Game 82 - 40 - 42 Brett Cecil deserved the win but Bautista's brain fart

Eventhough the first major league hitter Brett Cecil faced Alex Presley tripled off the wall and was driven home with one out ground out by Andrew McCutchen and Brett Cecil gave up 6 runs on 8 hits in 6.1 innings pitched and throw 100 pitches but in the end he pitched well enough to get his second win of the season and had a great showing. This is because after 5 innings in the books with Alex Presley having a sac fly in the top of the inning to make it 2-0 which was followed in the bottom of the inning by solo shot hit by J.P. (12) and Yunel Escobar (9) to tie the game at 2 going into the sixth inning.

The top of the sixth inning started innocently enough when Lyle Overbay hit a lazy fly ball behind third base so Jose Bautista camped under it but was called off by Left fielder Cory Patterson and Bautista would not move and by the time Patterson got to him it was too close for comfort and both backed off the ball and let it drop for a double for Overbay which was out number one without a doubt while Overbay ended up at third on a throwing error by Yunel Escobar. The next batter Ronny Cedeno hit a deep fly ball but was playable for out number two but instead Eric Thames was positioned too shallow to get back and catch it and Ronny Cedeno ended up with a RBI double which was followed by Brandon Wood who smacked a Cecil high fastball into the outfield seats and it was 5-2 and at worst it should of been 3-2. Brett Cecil 100 pitch was to Andrew McCutchen with one out and he smacked a double that spelled the end for Cecil who throw 68 S and 32 B and Octavio Dotel on his fourth pitch of the night to Matt Diaz who got a RBI single and when Lyle Overbay grounded a ball to Arron Hill and he tossed it to Yunel to begin a double play but the collusion between former Atlanta Braves teammates as Diaz crashed into Escobar as tried to throw underhand to first but was not able to.

The final was 6-2 as the Jays only mustard 6 hits all game with 2 walks but it was only the two solo shots off Pirates starter Jeff Karstens who gave up 5 hits and a walk over 7 innings but in the end it was the shotty defense and most notably how Bautista did not let Patterson have the ball until it was way too late and it cost the Jays a very good chance of winning the series but in the end the Pirates won their first interleague road series since 2003.

Ricky Romero tomorrow on Canada Day and then Saturday I am at the Roger Centre to watch Roy Halladay against the Blue Jays

Tom Mehegan

Game 81 - Eric Thames hits his first major league homer as Brandon Morrow won a game @ home

So Brandon Morrow got his first home victory this season as he went into the fifth inning with 4 Ks and a hit and then with runners on the corners Matt Diaz hit a ball to third and Jose Bautista drilled the runner out at home to keep it a scoreless game but the next batter Ronny Cedeno had a RBI single to make 1-0. In the bottom of the sixth inning Eric Thames lead off the inning with his first major league homer to tie it at 1 and then Brandon Morrow fought through 7 innings and 117 pitches ( 74 s - 43 b ) of a run on 4 hits with 10 Ks along with 3 walks. Then he was awarded with his first home victory as Rajai Davis had his second of two doubles in the game and is hoping it is the start of a hot streak and that double was followed by a Yunel Escobar RBI double to give the Jays a 2-1 lead. Then Jason Frasor took over in the eighth and only walked one in the four batters he faced and then Frank Francisco only walked a batter in the four batters he faced as he saved his 9th game. The Pirates starter struggled allowing 11 runners (9 hits and 2 walks) but only gave up the two runs but it was weird to have the Jays give up more walks (5) than hits (4).

The Jays are 40 - 41 through the first half of the season and Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow have been solid starters but the surprise in the rotation has been Carlos Villanueva who is 5-1 this season and the disappointing part is that pitchers like Kyle Drabek, Jesse Litsch, and Brett Cecil (is back) have been spending way too much time on the farm and that was not way it needed to be.

Hitting wise Jose Bautista has been solid at the plate and is coming back around after a little bit of a struggle and also Adam Lind has been on a huge roll since coming off the disabled list/

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Tom Mehegan

Brett Cecil recalled by the Toronto Blue Jays

Brett Cecil has been brought back to the majors to make the start against the Pirates tomorrow and he was 8-2 in 12 starts with the Las Vegas 51s with a ERA of 5.26 and gave up 51 runs (46 earned) on 89 hits with 15 homers while striking out 61 batters and 24 walks and in the last 10 starts he has a ERA of 4.39 and 37 runs (33 earned) with 10 homers which means his first start with the ERA of over 21. While he also had other games where he gave up 8 runs in 3.1 innings and 5 earn runs in 6 innings in his last triple A while also having two complete games including a shutout so it has been a up and down roller coaster ride for Cecil with more ups than downs so it looks like a good time for Brett Cecil to get another start in the majors as it is the mid point of the season and it comes two days before his 25th birthday on Saturday.

While Zach Stewart had a great major league of 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings Debut but the two starts that followed were not so good as he gave up as he gave up 7 runs on 19 hits in 9.2 inning pitched so it was the most likely to go down because the only other choice is that Luis Perez go down and either Jo Jo or Carlos go back to the bullpen but right now both of them have been much better than Zach Stewart this season.

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Tom Mehegan

Game 80 - 39 - 41 - Encarnacion goes deep twice and Bautista goes deep once but it is defensive gem by Overbay that decides the game

The ball was flying out of the Rogers Centre tonight starting with Pirates Alex Presley who hit his first of the season to give the Pirates a 2 - 0 lead in the top of the third and Edwin Encarnacion hit his first of two which was a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to make 2-1. The fourth inning the Pirates got some help from the blue Jays defense as with a Lyle Overbay single on Matt Diaz hit a ball in front of Eric Thames and it went over his head and Cory Patterson was too close to Thames that it went over his head too and all the way to the wall which lead to Overbay scoring and Diaz ended up with a triple. The next batter Garrett Jones grounded to Adam Lind to score Diaz but the problem was that Jo Jo Reyes did not cover first so Jones was safe and with runners on first and second Pirates Alex Presley came to the plate again and had a RBI single to give him 3 RBIs on the night and then with two outs Neil Walker had a RBI single to make it 6-1 as the Pirates batted around but it should of been 4-1 if Jo Jo covered first.

Back to the homers as the Jays third baseman Jose Bautista (in his first game at third this season) hit a two run homer to make it 6-3 in the fourth inning and it was his 24th of the season and then in the sixth inning the Jays Eric Thames got his second major league triple and Bautista reached on a throwing error to third baseman Chase d'Arnaud and Thames scored. While the next batter Adam Lind walked to put runners on first and second with no outs in a 6-4 game but Juan pop up to Lyle Overbay and then Arron Hill hit into a double play to end a promising inning but once again the Pirates went long with the ball in the seventh as Andrew McCutchen hit his 11th with one out to make it 7-4 and then in the bottom of the inning the Jays got back to back homers from Cory Patterson and Edwin Encarnacion to lead off the inning and the J.P. walked and Yunek Escobar hit a double and it was second and third with no outs and after Eric Thames had his first of two strike outs in the game Bautista was intentionally walked to load the bases. Which brought Adam Lind to the plate who screamed a ball to Lyle Overbay at first who got his glove up in self defense and caught the ball and stepped on first to end the inning instead of the Jays taken a run or two lead into the eighth inning. Then Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan came in to close the game down as he was 22 of 22 in save opportunities and only gave up a infield single to Escobar before Thames struck out swinging to end the game and give the Pirates game one.

Jo Jo in 3.2 innings pitched gave up 6 earned runs on 9 hits with a walk along with 5 Ks but it was Luis Perez who came into the game and pitched 3 innings and gave up 2 hits even though one of them was the solo shot to Andrew McCutchen who really settled things down for the Jays. Then the threesome of Dotel, Camp, and Rauch allowed the Jays the chance to win the game with 2.1 innings pitched of 1 hit shutout ball. For the Pirates Jose Veras had a great 1.2 where he face 5 batters and retired all of them to set it up for Joel Hanrahan.

Brandon Morrow is still looking for his first win at home this season tomorrow night

Tom Mehegan

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Game 79 - 39 - 40 - The Jays miss out on a winning road trip as the bullpen could not keep the Tigers off the board

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So it was 2-2 going into the eighth inning and in the bottom of the inning after Zach Stewart pitched 6 innings and he gave up 2 runs on 9 hits with a walk but also struck out 5 batters and Jason Frasor got through the seventh inning with a scoreless inning with a walk and a single but then Marc Rzepczynski came into start the eighth inning with one out Magglio Ordonez singled. Then Shawn Camp came in and Jhonny Peralta had a RBI triple to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead and after an intentionally walk to Alex Avila Ryan Raburn ground into a force out and a run scoring to make it 4-2. Tigers closer Jose Valverde came in to close it down with Arron Hill and Jose Molina singled around a Cory Patterson foul territory pop up and with a Hill steal of second put runners on the corners with one out but then Juan Rivera hit into a game ending double play and the Tigers won 4-2.

