September 2: Rays 9, Jays 4

Romero pitches pathetically; game finished early

After a very nice outing in New York against the Yankees where Romero gave up only 2 earned runs over seven innings, the fans were looking forward to Romero building off that game and hopefully finish up the season on a positive note. With David Price on the mound (2nd in the AL in ERA), it would be a tall order.

Unfortunately, the game was over very early for Ricky. In the bottom of the 1st with two out, Rajai pretty much missed a Longoria fly ball to left field that resulted in a run against Ricky. Rajai just didn't pick up the ball in time. Then in the 2nd, Ricky threw a 1-2 cutter for a home run against Ben Francisco. Carlos Pena then walked (plunking the ump in the process). Davis then hesitated on what should have been a single to Roberts (which turned into a double). That put runners on 2nd and 3rd with none out. Molina then singled, scoring another run. Jennings singled on the next pitch to score another run. Sierra then lost a ball in the sun and the ball bounced away from him, loading the bases, still with none out. Ben Zobrist then singled in two runs poast a diving Escobar to end Romero's afternoon. Romero's line: 7 runs on 8 hits, 1+ innings, 1 BB, 0K, and 43 pitches.

Chad Jenkins came in and gave up a run to Upton on a sacrfiice fly. After the top of two, it was 7-0 Rays. The Jays did threaten in the bottom of the 2nd, as Price gave up 3 walks to load the bases, but the Jays could not hit anyone home. Carlos Pena opened the 3rd with a deep home run against Jenkins (8-0 Rays). Tampa scored another another run from a Francisco ground rule double that knocked in Longoria (double). Chad Jenkins was acceptable in the 5th and 6th inning. And by the end of 6 it was 9-0 Rays.

The Jays did score 2 in the 7th off David Price, as Hechavarria singled, Rajai walked, and Colby singled to load the bases with 1 out. Edwin then hit a sacrific fly and Adam Lind singled on a high bouncing ball off the plate to score the two runs. Smart baserunning by Colby on Lind's single as third was left completely open on Lind's ground ball. Price then left the game (6.2 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, 5Ks). Badenhop then came on to get Escobar to ground into a fielder's choice.

Laffey threw three innings of 3 hit ball, striking out three and walking 2. The Jays had a sputter of 9th inning offence as Colby singled and Edwin hit his 37th home run into the bullpen in left.

Final score: 9-4.

Offensively, Davis walked once in an 0-4 outing. Moises bat 0-4 again. Rasmus had a 2-4 afternoon, with all the others hit once. The Jays allowed 18 hits.

What is wrong with Ricky Romero? I still think it's definitely his head. In a game against David Price, he knew that he would have to be on top of his game to have a shot at winning. Rajai Davis' play to allow Roberts to reach 2nd took away the double play in the top of the 2nd. Sierra's loss of the ball in the sun did not help the cause. The ground ball singles were close to players. But mostly, Ricky just was not sharp and not mentally prepared to pitch this game. No excuses. If Ricky is going to succeed he has to get his mental game in order. Until that happens, you are going to see some very inconsistent starts. In the post game comments, Ricky had alot to say:

 Is any of it psychological? Do you go out there and feel like, ‘Here we go again?’
“No. Felt pretty good today. Just left some fastballs up. Other [hits] fell for them that inning. That’s just the way the game is. Everything went their way today.”

There’s probably no easy answer, but do you have any guesses about what may be wrong with you this year?
“No idea.”

Did the two days’ extra rest in New York help?
“No. I’m a starter in the big leagues and you’ve got to be ready to go every fifth day....  These performances have been rough. It’s tough to hear boos from your own fans. It’s tough to see your teammates going out there to battle every day. It’s been tough, it’s been stressful. But at the same time, you’ve just got to come back ready to work.”

Are you out of answers?
“Yeah. What more else can I say? It’s worn on me. I was born a winner. Going through something like this I’d never wish upon anyone.”

The thing is, Ricky, is that it is psychological.

August 31: Tampa 1, Blue Jays 2

Practice makes perfect as Mathis and outfield connect to save the game

The Jays are looking like a team again. With their offense still being inconsistent, the pitching and defense would have to be fantastic to beat the Rays. But the Rays offense hasn't exactly been consistent either. This afternoon, before batting practice, John Farrell had his outfielders out there throwing balls home in order to improve the throws into the infield, which have been pretty poor as of late. Turns out that the training was timely.

