August 11: Yankees 5, Jays 2

Jays continue batting struggles as Laffey fails to hold the Yankees

The game was over by the middle of the fourth innings, with a three run Casey McGehee three run homer to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. The Las Vegas Jays went 0 for 18 tonight. Anthony Gose struck out 4 times, and Ivan Nova went 7 and a third, gave up 2 runs, struck out 10, and walked 1 in a pretty easy effort that was closed out by the very effective Robertson/Soriano combo. Edwin Encarnacion and Davis created all of the runs tonight, with Edwin knocking in Davis who was in second (once on a single-balk, the other on a double) with two singles. Kelly Johnson got the only other hit.

And the fans have to accept that this is the problem with the team. They are the not-ready for prime time players. Don't expect any run production or miracles from this team. The starting rotation is not good enough to pitch without letting in enough runs for the Jays meager run support to do anything. The Jays were successful without Jose Bautista because the starting lineup of Lawrie / Rasmus/ Encarnacion/ Lind / Escobar / Johnson / Arencibia / Davis / Snider was good enough to score runs and win games, and in fact, after Arencibia and Lind (who were hot before they went on the DL) went on the DL on the 27th of July, the Jays are 4-11. Lind and Arencibia was the tipping point for the team, and with Snider's trade at the deadline, it forced a AAA player in the outfield just weakened the offense even more.

Hechavarria has started his major league career 1 for 14 with 7 strikeouts. Anthony Gose's career is 12 for 55 with 21 strike outs. Yan Gomes bats .176. Moises is doing okay as well as is Cooper, who has seen plenty of major league action.

Hechavarria probably was due to be a mid-2013 callup and a replacement for Yunel in the 2014 season. Yan Gomes is the utility infielder and probably is not designed to be a regular, a 2013 bench player. Anthony Gose also was probably designed to be a 2014 callup and a replacement for Rasmus, but he is probably pegged in left-field. Moises has been a welcome surprise, but he is also not ready yet.

To add injury to insult, it looks like Escobar got his elbow hurt by an Ivan Nova pitch (second of the game) and listed day-to-day, along with Rasmus.

And it looks like it will be at least a week before anyone comes back with any regularity. Bautista starts swinging a bat on Monday, but he will be shut down if he has any pain. Rasmus likely will need a week for his groin to heal and may go on the DL. Lawrie is on the DL for a week. Arencibia is not back until mid-September at the earliest. Adam Lind may be back earlier than that.

So look for lots of woes in this home stand, with very little in the way of heroics. Davis, Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson are the only offensive threats left on the team, and with a three person line-up and against some excellent bullpens and starters, don't expect anything from this team.

Frustrating times for the fans, frustrating times for the team, frustrating times for all. But if all goes well, the offense will be back by the end of the month and the Jays will need to win games again. Don't be surprised though if the Jays go 8-21 in August (or worse).

August 10: Yankees 10, Jays 4

Blue Jays pen finally breaks down as Jays lose 4th straight

It seems that the only way the Jays can win is by scoring alot of runs, and with the offense missing 5 of its 9 regulars, it's a tall order. The starting rotation has to be very very good and the bullpen has to be spotless. That puts more pressure on the pitching staff to be better than they might actually be to win games.

In the case of Ricky Romero, the "ace" of the club, the goal is to keep the club in the game and pitch a gem because you know run support is a premium. The problem with Ricky is clearly his head. The fact that he hasn't won a game since mid-June is the pressure he feels as the "ace" and to perform well. It's too much for him. Emotionally, he needs some work, but he is steadily getting better as the season has pretty much slipped away.

Ricky started off promising enough with a 1-2-3 first, but in the second, he lost focus and control, giving up a single (to Cano) followed by a four pitch walk to Jones. Jason Nix then hit a sacrifice bunt, and Mathis rather than going for the out at first, went for the force at third and threw it into left field, plating Cano. Ichiro then hit into a fielder's choice (normally a double play ball), which scored Jones. Ricky finished the inning uneventfully. Kelly Johnson replied with a bases-empty home run in the bottom of the inning. The score after 2 was 2-1 Yankees.

In the third, Ricky let in another run as Cano scored Swisher on a hit to right. Gose decided to fire a rocket into home to try and get Swisher but it was well off its mark.