The Jays got their runs with a RBI ground out by Jose Bautista and it was followed by a solo homer by Adam Lind (16 on the season) and it all took place in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game at 2.

The Jays had a 5 and 5 road trip with winning 2 of 3 from the Reds and then get swept by the Braves followed by sweeping of the Cardinals before losing the make-up game to the Tigers but at least the Bullpen had more great outings than horrible outings and Zach Stewart pitched 6 innings but he may go back to Las Vegas so Brett Cecil can come back up to be put back into the starting rotation as he has done very good in Las Vegas and needs to great up to the majors again.

The Blue Jays are starting 6 straight game home stand against the Pirates and the Phillies

Tom Mehegan

Game 78 - 39 - 39 - Ricky Romero gets his broom out and sweeps away the Cards

Game 1 - The lights go out in St. Louis at the beginning of the ninth inning and Jose Bastista smacks an opposite field jack his third of the season and his 23 homer of the season to break a 4-4 tie and give the Jays a 5-4 win.

Game 2 - The Blue Jays 5 run third inning erased a 1-0 Cardinals lead and it was lead by a Juan Rivera 3 run homer his 6 of the season but it started with Jays pitcher Carlos Villanueva walking on 5 pitches and then Yunel Escobar walking on 5 pitches and then Arron Hill grounded out to second moving both runners up one base and then Jose Bautista was intentionally walked to load the bases. Then Adam Lind got a sac fly to score a run and then J.P. reached on a throwing error by third baseman Daniel Descalso who made first baseman Lance Berkman who need to jump for it and caught it but J.P. foot touched the bag first and another run scored so that is when with Bautista and J.P. on base Juan Rivera hit into the outfield stands to give the Jays a 5-1 lead at the time. Carlos Villanueva pitch 6 innings and pitched well as he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk to go with 3 Ks and then lightening was all around Frank Francisco in the ninth inning with the score being 6-2 and he gave up a run on 2 hits but finally he got the job done when Ryan Theriot grounded a ball off Francisco and to Hill who throw Ryan Theriot out at first to end the game. Jays Win 6-3

Game 3 - Ricky Romero used 106 pitches to finish off the sweep of the Cardinals as pitched a 4 hit complete game shutout with 2 walks and 5 Ks as the Jays were 10 for 38 for a batting average of .253 and with 4 walks too the Jays on base percentage of .333. With the Jays up 1-0 on a J.P. solo homer his 11th of the season in the second it came to the fifth inning with Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion singles sandwiched a Juan Rivera fly out and with 2 on and 1 out Cory Patterson fielders choice RBI as Patterson and Encarnacion advanced to the next base on a Lance Berkman throwing error. With an intentionally walked J.P. to bring up Ricky Romero who said last time I pitched Tim Hudson put up 2 runs on me so now I'm going to have a 2-run single to make it 4-0 and Yunel Escobar singled in J.P. to make it 5-0 Jays the final.

So the Jays came into this series with 8 straight games of not having 5 runs scored and now leave the series with 3 straight games of at least 5 run scored and after being swept by the Braves the Jays turned around and swept the Cardinals who came into the series with a 41-35 and sitting on top of the NL central and now are 41-38 3 games behind the front running Brewers. The Jays had come into this series on a 4 game losing streak and 2 and 4 on their 10 games in 11 nights road trip and now they are 5-4 on the trip with the make-up game against the tigers tomorrow the last game of the trip before meeting the Pirates starting Tuesday at the Rogers Centre.

Roy Halladay is coming soon to the Rogers Centre

Tom Mehegan

Game 76 - 37 - 39 - The lights went out in St. Louis in a 4-4 game and when they came back on Bautista hit a homer to win it

So the Jays came into the game 3 runs and a .144 batting average in their last 4 games and then tonight they meet Jake WEestbrook how allowed 4 of the 7 batters he faced in the first inning and gave up 2 runs. By the time he left with one out in the fifth inning and the bases were load and the Jays were up 4-2 the Jays were 10 for 23 which is a batting average of .435 and the Jays with their one walk had a .458 on base percentage and were 4 for 11 with runners in scoring position but the Cardinals brought in Mitchell Boggs who faced Edwin Encarnacion and Rajai Davis both with the bases loaded and they both struck out swinging.

So Brandon Morrow 365 days ago ( one year ) he pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched 8 innings and had a 5 hit shutout and struck out 8 at the Rogers center and tonight he pitched against the St. Louis Cardinals and he pitched 7 innings and gave up 5 hits and struck out 9 and this time it was in St. Louis and 2 of those hits he gave up found the seats as Colby Rasmus hit a solo shot in the second inning and Matt Holliday hit a 2 run shot in the sixth. Then Morrow also walked Daniel Descalso and with a passed ball made it possible for him to score an unearned in the third so Brandon Morrow gave up 4 runs but 3 earned.

It stayed 4-4 going into the ninth inning with Eric Thames at the plate looking for his third hit of the game but before he could take a swing the lights went out for 15 minutes and he tried to put a charge into the ball but struck out instead but still was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles. Then the next batter Jose Bautista stepped to the plate and went opposite field for his third opposite field homer and 23 on the season and Cardinals Right Fielder Jon Jay was so surprised that he did not play the correctly because if he went straight up he may have caught it.

In the bottom of the ninth with the Jays scoring at least 5 runs in a game for the first time in 9 games that brought Frank Francisco in to close it down but he started 2 and 0 on Lance Berkman and on a 3 and 1 pitch he got him to ground out to Lind @ first which was followed by Colby Rasmus flying out to Jose Bautista in right field on the very next pitch before finishing off the game with a called third strike on Skip Schumaker.

The Jays finish off game one in style

Tom Mehegan

The Blue Jays decide that Jose Bautista will be the third baseman until something else comes along

So Jose Bautista starting tomorrow will start to practice at third base and will be the third baseman soon for the next little bit as Edwin Encarnacion is a liability at third while both Johnny Mac and Jayson Nix are way to weak with the bat and so is Mike McCoy. It really has shown while playing without a DH that basically hitting with 6 batters right now the Jays can not put together enough hits to put up the run to win the game. This is because Rajai Davis is in a huge slump hitting like 080 right now (batting 7th), the third base mix are hitting less than 200 almost all season with little pop in the bat (batting 8th), and the pitchers know how to make the other team not get hits but have no real experience with a bat in their hands (hitting 9th in the order).

So to add some pop and average to the lineup the Mike McCoy passport has been sent back do to Las Vegas again and in exchange the Jays have called up Eric Thames who can play in the outfield when Bautista starts at third in a few games and it opens a spot for Travis Snider when he is ready but sadly he was hit in the helmet with a baseball and was hitting 19 for 39 which is very close to 500 and his on-base was 535 with a homer, 7 doubles, a triple with 4 RBIs along with 3 walks and 5 Ks in his last 10 games in Las Vegas going into last Friday. Also Bautista may just be at third for a couple of weeks as just after the all - star break the Jays are hoping that Brett Lawrie will be ready to make major league debut.

Change can be good

Tom Mehegan

game 75 - 36 - 39 - Jays are striking out too much and it was hurting the run production

Jo Jo Reyes went back to Atlanta and stepped onto the mound he had started on for years and like may times before he lost the game and it was the two homers he gave up who his 5 hits and his 2 walks that cost him as he gave 4 earned runs as Dan Uggla hit his 10th homer of the season a two-run shot in the second and Brain McCann hit his 13th homer of the season also a two-run shot in the third. After pitching 5.1 innings the Jays went to their bullpen and Shawn Camp got the final 2 outs in the sixth inning and then Jon Rauch came in and faced pinch hitter Brooks Conrad with one out and Conrad hit a ball deep originally it was called foul but the Umpires went back into the club house to look at it on TV and the call was overturned and was called a homer and it was Conrad's third of the season and Jon Rauch got the next two batters out and Luis Perez pitched the eighth and gave up a single to Brian McCann and that was it 2.2 innings pitched a run on 2 hits for the bullpen.

So U think that the Jays bats were asleep again if the Braves won 5-1 and the only offense to show for it was Jose Bautista second homer of June and 22 on the season but in reality the Jays had 6 hits and 4 walks (almost half of what they had in the prior 5 games) for 10 runners reaching base while the Braves had 7 hits and 2 walks for 9 runners reaching base so the Jays were on base more often. It was the timely hitting Yunel Escobar singles to open the game and steals second and Patterson, Bautista, and Lind with a runner in scoring position all strike out swinging. In the second Juan Rivera singled and Arron Hill walked around a J.P. fly out to center field so U have runners on first and second with one out and Jayson Nix and Jo Jo Reyes both strike out swinging. In the seventh inning with one out Rajai Davis gets a single and Jose Bautista and then after Adam Lind grounds out Juan Rivera walks to load the bases but the n J.P. struck out swinging. Which means that the Jays were not very patient at the plate as Braves starter Brandon Beachy in his 6 innings pitched had 11 Ks and the bullpen had 2 more and the Jays have struck out 65 times in last 7 games which means they need to be more selective of the pitches they take and the pitches they swing at because whatever they are doing it is not working especially when they have RBI opportunities.

