal today. It was really good, loved the crust. However, I would still take Papa John’s over it.

I just had to mention this, it shows how little coverage the Jays get in the US. I actually had a group of guys sitting behind me ask who is this guy Marcum. Marcum has only basically been a starter for the past 2 seasons now. Oh and you know arguably the best pitcher this side of Cliff Lee over the first 2 mths of the season. And its not like these guys weren’t baseball fans at least based on some of their conversations during the game.

After the game I was still pretty full from the pizza so I ended up just grabbing a light supper before picking up my bags from Union station and heading to the airport.

Game 145 – It had to end sometime

Well the Jays win streak finally came to an end. I just didn’t think it would be Halladay on the losing end. It was just not Halladay’s night. He gave up 2 runs in the 1st and 3 more in the 6th. The Sox simply hit him, collecting 9 hits over 6 innings. Halladay walked 1 and struck out 8. Never a good sign when Halladay records more outs in the air (6) than on the ground (4).

Mark Buehrle certainly didn’t help matters as he pretty much had his way w/the Jays after the 1st. Buehrle gave up 7 hits and 2 walks in 7.1 innings leaving w/the shutout intact but a runner on base (who eventually scored). Buehrle threw 10 first pitch balls to the 29 hitters he faced. Of those 10, 5 of them got hits. Compare that w/2 hits in 17 AB (and 2 BB) when he throws a 1st pitch strike.

Three of the hits off Buehrle came in the 1st inning, but Buehrle only had to face 4 batters. After the leadoff 1B by Scutaro, Buehrle got Bautista to ground into a double play. Rios started things going again w/a base hit and Wells followed w/his own hit. The problem is Wells tried to stretch it into a 2B and got thrown out.

I thought Buehrle should have been left in the game. After that 1st inning he really was cruising as only 1 runner had even reached 2nd base. He had only thrown 105 pitches and he is one of the few pitchers who can still throw a CG. Plus he has got a 5 run lead so you have some margin for error. My guess is Ozzie wanted the RH to face Rios and Wells. It backfired as Rios homered and Wells singled, but Dotel got Barajas to ground into the DP.

When teams are on these long winning streaks you get that feeling that somehow they will find a way to win. Well the Jays almost completed the comeback tonight by scoring 2 runs in the 9th w/just 1 out and still threatening. If not for what turned out to be a huge 2-out PH RBI single by Anderson in the bottom of the 8th, the Jays would have the tying run at 3rd and the go ahead run at 2nd. Even still the Jays had the tying run at 2nd and just 1 out. Bautista grounded out which scored one and moved the tying run to 3rd. I actually thought the Jays should have gone to the lefty Wilkerson to hit against Jenks there. It all brought Rios to the plate w/a chance to tie it, but Jenks struck him out.

I thought Thome should have been sent on the Ramirez 2B in the 6th as he probably would have scored fairly easily. However, w/none out it is not a bad call to play it safe and hold him, especially knowing Thome’s speed.

I know Buehrle can be tough on lefties but why sit Overbay when you have Halladay pitching. I don’t care who the opposing pitcher is, when Halladay is on the mound you put out your best infield defence. I counted 3 plays tonight that Bautista missed and Overbay would have made, 2 of which were errors charged to other Jays. Speaking of which, the Jays have made 3 errors in 2 of the last 3 games. Must be something about this city.

Both teams made the most of their scoring opportunities. The Jays were 2 for 5, and the Sox were 5 for 15.

