A Report card for the Jays through the first 1/3 of the season

A Report card for the Jays through the first 1/3 of the season

The Jays in the first 1/3 of the season the Jays are 28 and 26 in 54 games

Games @ home - (D+) The Jays are not getting the job done at home with a 15-12 record and the Jays need to get better at home to be in the playoff race or be competitive.

Games on the road - (B-) - The Jays have been competitive on the road and a 13-14 record this were U would want the Jays to be and the Jays have been in more games then they have been blown out.

The infield - (C) - with Edwin Encarnacion on the field the defense goes in the toilet and then from time to time the defense collapses which throws off the pitchers and the games just snowballs into a complete mess but with Encarnacion not allowed on the field the defense is going to get better. Juan Rivera is a solid first baseman, Arron Hill and Yunel Escobar in the middle are very good defensively and Jayson Nix/Johnny Mac are very good at third base while J.P. Arencibia is grown into a catcher and will get better at and Jose Molina is a weak not so caring defensive catcher.

The Outfielder - (B) - Cory Patterson was not comfortable in center field so having him in Left field is better and Travis Snider will be solid in left field while Rajai Davis in center is a good fit and he plays the position hard while Jose Bautista has a good arm and he has been a good right fielder and does not make huge mistakes.

The batting order - (B+) - The batting order is strong with Escobar and Patterson is getting on base in front of Bautista in the last 10 to 15 games while Bautista is a MVP candidate right now. Then the clean up hitters have been lacking with Hill not getting the job done and Rivera just recently with Lind on the DL is getting some much needed production and the Jays have been needing Adam Lind in the clean up spot and hopefully will be back soon. While the bottom of the order of J.P. who has been hot and cold and getting the production done when hot and being ice cold at times but he is still learning. The DH position has been weak with Rivera just horrible in that spot while Encarnacion can not do anything right and will be gone ASAP and then Eric Thames has a good eye at the plate and is a balanced hitter other than that recently he has been in a slump but like J.P. is still learn on the job. Rajai Davis at the bottom of the order needs to get on a little bit more so he can use his speed on the bases but he will need to be more selective when to run as he is being a little to easily which most likely needs to come from the bench and finally the third base spot can not hit so it is a spot for defensive reasons and maybe at sometime Brett Lawrie is better the production at some point this season.

Starting Rotation (B-) - The rotation for the most part keeps the Jays in the games but defensive blunders have been known to destroy pitchers like Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow who otherwise have been the back bone of the rotation with Romero having 4 ace performances in a row after a game where a balk unraveled him to the point where he was not able to get out of the inning against the Tigers. Morrow has been effective and not totally relying on his strike outs to get the job done and that takes us to Kyle Drabek who is not hittable which is a good thing usually but when U can only find the strike zone just over half the time and lead the league in walks allowed that does play a factory but is young and learning on the job. The bottom of the rotation with Jesse Litsch having his problems not allowing hits and runs and being put on the farm for a bit and on the DL for a bit is tough but he does have 4 wins and then Brett Cecil the Jays 15 game winner has 1 win and is still working things out on the farm. Carlos Villanueva not a strong starter so he is a stop gab and so is Jo Jo Reyes who holds a share of the record for most starts without a win (28) but he has had some no decisions in some very winnable games where he deserved the win.

The Bullpen - (C) - The closer role is a tough situation with both Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch not able to get the job done and get the win for the starter while Marc Rzepczynski is been on more than he has been off when he is not on his game the sparks fly and so do the runs for the opposition. Octavio Dotel has been not used as much after his stint on the DL and it maybe because he is not getting the job done while both Shawn Camp and Jason Frasor are both 1 innings guys and are getting the job done on most nights. Then the long relievers of Carlos Villanueva and Luis Perez have been innings eaters which has made it possible to not have to use too many pitchers if a starter is out of the game in the first three innings.

John Farrell - (B) - It has been a tough job trying to find the best lineup and having Encarnacion glued to the bench has made his life easier but the injuries and lack of performance from the guys U expected to be main stays in the lineup and the rotation has been hard to do. While the guys he brings out of the bullpen have done the job he needed from them more often than not so he is pressing the right buttons except the closers have been head starching situation for him as he does not know who will be the right fit as they just are not pure closers.

So far so good

Tom Mehegan

Game 55 - 28 - 27 - Tribe get lots of extra base hits while the Jays did not put runs together

So the Jays came in to tonights game with 44 run scored in 4 innings and the Tribe who had won one of their last 4 games and in 3 losses the Tribe had only scored a single run.

Brandon Morrow was the starter for the Blue Jays and he had a bad time with extra base hits and then after strike out batters to minimize the damage as in the first inning the lead off hitter Michael Brantley doubled and then Morrow struck out the next 2 batter before a gound out to end the inning with no runs scores. In the second inning Carlos Santana and Grady Sizemore both doubled to open the inning to give the Tribe a 1-0 lead and then Morrow struck out the side and in the third inning the Tribe first three hitters got hits including a triple by Michael Brantley followed by two singles to make it 2-0 and then Morrow struck out Travis Buck which was followed by a sac fly by Carlos Santana to make it 3-0 and then Grady Sizemore struck out to end the inning. Then after an walk in the fourth in the fifth after 2 outs Morrow walked Travis Buck followed by 2 doubles by Carlos Santana and Grady Sizemore and it was 5-0 and then Orlando Cabrera singled home by Sizemore to make it 6-0. In the end Brandon Morrow gave up 6 extra base hits in the 9 hits he gave up in 5 innings and he struck out 9 batters of the 15 outs he got during his time on the mound.

While going into the 9 inning the Jays had only 9 singles and the only way the Jays scored their 2 runs before the ninth inning happened because of a throwing error by Orlando Cabrera that allowed Patterson to score and then a single by Juan Rivera drove in Bautista to make it 6-2 in the 7 inning but then the Tribe bullpen struck out 5 straight batters until Yunel Escobar homered to make it 6-3 but that is the closest the Jays got. Now the Tribe and Jays go into the rubber match with the Jays having Kyle Drabek (3-3, 4.16 ERA) Vs the Tribe's Josh Tomlin (6-2, 2.74 ERA).

The Jays need Drabek to control the strike zone to be able to win the rubber match

Tom Mehegan

Game 54 - 28 - 26 - Jo Jo Reyes finishes what he starts as the Jays smoke the Tribe in opener

Jo Jo Reyes started and finished the game for the Blue Jays which is the first time in his major league career that he has recorded a complete game and also did something tonight that he had not done in 1081 days or in his last 28 starts which was a win as a starter as the Blue Jays humiliated the tribe 11-1. Jo Jo gave up 1 run on 8 hits with walks and 4 Ks and before tonight his last win as a starter was on June 13,2008 when his Atlanta Braves at the time traveled to meet the California Angels of Anaheim. So that monkey is off the back of Reyes and lets see if his luck changes even though when Brett Cecil is brought back up from the farm along with Jesse Litsch Jo Jo will be put in the bullpen and if he focus a 3 or 4 inning outings he maybe a more successful long reliever and can be useful to the Jays in this situation.

The bottom of the Blue Jays order came through for them as Eric thames had a 2 hit game and scored twice while Rajai Davis had a 2 run double to go with his 3 hit game and scored all 3 times he reached base and then Jayson Nix had only a single hit and it was a big one as it was a 2-run homer (3) as he opened the scoring for the Jays in the bottom of third inning to make it 2-0. After a Shelley Duncan homer in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1 Rajai Davis double made it 4-1 to start a 7 run bottom of the fourth inning and wheels fell completely off for the Tribe when second baseman Orlando Cabrera tried to toss the ball hit by Cory Patterson to get Yunel Escobar at second but dropped the ball as Eric Thames scored. Then as Cabrera had his back turned to the plate he bowed his head embarrassment Rajai Davis scored as the ball just laid behind second base to make it 6-1. Then Bautista had a 2-run double to make it 8-1 and J.P. finished off the inning with a sac fly to score Bautista and made it 9-1 but the Jays were not over in the fifth Yunel Escobar singled in Thames and Cory Patterson had a sac fly to score Rajai Davis to make it 11-1.

The Jays have done what they should of been doing all month which is win the games at home as they have won 4 in a row but are 15-12 at home which is a far cry from the Tribes 19-6 home record so the Jays need to continue piling up wins at the Roger Center to stay in the AL race as long as possible. If I am not mistaken Jesse Litsch can come off the DL on Thursday and might make that start or will get a Las Vegas start and I am also to understand that Adam Lind might be rejoining the Jays this weekend in Baltimore as the Jays will be facing the Orioles so that will mean that Edwin Encarnacion will be sent for assignment for Lind and Luis Lopez will be sent back to make room for Litsch and Villenuva will be put back in the pen as the long reliever.

Lets see if the Jays can make it 5 in a row

Tom Mehegan

Game 53 - 27 - 26 - Arron Hill hit a grandslam as the Jays laugh the Chisoxs out of town

So one year ago today Roy Halladay had his regular season no hitter and John Danks was far from this in the first inning as he throw jaw dropping 51 pitches in the inning and the Jays sent 10 batters to the plate and it was an inning of firsts for the Jays as with one out Arron Hill came to the plate with bases juiced and hit Danks 31 pitch over the wall for his first homer of the season and first major league Grand Slam. It was followed by Edwin Encarnacion coming to the plate and hit his first homer on his season and it was the third time this season that the Jays have gone back-to-back with homers and then later in the inning Jayson Nix came to the plate with a 0 for 22 streak going and the Jays third basemen came into the game with a 0 for 44 streak and Jayson Nix looped the ball to the feet of Alex Rios to break the o fors. The Jays got 6 runs on 6 hits and a walk as 10 batters came to the plate including a RBI single from Jose Bautista.

The Jays had some great defensive plays from Jayson Nix with a diving catch in the first to take a hit away from Alexei Ramirez and then Rajai Davis stole a multi RBI opportunity from Brent Lillibridge just before he hit the wall and the two runners had to go back and could not advance to the next base. Also Arron Hill flashed the leather and caught a line drive by Alexei Ramirez and Brent Morel in the fifth inning. The Chisoxs scored a run(s) in the first and ninth innings when Carlos Quentin hit a solo homer in first and two-run homer in the ninth and in the third Paul Konerko singled in Juan Pierre for their only 2 runs throw the first four innings.

In the bottom of the fourth inning Rajai Davis got hit by a pitch and after Nix ground out he stole third base and it was followed by a single by Yunel Escobar to drive him in and Cory Patterson followed by hitting his 4 homer on the season. Then Jose Bautista came to the plate and misses a pitch and pops to short and Bautista slammed his bat in frustration and as Bautista walked back to the dugout he and Danks chirped at each other and it could of been more then that but instead Bautista just continued to the dugout. So by this time the game was a laugher @ 9-2 but the Jays got 3 more in the fifth which was dominated by a two-run double by Jayson Nix and the Jays were up 12-2 and Bautista took a seat on the bench for the last 4 innings and the Jays got a finally run in the sixth when J.P. singled in Juan Rivera as the Jays hammered the Chisoxs and I could just imagine the sound bites after this game from Ozzie Guillen who has been ripping into his team all weekend. For the Chisoxs Adam Dunn still is looking for his first hit against a left-handed pitcher as he is now o for 38 this season and is hitting .181 this season.