Ricky was good after then, getting out of a bit of trouble in the fourth but retiring 10 in a row, finishing after 7 innings respectively, throwing 98 pitches. Now, it was up to the Jays offense to do something... anything. Kelly Johnson got another RBI in the 4th with a double to knock in Yunel Escobar. But Omar Visquel struck out and Mathis grounded out, leaving Johnson and Cooper on. At the bottom of 7, the Jays were down 3-2.

The bullpen, who has been awesome over the past 14 games, (only allowing 7 runs to scored and pitching to a sub .500 OPS), then came on in the 8th inning. Steve Delabar, who really wasn't that bad, disappointed the 41,610 fans at the dome. Delabar's opening fastball to Texiera was knocked out of the park. Delabar got two outs then, but a single followed by a mishandled fly ball to Johnson (Johnson had it, but the ball bounced off the bill of his cap instead put Yankees at 2nd and 3rd. Ichiro then hit a sharp single off of Delabar's glove and two more runs scored.

The bottom of the 8th was interesting as Gose (who singled) stole 2nd and 3rd. Rajai Davis walked, but Colby Rasmus hit into a double-play to cut short the rally. Gose scored on the double play. The score at the end of 8 was 6-3

The Jays new callup David Carpenter was then brought in for evaluation, and he failed to impress, allowing two more runs to score before leaving the game with the bases loaded. Lincoln came on. Ichiro hit another double (off the glove of Rajai Davis, who just looked terrible on that play), scoring two more and tying his all-time RBI production in a game with 5.

Colby Rasmus left the game at the top of the 9th due to some groin soreness and is listed as day-to-day. His bat will likely be out of the lineup tomorrow.

The Jays now have lost 4 in a row, and it still looks bleaker than bleak.

One bright spot on the Jays has been David Cooper. With Adam Lind out, Cooper, in August (9 games played) is .322 / .343 / .645 for an OPS of .988, a well needed offensive threat. And you can't expect the bullpen to always keep it together. I would say Ricky was another bright spot in the game. He is showing some brilliance again and perhaps his next start at home against the White Sox might fare better.

August 9: Jays 1, Rays 7

Henderson Alvarez fails, Jays muster three hits, limp home.

The Blue Jays limp home from their road trip going 2 - 8 against three very good pitching teams. The road trip looked promising enough, but after Lawries and Rasmus' exit in the Oakland game 6 nights ago, things looked bleak indeed, and the team was only able to eke out a couple of very lucky wins on Saturday and Sunday.

The Jays opened scoring with a lead off double by Rajai, followed by a stolen base, walk and a balk. Henderson looked good in the first, but then seemed to unravel. The second inning started with an Encarnacion error at 1st, followed by an out at first, single, walk, single (scoring 2), walk (to load the bases), out (to score). Alverez then let in a run each in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th inning and exited early.

Henderson's line was bad, letting in 6 runs (4 earned), giving up 11 hits and 3 walks over 4 and 2/3rds, throwing 83 pitches. Loup finished the 5th and 6th, Oliver pitched the 7th, and Janssen pitched the 8th, giving up a run on two doubles (the second appeared to be a home run, but hit the top of the glass in CF to be a double). Janssen let in his third earned run in his last 22 appearnances in a meaningless appearance.

So, the Jays once again fall victim to poor pitching and no offense, mustering up a very paltry three hits (Davis, Sierra, Cooper) in the afternoon's outing.

The Blue Jays take their AC Jetz plane home from Tampa after this game, to open a welcome home stand against the Yankees, White Sox, and Baltimore, all good teams.

I'll talk about the Blue Jays hitting woes in another post. But man, what a disappointing road trip.

August 8: Jays 2, Rays 3

DVR Classic as Jays, fans fall asleep at 8pm

Part of the reason that I love summer nights is that although there is nothing to watch on TV (well, there is the Olympics), the Blue Jays are usually on, and the games are pretty entertaining.

But these games are not entertaining, at all, not because the Jays lose, but in the manner that they lose. Tampa's pitching looks great, but the Jays pitching before they reach bullpen is just good. That allows the opposing team to win with less than 5 runs. The offense for the Jays has evaporated. Jose is not getting better. Lind is faultering. Arencibia is out. Lawrie will probably go on the DL. Hope for this team has all but disappeared. But I'll get to that later. Here are the highlights of this one:

The Jays opened the scoring in the top of the 3rd with a sac fly from Edwin to knock in Rajai Davis, who went first to third on a Colby Rasmus single.

Carlos Villanueva then had a minor blowout in the bottom of the third, allowing the first three runners to reach in a double-double-single combination to Jennings, Upton, and Matt Joyce, plating one. Evan Longoria grounded into a nice double play to plate Upton. Then two walks and a single to plate Ben Zobrist. 3-1 Rays after three.