Let’s go to the stats:
Adv+: Pierzynski
P-Adv+: Halladay (8)
NAdv: Swisher
P-NAdv: Halladay (10)
WG: Rolen (12), Scutaro (12), Ramirez
ME(f): Bautista (1)

Day 165 – Restricted Access

I missed my usual sleep in day 1st night in a city due to the doubleheader yesterday so I had it today. I caught a train into downtown in the afternoon to get some lunch. Spent the rest of the afternoon just walking around downtown going up and down the streets. I also made a stop at union station to do some scouting as to whether they have lockers there for rent (the hotel suggested I check there). Although my hotel was out in the direction of O’Hare airport, there was no easy way to get there late at night after the ballgame tomorrow. The hotel ran a shuttle but only during certain times and I wouldn’t be back for the last one and the 1st one in the morning wasn’t early enough. There were lockers at Union so I figured that would be best to bring my bags w/me tomorrow morning, store them there, and then I can just take the subway to the airport.

I was at the stadium early as usual and when I walked in and tried to go into the lower level portion the person wouldn’t let me in b/c I had an upper level seat. Apparently they don’t let you access the lower level unless you have a lower level seat. This is the 1st stadium that I’ve had a problem being able to walk around the main level. Other stadiums have people watching certain levels that are just full of suites and the press area and they don’t allow the general fan into those levels. However, I’ve never seen a stadium restricting people from their main level and concourse area. I’m not talking about during the game or even right before, this was more than an hr before game time. I had to convince them to let me walk around the lower level concourse and promise to come back out the same exit so they know I wasn’t trying to sneak in to lower level seats. I didn’t run into this problem yesterday since the 1st game they were allowing everyone into the lower section and the 2nd game I didn’t try, I just went straight up to the upper level.

One of the reasons I wanted to walk around the lower level was b/c I wanted to get some pictures of the statues they have. Like several other ballparks they do have statues of former players and they also had one for Charles Comiskey, former owner. My camera battery was rather low yesterday so I didn’t want to use up what was left since I didn’t expect to have problems getting access to the lower level another day.

I really thought the Jays were going to complete the comeback tonight and keep the magic going. What it has done is put them in a position where if they take 3 or 4 from BOS this weekend they’re right back in it. Certainly not an easy task, but they’re 3 – 2 in BOS and both losses were walk-off losses.

Game 144 – 1st and 5th

There are 2 innings where I feel a starting pitcher is always venerable, the 1st and the 5th. In the 1st inning there are a number of factors, facing the top of the lineup, getting used to the mound, not yet warm, feeling out which pitches are working that day, unsure of umpires strikezone, that all contribute to the offence scoring. In the 5th inning, it is more just a theory of mine, I haven’t actually checked the stats to support it (Maybe this offseason I’ll break down the runs per inning for starters). It just seems like teams score more runs in the 5th and my thought is that the starter is pressing just a bit to try and complete the 5th and qualify for the win, so it is a mental issue. Does that mean only a pitcher w/a lead in the 5th is more likely to struggle? That is my thought. I would argue the 9th inning is also a good scoring opportunity given the starter is probably tiring by that point but there are just too few starters that actually pitch into the 9th these days.

I bring these thoughts up b/c the Jays scored in 2 innings off Richard. That’s right you guessed it, the 1st and 5th. Scutaro led off the game w/a HR. The Jays could have had more if not for a baserunning mistake by Rios (more on that later). After the Sox scored 2 in the 3, Richard was now pitching w/the lead in the 5th. The inning went BB, 2 run HR, 1B, 1B and that was it for Richard he got the quick hook from Ozzie.

Litsch on the other hand held the Sox off the board in both the 1st and 5th. However, his 1st inning was far from easy. He walked Cabrera to start the game on 4 pitches, gave up a 1B to Wise, after a FC he walked Thome to load the bases before getting Konerko to ground into a DP. In the 5th after just being handed a 5 – 2 lead he struck out the side.

In the 1st inning w/Rios at 2nd and 1 out Wells hit a ground ball in the hole between short and third. Rios made 2 mistakes on the play. First, he broke for 3rd before making sure the ball was going to get through. Second, once he realized his mistake he froze between 2nd and 3rd but by that point was halfway between the bases. Anytime you are on 2nd and a ball is hit on the ground to your right you have to hold your ground until you know the ball is getting through. Since Rios was already halfway he would have been better off just continuing on to 3rd or he should have headed straight back to 2nd. Instead Rios froze which allowed Cabrera to gather himself and by the time Rios headed back to 2nd Cabrera easily threw him out. At the least Rios should have tried to get into a rundown and buy enough time for Wells to reach 2nd.