Now the Jays head for St. Louis and the good news is that they will not face Albert Pujols but the bad news is that thwy are still 40-34

Tom Mehegan

Game 74 - 36 - 38 - Jays loss the first two in the A - T - L while Bautista and Davis share more than a birthday right now

Zack Steward did something that no pitcher had in the prior 7 games and that was flame out and he flamed out big time as in 3.2 innings pitched and gave up 10 hits and 3 walks and he gave up 5 earned runs and in the third inning Steward gave up a homer to Brian McCann which was his 12th on the season and it was 2 run shot and it helped the Braves win 5-1. They also got a run in the first inning when Chipper Jones got a sac fly and got another run in the third inning Alex Gonzalez had a RBI double and finally another run Jason Heyward and then in the last 4.1 innings the Blue Jays bullpen had an one hit shutout with Marc Rzepczynski pitched 2.1 innings and retired all 7 batters he faced and then Jason Frasor pitched the seventh inning and went 1-2-3 against the Braves and then Octavio Dotel pitched the eighth inning and faced 4 batters and got the 3 outs. The Bullpen has turned it around recently and it is a good sign hopefully for a while and is because of the great starting pitching performances in the past 7 games coming into this one.

The Jays offense did score first in the first inning when Cory Patterson got a double and with 2 outs Adam Lind got a RBI single to open the game and later got another single later in the game. Then the Atlanta starter Mike Minor pitched another six innings and only gave up 3 hits and gave up a walk and struck out 8 batters and then Eric O'Flaherty pitched the eighth inning and went 1-2-3 through the Jays lineup and then Jonny Venters went through the Jays lineup 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.

Looking at the last 6 games the Blue Jays are 2-4 and have 9 walks and 52 Ks and with the two Blue Jays players born on October 19, 1980 are having a real big rough patch with Rajai Davis hitting 4 for his last 51 which is a batting average of 080 since June 5 and Jose Bautista in his 19 games in June he has 2 extra base hit which are a homer and a double and Jays will need both to try it around especially Bautista.

Jo Jo Reyes will make a start against his former team and will try to help the Jays avoid a sweep

Tom Mehegan

Game 73 - 36 - 37 - Tim Hudson did everything for the Braves as he dismantled the Jays

So Tim Hudson did everything for the Atlanta Braves tonight as through 8 innings he allowed Jays player to get a ball and into the outfield and it was happened in the second inning with a runner on first and second with two outs, as J.P. had the only hit before the ninth in the second inning along with a throwing error on first baseman Freddie Freeman, and Jayson Nix in a scoreless game hit a fly ball to Jason Heyward to end the inning. He retired 20 straight batters in a row after J.P. hit and before we got to the ninth inning he picked up a bat in the bottom of the 7 inning and it came right after David Ross got a single and on s Yunel Escobar throw into the camera bay for an error moved him into scoring position in a scoreless game and was moved to third on a ground ball by Nate McLouth but on a Diory Hernandez ground ball David Ross was cut down at the plate. This brought Tim Hudson to the plate with a runner on first with two outs and Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero got careless with a fastball down the heart of the plate and on contact everyone knew where it was going especially Romero who turned around and put his head down as he knew he had made a horrible mistake as the ball landed in the outfield seats for Hudson's second career homer a two-run shot to give the Braves all the runs of the game as they won 2-0.

Leading into the ninth inning Hudson faced 26 batters his line broke down like this 17 ground balls, 8 Ks, and a fly ball and busiest player on the field was former Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez who collected 9 ground balls and throw them all to Freeman at first for 9 outs going into the ninth inning. While Ricky Romero was a good but his breaking pitches were not working as well as they had during his last outing against the Orioles but over his 7 innings pitched and he gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and hit a batter and he throw 60 % strikes in the game.

So with the game 2-0 @ the beginning of the ninth inning Hudson gave up his Mike McCoy walked and Yunel Escobar singled through the infield for the second Jays hit of the game and that was it for Hudson. The Braves brought in their closer Craig Kimbrel who came in with 19 saves and 55 Ks in 36 innings pitched and he struck out Patterson and then followed that up by a strike out Bautista who still does not look comfortable and finally Adam Lind came to the plate and got the best swings off of Kimbrel but in the end he still was stuck out to end the game as Kimbrel struck out all three Jays he faced.

Lets see if Zach Steward can even the 3 game series and lets hope the Jays get more than 2 hits off of Mike Minor who has pitched 16.1 innings with 11 Ks and a 0-1 record in his last 3 starts

Tom Mehegan

Game 72 - 36 - 36 - Arroyo does one better than Villanueva as Reds avoid the sweep

Carlos Villanueva throw 57 pitches over his first 5 innings pitched and had a 4 hit shutout and a 1-0 lead going into the sixth inning as Arron Hill hit his third homer of the season off Bronson Arroyo and it was Arroyo's 17 long ball given up this season and his 165 given up during his 5 + seasons with the Reds which is far and away the run away leader of any pitcher during this time period. In the sixth inning Carlos Villenueva gave up a single to Etobicoke own Joey Votto and with 2 outs Miguel Cairo hit his third homer of the season to give the Reds a 2-1 victory and it was all about Arroyo as he pitched 8 innings of 5 hit ball with the Hill homer being the only run allowed. Even with that line the Jays had their chance against him and it came in the seventh when with a Juan Rivera walk on and 2 outs Edwin Encarnacion came to the plate and even with all he is not Encarnacion still is able to crush a fastball and Arroyo does give them up and even though with a 3-1 count on him he was not looking at fastballs but he was looking at a strike on its way and he watched the first but the second straight curve ball he crushed a ball where the only question was fair or foul and it went inches foul for a very loud foul ball and then he grounded out to end the inning.

After some more struggles from Marc Rzepczynski who faced three batters and with one out he gave up a single to Votto who went 3 for 4 today after going 0 for 8 in the first two games of the series and then a double to Jay Bruce. Then Octavio Dotel came in and struck out Cairo and then he intentionally walked Fred Lewis to load the bases and then got Edgar Renteria lined out to Bautista to end the eighth inning. Then Francisco Cordero came in and replaced Arroyo to close down the game and he faced the heart of the Jays order starting with Jose Bautista who still having problems understanding the umpire's strike zone as he had pitch on the outside corner called a strike and he had to walk away from the plate and collect his thoughts but still was able to a deep to hit a slider but right to center fielder Drew Stubbs and it was not the only pitch he took that he question as he question a curve ball from Arroyo in the fourth that was called strike three but it was still a good pitch to hit. Then Adam Lind came to the plate and grounded out and that was followed by an Arron Hill fly out to end the game to Jay Bruce.

In other news Travis Snider's season has gone from bad to worst as he was hit in the helmet with a fastball on Friday and sustained a concussion and it maybe serious as he is still feeling the side effects of it. Jesse Litsch pitched his first 2 innings in quite a while last night and gave up 3 runs with 2 earned on 3 hits with a walk to go along with 3 Ks in a start with the Lansing Lugnuts of class A ball. While Brett Cecil pitched last night as well and he gave up 4 runs with 3 of them being earned on 7 hits but did strike out 9 batters while walking 2 over 7 innings pitched and with every strong outing he is getting closer and closer to rejoining the Jays. While in his first triple A start with some extra rest Kyle Drabek today did what he did in the majors by walking 7 batters and 8 hits and with those 15 base runners he gave up 5 runs with 4 earned in 4 innings pitched with 3 Ks but Cecil was also completely destroyed in his first triple A outing too so lets see how Drabek does on regular rest.

So pitching is doing well for the Jays and Jo Jo is heading back to the A - T - L

Tom Mehegan

Yunel Escobar gets a 4 year contract extension with the Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays sign shortstop Yunel Escobar with a contract extension of 4 years and 20 million that if the Jays pick-up the final two years of the contract which are both club options he will be 30-years-old. He is signed for 2112 and 2113 which are his arbitration years and then the club has option years for the first two seasons of free agency.

As a Blue Jays player Yunel Escobar has a batting average of 278 (136 for 489) with 12 homers and 51 RBIs along with 3 triples and 15 doubles which includes 51 walks and 60 Ks in 126 games as a blue Jays player. He has been solid at shortstop as he has been a part of 90 double plays with 194 put outs along with 338 assists and has 15 errors on 547 chances to make an out which gives him a .973 fielding percentage over 124 games at shortstop.

The thing about Yunel Escobar is that he was careless and made some very careless fielding with the Braves over his 3 plus season with 42 errors in 1752 chances to make a put out and that was a fielding percentage of .976 but his bad attitude in the club house in Atlanta has been cleared up by the mentoring of Jose Bautista over the season and a half with the Blue Jays.