Ricky Romero had a good outing given up 2 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks along with 5 Ks in 7 innings and lets hope the Jays can put up some runs up for Jo Jo tomorrow as he has a few good games this season and deserves his first win as a starter in almost 3 years as the Jays are welcoming in the Tribe who have an AL leading 31-19 record but is coming in with a 12-13 road record compared to their 19-6 home record.

Lets see if the Jays can win 4 in a row

Tom Mehegan

Game 52 - 26 - 26 - Bautista leads off with a homer but it is Patterson that sends the fans home happy with a homer

The game took 4 hours and 17 minutes and at the beginning of the game there were 22,659 fans in the stands and by the end of the game there less than 20,000 in the stands by the time Cory Patterson came up to open the 14th inning and Patterson took a ball to open the abat which was followed by 2 foul offs until he found his pitch which was a fastball that he sent to right field for a game winning homer to give the Blue Jays a 9-8 win. The Jays could of been able to finish the game in the original 9 innings but instead with a 8-7 lead Frank Francisco came in to shut down the Chisoxs and Juan Pierre fly out for one out and then both Alexei Ramirez and Paul Konerko doubled around an Adam Dunn strikeout to tie the game @ 8 which is bad for Frank Francisco because it looks like he needs to get as far away from the 9 inning for a while as it looks to be hurting his confidence.

In the bottom of the first the Jays started on fire as Yunel Escobar walked and Cory Patterson singled which brought Jose Bautista to plate and the struggling Bautista came in with 19 homers and once again he hit a homer in his first abat to give him 39 first abat homers since beginning of the 2010 season and now has 20 homers on the season which gave the Jays an early 3-0 lead. In the top of the second Alex Rios started it off doubling to Eric Thames in left field for first time in his major league career and after an Omar Vizquel strikeout Brent Lillibridge homered to make 3-2 going and then Brent Morel singled and was moved to second on a bunt by Pierre and ushered by a Alexei Ramirez single to tie it at 3 going into the third inning. In the bottom of the third Patterson and Bautista both singled to open the inning and with one out Arron Hill doubled them both in to make it 5-3 but then Thames and Davis both struck out to end the inning and then the Chisoxs tied up the game in the five inning as Juan Pierre reached on a fielding error by Arron Hill and with one out Adam Dunn singled him in to tie it @ 5 which was followed by a Paul Konerko double which lead to an A. J. Pierzynski double to drive in both and give the Chisoxs their first and only lead in the game.

In the bottom of the seventh inning Juan Rivera came to the plate with the bases loaded and a very rare thing happened he came up and cleaned off the bases with a bases clear 3 run double to make it 8-5 Jays which has to be one of the most important abat so far this season as the Chisoxs pitched around Bautista to load the bases and Juan made them pay dearly. If it happened more often then the opponents would think twice about pitching around Bautista which would in able Bautista at some more RBI opportunities which would increase the Jays run production so lets hope that Rivera/Hill can get the job done more often and that when Adam Lind gets back he can be a strong bat behind Bautista.

In the eighth inning up three runs after Marc Rzepczynski pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a walk and a double play thrown in Octavio Dotel comes in and with two out Brent Lillibridge tripled and was ushered home by a pass ball charged to catcher Jose Molina to take to 8-7 and brought that much closer to 5 extra innings.

In his second start in a few seasons Carlos Villanueva pitched 5 innings and gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits in another spot start replace Jesse Litsch in the rotation with a walk and 4 Ks but the pitching star for the Jays was Luis Perez who came in with one out in the tenth inning and finished off the remainder of the game with 2 hit shutout over the last 3.2 innings of the game to pick up his first ever major league win. While for Chisoxs got unreliable pitching by starter Edwin Jackson who throw 6.2 innings and gave up 6 runs (all earned) on 9 hits and a walk while striking out 7 Jays along the way but it was the bullpen of Chris Sale, Sergio Santos, and Gavin Floyd who pitched 6 innings of 3 hit shutout ball with 2 walks and 4 Ks to keep them in the game but then Gavin Floyd also gave Patterson that fastball that ended the game and gave the Jays 2 wins in a row and the chance of a series win tomorrow.

Johnny Mac has been placed on the 15 game DL after his wild throw in game one of the series and Mike McCoy has brought back up to replace him and took over third in today's game after Edwin Encarnacion pinched hit for Jayson Nix and struck out in the bottom of the seventh so Lawrie still waits his turn in Las Vegas.

Jays send Ricky Romero to the hill looking for his 4 straight amazing start against John Danks who is winless as he is 0 and 7 so far for the Chisoxs this season

Tom Mehegan

Game 51 - 25 - 26 - The fun of making fun of Rios while Drabek needs to command the strike zone

I was at the game tonight and I was the only person in the center field seats and I had looked at the seats on the website and it said the seat were not available so I thought I was going to be the only person in the center field and in the bottom of the first inning and got very excited that Rios was heading my way. I had fun yelling and screaming at Rios and by the end of Chisoxs abat most of the first row was filled and by the end of the Jays abat there were a few fans a couple of rows up and the Rios comments came fast and furies and it was fun with help from the fans in right and left field it was amazing.

The Jays got some great hitting in the first inning with 3 hits and a run as the Jays took an early 1-0 as the ball split Rios and Juan Pierre and it bounced off the wall on a Juan Rivera double and Yunel Escobar scored. In the top of the third Juan Pierre tripled and looking at these past 2 games Juan Pierre is one of the most exciting Chisoxs with his speed and Alexei Ramirez had a sac fly to tie the game @ 1 and in the bottom of the fourth Arron Hill singled and Rajai Davis tripled him home but Davis ended up getting thrown out at the plate trying to steal home and the Jays lead 2-1 after four inning. In the top of the fifth Adam Dunn walked followed by singles by both Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez which loaded the bases and then Carlos Quentin walked in Dunn to tie the game @ 2. In the seventh the Jays got a lead off single by Jose Molina and with one out Yunel Escobar doubled home Jayson Nix to make it 3-2 and in the eighth J.P and Rajai Davis singled around an Arron Hill fly out to Rios and Jose Molina singled in J.P. to make it 4-2 and in the world of closer by comity it was Jon Rauch turn and with a Dallas McPherson struck out when Juan Pierre hit an infield hit just behind the mound. So a wild pitch followed by a passed ball while Alexei Ramirez was batting and then Rauch struck out Ramirez followed by a Carlos Quentin grounded out to first and Juan Rivera stepped on the base to end the game and end the Jays 3 game losing streak.

Kyle Drabek if U look just at the bottom line of 2 runs on 3 hits but when U look closer at the line U see 6 walks with 66 strikes and 55 balls in 6.2 innings pitched and it looks more like a game where he had problems finding the plate on a consistent basis so when he is able to stay in the strike zone he will be a sight to see but not yet. While Mark Buehrle the guy who pitched a no hitter a couple of seasons ago just got beaten up by Jays hitters over 7 innings pitched given up 9 hits and 3 runs earned with 2 walks and 3 Ks and he could of been broken earlier in the game put the hit and the right moment was lacking once again.

More seagulls in the Roger Center and this time it was 3 instead of one and the Jays have tied up the series at 1 and need to take control of it with Villanueva on the mound tomorrow

Tom Mehegan

Game 50 - 24 - 26 - Mistakes in the 9th ruins Morrow start and a look at farm

The Blue Jays went into the 9 inning in a 1-1 tie and the top of the inning started innocently with Alex Rios grounding a ball to Johnny Mac and it looked like Rios was going to be 0- for - 4 in the game but instead a strange thing happened as Johnny Mac throw the ball completely over Juan Rivera who jumped and still went over his glove and Rios is standing on second base with a single and Mac with a throwing error. Then A. J. Pierzynski strikes out and then Omar Vizquel strikes out but during the abat Marc Rzepczynski throws a pitch and it gets away from J.P. so Rios is standing at third and 2 outs where Gordon Beckham gets hit on the lead on a pitch that Rzepczynski lost control of and it is first and third and Beckham went to second on fielder indifference. Then Juan Pierre tries everything as he tried to bunt and in the end hit a ball behind first base and Juan Rivera gets it and the Chisoxs scored a run and then Rivera decided to throw the ball to Rzepczynski at first only problem was not at the bag yet so the ball hit off a fumbling Rzepczynski and the second run scores to give the Chisoxs a 3-1 lead along with the series opener. The winning pitcher for the Chisoxs Jesse Crain spent his first 3 month in Toronto as he was born here and then moved to Colorado as Chicago's closer Sergio Santos gave up a one out walk to Arron Hill but that was it as the Jays had problems hitting again.

Brandon Morrow pitched well except for the first inning where he throw 20 pitches and walked the lead off hitter Juan Pierre and with one out hit Carlos Quentin but then Morrow got the next 12 hitters out without a base runner and then with one out in the 5 inning A. J. Pierzynski and Omar Vizquel hit back - to - back hits and Juan Pierre singled in A.J. to give the Chisoxs a 1-0 lead. Brandon ended up pitching 7 solid innings as he gave up a run on 4 hits with 2 walks to go with 5 Ks and the only reason that Morrow unable to pick up his third win on the season was because Phillip Humber pitched 7.2 innings and gave up 6 hits with a walk and 3 Ks aand only had a single mistake pitch to Yunel Escobar who hit his 5 homer to make it 1-1.

So the Jays have a closer by comity right now with John Farrell going with the right pitch in the right spot no matter what the situation and on the farm Adam Lind is still having problems with his back still and is hitting in the batting cage but not playing in game action. Travis Snider is hitting over .333 (10 for 29) with a homer and 6 RBIs with 2 doubles with 4 walks and 3 Ks this week so he might be back soon and Brett Lawrie this past week is hitting almost .400 (12 for 31) with 3 homers with 8 RBIs with 3 doubles along with 2 walks but still has 8 strikeouts this week so he is still going to be a work in progress. This Brett Cecil had a start where he 5 runs (4 earned) in 7 innings and gave up 7 hits with 2 walks and 8 Ks but did get lite up 3 times for homers so he could be a week away maybe depending on what Jo Jo does in his next start.

The Jays look to Drabek to get them out of this 3 game lossing streak as he he faces Mark Buehrle and heres to hoping the Jays find a way to win at home maybe live at the Roger center hotel

Tom Mehegan

Game 49 - 24 - 25 - Andrew Jones turns the clock back and Jo Jo would like to

Andrew Jones hit 2 homers and 4 RBIs and he felt like he was back in Atlanta in his glory days as he hit a 2-run homer in the 2 & 6 inning while another former Atlanta Braves player Mark Teixeira hit his 13 homer which was a 2 run shot and and Curtis Granderson doubled in Derek Jeter as the Yankees won the series rubber match 7-3 with the long ball. Arron Hill, Eric Thames, and Rajai Davis all had 2 hits each as the Jays out hit the Yankees 10-9 but it was Jo Jo Reyes who set a record that he would not like to have as he has not won a start in his last 28 starts going back to June 15, 2008 and only pitched 3 innings given up 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. Marion Rivera came into pitch in his 1000th appearance and he is the first pitcher to do this with one team and the Jays once again are struggling with runners in scoring position with another 2 for 10 and it is allows hard to win games if you are unable to score runs if you only need a hit not a big hit but just a simply hit.