It was not a good day on the basepaths for Rios. In the 5th inning w/runners at 2nd and 3rd and 1 out he hit a 1B to right and tried to advance to 2nd on the throw home. However, since there was only 1 out and the ball was hit in the air to the OF, there was no way Scutaro was going to be able to score from 2nd and therefore no reason to try and force the opposition to cut the ball off. There are 2 reasons to try for 2nd on a throw to the plate. One, it is a high throw that will go over the cutoff man’s head or two, there will be a close play at the plate and you want the team to cut the ball off allowing the run to score, effectively trading an out for a run. This case was neither.

Rios’ troubles weren’t over yet. The 1B Konerko was the one to cut the throw off and he threw to the SS Cabrera covering 2nd. On the throw Konerko hurt something and went down. Cabrera chased Rios back towards first before throwing to the 2B Ramirez who was backing up first. Ramirez chased Rios towards 2nd and threw back to Cabrera at which point he peeled off. Cabrera started chasing Rios back to 1st, but the only problem was nobody was covering 1st leaving it open for Rios and it looked like Rios would make it back safely. As Rios was only a few feet from the bag he stumbled and fell face first short of the bag allowing Cabrera to easily tag him out.

For the White Sox there should have been someone covering first base. It couldn’t be the catcher b/c he had to stay at home in case Scutaro tried to score from 3rd. Likewise the third basemen had to stay at 3rd to hold Scutaro there. The pitcher would be an option but he was already behind home plate, as he should be to backup the throw from the outfield, and was probably too far from 1st to get there in time. The SS and 2B were already involved in the rundown and the 1B Konerko was on the ground hurt. That leaves the 3 outfielders. Meaning the RF should have been the one coming in to back up the play at first, regardless of whether Konerko got hurt. That is why on any play in the infield, outfielders should be moving in to backup any possible overthrows or as we saw the rare time an injury occurs. It is not like you can do any good standing out in the OF.

I didn’t get intentionally walking Rolen in the 6th w/a man at 2nd and 1 out. Sure it sets up the DP, but you already had a RH pitcher in there and its not like Rolen is tearing the cover off the ball this year. Why not just go after Rolen instead of expecting you can get a DP ball. Of course McDonald ended up hitting into a DP.

All said the Jays went 5 for 13 w/RISP and the Sox went 1 for 11.

I thought the Wells ground ball in the 1st in which Rios got caught between 2nd and 3rd should have been scored a single. The idea of scoring a play a fielder’s choice is that the defensive fielder could have thrown the batter out at first but instead chose to throw to another base to get a different runner. Essentially it means if there had been no one on base the fielder would have thrown out the batter, and therefore the batter should not get credit for a hit. However, in this case there was no way Cabrera would have been able to throw out Wells so if Rios had just held his ground (or if he wasn’t on base period) then Wells would still have been safe and it would be scored a hit. I think it was a little bit of hometown scoring, figuring no sense adding a hit to the pitcher’s line.

Milestone of note: Scott Rolen scored his 1000 Run tonight.

Moving to the stats:
Adv: Dye
P-Adv: Litsch (4)
Adv+: Rolen (5), McDonald (2)
P-Adv+: Russell 2
NAdv: Mench (6), Scutaro (6)
P-NAdv: Carrasco, Russell
DE: Scutaro (7)
ME(r): Rios 2 (7)
ME(f): Richard

Game 143 – Defensive Rarity

Not even the rain can slow down the Jays. Pitching on an extra day of rest Burnett was outstanding. He gave up just 1 hit, 1 BB, and 1 HBP over 7 innings and struck out 7. The only run he gave up was unearned. Frankly, the 1 hit he did give up should have been an error. Cabrera hit a hot shot to 3rd that Rolen got a piece of but nothing more. Yes it was hit hard but the fact is Rolen didn’t have to move and had he knocked it down he would have had time to pick it up and throw him out.

