Blue Jays starter Kyle Drabek in his first start @ Yankees Stadium really was not prepared for the experience and could not handle it as it was his shortest career start to this point as he only pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 5 earned runs on 7 hits along with 4 walks and ended up striking out 4 batters. His troubles really started in the second inning when he gave up a single to Nick Swisher and a walk to Eric Chavez to open the inning and then with one out Russell Martin singled through the infield and Swisher scored and then Brett Gardiner walked to load the bases and Joorge Posada scored on a sac fly from Derek Jeter. Then Curtis Granderson singled in Russell Martin to give the Yankees a 3 - 1 lead and then the Jays got a run back as with one out and s Yunel Escobar single on Bautista doubled him home to make it 3-2 but Drabek did not fare any better in the third as lead off hitter Robinson Cano singled and then stole second and was driven in by a Eric Chavez single and walks to Posada and Martin loaded the bases again and Brett Gardiner singled Martin in and it was the end of the line for Drabek and Jason Frasor came in and got Jeter and Granderson to fly out to Bautists and it was 5-2 Yankees. The Bullpen was solid again and did not give up a run and had a couple 3 up/3 down innings while the Jays got a solo jack from Mike McCoy to lead off the top of the 5 to make it 5-3 on McCoy's major league first homer and then in the top of the 6 inning Adam Lind singled to open the inning and Juan Rivera doubled him to third and with no outs David Cooper got his first RBI on a Sac Fly to make it 5-4.The last pitch A.J. Barnett throw was a strike out of Edwin Encarnacion and a throw out of Juan Rivera in a possible hit and run attempt that completely failed and it was 5-4 Yankees and the Yankees bullpen shut down the Jays as it got all the way to the 9 inning and Marion Rivera was on for the Yankees and after Jose Molina battled Rivera and got a two out double Mike McCoy came up and flied out to Nick Swisher to end the game and the Yankees won 5-4.
The Jays had a tough outting from Kyle Drabek but in the end U expect these kinds off things with young pitchers who experiencing the baseball world on the fly so tommorow in rubmatch of this three game series the Jays send Jesse Litsch to mound to face Ivan Nova. So Jesse Litch had a great game in Arlington after a Triple A start and through strikes and will need to continue to throw strikes and get the Yankees hitters to hit into quick outs as the bullpen was used a lot today. While the Jays are facing Ivan Nova who they saw in Toronto and hit him well out of the Bullpen in .2 inning pitched he gave up 2 runs on 2 hits as Travis Snider sent him down to win in the 10 inning to win the game.
OK OK Blue Jays Blue Jays Lets Play Ball
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Blue Jays - 13 - 13 - gets bend but not break pitching along with a J.P. and Bautista homer while Rauch mowed the down to end the game
So right after I sent my blog out yesterday word came out that the Jays made a couple of moves to get ready for the Yankees series and those were Chis Woodward and Travis Snider were sent to Las Vegas and Rajai Davis and David Cooper are heading to the big leagues. So Chris Woodward was most likely a stop gab as he was not even put in the starting lineup during the week he was up and instead was a pinch runner while Travis Snider is struggling at the plate with a .184 batting average so far this season and getting eaten up by the inside curve ball and would probably benefit with sometime in Las Vegas to hopefully regain some of swing and confidence along with maybe get some practice on inside curve ball before games maybe. I guess the reason that Cooper is up for his major league debut instead of Eric Thames is because Woodward infielder and the Jays wanted to keep the same numbers at every position and Cooper is first baseman and Eric Thames is a left fielder also Cooper has less strikeouts than Thames (6 compared to 19) and if a hitter has a problem striking out in the minors then it is not likely be turned around big leagues so Thames needs to work on being more patient before he comes up.
So now to the game the starters Rick Romero for the Jays and Freddie Gracia both did not have a 1-2-3 inning in the game as Gracia pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 5 walks and he had 7 base runners on base in his first 2 6 inning starts with 4 hits and 3 walks and the Jays had equaled this amount by the end of the third inning. The Jays left 8 runners on base and was 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and had left 9 on over the first 5 innings and the Jays only scoring off Gracia was with the long ball as Bautista hit a 2-run shot with Yanul Escobar's walk on and J.P. hit a solo shot. Rick Romero gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks over 6 inning pitched and he protected himself extremely well as a ball off the bat of Mark Teixeira as he got his glove up to protect himself and the ball found his glove as he fell onto his back and his girlfriend like the grab as she was in the crowd
It got really serious in the bottom of the 5 inning with the Jays up 3-2 when Nick Swisher hit the ball to Edwin Encarnacion with 2 on and instead of getting Brett Gardner at third he decided to throw it to Johnny Mac at second but got away from him and it was bases loaded with no outs and Mark Teixeira at the plate but he hit a gapper into the outfield but Yunel Escobar went out and made a back handed grab. Then A-Rod hit into a double play to end the inning without given up a run when the bases were loaded with no outs amazing and then in top 6 with David Robertson coming into the game for Gracia throw 5 straight including a walk to Rajai Davis and then Yunel moves him over with a ground ball and then Rajai steals third with Bautista at the plate who then walked where Robertson steps off the rubber and looks around very quickly and noticed that Bautista was running to second and he throw it and it went into the outfield and Rajai scored to make it 4-2. Juan Rivera grounds the ball throw the infield and Bautista runs all the way home avoiding a Russell Martin tag and got his hand on the plate before Martin could put a tag down and it was 5-2.
In the bottom of the 8 inning the Jays were still up 5-2 but the first batter Shawn Camp faced was Robinson Cano who hit his second home run of the game to make it 5-3 and with one out Curtis Granderson got an infield single and with Octavio Dotel in he walked Russell Martin and Brett Gardner to load the bases with one out but then he strikes out Derek Jeter and Jon Rauch came in and with a fast ball got the Jays out of the 8. Then he stayed in the game to try and get the 4 out save and he used 3 pitches to get Mark Teixeira to fly out to Cory Patterson, then 2 pitches to get A-Rod to ground out to Mike McCoy at third for the second out, and finally 2 pitches to Robinson Cano to have him fly out to Cory Patterson so to get 4 outs he throw only 8 pitches.
The Jays are hitting well right now and the pitching is still pitching incredibly but not getting eaten up by early runs and losing low scoring games which is nice as the Jays are back at 500 for the first time since their horrible first 10 game road trip and are now 4-1 in the first half of this 10 game road trip.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
So now to the game the starters Rick Romero for the Jays and Freddie Gracia both did not have a 1-2-3 inning in the game as Gracia pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 5 walks and he had 7 base runners on base in his first 2 6 inning starts with 4 hits and 3 walks and the Jays had equaled this amount by the end of the third inning. The Jays left 8 runners on base and was 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and had left 9 on over the first 5 innings and the Jays only scoring off Gracia was with the long ball as Bautista hit a 2-run shot with Yanul Escobar's walk on and J.P. hit a solo shot. Rick Romero gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks over 6 inning pitched and he protected himself extremely well as a ball off the bat of Mark Teixeira as he got his glove up to protect himself and the ball found his glove as he fell onto his back and his girlfriend like the grab as she was in the crowd
It got really serious in the bottom of the 5 inning with the Jays up 3-2 when Nick Swisher hit the ball to Edwin Encarnacion with 2 on and instead of getting Brett Gardner at third he decided to throw it to Johnny Mac at second but got away from him and it was bases loaded with no outs and Mark Teixeira at the plate but he hit a gapper into the outfield but Yunel Escobar went out and made a back handed grab. Then A-Rod hit into a double play to end the inning without given up a run when the bases were loaded with no outs amazing and then in top 6 with David Robertson coming into the game for Gracia throw 5 straight including a walk to Rajai Davis and then Yunel moves him over with a ground ball and then Rajai steals third with Bautista at the plate who then walked where Robertson steps off the rubber and looks around very quickly and noticed that Bautista was running to second and he throw it and it went into the outfield and Rajai scored to make it 4-2. Juan Rivera grounds the ball throw the infield and Bautista runs all the way home avoiding a Russell Martin tag and got his hand on the plate before Martin could put a tag down and it was 5-2.
In the bottom of the 8 inning the Jays were still up 5-2 but the first batter Shawn Camp faced was Robinson Cano who hit his second home run of the game to make it 5-3 and with one out Curtis Granderson got an infield single and with Octavio Dotel in he walked Russell Martin and Brett Gardner to load the bases with one out but then he strikes out Derek Jeter and Jon Rauch came in and with a fast ball got the Jays out of the 8. Then he stayed in the game to try and get the 4 out save and he used 3 pitches to get Mark Teixeira to fly out to Cory Patterson, then 2 pitches to get A-Rod to ground out to Mike McCoy at third for the second out, and finally 2 pitches to Robinson Cano to have him fly out to Cory Patterson so to get 4 outs he throw only 8 pitches.
The Jays are hitting well right now and the pitching is still pitching incredibly but not getting eaten up by early runs and losing low scoring games which is nice as the Jays are back at 500 for the first time since their horrible first 10 game road trip and are now 4-1 in the first half of this 10 game road trip.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Toronto Blue Jays - 12 - 13 - The Jays win 3 of 4 in Arlington and get a scare from Jose Bautista
The Blue Jays got a huge scary moment in the top of the 7 inning when Rangers Pedro Strop lost control of one of his pitches and it went sailing at Jose Bautista's head and he thankfully got his arms up to protect himself and the ball hit off his wrist and went down wincing in pain but stayed in the game after a minute for collecting his thoughts. He then went and drove for a ball and made a catch in the 8 inning off the bat of Michael Young so lets hope that Bautista will be OK.
Brandon Morrow pitched 6 innings and had a runner on every inning but only gave up a single run in the first and another in the third innings and gave up 6 hits and a walk while striking out 6 batters. While the Rangers starter Alexi Ogando pitched 6 innings have given up 4 hits and 3 walks along with 7 strike outs and he had one pitch in the first inning that he wanted back so after Bautista walked which brought Adam Lind to the plate and socked his 4th homer of the season and 3rd of the series to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.
So it was tied going into the 7th inning where the bullpen took over for both teams and it was still tied @ 2 going into the 9 inning and the Rangers brought in Darren Oliver and it blow up real good for Oliver and for the Rangers defense as after Jose Morlina grounded out for the first out of the inning. Darren Oliver gave up a single to Johnny Mac, Yanuel Escobar came off the bench and got a single himself, then Cory Patterson got bunt single and Johnny Mac scored to give the Jays the lead, and Jose Bautista walked to load the bases as the Jays got 4 straight batters reaching base. Then Adam Lind struck out to make it 2 outs and then the fielding went to sleep as Juan Rivera hit the ball to Adrian Beltran and the ball eat him up and Yanuel scored to make it 4-2 and while the play was still not finished Bautista wondered off second base and Oliver throw it towards second and it went onto the outfield grass and Cory Patterson scored to make it 5-2.
For the Jays Frank Fransisco came in for the last out of the 8 inning and struck out last night hero Mitch Moreland to be the winning pitch and then in the 9 he struck out 2 the first batters of the inning before getting Julio Borbon to line out to Lind @ first to end the game and give the Jays 3 of 4 in Arlington.
There are probably a few Jays hitters like Juan Rivera and Adam Lind that really do not feel like leaving Texas as they swinging lot hotter bats than they had coming into the 4 game series but now the Jays head to meet division leader Yankees in NYC for 3 games and will meet Freddy Gracia with his 1-0 record and his 0.69 in 3 outings this season including 2 starts where he did not give up a run in 6 innings both times so it is going to be interesting tomorrow night.
Bring on the Yankees
Tom Mehegan
Brandon Morrow pitched 6 innings and had a runner on every inning but only gave up a single run in the first and another in the third innings and gave up 6 hits and a walk while striking out 6 batters. While the Rangers starter Alexi Ogando pitched 6 innings have given up 4 hits and 3 walks along with 7 strike outs and he had one pitch in the first inning that he wanted back so after Bautista walked which brought Adam Lind to the plate and socked his 4th homer of the season and 3rd of the series to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.
So it was tied going into the 7th inning where the bullpen took over for both teams and it was still tied @ 2 going into the 9 inning and the Rangers brought in Darren Oliver and it blow up real good for Oliver and for the Rangers defense as after Jose Morlina grounded out for the first out of the inning. Darren Oliver gave up a single to Johnny Mac, Yanuel Escobar came off the bench and got a single himself, then Cory Patterson got bunt single and Johnny Mac scored to give the Jays the lead, and Jose Bautista walked to load the bases as the Jays got 4 straight batters reaching base. Then Adam Lind struck out to make it 2 outs and then the fielding went to sleep as Juan Rivera hit the ball to Adrian Beltran and the ball eat him up and Yanuel scored to make it 4-2 and while the play was still not finished Bautista wondered off second base and Oliver throw it towards second and it went onto the outfield grass and Cory Patterson scored to make it 5-2.
For the Jays Frank Fransisco came in for the last out of the 8 inning and struck out last night hero Mitch Moreland to be the winning pitch and then in the 9 he struck out 2 the first batters of the inning before getting Julio Borbon to line out to Lind @ first to end the game and give the Jays 3 of 4 in Arlington.
There are probably a few Jays hitters like Juan Rivera and Adam Lind that really do not feel like leaving Texas as they swinging lot hotter bats than they had coming into the 4 game series but now the Jays head to meet division leader Yankees in NYC for 3 games and will meet Freddy Gracia with his 1-0 record and his 0.69 in 3 outings this season including 2 starts where he did not give up a run in 6 innings both times so it is going to be interesting tomorrow night.
Bring on the Yankees
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Blue Jays - 11 - 13 - Reyes had two good innings and then let a field error eat at him while the Jays still hit the ball hard
Jo Jo Reyes started the game unbeatable with only an infield hit that got doubled up and Reyes faced 6 batters in the first 2 innings and only throw 20 pitches but with 1 out and Yorvit Torrealba @ the plate hit a ball to Edwin Encarnacion but he throws it away and after Mitch Moreland struck out. With 2 outs Jo Jo Reyes faced 6 more batters in the inning and could not get the finally out of inning as he gave up a walk, single, double, hit batter, single, and a double hit towards Cory Patterson who was scared of the wall and may of been able to catch the ball if he had gone after the fly ball harder, and then Carlos Villanueva came in and pitched 3.1 innings of no hit ball. In the end Jo Jo Reyes after having the throwing error behind him blow up really good as he it get to his head and he gave up 6 runs and all were unearned but he needs to able to put that error behind him and go back to the kind of stuff that he throw to the first 7 batters of the game and the game would of been much better.
The Jays were able to hit the tar out of the baseball again as they had 14 hits in the game and it started in the third inning with the bases loaded Adam Lind got a sac fly and then Juan Rivera singled in Mike McCoy to make it 2-0 and after the Rangers third inning came to bat and Mike McCoy singled in Cory Patterson and Jose Bautista doubled in 2 to make it 6-5. Then in the 7 inning Juan Rivera came to the plate and got his second of three hits and it was a solo jack to tie the game @ 6 and Juan Rivera ended up with a 3 for 4 including a walk.
Then in the 7 inning John Farrell made a head scratcher bring in Octavio Dotel to pitch to left hander Mitch Moreland slugged one to the deepest part of the field to give the Rangers a 7-6 win but the Jays had their chance in the 9 inning with runners at the corners and Edwin battled but ended up striking out to end the game.
So in other news Davis will be ready to come back up in the next couple of days and Cory Patterson is walking on egg shells and not playing all out in the outfield and then he also got mixed up and was caught stealing and looked confused after the play.
The Jays have Brandon Marrow on the mound tomorrow afternoon and lets hope it is like his last outing
Tom Mehegan
The Jays were able to hit the tar out of the baseball again as they had 14 hits in the game and it started in the third inning with the bases loaded Adam Lind got a sac fly and then Juan Rivera singled in Mike McCoy to make it 2-0 and after the Rangers third inning came to bat and Mike McCoy singled in Cory Patterson and Jose Bautista doubled in 2 to make it 6-5. Then in the 7 inning Juan Rivera came to the plate and got his second of three hits and it was a solo jack to tie the game @ 6 and Juan Rivera ended up with a 3 for 4 including a walk.
