J.P. and Colby make highlight reel catches in a romp

In a total domination of the Blue Jays 11-2 victory over the Angels of Anaheim J.P. Arencibia and Colby laid out to make incredible catches in the eighth inning. First it was a foul ball of the bat of Mike Trout who was still trying to extend his 11-game hit streak and J.P. went all the way back to the railing of the Jays dugout and was so focused on the ball that he did not care how close he was so he leaned over the railing and caught the ball and continued to somersault into the dugout and thankfully Brett Cecil was quick to his feet to hold up J.P. before something bad happened. Later in the inning Colby went all out into the gap and dove and made the catch on a gabbier of the bat of Albert Pujols and made be a mid-season contender for catch of the season for the Jays and thankfully stayed health as well. The scored very early in the game as Brett Lawrie lead off the game running out a double as he only fell a triple short of a cycle and then created the first run of the game as Colby hit a ground ball and the Angels went after Lawrie and he was still safe and scored on a double play by Jose Bautista. The play of the game was a play that was not made with the Jays up 3-0 in the second with two outs Paul Bourjos had the third out but dropped it off Brett Lawrie's bat and it was a key mistake as five unearned runs and six extra batters came to the plate. Kelly Johnson had the first hit of the inning and was driven home on Yunel Escobar's two-run homer and the last hit of the inning with a RBI triple and reached base 4 times with two walks as 11 total batters came to the plate and 7 runs scored in the second inning to make it a quick 8-0 lead. The Jays got a super outing from their starter Henderson Alvarez who picked 7 innings of one run on 7 hits with 3 ks and no walks. He kept the ball low and got 12 ground ball outs and throw a first pitch strike to 23 of the 27 hitters he faced in the game. It is one of his best game of the season and maybe of his young career and he was on a much lower pitch count today as he had soreness in his elbow and it made him more focused 59 of his 80 pitches for strikes (74% strikes). Brett Lawrie smoked a three-run homer in the fifth inning and finished the scoring and sent the almost 30 thousand home happy Tom Mehegan

Adam Lind hit bombs in the game while the Angels hit them during batting practice

The Angels put on an air show in batting practice as they launched countless number of bombs to deep center field as the usher in section 142 was going nuts as the balls were landing on the trap in dead center field behind the hard camera and had to tell the kids to not be there time after time as the trap is over seats and someone could fall through and the usher would be fired and the Jays would have a serious lawsuit on their hands. One of the balls even landed beside me and even though a guy from another section trying to get a ball for his nephew got it still the closest I have ever gotten to a major league ball and it actually hit my Jays bag that had my popcorn into and after batting practice was over I look down at my bag and some of the popcorn spilled out and I look at the popcorn bag and it is like almost completely split down the side. At the end of batting practice a young boy and girl are leaving to go to their seats and the camera guy at the hard camera talks to them and he had find a couple of balls and he hands one to each which just warms my heart. Even though that was so cool the best part is that the Angels booming bats went silent against Carlos Villanueva and he took control early as he had a three up / three down 14 pitch first inning and only a Kendrys Morales double in the second as he had 16 pitch second inning. In the third he did the Ultimate sin in baseball as he he walked the no.9 hitter and he comes around to open the scoring on a couple of singles as he had a 2o plus pitch inning and in the fourth he gave up two singles around a ground out and got very lucky as Colby Rasmus made the defensive play of the game as he ran down a sac fly off the bat of Erick Aybar and it saved at least another run if not a bust open inning as the Angels had a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth I am like the Jays need to get some runs in support of Villanueva so I get my rally towel out of my pocket and I stand for the whole inning starting with Bautista who starts with a double and Edwin Encarnacion drives him home with a single and is second on the throw home and Kelly Johnson bunts him to third. Then Yunel Escobar drives him home to tie the game and is driven to third on a Rajai Davis double and then the first of two huge bombs from Adam Lind as he launched a three-run blast to give the Jays a 5-2 lead. As the inning is happening the fans finally wake up so in the middle of the waive the fans in left field realize that Mark Trumbo is in left so the Trumbo chant goes up and the fans in right field realize that Torii Hunter is in right field so the Hunter chant goes up and the Trumbo chant lasts longer than the Hunter chants. In the fifth Villanueva gets through it as he only gave up a RBI double to Albert Pujols and lift with the chance of a victory throwing 5 innings of 3 runs on 7 hits one walk to go with 6 ks and only two x-base hits and no homers and worked great against a very good Angels team as he got 5 ground balls to 2 fly balls while almost always throwing a first pitch strike. Canadian Scott Richmond came in for him and had a great first inning but just like Villanueva got lazy with the bottom of the order in his second inning as Erick Aybar singles and then the no.9 hitter John Hester launches a two-run shot to tie the game and then Richmond settles down and gets the next two outs. Frank Francisco picked up the third out in the seventh and the victory as Yunel Escobar had a ground-rule RBI double to give the Jays the lead for good as the fans noticed Mike Trout in center field and chant his name in the seventh while in the eighth Adam Lind gets a solo homer and ends up with a 4 RBI night. As I am leaving the Rogers Centre I have Jamie Campell and Greg Zahn at the BlackBerry Blue Jays studios yelling at me so security gets me to turn around and they start a lets go Rider chant as I am wearing my Saskatchewan Roughriders Jersey which awesome as well. Casey Janssen picked up his 9 save in as many opportunities as a closer this season Tom Mehegan