Even w/o the Cabrera hit being ruled an error the Jays still made 3 errors in the game. 2 of them by none other than Johnny Mac, both were fielding ground balls. He even made them on consecutive chances. The next one hit to him he started a 6-4-3 DP though to help Downs out of a 1st and 2nd 1-out situation.

B.J. Ryan started the 9th out by walking the first 2 hitters. However, he came back w/a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to close it out. The walks are still piling up on Ryan.

The White Sox had 10 runners reach base despite just 2 hits. They had 2 hits, 4 BB, 1 HBP, and 3 reach on errors. Of course the lack of hits is why they only scored one. That run coming on a SF after Pierzynski’s moved to 3rd on a wild pitch. The Sox went 0 for 10 w/RISP.

Vazquez was matching Burnett zero for zero until he ran into some problems w/2 out in the 6th. Wells got an infield 1B to get it started, then Lind followed w/a 1B before Overbay knocked them both in w/a 2B providing all the offence the Jays would need.

It looked like Snider forgot how many outs there were when he was on 1st w/1 out and Inglett hit a fly ball to left. It took him a long time to realize it was only the 2nd out, but he did recover in time.

Here are the stats:
NAdv: Rolen (11), Uribe, Ramirez
P-NAdv: Burnett (19), Ryan (5), Vazquez

Day 164 – Doubleheaders

The rain out last night has been scheduled for this afternoon as part of a day-night doubleheader. I thought they may wait until Wed to play the doubleheader to give more time to let the rain clear out, but obviously they looked at the forecasts and figured it would be ok today. It did indeed turn out to be a nice day, not too warm but still warm enough that you could be in shorts and a t-shirt.

I didn’t have any of my tickets yet for this series and all the box offices were closed last night. When I went to get my tickets for the afternoon game they said they weren’t selling tickets in the upper deck. So the guy said he would sell me the cheapest seat (in the OF) and I could just sit wherever I wanted. The stadium was fairly empty for a game in Sept. w/the home team contending for the division. Of course a lot of that has to do w/it being rescheduled from last night and a lot of people would be unable to book off work or whatever other commitments they already had during the day. Still I thought more people would have made the effort to come out, incl. some who didn’t previously have tickets. I picked a spot behind the Jays dugout on the 1st base side a few rows back. I didn’t want to get too greedy w/the seat selection since I prefer to not have to go through the hassle of moving seats during the game if someone showed up w/the actual ticket. Plus I’m a little superstitious about moving seats when the Jays are winning so I don’t want to put myself in a situation where I have to move.

I have to say I’m really not a fan of U.S. Cellular. It is really a plain stadium and the concourse is rather boring. There is nothing there that really excites you about it. I guess the one thing is they have pictures chronicling their history all along the walls of the upper deck concourse.

This being a day-night doubleheader, meaning you need tickets to both games, I had to leave the stadium before being allowed back in for the night game. This whole day-night doubleheader thing most teams do now is unfortunate. Is it such a bad thing to not collect revenue for 1 game and allow fans to see 2 games for the price of 1. At least why don’t they offer some sort of discounted ticket price for one of the games, and that way they don’t lose all the revenue while people can still afford to see both games. I would actually be a proponent of every team scheduling at least one doubleheader during the season, yes they can be day-night ones so the owners don’t lose out on their revenue. It is one way MLB could actually reduce the length of the season, especially since they’ve built so many off-days into the postseason. It might actually keep them from playing in Nov. It could also allow for extending the playoffs into some sort of Wild Card tournament or at the least changing the 1st round to best of 7, but I’ll leave my thoughts on the postseason for another time.