To be realistic Jo Jo Reyes would be a bullpen guy if the cards fell properly it would be Brett Cecil but as he is still working things out in Las Vegas right now and in the past few starts before today he has been a good pitcher and has put the Jays in a great position to win the games but then the bullpen hiccups and Jays lose the game or at least Reyes ends up with a no decision. I do not know how much longer Cecil will be down in Las Vegas but at this point in time I believe Reyes has earned himself a spot in the bullpen when Cecil is cleared to resume pitching in the Blue Jays rotation.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the struggling Alex Rios as he is hitting .206 with 4 homers and 13 RBIs along with 8 doubles for the Chicago White Sox who are 23 & 28 so far this season. Alex Rios will most likely be booed and the Jays seriously need to get the Sox down and just put their foot to their throat and win this series as they diffidently need to be able to use the Roger Center as their playground and not let anyone walk out with a gift rapped win.

Brandon Morrow goes to the hill tomorrow and needs to set an example on how this series going to work and help set in motion another get run of wins in a row and 5 wins in a row would be a good platform

Tom Mehegan

Game 48 - 24 - 24 - Cocoa Puffs had a complete game and the Jays Bullpen blow it for Miss USA's Bo

So tonight the pitching match up was Cocoa Puffs ( C.C. Sabathia ) Vs the boyfriend of miss USA ( Ricky Romero ) and they both got through the first inning with little problem as Mark Teixeira had the first hit of the game and then Cocoa Puffs went 1-2-3 through the inning and then in the bottom of the inning Ricky Romero gave up his biggest mistake of game with Canadian Russell Martin smashing his 9th homer which was a solo shot to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the top of the third Rajai Davis got the first Jays hit of the game which lead to Yunel Escobar singled and Davis went first to third and Cory Patterson singled him in to tie it at 1 and in the bottom of the inning Romero gave up two singles and that was it. In the top of the fourth inning the box of cocoa puffs got spilled all over the field as he gave up 4 hits to the first 6 batters including a fielding error on Robinson Cano and got 3 runs to give the Jays 4-1 lead with a J.P. got a RBI single, Rajai Davis got a RBI single, and Johnny Mac put down a bunt and got a RBI on a fielders choice because of the error and Romero went 1-2-3 on the Yankees to keep the Jays in control of the game.

Cocoa puffs set down the last 16 batters on the game as he had a complete game while he was doing this the boyfriend of miss USA completed 7 innings and in the 7th he struggled and had first and second with one out and Derek Jeter at the plate and he grounded the ball to Johnny Mac at third who stepped on third and throw to first for a double play. The Boyfriend of Miss USA pitched 7 innings with 1 run on 7 hits and 3 walks and 4 Ks and he battled the Yankees hitters and got the better of them except that one pitch to Russell Martin and hit the showers with 4-1 lead.

Then the Jays bullpen came in and the Yankees just dominated the bullpen as they scored 2 runs in the 8 inning Casey Janssen gave up a double to Curtis Granderson and then got Mark Teixeira grounded out and A-rod struck out and then Marc Rzepczynski came in and did something he has not done to much this season and that is given hits and he gave up a double to Robinson Cano and Russell Martin singled and both earned a RBI. Then in the 9th Frank Francisco came in to close down the game and he started with the bottom of lineup with the eighth hitter Brett Gardner grounded out to Juan Rivera at first and then pinch hitter Jorge Posada doubled and that turned over the lineup again and Derek Jeter grounded out for out 2 and a runner at third and Curtis Granderson singled to tie the game at 4 and then he stole second and Teixeira single him in to win the game and Francisco needs a break from closing.

Jose Bautista is slumping right now and actually struck out with the bases loaded in the top of the third inning and was 0 for 4 tonight and the other Jays need to pick him up because he will diffidently pick it up later in the season.

The Jays need to get on a roll again and pile up wins in a row and hopefully Jo Jo can get his first win as a starter in almost 3 years and Freddy Gracia will be going at it head-to-head

Tom Mehegan

Game 47 - 24 - 23 - Villanueva pitches a great 5 innings and J.P. seals the deal

Jose Bautista did something he has done 38 times since the beginning of the 2010 season which is hit a home tun in his first abat which is amazing because he has 35 homers after his first abat and the solo shot gave the Jays a 1-0 lead and then Carlos Villanueva went and throw darts at Yankees hitters as Brett Gardner's double was the only Yankee hitter to reach base the first time through the order.

Then Edwin Encarnacion after a good defensive play in the bottom of the third making a good decision on taken change of a pop up in front of the plate on a Chris Dickerson pop up but then the ceiling fell in on him as he missed played a Brett Gardner routine ground ball that eat him up and went into the outfield to give him 8 fielding errors over at third base. Then it got worst as in the top of the 6th inning he stuck out for the third time in the game and Johnny Mac replaced him at third base in the bottom of the 6th inning so it looks like Edwin may only spell a rest for Thames at DH or sent for assignment.

The Top of the 6 inning around that final K by Edwin was huge as Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon walked 3 Blue Jays (2 intentionally) and it was a huge inning because of J.P. as after Hill singled to break a 1-1 tie and then Eric Thames got walked unintentionally to walk in the third run to make it 3-1 Jays. Where J.P. stepped up and cleared the bases with an one out double to make it 6-1 Jays and then in the 8 inning singled in an Arron Hill double to give him 4 runs batted in and he had 2 of the 3 hits with a runner in scoring position and has the third bases loaded hit on the season which gave the Jays a 7-1 lead.

Carlos Villanueva pitched 5 innings of 2 hit ball with a walk and 5 strikeouts and his only mistake was to walk Curtis Granderson as it was followed by a Mark Teixeira single that with his speed Granderson went first to third and then a Robinson Cano sac fly brought him in for the only run Villanueva would give up. The only mistake by the bullpen was walking Curtis Granderson in sixth because when Jason Frasor walked him as the first batter he faced and A-rod singled and Granderson went first to third again and a fielding error on Yunel Escobar on a ground ball by Robinson Cano that Yunel felt he could turn into a double play but bubbled it instead but should of record the second out as Hill had the ball before A-rod touched the bag scored him. In the eighth it happened again when Jon Rauch did it and this time he stole second and then A-rod moved him to third with an infield hit and Robinson Cano singled him home but the Jays won 7-3. It really helped having a more veteran pitchers pitching as Villanueva was able to deal with the Escobar error and it did not destroy him and he did not let the runner score while neither did Jason Frasor when Yunel got over excited and was unable to handle the ball before trying to start the double play and Frasor did not let any more damage happen in the inning. This is the opposite than when a younger pitcher has it happen to them as it is usually the beginning of the end for that pitcher so it was nice to see them being able to control the situation but I do understand that the younger pitchers are still learning on the fly.

The Aces go head to head and lets see if Ricky can make it 2 in a row and 6 straight road wins

Tom Mehegan

On the farm - May 23 - Top 10 prospect for the Jays

#1 - Brett Lawrie (3rd) (Las Vegas 51s) - last 10 games hitting .375 ( 15 for 40 ) with 4 homers with 13 RBIs with 9 walks and 7 Ks so he is getting a bit better especially in the last 5 games he 3 walks and 4 Ks with 3 homers and 8 RBIs so there is a hope he gets more selective at the plate.

# 2 - Travis d'Arnaud (C) (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) - hitting .313 with 2 homers and 11 RBIs with 8 doubles while 9 walks and 12 Ks in 28 games.

# 3 - Anthony Gose (OF) (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) - hitting .272 with 2 homers and 16 RBIs with 3 doubles and 3 triples with 18 walks and 34 Ks in 42 games so he is a while off from being in the bigs and he is the guy who the Jays got for Brett Wallace.

# 4 - Zach Stewart (right handed pitcher) (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) - 3-2 record and an ERA 4.24 in 8 games with 51 hits with 3 homers along with 28 Ks and 13 walks in 46.2 innings pitched

# 5 - Deck McGuire (right handed pitcher) (Dunedin Blue Jays) - 3-2 record with a 2.64 ERA in 8 starts and 9 games with 34 hits and 4 homers with 42 Ks and 18 walks in 47.2 innings pitched.

# 6 - Carlos Perez (C) (Lansing Lugnuts) - hitting .269 with no homers and 14 RBIs with 11 walks and 33 Ks with 7 doubles and 3 triples in 31 games.

# 7 - Aaron Sanchez (right handed pitcher) (Bluefield Blue Jay) - 0-2 record with a 1.42 ERA with 19 hits and 1 homer along with 28 Ks and 12 walks in 19 innings pitched with 8 starts

# 8 - Adeiny Hechavarria (SS) (New Hampshire Fisher Cats) - hitting .221 with 2 homers with 12 RBIs with 10 doubles and 2 triples with 7 walks and 24 Ks in 42 games played

# 9 - Jake Marisnick (OF) ( Lansing Lugnuts ) - hitting .296 with 4 homers and 29 RBIs with 9 doubles and 2 triples along with 13 walks and 33 Ks in 38 games

# 10 - Asher Wojciechowski (right handed pitcher) (Dunedin Blue Jays) - 3-2 record with a 3.89 ERA with 43 hits and 6 homer with 14 walks and 30 Ks in 41.2 innings pitched in 8 starts.

Except for Lawrie the rest of the 10 will not be in the BIGs in a couple of seasons from now and that is when we will find out what these players can do if anything.

Game 46 - 23 - 23 - The Jays lack of focus cost them the rubber match against the woeful Astros

The Blue Jays came out in the rubber match like it just a lazy Sunday afternoon against the woeful Astros who if U did not know better came into this series with 6 runs scored in their last 4 games and the young buck Kyle Drabek was on the hill who the Jays are 5-3 coming into this game with him on the mound.

In the bottom of the second inning the focus was nowhere near Rajai Davis when after doubling with one out he was caught putting on his gloves as the Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriguez to Edwin Encarnacion who doubled but because the speedy Davis was not ready he could only advance to third and was unable to score because Jayson Nix struck out and Yunel Escobar pop up to the catcher to end the inning as Edwin's hit was the only hit with a runner in scoring position as the Jays were 1 for 12 in that stat today. in a 1-1 tie in the top of the 5 inning with one out Angel Sanchez sent a lazy fly ball to shallow center field and Rajai Davis let it just drop right in front of him and Yunel Escobar was there too and it was a very costly blunder because the next batter Hunter Pence who leads the Astros in both homers and RBIs added to both those stats to put the Astros in a 3-1 lead and gave them enough runs to win the game. With Wilton Lopez who was having a hard time finding the plate even with an extremely extended strike zone the white chalk of the batters box was being called a strike and in 1.1 inning the Jays could not take advantage of him and it got so bad for Lopez that Astros manager came out with a 2-1 count on J.P. with one out in the eighth inning and brought in closer for now Mark Melancon as the Astros have blown 11 saves so far this season. So Mark Melancon comes in and the announcers on Sportsnet say that he a strike throwing pitcher and of course the Jays would have an idea of this and hack away at anything close to the plate but instead they are watching the pitches as J.P. was caught looking while Rajai Davis was caught looking at strikes and Mark Melancon made it extremely easy on the Jays hitter as he basically said if I get the ball to the plate it is going to be a strike as the balls to Davis where bouncing in front of the plate. It was no easier to watch the Jays hitters take strikes in the 9 inning and it was so obvious that he was a strike throwing pitcher that the announcer reinstated that he was a strike throwing pitcher and Edwin watched pitch one for a strike and was behind in the count and just had to battle before grounding out for out number 1. Then pinch hitter Eric Thames came to the plate and watch the first 4 pitches he saw as he saw Melancon's fourth ball since coming into the game and then 2 strikes before his 5 ball of the afternoon and then Thames struck out swinging on the only pitch he offered at in the at bat for out number 2. Yunel Escobar came to the plate and watched strike one and then singled to keep the game going and then Cory Patterson after watching the first pitch (a ball) doubled which put runners on second and third with Bautista up only problem was first base was empty so they walked him to get to Arron Hill who was a single could win the game for the Jays so after watching strike one he grounded the next pitch to Chris Johnson who throw to Brett Wallace to end the game.