Brett Cecil gives up way too many x-base hits and spoils Mathis's day

Brett Cecil was in triple A because he left pitches up and they carried a long way and became a souvenir for the fans and tonight it happened again as he mowed down the first 5 batters and then it all began with Alberto Callaspo who it solo homer to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning Mark Trumbo hit s two-run homer to get back the lead as the Jays lead 2-1 and it could who been another solo shot as Albert Pujols started the inning with a double as Colby Rasmus did not play the ball at all as he did not go back hard and he put himself in place to get the ball off the wall and he could of been in position to catch the ball and would only be a 2-2 tie. Peter Bourjos also had a RBI sac high to finish a 3 run inning which would of been the third out. In the sixth with the Jays up again 6-5 Peter Bourjos had a RBI ground rule double after a sac bunt got him to third where Jeff Mathis throw behind Bourjos and almost got him and then Mike Trout hit a two-run homer to give the Angels a 8-6 lead and held on by their skin of their teeth 9-7 as the Jays had bases loaded with Edwin Encarnacion at the dish in the ninth with one outs and hit into a double play to end the game. Brett Cecil as he gave up 6 extra base hits (3 homers and 3 doubles) of his 10 hits and he gave up 8 runs in 5.1 inning pitched. If it was not Brett Cecil given up all those extra base hits and runs scored it would of been Jeff Mathis who went 4 for 4 in the game with a solo homer and came within a triple for the cycle and he scored 3 of the Jays runs. He had the book on the Angels pitchers and tried to help the jays hitter get hits as they had 12 hits in the game. He also know the hitters and John Farrell know it as he ripped Cecil after the Angels 3-run fourth inning motioned to Mathis next to Cecil and basically let Mathis call the game. Jose Bautista gave the Jays a 6-5 lead in the fifth and would of been the winner if Cecil was able to down the Angels in the sixth Tom Mehegan

Ricky Romero had a really bad game

Ricky Romero faced 22 batters and throw 90 pitches and u would think that he pitched 6 strong inning but instead when it is only 3 plus innings where he gave up 6 runs in the first and allowed the first Soxs to reach base and score a run and 7 of the first 8 batters reach base and the Soxs got 4 hits, 2 walks, and a fielder's choice. The reality is that Ricky Romero did not come out of the bullpen ready to pitch against the Red Soxs and gave up a single run until the fourth inning as he gave up two hits and 3 walks and then gave up a walk to David Ortiz and a double to Cody Ross before being pulled with two on and no outs in the fourth and Adrian had a RBI single and a Mike Aviles RBI double to bring in the last two runs on Ricky Ro's day. Ricky Romero in his 90 pitches and 48 strikes as he gave up 9 runs (8 earned) on 7 hits and 6 walks. This performance by Ricky Romero has put the damper on Jose Bautista becoming the leader in the homers in a month with 13 as he hit his 25th homer of the season a solo shot in the fourth inning. Edwin Encarnacion in the sixth inning drove home a Bautista double with his 22Nd homer of the season and Bautista was the only Jay with more than one hit. Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus did their thing in the first inning as they both picked up a hit with Lawrie's double was brought in by a RBI single by Rasmus to give the Jays a very short lived 1-0 lead. Jesse Chavez gave up a solo homer to David Ortiz for his 399th homer in his career and closed off the Red Soxs scoring and help them win and take the series capper 10-4 and he also walked 3 times and scored every time. While Adrian Gonzalez had 2 hits scoring a run and also received a RBI on a fielder's choice and had 3 RBI in the game. Jays need a good Canada Day series against the Angels Tom Mehegan