Brandon Morrow started the game, his second game back, and this outing was very good, not lights out by any stretch, but very good, getting key outs when required. In all, Morrow went 6 2/3rds, throwing 102 pitches, striking out 5 and walking one. All of his pitches were working. He sprinkled 8 hits in the inning, and the only damage done was Desmond Jennings home run to open the top of the third to give Tampa a temporary 1-0 lead.

Steve Delabar was perfect coming on with two out in the bottom of the 7th to induce a grounder, and then to pitch the 8th to strike out Zobrist, Longoria, and Joyce on a very nasty combination of changeups and fastballs that just fooled the Rays.

Tampa's Hellickson was much better on the mound, but two home runs by Moises Sierra (to reply, opening the bottom of the 3rd), and Edwin Encarnacion (in the bottom of the 4th, bases empty, one out) to the 200 level in centre-left was enough for the Jays to win it tonight. Hellickson walked 1, struck out 2, and surrendered 2 more hits (a single to Encarnacion to open the 7th, and an Adam Lind single after the Encarnacion home run).

Off the hit sheet was Colby Rasmus (again, now not hitting in 4 games), now hitting 0-12 in his last four games with 4Ks and a walk. Yunel's hitting streak also ended. Rajai, Mathis, and McCoy also did nothing offensively.

Defensively, in the first, McCoy bobbled a Ben Zobrist double play ball but managed to get the speedy Zobrist out. And, in the top of the fourth, Colby couldn't outrun a Ryan Roberts hit into centre-left, which I think he catches if his groin was completely better. And in the top of the 7th, Rajai went all out to catch a Desmond Jennings line drive into left which ended up going to the wall for a double. It would have been nice to catch that. None of these, thankfully did no damage.

Jeff Mathis tags out Matt Joyce at home
(Rogers SportsNet)

But there were two fantastic defensive highlights in the game. The first was in the top of the 2nd with Keppinger on 1st and Matt Joyce on 2nd with one out. Ryan Roberts hit a single to left, and with Matt Joyce running, typically, Rajai makes a throw that ends up bouncing a few times or is 20 feet left or right of home plate. Not this time. Rajai throws a single bounce strike to the plate which Mathis picks up, blocks the plate, and tags Matt Joyce who barreled Mathis at home. Out!!!



Jeff Mathis tags out Elliott Johnson to end the game
(Rogers Sportsnet)



The last defensive play ended the game. With pinch runner Elliot Johnson on 2nd and pinch hitter Carlos Pena up with two out, he lined a Janssen 1-1 fastball single to Moises Sierra. With Elliott running home, Moises picked up the ball and fired a one bounce strike to Jeff Mathis, just in time for Mathis to once again block the plate and apply the tag to a diving Elliot Johnson to record the out and end the game and secure the 19th save of the season for Casey Janssen.

Well, this series is a guaranteed push for Toronto. It would be great to see the bats come out tomorrow, and with an Alvarez coming off of two very poor starts and Jeff Niemann making his first start for Tampa since Adam Lind broke Niemann's ankle with a sharp comeback to the mound on May 14th. Look for a high scoring game.

August 18: Rangers 2, Jays 1

Jays miss moments to mount comeback - fall short in vilifying Villanueva

While the pitching staff held the Rangers to two runs, Escobar, Rasmus, and Johnson are falling short, really short for the Blue Jays offense.

Villanueva pitched another brilliant outing against the hard-hitting Texas Rangers, holding them to two runs for the second night in a row. After Villanueva faced the minimum after 4 innings, an Adrian Beltre ground rule double (that Gose should have had -- he lost it in the sun) and was followed up by a Nelson Cruz home run. Both hits were due to a 82 mph changeup that Villanueva left up. Villanueva left the game with one on and one out at the top of the 7th. His pitching line was great: 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts over 6 1/3, throwing 86 pitches (58) for strikers.

Aaron Loup, Chad Jenkins, and Darren Oliver pretty much shut down the remainder of the Texas offense as they got one more single in the top of the 8th.