It looks like a solid deal for the Jays as if Escobar plays well with his bat and glove the Jays will have a solid shortstop through the 2115 season and it may be a great deal with the best shortstop Jose Reyes of the New York Mets going into Free Agency this off season and may get something like 5 years and 90 million dollars.

Go Jays Go

Tom Mehegan

Game 71 - 36 - 35 - Brandon Morrow continues his great road starts and the Bullpen cleans up for the shutout

Brandon Morrow was throwing darts through 6 innings as he gave up 4 hits and struck out 4 batters and he was rolling into the 7 inning as with strike out of Jay Bruce in 7 inning he had gone through the Reds batting order and got a out but then with a single, a hit batter, and then after Morrow's sixth strikeout he gave up the first walk of the series to load the bases. Then Jason Frasor came in and faced Edgar Renteria who came off the Reds bench with a batting average of 450 against the Jays which is the highest current batting average against the Jays and was 3 for 3 as a pinch hitter but Frasor got him to fly out to Jose Bautista to end the inning. Then Jon Rauch came in to start the eighth and the last time we saw him he faced 3 batters and did not record an out on Thursday but this time he went 1-2-3 through the Reds and used only 6 pitches to get into the ninth inning where he got Jay Bruce on 3 pitches to fly out to Rajai Davis for out one but with Scott Rolen singling sharply through the infield and Chris Heisey putting down a perfect bunt and it was first and second with one out but Rauch got Ramon Hernandez to fly to Cory Patterson for out 2 and Jonny Gomes was called out on strikes to end the game.

For the Jays Cory Patterson had an interesting game where he bunted and Reds pitcher throw the ball down the first base line and that scored Yunel Escobar to open the scoring but then Patterson fell asleep on the bases as he wondered over to third and was tagged out during a very confusing play as the Reds lost sight of the ball for a second in the tarp and then Patterson had a double too and scored. Jose Bautista had an interesting game at the plate too with a RBI single to go with a strike out where he did not like the umpire's call and was throwing his stuff around in the dugout before going into the clubhouse to cool off and he had another single. Then there was Jayson Nix who got intentionally walked to load the bases in the second and then the fourth he had a laser beem to left field and it could of been extra bases but it was a sac fly as Chris Heisey made a diving caught while Jose Molina had a double in the second and solo homer in the fourth and a walk in the fifth.

Jays get the brooms ready for the Reds tomorrow

Tom Mehegan

Game 70 - 35 - 35 - Reyes pitched amazing and Lind stays hot

So through 5 innings played and Reds had 2 hits and Jose Bautista had a hit with extra help for the Reds starter Mike Leake and Blue Jays starter Jo Jo Reyes as in the infield there were pigeons/seagulls just walking around eating grass seeds. Then in the top of the sixth inning with Jo Jo Reyes woke up the Jays bats by singling through the infield for the Jays second hit on the evening and but got no further than first base. In the bottom of the sixth inning with one out and Drew Stubbs at the plate for the Reds and he hit a ball very deep and Cory Patterson the center fielder was trying to get in position to catch the ball but Jose Bautista came in behind him and neither was able to catch the ball and it bounced off the wall and because they were in such a small area that it took them a long time to get the ball into the infield and by this time Drew Stubbs rounded all the bases for an inside the park home run. With Reds up 1-0 going into the seventh inning and Cory Patterson lead off the inning and Mike Leake hit his back leg and while Jose Bautista was at the plate Patterson stole second to try and make up for his part of the mistake and then Jose Bautista got his second hit of the game which was a double to make up for his part of the mistake and Patterson scored. Then Adam Lind hit his 15 homer of the season to give the Jays a 3-1 going into the bottom of the inning and with one out Scott Rolen hit his first homer since April 8 and his third on the season to make it 3-2 Jays.

So Jo Jo Reyes pitched 6.1 innings of 2 run on 6 hits with 5 Ks and no walks when he left there were 2 singles on with one out and Octavio Dotel came in and got a fly ball to Bautista and that was followed by a ground out to Johnny Mac who stepped onto the base to the end the inning. Then he came out for the eighth inning and struck out the first 2 batters of the inning and that brought Joey Votto to the plate and Marc Rzepczynski came in to face him and Marc got him to ground out to Arron Hill to end the inning. In the ninth inning Frank Francisco came in and he struck out Jay Bruce and then Scott Rolen came to the plate and J.P. had a great framing job on a called third strike and then after Fred Lewis came off the bench and singled but then Francisco got Ryan Hanigan to fly out to Jose Bautista to end the game. It was the best relief outing for the bullpen in a while as they only gave up the single hit by Fred Lewis in the 2.2 innings pitched.

Bautista 1, Votto 0

Tom Mehegan

Jose Bautista Vs Joey Votto

West end of Toronto (Joey Votto) No. 19 Vs the Toronto Blue Jays (Jose Bautista) No. 19 since beginning of 2010

Joey Votto - Batting Average : 326 HR : 46 RBI : 156 Doubles : 52 Triples : 4 Walks : 147
K : 180 OBP : 431

Jose Bautista - Batting Average : 280 HR : 75 RBI : 168 Doubles : 44 Triples : 4 Walk : 162
K : 154 OBP : 404

Etobicoke own Joey Votto has a MVP that Jose Bautista and has been in the playoffs even though they got swept by the Phillies and he has 46 points batter batting average and 27 points better OBP and 8 more doubles.

The Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista has 39 more homers with 12 more RBIs along with 15 more walks and 26 less Ks.

In June (as of June 16)

Joey Votto Average : 333 OBP : 429 HR : 3 RBI : 13 Doubles : 2 Triples : 0 Walks: 7 K : 21
Slg : 537

Jose Bautista Average : 217 OBP : 419 HR : 1 RBI : 6 Doubles : 0 triples : Walks : 16 K : 9
Slg : .283

So both players are at the top of their game over a season plus with not as much power recently they are still getting on base as Joey Votto batting 333 and is getting on base almost 43 % of the time with help from 7 walks while Jose Bautista has only a single extra base hit which is a homer and even when he is hitting 217 he is getting on base almost 42 % of the time with help from 16 walks.

what a pair of gems

Tom Mehegan

Game 69 - 34 - 35 - The Orioles win at Roger centre and Jon Rauch messes with a great start

The Toronto Blue Jays starter Zach Stewart pitched well as he only gave up a walk to Mark Reynolds the first time through the lineup and a single to Craig Tatum and then in the second time through the order he gave up a double to J.J. Hardy and a single(s) to Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Reynolds while the Jays had a single by Cory Patterson and Arron Hill walked through 5 innings.

In the sixth inning Zach Stewart gave up his first homer to J.J. Hardy to lead off the inning and Nick Markakis singled and with one out Vladimir Guerrero doubled him in and made it 2-0 going into the bottom of the inning where Jayson Nix singled and Yunel Escobar reached on a error on second baseman Ryan Adams and after Cory Patterson bunted both up a base and then Jose Bautista singled them in to tie it at 2.

In his first major league start Zach Stewart gave up 2 runs on 7 hits with a walk and 4 Ks in 7 innings and Jason Frasor pitched a no hit inning while Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie pitched an one hit shutout over 5 innings and Jason Berken pitched 2 no hit innings.

So it was still was tied @ 2 after 8 innings and that is when Jon Rauch gave up 2 hits and fielders choice to score a run which were the only 3 batters he faced to open the inning and then Luis Perez gave up a single and a walk to the only 2 batters he faced and on the Ryan Adams single a run scored and the Orioles lead 4-2 but Shawn Camp got the next 3 batters in order to end the top of the inning. In the bottom of the ninth Kevin Gregg came into save the game and was meet by Adam Lind who hit his 14th homer which was a solo shot but then Gregg got Arron, Edwin, and J.P. in order as the Orioles won their first game in the Rogers centre since August of 2009.

Now the Jays meet up with Etobicoke own Joey Votto and the Reds in Cincinnati this weekend

Tom Mehegan

Game 68 - 34 - 34 - Ricky Romero pitches beautifully while all the Jays runs score on 3 long balls

Ricky Romero pitched into the ninth inning and was rolling along with the greatest of ease with 12 Ks and a 3 hit shutout until he walked 2 of his 4 batters in the ninth and left the game and Frank Francisco came in to earn the save but still gave up a hit to Matt Wieters and the only run Ricky Romero allowed even though Francisco earned his 6 save of the season. While Orioles starter Jake Arrieta gave up 5 hits going into the sixth inning with a walk and had 5 Ks but it was his 5 pitch of the game was the single pitch he would like to have back as Yunel Escobar hit his 8th homer of the season to open the game right and the Jays had a 1-0 lead and it stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth when Juan Rivera hit his 5th homer to double the Jays lead to 2-0. In the bottom of the seventh inning Jake Arrieta gave up a walk to Jose Bautista with 2 outs before Clay Rapada came in and faced Adam Lind sent a laser into the outfield seats to make it 4-0 and the Jays won 4-1 behind an amazing outing by Ricky Romero who equaled his career high in strike outs with 12.