Jays bullpen blows up really good

The Jays behind a Brett Lawrie double in the first that was cashed in by Edwin Encarnacion RBI single took a 1-0 lead that lasted till the seventh inning but Edwin on the play moved to second on a bad throw by Will Middlebrooks. This put two runners in scoring position against Daisuke Matsuzaka put Johnson popped up and Escobar lined to Daisuke to end the inning. The Jays carried a 1-0 lead into the seventh behind Arron Laffy and after given up a Mike Aviles single to start the game he retired 12 straight batters and in the sixth Laffy got a great fielding play from Rajai Davis who after walking Dustin Pedora gave up a double off the green monster and Rajai gunned down Pedora at the plate with a great block of the plate from Jeff Mathis. The Jays brought the bullpen in for the seventh and Jason Frasor got two quick outs but then nobody could get an out as Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered to tie the game and Farrell decided to bring in Luis Perez and he faced Ryan Kalish who doubled off him and that was it for Perez. He then went back to the pen and brought in David Pauley who showed he could not get anyone out because he faced 6 and all reached base as he hit Daniel Nava and walked Mike Aviles which lead to Dustin Pedora hitting a two-run single to give the Red Soxs a 3-1 lead after Aviles got caught between second and third to end the inning. Then it really looked like Farrell throw in the towel as he brought Pauley again and he gave up two doubles sandwiched around a single to start the eighth before Scott Richmond came in and put out the fire as he faced three batters and retired all three and only allowed one of Pauley's runners to score as the Red Sox won 5-1. Arron Laffy shutout the Soxs on 3 hits and 2 walks and really put up a very good showing in the game and will get another start as he got a lot of ground ball outs in his sixth innings and this from a guy who has not started in the Majors in two seasons. While Daisuke Matsuzaka who is only pitching in his 5 game since coming back from Tommy John surgery and pitched 5.2 innings of one run on 6 hits and a walk but only gave up two hits and a walk after the second inning so the Jays could of taken him to the woodshed but was not able to get that key hit. Ricky going to the mound to take the series and the road trip Tom Mehegan

Blue Jays should fund research for pitching injury

With four starters in a couple of weeks going down with an injury and three of them with the same injury which is an elbow injury with Kyle Drabek going in the Tommy John route. While Drew Hutchison has avoided surgery but he has been told to not pickup a ball for 4-6 weeks and that means that he will be rehabbing for the same amount of time and will be likely pitching for the Jays in September. Brandon Morrow and now Henderson Alvarez are put on the DL and have no idea of when either one will be able to pitch again for the Jays. The Jays injuries have now made them hit the bottom of the barrel in their pitching with Scott Richmond being called up and Jamie Moyer who is 49-years-old and released by two major league teams in the first 2 and a half month of the 2012 MLB season. So the Jays real needs to invest in some research into what is creating all these pitcher's injury and the best way to try and prevent their pitchers from being sidelined with massive shoulder injuries and with them not able to get the top free agents on the market they should put their money into keeping their prospect healthy. I think if they put up lets say 2-3 million dollars for a beginner program an see they could find if pitchers are being treated in wrong way that is making it easier for them to suffer an injury. If they can fix it and make their pitcher prospects stronger it would be an extremely valuable asset to the Jays and would give them a much needed advantage over the other major league team as nobody is doing this research. Great chance to get ahead Jays Tom Mehegan