The Jays offense was pretty much as disappointing as usual with many missed opportunities. The Jays offense came in the bottom of the third from the AAA combination of Gose and Hechavarria. Anthony Gose hit a single, stole 2nd, was balked to 3rd, and scored on Hechavarria's first RBI of his major league career, a single to right.

In the bottom of the fourth, Edwin was on second with no one out but couldn't advance as Cooper lined, Yunel flew, and Jeff Mathis struck out.

In the bottom of the fifth, Anthony Gose singled and Hechavarria advanced him to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt. Davis then bunt popped out and Colby popped out.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cooper and Escobar singled with one out. Johnson struck out, but Jeff Mathis reached on a slow single to Kinsler to load the bases for Gose, who struck out after 10 pitches (a great at bat, but was beaten).

And in the bottom of the seventh, the Jays had runners at 1st and 3rd with nobody out (Hechavarria ground rule double, Davis single). Colby then popped out to 3rd base. Edwin was intentionally walked to load the bases. David Cooper flew out to left field, but the ball was not deep enough, and Hech was given the stop sign from Butterfield. And Yunel hit a short fly ball to center to leave the Jays with nothing to show.

The Jays then went 6 up, 6 down to lose the game.

Some positives of the game was Mathis's throw to 2nd to catch a stealing Craig Gentry at the top of the 3rd, and a nice pick off by Loup to catch David Murphy going to 2nd. Hechavarria went 2 for 3.

Major disappointments was Colby Rasmus batting 0 for 5 and is now running an 0-14 streak and is 5-30 with one HR since he came back from his groin injury on August 3. Kelly Johnson is batting 2-20 in his last 7 games. Escobar is battng 3 for 23 in his last 7 games. So, it is the regulars who are now a big part of the problem for the Jays offence. When these three regulars combine to hit one hit per game, it's easy to see why the Jays offense is extra impotent in the last week. Only Edwin (who is 10-25 in the last 7) and Rajai (10 for 35 in his last 8 and 7 stolen bases) have been potent for the veteran Jays.

This is a game that the Jays would probably win with Bautista, Lawrie, Lind, and Arencibia in the lineup -- a tough show for the Jays today, but it shouldn't come as a surprise. Rasmus' bat needs to heat up again, and Brett indeed is due back early next week probably in Detroit although he only went to bat once in today's Gulf Coast game (due to poor field conditions).

Tomorrow's game features Henderson Alvarez vs Matt Harrison in what is sure to be an offensively challenged day yet again for the Blue Jays.

August 17: Rangers 2 Jays 3

JA Happ shines in start against not-so-hard hitting Rangers

Texas, since August 1st is batting .287 / .353 / .791 and can be explosive at the plate. Happ wasn't fazed, pitching six innings, letting one run score on two hits, striking out 8 over six innings and 98 pitches. This is exactly the start required for the Jays to have a chance to win, and with Edwin back in the lineup, the Jays had a chance to score a couple of runs against Yu Darvish.

Yu hasn't be so yu-ish lately. In his past 9 starts, he's 4-4 with an ERA of 5.85 and a WHIP of 1.45. So, the Jays had a chance to do a little bit of damage. The Jays sported six vets in the lineup, (Cooper, Sierra, and Gose were the AAA Jays). Rasmus was scratched with his aggravated groin injury.

Scoring opened for Toronto in the 1st inning with a Kelly Johnson walk followed by Edwin's 31st home run to make it 2-0.

Happ, meanwhile, had a perfect 3 innings, striking out 6 in a row in the 2nd and 3rd inning, before walking Kinsler at the top of the 4th, but finished off the side. Happ got into a bit of trouble in the 5th, letting in a couple of singles before a sacrifice bunt and a ground out allowed a run to score. Happ then pitched a 1-2-3 6th and left the game.

The Jays running game took over in bottom of the 5th. With two out, Anthony Gose hit a fly ball that Gentry couldn't reach, and the ball bobbled around in the corner, while Gose pulled off a Usain Bolt with a triple despite the ball being no more than 10 feet from Gentry. Gose's triple was the difference in the game: Rajai knocked him in with a single, but then stole 2nd AND 3rd base before Kelly Johnson struck out.