I guess the one advantage to being a day-night doubleheader is it allowed me to go find a place to eat that wouldn’t cost as much as eating in the ballpark. I just took off walking around the area and eventually came across a restaurant advertising itself as a Chicken & Waffles restaurant. Those are 2 of my favourite foods (although I’m more of a pancake person) so naturally I had to try this restaurant. Basically you had your choice of various combos most of them included either chicken or waffles and some included both. I ended up having waffles, hash browns and chicken. It is probably not a combination I will be regularly eating, but frankly as long as I like the various food items I really don’t care what they are combined with. To me food is food and if I like it I’m open to eating any kind of food at anytime of the day.

One thing I pondered while sitting eating my chicken and waffles between games was what were the Jays going to do w/their rotation. With no off-days coming up that means they will have no starters available on regular rest on Sat. Throw in the fact that they are playing a doubleheader Sat, and now they need 2 starters. My conclusion was unless they lost the next 2 they would try Burnett on 3 days rest and just do a bullpen game in the other w/one of Richmond or Parrish piggy backing the other. They could then bring Litsch back on regular rest on Sun.

I guess I have now completed the doubleheader cycle. I have been to a day-night doubleheader, a traditional doubleheader, and a 1.5-header (referring to the suspended game the Jays had to complete in BAL which was played before the regularly scheduled game).

I was up in the upper deck for the night game and by the end of the night it was a little cool in shorts especially since there was a pretty cool wind blowing up there. The long day ended with a pretty good fireworks display after the game.

When it was all said and done the Jays had swept the doubleheader pushing their win streak to 10 and the aces are going at it tomorrow as Halladay tries to push it to 11 (which would tie the Jays franchise record) against Buehrle. The over/under for the length of tomorrow’s game should be around 2 hrs.

Day 163 – Going every which way

The bus ride to Chicago is about 14 hrs so there was one leaving at 1 am that I was getting on in order to be in CHI by tonight’s game. The bus wasn’t full so I managed to have an open seat beside me to start. I slept most of the way to the border (we were crossing at Windsor/Detroit). From there we had a number of short stops in cities throughout Michigan & Indiana.

I arrived in Chicago around 2:30 right on schedule. I was staying west of the city so I had a short walk to the train station to catch one of the commuter trains. I guess I didn’t check the train information close enough b/c I went to union station thinking that all trains stopped there. However, once I asked they said only some of the trains left from there, that there was another station a couple blocks away. So off I went to find this station and I had about a 30 min wait for the next train.

I had about a 10-15 min walk from the train station to the hotel. I only had time to drop off my bags in the room before going to catch a train back into the city. However, it had actually started raining in the afternoon while I was still on the bus and it hadn’t stopped so I wasn’t sure whether there would even be a game. I decided I should at least check to see if the game had been called yet instead of heading all the way there. I checked online and there was nothing indicating it had been cancelled so I headed to the ballpark.

It was about a 5-10 min walk to the subway line and it was still raining so it wasn’t looking good for tonight. I made it down to US Cellular Field only to have somebody tell me the game had been cancelled. So my first visit to US Cellular was a rather quick one.

I jumped back on the subway and went downtown to find a place to eat before heading back to my hotel.

Game 142 – Some guys just have a team’s number

Explain this to me, in 5 starts against the Jays this year Matt Garza gave up just 2 runs in 38 innings and yet, wait for it …, lost 2 games. This one was a 1 – 0 nothing victory for the Jays. The other he left down 1 – 0 in a game the Jays eventually won 6 – 2. Here is Garza’s line against the Jays this year 38 IP, 25 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 8 BB, 25 K, 1 CG and a 3 – 2 record. The Jays just could not figure him out no matter who was in the lineup and how many times they saw him.

David Purcey is doing his own Garza impression against the Rays. In 2 starts against the Rays, Purcey has given up just 1 run in 16 innings but yet he lost 1 of the 2. Here is Purcey’s line against the Rays this year 16 IP, 11 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 18 K, 1 CG and a 1 – 1 record.