Jose Bautista ties a Jays record but lose another starter

In a game that 5 hours which nornal in Boston but what is not normal is that it included hr and 56 min rain delay during the game so the actual game did almost finish in 3 hr. After that rain delay the Jays kept their lead as the only damage the Red Soxs got after the game continued in the top of the 7th was David Ortiz's second homer of the game a solo shot to make the final 9-7 Jays and tie Ortiz all-time with Ted Williams with the most multi-homer game as a Sox with 37. Casey Janssen closed down the Soxs in the ninth by striking out the side and leaving Dustin Pedora on Deck and Ortiz in the hole and he throw 12 of his 15 pitches for strikes. With Sergio Santos on the 60-day DL it feels like he not pitch again for the Jays and that is OK as Casey Janssen has shown that he feels very comfortable in the role of closer as he is 8 for 8 after being given the job. Before the rain hit at Fenway Jose Bautista launched a moon shot to field for a two-run shot to make it in 9-5 in the seventh and it broke Bautista's career high in homers in a month and tied the Jays record with Jose Cruz JR and Carlos Delgado with his 12th homer in the month of June and has almost a week to break the record. He has hit 5 homers on this road trip through Milwaukee, Miami, and now Boston and Colby Rasmus started the game well with a two-run homer into the short porch in right field and helped the Jays put up a 4 spot in the very first inning off Felix Doubront. After Edwin Encarnacion hit a very long RBI double and Rajai Davis picked up a RBI on a fielder's choice to end the first inning Colby came up in the second and had a RBI single. The Jays had Henderson Alvarez starting and he struggled early getting the low pitch called a strike and in the first inning after Dustin Pedroia singled Alvarez was able to get one sweet pitch by David Ortiz but not a second one as Ortiz took him deep. As Alvarez continued to get ground balls had Dustin Pedora hit the ball back to him with two outs and he turned awkwardly and it looked like he had done something to his back. He stayed in the game and it looked like when Pedora tried to steal second he was tagged on his foot as he went past Yunel Escobar but was called safe and he ended up on third as the infielders scrabbled to get back in position with Lawrie over in shallow left field. Yunel was charged with the first error of the inning and it helped the Red Soxs cashed in two runs after the caught stealing/stolen base moment and Kelly Johnson could not handle a ground ball off the bat of Jarrod Saltalamacchia and then had an Adrian Gonzalez ground ball eat up his glove and allowed both runs to score.In the fourth Ryan Kalish cashed in a Cody Ross double to tie the game at 5 and in the top of the sixth J.P. Arencibia hit a two-run homer to break the tie. In the bottom of the sixth Henderson Alvarez throw a 0-1 pitch throw a slider and jumped off the mound after the pitch and left immediately pointing to the inside of his elbow which is where the tendons are and could be serious trouble as it is the kind of injury that needs Tommy John surgery but right now it is called elbow soreness. It sad that Alvarez maybe the fourth starter on the sidelines as he really was very good at keeping the ball down in the zone and if he had better infield defense tonight he would of had a quality start as he did have a 5 run (3 earn) on 6 hit with 2ks and a walk. Jays have called up Canadian Scott Richmond to replace Alvarez so it does not look good Tom Mehegan

Jays could not get that first out of the innings

Jessie Chavez started the game for the Blue Jays and had a pretty solid outing in the 8-0 loss except that beaten up by the long ball and the first was in the second inning when he could not the first out of the inning as it took five batters to get the that tough out. To get to the first out he gave up two singles sandwiched around a double and the struggling former Jays catcher John Buck who came in to the game with a .160ish batting average and he came up with two on and delivered a three run shot to put the Marlins 4-0 and then he got the next three batters 1-2-3. Then after retiring 7 straight Marlins he went into the sixth and gave up a single to Logan Morrison and then was driven home on a two-run homer to Greg Dobbs as Chavez had a problem getting the first out of the inning but then get the next 3 in a row and pitched 6 innings given up 6 runs on 7 hits and k'd 6 and did not walk a batter. The Jays bats were not able to recover from the Marlins taking the lead as they were facing the workhorse called Mark Buehrle who was the free agent pitcher the Jays should of gone after this past summer and would be looking very nice in the Jays rotation and he pitched 7 very good innings of 7 hit ball with 2 walks and k'd 7 Jays batters. The Jays had a few chances against him as Brett Lawrie had a clear double at least taken away in the first inning by Logan Morrison and in the third inning the Jays had two on for Bautista who ended the inning by flying to center field. In the fifth with Lawrie on second with a double with two outs and then Colby Rasmus singled and Lawrie tried to challenge Giancarlo Stanton's arm who throw a frozen rope to the plate and Lawrie tried to not be a dead duck trying to get in through the back door but he was a goner as so as he tried to score and left Bautista on deck. In the sixth the Jays got an infield hit to open the inning and with one out Yunel Escobar hit a ball to Jose Reyes who looked like he had just stopped Bautista from going from first to third but instead Reyes got Bautista at second base on a bang bang play. The Jays just were unable to get that key hit while the Marlins took advantage of a couple pitches which the Jays had been doing in the first two games of the series but win a series against the Marlins is strong as they had only 4 wins in the last 20 games against the Marlins and are .500 in interleague play. Huge Series against the Red Soxs to start the week at Fanway Park as the soxs are right with the Jays coming into today's game Tom Mehegan