Rajai is ridiculous in that he has 37 stolen bases (8 caught) in 80 stolen base opporuntinues. That's a 56% attempt to steal rate. Miami's Emilio Bonifacio has 33 stolen bases / attempts in 99 opportunites, for a rate of 33%. Mike Trout's rate is 23%. Rajai is prolific and aggressive, and the pitchers really can't do anything about it.

Delabar meanwhile came on the 7th and got into a bit of trouble. Delabar walked Beltre, and then gave up a single to Adrian Young and walked Nelson Cruz to load the bases with two outs. Rookie Mike Olt then hit a grounder to Omar Visquel who uncharacteristly booted it for an error to cut the lead to 3-2. Out went Delabar, and in come Brandon Lyon to face Ian Kinsler, who grounded to Escobar. Fans let out a big sigh.

Darvish had a good night too, letting in 3 runs over 7 innings, striking out 10, pitching 114 pitches (71 for strikes), allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk, meaning that the Jays were very efficient in scoring runs.

The Jays then used Lyon, Loup, and Lincoln to pitch a 1-2 inning to Andrus, Hamilton, and Beltre. Lincoln, however did not get Beltre out as he hit a broken bat single to left. Michael Young then grounded out as Lincoln preserved the game with a one run lead.

KC Janssen then pitched the 9th for his 16th save against the bottom of the Texas lineup, pitching a 1-2-3 inning. Gose and Escobar pretty much ran into each other for the fly for the 2nd out.

This is precisely the only way the Jays are going to win games for another week when both Lawrie and Bautista return and Rasmus returns healthy. Excellent starting pitching, a little bit of run support, and a strong bullpen is the only way the Jays can expect to win games in the next week against Texas, Detroit and Baltimore.

Great game for the Jays fans to watch in this nailbiter.

August 14: White Sox 3, Jays 2

White Sox hang on to win

Why would Charlie Sheen throw out the first pitch? I mean, why not Joe Carter? As it turned out the Jays would need more than two and a half runs to win this ball game.

Henderson Alvarez pitched a pretty solid effort as the Chicago White Sox turned away the Jays' threats in each of the last five innings.

Alvarez's first four innings went smoothly as the Jays took a 2-0 lead into the top of the 5th.

In the bottom of the first, Yunel Escobar singled home Mike McCoy who unsuccessfully sacrified Davis who led the game with a single. Why you attempt to bunt in the bottom of the first with none on and your fastest runner on first I wonder? I really don't know that answer to that one. It's too early to trade an out for a iffy shot at moving over your runner, and it was unsuccessful. Remember that the sacrifice does not always work!!! The Jays left 2 on in the 1st.

In the bottom of the third, Mike McCoy scored Rajai Davis who doubled and then took third for his 34th stolen base (3 behind Mike Trout) and his 15th steal of 3rd base, 5 ahead of Coco Crisp.

Here's the amazing thing about the 2.5 million dollar man aka Rajai Davis: Rajai has had only 74 stolen base opportunities, while Mike Trout has had 180. Mike Trout tries to steal in about 22% of his opportunites, while Rajai attempts to steal in in about 55% of opportunties. If Rajai had the same opportunities as Mike Trout, he would have about 80 stolen bases by now! No one in the AL even comes close to this. So, Rajai should just work on getting on base, and he should be the regular left fielder, day in, day out. When he does get on base, he takes extra bases on 68% of hits, third in the AL among regulars. Simply put, this guy is aggressive, and he wreaks more havoc on the bases than anyone else in the AL. Add to that the fact that he went 3-4 tonight and he's really proving himself to be the regular dude in left, questionable defense aside (he needs to hit his cutoff man, and sometimes he loses focus, despite the catch of the year on the Sunday).

Anyway, enough about Rajai. On to the top of the 5th. A series of four singles by Pierzynski, Viciedo, De Aza (to knock in Pierzynski), and ex-Jay DeWayne Wise (to knock in Viciedo) put runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 out. Henderson tried the "patented" move to third - move to 1st play in order to catch one of the runners sleeping, a reasonable move with two very fast runners. He ended up throwing to first and sailed it high to Cooper, who jumped in an attempt to catch the ball, but it went off of David's glove about 10 feet behind him, which allowed the speedy De Aza to score and take the lead at 3-2.