Ricky Romero showed the rest of the starting rotation how to be a dominating pitcher and this is nothing new as he has pitched into the 7 inning in his last seven straight starts and he only given up more than 3 runs once during the streak when the Jays were in Baltimore when he gave up 5 runs. This streak began right after 3.1 innings and 6 runs on 5 hits during the game that Justin Verlander no hit the Jays.

Zack Steward gets his major league debut as the Jays go for the sweep

Tom Mehegan

Game 67 - 33 - 34 -Adam Lind homers to keep the Jays perfect in extras @ home

Adam Lind sent the fans home happy as he homered for the 12 time this season in the 11th inning as the Jays are now 6-0 @ home in extra inning as they won 6-5 and Orioles pitcher Koji Uehara was completely shocked that Lind hit a homer off him after he had struck out Cory Patterson and Jose Bautista as all the Jays batters were swinging for the fences.

The Jays started the game well after Adam Jones had a sac fly to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead in top of the first and it was the only run Carlos Villanueva gave up until the seventh inning so the Jays tied the game in the bottom of the inning Adam Lind had a RBI double and it was 1-1 until the bottom of the third Jose Bautista hit a double play ball but a throwing error by second baseman Robert Andino allowed Bautista to reach and Yunel Escobar scored to make it 2-1. In the fourth Arron Hill scored on a Yunel Escobar and then Jayson Nix scored on a Cory Patterson ground out and it was 4-1 Jays.

In the top of the seventh inning Carlos Villanueva gave up a single and walk and then Jason Frasor came in and throw a wild pitch so it was second and third which lead to a Robert Andino sac fly to make it 4-2 and then J.J. Hardy had a RBI double to make it 4-3 Jays and then the bottom of the inning J.P. started off with a double but was caught stealing and it cost the Jays a run as Arron Hill hit his second homer of the season and the Jays were up 5-3. Marc Rzepczynski came in for the eighth inning and gave up a walk to Vladimir Guerrero followed by a homer by Matt Wieters to tie the game at 5 and Marc is a run down pitcher right now and is hurting with all the extra innings the bullpen has to be pitching this season and he has been off his game over the last couple of weeks.

Carlos Villanueva pitched 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 inning and a couple of batters with 2 walks and 3 Ks while Casey Janssen had an one hit shutout inning while Jon Rauch had a 2 hit in 2 shutout inning, and Shawn Camp won the game with an one hit shutout inning.

Jays win the opener against the Orioles with Ricky Romero pitching the middle game of the series

Tom Mehegan

Kyle Drabek is heading to Las Vegas for the first time while Zack Stewart comes up from Double A

So Kyle Drabek has been sent down to Las Vegas to figure things out and the thing is that even the guy we traded to get Drabek Roy Halliday was sent down to single A ball to figure things out in the beginning of the 2001 season after the 2000 season where he sported the worst ERA of any pitcher in a season who had pitched at least 50 innings pitched in that season and the ERA was 10.64. So Kyle Drabek has walked more batters than any other pitcher so far this season as he walked 52 batters in 72.2 innings pitched over his 14 starts this season and he has given up 17 runs on 19 hits with 10 walks and 6 Ks and given up 3 long balls in his 3 June starts as he pitched only 10 innings pitched.

The thing is that by all account he needs to learn to handle his emotions as like Halliday he wears his emotions on his sleeve and when things do not go his way he unravels very easily and then there is the thing about throwing strikes as Drabek has trouble keeping the ball in the strike zone as the batters are not swinging at the pitches that are not clear strikes. This means that when his ball moves around the batters just watch the pitch and take the ball and it is my understanding that if the Jays catchers were setup in the middle of the plate instead of the corners it would be easier to fool the batters but in the end if he is able to work his pitches into the strike zone than when he tried to stretch the strike zone the hitters would be more likely to swing at a ball out of the zone.

So Drabek is down in triple A with Brett Cecil and Travis Snider so who is coming up to the big leagues to make Drabek's start on Thursday to finish off the 3 game series against the Baltimore Orioles and it is going to be Zack Stewart from Double A New Hampshire where he has had 2 good starts around a horrible start. As he had a 3 hit shutout over 8 innings and a 1 run on 5 hits over 6 innings which has sandwiched a 4 runs on 11 hits over 5 innings.

I thought that if it was not Brett Cecil who pitched last night and had his second complete game with a 4 hit shutout and which came after an run on 6 hits complete game and they sandwiched a 8 run on 10 hits in 3.1 inning pitched. Then it would of been Brad Mills who pitched a 4 hit shutout on Friday night but before that he had 3 bad starts of 4 runs on 11 hits in 5 innings, 4 run on 7 hits in 6 innings, and 3 runs on 4 hits in 6 innings but still has a great era of 2.87 and has 78 Ks in 84.2 inning pitched which is solid in 13 starts so he may be more deserving but I think Cecil will be back within 10 days especially with another solid outing as I do not know how much more learning he has in Las Vegas.

Drabek still has some mental toughness to gain

Tom Mehegan

Game 66 - Red Soxs have a great field trip to Toronto as they sweep away the Jays

So heading into the fifth inning Kyle Drabek had given up 3 runs on 3 hits with 3 walks and 5 Ks while Adrian Gonzalez hit his 13th homer in the first inning to open the scoring. While Jose Bautista had his first homer in 13 games in the bottom of the fourth and the Red Sox lead 3-1 and the Jays finally had a hit as Jon Lester had retired the first 11 batters he faced to open the game leading upto the Bautista at bat.

So in the fifth Kyle Drabek faced 5 batters and all of them reached base Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Dustin Pedroia on a 1 and 1 pitch drove him home with his 5th homer to make it 5-1 and then Adrian Gonzalez doubled and Kevin Youkilis walked but before John Farrell could get out of the dugout and pull Drabek for Luis Perez David Oritz sent him to the showers in style with a 3 run homer and it was 8-1 Soxs. Perez himself gave up 3 singles around a strike out of J. D. Drew and Marco Scutaro drove in the 6 run of the inning with a RBI single which was followed by a double play ball by Jacoby Ellsbury as he finished what he started which was a 6 run on 7 hits and a walk with a wild pitch by Drabek just for good measure.

After a walk to Pedroia and strike out of Gonzalez Perez gave up back to back double to Kevin Youkilis and David Oritz before leaving and it was 11-1 when Shawn Camp came in and gave up his own double to Jarrod Saltalamacchia before the end of the inning and it was 12-1 after sixth with 3 runs on 3 doubles and a walk and the Jays to this point had 2 hits in the game as Edwin Encaracion had a single in the fifth. In the ninth inning Kevin Youkilis thanked all the Red Soxs fans for coming out this weekend as he hit a 2-run homer to make the final 14-1 as the Soxs had 17 hits and the Jays had 2 hits in the game.

John Farrell must be glad that his former team has finally left as the Jays got outscored 35 - 6 in the 3 game series that saw them also pick up 46 hits compared to the Jays 12 and the Red Soxs leave town on a 9 game win streak so it was a very very very very bad time to be meet them at least they brought in just over 98,000 fans to the Roger centre over the 3 day visit.

Now what the Jays need right now is a sub-500 team and team the Jays have had no problem with over the last couple of seasons to get health off of and now please welcome the Baltimore Orioles to the Rogers centre Tuesday night

Tom Mehegan

Its time for Edwin Encarnacion to go

I know that Edwin Encarnacion is a Blue Jays in the last month because the Jays were waiting for Brett Lawrie to be ready to step in and perform at the major league level but now he is done until at least the all-star break. So the 268 batting average, the 2 homers and 12 RBI, the 9 walks compared to the 26 Ks, and even the 15 doubles that is Edwin Encarnacion can be sent on an one way ticket out of town and he can take his 11 errors in 30 games playing the field.

In his place the Jays should bring up from Las Vegas either Eric Thames who did not look out of place at the major level hitting 286 in 13 games with the Jays and is back in Las Vegas and still hitting .317 with 6 homers and 33 RBIs. The other option is bring up the highest ever Canadian pick in the baseball draft Adam Loewen who was picked by the Baltimore Orioles 4th overall as a pitcher but after some major arm troubles his pitching days were over so instead of hanging the cleets up he decided to try hitting as he was a good hitter before being drafted too so he has been with the Jays farm system since 2009 season. Then this season he has been able to pull the ball and the numbers has been successful with a .318 average (70 for 220), 11 homers, 22 doubles, 2 triples, and 45 RBI and that pop in the bat if he could be able to do it in the show would be the kind of thing that the Jays are looking for off the bench right now as Edwin right now is the only bat off the bench and he has only 2 homers this season and if not Loewen than Thames would not be a bad replacement either.