Villanueva then allowed a single, then retired 9 in a row in the the middle frames.

The Jays threatened in the top of the 7th. With a double by Johnston, Farrell elected to bunt Mathis in order to try to score Johnston. But you know, sacrificing an out for a base at this stage in the game, down by 2, doesn't make sense with me. Let Mathis hit away and hope that a single scores the run again. As it turned out, the bunt did move Johnston, but Cobb went ahead and struck out rookie Gose and Hechavarria to wrap up the inning. It was a dumb time to bunt.

Delabar and Lincoln pitched excellently in the 7th and 8th, allowing one hit in the two innings.

The Jays made it interesting in the 9th, as David Cooper bounced a 325 foot home run off the top of the 5 foot wall next to the line in LF. Jennings was there but didn't make a real attempt to catch it. Johnson and Mathis then hit balls in the air to the shortstop to end the game.

The Jays bullpen have pitched extremely well in the last 13 games, including tonight's game. Over 41.1 innings pitched, the bullpen has let in 6 runs for an ERA of 1.41. They sport a BA of .162, an OBP of .256, and a SLG of .223 for an OPS of .479. So, the bullpen has completely righted itself thanks to the AA acquisitions. Unfortunately, the Jays have absolutely no run support and the starters have been decent as well. Now the story for the Jays is the absolute outage at the plate.  

That doesn't mean I'm off the bandwagon - I'm being realistic. I still love this team, and the team has now I think got to focus on its youth. What does that mean?

For one, I think that the Jays need to come home and put the best players out there and try to eke out a series win against the Yankees. Once the fans have gone home from the weekend series, it's time to make some team changes. Maybe I'm being drastic...

First, Bench Rajai Davis and let Moises, Gose, and Rasmus play the outfield on a regular basis, get some ABs, and see how they progress. Rajai can come on and pinch hit or pinch run late in the game. Let Bautista heal. If Rasmus is playing with pain, let Gose play center. It's unlikely that Bautista will be back before September's callups anyway.

Second, I think you need to bench Escobar and put Hechavarria as the regular shortstop. Let the youth play at his natural position and see what he can do. Omar Visquel can finish his career at 3rd base until Lawrie comes back.

Third, leave David Cooper on first and let Edwin DH for the rest of the year.

Fourth, platoon Yan Gomes at catcher and let him learn the ropes at the MLB position.

Don't rush Brandon Morrow back to the majors. Let JA Happ pitch. Let Jenkins start. End Alvarez's year before he pitches too many innings and wears out his arm.

For the Jays fandoms, look for alot of losses, and the Jays will probably running 20-30 until the end of the season and finishing with 72-74 wins. But you know, that playing experience for the junior Jays will mean alot.

August 7: Rays 4, Rasmus 1

Jays bats typically silent in sleepy loss

The Jays scoring drought continued in Tampa Bay last night as James Shields pitched brilliantly for the 2nd game in a row, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk over 8 innings. The lone run was a Colby Rasmus blast to open the top of the 4th giving the Jays a glimmer of hope.

JA Happ simply was as expected, not good, giving up 4 runs over 7 hits in 4.1 innings. The Rays scored one run in the second on a single-double combination, two runs in the 3rd in a single-double-sacfly-sacfly combination, and a run in the 5th on a double-double combination.

Happ threw 82 pitches in what we knew was going to be a short effort (since his arm really wasn't ready for a 100+ pitch set) but he walked only 1.

There was a couple of firsts in the game (and I'm not talking about a delay-of-game call by a soccer referee): Adeiny Hechavarria got his first hit in his 8th plate appearance, a solid single to center.

And the Jays got to see the start of 24 year old Chad Jenkin's career in the majors. Jenkins, promoted from AA over the weekend, went 3 innings, recording 2 singles and 2 strikeouts. He looks very good on the mound, with a 90-92 mph fastball and a 82-84 mph slider. Drafted by the Jays in the 1st round of the MLB June Ameteur draft in 2009, the starter has gradually moved up the ranks. This year at AA, he posted a 4.96 ERA and a 1.536 WHIP over 20 starts for the Fisher Cats. Likely his role on the team will be long relief with Brad Lincoln. I wouldn't be surprised however if we saw a start from him before the end of the season, perhaps when Alvarez is taken off the starting rotation for innings.