The Jays threatened in each inning. In the bottom of the 5th, the Jays loaded the bases with one out and Edwin up. But Edwin hit a sharp liner to Kevin Youkilis who made a great catch and a great throw to 2nd to double off Rajai. End of rally. Bad luck.

Moises reached in the 6th with two out but Kelly Johnson couldn't do anything. In the 7th with one out, Hechavarria doubled (his first extra base hit) in the 7th and Rajai walked, but Mike McCoy (who is hitting 2nd in the order, ouch!) and Edwin couldn't do anything. And in the 8th, a lead off double by David Cooper (replaced by Gose) couldn't be cashed as Yunel and Moises lined out while Yan Gomes struck out, leaving Gose on third.  And Colby, on to pinch hit for Hechavarria hit a single in the 9th with one out but couldn't be cashed as Reed recorded his 21st save.

Henderson was strong tonight, pitching 7 innings and throwing only 84 pitches (59 for strikes) while striking out only two, walking none, and scattering out 3 other hits besides the 4 in the 5th over the other six innings. This would qualify as one of his very good outings (his 4th in his last 10th starts). Consistency now is the key for Alvarez. He needs to keep his sinking fast ball down and develop an out pitch so that he can record more strikeouts. Without the strikeout, more balls go into play, and these result in more hits. 21 home runs certainly is alot (9th in the AL) while is K/9 at 3.2 is near the bottom of the list.

When Morrow comes up, who is going to be off of the rotation? There are about 9 starts left for each starter in a 5 player rotation. At 6 innings per start, Romero, Morrow and Happ will be fine. Villanueva will be at his innings limit (which should be 130) after 8 starts so he'll make it pretty much to the end. Henderson Alvarez has pitched 143 major league innings and threw 159 innings (63 MLB innings) and should top out at the most 190 innings, which gives him 9 more starts to take him pretty much to the end. That leaves Aaron Laffey, who threw only 85 innings in 2010 and 56 in 2011, has already thrown 125 innings this year. I think he will be the odd man out when Morrow returns.

Injury updates

Colby pinch hit in the 9th innings and looked sore. His groin will need more healing before he can come back and play center - I am guessing about a week. In the meantime, they are looking at Colby to DH.

Brett Lawrie comes off the DL on Sunday, August 19 (Baltimore) and Floridians can celebrate as he gets a couple of rehab starts down in Dunedin. Just put up alot of warning tape near any hazards so he doesn't dive into a ditch. I think he'll be back for the road trip and look forward to seeing him in Detroit on Tuesday night next week.

Jose Bautista is swinging off a tee. He will need rehab starts too, and soon, before the minor leagues shut down at the end of the month. My bet is that he will be back at the end of August.

Brandon Morrow pitched a fine start tonight in AA New Hampshire (striking out 6 in 4.1 innings with 65 pitches) and will make one more start and will probably make his return in Baltimore during the August 24-26 series.

Adam Lind should be ready to play but with Cooper doing well at first, he's being kept from hitting for now.

JP Arencibia should be back in mid-September. His cast comes off later today and they will evaluate from there.

Transactions and Comments

The Jays extended Jeff Mathis by two years, meaning that he will likely be the regular backup catcher in 2013 and 2014. And they also signed veteran catcher Jeff Torrealba to a minor league contract, which means that with JP Arencibia, Jeff Mathis, and Travis D'Arnaud all expected to be major league quality next year, who is going to catch. There's speculation that JPA will move to DH but that would just be a waste of his catching talent. So, I think an off-season trade is in the offing and it won't involve Jeff Mathis. Quite simply, despite JPA's offensive capability to hit home runs, he has far better value as a catcher than a DH. Edwin is the capable DH/1B, and JPA's numbers and lack of experience does not warrant him value as a DH. One will be traded. The Jays would be far better off in an new and improved Adam Lind at 1st or even David Cooper and leave Edwin at DH.

August 12: Yankees 7, Jays 10 (no, not 1)

It's the Rajai Davis show as Jays bats wake up



Not photoshopped - Rajai catches this.
 (Fred Thornhill / Reuters)

The Jays struck for 6 runs in the fourth inning as the Jays beat the Yankees in a 10-7 to salvage a game and put an end to a 5 game losing skid.