Colby Rasmus blow the game open with his third salami

So the Jays went into the ninth inning being baffled by Josh Johnson of the Marlins as he pitched a two hitter over 7 innings pitched with two walks and 7 ks and just kept the Jays on their toes all game. Both of his walks came in the second inning as he walked both Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson to open the inning and the Jays produced a run from this by having two straight sac bunts by Yunel Escobar and Rajai Davis to give the Jays a 1-0 lead in the game. Behind Brett Cecil the lead lasted a very long time as he pitched a very good game and after not being able to throw low strikes early on as he throw 20 of his first 43 pitches for balls as he walked three batters in the first three innings and kept the ball up because that was how he was getting strikes but the Marlins were not making him pay and he was getting those tough third outs with ease. He ended up throwing 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes in the game and going into the seventh inning he had shut down the Marlins on three hits and four walks and left the game in the seventh after given up a bunt single to Justin Ruggiano and he was driven home by Omar Infante who doubled to tie up the game at one. The Jays bullpen pitched extremely well as Jason Frasor got a ground out followed by two ks to end the inning and behind a 1-2-3 inning by Darren Oliver the Jays headed to the ninth still tied. The Marlins bullpen behind Josh Johnson exploded like the fourth of July (or Canada Day) as after Steve Cishek got two quick outs in the eighth on 4 pitches getting the third out was a whole different ball game as he struggled to walk Brett Lawrie and gave up a single to Kelly Johnson but got Bautista to get under a pitch and pop it to center to end the inning. He was diffidently not as lucky in the ninth as Edwin Encarnacion tattooed a slider to give the Jays a 2-1 lead and opened the flood gates as the Jays beat up the Marlins bullpen for 6 runs and sent 11 batters to the platre and Colby crushed a grandslam to right field to finish off the Marlins as the Jays picked up the first two games in south beach with a 7-1 victory. Jays looking for another sweep on Sunday

Jays score runs in bunches behind Lawrie

The Jays got into Miami early yesterday evening while the Marlins started their game in Boston when the Jays were already in town and by the time the Marlins joined the party on south beach it was between 5 and 6 AM this morning. The Jays took advantage of the tired Marlins team and laid double digits in runs for the fourth game in the last 8 games that the Marlins have played as the Jays won 12-5 as the Jays scored in 5 of the innings and crocked numbers in three of them. If the Marlins were sleepy than their nightmare was Brett Lawrie who started it felt like he lead off every inning and he did lead off in the first, third, sixth, and seventh inning. He also batted in the fourth and the ninth inning and he got on base the first four times he came to the plate and scored all four times as he tripled in the first and was driven home by a Colby Rasmus sac fly. In the third he singled and was driven home by a RBI single by Jose Bautista and he was driven home by a Kelly Johnson sac fly in a two-run third inning. In the fourth inning Brett Lawrie followed a Ricky Romero single with a single and quietly went base-to-base and scored on Edwin Encarnacion who walked in him after Bautista walked in Romero and it was a 3 run inning to give the Jays a 6-0 lead after Kelly Johnson had his second sac fly of the game. In the sixth inning Brett Lawrie walked and was brought home with a Kelly Johnson RBI single to give him a three RBI game and it was apart of a five run inning to make it 11-2 which was ended by Miami Native J.P. Arencibia had a two run double and that was after the Marlins had put up single runs in the fourth and fifth. Jose Bautista finished the scoring for the Jays as he knocked out his 23rd homer of the season and the 11th in the month of June and the Marlins got a two-run homer from Omar Infante off Romero before Bautista and Gaby Sanchez after Bautista off Robert Coello. Ricky Romero was cruising through three innings as he faced one batter over the limit and one hit til the fourth as he gave up a solo shot to Giancarlo Stanton and a double and got out of there with only a run given up and in the fifth he gave a single and a walk and battled back and only gave up a RBI single to Hanley Ramirez. In the sixth he lost the strike zone as he gave up 6 straight balls and after a called strike Omar Infante his two-run homer and Romero pitched 7 innings and gave up four runs on 7 hits with his down side being the two homers and 4 walks but he really did an amazing job getting through 7 innings. Can not wait to her Ozzie press conference Tom Mehegan