So the Jays were not mentally into the game and it showed but Kyle Drabek also gave up 8 hits and 3 walks and one that he would like back that accounted for 2 of the 3 runs he gave up to his home town Astros in 6 innings of work and had at least a runner on almost all innings as his 6 pitch fourth inning was his only 1-2-3 inning and he had a number multi-runners innings as well. The Jays could not produce any runs as the only runs came on solo homers to Juan Rivera in the third to tie it at 1 all with 2 outs and J.P. singled and Davis walked but Encarnacion flied to end the inning and then J.P lead off the sixth inning with his 8 homer of the season but nobody else could on base that inning to get a rally going.

The Jays head to the Bronx to face the Yanks in the first of three before coming home for some more home cooking and someone needs to find that cook and fire him because that home cookings not helping

Tom Mehegan

Game 45 - 23 - 22 - Jose Bautista had another MVP like performance as the Jose chant went on and on

Jose Bautista had another MVP type game with a huge assist on a Chris Johnson RBI single to throw out Carlos Lee at third to end the first inning for the Astros and then in the bottom of the inning he got the first Jays hit of the game and it was the only Jays hit till the 5 inning and then he stole second base which is something he does not much of as it is his 5 steal of the season. In the 6 inning after the bats finally woke up in the 5 inning he came to bat with a 4-0 Astros lead and with 2 on and he was fooled on the first pitch by Brad Myers fastball but he then came back with a curve and Jose was like fool me once shame on me, fool me twice its not happening as he crushed a 3-run homer and it was a 4-3 Astros lead. With the Jays up 6-4 lead off the 8 inning he came up and we watched it go again as he sent his second homer of the game into the left field seats again and the solo shot was his 18 homer of the season and gave the Jays a 7-4 lead and the Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose Jose Jose chant went basically all game and it was like energizer bunny it kept going and going and did not stop.

The Jays also got a huge 2 run homer from Yanul Escobar (4) to break a 4-4 tie right after Jose Molina singled in Eric Thames in the 7 inning and give the Jays the 6-4 lead while Eric Thames had his first multi-hit game of his career while Jose Molina had a 2 hit game too as he gave J.P. a well deserved day off.

Brandon Morrow was the Jays starter and he struggled through 6 + innings as he was pitching from the stretch as the Astros seemed to have runners cycling the bases in most of the innings as in the first as Michael Bourn walked, Hunter Pence singled, and Carlos Lee reached safely around an Angel Sanchez swinging strikeout so it was bases loaded with former Jays stud prospect Brett Wallace stepped up and sent a sac fly to Cory Patterson to make it 1-0 Astros and Chris Johnson singled to make it 2-0. In the third Chris Johnson singles home Carlos Lee to make it 3-0 and then in the 5 inning Chris Johnson sent a sac fly to Cory Patterson to score Carlos Lee again and it was 4-0 and then in the 7 inning he walked Angel Sanchez and Hunter Pence singled and it was the end of the line for Morrow who throw strikes (70 s - 34 b - 104 p) but those were hit around a lot as the Astros got 9 hits and 3 walks to help themselves to 4 runs but he did strike out 6 batters. It only took Casey Janssen 10 pitches and 6 strikes to strikeout Carlos Lee and get Brett Wallace to hit into a double playto end the 7 inning and the Jason Frasor came in and used 11 pitches and 8 strikes to get Chris Johnson and Clint Barmes to hit the ball to Johnny Mac at third so he could catch them and then Janssen strikeout Brian Bogusevic to finish the 8 inning. In the ninth Jon Rauch was given the opportunity to close again but he was not prepared as he gave up back-to-back hits with one out to Michael Bourn and Angel Sanchez doubled him home and Octavio Dotel crawled out from whatever rock he was hiding under to come in and in 7 pitches and 5 strikes ended the game by striking out Hunter Pence and getting Carlos Lee to ground to Johnny Mac to end the game.

The Jays send Kyle Drabek to mound to take the series from the Astros as the Jays get ready for a series in NYC starting Monday

Tom Mehegan

Game 44 - 22 - 22 - The Bullpen blows Jo Jo first win in almost 3 years

Jo Jo Reyes was on fire for 7 innings of shutout ball with 5 hits and a walk while Arron Hill had 3 for 4 night with 2 doubles but the Jays were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Also Juan Rivera is comfortable at first base and it showed when he made a sliding catch in foul ground and it has helped his focus at the plate too as he had 2 hits in the game and Rajai Davis also had 2 hits in the game. The Jays scored a run in the third when Arron Hill doubled to open the inning and then Juan Rivera hit the ball towards third base and Arron Hill was moving on contact so he was out at third which was a huge mental mistakes while Rivera was safe at first and J.P. doubled Rivera to third and Eric Thames grounded out to first to give the Jays a 1-0. In the 6 inning Arron doubled again and Rivera singled him to third and after two quick outs but Rajai Davis singled home Hill to make it 2-0 Jays.

After 7 shutout innings John Farrell went to his bullpen for Jon Rauch and he got the first 2 batters out and then Michael Bourn walked on a very close pitch that Jon Rauch thought was strike 3 but he did get caught stealing for the first time this season and he was clearing was safe on the reply in the 6 inning. Then Jon Rauch got a head of Clint Barmes 0-2 put could not finish him off as he got a single and then Hunter Pence slammed a ball of the wall that scored both runners to tie it at 2 and give Jo Jo another no decision and it went into the ninth tied at 2. Frank Francisco came in for the ninth and after a Jason Michaels strike out he fell apart with a Matt Downs walk that was followed by a 2-run homer by Chris Johnson and then Angel Sanchez singled and Shawn Camp came in to finish the inning but the Astros still scored another run to make it 5-2 and the Astros had come into the game scoring 6 runs in 4 games and tonight they scored 5 runs in the last 2 innings.

So after a 5-2 loss to the Astros there has been a lot of Jays news starting with Jesse Litsch has been put on the 15 game DL which means he will miss at least 2 starts and maybe more and it will be Carlos Villanueva taking his spot in the rotation and he has pitched 24.2 innings and has only given up 10 hits this season and will be pitching at Yankees Stadium on Victoria day Monday. Also Adam Lind has not picked up a bat or a glove in weeks and will hopefully be in the lineup for Las Vegas 51s tomorrow and will most likely be down on the farm for a week to 10 days at least and I could see both Lind and Snider coming back up at the same time as Snider will most likely will be back very soon.

I was not at the game tonight but will be at the game tomorrow to see Morrow strikeout the Astros and get the Jays even in the series with a win so they can win the series.

Tom Mehegan

Game 43 - 22 - 21 - Romero and Davis have a pitchers duel but a hit by J.P. that decides the game

The starting pitcher for the Blue Jays Ricky Romero and the starter for the Rays Wade Davis just mowed down batters heading into the the last third of the game which took only 2:16 to play in front of 12,590. So Wade Davis throw 56 pitches through 6 innings and had one pitch he regretted which was a fastball in the second inning to first baseman Juan Rivera who sent the fastball to the fence where it bounced off the top of the fence and went out to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. On the other hand Ricky Romero pitched 7 innings and throw 104 pitches and he had one pitch he regretted which was a fastball in the 5 inning to B.J. Upton who sent it out to Rajai Davis in center field who jumped for it and it went over his glove and out to tie it at 1 and Romero gave up 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6 batters.

In the Top of the 7 inning Wade Davis throw 30 pitches and lost the strike zone after getting Arron Hill to fly out B.J. Upton on 3 pitches he walked Juan Rivera, Eric Thames, and Rajai Davis but in between the Rivera and Thames walks he throw a strike which J.P. deposited into the seats for a 2-run homer his 7Th of the season to tie him for the most homers for a catch with Russell Martin of the Yankees and Rob Barajas of the Dodgers and the Jays were up 3-1. Wade Davis ended up pitching 7.2 innings and throwing 96 pitches and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. The Bullpen for both teams shutdown the other team with Juan Cruz got J.P. to ground out while for the Jays Marc Rzepczynski got the 3 outs in the eighth except he gave up a homer to Kelly Shoppach to make it 3-2 Jays and then Frank Francisco got a Evan Longoria pop up to Yunel Escobar and fly outs by both Matt Joyce (the best batting average in the AL next to Bautista) and B.J. Upton to finish the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.

So Juan Rivera was not noticeable at first base which is a good thing because U only remember first basemen when they screw up (Edwin Encarnacion I'm looking at U) and his bat came alive which is the only time that has happened except that series in Arlington against the Rangers as he had a homer and double along with a walk in tonight's game. Also J.P. had a homer and a single and Rivera and J.P. had 4 of the Jays 7 hits in the game and it was a great showing of timely hitting as its not how many there are but when they happen as the Jays have started another win streak and lets hope they can make it 2 in a row when I go down to the Rogers Centre to see Brett Wallace first hand as he is coming in with his Houston Astros.

Lets make it 2 in a row Jays

Tom Mehegan

Game 42 - 21 - 21 - Jays get some of the worst defense I have ever seen and almost win

The Blue Jays had 3 innings that they would like to forget as in the first inning Johnny Damon grounded to Edwin Encarnacion and Damon received a hit when it off been Encarnacion first error of the game and could of had 4 errors to him name in this game. Jayson Nix came up with a diving catch in his first inning of play in weeks and doubled up Ben Zobrist at second base to end the inning and in the second inning Jesse Litsch walked the lead off hitter Matt Joyce and then on his next pitch he hit his first batter who was B.J. Upton and then the weirdest play in a while happened when Elliot Johnson sent a two run single to Jose Bautista. Then he throw the ball to second base where Yunel Escobar backed off from the base and the ball hit the bag to give Bautista an error and Litsch picked it up and throw to second to try and get Johnson out and it went into the outfield and it was his first error of the game. Sam Fuld put down a sac bunt and Encarnacion picked the ball up and throw to Arron Hill at first and throw it away for his error of the game. Then In the third inning Jesse Litsch hit Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce smacked a 2 run homer and then B.J. singled and Litsch tried to pick him off but the ball went under Encarnacion glove at first and Upton went all the way to third base and Litsch got his second throwing error but it could off been credited to Encarnacion. When Elliot Johnson flied out to Bautista and he throw a dart to the plate and J.P. was way to far in front of the plate to be able to try and tag B.J. at the plate and it was 6-0 after 3 innings. So through 3 innings Jesse Litsch hit 2 batters, 2 throwing errors, a wild pitch, and 3 walks and Edwin Encarnacion had 1 error and it could of been 3 and he also had another error in the 8 inning to give him to official errors.