David Cooper started the scoring in the bottom of the first singling in a Edwin Encarnacion double for the game's first run.

In the fourth, Moises Sierra opened with a single to right, followed by a double by Jeff Mathis to score him. A Yan Gomes sacrifice moved Mathis to third, and Gose took an uncharacteristic walk. Rajai Davis then cleared the bases with a double to give the Jays a 4-0 lead. Mike McCoy, the veteran callup from AAA, singled home Rajai, and then Edwin homered to give the Jays a 7-0 lead through 4.

And JA Happ really came throough and faced the minimum batters through 4 and 1/3rd. A Casey McGehee double scored Andrus Jones to put the Yankees on the board.

Rajai Davis however stole the show again with a bases clearing double to score three (scoring Mathis, Gomes, and Hechavarria)

But JA Happ faced more problems in the top of the 6th as the long ball took over for the Yankees. A solo shot by Jeter followed by a two run no-doubt-about-it dinger from Cano put the Yankees at 10-4. On came Brad Lincoln. Up until the end of the 5th, it was a solid performance, and clearly I think JA Happ was running out of gas by the 6th, as he needs another start to stretch it out.

But there were more problems with Lincoln in the 7th. But it may have been alot worse for the Jays if it wasn't for the play of the year by Rajai Davis, who took a running grab up the wall and took away a definite home run ball by Casey McGehee. This ball is one that outfielders normally give up on. The fence at Rogers is 10 feet tall, and Rajai timed it perfectly to take a run at the wall and use his momentum to go over the wall to make an absolutely spectacular catch to save two runs.

But still, with two out and a runner on 2nd, the Yankees weren't done. Jayson Nix doubled to score Granderson. Derek Jeter doubled to score Jason Nix, and Swisher singled to score Jeter. The Yankees were within striking distance, now behind 10-7. On came Darren Oliver who looked shaky, giving up a double to Teixiera and hitting Robinson Cano (I think on purpose) to load the bases for Andrus Jones, who grounded the ball to a waiting Yan Gomes at 3rd.

Oliver was much stronger in the 8th, striking out the first two before an easy ground ball to Kelly Johnson, who pinch hit for Hechavarria in the 7th.

Janssen came on and closed it with two hard line drives to Johnson who was positioned perfectly followed by an easy fly ball from Nick Swisher to end the game.

Some observations about the game. First, it was good to see Mike McCoy back in Toronto. A utility infielder, he does know how to hit major league hitting and I think puts some stability in the offense over Hechavarria. David Cooper and Moises Sierra can hit. With Adam Lind coming back, Cooper will likely be sidelined put perhaps they will at least leave him on the bench. I hope that Moises (3 for 5 today) gets more playing time but one of Gose or Sierra will be sent down once Bautista is back in a couple of weeks (but they'll only be down for a week as they'll be called up for the September expansion). Anthony Gose is still getting fooled at the plate, striking out on 2 of his four plate appearances. And finally, Rajai is earning a steady look in left for the season as he showed a flash of brilliance in left (which makes up for losing the ball in the lights on Friday night and then some) and tied his personal record of 5 RBIs. Edwin had a 3 for 5 night, short the triple in the cycle. And finally, it was surprising to see Brad Lincoln get roughed up for three runs, his worst outing as a reliever this season.

Now, Alex Rios and the AL Central leading White Sox come to town for four. The Jays will face Jake Peavy (9-8 3.08 ERA), Jose Quintana (4-2, 2.78 ERA), Gavin Floyd (8-9, 4.43 ERA), and Francisco Liriano (3-10, 5.35 ERA) who got roughed up in the last outing. The Jays will throw Villanueva, Alvarez, Romero, and Laffey in return. Adam Lind may return to the lineup, and we will likely see Colby Rasmus later in the week along with Yunel Escobar. I'm thinking that the Jays are in rough for the first two but can win the last two in the series for a nice series split before Texas comes to town.

It's an unrelenting schedule for the Jays, but with the pressure off, perhaps the Jays can take their time in recovering its stars and get the Las Vegasers some more plate appearances.

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.