Last night's loss, while not unexpected, was disappointing. James Shields was outstanding last night, and the Jays just did not bring it to the plate. It is very difficult to score without baserunners. And with such a mediocre start by Happ, only a decent offense can overcome that deficit. Tampa is in the hunt and has excellent pitching to back them up. The Jays have terrible starting pitching and with 4 of their best hitters out of the line up, terrible hitting. The only way you are going to win games with the combination of the two is luck and steps up in terms of performance.

Tonight's matchup hopefully will be a better one for the Jays. Carlos Villanueva, back from personal leave, will take the mound tonight against Alex Cobb.

Hutchinson, McGowan done

Lind expected back on Friday

In Blue Jays news today, it was revealed that Drew Hutchinson and Dustin McGowan are both going to undergo season-ending surgery, according to Brendan Kennedy of the Star today.

Drew Hutchinson (5-3, 4.65 ERA, 1.347 WHIP) exited the game on June 16th after 12 pitches with right elbow pain. After attempting a rehab program, Hutchinson will punch the Jays "frequent surgery" card with Dr. Andrews and undergo Tommy John surgery. He won't be back until at least next August. Hutchinson played a very limited amount of time in the junior leagues before getting the #5 start. He was showing improvements with pitch selection and location before his injury.

Dustin McGowan injured his foot in spring training, but as the rehab program progressed, his shoulder faultered as he experienced pain as his throwing program progressed. Dustin has always been a Jay, drafted in 2000, but he has seen 5 games of major league action in the past 4 years. He had moments of greatness: a 1 hitter against Colorado on June 24, 2007 and two other complete games. But I think that perhaps it is time to close the book on Dustin -- just not enough time at the major league level to bring him back. But on the other hand, the money is already spent, and there has been a very heavy investment in this guy. But I think the Jays fandom can't count on him except to be an added bonus if he remains healthy.

Brandon Morrow, meanwhile, is on his way back. He will likely start for the Fisher Cats on Wednesday or Thursday and make 1 or 2 more starts until he comes back. That puts him back starting towards the end of the month if all goes well in New Hampshire. Henderson Alverez probably has 6-7 more starts left before he hits his innings limit (which is about 175, he has 131 now). I also doubt that Carlos Villanueva will make it to the end of the season either. I am hoping that the Jays are careful with their remaining arms and take out Alvarez when Morrow comes back, and perhaps use Chad Jenkins at the end of the season to start for Carlos.

Meanwhile, Barry Davis tweets that Adam Lind may be back in the lineup against the Yankees on Friday. Jose Bautista has yet to resume batting practice after feeling more discomfort in his hand last week. I am guessing that the Jays don't see Bautista in the lineup again until the end of the month. Adam Lind stated that he'll likely be playing with discomfort for the rest of the season, and I'm wondering if that's a hint that he will be at DH leaving Edwin to play 1st for the rest of the year.

Sigh. So much hope at the beginning of the season.

Tampa Bay - Jays series preview

Jays hope to salvage road trip - not likely

After getting swept in Seattle and losing Travis Snider, then seeing Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie exit the same game, things looked pretty hopeless for the Jays for the road trip.

The Jays last series win at Tropicana
was in April 2007

But the team pulled out two very gutsy (and lucky) wins on Saturday and Sunday to give them some confidence for the plane ride to Tampa. The Trop has been very unfriendly to the Jays. The last time the Jays won a series at Tropicana Field: April 2007, when Roy Halladay took the deciding game 6-3. Casey Janssen made the save. So, I think a 1-2 performance in Florida, while disappointing, is the new par for the course.

It's difficult to win the AL East without going through Tampa, and when you can't win a series on the road, the best you can really hope to do against Tampa is go 7-11 or 8-10 for the year.

Tampa is suffering from a hitting outage as well, scoring 25 runs in the past 10 games and getting shut out by Baltimore in their last two games. However, Longoria is being activated for the game and his .329/.433/.561 bat will be a very welcome return.

Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie likely will be back for the series in Tampa, though I would expect to see Hechavarria, Gomes, and Sierra make a start perhaps. Jose Bautista and Adam Lind will not make appearances this series, and Arencibia won't be back anytime soon.

Look for a starting lines up of Lawrie - Rasmus - Edwin - Johnson - Escobar - Cooper - Davis - Mathis  - Gose for tonight and Wendesday's game and a different look for the Thursday afternoon game against the lefthander.