Then in the 7 inning John Farrell made a head scratcher bring in Octavio Dotel to pitch to left hander Mitch Moreland slugged one to the deepest part of the field to give the Rangers a 7-6 win but the Jays had their chance in the 9 inning with runners at the corners and Edwin battled but ended up striking out to end the game.
So in other news Davis will be ready to come back up in the next couple of days and Cory Patterson is walking on egg shells and not playing all out in the outfield and then he also got mixed up and was caught stealing and looked confused after the play.
The Jays have Brandon Marrow on the mound tomorrow afternoon and lets hope it is like his last outing
Tom Mehegan
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Blue Jays -11 - 12 - Jays bat around in the first and Adam Lind puts on a power display
Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison came in with a 1.88 ERA and got ballooned to 3.69 by the time he left after 3 innings and the only thing that showed he was a tiny bit wild is that he came into the game with 9 walks and no strike outs. It started in the top of the first inning with the Jays batting around as the Jays Yunel Escobar lead off both the first and second innings and in the first the Jays got 4 singles and Harrison gave them 3 walks including Juan Rivera and J.P. getting back-to-back RBI walks and the Jays ended up 5 runs and third run scored on a double ball by Travis Snider and no extra base hits so Harrison was his own worst enemy. The Jays got 2 runs in the third when Adam Lind homered and Travis Snider singled in Juan Rivera but they really went to work in the 4 inning when they got 3 more runs with a Cory Patterson doubled and Jose Bautista walked for the second time in the game and then Adam Lind came to the plate again and he said whats batter than a solo homer I tell U a 3 run Jack as he hit his 2Nd of the game and 3Rd of the season to give the Jays 10 runs through 4 innings.
So the Jay's Adam Lind had come into the game with his career high in RBIs @ the stadium in Arlington with 8 RBIs in a game 2 years ago so he did not break that career high but with a RBI single in the first, the sole shot, and the three run Jack gave him a 3 for 5 game with 5 RBIs to lead the Jays attack. Adam Lind boosted his batting average up to .256 from .235 coming into the game which can happen with a great game early in the season.
Juan Rivera with a 3 for 6 beginning to the series with a homer and 3 RBIs and his batting average has gone from .137 coming into the series to now hitting .172 and just like Lind U can only hope for a constant performances from the DH and first baseman @ the plate.
Also it was the return of Jesse Litsch from Las Vegas and got lite up in the bottom of the second inning with 2 outs as David Murphy doubled, Yorvit Torrealba singled, Chris Davis doubled, and Julio Borbon singled and the Rangers got their only 3 runs in the game but it felt like Litsch was constantly working from the stretch as he basically had a runner on base at least 4 of his 6 innings pitched. In the end he worked through it and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks and a K in 6 innings pitched so he got the job done and thats all that matters because Matt Harrison gave up 7 runs on 8 hits with 3 walks in 3 innings pitched.
The Jays Bullpen of Casey Janssen, Frank Francisco, and Shawn Camp pitched 3 shutout innings and gave up 3 hits to close out a 10-3 Blue Jays win and the Jays are 2-0 in Arlington this season which is awesome because the Rangers came into the series with a 10-2 home record and 14-7 record overall and was leading the american league and the Jays were not hitting anything coming into the series and have outscored the Rangers 15-6 in the first two games of the series.
Some not so good news from the farm has come in and Brett Cecil in triple A as he pitched 4.1 innings and gave up 11 runs (10 earned) on 13 hits with 3 walks and stuck out 2 and gave up 3 dingers to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox so it looks like he will need a bit more time to find his stuff before he rejoins the big club again.
The Jays can hopefully continue this all out attacked in Arlington for the last 2 games of the series
Tom Mehegan
So the Jay's Adam Lind had come into the game with his career high in RBIs @ the stadium in Arlington with 8 RBIs in a game 2 years ago so he did not break that career high but with a RBI single in the first, the sole shot, and the three run Jack gave him a 3 for 5 game with 5 RBIs to lead the Jays attack. Adam Lind boosted his batting average up to .256 from .235 coming into the game which can happen with a great game early in the season.
Juan Rivera with a 3 for 6 beginning to the series with a homer and 3 RBIs and his batting average has gone from .137 coming into the series to now hitting .172 and just like Lind U can only hope for a constant performances from the DH and first baseman @ the plate.
Also it was the return of Jesse Litsch from Las Vegas and got lite up in the bottom of the second inning with 2 outs as David Murphy doubled, Yorvit Torrealba singled, Chris Davis doubled, and Julio Borbon singled and the Rangers got their only 3 runs in the game but it felt like Litsch was constantly working from the stretch as he basically had a runner on base at least 4 of his 6 innings pitched. In the end he worked through it and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks and a K in 6 innings pitched so he got the job done and thats all that matters because Matt Harrison gave up 7 runs on 8 hits with 3 walks in 3 innings pitched.
The Jays Bullpen of Casey Janssen, Frank Francisco, and Shawn Camp pitched 3 shutout innings and gave up 3 hits to close out a 10-3 Blue Jays win and the Jays are 2-0 in Arlington this season which is awesome because the Rangers came into the series with a 10-2 home record and 14-7 record overall and was leading the american league and the Jays were not hitting anything coming into the series and have outscored the Rangers 15-6 in the first two games of the series.
Some not so good news from the farm has come in and Brett Cecil in triple A as he pitched 4.1 innings and gave up 11 runs (10 earned) on 13 hits with 3 walks and stuck out 2 and gave up 3 dingers to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox so it looks like he will need a bit more time to find his stuff before he rejoins the big club again.
The Jays can hopefully continue this all out attacked in Arlington for the last 2 games of the series
Tom Mehegan
Texas Rangers starter Matt Harrison came in with a 1.88 ERA and got ballooned to 3.69 by the time he left after 3 innings and the only thing that showed he was a tiny bit wild is that he came into the game with 9 walks and no strike outs. It started in the top of the first inning with the Jays batting around as the Jays Yunel Escobar lead off both the first and second innings and in the first the Jays got 4 singles and Harrison gave them 3 walks including Juan Rivera and J.P. getting back-to-back RBI walks and the Jays ended up 5 runs and third run scored on a double ball by Travis Snider and no extra base hits so Harrison was his own worst enemy. The Jays got 2 runs in the third when Adam Lind homered and Travis Snider singled in Juan Rivera but they really went to work in the 4 inning when they got 3 more runs with a Cory Patterson doubled and Jose Bautista walked for the second time in the game and then Adam Lind came to the plate again and he said whats batter than a solo homer I tell U a 3 run Jack as he hit his 2Nd of the game and 3Rd of the season to give the Jays 10 runs through 4 innings.
So the Jay's Adam Lind had come into the game with his career high in RBIs @ the stadium in Arington
So the Jay's Adam Lind had come into the game with his career high in RBIs @ the stadium in Arington
Monday, April 25, 2011
Blue Jays -10 -12 - a bat around 5 innings woke up the Jays bats as Cory Patterson and Jose Bautista went deep back-to-back
The Jays batted around in the 5 inning which started with a Travis Snider walk and then Johnny Mac and Chris Woodward both flied out and it looked like Rangers starter Colby Lewis would get out of the 5 inning still in a scoreless tie but then Yanul Escobar grounds a ball through the infield and keeps the inning alive and then the swing of the night came next of the bat of Cory Patterson and his toonie batting average who crushed a ball into the seats to give the Jays a 3-0 lead and that was then followed by the league leader in home runs Jose Bautista who airmailed a pitch into the seats and the fan did not want it so he set it back but it was 4-0 and after a walk to Adam Lind the all powerful Juan Rivera came to the plate with his .137 batting average going into the game hit his first home run as a Blue Jay to make it 6-0. It was a wake up call to the Jays hitters who had a .211 batting average over their last 8 games and had a 2-6 record going into this game in their last 8 games where they had more than 2 runs in a game only 3 times during this stretch and then they basically fell a sleep again for the rest of the game.
To start the game Kyle Drabek walked lead off hitter Ian Kinsler and then Evan Angrus singled but then Drabek buckled down getting a double play behind him by Michael Young and then Adrian Beltre grounds out to end the inning and Drabek did diffidently struggled in the first inning throwing 12 balls and 9 strikes in the inning. He retired 11 straight batters until the bottom of the 5 inning where he walked Nelson Cruz but David Murphy grounded into a double play which would be very important as the very next batter Yorvit Torrealba smacked his third ground tripper and then he got into a little bit more trouble in the 6 inning when Julio Borbon singled and Ian Kinsler doubled him home and then Michael young doubled in Evan Angrus and Drabek got out of the inning with a Nelson Cruz a ground out. So Kyle Drabek pitched 6 solid innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks and through 101 pitches and 61 for strikes (after the first inning he throw 80 pitches 52 for strikes and 28 balls) and gave the Jays a quality start.
The Jays Bullpen had their moments in the last 3 innings like Jason Frasor inheriting a Marc Rzepczynski base runner and faced a Blue Jay for a second Mike Napoli who finally grounded out to Johnny Mac on the 7 pitch of the at bat to end the 7 inning. Then in the 8 inning with Frasor still on with 2 outs Michael Young doubles for the second time in the game but Frasor was able to get to fly out to Cory Patterson to end the inning. In the 9 inning Nelson Cruz leads off against Jon Rauch and Smacks his 6th homer of the season to make it 6-4 but Rauch got the next three Rangers batters 1-2-3 to end the game.
So as the Blue Jays starter goes for tomorrow's nights game it turns out that the Jays will be going back to Jesse Litsch who pitched 3 innings and throw 44 pitches and gave up a run on 4 hits and struck out 2 batters and the reason Litsch can come back before spending 10 days on the farm is because Arron Hill has been placed on the 15 day DL with his sore hamstring so lets see if Litsch regained his confidence in the one start down on the farm.
Lets see if the Jays can make it two in a row
Tom Mehegan
To start the game Kyle Drabek walked lead off hitter Ian Kinsler and then Evan Angrus singled but then Drabek buckled down getting a double play behind him by Michael Young and then Adrian Beltre grounds out to end the inning and Drabek did diffidently struggled in the first inning throwing 12 balls and 9 strikes in the inning. He retired 11 straight batters until the bottom of the 5 inning where he walked Nelson Cruz but David Murphy grounded into a double play which would be very important as the very next batter Yorvit Torrealba smacked his third ground tripper and then he got into a little bit more trouble in the 6 inning when Julio Borbon singled and Ian Kinsler doubled him home and then Michael young doubled in Evan Angrus and Drabek got out of the inning with a Nelson Cruz a ground out. So Kyle Drabek pitched 6 solid innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks and through 101 pitches and 61 for strikes (after the first inning he throw 80 pitches 52 for strikes and 28 balls) and gave the Jays a quality start.
The Jays Bullpen had their moments in the last 3 innings like Jason Frasor inheriting a Marc Rzepczynski base runner and faced a Blue Jay for a second Mike Napoli who finally grounded out to Johnny Mac on the 7 pitch of the at bat to end the 7 inning. Then in the 8 inning with Frasor still on with 2 outs Michael Young doubles for the second time in the game but Frasor was able to get to fly out to Cory Patterson to end the inning. In the 9 inning Nelson Cruz leads off against Jon Rauch and Smacks his 6th homer of the season to make it 6-4 but Rauch got the next three Rangers batters 1-2-3 to end the game.
So as the Blue Jays starter goes for tomorrow's nights game it turns out that the Jays will be going back to Jesse Litsch who pitched 3 innings and throw 44 pitches and gave up a run on 4 hits and struck out 2 batters and the reason Litsch can come back before spending 10 days on the farm is because Arron Hill has been placed on the 15 day DL with his sore hamstring so lets see if Litsch regained his confidence in the one start down on the farm.
Lets see if the Jays can make it two in a row
Tom Mehegan
Jays management have decisions to make if underachieving players do not turn it around
The Jays have players on the hot seat right now and the Jays management have decisions to be made about these players:
Travis Snider - is hitting .167 so far this season and he gets eaten up by an inside curve ball and if he can not figure out to get hits he will be on the road to Las Vegas to try and figure out how to handle curve balls and get his confidence back. If he goes down it would be Eric Thames be coming up with a batting average of .382 (26 for 68) with 2 homers and 14 RBIs with 9 doubles but does have 17 Ks and would be probably up for like 2 to 3 weeks most likely.
Juan Rivera - Rivera is hitting .137 this season and is struggling with the bat and with the glove too and if he can not get the job done he will be reassigned to the minors if another team does not pick him off the waiver wire. If he let go the Jays will have to make a small deal to get a solid bat to be a DH for the Jays or maybe bring up Brett Lawrie to be a split between DH and third base with Johnny Mac / Chris Woodward with Johnny Mac playing the field and Chris Woodward being the DH when Lawrie is playing the field.
Jo Jo Reyes - is on a start to start basis right now with a solid start last Friday and will get another start on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers and if he keeps throwing strikes and stays a head of batters he will continue to be the Jays 5 starter until he gets rocked hard throughout the ball park and then either Cecil or Litsch will come back up to take his place in the order and he will be reassigned to the Las Vegas if another team does not pick him up.
Jays need to put wins together to get back into the playoff chase
Tom Mehegan
Travis Snider - is hitting .167 so far this season and he gets eaten up by an inside curve ball and if he can not figure out to get hits he will be on the road to Las Vegas to try and figure out how to handle curve balls and get his confidence back. If he goes down it would be Eric Thames be coming up with a batting average of .382 (26 for 68) with 2 homers and 14 RBIs with 9 doubles but does have 17 Ks and would be probably up for like 2 to 3 weeks most likely.
Juan Rivera - Rivera is hitting .137 this season and is struggling with the bat and with the glove too and if he can not get the job done he will be reassigned to the minors if another team does not pick him off the waiver wire. If he let go the Jays will have to make a small deal to get a solid bat to be a DH for the Jays or maybe bring up Brett Lawrie to be a split between DH and third base with Johnny Mac / Chris Woodward with Johnny Mac playing the field and Chris Woodward being the DH when Lawrie is playing the field.
Jo Jo Reyes - is on a start to start basis right now with a solid start last Friday and will get another start on Wednesday against the Texas Rangers and if he keeps throwing strikes and stays a head of batters he will continue to be the Jays 5 starter until he gets rocked hard throughout the ball park and then either Cecil or Litsch will come back up to take his place in the order and he will be reassigned to the Las Vegas if another team does not pick him up.
Jays need to put wins together to get back into the playoff chase
Tom Mehegan
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Blue Jays - 9-12 - Jake Shield one batters Ricky Romero as Romero throws one pitch that he would want back
The Blue Jays got beat by Jake Shields and the Rays 2-0 as Rickey Romero throw a 1 out on a 0-2 pitch down the line and narrowly getting into the bullpen by Ben Zobrist for the only 2 runs scored during the game and Romero gave up a double to start the second inning and left him there and he continued to pitch well for 7 innings.
Ricky Romero gave up 5 hits and a walk over 7 innings and it was just that one 0-2 pitch that decided the game and he struck out 10 batters and he got out 18 of the last 21 batters he faced and deserved a much better fate than a 2-0 loss.
The reason why Ricky Romero and his good game was on the wrong end of the result was because of Rays starting pitcher who had his second straight complete game as he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks along with 7 Ks in his 9 innings and he got some timely pitches to keep the Jays off the score board and the Jays were not able to put hits together and now the Jays have 3 players at or below a toonie with Cory Patterson hitting .200, Travis Snider hitting .167, and Juan Rivera hitting .137 so hitting needs to get better.
The game came down to the bottom of the 9 inning when Jose Bautista walked and then Adam Lind who came in with 5 homers against Jake Shields in his career came to the plate but flied out and went 0-for-4 today. Then Jake Shields picked off Bautista off at first base and finally Juan Rivera pop out to end the game and send the 14 thousand + fans home with a 2-3 losing home stand and now have to go on the road for another 10 game road trip.
So tomorrow Kyle Drabek will be pitching in front of family and friends in Arlington Texas and will be facing the hottest hitting ball club in the majors as he will face the Rangers and the Jays need something to get on a roll and put the beginning of the season behind them and get some of the excitement that the team has lost since the opening series against the Twins.