August 2: Oakland 4, Jays 1

Jays can't score - tough outing against Colon

The Blue Jays are without Jose Bautista, JP Arencibia, and Adam Lind, and the walk came back to haunt the team.

It's difficult to win games when you walk people. Toronto leads the AL with 374, 90 more than league leading Texas. That's like giving up one more hit per game. And walks wear out the pitchers, forcing them to throw more pitches, not only to the player at bat, but at the next AB.

Alvarez walked 5 in 5 innings, but none of the walks that Alvarez threw resulted in runs. Alvarez's three earned runs happened in the bottom of the 3rd due to a single, wild pitch, single (to score 1) and a Josh Reddick home run.

Delabar came on in the 6th , and perhaps Oakland had seen alot of him in AL West play, but he looked shaky with two walks and a wild pitch, but got out of the innings without damage.

Happ came on in the 7th inning, and ran into trouble right away, giving up two walks and a single before giving up a bases loaded single to Brandon Inge. The ball was hit to short centre allowing Rasmus to preserve a second run from scoring.

As with most major league starters, the first inning is the 2nd hardest inning to pitch (the sixth is the hardest). JA Happ is no exception -- players OPS is .838 in the first inning, and he gives up .54 walks in the first inning pitched. It takes preparation to start, so when JA Happ is in the bullpen, he needs to prepare and be sharp for that relief appearance. But if JA Happ wants to win a place back in the rotation three things needs to happen: a starter must fail; Happ needs to be stretched out to be able to throw 80 or so pitches in a start; Happ needs to demonstrate that he's good enough to start a game. Well, Happ threw 51 pitches in yesterday's appearance over two innings and 49 pitches 10 days before that, and just hasn't been very good.

On the offensive side, the Jays couldn't put anything together against Colon, sprinking 7 singles over 8 very good innings pitched by the veteran. The Jays only got runners to scoring position in three innings, and their best hope before the 9th was in the 2nd inning when the Jays loaded the bases with two outs, but Rajai hit into a ground ball to end the rally.

The Jays did threaten in the 9th. Moises Sierra got his first RBI as he beat out a double play ball to score Cooper who hit a double into the gap in left to start the inning. Then Lawrie got a single to put the tying at bat in Colby Rasmus on board. Colby hit into a fielder's choice at 2nd to end the game.

With left-handed Doolittle (not their closer) on the mound with one out, I thought the Jays made an interesting choice in batting Moises for Gose. This forced the As to go to their closer righty Ryan Cook to get the final two outs. Now Moises bats right and Gose bats left, and the choice to bat Moises to get a righty-lefty matchup makes sense.

But when you look at the numbers, Doolittle's numbers against lefties are reversed: against lefties he's sporting an OPS of 1.006 while against righties, the OPS is .394. And, Doolittle is a rookie. So, why force the closer to come on who has a fairly equal OPS against righties and lefties at around .490. Sure, Cook walks people at a rate of .5 / inning but he's a far better pitcher.  

But why force the situation? By the numbers, the lefty in Gose should fare better against Doolittle, and Gose has speed. I just think this was the correct choice given the situation. You want to leave in Doolittle, who was struggling, as long as possible, and to force in your closer takes away the opportunity to win.

The Jays are at the lowest point of the season so far, at three games below .500 and 5 and a half out of the 2nd wild card. They are without three of their bigger bats, and they are playing in a pitcher's park. The Jays are a home run hitting team, but they have to manufacture runs on the west coast ballparks. To do that, the players need to relax and not feel so much pressure to perform (Lawrie says there is no pressure) with the injury outages. I think if they can put one win on the board tonight or tomrorrow in Oakland, they'll win the next game too.

Boo Jays - State of the Jaysdom

Injury and Insult?

When the Toronto Blue Jays came out of the preseason, they were looking hot. Brett Lawrie, at age 21, became the voice of the club, attracting young fans. Attendance is up over 20% (league attendance is up 5%). The preseason was great. Blue Jays fandom was looking for a good season, and the addition of the 2nd wild card represented great hope for the club. Your bench players were Visquel, Davis, and Mathis, which were upgrades over last year.

Rogers Media overhauled its messaging, stating that the the AL east was going to be closest in years, delivered some dramatic music, and off went the season, with a new closer in Sergio Santos and a very young rotation featuring Alvarez, Drabek, and Hutchinson in the back of the rotation.