Onto what happened in this game, neither team picked up a hit w/a RISP. The Jays were 0 for 7 and the Rays 0 for 5. The lone run of the game came on a leadoff 2B by Lind, groundball advance by Overbay, and a SF by Barajas. 3 times the Jays got a runner to 3rd w/2 out but couldn’t get the drive him in. The Rays got just 1 runner to 3rd all game and it came in the 8th w/2 out.

I would have pulled Purcey after he walked Pena to load the bases in the 8th inning. You had a RH up in Baldelli and Purcey was up to 108 pitches. He just walked a LH batter on 5 pitches and it was his 2nd walk of the inning. There are times when I like the starter getting left in to see what he is made of, see if he can get out of the jam. I did not think this was one of those times. I would have brought League in even if it meant the Rays bringing in a LH pinch hitter. Cito stuck w/Purcey and he got the fly out.

I figured there was no way they were using Ryan tonight, but I thought maybe Downs would be available if necessary. Both pitchers threw the past 2 days as Ryan threw 25 and 25 pitches, while Downs threw 12 and 13 pitches. Given Ryan is coming off TJ surgery they have pretty much said they will not use him 3 consecutive days no matter what. Downs has been used 3 consecutive days on occasion this year and neither outing required a lot of pitches so I thought he might be good to go. Apparently, Downs wasn’t available or at least Cito decided it was best to go to a fresher arm. My next choice would be League to close it out, but Cito went w/Carlson. Both pitched yesterday as did almost everyone, and neither pitched 2 days ago. League only had to throw 9 pitches and Carlson had to throw 27. The batters due up were Switch, RH, Switch, RH, Switch which would favour League, although most switch hitters tend to be better from the left side. Ultimately I just trust League more than I do Carlson to try and save it, although both have been pitching great. Carlson went 1-2-3 w/a pair of strikeouts.

I thought the Rays could have stuck w/Garza for the 8th inning. Given the way he has dominated the Jays and he had only thrown 100 pitches, why not give your bullpen a night off (unless they came back in the 9th) after a 13 inning affair. The only concern was Garza was starting to fall behind the hitters. He had thrown first pitch balls to 4 of the last 5 compared to just 6 of the first 24 he faced. Of those 4, he walked one, got a ground out on 2-1, a hard line out on 2-1, and a soft line out on 2-0.

As well as Purcey pitched he did have problems w/2 players who accounted for 6 of the 9 Rays to reach base. Upton had 3 hits (all singles) and Aybar had a 1B, 2B, and BB. The pair were also each picked off once, one by Purcey and one by Barajas.

Moving to the stats:
Adv: Overbay (2)
P-Adv: Garza
NAdv: Bartlett, Inglett (4)
P-NAdv: Garza, Purcey (4)

Day 162 – Perfect Homestand

What a great homestand, 6 and 0 against two teams above .500. The one problem is BOS went 5 – 1 over their last 6 meaning the Jays picked up just 1 game. That leaves the Jays still trailing the Sox by 8 games, time is running out.

Went to work after the game and then had to get packed up once I got home as I was taking the bus to Chicago.

Game 141 – Zaun’s Day

Well that certainly was an exciting finish, a 2-out walk-off grand slam to come back down 1 in the 13th. I couldn’t have been happier for Gregg Zaun. The guy has not only lost his starting job but has been reduced to being lucky to get 1 start a week and I would argue undeservingly so. That grin he had on his face as he rounded the bases I think said it all.

The Zaun heroics were setup b/c Ryan couldn’t close the door w/a 3-run lead, although the defence didn’t help matters. Ryan hit the 1st batter then gave up a 2-run HR so at that point I’m thinking ok he can regroup and pitch out of this. Ryan had different ideas as he walked the next guy putting himself right back in trouble. After a strikeout (and Perez stealing 2nd during the AB), Ryan got a ground ball to Inglett that went right through his legs allowing the tying run to score. If not for a heads up play by Zaun it could have got worse. On Rios’ throw home Zaun realized he had no shot at Perez so he came almost all the way out to the pitcher’s mound to cut it off and throw to 2nd to get Navarro.