The Jays came back bit by bit starting in the four inning when Arron Hill grounded into a force out and Cory Patterson scored to make it 6-1 and then in the 5 inning Jayson Nix with no outs hit into a double play and Eric Thames scored 6-2 Rays. Then in the 6 inning Arron Hill doubled in Cory Patterson and then Eric Thames got his first career hit as he drove in Arron Hill to make it 6-4 going into the last third of game the game but the Rays poor bullpen was able to keep the Jays of the board in the 7th and 8th inning. So it came down to the 9 inning Rajai Davis doubles to open the inning and steals third and then Jayson pops a ball sky high to the catcher for out 1 where Yunel Escobar grounds out for out 2 but Rajai still scores 6-5. Then Cory Patterson comes upto bat with Jose Bautista in the on deck circle and he is caught looking at strike 3 called to end the game.

I have to say that the bullpen really picked up the team as Jesse Litsch pitched better after the third, Charlie Villanueva after a singled followed by a double play and then 4 straight Ks was a very good 2 innings, and Casey Janssen pitched the finally 2 innings abd the eighth was better than the ninth as it was only the second Encarnacion throwing error while it was bases loaded in the ninth but no Rays runs after the 3 inning. So the defense in the first three innings was some of the worst defense in a long while with 4 errors in those innings and players being out of position making things worst than they needed to be and the Jays still clawed back within a run against the best road team in the Tampa Bay Rays.

Lets hope they can put this behind them and get another long win streak started with the finale of the Rays series before interleague starts Friday

Tom Mehegan

Adam Lind is finally put on the DL while Eric Thames is brought up to the show

Adam Lind after basically sitting on the bench for over a week without being able to help the Jays on the field because of his sore back and have been placed on the DL as of May 8 so he will be able to come off on the 23 on Monday at the earliest. Instead of bringing back up Travis Snider hitting .302 (19 for 63) with 4 doubles and 9 walks but the sore thumb seems to be his 14 strikeouts in 16 games and no homers in 16 games but the Jays are saying he still working on new things with his swing and he making advances but they do not have a timeline yet on his return to the show. So instead they have brought up Eric Thames (LF) who is hitting .342 (50 for 146) with 17 doubles, 2 triples, 6 homers, and 30 RBIs to go with his 17 walks and 30 strikeouts in 36 games for Triple A Las Vegas and I feel he should be put right in the lineup most likely replacing Juan Rivera at DH because a DH hitting a lot better than just over a toonie (.203) so he should take a seat and maybe a day or two watching may help him with his stroke watching how the other are hitting. If it is not Thames then it needs to be David Cooper either at first or at DH and maybe have Edwin Encarnacion at DH but if it is Cooper or Thames at least one of them needs to be in the lineup because the bench is not the best place to keep a young player as they can watch a game maybe two but more than that it was a disadvantage for them.

In other farm news ...

Brett Lawrie is hitting .321 (52 for 162) with 13 doubles, 2 doubles, 8 homers, and 26 RBIs with 11 walks which is lower than Thames and 31 strikeouts which is the same as him.

Brett Cecil after his first triple A start has had 4 starts and at least finishing 6 innings inning in all of them with given up 3 earned runs in 3 of the 4 starts with a 1 earn run game which had 4 hits in 6 innings. The other starts had 6 hits in 6.2, 9 hits in 7, and 6 hits in 6. He has struck out 5 or 6 batters in these 4 starts that he has all won but Left handers are hitting .324 against him (right handers .308) while given up 5 homers (1 homer to right handers).

Lets see what happens with Eric Thames in the show

Tom Mehegan

Game 41 - 21 - 20 - The two hottest teams in baseball faceoff and Drabek has the right stuff against the Tigers

So heading into the game the Tigers were on a 7 game winning streak which is the longest current win streak and the Blue Jays came in with a 5 game winning streak and the Tigers sent to the mound Max Scherzer who came in with 6-0 record and Jays had difficulties last time they faced him scoring runs on him as he gave up 5 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings last Monday but struck out 5 and only gave up 2 runs in his 6 win. The Jays sent Kyle Drabek to the mound after he did not face the Tigers when they were at the Roger Centre last weekend when the Tigers took 3 of 4 from the Jays.

So Max Scherzer started well after a Yunel Escobar single he got the next 3 batters in order to get out of the inning while Kyle Drabek did not as he gave up a single to Austin Jackson which was followed by walks to both Andy Dirks and Brennan Boesch to load the bases with no outs and it looked really bad for him but Miguel Cabrera flied out to Jose Bautista for a sac fly and it was 1-0 Tigers when on a 2-1 pitch Victor Martinez grounded a ball to Edwin Encarnacion who started an inning ending double play ball. After this both pitchers battled with runners on base with Max Scherzer given up singles while Drabek gave up 4 walks and now leads the majors in walks with 34 while given up 3 hits but nobody could get another runner across the plate until the top of the 7 inning when the first 2 Jays batters J. P. Arencibia and Rajai Davis singled. Then Johnny Mac laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line to put both runners in scoring position which was followed by a Yunel Escobar sac fly to tie the game @ 1 but Max Scherzer got Corey Patterson to fly out to Brennan Boesch and it was over for him given up 8 hits and a walk over 7 innings with 2 Ks and only a single run scored.

In the 8 inning the Jays faced the worst bullpen in the majors with an over 5 era and they lived up to the hype as Joaquin Benoit came in and gave up 3 earned runs on 4 hits as Bautista and Encarnacion singled to open the inning and Arron Hill doubled home Bautista to give the Jays a 2-1 lead and then both Juan Rivera and J. P. Arencibia had Sac flies to make it 4-1 going into the bottom on the inning. In the bottom of the inning Marc Rzepczynski replaced Kyle Drabek and if U blinked U missed the inning as Marc throw 8 pitches and induced 3 ground balls the first to Johnny Mac at third, the second was a diving stop by Arron Hill, and the third was to Yunel Escobar for a 1-2-3 inning.

In the bottom of the ninth Frank Francisco came in for the save but he struggled to say the least as he throw 26 pitches with 16 strikes and 10 balls after Victor Martinez pop out to Johnny Mac the Tigers started hitting Francisco hard as Jhonny Peralta smacked his 6 homer to make it 4-2 and then Alex Avila walked which was followed up Brandon Inge hitting hard to Cory Patterson and Don Kelly hit a ball hard but right to Jose Bautista to end the game.

Rajai Davis, Arron Hill, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Yunel Escobar all had two hits in the game which meant that the Jays got some good abats from all the Jays in the lineup as Johnny Mac and Juan Rivera were the only batters without a hit but Mac had the important sac bunt and Rivera had a sac fly.

The Jays have won their last 6 games and lets hope they make it 7 before coming home to face division leader Tampa Bay Rays and the team with the new owner the Houston Astros as interleague play begins this weekend.

Tom Mehegan

Game 40 - 20 - 20 - The Jays are back at 500 and the Twins in a strange place while Bautista is smacking the ball out of the park more and more

The Toronto Blue Jays beat up on the twins royally 11-3 and they started early and often as Arron Hill doubled in Yunel Escobar and Cory Patterson in the first and Yunel doubled in Jose Molina in the second and the Jays were out ahead of the Twins as 3-0. Then the story of the day began in the third inning as Jose Bautista hit the first of three homers to lead off the inning to make it 4-0 Jays and then he did again in the fourth inning with a solo homer with one out to make it 8-0 and then finally he hit his third after Jose Molina doubled and Cory Patterson single him home Patterson was escorted home on a Bautista two run slam to give Bautista four RBIs in the game and 16 homers on the season and the Jays were up 11-3 in the 6th inning. So right now Jose Bautista is proven me wrong as he has been destroying ball as he is 15 for 39 (.385) with 9 walks and 3 Ks along with 8 homers and 14 RBIs in last 10 games which means he been at the plate 48 times and reached base 24 (.500) over this time span.

Brandon Morrow was mowing down the Twins through the first 2 innings as sat down the first 7 batters he faced as he also struck out 4 of them and 5 of the 10 batters he faced through 3 innings with only Drew Butera sending a line drive single to center fielder Rajai Davis. Then in the fourth inning with a 8-0 lead he lost a little bit of his focus as he hit lead off hitter Trevor Plouffe, Jason Kubel followed with a single, then Justin Morneau walked and it bases loaded with no outs but then Morrow got Delmon Young swinging for his 6 strikeout. Then Michael Cuddyer walked and Trevor Plouffe scored to put the Twins on the board but then Danny Valencia flied out to Jose Bautista but not deep enough to score Jason Kubel and then Drew Butera was strikeout victim No. 7. In the five inning after Alexi Casilla singled to open the inning and Denard Span lined out to Bautista both Trevor Plouffe and Justin Morneau doubled around a Jason Kubel line out to Jose Bautista and it was 8-3 and on Brandon Morrow last pitch he strikeout Delmon Young for his 8th strikeout of the game. Brandon Morrow pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks and the bullpen pitched 4 innings and gave up 3 hits but no runs while the Twins starter Brian Duensing pitched 3 innings gave up 7 on 8 hits with 2 walks and a single strikeout and Kevin Slowey pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 runs and 5 hits with 3 Ks.

The Jays have won 5 in a row and are 500 while the Twins have lost 8 in a row are now 4 and 11 @ home and are 12 and 26 on the season

Tom Mehegan

Game 39 - 19 - 20 - Jose Bautista hits his first opposite field homer but Jo Jo Reyes still can not win as a starter

The Jays are now 5-1 in extra innings this season as the Blue Jays bats came alive in the 11 inning which was lead by Jose Bautista's first opposite field homer to break a 3-3 tie going into the inning and the 2 run jack (13 on the season to lead the majors) were the first 2 runs scored in a inning that the Jays scored 6 runs and 7 straight batters reached base to open the inning before the first out was recorded and the Twins trotted out 4 pitchers in the 11 inning. Twins pitchers gave up 4 hits and 4 walks in the 11 inning and besides Bautista opposite field shot the only other extra base hit in the inning was J.P. 5 double of the season that scored 2 runs and Jon Rauch pitched 2 innings to pick up the win and Shawn Camp put the Twins down 1-2-3 in the bottom of 11 inning but most of the 39,000 left in the top of the 11 inning.

The first inning for both the Jays Jo Jo Reyes and the Twins Nick Blackburn as Yunel Escobar grounded to shortstop Trevor Plouffe who throw the ball wildly to first but in the Escobar ended up being created a hit and Cory Patterson bunted him to second where Escobar stole third and then Jose Bautista reached on a throwing error on third baseman Danny Valencia as Escobar scored and the ball did not leave the infield in the top of the first as Bautista was caught napping and was picked off and Juan Rivera strike out first of his Golden Sombrero (4 strikeouts). In the bottom of the inning Denard Span lead off with a walk and Trevor Plouffe followed with a bunt single down the third baseline where Justin Morneau hit a ball between first and second that the defense was not ready for as David Cooper picked up and because Jo Jo fell towards the third baseline on his follow through was not in position to receive the David Cooper throw over at first and Cooper was charged with a throwing error as the ball went into the camera bay and Span scored to tie the game @ 1. The play would of been made if Arron Hill had called off Cooper and gotten the ball and Cooper was on the bag for the throw but then the Twins took the lead on the first ball out of the infield as Delmon Young flied out to Rajai Davis scoring Trevor Plouffe so the Twins had a 2-1 lead going into the second inning. With one out in the second inning J.P. smacked his 6 homer a solo jack to tie it up at 2.