Tonight's matchup features J.A Happ in his first start as a Blue Jay. Farrell stated that the relief appearances really don't count as he is not a reliever, and certainly, Happ has had a rougher first inning in his relief appearances, which is normal for a starter. Don't expect Happ to wow you. He has been inconsistent this year pitching for Houston, having bad outings (>3 runs, <6 IP) in 6 of 18 of his starts. He will walk 2.5/9 and strike out 8.5/9. If he has a consistent start, look for him to hang in there against Tampa. There will the benefit of pitching in the AL for the first time, so the hitters haven't really seen him. And The Rays counter with James Shield (on 6 days rest), who shut out Oakland in a 3 hitter in his last outing, but in the previous 7 outings, has had only one quality start.

Expect a low scoring game, but I think the Rays will pull out a 4-3 squeaker tonight.

Tomorrows matchup features Carlos Villanueva who is 6-1 with a 3.19 ERA and Alex Cobb (5-8, 4.60 ERA). Cobb has had two very good starts following a couple of poor outings. Villanueva has been very very good as a starter so far for the Jays. I think this one will be close as well and the result of the game depends on which Cobb shows up. I think the Jays will take this one 6-3.

Finally, Thursday afternoon's game features Henderson Alvarez (7-8, 4.47 ERA) vs Matt Moore (8-7, 3.84 ERA) in a lefty-lefty matchup. Matt Moore has had 17 scoreless innings, but in the last two games, he threw alot of pitches (103 and 104) to get throw 6.1 and 5.1 innings respectively. Nevertheless, he has been very very good in his last four starts. Henderson had been fairly inconsistent this year. Look for Tampa to take this one in a 6-2 victory.

Things to look forward to this series is the return of Lawrie and Rasmus to the lineup, the continued play of David Cooper, and the major league debut of Chad Jenkins. Anthony Gose will get some more play and we'll see if his bat continues to improve.

Don't expect Toronto to win the series in Tampa.

Anthony Gose - Jays next superstar?

Will Gose as a centerfielder be as good as Brett Lawrie at 3rd?

Brett Lawrie already is the voice of the Jays. Canadian born and bred from Langley, BC, his natural enthusiasm and dazzle at the glove, I think, is a big drawing card for young fans to the Dome. I've always believed that making Brett the "voice of the Jays" puts a bit too much pressure on him to perform well, but I think that works out well for him. His clutch RISP stats are better than the stats with men not on base. He fields exceptionally well, and he is reasonably quick around the bases. Most of all, Brett Lawrie is aggressive, to a fault. This year, we've seen him make boneheaded moves - an attempted steal of home with Bautista at bat, trying to steal third when already in scoring position, getting tossed and serving a suspension for a bad called strike, and diving over the rails into a deep camera bay. He certainly has passion for the game, and I think that will become more controlled. His batting average hasn't suffered since his debut last year. Brett hits LHP at a pace of .357/.390/.509 while hitting only .253/.302/.379 against RHP. His batting average suffered since the dive into the camera bay. Brett Lawrie was the return for the Shawn Marcum trade.

Philadelphia drafted Gose in the 2008 MLB draft in the 2nd round and immediately went into the Rookie year. Gose went to Houston with JA Happ and John Villar near the trade dealine in 2010 for Roy Oswalt to bolster the Phillies' playoff run. Immediately thereafter, Gose was dealt to Toronto for Brett Wallace.

In the minors, he quickly rose up through the ranks, spending 2008 in the Rookie league, 2009 in A ball, 2010 in Dunedin and Clearwater, 2011 in New Hampshire, and 2012 in Vegas. He never was held back. His running and fielding skills are to be prized. His batting skills, I think, are still very much a work in progress. But in Las Vegas, he batted .293 / .375 / .432 with 10 triples. He can run

With Gose in the outfield, his speed rivals or betters that of Rajai Davis. 5 of his 11 hits are infield hits, meaning that he is outrunning the ball. When Gose bats next to Davis in the batting order, the two of them on base wreaks havoc on the opposition pitching, with the double steal very much in play.

People will criticize his slow start in the majors with a .229 / .275 / .292 start through 48 plate appearances. Chalk that up to sample size, but if you look at his last 10 games, he is batting .270 / .289 / .351 (also a poor sample size), but that points at improvement. Gose is not going to hit a pile of home runs, but he is going to run really, really fast. In New Hamsphire last year, he set a record for the Fisher Cats, stealing 70 bases (getting caught 15 times)

So, I think offensively and defensively, long term, he will be  better than Rajai Davis. Defensively, he will be better. He had 14 assists with New Hampshire last year and 8 for Vegas.