So long Edwin

Tom Mehegan

Mike McCoy starts the game playing second base but ended up finishing pitching on the mound

So the game was very weird and it started in the top of the first when Adrian Gonzalez hit a ball down to first where the first base umpire Jeff Kellogg was turned around and was out of position for calling it fair or foul so he called it fair and John Farrell came out and was hot and almost got tossed and home plate Umpire Mark Carlson came over to try and sort things out but it was the first base umpire call. Then in the top of the third was intentionally walked to load the bases and then Brandon Morrow got ahead of Jed Lowrie 0 and 2 and decided to work a pitch inside on him but hit his knee instead to score a run and later in the inning Marco Scutaro singled to Rajai Davis and nonchalantly throw the ball in to the infield and over shot the cut off man and David Oritz chugged home from second. This was all apart of a bat around third inning that allowed the Red Soxs to open the scoring in a big way and in the bottom of the inning John Farrell had to asked the home plate what are U doing as Yunel Escobar was called out on strikes on a 2 and 1 pitch as the Umpire had missed up his ball and strike counter but he did correct himself but Escobar still struck out two pitches later.

In the bottom of the fourth inning with Boston now up 5-0 and with two on and two out Rajai Davis came to the plate with his 0 for 23 status and doubled in two to make it 5-2 going into the fifth inning after Morrow had gotten Jed Lowrie to fly out to open the inning the Red Soxs got five straight hits and it was dominated by a 3 run homer by Jason Varitek on a 2 and 2 pitch after fouling off two pitches and then later after Jason Frasor came in David Oritz hit a 3 run homer too and the Sox sent 10 to the plate and scored 7 runs to make it 12-2 Red Soxs. With it 13-2 Edwin Encarnacion hit his second homer of the season which was a 2 run homer and it was 13-4 and it was 16-4 after eighth innings in the books.

In the Ninth inning John Farrell decided to entertain the almost 40,000 fans in the stands at least whoever was left by having Mike McCoy moving in from second base where he had been playing in place of Arron Hill who was getting a day off and was the pitcher for the Jays in the inning and he throw 9 strikes and 3 balls and got a 1-2-3 inning and a standing O from the fans in attendance and then got another standing O when he came to the plate but ended up grounding out. In the end lets hope he does not get seriously hurt by pitching because players like Canceco got hurt pitching because they reared back and let everything out on their pitches to entertain the fans.

Lets see if the Jays can avoid the sweep

Tom Mehegan

Game 64 - 32 - 32 - The Jays came out limp against in opener against the Red Sox nation

So Jo Jo Reyes had 9 pitch 3 up/3 down inning in the first inning and then a 8 pitch only given up a double by Carl Crawford but it is second and more importantly the third that hurt as in the second he walked Kevin Youkilis but would of been out of the inning throwing if someone in the infield convention in foul ground over by third base had caught the foul ball as there were 3 infielder were there and then had to throw 8 extra pitches including a fielding error on Arron Hill. In the third inning Jarrod Saltalamacchia opened up the inning with a gapper and Bautista slide but missed it and then Jacoby Ellsbury had a ground rule double to make it second and third with no outs and then Dustin Pedroia had a infield hit to Mike McCoy that opened the scoring and making it 1-0 but thankfully Adrian Gonzalez ground into a double play which still scored a run and made it 2-0 and Jo Jo throw 42 pitches over those two innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning Cory Patterson and Jose Bautista both singled to open the inning and Juan Rivera had a sac fly which was bookend by strike outs by Adam Lind and J.P. so the Jays only got a single run and still trailed 2-1. In the fifth with one out Bautista dove for a Jacoby Ellsbury line drive but missed it and Dustin Pedroia walked and then both Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis singled through the infield to score a run to make it 4-1 after 5 innings. In the sixth the Jays had to on for Juan Rivera with two outs and he flied out to end the inning and the seventh they did one better by having first and third with one out but a John Farrell head scratched of Edwin Encarnacion pitch hitting for Jayson Nix as he is not a good batter and he had to come in and play third and we know what happen in that situation and he still made it worst by striking out and not even getting a fly ball to score Hill from third and Mike McCoy fouled out to first to end the inning without a run scoring. In the ninth the Red soxs got soft singles by Ellsbury to Encarnacion and Pedroia to pitcher Shawn Camp and then Gonzalez had a RBI ground rule double to make it 5-1 and as the Jays after a Cory Patterson single Red Soxs retired the final 6 batters to end the game.

So the Jays did not have their best defense tonight and if you are going to beat the Bosoxs U can not give them extra at bats and the Jays were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring positionand Clay Buchholz throw a 3 hitter over 7 innings given up only one run while walking 2 and striking out 6 batters. Jo Jo Reyes pitched 6.1 innings given up 8 hits and 4 runs but some of the hits could be turned into outs along with 2 walks and 3 Ks but Luis Perez pitched 1.2 inning of hit less ball to allow the Jays the chance to make a comeback.

The 28,588 was some of the loudest fans I've heard at a Jays game this season with Lackey Vs Morrow in the middle game and lets see if the Jays can even the weekend series

Tom Mehegan

Game 63 - 32 - 31 - Ricky Romero hit batter very costly in the third as he got 2 quick out before given up 3

Rick Romero had a complete game where he gave up 3 runs on 8 hits with 4 Ks and 2 walks was on the wrong side of the ledger to today in a 3-2 loss and it was a hit batter that cost him a game when he hit Matt Treanor to open the third inning as lead runner with two outs scored on a Eric Hosmer RBI single to open up a 1-0 Royals lead and Eric Hosmer advanced to second on a Jose Bautista throwing error. Then Jeff Francoeur hit a 2 run single and moved to second on the throw home but then Billy Butler singled to Bautista who had Francoeur dead to right at the plate to end the inning and the Royals lead 3-0 going into the fourth inning.

The Royals starter Luke Hochevar pitched 7 innings with 2 runs on 6 hits along with 3 walks and 3 Ks and he gave up 2 runs in the fourth inning he gave up a walk to Mike McCoy and with one out Bautista hit into a force play and when Adam Lind singled him to third and it was 1 of his 3 hits in the game. This is when J.P. stepped to the plate and he hit a ball off the top of the wall for a 2 run triple and if he hit it a little bit higher the game would be tied at 3 but instead it was 3-2 and there was no action until the the ninth inning when the Royals closer Joakim Soria who came in with 7 saves in 12 save attempts. So he started with an Arron Hill fly out followed by an Edwin Encarnacion who singled and then got ahead of Juan Rivera 0 and 2 but Rivera worked it back to 3 and 2 and Rivera singled to make it first and second. Then Jayson Nix struck out but Mike McCoy was also down 0 and 2 but worked it back to walk on the next 4 pitches so with Bautista on deck Cory Patterson on a 1 and 1 pitch he got under the ball with his bat and sent the sky high to third baseman Wilson Betemit to close out the game and square the series @ 2 and closed the Jays road trip with a 4 and 3 record.

So the Jays start a 3 game series against the AL east leading Bosoxs with Jo Jo Reyes against Clay Buchholz before the orilos come in on Tuesday

Tom Mehegan

Game 62 - 32 - 30 - Adam Lind got his grand salami while the Jays were in control until the bullpen came in

So Adam Lind got his chance to get a grand salami and hit it in the top of the 6 inning and he made Royals pitcher Nathan Adcock pay huge for given Jose Bautista an intentional walk to make it 9-4 Jays and this is how it was when Carlos Villanueva left the game after 7 innings and he gave up 4 runs on 6 hits with a walk and 5 Ks and was a great use for $100,000 as that is how the Jays got Villanueva from Milwaukee Brewers. Then by the end of the game Casey Janssen needed a behind the back catch by Mike McCoy off Melky Cabrera's bat who was playing for Yunel Escobar @ short to win the game and give Janssen his first save in 3 years as the Jays won 9-8. This is because in the eighth Marc Rzepczynski came in and like Monday throw a strike to start the inning off and struck out Alex Gordon on 4 pitches and then Melky Cabrera ground out to Mike McCoy and two quick outs but then Eric Hosmer walked on 5 pitches and then Jeff Francoeur singled and then Octavio Dotel came in to face Billy Butler who smashed a 3 run homer to make it 9-7. In the ninth Janssen gave up single around a ground out and a strike out but then Alex Gordon got his 19 double of the season to make it 9-8.

The Jays started well with first baseman Juan Rivera getting a 2 out RBI single in the first and the same in the third to make it 2-0 Jays and then Carlos Villanueva loaded the bases with the first 3 batters reaching the bases in the third and then Alex Gordon had a sac fly which was follow by a 3 run homer by Melky Cabrera to make it 4-2 Royals which was the only bad inning for Villanueva had tonight. In the fourth the first two Jays getting on base which brought Jayson Nix to the plate and he hit a 3 run homer to make it 5-4 and the Jays rolled until they needed their last 4 outs and now it looks like Jon Rauch maybe hurt and the closer spot in a landmine right now and Marc needs to get out of Kansas City ASAP. Cory Patterson hit well tonight with a 4 for 5 night at the plate and scored 2 runs and is closing in on .300 as he is now hitting .293 and I was shocked to hear that he was a 3Rd overall pick in the 1998 draft and is playing probably some of his best ball in his career recently.