Jo Jo Reyes who had not won a start in 25 starts had gotten through 5 innings and a 100 pitches given up 7 hits and a walk through the first 5 innings and it was still tied at 2 but his 101 pitch he delivered to Michael Cuddyer was deposited into the outfield seats to give the Twins a 3-2 lead and after back-to-back singles to Rene Rivera and Denard Span with 2 outs Jo Jo left given up 3 runs on 10 hits and a walk along with 6 Ks. Then Marc Rzepczynski struggled throw the 7 inning given up singles to both Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer and then walked Danny Valencia to load the bases but he stuck out Luke Hughes to end the inning with no damage.

While Nick Blackburn was Cruising through 7.2 inning as he had only give up 3 hits and 1 walk while only given up a single earned run and struck out 8 batters but then Yunel Escobar stepped to the plate and grounded a ball past third baseman Danny Valencia which brought Cory Patterson to the plate and he hits a ball to deep center field and Denard Span tried to make an inning ending catch but instead he collided with the wall falling to the ground and by the time the ball got to the infield Cory Patterson was standing on third and Nick Blackburn was finished after an intentional walk to Jose Bautista and could not win the game and after Matt Capps struck out Juan Rivera to end the inning he also could not lose the game either.

The Jays are on a roll with 4 wins in a row and have meet the Twins at the right time as they have lost 7 in a row and the Jays look for the sweep as they go for their 5 in a row and a 500 record.

Tom Mehegan

Game 38 - 18 - 20 - Ricky Romero gets 26 outs and Bautista smacks number 12

So Ricky Romero pitched a gem of a game and through the first 18 batters he faced he had only allowed two walks and one was retired on a double play ball by Drew Butera and he was rolling along until the 6 inning with 2 outs when Denard Span singled past a diving Johnny Mac at third for the Twins first hit of the night. Romero was visible upset so the next batter Trevor Plouffe grounded it to Johnny Mac and he throw to first and Edwin was not able to get it but J.P. was backing up on the play so nobody advanced which lead to Ricky getting Jason Kubel to ground out to Yunel Escobar who throw to Edwin at first to end the inning. He gave up a hit to Justin Morneau and that was his only other hit until he got into the 9 inning with a 2-0 lead behind him and Trevor Plouffe lead off with Ricky's third walk of the game but Ricky followed that up with strike outs of Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau which got him to 100 pitches which brought out John Farrell who basically asked how are you feeling and Ricky said great and continued pitching and faced Delmon Young who singled on Ricky's first pitch and the night was over for Ricky Romero after getting the first 26 outs. Frank Francisco came in to face Michael Cuddyer who battled with runners on first and second and got it to a full count but then Frank Francisco catch him on a check swing that went to far and the Jays won their 3 in a row 2-0.

The Twins starter Carl Pavano struggled given up 7 hits and 3 walks but no runs in 5.1 innings as the Jays left 2 walks and a single on in the first and left 2 singles on in the second while they left on a double and a walk on in third which meant throw the first 3 innings the Jays batters had left 7 runners on base. Finally in the 7 inning after Pavano left the Jays got on the board as Cory Patterson singled and Bautista walked which brought up the struggling Juan Rivera who hit a gaper that scored Patterson and the Jays lead 1-0 going into the 9 inning where Jose Bautista lead off the inning with his 12th bomb of the season and the Jays had their 2 runs in the game. The Blue Jays were disgusting 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position and 14 Jays were stranded on the bases throughout the game and if it was not for Ricky Romero's performance of 8.2 innings of 4 hit shutout ball with 2 walks and 8 strike outs with 64 strikes and 37 balls in 101 pitches the Jays would have still been in the basement of the AL east.

Three in a row lets make it four Blue Jays

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Blue Jays Profile - # 6 - Johnny MacDonald

Born : September 24, 1974 in New London, CT College : Providence Bats/throw : right

H'T : 5'9 Weight : 180 lb Debut : July 4, 1999

Johnny MacDonald have been playing in the MLB in 1999 and played his first 6 seasons with the Cleveland Indians and played the Blue Jays in 2005 before being traded to the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline period. Then since 2006 when he came back to the Blue Jays he has played for the Blue Jays and has been a local sports icon and if he was able to hit better than he has as he is usually hitting in the .250 area code ever since 2006 expect 2006 when he hit .223 and in 2008 when he hit .210 he would definitely be a gold glove candidate. This is because Johnny Mac has been a great defensive infielder especially playing second base or shortstop as he is magical double play set up guy and takes hits away from the hitters and helps the young pitcher's confidence and he also been playing third base especially in the 2011 taken the place of Edwin Encarnacion which betters the Jays defense. He has a career high in homers with 6 in 2010 and except for his 20 doubles in 2007 he has not gotten double digits in doubles in any of his seasons with the Blue Jays along with 3 triples being the most in his career.

Johnny Mac has been a great player for the Jays and the city of Toronto has been very good to Johnny Mac and it has been a very strong relationship and both sides have gotten the best out of each other as Johnny Mac has been a great defensive infielder while the fans have been cheering him on. If Johnny Mac keeps playing hard for the Blue Jays for 2 more seasons or something he probably be up for a spot on the Blue Jays wall of excellence for his outstanding infield defense.

Johnny Mac U R awesome

Tom Mehegan

Game 37 - 17 - 20 - Jays swept away slumping Red Soxs with the bat of Johnny Mac along with the legs of Rajai Davis

Rajai Davis in the third inning lead off with his first of four hits which was a songle and was able to score on a Cory Patterson base hit to tie the game at 1 and Johnny Mac hit his second homer of the season to open up a 3-1 Jays lead in the fourth inning and it was only beginning for these two. As Rajai Davis followed Mac with a line drive single and created a run all by himself by stealing second (# 10) and then stole third (# 11) and ran home on a sac fly by Yunel Escobar to make it 4-1.

Jesse Litsch was solid and kept the Jays in the lead as after double by Adrian Gonzalez and a RBI by Kevin Youkilis in the first inning he kept the Red Soxs off the scoreboard until the 6 inning where he meet Adrian Gonzalez again who with one out smacked his 7 homer of the season and third in the last 2 games. Then with 2 outs Big Papi stepped to the plate and drilled his 6 homer of the season on Litsch's last pitch of the game and then Casey Janssen came in to face J.D. Drew who flied out to Rajai Davis in center field to end the inning and the Jays went into the 7 inning with a 4-3 lead when Jarrod Saltalamacchia with Carl Crawford at first crushed a ball into the 5 deck but thankfully for Casey Janssen it pulled way foul and the Jays went into the bottom of the 7 inning with the 4-3 lead intact.

In the bottom of the 7 inning Johnny Mac came up with the bases loaded and got only the Jays second hit with the bases load this season which was a 2 run double to give the Jays a 7-3 and gave Mac 3 RBIs which was followed by Rajai Davis's 4 hit of the game was a 2 run single to make it 9-3 Jays and that is how it finished as the Jays swept away the Red Soxs and ended the 6 game home stand 3 and 3 which should of been better but it is hopefully the beginning of something good for the Jays.

Jesse Litsch pitched 5.2 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk along with 4 strike outs while Boston starter John Lackey pitched 6.2 innings and gave up 9 runs on 9 hits with 5 walks and a strike out in front of just over 19 thousand tonight and 36 thousand over the two game series which is likely a single game attendance against the Soxs later in the season.

Ricky Romero taking the mound to try and make it 3 in a row in the great outdoors of Minnesota on Friday night

Tom Mehegan

Game 36 - 16 -20 - David Cooper hits his first homer and wins it in the 10th after Escobar gets hit by pitch

David Cooper came in to replace Yunel Escobar after he got hit by a pitch which sent players moving around the infield as Johnny Mac went from third to short, Edwin Encarnacion went first to third, and David Cooper went in to play first. When he leads off the 8 inning against a fire baller Daniel Bard who throw 3 digits and David Cooper showed that if U connect with a very fast fast ball it travels very quickly and it went over the fence which gave the Jays a 6-5 lead going into the 9 with Frank Francisco in for the save but he meet Alex Gonzalez who hit his second homer of the game to tie the game. Then in the bottom of 10 inning Rajai Davis lead off with grounded a ball through the infield for a single which was followed by stolen base # 8 (second base) and then stolen base # 9 (third base) while David Cooper battled at the plate against Matt Albers with one out and finally connected with a pitch to center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to score Rajai and gave the Jays a 7-6 win as they win the first game of a series again.

The Jays starter Kyle Drabek kept the runners from scoring as he strike out Kevin Youkilis to end the first and then in the second David Oritz scored on a Carl Crawford single but struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jacoby Ellsbury flied out to end the inning which was an amazing catch by Rajai Davis in center. After 1-2-3 third inning David Oritz slammed his 5 homer to open the 4 inning but Jacoby Ellsbury singled to Cory Patterson in Left Field who throw a dart to home plate to nail Carl Crawford by a mile as it was the plate but J.P. was able to dive over the plate and tagged Crawford to end the inning. In the 5 inning Pedroia walked and that was followed by Gonzalez first homer to take a 5-4 lead after 5 innings which was the end of Kyle Drabek as he throw 109 pitches and his biggest problem was thrown first pitch strikes as he throw 60 strikes and 49 balls so he needs to throw first pitch strikes to be able to go further in games and the long ball hurt him hard.

The Jays bats were not as solid as they could not get runners in when in scoring position as they were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base throughout the game. The Jays faced Jon Lester and in the first inning as Yunel lead with a walk, Patterson singled, Bautista walked, and then Edwin Encarnacion walked to score Yunel and no outs yet and then Hill and Rivera both got fielder choice RBI which gave the Jays a 3-0 lead. Then bottom of the 5 Bautista lead off with his 11 homer and then in bottom of the 6 inning J.P. lead off with a homer as well which tied the game at 5 all.

In other news Yunel Escobar was taken out of the game and he is a question mark for tomorrow night game along with questions about Adam Lind as he is still not ready to be back in the lineup and might need to be put on the DL so they can bring up someone to be on the bench as they do not have a bench other than the back up catcher right now. So this could be interesting because this maybe a spot for a Sinder to return or either Thames or Lawrie could make their MLB debut.

Lets see if the Jays can win two in a row

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Blue Jays fielding defense sucks and it is hurting the confidence of the young Jays pitchers

Watching the Blue Jays this season one big thing has smacked me in the face and that is that the Jays defense is completely horrible starting with Cory Patterson in center field who seems to not like to bump into walls and instead he will just turn around and wait for the ball to come off the wall and the hitter gets a hit and maybe even a double while he takes a chance and tries to make the catch he could be helping the pitchers by taken hits away from hitters. Last night he looked like he was in position to make a catch and then he looked back at the wall and when he turned around the ball had changed direction and went over his head for a RBI double and then he made a sliding catch which was amazing except only that he was looking the other way as the ball found the glove which meant if the ball was an inch higher or lower than his glove he would not been able to make the catch.