He is only 21 (for four more days) and we are just seeing the start of this athlete's long career. Remember that, fandom, when making criticisms. We have to accept, for example, that as he gets used to major league timing, he will either to attempt to steal less or get caught stealing more. Indeed, in AAA, he got caught 10 times in 39 attempts. And he will make running mistakes, throwing mistakes, and it will him time to grow into a hitter. He wasn't supposed to be here until the start of next season (possibly to replace Rajai). But he is here now.

Anything can happen to this young lad, but I think his future is very very bright. Of course, Lawrie, the Canadian, will be the Jays' poster boy for the next few years - he is the embodiment of the Jays - Canadian, bold, aggressive, articulate, enthusiastic, fun to watch.  

August 5: Jays 6, Oakland 5

Jays remember that they can win, earn happy plane ride to Tampa

To win games against the tough pitching Athletics, John Farrell's Jays realized that they had to manufacture runs. With Laffey on the mound with a tough start against Seattle, the Jays would probably be in tough against Oakland today, but with Milone on the mound who has been struggling over his past few starts, the Jays had a chance. And with the near comeback on Thursday, the extra-inning heartbreaker on Friday, and the extra inning win on Saturday, you could see the confidence in the new Blue Jays, short Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Lind, Arencibia, and Snider slowly return.

As well, through the trades, the Jays have learned that they can count on their bullpen again, with the addition of Brad Lincoln and Stever Delabar and the promotion of Aaron Loup, the Jays starting pitcher just has to keep it close and let the bats try to get to work.

The Jays started it off as aggressive as you can get with a Davis double. On the next play, with Davis running on the pitch, Gose laid down a bunt down the 3rd baseline which was fielded by the catcher. Rajai kept on running and beat out the throw home to take a 1-0 lead.

Laffey had a shaky 2nd, with a combination of single-double for Oakland to tie the game. The third was even more shaky, as Laffey left a fastball up and in, right into Reddick's wheelhouse, yielding a 3 run home run, to be behind 4-1 after 3.

But the Jays closed the gap right away as Edwin found his power stroke again and belted a 2 run homer in the top of the fourth, then had some luck in the 5th inning with two out. Rajai Davis popped up a pretty routine fly ball to short, but Rosales lost the ball in the sun, allowing Davis to reach. The Jays capitalized as Gose (with his second hit in a row) double Rajai to third, and Edwin loaded the bases with an intentional pass. Yunel then hit a two run single to put the Jays out in front 5-4. Kelly Johnson then hit a single to plate Edwin. The Jays ended the top of the 5th up 6-4.

Laffey ended up pitching 6, giving up 6 runs, 4 runs (all earned), throwing 95 pitches, 67 of them strikes -- a decent outing. Brandon Lyon came on in the 7th and gave up a run on a double-double combination, striking out the side. With a 1 run lead, Loup and Delabar pitched the 8th and KC Janssen closed out the game, with Loup and Janssen each giving up a walk.

So, the Jays end up splitting the series with Oakland.


A few things happened with the roster behind the scenes. Chavez was sent back down and Chad Jenkins was called up from AA New Hampshire. Chad Jenkins, 25, over two years with the Fisher-Cats, is 10-16 with 36 starts with an ERA around 4.5 and WHIP around 1.4. He is a starter, but I am thinking that his role is a long reliever to replace Chavez. Villanueva, scheduled to start on Tuesday has a personal issue, so we will see JA Happ pitch against Tampa on Tuesday. There is setback with Bautista who felt more discomfort in his hands while swinging, which means that he'll need to rest his hands more and have rehab starts before he is back. Frasor is slowly working towards his return.

And finally, Farrell expects to see Lawrie and Rasmus playing in Tampa on Tuesday. Hechavarria will remain with the team.

For the hopelessly optimistic, the Jays are 5 back of the last wild card spot (Oakland) with 54 to play. At this point in time the wild card winner will have 88 wins. The Jays will need to pass (and have better records) Boston, Tampa, Baltimore, the Angels, and one of Detroit or Oakland to make the playoffs. That means the Jays will have to go 35-19 and pass 5 teams to make the wild card.

The Jays will face Shields, Cobb, and Matt Moore during the three game series. Matt Moore is running a streak of 17 scoreless innings, while Alex Cobb has had 2 good starts. I am thinking that the Jays will take 1 of 3 and it would be great to see them take 2 of three to have a fairly successful road trip.