The blown save by Ryan cost Marcum a win in his return to the majors. The real Marcum showed up today as he gave up just 4 hits in 7 innings and no runs. More importantly there was no sign of fatigue as he struck out 2 in retiring the side in order in the 7th, leaving having thrown 103 pitches. Marcum did walk 3, but he also struck out 7.

Downs also had a shaky inning as he walked 2 as part of throwing 10 straight balls. He got out of it though thanks to Upton grounding into the 1-6-3 DP.

I would have liked to have seen League left in for another inning. He only needed 9 pitches to get through the 10th and in the next inning the Rays had a LH, RH, Switch, RH, and Switch due up. When League was in the minors during the 1st half he was being stretched out and pitching multiple innings so it is not like he wasn’t used to it. If you get another inning out of League then you have Carlson for later like the next time the lefties at the top of the Rays order come up.

I thought Carlson was done after his 1 inning but I can see the reasoning of wanting him to face Navarro to start the next inning, making Navarro bat RH. My thought was actually to bring in Tallet to start the inning. That way you still get Navarro from the right side and after the RH hitting Bartlett you get another switch hitter in Zobrist, and a LH in Iwamura. Instead Cito went w/Frasor to face them plus Upton and he loaded the bases on a 2B, IBB, BB. Cito again went to the bullpen but it John Parrish and not Tallet coming in. It made me wonder if there was a reason Tallet wasn’t coming in. However, Tallet did indeed make an appearance, relieving Camp in the 13th w/1 on and 2 out and who was he facing, none other than Navarro. The same spot in the order I would have brought him in to face in the 12th. Navarro won the battle and go the go ahead 1B. So maybe Cito made the right call in the 12th, of course you can’t assume the same result had Tallet faced Navarro leading off an inning.

I don’t get why McDonald wasn’t brought in defensively for the 9th inning. We’re back to having the same problem as the start of the year where you’re leaving your best defensive player on the bench when you have a lead in the 9th.

The Jays had just 2 hits w/RISP (in 5 AB) and both belonged to Zaun. Zaun’s other hit w/a RISP almost made him the hero in slightly less dramatic fashion in the 9th. He hit a ground ball in the hole at short w/2-out and Rolen at 2nd. However, Bartlett made a nice diving grab to keep it in the infield and Rolen made the poor assumption that the ball was through failing to pick up the 3rd base coach. Rolen rounded the bag too far and Bartlett threw behind him to get him out. You know w/2 outs and representing the winning run you’re pretty much going to be sent on anything, but you still have to pick up your coach.

I thought the Rays might send Shield back out there for the 9th. He had only thrown 96 pitches. He also had retired the last 7 batters and 13 of the last 14. The only thing might have been that after he completed the 8th he started to shut down not thinking there would be a bottom of the 9th to pitch.

The Rays had a lot of problems in this game advancing their baserunners. They went 1 for 9 w/RISP, they hit into 4 DP’s, had 1 runner CS, and another thrown out trying to advance to 2nd on a throw to the plate.

Not to be forgotten in this game was the fact Lyle Overbay hit 2 solo HR’s and added a 1B and BB.

Here are the stats:
NAdv: Ruggiano
P-NAdv: Ryan (4)
DE: Zobrist
ME(r): Rolen (5)

Day 161

Baseball, Work, Eat, Sleep.

Game 140 – It Had to End Sometime

Despite Inglett’s error, the Jays 1st in 16 games, on the 1st play of the game leading to 2 unearned runs Halladay pitched through it only giving up 1 more run over his final 6 innings. Halladay walked none, gave up 7 hits, and struck out 7 in picking up his 2nd straight win against TB after losing his first 3.