Jose Molina as the back up catcher is not going all out to help the pitchers as last night he called for a pitch in the dirt and was not able to block it and a strike out victim became a base runner and it created a situation where Brandon Morrow lost him focus and control of his pitches and it helped the Tigers to score 6 runs in the inning and if he had been able to record the strikeout as a out the game at worst would of been tied at 2 instead of 6-2 Tigers. Molina has shown less interest in being a Jays catcher than a Yankees catcher as he looks like a completely different catcher since he joined the Blue Jays.

Then having Edwin Encarnacion @ third base is a disaster and a half and his 7 errors are not good at all and he is a complete a liability in the frame work of the team and the Jays are in holding pattern with third base until Brett Lawerie becomes more patience at the plate and more comfortable playing third base in triple A.

The Jays pitchers need some extra support behind them because they are so young and can be shaking up by the simplest mistake that can be compounded quickly and one mistake can turn into 3 or 4 run innings. Coming into the Red Sox home series the Jays are batting .247 and that is 9th in the American League and are 7th in runs scored and I think the bats will warm up by the all-star break and will get on a soon.

Tom Mehegan

Game 35 - 15 - 20 - Tigers have 10 batters come to the plate in 2 of the inning

After 3 innings of very good pitching by Brandon Morrow including 7 pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning while the Jays got on the scoreboard first when Yunel Escobar singled to open the first and Bautista doubled him home and then in the bottom of the third Yunel Escobar hit a solo homer which was his third of the season to give the Jays a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth inning Brandon Morrow struck out his 6 batter of the game Brennan Boesch but the catcher Jose Molina was not able to keep the ball in the dirt in front of him and Boesch was safe at first and it was over for Morrow as Miguel Cabrera walked and Victor Martinez doubled Boesch home and Don Kelly singled in Cabrera to tie up the game @ 2. Jhonny Peralta lined out for out one and then Alex Avila walked to load the bases and Morrow was finished after 3.1 inning and he was not happy as he looked back at John Farrell as he left the mound and throw his glove in disgust when in the dugout. Shawn Camp came in and struck out Ryan Raburn and would of been the third out if Molina held kept the Boesch strike out pitch in front of him but Austin Jackson came to the plate and he cleared the bases with a double to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead and Ramon Santiago doubled Jackson into make it 6-2 and the 10 batter of the inning Brennan Boesch grounded out to David Cooper to end the inning.

In the top of the 7 inning 10 more batters came to the plate and Octavio Dotel faced the first 9 batters and got 2 outs and gave up 4 runs which had 2 walks, 2 singles, a homer, a hit batter, and a fielding error which were surrounded by 2 Ks and Boesch lead off and finished the inning again. Victor Martina had amazing game as he had a 2 run homer and 2 doubles while have 3 RBIs and helped the Tigers win 3 of 4 games in the series.

The Jays faced Ryan Perry and to sday he could not throw a strike would an understatement as walked the first 3 batters he faced to load the bases and then Cory Patterson doubled and 2 scored and the third runner was gunned at the plate for one out and a 10-4 lead for the Tigers and Patterson scored on an Edwin Encarnacion single and Arron Hill got hit but Jose Valverde came in and got Juan Rivera grounded out to end the game.

The Jays young pitchers are very easy to frustrate and unravel into a complete disaster and are frustrating to watch and it would be nice if the Jays bats could get a stronger starts to games would be a lot more fun to watch and the Jays would be able to win more games and home wins need to pile up for the Jays as they have already lost 3 of 4 and still have 13 home games in May and need to put wins together.

Red Sox coming to town and Drabek is waiting for them

Tom Mehegan

Game 34 - 15 - 19 - Jays struggling at home not a good recipe but Reyes is better than excepted recently

The Jays got a solid outing out of Jo Jo Reyes but just were not able to put the big hits together to help out Jo Jo Reyes got in trouble in the top of the 7 inning when with 2 outs Austin Jackson launched a 2-run home run on 2-2 pitch to give the Tigers the lead for good at 4-2 but did get out of the inning without give up another hit to the Tigers. Then in the top of the 8 inning lead off hitter Magglio Ordonez doubled off Jo Jo whose afternoon was over given up 5 runs as if you drink, don't drive (Miguel Cabrera) singled in pinch runner Don Kelly to make it 5-2 and Jo Jo Reyes throw 81 pitches (58 strikes) and 8 hits with a walk and a K over 7 innings and a batter which is good pitch effectiveness and deserved a better result than a 5-2 loss to Brad Penny and we are not talking 2007 or even 2008 Penny we are talking a 2011 Penny. So Tigers closer Jose Valverde came in in the 9 inning and struck out Bastista (who did have all the Jays offense today with a 2 rume jack in the bottom of the third), Juan Rivera, and Arron Hill in order to pick up his 200th career save.

The worst part of the Jays right now is that in their last 2 home stands so far they are 3-5 with losing their last home stand 3-2 and losing 2 of the first 3 against a below 500 Tigers team and if they want to be anywhere close to be competitive than they need to be at least winning 3 of every 5 games at home and right now they are 500 at home which is recipe for being like the Raptors and Leafs meaning just not good sports watching to say the least.

So Hill came back into the lineup today and went 1 for 4 while Bautista got back to the lineup and went 1 for 4 but did have the only 2 RBIs for the Jays on his 10th homer of the season and Adam Lind is a possible starter against the Tigers in the finale of the series. In triple A las Vegas Travis Snider is hitting better as in 8 games he is hitting .467 ( 14 for 30 ) while striking out 5 times which could be better and 6 walks which is a good start on waiting for the right pitch and has 3 doubles. Both Brett Lawrie and Eric Thames are slowing down with the bat as Lawrie is hitting .338 (44 for 130) with 27 Ks in 29 games while having only 5 walks but does have 6 homers, 10 doubles, and 2 triples so far with 21 RBIs while Thames is hitting .322 (38 for 118) with 24 Ks compared to 15 walks so he has a bit of patience but not enough with 3 homers, 2 triples, and 10 doubles to go with his 21 RBIs. So Travis is getting there maybe back with the team in a week or so and Juan Rivera or Cory Patterson/Rajai Davis maybe on their way out while Thames and Lawrie will diffidently be up with the big club in September but I do not know how much earlier than that they will be in the big smoke.

Jays wins at home are very, very, very important

Tom Mehegan

Game 33 - 15 - 18 - Justin Verlander no hits the Jays on 99 pitches

So the pitching match-up of Ricky Romero and Justin Verlander and it was looking like it was going to happen early as both pitchers had faced 6 batters and all 6 batters went down in order through the first 2 innings. Then in the 3Rd inning Ricky Romero lost everything as he gave up a hit to Ryan Raburn who was bulked to second which was followed by hitting Alex Aliva and then he got a lucky break when J.P. throw done to second trying to catch Raburn napping and got the pick off but Raburn looked safe. With this break he walked Brandon Inge when Austin Jackson singled to load the bases and Romero then walked Scott Sizemore which walked in a run and then a wild pitch brought in the second run and took away the possibility of the double play which hurt as the next batter Magglio Ordonez hit a double play ball to Yunel Escobar but only was able to get one out and it was 3-0 going into the fourth inning and Romero was not rided but instead his pitches went flying into the seats as Jhonny Peralta slammed a solo shot and Alex Aliva hit a 2-run jack and it was 7-0 and Romero was hitting the showers with one out in the fourth and Carlos Villanueva pitched 4.2 of shutout ball

But the story of the game was Justin Verlander who went into the 8 inning with 21 up and 21 down and with one out in the inning on the 12 pitch J.P. walked to break up the perfect game but then Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play and he had faced min of 24 batters over 8 inning. In the 9 David Cooper popped up to the infielder Scott Sizemore, Johnny Mac grounded a ball sharply to Scott Sizemore, and Rajai Davis struck out to end the game and Justin Verlander faced only 27 batters and ended up with his second career no-hitter on 99 pitches and 68 were strikes.

By the end of the game everybody especially the Tigers fans who used the extra 3 hours to get to the game (4:07 start instead of a 1:07 start) were cheering for Verlander to get the no-hitter.

In other news Jays first baseman Adam Lind left with tightness in his back and talk about back both Jose Bautista and Arron Hills will be in the starting lineup tomorrow which is important because the Jays need to win the last 2 games of this 4 game series and go into the Red Sox series on a high.

A game for Verlander

Tom Mehegan

Toronto Blue Jays - 15 - 17 - The Jays smashed up the coke bottle but Shawn Camp almost blow a 6 run lead in the 9 inning

To begin I was at the game tonight and saw a seagull flying through the outfield and it was like being back at the Ex and there were kids trying to feed the seagull cotton candy and their parents had to get the kids away from the banister beside the hard camera in the outfield and needed to get them back to their seats and said if you don't stop throwing stuff on the field the police will come talk to U. Also I had my first ever Lick's burger and fries which was awesome and then on my streetcar ride the driver refused to allow a guy who was have a problem speaking like he had already been drinking and did not have enough money to rid the streetcar and it went on for a couple of minutes until the driver if you don't leave I will call the police and the guy left.

The Jays got 8 innings of above average pitching performances as Jesse Litsch pitched 6.1 innings of 1 earned run and gave up 4 hits and struck out 8 batters but still did give up 3 walks as throw 53 strikes on his 95 pitches and then Jason Frasor came in and got 2 straight batters out and then Jon Rauch came in in the 8 inning and gave up only a wild pitch on a strike out to Brennan Boesch. Then with a 7-1 lead the Jays brought in Shawn Camp to mop up the win but instead Victor Martinez lead off getting on base by a fielding error on Yunel Escobar and with one out Jhonny Peralta singled which was followed by Alex Avila grounded out for the second out of the inning. Then Brandon Inge doubles and it was 7-3 Jays and Don Kelly followed in a single which Scott Sizemore followed with another single to score the Tigers 4 run and with runners on the corners Camp was taken out after given up 3 runs on 4 hits in 0.2 inning pitch and Frank Francisco came in to face Brennan Boesch who was the tying run but Francisco got him to line out to Johnny Mac to end the game.

The Jays smashed up the coke known as Phil Coke in the first inning as 5 of the first 6 batters in the bottom of the first with RBI singles from Adam Hill, Juan Rivera, and J.P. Arencibia to give the Jays a 3 run lead going into the bottom of the third inning when Juan Rivera singled which was followed by a double from J.P. Arencibia to make it 4-0 Jays but the Tigers got a run by when Jhonny Peralta grounded out to score Victor Martinez to make it 4-1 Jays. Phil Coke pitched 6 innings and gave up 11 of the Jays 15 hits in the game and gave up 4 earned runs along with 5 strike out and then in the bottom of the 7 inning Adam Lind smashed his 7 home run to make it 5-1 and then in the bottom 8 inning Cory Patterson doubled in 2 runs to make it 7-1.

Litsch pitched one of his best games of the season

Tom Mehegan

Blue Jays - 14 - 17 - Jays bats were iced by David Price while Drabek had a bad 3rd inning

David Price had a dominating performance and pitched 8.2 innings and gave up a single run on 4 hits with no walks but did struck out 10 batters while Kyle Drabek pitched 5.2 innings pitched while given up 3 earned runs on 6 hits along with 4 walks but only struck out 3 batters.