So I think can do it and the bats are going to a hitter friendly ballpark
Tom Mehegan
Ricky Romero gave up 5 hits and a walk over 7 innings and it was just that one 0-2 pitch that decided the game and he struck out 10 batters and he got out 18 of the last 21 batters he faced and deserved a much better fate than a 2-0 loss.
The reason why Ricky Romero and his good game was on the wrong end of the result was because of Rays starting pitcher who had his second straight complete game as he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks along with 7 Ks in his 9 innings and he got some timely pitches to keep the Jays off the score board and the Jays were not able to put hits together and now the Jays have 3 players at or below a toonie with Cory Patterson hitting .200, Travis Snider hitting .167, and Juan Rivera hitting .137 so hitting needs to get better.
The game came down to the bottom of the 9 inning when Jose Bautista walked and then Adam Lind who came in with 5 homers against Jake Shields in his career came to the plate but flied out and went 0-for-4 today. Then Jake Shields picked off Bautista off at first base and finally Juan Rivera pop out to end the game and send the 14 thousand + fans home with a 2-3 losing home stand and now have to go on the road for another 10 game road trip.
So tomorrow Kyle Drabek will be pitching in front of family and friends in Arlington Texas and will be facing the hottest hitting ball club in the majors as he will face the Rangers and the Jays need something to get on a roll and put the beginning of the season behind them and get some of the excitement that the team has lost since the opening series against the Twins.
So I think can do it and the bats are going to a hitter friendly ballpark
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Blue Jays - 9 -11 - Brandon Morrow and David Price had a good pitching duel
So it was Brandon Morrow first start of the season and he had little bit of nervous energy inside of him so he gave a walk to Samuel Fuld and then Johnny Damon stretched his hitting streak to 12 games in a big way with a 2 run dinger to give the Rays a quick 2-0 lead but then Brandon settled down as he struck out the next three batters in order and would end up striking 10 in 5.1 innings and only gave up a Stacey Kotchman along with a single to Samuel Fuld and then a walk to him in the 5 inning before striking out Johnny Damon and he was the last batter he faced.
The Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price had one big problem until the 9 inning and that was Jose Bautista who hit 2 home runs off him and then during the game he got some great defense behind him as he p[itched 8 + innings and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and struck out 5 batters.
Then the pitcher penciled in for Tuesday start against the Texas Rangers Carlos Villanueva came in and was off completely as he walked the first batter he faced Matt Joyce and then he faced Ben Zobrist who crushed a 1-1 pitch into the second deck to give the Rays a 5-2 lead and made Morrow the pitcher of record and then the Rays got an insurance run when Johnny Damon grounded a ground ball that Jays could not turn the double play and hit batter Sean Rodriguez by Casey Janssen scored.
In the bottom of the 9th Jose Bautista singled, Adam Lind doubled him in, Jose Molina singled and then Kyle Farnsworth came in for Price and gives up a single to Juan Rivera that drove in Adam Lind. Then the turning point of the game happened when Travis Snider but down a bunt and may of been safe at first but the umpire called him out and the big thing that happened was Farnsworth coming off the mound and injuring himself and then gets extra pitches to see if he was OK and it refocused him while the Jays got cooled down the Rays got the next two batters out and the Rays won 6-4 with the tying run stuck at second base with both Johnny Mac and the returning Mike McCoy at the plate and they both grounded out.
Brandon Morrow pitched so well and David Price had a very good outing, and Bautista is warming up earlier than last season
Tom Mehegan
The Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price had one big problem until the 9 inning and that was Jose Bautista who hit 2 home runs off him and then during the game he got some great defense behind him as he p[itched 8 + innings and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and struck out 5 batters.
Then the pitcher penciled in for Tuesday start against the Texas Rangers Carlos Villanueva came in and was off completely as he walked the first batter he faced Matt Joyce and then he faced Ben Zobrist who crushed a 1-1 pitch into the second deck to give the Rays a 5-2 lead and made Morrow the pitcher of record and then the Rays got an insurance run when Johnny Damon grounded a ground ball that Jays could not turn the double play and hit batter Sean Rodriguez by Casey Janssen scored.
In the bottom of the 9th Jose Bautista singled, Adam Lind doubled him in, Jose Molina singled and then Kyle Farnsworth came in for Price and gives up a single to Juan Rivera that drove in Adam Lind. Then the turning point of the game happened when Travis Snider but down a bunt and may of been safe at first but the umpire called him out and the big thing that happened was Farnsworth coming off the mound and injuring himself and then gets extra pitches to see if he was OK and it refocused him while the Jays got cooled down the Rays got the next two batters out and the Rays won 6-4 with the tying run stuck at second base with both Johnny Mac and the returning Mike McCoy at the plate and they both grounded out.
Brandon Morrow pitched so well and David Price had a very good outing, and Bautista is warming up earlier than last season
Tom Mehegan
Friday, April 22, 2011
Blue Jays - 9-10 - Johnny Mac sends 23 + thousand fans home happy and Jose Bautista fell a single short of the cycle
The Game started innocently enough but then the air was taken out of the Roger Center as the people around me at the game realized that Jayson Nix was playing second and that Edwin Encarnacion was back playing third base and the reason why it was important was because Jayson Nix was injured trying to turn a double play and I thought that it would be the return of Chris Woodward but instead it was Johnny Mac. This came full circle at the end of the game with two big surprises and the first was Juan Rivera got a hit (5 for 43 this season as a Blue Jay) who then was replaced for a pinch runner and that is where Chris Woodward made his first appearance in 7 years in a Blue Jay uniform but it did not matter because the second surprise happened when the next batter Johnny Mac did something he is not known for doing which is hitting a home run and won the game for the Blue Jays 7-5.
Jo Jo Reyes was the Blue Jays starting pitcher and I shouting at him that if he wanted to continue to collect a major league salary he needed to throw strikes and he did so but he throw strikes and a lot of them during the first 3 innings as he throw 57 pitches over this period and gave up Sac fly in the first and a single in the third both to B.J. Upton and it scored Samuel Fuld both times. Then I went to get some popcorn on the concourse and after that he pitched 4 more innings and throw only 43 pitches and his strikes in the 5 inning got hard hits as 3 of the first 4 Ray batters got hits including a Johnny Damon (who got booed mercifully every time he came to the plate) double and Samuel Fuld triple who scored 3 of the Rays 4 runs and drove in the other one. So Jo Jo Reyes pitched 7 innings and throw 100 pitches and 71 for strikes while giving up 6 hits, 4 earn runs, and 1 walk while striking out 6 batters.
Then Jose Bautista fell a single short of the cycle and had two final at bats and walked both times and scored all 4 runs for the Jays going into the 11 inning with a double in the first and tied the game at 1 and in the bottom of the fourth he lead off with a triple which was doubled in by Adam Lind to tie it @ 2 and then homered in the bottom of the 5 inning to make it 3-3 Rays and finally walked in the eight inning and was doubled in by Edwin Encarnacion to tie it at 4.
I do not know how like 18 thousand of the 23 + thousand were all around home plate between first base and third base and then most of the rest where out in the 100 outfield seats where I was tell the one Rays fan to go back to Tampa most of the night but in reality a great sports fan is a great fan no matter what team they cheer for. I also hear something very strange back on the concourse after the game where a huge group of fans where standing around a TV watch Johnny Mac be interviewed after the game and very loud Johnny Mac chant went up and the Johnny Mac cult following gets bigger every game.
Great game, great environment, and an extremely impressive pitching performance by Jo Jo Reyes
Tom Mehegan
Jo Jo Reyes was the Blue Jays starting pitcher and I shouting at him that if he wanted to continue to collect a major league salary he needed to throw strikes and he did so but he throw strikes and a lot of them during the first 3 innings as he throw 57 pitches over this period and gave up Sac fly in the first and a single in the third both to B.J. Upton and it scored Samuel Fuld both times. Then I went to get some popcorn on the concourse and after that he pitched 4 more innings and throw only 43 pitches and his strikes in the 5 inning got hard hits as 3 of the first 4 Ray batters got hits including a Johnny Damon (who got booed mercifully every time he came to the plate) double and Samuel Fuld triple who scored 3 of the Rays 4 runs and drove in the other one. So Jo Jo Reyes pitched 7 innings and throw 100 pitches and 71 for strikes while giving up 6 hits, 4 earn runs, and 1 walk while striking out 6 batters.
Then Jose Bautista fell a single short of the cycle and had two final at bats and walked both times and scored all 4 runs for the Jays going into the 11 inning with a double in the first and tied the game at 1 and in the bottom of the fourth he lead off with a triple which was doubled in by Adam Lind to tie it @ 2 and then homered in the bottom of the 5 inning to make it 3-3 Rays and finally walked in the eight inning and was doubled in by Edwin Encarnacion to tie it at 4.
I do not know how like 18 thousand of the 23 + thousand were all around home plate between first base and third base and then most of the rest where out in the 100 outfield seats where I was tell the one Rays fan to go back to Tampa most of the night but in reality a great sports fan is a great fan no matter what team they cheer for. I also hear something very strange back on the concourse after the game where a huge group of fans where standing around a TV watch Johnny Mac be interviewed after the game and very loud Johnny Mac chant went up and the Johnny Mac cult following gets bigger every game.
Great game, great environment, and an extremely impressive pitching performance by Jo Jo Reyes
Tom Mehegan
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Blue Jays sent Brett Cecil to Las Vegas and in return the Jays bring back a former can't miss prospect back along with more
So the day after Jesse Litsch goes down to triple A Las Vegas to get his stuff righted Brett Cecil has joined him as he to needs to find his stuff which I believe that it is a good move because the Jays starters are having a hard time finding the strike zone so because they are so young they should be sent down to get their confidence back. So Brett Cecil is nowhere near the pitcher he was last season where he lead the Jays with 15 wins while Jesse Litsch missed all but 9 starts last season and missed most of the 2009 season as well so may still need some more time on the farm since he really has not pitched a lot since '08.
The surprising part of this move is who is coming up its not a pitcher like Brad Mills but instead it is a shortstop that Jays fans know well as it is Chris Woodward a '94 draft pick by the Blue Jays and was a high prospect in the organization and spent time with the jays between 1999-2004 and by the end of his first stint with the Jays he was a bust as he could not hit big league pitching with a career batting average of .247 as a Blue Jay. he also had lots of fielding errors as when he played a lot at short in 79 games in 2002 he had 13 fielding errors and in 2003 in 103 games he had 17 fielding errors. He was moved around the infield and still had a couple of errors but not as much as at short and now he is coming up from Triple A Las Vegas with a batting average .306 (15 for 49) with 5 doubles and 2 homers and as a shortstop he has 2 fielding errors in his 12 games. So Woodward could be a back-up for Yunel Escobar or more likely replacing Arron Hill if him and his sore hamstring are not ready to play in the next couple of days as he is day-to-day with said sore hamstring
Other News
Brett Lawrie is having trouble playing third base down in Las Vegas as he has 6 fielding errors and has struck out 14 times in his 13 games but has a .393 batting average (22 for 56) with 6 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
The Jays will probably wait until the weekend or Monday to announce who will be pitching in Texas on Tuesday against the Rangers and it will probably be someone from Las Vegas most likely Brad Mills as he has pitched 22 innings and given up 12 hits with 2 earned runs and has struck 17 and walked 6 batters. The other choice other than a trade is Mike MacDonald who in 14.1 has given up an earned run on 8 hits and has struck out 10 and walked 2 batters.
Ok Blue Jays Lets Play Ball and I am going to see Jo Jo Reyes in person as I will be in stands
Tom Mehegan
The surprising part of this move is who is coming up its not a pitcher like Brad Mills but instead it is a shortstop that Jays fans know well as it is Chris Woodward a '94 draft pick by the Blue Jays and was a high prospect in the organization and spent time with the jays between 1999-2004 and by the end of his first stint with the Jays he was a bust as he could not hit big league pitching with a career batting average of .247 as a Blue Jay. he also had lots of fielding errors as when he played a lot at short in 79 games in 2002 he had 13 fielding errors and in 2003 in 103 games he had 17 fielding errors. He was moved around the infield and still had a couple of errors but not as much as at short and now he is coming up from Triple A Las Vegas with a batting average .306 (15 for 49) with 5 doubles and 2 homers and as a shortstop he has 2 fielding errors in his 12 games. So Woodward could be a back-up for Yunel Escobar or more likely replacing Arron Hill if him and his sore hamstring are not ready to play in the next couple of days as he is day-to-day with said sore hamstring
Other News
Brett Lawrie is having trouble playing third base down in Las Vegas as he has 6 fielding errors and has struck out 14 times in his 13 games but has a .393 batting average (22 for 56) with 6 doubles, a triple, and a home run.
The Jays will probably wait until the weekend or Monday to announce who will be pitching in Texas on Tuesday against the Rangers and it will probably be someone from Las Vegas most likely Brad Mills as he has pitched 22 innings and given up 12 hits with 2 earned runs and has struck 17 and walked 6 batters. The other choice other than a trade is Mike MacDonald who in 14.1 has given up an earned run on 8 hits and has struck out 10 and walked 2 batters.
Ok Blue Jays Lets Play Ball and I am going to see Jo Jo Reyes in person as I will be in stands
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Blue Jays - 8 - 10 - The Jays hitters make Bartolo Colon look like an all-star tonight
The Jays had their chances to get to Bartolo Colon in the first inning Yunel Escobar singled open the game and with two outs Adam Lind gets a walk but Edwin Encarnacion flied out to Andrew Jones and then to open the second inning J.P. went deep to give the Jays their first run. Then the Jays made Colon look like an all-star as he pitched 6.2 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits with 7 K's along with 2 walks and 2 on the hits came in the 7 inning where J.P. who was on first and made a huge rookie mistake on a Travis Snider single with Edwin on on second and one out. J.P. tried to go first to third on the hit but Edwin had stopped at third and J.P. did not realize this because he had his head down and was tagged out at third because he the second runner on the bag to make it first and third with 2 out and then Jayson Nix lined a base hit to center field and J.P. would of scored the Jays 3 run of the game so a rookie mistake cost them at least a run.
If Colon looked like an all-star in his first start of the season then Brett Cecil looked like a pitcher that did not look like a Major League pitcher as he struggled throughout his 5 innings as he behind the eight ball all night long and gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and just like Drabek last night 4 walks really did him in. Starting in the first inning where he loaded the bases with 2 walks and a hit while the Yankees scored their first run on a Robertson Cano ground out to make it 1-0 and then in the second Curtis Granderson triple as Jose Bautista had a hard time getting the ball and Toronto native Russell Martin scored their second run followed by a Derek Jeter ground out to make it 3-0 Yankees. In the third inning the funniest moment in the game happened when A-Rod was caught stealing when he was safe and he could not believe it but he deserve it while the Yankees got to Cecil again in the 5 inning when Nick Swisher singled and Mark Teixeira doubled followed by back to back sac fly by A-Rod and Cano to make it 5-1.
Then in the Top of the 9 inning Jays fans were introduced to Frank Fransicso whose first pitch was air mailed by Curtis Granderson to make it 6-2 but the Jays ended up with two chances with the tying run at the plate but Johnny Mac popped the ball up in front of the plate followed by Yunel Escobar who flied out to Granderson to end the game and leave the bases loaded.
The Jays did not get the timely hits but did split the series with the Yankees which hopefully they will be able to win later in the season
Tom Mehegan
If Colon looked like an all-star in his first start of the season then Brett Cecil looked like a pitcher that did not look like a Major League pitcher as he struggled throughout his 5 innings as he behind the eight ball all night long and gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and just like Drabek last night 4 walks really did him in. Starting in the first inning where he loaded the bases with 2 walks and a hit while the Yankees scored their first run on a Robertson Cano ground out to make it 1-0 and then in the second Curtis Granderson triple as Jose Bautista had a hard time getting the ball and Toronto native Russell Martin scored their second run followed by a Derek Jeter ground out to make it 3-0 Yankees. In the third inning the funniest moment in the game happened when A-Rod was caught stealing when he was safe and he could not believe it but he deserve it while the Yankees got to Cecil again in the 5 inning when Nick Swisher singled and Mark Teixeira doubled followed by back to back sac fly by A-Rod and Cano to make it 5-1.