Jays can not battle back from a five run second inning

After the Blue Jays took a 1-0 in the top of the second inning ehen Edwin Encarnacion took Yovani Gallardo deep to Center field and then in the bottom of the inning with Joel Carreno on the mound fell apart as he gave up 5 runs on four hits and a walk. Bernie Brewer was a very busy mascot in the inning with one out as he got to go down his slide three times as Corey Hart hit a solo shot, Martin Maldonado hit a two-run shot, and Carlos Gomez finished off the inning with another two-run shot and the Jays were unable to come back from this deficit and fell down hard 8-3. Joel Carreno who took a red eye from Arizona and got the first four Brewer hitters and k'd two of them and then he allowed 5 of the next 6 batters to reach base and the Jays really need the day off tomorrow. The Jays had their chances in the top of the seventh with two outs the Jays got a David Cooper single and Brett Lawrie walked and then off Yovani Gallardo Colby Rasmus doubled home Cooper but the concern was Lawrie going forst to third on the double and after he got up he grabbed the back of the third base coach behind his left leg to indicate that he hurt his left hamstring. Then Tim Dillard came in and walked Bautista and hit Encarnacion to walk in the Lawrie who left the game and it was 6-3 and Kelly Johnson came up as the go ahead run but struck out on three straight pitches. The Brewers had 12 hits in the game with Martin Maldonado having a three hit game along with Ryan Braun and both also had a two-run homer in the game. The Jays are heading to south beach to take on the Marlins and maybe welcomed tomorrow by the NBA championship trophy Tom Mehegan

Jays use their power to eliminate their pitching woes

The Jays and Brewers found different ways to score a lot of runs and the Jays finally came out with the win 10-9 in an almost 4 hours for a nine inning game. The Jays used the long ball as the top four hitters in the Jays lineup went 8 for 14 with 6 homers, 7 RBIs, and scored 8 runs of the Jays 10 runs in the game while the Brewers got 8 free passes (7 walks and a hit batter) in the game and 4 free passes brought in runs and 4 also scored runs. The Jays got an early 2-0 lead in the third inning on Brett Lawrie's two-run homer in the third and the Jays got a good 2.1 innings pitched by Jesse Chavez who was making his first ever start in the majors and retired 7 of his first 8 hitters he faced. Then Brewers starter making his major league debut Tyler Thornburg came up and smoked a pitch from Chavez into center field and got a double from it and then Chavez went into the stretch and just could not get out of the third inning as 7 of 8 batters reached base ( two doubles, four walks, and a hit batter ) and had a four run inning and they took a 4-2 lead. In the sixth inning the Jays with one out the Jays hit back-to-back-to-back homers with Colby Rasmus, Jose Bastista, and Edwin Encarnacion all hitting solo shots and finished off the inning with two singles around a walk all with two outs and J.P. Arencibia finished it all off with a RBI single which was apart of a three hit night and had a four run inning and took a 6-4 lead. Jays brought in Robert Coello who gave up a single, a double, and a walk as he only faced four batters and then Jason Frasor came in and walked Ryan Braun to bring in a run and then Aramis Ramirez came up and just like last night he turned the game around the game with another homer this time it was a grand salami to give the Brewers a 9-6 lead. The Jays with two outs in the seventh they got a walk to Jose Bautista and then Edwin Encarnacion hit a ball to Ryan Braun and Jose Bautista put the pressure on Braun as he went first to third and Braun throw the ball away and Jose Bautista scored on the throwing error and then Yunel Escobar singled in double E to bring the Jays within a run at 9-8. Then in the ninth John Axford came in to close down the Jays and started by facing Colby Rasmus who on a 3-1 pitch took Axford deep as he hit a homer into the right field corner and then Jose Bautista went back-to-back with Colby. Casey Janssen came in and closed down the Brewers with a good placement of Kelly Johnson as Farrell was going nuts on the top step before the pitch of the game that went right to Johnson who was like in Lawrie's position in the shift and got it to double E. Jays look for a series victory as they look for a starter for tomorrow afternoon game Tom Mehegan