The Jays offense didn’t wait long to give Halladay a lead scoring 3 in the 2nd to erase the Rays 2-run lead. They started the inning w/4 straight hits going 2B, 1B, 1B, 2B and then adding a SF. After Sonnanstine retired the next 2 hitters the Jays only got 1 more AB the rest of the game w/a RISP. The Jays made the last one count though as Rios hit a 2-run HR (his 2nd of the game). The Jays finished 4 for 6 w/RISP.

I was surprised to see Gross not even attempt to throw out Barajas on the Rolen SF. Instead Gross threw to 3rd base to stop Overbay from trying to advance. Gross has a strong arm and I would say the ball wasn’t deep enough to just concede the run. Clearly Gross hasn’t seen Barajas run.

When McDonald makes an error in the 9th inning that can’t be a good sign. However, Ryan did not let it hurt him as all it costed him was 6 extra pitches to get the next batter. Ryan had already allowed 1 run before the error and w/Upton reaching he represented the tying run. Ryan paid no attention to him what-so-ever and he easily took 2nd. Now I know Ryan has never been good at holding runners but when that is the tying run over at 1st you have to at least try to keep him close.

Checking the stats:
Adv+: Barajas (10), Overbay (3)
P-Adv+: Sonnanstine 2
WG: Iwamura, Pena
ME(r): Wells (2)
ME(f): Bartlett

Day 160

Work, Baseball, Eat, Sleep.

Game 139 – Season Sweep

An outstanding start from Litsch tonight going the distance for the shutout and giving up just 4 hits and 2 walks. Litsch retired the last 13 hitters he faced. Only 1 runner reached scoring position and that was a leadoff 2B by Punto in the 3rd. Litsch threw first pitch strikes to 20 of 32 hitters.

The Jays offence really kicked it into gear against the Twins bullpen. After scoring single runs in the 1st, 5th, and 6th off Slowey they added 1 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th off a variety of relievers. The Jays went 5 for 12 w/RISP.

It was a big game for Travis Snider. For the 2nd straight game he got 3 hits, which included his 1st major league HR. It was a bomb to straight-away CF. Snider has shown he can really battle w/2 strikes. Last night he came up w/the 2 strike hit off Nathan, now tonight his 2 singles both came w/2 strikes. In his final AB he fell behind 0-2 but managed to draw a walk (had to foul one pitch off). In his minor league career Snider did strike out a lot and that is one of the things he still has to work on but he is showing some good AB’s up here w/2 strikes.

Lind also had a nice day w/3 hits (2 1B, 1 2B), scored a run, and drove in a run. Lind has been keeping up the average recently but his power seems to have disappeared. That 2B was his 1st extra base hit since Aug. 19, a span of 15 games, which just so happens to be when he last homered. Over those 15 games he is 19 for 63 w/17 1B, 1 2B, 1 HR. It is good to see Lind still getting hits but the Jays need to see more of the power he has displayed in the minors and during June/July. The HR drought may happen on occasion for this long but you would expect him to at least be picking up a few 2B’s here and there over this kind of stretch. It is worth noting that the HR Lind hit on Aug. 19 was the 3rd straight game he had homered in.

Watching Denard Span play in the OF these past 3 days makes me think he has to be among the top 5 fastest players in baseball right now. There were a couple of balls I didn’t think he could get to but he closed on them so well. If he shows he can hit and get on base at a reasonable rate he should be a fixture at the top of the lineup. He did go 2 for 4 today and 4 for 15 in the series but no walks. He also struck out 6 times which for someone w/so much speed is really not good. He stole 1 base and was caught stealing another but that is something that will come if he works on it. His pure speed will allow him to steal a number of bases but there is more to stealing bases than just speed.

By the way with this sweep the Jays finished the season a perfect 6 – 0 against the Twins.

Let’s check the stats:
Adv+: Rios (8)
P-Adv+: Slowey
NAdv: Span
P-NAdv: Litsch (7)
WG: Scutaro (11), Inglett (4)
ME(f): Casilla