Then in the Top of the 9 inning Jays fans were introduced to Frank Fransicso whose first pitch was air mailed by Curtis Granderson to make it 6-2 but the Jays ended up with two chances with the tying run at the plate but Johnny Mac popped the ball up in front of the plate followed by Yunel Escobar who flied out to Granderson to end the game and leave the bases loaded.
The Jays did not get the timely hits but did split the series with the Yankees which hopefully they will be able to win later in the season
Tom Mehegan
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Blue Jays - 8-9 - The Jays get the better of Rivera as Jays take the first of two against division leading Yankees
The Blue Jays faced former Blue Jays pitcher A.J. Burnett and they had at least 2 runners on base 5 of the 6 innings he was in for but did not get the key hit to open up the game as in the 6 inning after getting the bases loaded and chasing A.J. Burnett David Robertson came in and struck out Yunel Escobar and Travis Snider (his third and final strike out of the game) to end the inning and trailed 4-3. Even though Cory Patterson had a chances to score when throw the ball wildly and Toronto native Russell Martin had a ball get away from him and if Patterson had taken his next step was towards the plate instead of back towards third base he would scored and tied the game.
Kyle Drabek had a little bit of a rough outing giving up 6 hits in 5.1 innings pitched but the big reason for him giving up 4 runs was that he walked 4 batters in the game and 2 of these walks scored including 2 of the walks scoring the Yankees first 2 runs in the second inning and then he was also lite up by Mark Teixeria who hit a 2 run digger in the top of the 6 inning to make it 4-2. While the Bullpen came up with 4.2 inning pitched performance by Jason Frasor, Marc Rzepczynski, Shawn Camp, and Jon Rauch who picked up his first win as a Blue Jay and the only mistake by the bullpen was by Jason Frasor who gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson.
The Blue Jays early in the game hit balls really hard like Edwin's double that hit of the top of the bullpen fence and almost a homer so the Jays did hit hard balls all over the field tonight and it continued in the 9 inning Mariano Rivera came in to close it down with a 5-3 lead but the Jays finally put the timely hits together. It started with Yunel Escobar doubling and then Travis Snider grond out and was almost safe as he drove for the base and was out by inches and Yunel moved to third and then Jose Bautista walked and it was an unintentional intentional walk and ball 4 got away from Russell Martin and he and Rivera both reacted very slowly and Yanul scored to make it 5-4 followed by Adam Lind who lined a ball to center field and Bautista went first to third on the base hit. Johnny Mac bunted up the first base side of the mound and Mark Teixeria throw the ball home late and Bautista scored to tie up the game and it was Rivera first blown save on the season in his 8 save opportunity but Cory Patterson grounds into an inning ending double play with bases juiced.
In the 10 inning Jon Rauch walked 2 but did not give up a run so it gave the Jays top of the order a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning and the Yankees brought in the walking machine known as Ivan Nova so with an Edwin Encarnacion single on first with 2 outs the 0 for 5 Travis Snider comes to the plate and doubles in Edwin to win the game 6-5 and the Jays won the first of two against the Yankees.
In other news Arron Hill slide awkwardly into second base as he stole second and left the game right away and it turns out he has a strained hamstring and is day-to-day. Also Frank Francisco has joined the team after his rehab outings and in-exchange for Jesse Litsch and it was Jesse over JoJo because Jesse has options left and JoJo does not which means if we tried to send him down we probably who have to trade him like they needed to trade David Purcey and the Jays want to see a little bit more of JoJo before they let him go.
Jays beat the Yankees, Jay beat the Yankees, The Jayssss beattt theee Yannnkkeess!
Tom Mehegan
Kyle Drabek had a little bit of a rough outing giving up 6 hits in 5.1 innings pitched but the big reason for him giving up 4 runs was that he walked 4 batters in the game and 2 of these walks scored including 2 of the walks scoring the Yankees first 2 runs in the second inning and then he was also lite up by Mark Teixeria who hit a 2 run digger in the top of the 6 inning to make it 4-2. While the Bullpen came up with 4.2 inning pitched performance by Jason Frasor, Marc Rzepczynski, Shawn Camp, and Jon Rauch who picked up his first win as a Blue Jay and the only mistake by the bullpen was by Jason Frasor who gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson.
The Blue Jays early in the game hit balls really hard like Edwin's double that hit of the top of the bullpen fence and almost a homer so the Jays did hit hard balls all over the field tonight and it continued in the 9 inning Mariano Rivera came in to close it down with a 5-3 lead but the Jays finally put the timely hits together. It started with Yunel Escobar doubling and then Travis Snider grond out and was almost safe as he drove for the base and was out by inches and Yunel moved to third and then Jose Bautista walked and it was an unintentional intentional walk and ball 4 got away from Russell Martin and he and Rivera both reacted very slowly and Yanul scored to make it 5-4 followed by Adam Lind who lined a ball to center field and Bautista went first to third on the base hit. Johnny Mac bunted up the first base side of the mound and Mark Teixeria throw the ball home late and Bautista scored to tie up the game and it was Rivera first blown save on the season in his 8 save opportunity but Cory Patterson grounds into an inning ending double play with bases juiced.
In the 10 inning Jon Rauch walked 2 but did not give up a run so it gave the Jays top of the order a chance to win it in the bottom of the inning and the Yankees brought in the walking machine known as Ivan Nova so with an Edwin Encarnacion single on first with 2 outs the 0 for 5 Travis Snider comes to the plate and doubles in Edwin to win the game 6-5 and the Jays won the first of two against the Yankees.
In other news Arron Hill slide awkwardly into second base as he stole second and left the game right away and it turns out he has a strained hamstring and is day-to-day. Also Frank Francisco has joined the team after his rehab outings and in-exchange for Jesse Litsch and it was Jesse over JoJo because Jesse has options left and JoJo does not which means if we tried to send him down we probably who have to trade him like they needed to trade David Purcey and the Jays want to see a little bit more of JoJo before they let him go.
Jays beat the Yankees, Jay beat the Yankees, The Jayssss beattt theee Yannnkkeess!
Tom Mehegan
Monday, April 18, 2011
Blue Jays - 7-9 - The Jays first 10 game road trip is over and Ricky Romero had a hard time @ fenway park
After a 9-1 drubbing against the Boston Red Soxs with Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound and he throw 7 innings of 1 hit ball along with 3 K and a walk while Ricky Romero pitched 4.1 innings and gave up 5 earn runs on 5 hits along with 5 walks and gave up homer to Jared Lowrie and he ended up with 4 RBIs in the game. So the only thing to remember now is that the Jays have played 12.5 % of their road games now and with 5 game home stand against New York Yankees (2 games) and Tampa Bay Rays (3 games) and will need to get their bats working again with the home cooking as Travis Snider who is batting .151, Arron Hill who is batting .233, and Adam Lind who is batting .230 so far this season. The road trip of 3-7 was less than my expectation but with the blow up bullpen game, the umpires horrible call, and games where fielding mistakes that cost the team victories so it is going to be interesting to see if the Jays can put some road wins together the next time they get on the road against the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays which is another 10 game road trip following this upcoming 5 game home stand.
The Jays have traded David Purcey to Oakland for Daniel Farquhar who is a 24-year-old right-hander who was the property of the Blue Jays in the past before they traded him to the Oakland A's along with Trystan Magnuson for Rajai Davis. Daniel Farquhar has had 4 relief appearance and has pitch 8 innings and 9 Ks for Triple A Sacramento and will now be headed triple A Las Vegas.
It is very close to being done that Brandon Morrow will be put back into the rotation Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays after having not so good rehab starts and the Jays are hoping that he find his control when he gets up to the big team. This will be interesting as he seems to have good control games and then during some other starts he can not throw a strike even if the strike zone is the Atlantic ocean so lets see what kind of pitcher Morrow will be when he pitches on Friday.
So in the end the Jays have 2 10 game road trips early in the season and then it will be shorter road trips
Tom Mehegan
The Jays have traded David Purcey to Oakland for Daniel Farquhar who is a 24-year-old right-hander who was the property of the Blue Jays in the past before they traded him to the Oakland A's along with Trystan Magnuson for Rajai Davis. Daniel Farquhar has had 4 relief appearance and has pitch 8 innings and 9 Ks for Triple A Sacramento and will now be headed triple A Las Vegas.
It is very close to being done that Brandon Morrow will be put back into the rotation Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays after having not so good rehab starts and the Jays are hoping that he find his control when he gets up to the big team. This will be interesting as he seems to have good control games and then during some other starts he can not throw a strike even if the strike zone is the Atlantic ocean so lets see what kind of pitcher Morrow will be when he pitches on Friday.
So in the end the Jays have 2 10 game road trips early in the season and then it will be shorter road trips
Tom Mehegan
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Blue Jays - 7-8 - Jesse Litsch needs better mental toughness as he lets fielding mistakes compound and hurts him
Two interesting observations coming out of this 8-1 loss to the Boston Red Soxs and those are one that Jesse Litsch needs to a lot more head strong as in the second inning Jed Lowrie hits a ball to left fielder Juan Rivera and everybody is half assing it on the play as everybody seems to thing it is a foul ball so when it comes back into play (the wind may have had something to do with it) it caught Rivera napping as it drops in and it catches Lowrie asleep as he ends up only at first as he jugged down the baseline. So it is a man on first with 1 out and then Litsch proceeds to give up three more hits in a row ending with a 3 run jack by Jacoby Ellsbury and he looked to lose his focus to make it 4-1 Red Soxs with the Jays getting a gift run as Juan Rivera is caught in a run down between first and second as Arron Hill scored in the top of the inning. Then in the 6 inning with 2 outs Ortiz gets a single and I think OK lets get the next batter out and move but then Jayson Nix bobbles a ground ball which he had way more time than he thought as the hitter Jed Lowrie again jogged down to first so U have first and second with 2 outs and then J.D. Drew walks to load the bases where Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled and cleared the bases but only 2 score as Drew is caught down at the plate. So if Litsch could just move on after a mistake and refocus he would of had a great outing as he got 13 straight batters out around these fielding mistakes and he gave up 6 of his 7 hits in his 6 innings pitched.
The second thing is that the Jays have lost their timely hitting the last couple of games as they are still hitting extremely poor but now they just do not put the timely hits together ans today Jon Lester was there for the taken as they had runners on base with 6 hits in his 6 innings and just not able to get that timely to drive the run with two outs and hit into double plays or get caught napping. As Travis Snider gets caught off first base as Jun Rivera lines a ball right at Dustin Pederoia and gets doubled up Gonzalez first move is to the bag to caught Pedroia's throw to double up Snider and with Jayson Nix stealing second with two outs and the hottest blue jays hitter coming into the series Yanul Escobar at the plate and he strikes out and has a single hit in the first 3 games of the series.
The Jays have Rickey Romero Vs Daisuke Matsuzaka and Daisuke 0-2 with a 12.86 so far this season
Tom Mehegan
The second thing is that the Jays have lost their timely hitting the last couple of games as they are still hitting extremely poor but now they just do not put the timely hits together ans today Jon Lester was there for the taken as they had runners on base with 6 hits in his 6 innings and just not able to get that timely to drive the run with two outs and hit into double plays or get caught napping. As Travis Snider gets caught off first base as Jun Rivera lines a ball right at Dustin Pederoia and gets doubled up Gonzalez first move is to the bag to caught Pedroia's throw to double up Snider and with Jayson Nix stealing second with two outs and the hottest blue jays hitter coming into the series Yanul Escobar at the plate and he strikes out and has a single hit in the first 3 games of the series.
The Jays have Rickey Romero Vs Daisuke Matsuzaka and Daisuke 0-2 with a 12.86 so far this season
Tom Mehegan
Down on the farm - New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA - Eastern league) for April 17
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA - Eastern league)
Hitters
Mike McDade (1b) - 13 for 36 with a batting average of .361 with 3 doubles and a RBI but has struck out 10 times and walked once
Jonathan Diaz (SS) - 7 for 22 with a batting average of .318 with 2 doubles and a RBI and has 5 walks and 2 strike outs with 2 catch stealing
Moises Sierra (CF) - 5 for 17 with a batting average of .294 with 3 stoling bases in 4 attempts with a walk and a K
Pitching
B.J. LaMura (SP) - 2 starts and have pitched 11 inning with 12 strike outs and 3 walks along with given up 5 hits and 1 earned run with an ERA of 0.82 and a 1-0 record
Reidier Gonzalez (SP) - 2 starts with 6 runs (2 earned) on 13 hits in 10 innings along with 5 strike outs and 2 walks along an ERA of 1.80 with a 0-1 record
Chad Beck (SP) - In a start he has given up a home tun on 2 hits with 5 strike outs and no walks with a 1.13 in 8 inning and a win
Zach Stewart (SP) - in 2 starts with 6 runs and 16 hits in 13 inning with 5 strike outs and walks with an ERA of 4.50 with 0-1 record
Willie Collazo (SP) - 1-0 with a 0 ERA with 2 hits and 4 strike outs in a 5.2 inning start
Ronald Uviedo (RP) - a record of 0-0 with an ERA of 0 with a saveand has given up 1 hit and has struck out 9 and walked 2 in 6.1 inning in 4 outings
Evan Crawford (RP) - in 4 outings he has an ERA of 1.80 with no record with 7 strike outs and 2 walks and has given up 4 hits and a run in 5 innings
Thanks for Reading
Tom Mehegan
Hitters
Mike McDade (1b) - 13 for 36 with a batting average of .361 with 3 doubles and a RBI but has struck out 10 times and walked once
Jonathan Diaz (SS) - 7 for 22 with a batting average of .318 with 2 doubles and a RBI and has 5 walks and 2 strike outs with 2 catch stealing
Moises Sierra (CF) - 5 for 17 with a batting average of .294 with 3 stoling bases in 4 attempts with a walk and a K
Pitching
B.J. LaMura (SP) - 2 starts and have pitched 11 inning with 12 strike outs and 3 walks along with given up 5 hits and 1 earned run with an ERA of 0.82 and a 1-0 record
Reidier Gonzalez (SP) - 2 starts with 6 runs (2 earned) on 13 hits in 10 innings along with 5 strike outs and 2 walks along an ERA of 1.80 with a 0-1 record
Chad Beck (SP) - In a start he has given up a home tun on 2 hits with 5 strike outs and no walks with a 1.13 in 8 inning and a win
Zach Stewart (SP) - in 2 starts with 6 runs and 16 hits in 13 inning with 5 strike outs and walks with an ERA of 4.50 with 0-1 record
Willie Collazo (SP) - 1-0 with a 0 ERA with 2 hits and 4 strike outs in a 5.2 inning start
Ronald Uviedo (RP) - a record of 0-0 with an ERA of 0 with a saveand has given up 1 hit and has struck out 9 and walked 2 in 6.1 inning in 4 outings
Evan Crawford (RP) - in 4 outings he has an ERA of 1.80 with no record with 7 strike outs and 2 walks and has given up 4 hits and a run in 5 innings
Thanks for Reading
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Blue Jays Game 14 - 7-7 - Jo Jo Reyes had a bad game and the offense could not recover from it
Jo Jo Reyes started like he did against the Angels in his last outing except that this time he has not been thrown strikes unlike last outing as in the first he let the first 5 batters reach base as he gave up 2 walks and 3 hits and the Red Soxs got RBIs from Youkilis and Gonzalez to give the Soxs a 2-0 lead and then Jo Jo struck out 2 hitters to finish the inning. The top of the second inning with one out and Arron Hill was at the plate and Josh Buckett through a curve ball that went towards Hill's head and he ducks out of the way and the next pitch he hits a double off the scoreboard and Travis Snider singled him in to make it 2-1 Soxs and then Travis Snider stole second and third and now has 5 on the season but got no further. Josh Buckett was on his game the rest of the game while Reyes continued his struggles in the bottom of the second with Jacoby Ellsbury walking which was followed up a Jared Lowrie homer to make it 4-1 and then he also walked Gonzalez but only got to second. In the bottom of the third Jo Jo gave a hit up to Mike Cameron and then got a double play ball turned by Johnny Mac and then Darnell McDonald singled and Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by a pitch but still got out of it but in the fourth he gave up a hit and a walk and that is when Carlos Villanueva came in and pitched 3 innings of shutout ball to keep the Jays in the game but Buckett was dealing and the Red Soxs won the game 4-1 and pick up their third victory on the season. Octavio Dotel came in and struggled a little as Oritz walked and Cameron singled but then Jason Varitek sac but the runners over and then Dotel got J.D. Drew to pop out to Johnny Mac and then Luis Perez came in a made his MLB Debut as a Blue Jays pitcher and got the final 4 outs of the game. While Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the game and was hit hard and throw quite a few balls but still got the 3 outs and only gave up a base runner on a field error by Youkilis.