Jays bats not able to recover from Alvarez's start

Jays used the long ball to get back in the game after Henderson Alvarez who had a different starting point in the mound he was on the left side of the rubber instead of the right but the results stayed the same as he gave up two runs on 3 hits in the first that erased Brett Lawrie lead-off homer to start the game. Usually after rhe first inning Alvarez settles down but tonight his second inning was even worst as with runners on the corners and one out Norichika Aoki back to him and he had it go under his glove when he tried to make a play to home before he had the ball and then he walked Nyjer Morgan to get to last season's NL MVP Ryan Braun but thankfully Brett Lawrie came up with fielding gem diving for a ball and then diving for third base to get the second out. Then Henderson Alvarez gave up a two run double to Aramis Ramirez to make it 6-1 after two innings and he throw 47 pitches through the first two innings as he gave up four hits and a walk in the second and gave up 4 runs and struggled through four innings given up 6 runs on 11 hits and two walks and could not get anything right so lets hope the new positioning works the next time out like it did for Morrow earlier this season. The Jays had their opportunity in the third as they had bases loaded with no outs but Edwin Encarnacion hit into a double play and the Jays were only able to pickup a single run against Brewers starter Randy Wolf in the inning but then he lead-off the sixth with a homer by hitting the Brewer homer slide and it was 6-3. Then Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer in the seventh and took Henderson off the hook but with Robert Coello on the mound Aramis Ramirez on a 1-0 pitch leading off the bottom of the inning flirted with the left field foul pole 344 feet away from home plate and originally it was called foul but it was reviewed and the right call was made and Brewer was able to his plunge as it was a homer. The Brewers brought in Simcoe, Ontario Native John Axford and he was dealing tonight as he got a fly out to center field by Kelly Johnson and fly out to left field by Colby Rasmus sandwiched around a strike out of Langley, BC native Brett Lawrie to leave Jose Bautista on deck and Encarnacion in the hole as the Brewers take game one 7-6. Go Jays Go

Kyle Drabek done for the season

The Blue Jays have learned today that Kyle Drabek is going to be having Tommy John surgery for the second time in four years and the last time it happened was when he was in the Phillies farm system and it took Drabek 13 month to fully heal last time. So after Drabek felt a pop in his shoulder last Wednesday it turns out that after Dr. Andrews examined it was actually a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament which connects the large bones in upper and lower arm. It is simply an educated guess that the Jays will not see Drabek pitch again this season in any form i.e majors, a, double a, or even triple a but at least other pitchers like Jason Frasor of the Blue Jays has fully recovered from two tommy john surgeries and is successful in the majors. So will diffidently be looking at a pitcher to fill the holes in the rotations and Canadian Ryan Dempster would one of the guys on the marker that could fit the bill except that he has been put on the 15-day DL with right lat tightness which the same kind of situation the Jays are dealing with Drew Hutchison and he is being on a no throw program along with going to see a doctor in Cincinnati to get a second option. It is not look good for the Jays right now with 60% of their starting rotation on the DL but at least if they want to take a run at Cole Hamels he is still available and they would need a pony up big bucks for his services after this season at least he is worth it as he does have a great ERA (3.39 career) and picked up a record of 83-57 with a Philles team not known for run support. Tommy John a pitcher who prolonged his career with a surgery named after him Tom Mehegan

Colby Rasmus and his dad had a great day at the ballpark

So as it is father's day the Jays brought in the players dads and in Brett Lawrie's case his dad and grandfather so they had Ricky Romero's dad throw out the first pitch of the game as Ricky Romero does the majority of ceremonial first pitch so he was there to catch his dad's pitch. The game was centered around Colby Rasmus and his dad Tony as on the field Rasmus was making super plays in the outfield running down ball after ball especially in the eighth inning when Hunter Pence hit a ball that looked like a double in the gap but Rasmus turned on his Jets and ran it down actually slowed down at the end to catch the ball it was a great catch. Rasmus with the bat was everything that the Jays needed and more as he had a RBI double to open the scoring and in the fifth he hit a two-run homer and in the seventh he had a single and should of had another RBI but the official score ruled that Mathis would have not scored if it was not for right fielder Hunter Pence bobbling the ball. He was so good today that Phillies Jake Diekman stepped off the rubber and caught Rasmus running to second and he actually got his inside foot on the base before Jimmy Rollins tagged his outside leg but as the Ump was expecting him to be out by a mile he simply went fist down calling Rasmus. While this was going on on the field Tony was having a good old time with the other fathers and right after Colby hit his tenth homer of the season it was announced that Tony would be the father in the TV commentator in the sixth and when it happened it was gold as one of the first questions he was asked was "why did it not work out for Colby in St. Louis" and thought for a second and then said "lets just say that he did not get along with Tony (LaRussa)". He also talked superstitions and how he was going to go sit in the exact same seat after the inning. It was also the return of Brett Cecil to the majors and he pitched a pretty strong game except that he left a few pitches high in the zone and a couple were tattooed for homers as Jim Thome hit his 100th home run as a Phillies players in the second inning and became the fourth player behind Reggie Jackson, A-rod, and Darrell Evans to complete the achievement. Then he also left a pitch up to former Jays slugger John Mayberry's son with the same name in the third and hit a solo shot to tie the game at 2-2 but then Cecil settled down and completed 5 innings given up 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out 5 (4 in the first two innings) and walked only one and picked up the win as the Jays won 6-2. Luis Perez pitched three innings of one hit ball and k'd two along the way to remind John Farrell that he wants one of those starting jobs as the Jays are short-handed with three pitchers goes on the DL this week. Jason Frasor came in and a single in the ninth but then closed the door for the victory. Jose Bautista did not have a good time at the plate went 0 for 3 and only reached on a walk in the first inning but then was caught napping to far off the base and the Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz picked him throwing behind him to record the first out of the inning but then redeemed himself in the fourth with a running catch and then doubling up Shane Victorino trying to get back to second to end the inning. Jays sweep away the Phillies and Jays dads had a great time at the ballpark Tom Mehegan