Ricky Romero on the mound for the Jays to get the Jays a series clinching victory

Tom Mehegan

Bad news for Brett Lawrie

Just hours away from getting off the 7 day DL in the minors and getting on a plane to either Kansas City or Toronto to meet up with the big Birds and start his major league career as he was just waiting for the swelling to go down but instead after a x-ray and a MRI on the left hand had shown nothing wrong the Jays decided to get a CAT - scan done where sadly they found a non-displaced fracture to a bone in the back of his left hand. He will miss 3 weeks of action to recover from this fracture and then will have to work back in Las Vegas to get his swing back into the groove before being able to get his major league career started around the all-star break as at the earliest he will get back into game action at the beginning of July and with at least a week of triple A appearances it put him in position to come up with the Jays the week before the all-star break.

Jayson Nix hit a 3 run homer to put the Jays in the lead

Tom Mehegan

Game 61 - 31 - 30 - The Jays rookies take control of the heat as the Jays even series

In another hot and steamy night in Kansas City but it was 88 degrees instead of 91 degrees of last night and Kyle Drabek pitched OK in the heat as he gave up 2 singles and a walk through the first 4 batters and the Royals got a run but it was a great defensive play by Drabek who got a ball and started a double play to end the inning. Then a run in the third inning with 2 of the 4 wild pitches that Drabek throw in the game and then in the fourth inning with 2 on Drabek picked off Alcides Escobar at second to end the inning and in the fifth inning Drabek gave up back-to-back singles to open the inning and then got two ground out RBIs and he ended up pitching 5.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks and 4 wild pitches with no Ks tonight. The star of the night for the Jays was J.P. who blocked a lot of pitches in the dirt with another flying over his head and getting in position to receive the rebound off the boards and he got another 2 run homer that gave the Jays a 8-5 lead going into the ninth where Jon Rauch came into the game to close it down and went through the Royals 1-2-3 to end the game and to give the Jays a 8-5 win to even the 4 game series @ 1.

The other star for the Jays was Luis Perez as he pitched 2.2 innings with 4 Ks and a walk along with 2 hits and no runs and he was very important in the sixth inning as he only allowed a Drebek run but got two Ks to get out of the inning. It was very interesting start to the game for the Jays as Yunel Escobar got leadoff single and then got a late start on a steal of second and the ball went into the outfield and he ran to third and Melky Cabrera throw the ball over the third baseman and Yunel scored on a single play but after his next abat he left the game to be replaced by Mike McCoy. Also in the first with Bautista on first Adam Lind homered his 10th of the season and got a sac fly in the fifth which meant that he had 3 RBIs in the game. The interesting part of the road trip so far is that Bautista is 2 for 14 coming into the game and had a single in 2 official abats with 2 walks.

The Jays have Carlos Villanueva in game 3 of the series and as of now no pitcher announced for the Jays on Friday and with Brett Cecil having a great performance a complete game of one run and 6 hits last Thursday but tonight Cecil pitched 3 innings and gave up 7 runs. It is supposed to be Jo Jo Reyes start and they might of been think of maybe having Cecil coming back up for Friday or will the Jays go back to Jo Jo after tonight's performance.

Lets see if the Jays can take the final 2 games against the Royals

Tom Mehegan

Game 60 - 30 - 30 - It was hot and sticky night and the Royals squeaked out an extra inning win

It was a hot and sticky night in Kansas City on a 91 degrees night and Brandon Morrow throw the first 3 innings gave up 2 walks while Royals starter Felipe Paulino set-up and set down all the Jays through the order to begin the game. In the fourth the Jays did not get a hit but did get the first run of the game thanks to Royals third baseman Mike Aviles who allowed Yunel to reach first base with a throwing error and then Felipe Paulino wild pitched Yunel to second Cory Patterson grounded him to third and Joase Bautista grounded him home but in the bottom of the inning Eric Hosmer reached base on a Yunel Escobar throwing error and with two outs Mike Aviles made up for his throwing error by getting the first hit of the game and the only extra base hit of the game which was a triple to tie the game @ 1. In the seventh inning the Jays got a run and broke the tie by Juan Rivera sharply hitting a ball to Mike Aviles @ third and it went under his glove for a hit and then J.P. grounded a weakly through the infield and Rivera went first to third on the single as Jeff Francoeur throw to third was a little off and then Arron Hill grounded out to score Rivera to make it 2-1. In the bottom of the inning Shawn Camp came in and gave up a Matt Treanor single around a fly out and a strike out and then because it was a lefty coming to the plate so John Farrell went to the pen for Marc Rzepczynski and started well with a called strike but then he throw 12 straight balls and walked in a run which meant he throe 13 pitches and the Royals did not swing at any of them and the game was tied @ 2 after seven.

It stayed that was until the 11th inning but the Jays did have first and second with one out in the eighth but Rivera and J.P both struck out and in the ninth the Jays had first and second again and Yunel Escobar could of made up for the throwing error in the fourth but instead he hit into an inning ending double play. So in the bottom of the 11Th Frank Francisco came in with the score still tied @ 2 and Chris Getz singled on a very well placed bunt to the third base side and Francisco barehanded it and throw late to first and then Brayan Pena singled through the infield to make it first and second where Alcides Escobar bunt the runners over and after an intentional walk to Alex Gorden to load the bases. This is where Mike McCoy at third made an amazing stretch out catch of a laser shot to make it two outs and a pitch away from the 12Th inning but instead Eric Hosmer lined the next pitch for a hit and the Royals won 3-2.

The game was about the pitching because the heat took the pop out of the bats and deadened the ball so Brandon Morrow pitched 6 innings and gave up 2 hits and 3 walks and an unearned run and Felipe Paulino pitched 6.2 innings gave up 2 runs (only one earned) on 3 hits and 3 walks but it was the unbelievable inability of Rzepczynski throw a pitch that a batter would swing at.

The Jays head into tomorrow nights game with Kyle Drabek and lets see if has had his eyes checked so he can find the strike zone because it was hard to watch that 8 batter performance last time

Tom Mehegan

Brett Lawrie heading to the DL but might be with the Jays before the Red Soxs come to town on Friday

Brett Lawrie was hit by a fastball on his left wrist and it is bruised but there is no fractures detected in the x-ray he has had done and DL placement is retroactive to Wednesday when the incident happened so it looks like if everything goes right he may join the Jays in Kansas City on Thursday but more likely for Friday against the Red Soxs at the Rogers Centre. He has been very strong with his bat in Las Vegas in 52 games with the 51s as he been hitting .354 (79 for 223) with 15 homers, 19 doubles, and 4 triples along with 49 RBIs with 18 walks and 40 Ks and 11 for 12 stealing bases this season. I know that the strikeouts are high but in the last 10 games he has a .5 strikeout per game ratio and 4 walks which means he is walking almost as much as he is striking out and had not struck out in his last 6 games with the 51s which is a good sign and it looks like he is getting more patience at the plate since Eric Thames was called up first because he was more patience than Lawrie was at the time. Also in the last 10 games before getting hurt he was hitting .410 (16 for 39) with 6 homers, 4 doubles, and a triple and does have 12 errors in Las Vegas but 6 of those errors were in the first couple of weeks of the season so he is getting more comfortable at third.

The reason that Brett Lawrie will be coming up because as Jayson Nix and Johnny Mac are batting a combined 36 for 196 which is almost a .180 batting average with 5 homers and 22 RBIs this season which is a struggle to say the least and even though they are better fielders the Jays are looking at Lawrie and hoping that he can hit closer to .300 than Nix/Mac are hitting to .200.

So lets see what kind of learning curve the 21-year-old will face when he arrives in the Big Smoke

Tom Mehegan

Game 59 - 30 - 29 - Adam Lind proves if U walk Bautista your going to pay dearly

Jeremy Guthrie got two fly outs to Adam Jones in the first and with 2 outs pitched around Jose Bautista like most pitchers would but then Adam Lind and Arron Hill collected singles and the latter scored Jose Bautista but it did not last long as Robert Andino and Adam Jones singled around a Nick Markakis fly out and then Vladimir Guerrero doubled in run with his 10th double of the season while Derek Lee grounded out to Jayson Nix to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead after one inning. In the third with one out Cory Patterson singled and then Guthrie pitched around Jose Bautista where Adam Lind singled in Patterson to tie the game at 2 going into the fourth inning. In the fourth inning was turned on it ear as Edwin Encarnacion singled and Jose Molina walked around a Rajai Davis fly out and then after a Jayson Nix popped to Derek Lee at first for out number 2 Yunel Escobar popped his 7th homer to give the Jays a 5-2 lead and in the fifth after Bautista flied out Adam Lind flied a solo shot into the right field seats to make it 6-2 Jays. In the bottom of the inning Jo Jo Reyes gave up a single to Craig Tatum which snapped a streak of 8 Orioles retired in a row and a double to Robert Andino put runners on second and third with one out and then Nick Markakis sent a sac fly to Cory Patterson to make it 6-3 Jays after 5 innings. With two outs in the seventh Adam Lind came back to the plate and hit his second solo shot in the game and 9th on his shortened season and it was 7-3 Jays so that meant Adam Lind ended the game 4 for 4 with 2 singles and 2 homers along with 3 RBIs. In the bottom of the ninth Mark Reynolds hit his 9th home run of Jon Rauch but at least it was a solo shot to make it 7-4 which is completely different than the grand salami he hit last night in a 5-3 Orioles as the Jays won the rubber match 7-3.