Jo Jo Reyes pitched 3 innings and gave up 4 earned run on 7 hits and gave up 5 walks and hit a batter and throw a wild pitch while throwing 54 strikes and 40 balls which puts him in the lead spot to being replaced by Brandon Morrow who looks maybe to have one finally outing in the minors according to the GM. While the top 4 of the order today was 0 for 15 with a walk and it will need to get a bit better but it has been about timely hitting and bend but not break pitching so far this season and it has wotked more often than not. Josh Buckett pitched 7 innings of 3 hit ball with 2 walks but had 9 strike outs and only gave up a single run as he throw 64 strikes and 34 balls which is different from his 3-6 record against the Jays in his MLB career.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Jo Jo Reyes pitched 3 innings and gave up 4 earned run on 7 hits and gave up 5 walks and hit a batter and throw a wild pitch while throwing 54 strikes and 40 balls which puts him in the lead spot to being replaced by Brandon Morrow who looks maybe to have one finally outing in the minors according to the GM. While the top 4 of the order today was 0 for 15 with a walk and it will need to get a bit better but it has been about timely hitting and bend but not break pitching so far this season and it has wotked more often than not. Josh Buckett pitched 7 innings of 3 hit ball with 2 walks but had 9 strike outs and only gave up a single run as he throw 64 strikes and 34 balls which is different from his 3-6 record against the Jays in his MLB career.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Friday, April 15, 2011
Blue Jays - 7-6 - Jays used 2 out hits to get back into the game and a bad reliever to take the lead
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier on this day (April 15) in the year 1947 so it is the 64th anniversary of this very important in Baseball history so today all the players on every teams 25-man roaster and coaches all were wearing the number 42 in his honor.
To start the game with 1 out and 2 on Adam Lind came to the plate and on a 1-1 curve ball he hits long, he deep, he hits out of here and the Jays are up 3-0 but wait under further review it is called foul and Lind grounds out. Then in the bottom of the second inning Brett Cecil walked 2 around a fielding error by Travis Snider and it is bases loaded with 2 out and Cecil strikes out Jabocy Ellsbury to end the inning. Then in the bottom of the third inning Brett Cecil gave up his 2 hits in the game and the first one was by Dustin Pedroia who a homer to Left field and after a walk to Adrian Gonzalez where Kevin Youkilis got the other hit which was hit to deep center field for 2 run blast to make it 3-0. Brett Cecil throw 6 pitches in 1-2-3 inning in the fourth and then in the top of the 5 with 2 outs with 2 walks on Cory Patterson came to the plate and cleared the bases with a triple to make it 3-2 Red Soxs and then Brett Cecil throw 8 pitches for another 1-2-3 inning and then with 2 outs in the top of 6 inning with Adam Lind on third Travis doubled him in to tie game up @ 3. In the bottom of the 6 inning Brett Cecil throw 10 pitches for another 1-2-3 inning and then in the top 7 inning Bobby Jenks came in and throw blow up the game real good as he got one out as he gave up 4 earn runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, and a wild pitch as the Jays stole 3 bases in the inning as Jose Bautista singled home Jayson Nix to give the Jays the lead and then Bautista got wild pitched in and finally Adam Lind singled in by Arron Hill. To start the bottom of the 7 inning Jason Frasor came in and gave up a hit and a stolen base but no runs and it was 7-3 Blue Jays going into the bottom of the 8 inning.
So the bottom of the 8 innings got wild and wacky as Marc Rzepczynski came in and let the Red Sox back into the game as he walks Kevin Youkilis and David Oritz with 1 out then strikes out J.D. Drew and then pinch hitter Jed Lowrie singles to third base and Kevin Youkilis scores and then Casey Jenssen comes into to face Marco Scutaro who doubles to clear the bases and make it 7-6 but Jabocy Ellsbury flied to Bautista. In the 9 inning Jon Rauch came in and dealt the Red Soxs a final blow as he set them down 1-2-3 for his third save of the season.
The Pitchers tonight must of been listening to Walk this way by Run DMC as Red Soxs starter Clay Buchholtz walked 5 batters and bullpen added 2 more to make 7 walks by Red Soxs pitchers and Brett Cecil walked 4 batters and the bullpen walk 2 batters so the Jays pitchers walked 6 which gives us a grand total of 13 walks in the game and there was a total of 13 hits in the game (8 for the Jays and 5 for Red Sox). The big problem for Cecil was that the hits he gave up both went yard which hurts but to go into Fenway and take game 1 is important so the result was as good as it gets.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
To start the game with 1 out and 2 on Adam Lind came to the plate and on a 1-1 curve ball he hits long, he deep, he hits out of here and the Jays are up 3-0 but wait under further review it is called foul and Lind grounds out. Then in the bottom of the second inning Brett Cecil walked 2 around a fielding error by Travis Snider and it is bases loaded with 2 out and Cecil strikes out Jabocy Ellsbury to end the inning. Then in the bottom of the third inning Brett Cecil gave up his 2 hits in the game and the first one was by Dustin Pedroia who a homer to Left field and after a walk to Adrian Gonzalez where Kevin Youkilis got the other hit which was hit to deep center field for 2 run blast to make it 3-0. Brett Cecil throw 6 pitches in 1-2-3 inning in the fourth and then in the top of the 5 with 2 outs with 2 walks on Cory Patterson came to the plate and cleared the bases with a triple to make it 3-2 Red Soxs and then Brett Cecil throw 8 pitches for another 1-2-3 inning and then with 2 outs in the top of 6 inning with Adam Lind on third Travis doubled him in to tie game up @ 3. In the bottom of the 6 inning Brett Cecil throw 10 pitches for another 1-2-3 inning and then in the top 7 inning Bobby Jenks came in and throw blow up the game real good as he got one out as he gave up 4 earn runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, and a wild pitch as the Jays stole 3 bases in the inning as Jose Bautista singled home Jayson Nix to give the Jays the lead and then Bautista got wild pitched in and finally Adam Lind singled in by Arron Hill. To start the bottom of the 7 inning Jason Frasor came in and gave up a hit and a stolen base but no runs and it was 7-3 Blue Jays going into the bottom of the 8 inning.
So the bottom of the 8 innings got wild and wacky as Marc Rzepczynski came in and let the Red Sox back into the game as he walks Kevin Youkilis and David Oritz with 1 out then strikes out J.D. Drew and then pinch hitter Jed Lowrie singles to third base and Kevin Youkilis scores and then Casey Jenssen comes into to face Marco Scutaro who doubles to clear the bases and make it 7-6 but Jabocy Ellsbury flied to Bautista. In the 9 inning Jon Rauch came in and dealt the Red Soxs a final blow as he set them down 1-2-3 for his third save of the season.
The Pitchers tonight must of been listening to Walk this way by Run DMC as Red Soxs starter Clay Buchholtz walked 5 batters and bullpen added 2 more to make 7 walks by Red Soxs pitchers and Brett Cecil walked 4 batters and the bullpen walk 2 batters so the Jays pitchers walked 6 which gives us a grand total of 13 walks in the game and there was a total of 13 hits in the game (8 for the Jays and 5 for Red Sox). The big problem for Cecil was that the hits he gave up both went yard which hurts but to go into Fenway and take game 1 is important so the result was as good as it gets.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Game 12 - 6-6 - Jose Bautista hit a 3 run bomb to turn the game around for the Jays bats while Rzepczynski pitched a good 2 innings
Heading into the 8 inning down 2-1 after Justin Smock smoked his first homer of the season to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead and the Blue Jays were looking at being swept by the Mariners after the bullpen blow up real good Monday and someone should have taught Cory Patterson how to slide as he ran into the third out in the 8 inning last night. So then the Mariners headed to their bullpen for Chris Ray which started innocently enough as Yanul Escobar got a base hit and then Cory Patterson came up and put down a good bunt and Ray waited for it to go foul but only problem was it died on the grass and the Jays had runners at first and second for Jose Bautista who Ray got to hit into a double play earlier in the series but with a 2-1 count Bautista looked for his pitch turned out to be a slider over the plate that Bautista air mailed into the bullpen for a 3 run homer to give him 3 on the season and gave the Jays a 3-2 lead. The Jays put together 4 straight 2 out hits to give themselves an extra 3 runs with Edwin Encarnacion doubling in Jayson Nix, Johnny Mac moved him to third with a single, Jose Molina doubled them both home to make it 7-2 Jays, and then Yanul Escobar got his 2 hit of the inning and 3 in the game but Patterson struck out to end the inning. The Jays gave up a run as Brendan Ryan singled in the hero of last nights game with 2 run homer Ryan Langerhans to make it 7-3 but DH J.P. singled in Travis Snider to make it 8-3 and that was thew final score.
Marc Rzepczynski pitched 2 innings and gave up 1 run on a hit and a walk with 2 strike outs and it would of been nice if he had been this good on Monday night where he walked 1 run inand then gave up a hit and 2 runs scored. Kyle Drabek pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 4 walks and 6 hits and struck out 5 and gave up 2 runs which was a struggling outing for him but he still kept the Jays in the game. The Mariners brought out Jason Vargas as their starting pitcher and in his last 10 starts he had been 0-6 with over a 6 ERA over that time but today he gave up 5 hits with an earn run, a walk, and 7 strike outs in 6.2 innings pitched which was bad for the Jays bats but came though in the end.
The surprising thing in this game was how Edwin Encarnacion played first base in place of Adam Lind who had the game off after a night game and he caught some line drives and also got to balls and throw it to the pitcher covering first and had a hit and a walk in the 5 times he came to the plate.
The Jays are 2-4 on the road trip
Tom Mehegan
Marc Rzepczynski pitched 2 innings and gave up 1 run on a hit and a walk with 2 strike outs and it would of been nice if he had been this good on Monday night where he walked 1 run inand then gave up a hit and 2 runs scored. Kyle Drabek pitched 5.1 innings and gave up 4 walks and 6 hits and struck out 5 and gave up 2 runs which was a struggling outing for him but he still kept the Jays in the game. The Mariners brought out Jason Vargas as their starting pitcher and in his last 10 starts he had been 0-6 with over a 6 ERA over that time but today he gave up 5 hits with an earn run, a walk, and 7 strike outs in 6.2 innings pitched which was bad for the Jays bats but came though in the end.
The surprising thing in this game was how Edwin Encarnacion played first base in place of Adam Lind who had the game off after a night game and he caught some line drives and also got to balls and throw it to the pitcher covering first and had a hit and a walk in the 5 times he came to the plate.
The Jays are 2-4 on the road trip
Tom Mehegan
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Game 11 - 5-6 - Ricky Romero got into a pitchers duel and a fielding error from Jason Nix helped the Mariners take game 2 of the series
Toronto Blue Jays (5-6) Vs Seattle Mariners (4-7)
Ricky Romero had a bad third inning when Brendan Ryan scorched a ball into the outfield and the first pitch that Ryan Langerhans saw he hit it deep and out of here to make it 2-0 Mariners and then Jack Wilson made it to first base when Jayson Nix throw the ball away and he moved up to second and then stole third and then Milton Bradley singled him in to make it 3-0 Mariners. Romero pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 hits and struck out 8 and 2 walk and gave up 3 runs (2 earned runs) and throw 113 pitches (69 s - 44 b) so he had a good game to keep the Jays in the game as he pitched In the top of the 8 inning the Jays got some lucky breaks with Edwin Encarnacion and Yanul Escobar both singled then Miguel Olivo got crossed by Mariners Michael Pineda which got passed him to put the runners both in scoring position and Cory Patterson singled them both in and then he stole second and on the Olivo throw that headed into the outfield Patterson went to third and a Jose Bautista pop up into foul ground down the first base line where Justin Smock catch the ball and throw home and Patterson ran into the catcher and the third out. In the 9 inning the Mariners brought out Brandon League the guy who the Jays trade to the Mariner for Brandon Morrow and Adam meet him and after two balls not close to the strike zone and then got under the next pitch and fly out to Ryan Langerhans for out number 1 and the first pitch League throw to Arron Hill he was pop up into foul play for out 2 and then J.p. got some long foul balls but in the end J.P. struck out to end the game and give the Jays their 4 loss in a row. The Mariners got a huge performance from Michael Pineda who pitched 7.1 innings and gave up 2 runs (an earned run) with 5 hits, struck out 7, and walked 2 and throw 104 pitches (74 s - 29 b) which helped the Mariners win back - to - back wins.
Ricky Romero had a bad third inning when Brendan Ryan scorched a ball into the outfield and the first pitch that Ryan Langerhans saw he hit it deep and out of here to make it 2-0 Mariners and then Jack Wilson made it to first base when Jayson Nix throw the ball away and he moved up to second and then stole third and then Milton Bradley singled him in to make it 3-0 Mariners. Romero pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 hits and struck out 8 and 2 walk and gave up 3 runs (2 earned runs) and throw 113 pitches (69 s - 44 b) so he had a good game to keep the Jays in the game as he pitched In the top of the 8 inning the Jays got some lucky breaks with Edwin Encarnacion and Yanul Escobar both singled then Miguel Olivo got crossed by Mariners Michael Pineda which got passed him to put the runners both in scoring position and Cory Patterson singled them both in and then he stole second and on the Olivo throw that headed into the outfield Patterson went to third and a Jose Bautista pop up into foul ground down the first base line where Justin Smock catch the ball and throw home and Patterson ran into the catcher and the third out. In the 9 inning the Mariners brought out Brandon League the guy who the Jays trade to the Mariner for Brandon Morrow and Adam meet him and after two balls not close to the strike zone and then got under the next pitch and fly out to Ryan Langerhans for out number 1 and the first pitch League throw to Arron Hill he was pop up into foul play for out 2 and then J.p. got some long foul balls but in the end J.P. struck out to end the game and give the Jays their 4 loss in a row. The Mariners got a huge performance from Michael Pineda who pitched 7.1 innings and gave up 2 runs (an earned run) with 5 hits, struck out 7, and walked 2 and throw 104 pitches (74 s - 29 b) which helped the Mariners win back - to - back wins.
Down on the farm - Dunedin Blue Jays (Double A)
Dunedin Blue Jays (Double A)
Hitters
Chris Hopkins (of) has 3 hits in 8 at-bats with 2 RBIs with a stolen base with 2 Ks in 3 games
Justin Jackson (2 B) with 4 hits in 11 at-bats with a RBI, a walk but he has struck out twice and caught stealing in his only attempt
Pitchers
Asher Wojciechowski gave up 2 hits in 5 innings pitched with 2 Ks and did give up a run in a start
Nestor Molina has a 0-1 record with a 1.80 ERA with 5 innings pitched and struck out 6 and a walk along with 3 hits and one of them was a home run.
Chad Beck pitched 5.1 innings with a 1.69 ERA along with 7 Ks and a walk along with a hit batter and he gave up 4 hit which included a home run.
Brandon Morrow in his first start he pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) along with 8 hits while striking out 2 and walked once.
Frank Francisco in 2 appearances he has given up 6 earned runs on 4 hits including 2 homers and also walked 3 batters with a strike out in a 1.2 inning pitched.
Deck McGuire in 4 innings pitched and gave up 3 hits along with 5 strike outs and a walk along with a hit batter but no runs given up a run in a relief outings.