Kyle Drabek run into trouble in the 3 inning where Sean Rodriguez and John Jaso both doubled to open the inning and it was 1-0 Rays but then John Jaso scored when Johnny Damon got a ground ball single to third baseman Mike McCoy along with Ben Zobrist on a Matt Joyce sac fly and the Rays took a 3-0 lead. David Price got 24 of the first 26 batters and then in the 9 inning the Jays got to him as Johnny Mac lead off with a ground ball and was safe at first and went to second on a 2 base throwing error Sean Rodriguez and then with one out Cory Patterson grounds out for the second out but Johnny Mac scored the only run and then Kyle Farnsworth came in and Yunel Escobar single and moved to second on indifference but Adam Lind grounded out to first base to end the game.

The Jays started well on the road trip (4-1) but crawled back home (1-4) and a 500 road trip is positive but it could of been better but the Jays now come hom for 3 against Tigers and 2 games against the Red Sox and it will be important that the Jays need to get on a row and go 4-1 on this home stand. Tomorrow's starters are for the Tigers Phil Coke (1-4, 450) and for the Jays Jesse Litsch (2-2, 460).

Jays attack Tigers early and often

Tom Mehegan

Blue Jays - 14 - 16 - Adam Lind hits his 6 homer and Brandon Morrow pitched well enough but B.J. Upton got ejected in the 9

To start a wacky & wild bottom of the 9 inning with the Jays up 3-1 and the Jays bring in Frank Francisco out of the bullpen instead of Jon Rauch which surprised me as it is always a good test to get out there and get the job next time as soon as possible to put the last bad outing behind him but not tonight in the eyes of manger John Farrell. So the first Rays batter up is yeasterday's hero B.J. Upton and here's where it gets weird as Upton gets caught looking @ strike 3 but the reply and Upton disagree as it looked off the plate on the inside corner and after the call Upton turns to the umpire Chad Fairchild and points a finger towards him and says something she probably shouldn't have as he is immediately tossed from the game and another Ray escorts him into the dugout. Then Casey Kotchman steps to the plate and walks and then Elliot Johnson steps to the plate and strikes out swinging for out #2 and then John Jaso walks which brings Sam Fuld to hits a ball to Johnny Mac who gets a glove on it but not completely and Casey Kotchman scores to make it 3-2. This brings out the Jays pitching coach which in the end brings like almost all the infielders to the mound for a meeting but Francisco gets Ben Zobrist ground out to Adam Lind to end the game and Frank Francisco earns his first save as a Jay.

The Jays started the game off with a bang which just happened to come off Adam Lind's bat after Rajai Davis opened the game with a single and then stole his 7 base and with 2 outs Adam Lind cranked his 6 homer of the season and 5 on this road trip to give the Jays a quick 2-0 lead. In the 4 inning Edwin Encarnacion lead off with a single and then David Cooper got his 3Rd hit in the majors which was a RBI double to give the Jays a 3-0 lead.

The starting pitcher for the Jays was Brandon Morrow who was somewhat cruising through until the 6 inning as he gave up 3 walks and a hit but in the 6 inning Ben Zobrist lead off with a double and Johnny Damon flies to center and Ben Zobrist moves to third and after a walk to Evan Longoria and it is runners on the corners and one out and next batter Matt Joyce gets a sac fly and it is 3-1 and B.J. Upton is called out on strikes to end the inning. Then in the 7 inning Dan Johnson lines out to Johnny Mac which sandwiched between a fielding error on Yunel Escobar and line drive single by John Jaso and it is first and second with one out and Jason Frasor on for Morrow along with Sam Fuld @ the plate and hits the ball to Edwin Encarnacion who stepped on third for the force and then throw to first and at first Fuld was called safe but the Umpires got together and ruled that Fuld was out @ first and the 7 inning was over.

Jays starter Brandon Morrow pitched 6.1 innings pitched and gave up 5 hits but more importantly gave up 4 walks but did strike out 7 Rays batters and gave up only that one earned run and got his first win of the season while Rays starter Jeff Niemann pitched 4 innings and gave up all 3 earned runs on 6 hits with no Ks or walks but one huge homer that was the difference in the game.

The Jays have guaranteed themselves a 500 road trip with one more game left in Tampa with Kyle Drabek (2-1, 4.45 ERA) taken the mound against David Price (3-3, 3.95) but the real story is Marc Zrepczynski and his striking out the side in the 8 inning and only given up a base hit and it is his second straight scoreless 8 inning and he may be claiming the 8 inning for the time being.

Tough get back home game match-up but Kyle Drabek can put on a clinic as much as anyone else

Tom Mehegan

Blue Jays - 13 - 16 - Jon Rauch blows a great pitching performances by the other pitchers

So to begin it looks like Jose Bautista will miss the series against the Tampa Bay Rays with what is being reported as a tight neck and he will be undergoing a MRI today so there no timetable set yet for his return until the result comes back on the MRI.

The Jays took a 2-1 lead into the 9 inning with help from Jo Jo Reyes who pitched 6 innings and gave up an earned run on 4 hits and a walk which was followed by a hitless inning pitched by both Shawn Camp and Marc Rzepczynski but in the 9 inning Jon Rauch came in to try get his 6 save of the season but after Brent Zobrist got a soft hit after Rauch throw 3 balls in his first 4 pitches. Then B.J. Upton slammed a 0-1 pitch over the fence and the Rays won 3-2 and now the Blue Jays are in the basement in the AL East with a record of 13 - 16.

The Jays got a run in the first inning when Adam Lind singled through the infield and Cory Patterson scored and the Jays lead 1-0 and then in the second inning the Rays tied up the game as Kelly Shoppach singled in Sean Rodiguez. In the top of the 4 inning Edwin Encarnacion had his first of two double of the game to give him 10 on the season scored J.P. and it gave the Jays that 2-1 lead that they held until Jon Rauch lost his second loss of the season and I believe it was his first blown save of the season as he was 5 for 5 in April so lets hope this is not the beginning of bad closing efforts in May as he has been solid coming into this outing and this is going to be the first real test of his closer demeanor.

The Jays had a tough lose and have now lost 3 in a row and 4 of their last 5 games and that means the Jays need a big performance from starting pitcher Brandon Morrow who has had 2 great starts so far but is still looking for his first win of the season and he will be facing Jeff Niemann tomorrow.

Hope for more Jays runs tomorrow

Tom Mehegan

Farm Report for May 2Nd - Triple A Las Vegas 51s

On the Farm for May 2Nd

Hitters

- Travis Snider (OF) - 2 games played in Las Vegas and has 5 of 7 (.714) with a double and a RBI along with 2 walks and strike out. Travis Snider has been hitting the tar out of the ball and will be there for another week at least but pitchers in triple A do not usually have a great curve ball so hopefully he is getting more practice during warm-up.

- Dewayne Wise (OF) - 3 games in Dunedin 3 of 11 (.274) with a homer and 2 doubles with 2 RBIs along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. 6 games in Las Vegas 11 of 29 (.379) with a homer and a double along with 6 RBIs while striking out 6 batters and a walk. Wise is famous for one catch that saved a perfect game for Mark Buehrle and may not be more than utility guy.

- Brett Lawrie (3Rd baseman) - 23 games in Las Vegas and is 38 of 102 (.373) with 9 doubles, 2 triples, and 4 homers along with 15 RBIs while striking out 23 times and walking 5 times with 6 errors. Like always until the strikeouts go down he will not be ready for the show and the patience will come sooner than later but the ones he is putting in play are diffidently finding the right spots as he is 38 for 79 which is almost half of the balls he is putting in play are hits.

- Manny Mayorson (SS) - 11 games in Las Vegas and is 11 of 30 (.367) with 2 doubles, a triple, and a homer with 6 RBIs while walking 5 walks and a strike out. Still more time and really no room up in the majors right now with Escobar and Johnny Mac holding down shortstop but I like the patience at the plate.

- Eric Thames (LF) - 23 games in Las Vegas and is 33 of 94 (.351) with 10 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers with 18 RBIs while striking out 19 times and walked 12 times. He does have a bit of patience with 12 walks but those 19 strikeouts are not good so he maybe having a problem going after a curtain kind of pitch.

Pitchers

- Brad Mills (SP) - a record of 1 - 2 with an ERA of 2.18 in 5 starts and he has pitched 33.0 innings pitched while given up 8 earned runs on 25 hits with a homer and hit batter and 28 strike outs and 10 walks. Still taken care of business and is just waiting his time so if Jo Jo fails as a starter and if Brett Cecil not ready Mills will get the call.

- Mike MacDonald (SP) - a record of 1 - 0 with an ERA of 3.72 in 3 starts with a complete shutout in 19.1 innings pitched and gave up 21 hits and 8 earn runs with a hit batter and 12 strike outs and 3 walks. Also pitching well the 4 to 1 K to walks ratios is amazing and that kind of control would be nice with the big club but he will need to wait for his opportunity in the show.

- Scott Richmond (SP) - a record of 1 - 1 with an ERA of 6.00 in 18.1 pitched in 4 starts and gave up 12 earned runs on 21 hits while given up 3 homers and a hit batter and 20 strike outs and 6 walks.

- Sean Henn (RP) - a record of 1 - 1 with an ERA of 2.40 in 15 innings pitched in 9 relief outings while given up 4 earned runs on 15 hits along with 12 strikeouts and 8 walks.

- Brett Cecil - 10 earned runs on 13 hits in 4.1 innings in pitched in his first Triple A start with 3 walks and 2 Ks so it maybe a while until he rides himself and finds his staff and gets his speed back closer to where it was or finds away to work around the weaker speeds on his pitches and get batters out and that is what it is all about getting batters out.

Go Jays

Tom Mehegan

Blue Jays - 13 - 15 - David Cooper gets his first hit but Jesse Litsch struggles through the 5 inning

Jays starting pitcher throw one pitch that hurt him in the first 4 innings of the game and that was a curve ball that Mark Teixeira powered to deep center field to give the Yankees an early 1-0 on his 7th homer of the season. The Jays then tied the game on Adam Lind's 5 homer of the season but with David Cooper first hit and a walk on with one out Ivan Nova was able to get out of the inning without given the Jays the lead. Then he was not as lucky in the third as the Jays took the lead as a Rajai Davis's walk came around on a Jose Bautista's ground out and the Jays lead 2-1 and Ivan Nova struggled though 6.1 innings as he gave up 6 hits and 4 walks but did not give up another run in the game while striking out 5 batters. Then Jesse Litsch hit the 5 inning and it was like a brick wall as Jorge Posada lead off with a double, Brett Gardner singled, Francisco Cervelli ground out and Posada scored, Derek Jeter got a fielders choice, and it was runners on the corners when Curtis Granderson came to the plate and smacked his 8th homer of the season which gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead and win. After Jesse Litsch's 6 innings of 6 hits with 2 walks along with 5 strike outs the bullpen came in and shut down the Yankees but the Yankees bullpen shut down the Blue Jays as well so the Yankees took 2 of 3 from the Jays and the Jays are now 4-3 so far on the 10 game road trip with the last stop 3 in Tampa starting on Tuesday against the soaring Rays who have won 14 of their last 19 games.

The Starters for Tuesday are Jo Jo Reyes (0-2, 5.48 ERA) Vs Wade Davis (3-2, 2.73 ERA)

Tom Mehegan