Jo Jo Reyes had trouble in the first as 3 of the first 4 orioles hitters reached base but only gave up 2 runs and sailed into the fifth where he gave up three straight hits and gave up a run and he left the game pitching 6.1 innings given up 3 runs on 5 hits but also gave up 4 walks and had 3 Ks while picking up his second straight victory. The only batter reaching bases off the bullpen was the Mark Reynolds homer and walk to Matt Wieters which was a strong showing of 2.2 innings put together especially by Casey Janssen (0.2 inning) and Jason Frasor (1 inning) of no base runner ball and Jon Rauch (1 inning) got through the ninth. While Jeremy Guthrie just did not have it given 9 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings so with a double play and force out after hit he allowed 12 hitters reach base and 13 batters did not reach base which is a horrible average and it shows why he is 2 - 8 so great job by the Jays hitters to get the Job done especially Adam Lind who showed your going to pay if U pitch around Jose Bautista.

Jays win series against Orioles and now need to do the same to the Royals in the upcoming 4 game series

Tom Mehegan

Game 58 - 29 - 29 - Orioles get the job done while Jays did not while Brett Lawrie is around the corner

Here is the situation of the game which was bases loaded with no outs and the Blue Jays were up first in the situation which happened in the third inning with a 2-1 lead (Cory Patterson got bunt single while Bautista and Lind walked) but Juan Rivera hit the ball to Mark Reynolds who throw home and Matt Wieters to first for the double play and the Jays did not get any runs as J.P. flied out. Then the Orioles got their chance as Ricky Romero sawed off bats but end up getting singles by Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee both to Jose Bautista and then Matt Wieters singled to Cory Patterson to load the bases with a 3-1 Jays lead when Mark Reynolds stepped up to the plate and he slammed a ball into the seats for a grand slam (had only given up 4 runs in the last 3 games coming into this game) and the Orioles won 5-3 to even the series at one.

Rajai Davis got a sac fly and then later manufactured a run by hitting a ball to pitcher Jake Arrieta who got Arron Hill at second and then Rajai Davis stole second and third and Mike McCoy grounded out to score Davis to make it 3-1. Cory Patterson hit a sole homer in the first to give the Jays a quick 1-0 lead. With Adam Lind back with the Jays that meant that Eric Thames was sent down to Las Vegas which put the Jays in a situation where they had Edwin Encarnacion pinch hit for Mike McCoy with one out in the ninth inning with Kevin Gregg on the mound for the Orioles and Edwin was caught looking with 2 on for our number 2 and it would been a better option to keep Thames and send Encarnacion for assignment. Then there is the idea that with a couple of games before the Royals series down in Las Vegas for Brett Lawrie as it sounds like if everything falls into place Brett Lawrie will be joining the Jays in KC to become the third baseman with more pop and hopefully better average and this move will seal the deal for Encarnacion in TO.

Jo Jo has a chance to help the Jays win the series against the Orioles

Tom Mehegan

Game 57 - 29 - 28 - J.P. hit a slam while Villanueva pitched well and pick up the win

The Jays came out with hot bats again as in the second inning Juan Rivera singled which was J. P. Arencibia reaches on a fielding error by Mark Reynolds @ third, and then Arron Hill singled in Juan Rivera to make it 1-0. Then Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play and J.P. ended up on third which lead to a Zach Britton wild pitched J.P. into score the second run and Rajai Davis doubled but he was left there at the end of the inning and then in the third Yunel Escobar doubled to open the inning and with one out Juan Rivera had a sac fly to make it 3-0. In the fifth inning Zach Britton blow up really good with a walk on and 2 out which lead to Jose Bautista and then Juan Rivera walked to load the bases which brought J.P. Arencibia to the plate and he hit the Jays second grand slam in a week to give the Jays a 7-0 which was most of offense by the Jays as the Jays got 1 run on 4 hits in the last four inning.

Carlos Villanueva through the first four innings of the game had hit 2 batters and a walk and then in the fifth inning J.J. Hardy singled to open the inning and then Carlos Villanueva got the next 2 batters out and then Robert Andino, Felix Pie, and Adam Jones all singled and the Orioles scored 2 runs but Nick Markakis flied out to end the fifth. Then with Jeremy Accardo on the mound in the sixth after Edwin Encarnacion struck out Rajai Davis doubled and then after Jayson Nix struck out Yunel Escobar singled Davis in to get one of the runs that Orioles scored in the fifth back. In the bottom of the sixth Carlos Villanueva gave up singles to both Vladimir Guerrero and J.J. Hardy around a Matt Wieters fly out and Villanueva was out of the game and pitched his best performance as a Blue Jays starter with given up 2 runs on 6 hits with a walk and the Jays were leading 8-2 and Luis Perez got out of the inning without given up another run. With Jason Frasor in for the eighth and he did not start well as Matt Wieters singled and J.J. Hardy hit a 2-run homer to make it 8-4 but Frasor got the next 3 batters 1-2-3 where Marc Rzepczynski came in for the ninth inning and got the Orioles 1-2-3 and the Jays won 8-4 in the series opener with Ricky Romero pitching tomorrow night.

The Jays are playing good ball right now with very hot bats but there is Adam Lind and maybe Travis Snider around the corner and Brett Lawrie looks to be on the mind and will be up ASAP

Tom Mehegan

Game 56 - 28 - 28 - What a weird game to finish off the series against the Tribe

Kyle Drabek pitched to 8 batters and his line was 3 doubles, 3 walks, a strike out, and a ground out as he only got 2 outs and gave up 4 runs and Grady Sizemore had the big hit of the inning with the bases loaded he had a bases clearing double for 3 RBIs and the Tribe led 4-0 and Drabek threw 38 pitches with 23 balls and 15 strikes and would be the worst outing of his young career. He total need to figure out how to prepare for a game and being able to find the strike zone and however he would feel best coming out of the bullpen the Jays let him try it but then at least then Shawn Camp came in and throw strikes and got the next 4 batters out.

In the third inning Shawn Camp lost everything and the Blue Jays motor went up in flames with Camp facing 8 batters and got one out with a Matt Laporta slammed his 7th homer which was a 3 run homer to make it 7-0 and it was followed by double by Jack Hannaham, a RBI single by Adam Everett, a single by Michael Brantley, and then a 2 RBI double by Asdrubal Cabrera to make it 10-0. This is when Jason Frasor came in and the inactive defense came into play with Rajai Davis messed up on an easy fly ball which allowed a run to score and then Yunel Escobar messed up on a pop up and another run scored and it should of been over in the third but instead it was 12-0 and finally Jason Frasor strike out the 13 batter of the inning Matt Laporta to end the inning. So through 3 innings the Tribe got 12 runs on 10 hits with 4 walks and 2 fielding errors and in the bottom of the inning started with Jayson Nix leading off which meant that the Tribe did all this before the Jays went through the order for the first time.

But thats only have the story because the fifth inning comes and the Jays bats do something at has only been bettered once in MLB and that was 77 years ago by the Boston Red Soxs which was to hit not one, not two, but three triples in a row while the soxs had 4 in a row which was started with one out by Eric Thames, Rajai Davis, and then Jason Nix who was batted in by Cory Patterson with 2 outs to make it 12-3 and Jose Bautista came up and flied out to end the inning. Then John Farrell throw in the towel on the game and yes that means that Edwin Encarnacion was playing third base and Mike McCoy came into the game and played short and Jayson Nix moved to second so that Yunel and Arron got a break and were lifted from the game. In the sixth Matt LaPorta scored on a field choice to make it 13-3 but in the bottom of the inning Rajai hit a 3-run homer to make it 13-6 and in the seventh with two on and no out Bautista came up and hit into a double play but Mike McCoy scored to make it 13-7 and then in the ninth Bautista came up again with 2 on and no out and hit a ball hard to third went off Jack Hannahan's glove and both runners scored to it 13-9 and with 2 on again Eric Thames struck out to end the game.

These things do happen and just need to but it behind U and get ready and they did for the second half of the game and now need to get ready for the Baltimore Orioles in Maryland and need to go into Camden Yards for 3 games and win the series. Before heading to face Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium for 4 games and should win this series too as both series are winnable and the Jays need to take advantage this week against the teams at their level or below.

A week with the Orioles and the Royals

Tom Mehegan