The Big league closer and the No. 2 Starter need more time in Dunedin as they are ready (Frank Francisco - Closer and Brandon Morrow - No. 2 starter)
Tom Mehegan
Hitters
Chris Hopkins (of) has 3 hits in 8 at-bats with 2 RBIs with a stolen base with 2 Ks in 3 games
Justin Jackson (2 B) with 4 hits in 11 at-bats with a RBI, a walk but he has struck out twice and caught stealing in his only attempt
Pitchers
Asher Wojciechowski gave up 2 hits in 5 innings pitched with 2 Ks and did give up a run in a start
Nestor Molina has a 0-1 record with a 1.80 ERA with 5 innings pitched and struck out 6 and a walk along with 3 hits and one of them was a home run.
Chad Beck pitched 5.1 innings with a 1.69 ERA along with 7 Ks and a walk along with a hit batter and he gave up 4 hit which included a home run.
Brandon Morrow in his first start he pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) along with 8 hits while striking out 2 and walked once.
Frank Francisco in 2 appearances he has given up 6 earned runs on 4 hits including 2 homers and also walked 3 batters with a strike out in a 1.2 inning pitched.
Deck McGuire in 4 innings pitched and gave up 3 hits along with 5 strike outs and a walk along with a hit batter but no runs given up a run in a relief outings.
The Big league closer and the No. 2 Starter need more time in Dunedin as they are ready (Frank Francisco - Closer and Brandon Morrow - No. 2 starter)
Tom Mehegan
The Blue Jays make two transactions to try and better the Bullpen after a terrifying 8 inning
So to start Rajai Davis was placed on the 15 day DL as of yesterday while David Purcey who gave up 2 hits and a walk along with given up 3 earn runs and got 1 out and throw 6 strikes on 16 pitches last night was re-assigned tonight. Casey Janssen and Brad Mills were recalled from triple A where Mills is 0-1 given up 2 runs (1 earn runs) with 7 hits and 7 strikes in 7 innings pitched and Janssen pitched 2 innings while down there and gave up a hit and strike out 3 batters. Casey Janssen and Brad Mills may strengthen the bullpen as Casey Janssen has pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 3 hits but no runs given up in 3 games and Brad Mills can hopefully better the performance of David Purcey and I believe that last night was a horrible nightmare and I believe that the bullpen will wake-up tonight and help Ricky Romero go 3-0 this season and stop the 3-game losing streak while the Seattle Mariners won their first game in the last 8 games last night and will be heading into tonight game with a record of 3-7.
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Go Jays Go
Tom Mehegan
Monday, April 11, 2011
Blue Jays - The Jays took the king castle but bullpen gave it right back in the last couple of innings
King Felix had an off game as he was extremely hittable tonight as he had rough innings in almost every inning. Even though it was not completely his fault as his defense mailed it in and if they could assist King Felix by picking him up they would do the complete opposite an it started in the second inning as Jayson Nix hit a ball off Chris Figgins's wrist and Travis Snider scored to make it 1-0 Jays. Then in the top of the third inning Bautista hit a ground ball to shortstop Brendan Ryan who throw the ball wildly to first and Bautista slide into first baseball and then later he was caught in a run down and still made it safely into second base and then Arron Hill hit a double to score Bautista and that is when J.P. looped a ball just in-between Luis Rodriguez and Ichiro for a base hit and Hill moves up to third base and then Hill scored when Snider grounded out and J.P. was out at second but the Jays 3 - Mariners 0. Then in the fourth inning the Jays got more hits and more help from the Mariners as the catcher Miguel Olivo with Edwin Encarnacion on third and Jayson Nix on second got mixed with King Felix pitch where his glove was in the wrong spot and got passed him which allowed Edwin to score and Nix to get to third and then Yanul Escobar hit a sac fly the 8th by the Jays which ties the Reds with 8 and the Jays lead 5-0 after 4. To basically finish off King Felix with Jayson Nix getting on with his third hit of the game that brought Cory Patterson to the plate in his first game as a Blue Jay hit a 1-2 from King Felix out of the park and his second try to crack the Jays lineup started well (he was in Jays training camp in '08 but it was a disaster). In the end King Felix got eaten up and spit out given up 12 hits, 7 earned runs, 6 strike outs, and 2 walks in 6 innings and all in all the Jays did not meet the CY winning King Felix tonight because most likely than not they will meet him again and it will not be as easy as it was tonight.
Then the Jays had Jesse Litsch going to the mound to face the Mariners and he struggled in the first but got out of it without getting in true trouble and then in the bottom of the third with a hit and 2 walks on Justin Smoak at the plate with the bases juiced and a 3-2 count he swung at ball 4 in the dirt and then Miguel Olivo came to the plate flied out to end the inning. Jesse pitched 5 IP, 5 hits, 4 struck out, and did not give up a hit but did walk 4 batters and throw 111 pitches (62 s - 49 b).
Then the Jays had Jesse Litsch going to the mound to face the Mariners and he struggled in the first but got out of it without getting in true trouble and then in the bottom of the third with a hit and 2 walks on Justin Smoak at the plate with the bases juiced and a 3-2 count he swung at ball 4 in the dirt and then Miguel Olivo came to the plate flied out to end the inning. Jesse pitched 5 IP, 5 hits, 4 struck out, and did not give up a hit but did walk 4 batters and throw 111 pitches (62 s - 49 b).
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Game 9 - 5-4 - Jared Weaver has a career high 15 strike outs but it was a fielding blunder that cost the Jays
Jared Weaver began with 6 strike outs through the first time throw the order and it took Travis Snider in the top of the 5 inning to get a hit off Weaver with 2 outs and he pitched 7.2 innings and throw 125 pitches (77 s - 48 b) and only got into trouble 6 inning when Jose Molina doubled down the right field line and Johnny Mac singled him to third as Mac replaced Davis and Nix went into the outfield and Yanul Escobar singled Molina in to make it 3-1. Then Vernon Wells showed some more of his professional behavioral as he caught the second out of the inning and walked towards the infield as he thought it was 3 outs and Johnny Mac and Yanul Escobar both moved up a base but then Weaver got the third out without more damage done. Then in the 8 inning Weaver started walking the batters in the inning before being taken out but Hisanori Takahashi for him. Weaver gave up 4 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, and a career high 15 strike outs while the Bullpen including Fernando Rodney with a 3 up / 3 down 9 inning to pick up his second save of the young season.
Jo Jo Reyes stuck in there after throwing 30 pitches mostly strikes in the first inning and the only blimp in the inning was a Torii Hunter single scoring and then he kept battling through 7 innings and 119 pitches (88 s - 31 b) in the game. He also did not receive the timely defense when he needed it as Rajai Davis lost a ball in the sky and it went off his glove in the fourth inning and then a Peter Bourjos fly ball split the outfielders with 2 on and nobody was around until Rajai Davis got it at the wall and by the time he got it back to the infield the Bourjos was standing at third and was left on as the Angels took a 3-0 lead. Jo Jo Reyes gave up 6 hits, 1 earned run as the other 2 are unearned because of the Rajai Davis error in the outfield while walking 1 and striking out 6 in his 7 inning pitched but the Jays were not able to get anything more than a single run as the Jays lose 3-1 and have lost 2 in a row and King Felix is waiting for the Jays in Seattle.
Hope for a weaker King Felix then usually and get a win
Tom Mehegan
Jo Jo Reyes stuck in there after throwing 30 pitches mostly strikes in the first inning and the only blimp in the inning was a Torii Hunter single scoring and then he kept battling through 7 innings and 119 pitches (88 s - 31 b) in the game. He also did not receive the timely defense when he needed it as Rajai Davis lost a ball in the sky and it went off his glove in the fourth inning and then a Peter Bourjos fly ball split the outfielders with 2 on and nobody was around until Rajai Davis got it at the wall and by the time he got it back to the infield the Bourjos was standing at third and was left on as the Angels took a 3-0 lead. Jo Jo Reyes gave up 6 hits, 1 earned run as the other 2 are unearned because of the Rajai Davis error in the outfield while walking 1 and striking out 6 in his 7 inning pitched but the Jays were not able to get anything more than a single run as the Jays lose 3-1 and have lost 2 in a row and King Felix is waiting for the Jays in Seattle.
Hope for a weaker King Felix then usually and get a win
Tom Mehegan
down on the farm - Las Vegas 51s for April 10,2011
The Las Vegas 51s (triple A)
Batting
David Cooper (1b) has begun his minor league season with 7 hits (6 singles and a double) in 13 at bats with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs in the first 3 games with a .538 batting average in the first 3 games.
Manny Mayorson (SS) in 2 games has 3 hits (2 singles and a double) in 7 at bats and 3 RBIs along with 2 runs scored while walking twice and striking out once and is hitting .429 along with 2 for 2 stealing bases
Eric Thames (LF) has continued his great batting that kept people talking in spring training as he is hitting .417 with 5 hits (3 singles and 2 doubles) in 12 at bats with 4 RBIs and scored once but has been struck out twice and catch stealing in his only attempt and a walk in 3 games
Brett Lawrie (3b)is the most talked about player in Las Vegas because his position is open with the Jays and it is only a waiting game it he is up with them. He is hitting .417 with 5 hits (2 doubles, 2 singles, and a triples) in 12 at bats with 4 runs scored and a walk and a strike out in 3 games
Pitching
Brad Mills gave up 7 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) with 7 strikeouts in 7 innings pitched in a loss
Randy Boone pitched 5 innings of 2 hit ball without given up a run while striking out 5 but did hit a batter and walked a batter in a win.
Luis Perez was wild in his first start in 4 innings he gave up 4 runs on 4 hits while hitting a batter and walking 3 along with 6 strike outs.
Mike Hinckley (2 Ks in 2 IP) and Rommie Lewis (a Ks in 1.2 IP) have not given up a hit yet in the bullpen
Winston Abreu (1 hit in 1IP with 2 Ks) and Wil Ledezma (2 hits and a earned run with 2Ks in 2.1 IP) have both struck out 2 batters
Batting
David Cooper (1b) has begun his minor league season with 7 hits (6 singles and a double) in 13 at bats with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs in the first 3 games with a .538 batting average in the first 3 games.
Manny Mayorson (SS) in 2 games has 3 hits (2 singles and a double) in 7 at bats and 3 RBIs along with 2 runs scored while walking twice and striking out once and is hitting .429 along with 2 for 2 stealing bases
Eric Thames (LF) has continued his great batting that kept people talking in spring training as he is hitting .417 with 5 hits (3 singles and 2 doubles) in 12 at bats with 4 RBIs and scored once but has been struck out twice and catch stealing in his only attempt and a walk in 3 games
Brett Lawrie (3b)is the most talked about player in Las Vegas because his position is open with the Jays and it is only a waiting game it he is up with them. He is hitting .417 with 5 hits (2 doubles, 2 singles, and a triples) in 12 at bats with 4 runs scored and a walk and a strike out in 3 games
Pitching
Brad Mills gave up 7 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) with 7 strikeouts in 7 innings pitched in a loss
Randy Boone pitched 5 innings of 2 hit ball without given up a run while striking out 5 but did hit a batter and walked a batter in a win.
Luis Perez was wild in his first start in 4 innings he gave up 4 runs on 4 hits while hitting a batter and walking 3 along with 6 strike outs.
Mike Hinckley (2 Ks in 2 IP) and Rommie Lewis (a Ks in 1.2 IP) have not given up a hit yet in the bullpen
Winston Abreu (1 hit in 1IP with 2 Ks) and Wil Ledezma (2 hits and a earned run with 2Ks in 2.1 IP) have both struck out 2 batters
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Game 8 - 5-3 - The guy who messed up the triple play in the World Series against did it again in the 13 inning this morning
So Brett Cecil got the first out of the game and then Howie Kendrick came and continued getting a hit in every game as he hit his league tying 4th home run to give himself a 8 game hit streak and a 1-0 lead for the Angels and Bobby Abreu got a hit but Torii Hunter hit into a double play. In the second inning Adam Lind started with a base hit to give himself a 8 game hitting streak and then J.P. doubled him to third where Travis Snider ground out and Lind scored to even the game at 1. Then in the bottom of the inning Vernon Wells walked and Alberto Callaspo hit into a double play while Mark Trumbo struck out and in the top of the third Johnny Mac bunted himself on while Reja Davis hit it hard to short and it bounced off Izturis who was charged with an error and then Jose Bautista walked to load the bases and then Adam Lind got the Jays league leading 7th Sac fly to give the Jays a unearned run to take a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the third the wheels came almost off completely for Cecil as he gave up 5 hits and 3 runs including an error to start the inning as Jeff Mathis singled made it to second base as the ball eat up Travis Snider who got an error and Izturis doubled him while Bobby Abreu singled him in and Vernon Wells singled him in to make it 4-2 Angels after 3 innings. In the top of the 4 Lind and Rivera got out easily but then the Jays got 5 straight hits starting with a J.P. single, Johnny Mac double and Reja Davis singled them both home to make 4-all and then Adam Hill singled him in to make it 5-4 Jays but in the bottom of the inning Bourjos hit a Sac fly to Travis Snider as Callaspo scored to tie it @ 5 after 4 innings. The late innings provided to great defensive plays as he started a very quick double play as speedy Peter Bourjos was running and was still out at second and then Howie Kendrick at first and then he got Vernon Wells on a tough groud ball while Jose Bautista got a lead off walk in the 7 and wild pitch to second and then to third by Kevin Jepsen. Then with no outs Lind struck out on a ball in the dirt which was followed up by a ground ball that Izturis dove for and if Bautista had started on contact he would of scored but instead Izturis from his knees to get Rivera at first and J.P. flow out to close the inning.
In extra innings it got very dicey for the Jays as in the 11th inning Jason Frasor got Bobby Abreu to hit a ball to third and should of been an easy out but Edwin Encarnacion throw it away and the only part was it hit a pole and stayed in play and Abreu had to stay at first and then Octavio Dotel came in and Torii Hunter meet him with a base hit and Abreu went first to third and then Dotel stuck out Vernon Wells. Then Alberto Callaspo was intensional walked and pitch hitter Hank Conger hit hard and Arron Hill dove got up and got Abreu at home and Jeff Mathis struck out to send it to the 12 inning. In the top of the 12 inning Travis Snider got a walk stole second and Johnny Mac walked too and Reja Davis bunted them up a base to second and third and then Adam hill walked which brought Jose Bautista to the plate and at 1:26am he flied out to end the top of the 12 inning and in the bottom with 1 out Izturis got a base hit and then Howie Kendrick hit it to Johnny Mac who turned another double play to end the 12 inning. In the top of the 13th inning brought some Controversy as after Adam Hill got a hit and then Yanul Escobar walked and with them on third and second when Edwin hit a ball to third and Alberto Callaspo throw wildly to first but Escobar way called for interference and looked like he did not get out of the way so Ump good call. In the bottom of the inning Abreu got a hit and Torii Hunter got a single and Abreu went to third with no out Vernon Wells hit it to Travis Snider who dove and caught it and Torii Hunter went up to second and did not try to get back and was doubled up and after an intensional walk Abreu was caught napping at third and was caught in a run down to end the inning. At 2:11 am after Bourjos hit a fly ball to Travis Snider but Snider slips and Bourjos and then Izturis singled and Bautista got it and throw home but to the first base side and Bourjos scored to win the game in the 14 inning.
Brett Cecil is still having a hard time finding his speed on all his pitches and his effectiveness has been weakened as he pitched 5 innings and gave up 5 earned runs on 10 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts and the Jays bats helped him by clubbing Angels started Matt Palmer only pitched 4.2 innings giving up 5 runs (4 earned) and 10 hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts to his credit. While J.P. Arencibia has his second triple of the season which means he plays the catcher position but does not have catcher's legs yet. The Blue Jays received great pitching from Carlos Villanueva who struck out 3 batters and a walk and Marc Rzepczynski who grew up 10 minutes away from the stadium and stuck out 1 batter and only faced 6 batters as both pitch 2 innings. The bullpen gave up 5 hits and 3 walks in 9 innings pitched but the Bullpen maybe used up and I do not know if Jo Jo can do an amazing pitching performance against Jered Weaver this afternoon and the Jays stubbed their toes over and over again as they went 3 for 23 with runners in scoring position and no hits after the 4th inning with runners in scoring position.