This season is all about inconsistency. There was lacklustre hitting and blown saves in April. Lind, Bautista, Arencibia, and Yunel had poor starts. May was better but Thames and Lind were still awful. Walks were a problem. At the end of May, the Jays were 3 games over .500 and looking pretty good. Morrow was coming together. Hutchinson had adjusted and was starting to reimprove. Lind got demoted and up came Cooper or Gomes.


June started with optimism but then with the departures of Morrow, Drabek, and Hutchinson in the same week, it all started to unravel a bit. In came Cecil, Laffey, and Villanueva to pick up the slack, with only Carlos Del V doing excellent in the role. But despite the pitching outages, the Jays offense picked up the slack, and Bautista and Arencibia started hitting the cover off the ball to keep the ship afloat. Even Lind came back and was doing really well.


But then Bautista went down and alarm bells went off. The Yankees completed its sweep, and the Jays came back and completed the sweep against Boston, giving the fandom hope. Then Lind went down with back pain, and Arencibia suffered from a freak accident. Down were the #1, 5, and 6 hitters in the 2nd half (measured by OPS). Then Travis Snider got traded along with Thames and the #4 hitter was gone, leaving Rajai Davis and Edwin as the top two hitters on the team (2nd half).


So, what should Anthopolous have done? If you were the Jays upper management, what would you do.


First, realize that Anthopolous cannot simply go out and rent players, because alas (see previous post), AA reports to Rogers Media, which reports to Rogers Communications. The Blue Jays and Rogers Centre brought in 160 million in revenue last year. There will be increased revenue of about $12 million or so from increased ticket sales which AA will probably be able to use to purchase a pitcher in the off season.


And, really, even if AA went out and rented two batters (left field and 1st) and two starters (Garza, Dempster) where would hte Jays stand with 58 games to go. They have to pass 5 teams and win 5 more games then ALL of them, essentially having to win 2 of 3 to make the playoffs. Even the best team in baseball wins 3 of 5, so it would have taken luck and skill to pull them off. And the Jays would have given away its top prospects for a long shot possibility to have a 50/50 shot to make the post season. And Romero has fallen apart, going 1-8 since the Jays pitching debacle and an ERA approaching 9. So really, you can't blame AA for not going for broke at the deadline, and during the first three months of the season, you really can't pick up anyone.


No, not this year. Not this team. The team needed consistency and to perform better with the resources they had back in April. And now there are too many injuries and they are too far back.


In my opinion if AA can be criticized for anything, it's for not scoring a veteran starter in the last off-season. With Hutchinson, Alvarez, and Drabek being the back end of the starting rotation, everyone knew that there was a good chance that at least one of them would fail. And Drabek pretty much did, and the farm seemed to dry up. Carreno and Chavez didn't start well. Cecil is getting better, but has yet to perform, and while Villanueva is doing very well, the long reliever position suffered.


Snider and Thames' departure is a product of AA needing long term relievers, which is a result of Perez's season ending surgery, Villanueva's move to the starting rotation, and Santos' injury. I am sure that AA would have rather gotten a decent starter for both, but the market for starting pitching was just too expensive. The Jays will likely try to stretch out Lincoln again into a starter. Happ may also be a starter.


As for Snider (and Thames), the fans are sad to see him go, and most analysts are pretty critical of both the Jays and Snider of the inability to connect. The Jays didn't really give Snider a chance, and Snider really never proved himself at the major league level.


Once Bautista is back (hopefully at home by the end of next week), the Jays will send down Sierra and platoon Gose and Davis in left field or perhaps let Gose start in center and move Rasmus to left. The Jays will either go with six starters and seven relievers or five starters and eight relievers until the end of the year and leave a short bench for the rest of August (until the reinforcements can be added for September). Morrow will be back in three weeks, and perhaps we'll see Hutchinson in mid-September to take over for Alvarez who will be shut down.


In the end, the Jays will probably finish at .500 this year and the end result will be chalked up to injury and inconsistency. The fandom will argue about the effectiveness of Alex Anthopolous and John Farrell this year, but really, you gotta look at the injuries and the inconsistency, little of which are in Alex' control.