Lets see if the Jays can win the series
Tom Mehegan
In extra innings it got very dicey for the Jays as in the 11th inning Jason Frasor got Bobby Abreu to hit a ball to third and should of been an easy out but Edwin Encarnacion throw it away and the only part was it hit a pole and stayed in play and Abreu had to stay at first and then Octavio Dotel came in and Torii Hunter meet him with a base hit and Abreu went first to third and then Dotel stuck out Vernon Wells. Then Alberto Callaspo was intensional walked and pitch hitter Hank Conger hit hard and Arron Hill dove got up and got Abreu at home and Jeff Mathis struck out to send it to the 12 inning. In the top of the 12 inning Travis Snider got a walk stole second and Johnny Mac walked too and Reja Davis bunted them up a base to second and third and then Adam hill walked which brought Jose Bautista to the plate and at 1:26am he flied out to end the top of the 12 inning and in the bottom with 1 out Izturis got a base hit and then Howie Kendrick hit it to Johnny Mac who turned another double play to end the 12 inning. In the top of the 13th inning brought some Controversy as after Adam Hill got a hit and then Yanul Escobar walked and with them on third and second when Edwin hit a ball to third and Alberto Callaspo throw wildly to first but Escobar way called for interference and looked like he did not get out of the way so Ump good call. In the bottom of the inning Abreu got a hit and Torii Hunter got a single and Abreu went to third with no out Vernon Wells hit it to Travis Snider who dove and caught it and Torii Hunter went up to second and did not try to get back and was doubled up and after an intensional walk Abreu was caught napping at third and was caught in a run down to end the inning. At 2:11 am after Bourjos hit a fly ball to Travis Snider but Snider slips and Bourjos and then Izturis singled and Bautista got it and throw home but to the first base side and Bourjos scored to win the game in the 14 inning.
Brett Cecil is still having a hard time finding his speed on all his pitches and his effectiveness has been weakened as he pitched 5 innings and gave up 5 earned runs on 10 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts and the Jays bats helped him by clubbing Angels started Matt Palmer only pitched 4.2 innings giving up 5 runs (4 earned) and 10 hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts to his credit. While J.P. Arencibia has his second triple of the season which means he plays the catcher position but does not have catcher's legs yet. The Blue Jays received great pitching from Carlos Villanueva who struck out 3 batters and a walk and Marc Rzepczynski who grew up 10 minutes away from the stadium and stuck out 1 batter and only faced 6 batters as both pitch 2 innings. The bullpen gave up 5 hits and 3 walks in 9 innings pitched but the Bullpen maybe used up and I do not know if Jo Jo can do an amazing pitching performance against Jered Weaver this afternoon and the Jays stubbed their toes over and over again as they went 3 for 23 with runners in scoring position and no hits after the 4th inning with runners in scoring position.
Lets see if the Jays can win the series
Tom Mehegan
Friday, April 8, 2011
Game 7 - 5-2 - Jayson Nix puts the finishing touches on a comeback win
Toronto Blue Jays (5-2) Vs California Angels of Anaheim (3-4)
Kyle Drabek struggled early to find his control as he walked 4 in the game and was not helped by new daddy Jose Bautista throw the ball into the camera bay when Bobby Abreu went first to third on a Torii Hunter single to make it 1-0 Angels on an unearned run and then Torii Hunter singled in Maicer Izturis to make it 2-0. Then in the 5 inning after Maicer Izturis and Howie Kendrick got on base Kyle struck out Bobby Abreu,Torii Hunter flied out, and Vernon Wells (.097 batting average) struck out as well to keep it 2-0 and then in the top of the 6 inning Johnny Mac got a hit and Jose Bautista hit a ball just in front of Vernon and after this Adam Lind felt that he wanted to make Vernon dive for a ball as he hit it to left center and Vernon dived for it and missed it and both runners scored to make it 2-2. Then Kyle finishes the 6th inning 1,2,3 with 103 pitches (64 S - 39 B) and 5 K's and 1 earned run on 6 hits along with those 4 walks and then Octavio Dotel introduced himself to the Blue Jays fan base as he throw 10 pitches all for strikes and struck out 2 batters in a inning of work and picked up the win as Jayson Nix hit a ball into a bullpen to give the Jays a 3-2 lead. As Shawn Camp got the 3 outs including a David Purcey walk which was apart of a double play and finally Jon Rauch came in the bottom of the 9th where he gave up a hit but also got a strike out and the other 2 outs to pick up the save. Ervin Santana pitched well in the game especially until the 6 inning where a kink in his armor and then a 2-0 pitch to Jayson Nix in the 8 inning gave him the loss after winning his last 4 decisions against the Jays and he pitched 8 innings gave up 6 hits and the 3 runs and a walk too but also stuck out 7 in his 100 pitch performance (70 s - 30 b).
In other news Manny Ramirez has decided to take his steroid body and go into the sunset of retirement as he was catch with a steroid in his body for the second time so instead of being suspended for a 100 games he decided to walk away from the game that has made him so much money and fame.
Vernon Wells hitting under a 100 and got struck out twice good ol' Wells
Tom Mehegan
Kyle Drabek struggled early to find his control as he walked 4 in the game and was not helped by new daddy Jose Bautista throw the ball into the camera bay when Bobby Abreu went first to third on a Torii Hunter single to make it 1-0 Angels on an unearned run and then Torii Hunter singled in Maicer Izturis to make it 2-0. Then in the 5 inning after Maicer Izturis and Howie Kendrick got on base Kyle struck out Bobby Abreu,Torii Hunter flied out, and Vernon Wells (.097 batting average) struck out as well to keep it 2-0 and then in the top of the 6 inning Johnny Mac got a hit and Jose Bautista hit a ball just in front of Vernon and after this Adam Lind felt that he wanted to make Vernon dive for a ball as he hit it to left center and Vernon dived for it and missed it and both runners scored to make it 2-2. Then Kyle finishes the 6th inning 1,2,3 with 103 pitches (64 S - 39 B) and 5 K's and 1 earned run on 6 hits along with those 4 walks and then Octavio Dotel introduced himself to the Blue Jays fan base as he throw 10 pitches all for strikes and struck out 2 batters in a inning of work and picked up the win as Jayson Nix hit a ball into a bullpen to give the Jays a 3-2 lead. As Shawn Camp got the 3 outs including a David Purcey walk which was apart of a double play and finally Jon Rauch came in the bottom of the 9th where he gave up a hit but also got a strike out and the other 2 outs to pick up the save. Ervin Santana pitched well in the game especially until the 6 inning where a kink in his armor and then a 2-0 pitch to Jayson Nix in the 8 inning gave him the loss after winning his last 4 decisions against the Jays and he pitched 8 innings gave up 6 hits and the 3 runs and a walk too but also stuck out 7 in his 100 pitch performance (70 s - 30 b).
In other news Manny Ramirez has decided to take his steroid body and go into the sunset of retirement as he was catch with a steroid in his body for the second time so instead of being suspended for a 100 games he decided to walk away from the game that has made him so much money and fame.
Vernon Wells hitting under a 100 and got struck out twice good ol' Wells
Tom Mehegan
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Game 6 - 4-2 - Trevor Cahill pitches well for the A's and Kasey Janssen is sent to Las Vegas
The A's finally got a pitching performance they have been looking for all series as Trevor Cahill pitched 8 solid innings and only gave up 3 hits while he gave up an earn run and struck out 7 batters as he throw 67 strikes in his 105 pitches. Ricky Romero also pitched well as he pitched 7.1 innings and only gave up 4 hits and gave up an earned run along with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts while he throw 59 strikes in his 93 pitches. While it was Jason Frasor who struck out 2 batters and the first of back-to-back strikeouts was on a wild pitch that Coco Crisp swung through it and Adam LaRoche scored the Romero's run in the 8 inning to tie the game up at 1 and then Crisp is on first and then stole second and third where Josh Willingham singled Crisp in to score the winning run. The Blue Jays scored their run when Jayson Nix singled J.P. Arencibia in and Kasey Janssen got the final 2 outs in the 9Th inning and then was sent directly to Triple A Las Vegas who are starting their season tonight while Brian Fuentes finally closed down a game after given up a hit as he failed Tuesday night when Yunel Escobar unloaded on him to win the game.
In other news I just mentioned that Kasey Janssen is back to taking the bus in triple A as he still has options (which means the Jays can send him to minors instead of releasing him because at a certain point of every baseball players career they basically are guaranteed a spot on the 25 man roster or put on waivers for every other team to claim him and put him on their 35-man roster). The reason he was sent down is because Octavio Dotel is coming off the disabled list tomorrow and this is the first of many tough decisions new Jays manager Will Farrell has in front of him as Brandon Morrow and Frank Francisco will be back within the upcoming road trip and a starter will need to be replaced and a spot in the bullpen will need to be free up somehow. Also when Yanel slided into third base last night he suffered a mild concussion which scary me as the wording is weird as there is nothing mild about any concussion but he is listed day to day and lets hope its nothing that lingering throughout the season.
So let me get this straight Vernon Wells makes his Angels home opener against us so u tomorrow Vernon
Tom Mehegan
In other news I just mentioned that Kasey Janssen is back to taking the bus in triple A as he still has options (which means the Jays can send him to minors instead of releasing him because at a certain point of every baseball players career they basically are guaranteed a spot on the 25 man roster or put on waivers for every other team to claim him and put him on their 35-man roster). The reason he was sent down is because Octavio Dotel is coming off the disabled list tomorrow and this is the first of many tough decisions new Jays manager Will Farrell has in front of him as Brandon Morrow and Frank Francisco will be back within the upcoming road trip and a starter will need to be replaced and a spot in the bullpen will need to be free up somehow. Also when Yanel slided into third base last night he suffered a mild concussion which scary me as the wording is weird as there is nothing mild about any concussion but he is listed day to day and lets hope its nothing that lingering throughout the season.
So let me get this straight Vernon Wells makes his Angels home opener against us so u tomorrow Vernon
Tom Mehegan
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Game 5 - 4-1 - Travis Snider lefts the Jays to victory with a bomb and Rzepczynski gets the job perfectly done
So it looks like a lot of Jays will be making returns on this first road trip
To start the game the Blue Jays started like they ended last night as will hot bats as Yanul Escobar got drove in by an Adam Lind double and then in the top of the fourth Hideki Matsui (yes he goes from the Yankees to the Angels to the A's in a year basically) doubles in both Barton and DeJesus to make it 2-1. Then the game turns on its ear when Edwin Encarnacion hits a ball hard on the ground shortstop Cliff Pennington dives for the ball and squeaks through the infield and with two on as Juan Rivera had walked Travis Snider walked to the plate and on a 2-1 count crushes a ball for his first homer of the season and a 3-run shot at that to make it 4-2 for the Jays after 4. In the fifth the A's cut the lead in half when Coco Crisp triples and the next batter Barton singles him in to make it 4-3 Jays but in the bottom of the 8th Johnny Mac got a hit and then Adam Lind gets a ground rule double with fan interference where Arron Hill picked up a RBI single to make it 5-3.
Jessie Litsch throw a lot of pitches in 6.1 innings pitched with 100 but 61 were strikes and he did strike out 7 and walked 2 and gave up 3 earn runs on 6 hits. Then Mark Rzepczynski came in and in 2 innings of no-hit ball struck out 3 of the 6 batters he faced to make a statement that he would like to take Jo Jo Reyes spot in the rotation and then Jon Rauch came in and said I want to be the closer some more as he throw 7 pitches and 6 for strikes to get the final two batters in order.
Right now the Jays are 4-1 and seem to be able to do nothing wrong as when they need the key hit they get it and when they need a reliever to come in and bridge the gap between the starter and closer it is done with so little effort needed to get the job done as the just over 11,000 went home happy again and tomorrow the kids are in the stands for a afternoon getaway day special and the 500 level will be noisy at least.
Red Soxs are still in the spring train mode are looking like they are going 0-5 to start
Tom Mehegan
To start the game the Blue Jays started like they ended last night as will hot bats as Yanul Escobar got drove in by an Adam Lind double and then in the top of the fourth Hideki Matsui (yes he goes from the Yankees to the Angels to the A's in a year basically) doubles in both Barton and DeJesus to make it 2-1. Then the game turns on its ear when Edwin Encarnacion hits a ball hard on the ground shortstop Cliff Pennington dives for the ball and squeaks through the infield and with two on as Juan Rivera had walked Travis Snider walked to the plate and on a 2-1 count crushes a ball for his first homer of the season and a 3-run shot at that to make it 4-2 for the Jays after 4. In the fifth the A's cut the lead in half when Coco Crisp triples and the next batter Barton singles him in to make it 4-3 Jays but in the bottom of the 8th Johnny Mac got a hit and then Adam Lind gets a ground rule double with fan interference where Arron Hill picked up a RBI single to make it 5-3.
Jessie Litsch throw a lot of pitches in 6.1 innings pitched with 100 but 61 were strikes and he did strike out 7 and walked 2 and gave up 3 earn runs on 6 hits. Then Mark Rzepczynski came in and in 2 innings of no-hit ball struck out 3 of the 6 batters he faced to make a statement that he would like to take Jo Jo Reyes spot in the rotation and then Jon Rauch came in and said I want to be the closer some more as he throw 7 pitches and 6 for strikes to get the final two batters in order.
Right now the Jays are 4-1 and seem to be able to do nothing wrong as when they need the key hit they get it and when they need a reliever to come in and bridge the gap between the starter and closer it is done with so little effort needed to get the job done as the just over 11,000 went home happy again and tomorrow the kids are in the stands for a afternoon getaway day special and the 500 level will be noisy at least.
Red Soxs are still in the spring train mode are looking like they are going 0-5 to start
Tom Mehegan
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Game 4 - 3-1 - Yunel Escobar hits it deep and out to win the game
Oakland A's (0-4) Vs Toronto Blue Jays (3-1)
To start Jose Bautista is not with the team at the moment as he is dealing with some family matters and may not rejoin the team until after this series with the A's is finished.
So in the Top 10th inning Jason Frasor comes in and the first batter he faced was Josh Willingham and the first pitch he throws him is a no doubter home run to give the A's a 6-5 lead and then Frasor gives up a single but ends up striking out the side. So in the bottom of the 10th Rajai Davis got a single to open up the inning and with his threat to stealing A's closer Grant Balfour throws the next hitter Yunel Escobar a heater down the middle of plate at Yunel turned and drove to deep center field where Coco Crisp goes back to the fence jumps and unlike Span for the Twins could not make the grab and he ended up lying face first on the turf as the Jays win 7-5.
The game started quietly as it was no score after 2 innings but Jo Jo reyes gave up lead off double to Andy LaRoche so it looked like he would be in trouble except that Coco Crisp hits a hard ball onto the ground and Arron Hill drives and gets him out at first and then he struck out Daric Barton. Then it looked like he would get out without giving up a run but Conor Jackson doubled to make it 1-0 and then Mark Ellis drove him with a double 2-0 and then David DeJesus drove in Josh Willingham to make it 3-0 A's after 3 innings. Jo Jo Reyes only got Daric Barton in the fourth as Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a double to lead off and Andy LaRoche singled him in to make it 4-0 and then Josh Willingham sac fly made it 5-0 and then the 11,077 in attendance had something to cheer about when Arron Hill hit a ball to second and Lind was out but Yunel Escobar scored to make it 5-1. Then in the 6 inning Rajai Davis doubled to open up the inning and Lind hit a ball down the third baseline and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff caught it but Davis scored to make it 5-2 when hill singled home Yunel Escobar to make it 5-3 and then Edwin Encarnacion doubled in Arron Hill to 5-4 which brought us to Snider grounding out to drive in Juan Rivera to tie the game at 5.
The A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits with 2 strike outs and walk while Jo Jo Reyes was hurt big time by the doubles as he gave up 5 doubles on his 9 hits given up in 4.1 innings pitched so lets hope Brandon Marrow gets back soon. Also you have to like the no quite in the Jays bats so it looks like the Jays will not be out of a game at least at this time which is awesome to see but its scary that the crowds are back to the way they were last season lets hope its a blimp not what is going to happen this season.
The odds on favorite in the West Oakland (1-3), the odd on favorite in the central Minnesota (2-3), and the odds on favorite in the East Boston (0-4) so it is really early
Tom Mehegan
To start Jose Bautista is not with the team at the moment as he is dealing with some family matters and may not rejoin the team until after this series with the A's is finished.
So in the Top 10th inning Jason Frasor comes in and the first batter he faced was Josh Willingham and the first pitch he throws him is a no doubter home run to give the A's a 6-5 lead and then Frasor gives up a single but ends up striking out the side. So in the bottom of the 10th Rajai Davis got a single to open up the inning and with his threat to stealing A's closer Grant Balfour throws the next hitter Yunel Escobar a heater down the middle of plate at Yunel turned and drove to deep center field where Coco Crisp goes back to the fence jumps and unlike Span for the Twins could not make the grab and he ended up lying face first on the turf as the Jays win 7-5.
The game started quietly as it was no score after 2 innings but Jo Jo reyes gave up lead off double to Andy LaRoche so it looked like he would be in trouble except that Coco Crisp hits a hard ball onto the ground and Arron Hill drives and gets him out at first and then he struck out Daric Barton. Then it looked like he would get out without giving up a run but Conor Jackson doubled to make it 1-0 and then Mark Ellis drove him with a double 2-0 and then David DeJesus drove in Josh Willingham to make it 3-0 A's after 3 innings. Jo Jo Reyes only got Daric Barton in the fourth as Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a double to lead off and Andy LaRoche singled him in to make it 4-0 and then Josh Willingham sac fly made it 5-0 and then the 11,077 in attendance had something to cheer about when Arron Hill hit a ball to second and Lind was out but Yunel Escobar scored to make it 5-1. Then in the 6 inning Rajai Davis doubled to open up the inning and Lind hit a ball down the third baseline and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff caught it but Davis scored to make it 5-2 when hill singled home Yunel Escobar to make it 5-3 and then Edwin Encarnacion doubled in Arron Hill to 5-4 which brought us to Snider grounding out to drive in Juan Rivera to tie the game at 5.
The A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy pitched 8 innings and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits with 2 strike outs and walk while Jo Jo Reyes was hurt big time by the doubles as he gave up 5 doubles on his 9 hits given up in 4.1 innings pitched so lets hope Brandon Marrow gets back soon. Also you have to like the no quite in the Jays bats so it looks like the Jays will not be out of a game at least at this time which is awesome to see but its scary that the crowds are back to the way they were last season lets hope its a blimp not what is going to happen this season.
The odds on favorite in the West Oakland (1-3), the odd on favorite in the central Minnesota (2-3), and the odds on favorite in the East Boston (0-4) so it is really early
Tom Mehegan
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Game 3 - 2-1 - Encarnacion had a bad day while Cecil had a bad inning in front of 35,000 +
Brett Cecil started on fire as he stuck out Span, Nishioka, and Young 1,2,3 to start the game and then went 1,2,3 in the second inning so the # 7 hitter in the Twins line-up Danny Valencia got a 2-1 count and Cecil throw a meaty pitch over the plate and he turned on it and crushed it into the stands and the Twins lead 1-0. In the bottom of the fourth Nishioka throw the ball away as he throw to first and Adam Lind scored an unearned run to tie the game at 1 and then the wheels came completely off for Brett Cecil as he gave up 5 hits in the inning and Cecil was own worst enemy when got a ground ball pack to the mound and he looked to third first before looking at first wear the runner was safe and Travis Snider gunned Danny Valencia down at the plate and Bautista catch the ball another time and the runner at third took a step towards home but went back to the base. The end result was that Brett Cecil gave up 5 hits and one walk and only gave up 2 runs in the innings and the Jays were lucky to only be down 3-1 after 4 and then in the 5 inning Brett Cecil struggled again but had a double play after the lead off hitter got on base with a walk and then Jose Bautista hit a homer to open the 6th inning as he hit a bomb down the line on the first pitch he saw from Nick Blackburn to make it 3-2 twins. Then it came down to the 9th inning when Jon Rauch came out of the bullpen to introduced himself to over 35,000 in attendance and got ahead of Twins lead-off hitter Span with a strike but the second pitch he throw to Span Rauch and the over 35,000 would like to have back as Span crushed it to make it 4-2. Then Joe Nathan made his first appearance since 2009 and he was shaky at best as J.P. was up first and he smocked the ball but Span after hitting the extra run he jumped up at the fence to bring it back and then Travis Snider got a base hit and Mike McCoy hit a hit and took a chance for a double and just made it safely and Yunel Escobar had a sac fly to make it 4-3 and then Juan Rivera and Jose Bautista got back to back walks to load the bases where Adam Lind hit the ball to first and it was over 4-3 Twins.
The story of the game was the 2 errors by Edwin Encarnacion and especially the second of them when he had a ball hit hard right back to him and he had it tip of his glove and went down the line in the 9th inning. He also had a throwing error that handcuffed Lind at first as he throw it to Lind's right and if it had been to his left Lind would of been destroyed by the the runner and could of been securely injured and now the John Farrell has his first huge decision to make and it is who will replace Edwin Encarnacion at third and right now it should be like Johnny Mac or use move Bautista to third and Rivera to Right. The thing that surprised me the most is that this team has captured the imagination of the city for the weekend at least because almost 49,000 fans on Friday is expected as even the Expos sold out the big O for opening day but 27,000 on Saturday is impressive while over 35,000 today for Bautista bubble head is completely amazing and even the Jay Brass could not even imagine over 110,000 fans for the opening series.
Lets see what happens next
Tom Mehegan
The story of the game was the 2 errors by Edwin Encarnacion and especially the second of them when he had a ball hit hard right back to him and he had it tip of his glove and went down the line in the 9th inning. He also had a throwing error that handcuffed Lind at first as he throw it to Lind's right and if it had been to his left Lind would of been destroyed by the the runner and could of been securely injured and now the John Farrell has his first huge decision to make and it is who will replace Edwin Encarnacion at third and right now it should be like Johnny Mac or use move Bautista to third and Rivera to Right. The thing that surprised me the most is that this team has captured the imagination of the city for the weekend at least because almost 49,000 fans on Friday is expected as even the Expos sold out the big O for opening day but 27,000 on Saturday is impressive while over 35,000 today for Bautista bubble head is completely amazing and even the Jay Brass could not even imagine over 110,000 fans for the opening series.
Lets see what happens next
Tom Mehegan
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Toronto Blue Jays profile - 2 - Arron Hill
# 2 - Arron Hill
D.O.B - March 21, 1982 Place of Birth: Visalia, CA, United States Drafted: 13Th overall 2003
School: LSU Throws: right Ht: 5'11 Weight: 205 Position: second base season: 6
Arron Hill had a great season in 2009 where he had 36 homers with 108 RBIs and a batting average of .286 with 42 walks and it has been sandwiched around 2 bad season with a .205 batting average even though he hit 26 homers with 68 RBIs and 22 doubles and 41 walks. While in 2008 he played 55 games and had 14 doubles, 2 homers, 20 RBIs, 16 walks, and a .269 batting average as he was concussed going after a fly ball and he got run into by David Eckstein's elbow when neither called the other one off to catch and David ran Arron Hill over and he was gone for the rest of the season. He started his Blue Jays career with 3 solid seasons with single digit homers but had 47 doubles in 2007, 28 doubles in 2006, 25 doubles in 2005 with batting average of .291 in 2006 in 160 games and 2007 in 155 games and .274 in 2005 in 105 games. His contract future is up in the air because he had club options for the next 3 seasons of 8 mil for 2012 & 2013 and 10 mil for 2014 and the Blue Jays have decided to not pick up any of them and now the question is what will the Blue Jays do with the 29 year old Hill.
Career Highlights
- Made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays on May 20, 2005 against Washington and he had 2 hits (including a triple) and 2 RBIs along with a run scored in 4 atbats.
- Arron hit his first home run on June 20,2005 against Baltimore
- Arron had his first 4 hit game on July 9, 2006 against Kansas City
- Arron Hill set the record for homers by a Blue Jay Second Baseman with 36 homers
- Arron had his first multi-homer game on June 28,2009 against Philadelphia when he hit 2 homers
- Arron's longest hitting streak 15 games in 2007
- Arron's longest on-base streak 20 games in 2009
Let's hope Arron has a great season
Tom Mehegan
D.O.B - March 21, 1982 Place of Birth: Visalia, CA, United States Drafted: 13Th overall 2003
School: LSU Throws: right Ht: 5'11 Weight: 205 Position: second base season: 6
Arron Hill had a great season in 2009 where he had 36 homers with 108 RBIs and a batting average of .286 with 42 walks and it has been sandwiched around 2 bad season with a .205 batting average even though he hit 26 homers with 68 RBIs and 22 doubles and 41 walks. While in 2008 he played 55 games and had 14 doubles, 2 homers, 20 RBIs, 16 walks, and a .269 batting average as he was concussed going after a fly ball and he got run into by David Eckstein's elbow when neither called the other one off to catch and David ran Arron Hill over and he was gone for the rest of the season. He started his Blue Jays career with 3 solid seasons with single digit homers but had 47 doubles in 2007, 28 doubles in 2006, 25 doubles in 2005 with batting average of .291 in 2006 in 160 games and 2007 in 155 games and .274 in 2005 in 105 games. His contract future is up in the air because he had club options for the next 3 seasons of 8 mil for 2012 & 2013 and 10 mil for 2014 and the Blue Jays have decided to not pick up any of them and now the question is what will the Blue Jays do with the 29 year old Hill.
Career Highlights
- Made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays on May 20, 2005 against Washington and he had 2 hits (including a triple) and 2 RBIs along with a run scored in 4 atbats.
- Arron hit his first home run on June 20,2005 against Baltimore
- Arron had his first 4 hit game on July 9, 2006 against Kansas City
- Arron Hill set the record for homers by a Blue Jay Second Baseman with 36 homers
- Arron had his first multi-homer game on June 28,2009 against Philadelphia when he hit 2 homers
- Arron's longest hitting streak 15 games in 2007
- Arron's longest on-base streak 20 games in 2009
Let's hope Arron has a great season
Tom Mehegan
Game 2 - 2-0 - Kyle Drabek did his best Roy Halladay impression with more walks
Minnesota Twins (0-2) Vs Toronto Blue Jays (2-0) - Game 2
Kyle Drabek pitched 7 innings and throw 101 pitches (54 strikes - 47 balls) and he gave a single walk to Joe Mauer in the first time through the line-up and then in his the 4Th inning Tsuyoshi Nishioka lead off with a walk, stole second, and Justin Morneau grounded out for the Twins only run against Drabek. Then in the 6 inning with one out Denard Span got the first hit off Drabek with a ground ball through the infield and Travis Snider had a sloppy throwing error to have Span in scoring position at second base but Drabek came back with his 6Th strike out (Nishioka) and followed it up with his 10 ground ball to end the 6Th inning while Drabek struck out 7 and had 11 ground balls (12 outs) so the Twins of 25 batters to face Drabek only had 2 balls hit into the air which is very Halladay like.
The Blue Jays got a home run from Jose Molina (who caught for J.P. today) to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3Rd and then Jayson Nix hit his first home run as a Blue Jay in the 4Th. Then in the 5Th inning with Bautista on third and Lind on first Edwin Encarnacion hit a ground ball and ran it out and Bautista scored to make it 3-1 when John Farrell went to his bench for Travis Snider who had come into the game 4 for 5 with 2 homers and 3 rbis against Twins reliever Kevin Slowey and he only hit a double down the line and 2 rbis on the first pitch he saw to make it 5-1. Adam Lind got a sacrifice fly for the Jays 6 run as the jays won 6-1 and Francisco Liriano was completely off his game as he walked 5 hitters and throw a wild pitch and also gave up 2 home runs and throw 90 pitches and throw 44 balls in 4.1 innings.
The Blue Jays got another 2 innings of shutout ball again and did not give up a hit with Shawn Camp and Marc Rzepczynski pitched an inning each and the Twins only got 2 fly ball outs and even the only hit was a ground ball through the infield and the just over 27,000 fans went home very happy and watch a very good pitching performance.
The Jays have started 2-0
Tom Mehegan
Kyle Drabek pitched 7 innings and throw 101 pitches (54 strikes - 47 balls) and he gave a single walk to Joe Mauer in the first time through the line-up and then in his the 4Th inning Tsuyoshi Nishioka lead off with a walk, stole second, and Justin Morneau grounded out for the Twins only run against Drabek. Then in the 6 inning with one out Denard Span got the first hit off Drabek with a ground ball through the infield and Travis Snider had a sloppy throwing error to have Span in scoring position at second base but Drabek came back with his 6Th strike out (Nishioka) and followed it up with his 10 ground ball to end the 6Th inning while Drabek struck out 7 and had 11 ground balls (12 outs) so the Twins of 25 batters to face Drabek only had 2 balls hit into the air which is very Halladay like.
The Blue Jays got a home run from Jose Molina (who caught for J.P. today) to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3Rd and then Jayson Nix hit his first home run as a Blue Jay in the 4Th. Then in the 5Th inning with Bautista on third and Lind on first Edwin Encarnacion hit a ground ball and ran it out and Bautista scored to make it 3-1 when John Farrell went to his bench for Travis Snider who had come into the game 4 for 5 with 2 homers and 3 rbis against Twins reliever Kevin Slowey and he only hit a double down the line and 2 rbis on the first pitch he saw to make it 5-1. Adam Lind got a sacrifice fly for the Jays 6 run as the jays won 6-1 and Francisco Liriano was completely off his game as he walked 5 hitters and throw a wild pitch and also gave up 2 home runs and throw 90 pitches and throw 44 balls in 4.1 innings.
The Blue Jays got another 2 innings of shutout ball again and did not give up a hit with Shawn Camp and Marc Rzepczynski pitched an inning each and the Twins only got 2 fly ball outs and even the only hit was a ground ball through the infield and the just over 27,000 fans went home very happy and watch a very good pitching performance.
The Jays have started 2-0
Tom Mehegan
Friday, April 1, 2011
Game 1 - 1-0 - J.P. Arencibia said John Buck who with his 2 homer game
The Blue jays had their first 4 batters got on base with Lind got the most painful RBI in his career as he got hit by the pitch and then Hill and Encarnacion both got to sacrifice fly and Snider got on base by an error while Juan Rivera was the first Blue Jay to be retired with an official abat and the Jays took control of the game and never looked back. J.P. Arencibia went 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 5 rbis with a triple and as Cito is not the manager anymore J.P. will not be on the bench for the next month which he faced after his major league debut where he did something similar to what he did tonight. Jose Bautista and Adam Lind went back to back with homers in the 7th inning and Adam Lind ended up with 2 hits in 4 official atbats with 3 rbis which is much better than his start last season and Bautista had 3 hits in 4 official atbats. Ricky Romero had a solid game until the 7th innings where gave up his 3 runs and he did give up 7 hits but like 3 of them were in this inning and he struck out 7 and had 60 strikes -to- 36 which is pretty good for a first start of the season and the bullpen of Janssen, Frasor, and Villanueva faced 9 batters in their 2.2 innings pitched as Frasor was the only to let a batter on base as he gave up a single. Also this is a rare occasion as the Blue Jays fell just short of 49,000 fans and actually performed very well because usually when it is a big crowd the Jays would wilt like a flower even when Roy Halladay faced A.J. Barnett on my 32 birthday back on May 12th, 2009 and Halladay won the game it was like a 1-0 game so it hard for the Jays and it is surprising to see only 49,000 as the attendance because I heard like beginning of the week at it was sold out but the Stadium seats a few thousand over 50 when it is packed for baseball.
Great beginning with a 11-3 drubbing of the Twins lets keep it rolling with Kyle tomorrow and I know I said I be there but I will not be
Tom Mehegan
Great beginning with a 11-3 drubbing of the Twins lets keep it rolling with Kyle tomorrow and I know I said I be there but I will not be
Tom Mehegan
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