Jays win in extras at home for the first time this season

Jays were able to get to Cliff Lee late as they finally cashed in some runs in the eighth as they got a walk and to hits and a walk to erase 5-2 deficit off of Cliff Lee centered around a single by Edwin Encarnacion and when he pushed for a double and Jimmy Rollins cut off a throw in from left field and throw a ball to Michael Martinez at second and the ball flies down to the first base foul territory and Bautista walk and Encarnacion scored on the error. Then it was Chad Qualls coming in for Lee and he gave up two hits including a double to J.P. to tie the game and then the game went to extras and in the bottom of the tenth Joe Savery came in for the Phillies to pitch ans walk Yunel Escobar to start the inning and then balked him to second and Mike McCoy grounded out and moved him to third and with two outs Rajai Davis hit a ball in the gap to win the game which is the first extra inning victory at home. Cliff Lee gave up a career high 12 hits and was able to get out of huge jams as in the third the Jays got three straight one out singles and then was able to get Jose Bautista to pop up for out no. 2 as Bautista was the only Jays starter to not get a hit and then Cliff Lee caught Colby Rasmus napping at first and was caught in a run down and Lawrie ran home and caught stealing to end the inning. In the fourth inning he gave up two out hits and had second and third but then Lee got J.P. to fly out to end the inning and Lee had a walk and struck out three to go with the 12 hits including a solo homer by Yunel Escobar and he is still winless at 0 and 3 in 11 starts this season. Ricky Romero pitched 6 innings and gave up 7 hits and a walk to go with his three ks and was strong until it got to getting third outs of the innings as in the second he hit Brian Schneider (did it twice in the game), a single to Michael Martinez, and Jimmy Rollins on back-to-back-to-back pitches all with two outs to load the bases but he got Placido Polanco to ground out to end the inning. In the third with two he was not as lucky Shane Victorino singled, Ty Wigginton singled, and son of a former Blue Jay John Mayberry JR just got enough a ball to squeak over the left field fence and into the Jays bullpen as the Phillies took a 4-1 lead at the time. Ricky Romero 108 pitches and 68 for strikes (63%) did give up back-to-back doubles in the first to Polanco and Pence in the first for the Phillies first run but really was strong and not getting those third outs easier costed him another inning on the mound at least but still is 7-1 on the season and one of the only two starters that survived the last round throw the rotation as Hutchison is being shut down and Drabek and his father are heading to see Dr. Andrews for some tests. Francisco Cordero pitched the tenth to pick up his second win as a blue jay and the Jays look to Brett Cecil to help sweep away the struggling Phillies Tom Mehegan

Jays win a pitcher duel but lose another starter

I got to the game early and I was stunned as I watch both Phillies pitchers Joe Blanton and Michael Schwimer heaving balls into the second deck in center field during batting practice and I would not be surprised if one or both ends up shoulder soreness and simply it would stupidity. What was not stupid was that Shane Victorino throw a ball to a couple in my row with a baby he throw by his warm-up ball in second inning to the women who dropped but it landed on the field and he throw it back up to the guy who caught and it was the coolest thing I've seen. The Jays won 3-0 over the Phillies in the opener of their series at the Rogers Centre and they used 6 pitchers to complete a 5 hitter in front of just over 28 thousand and it started quick with Hutchison getting two outs in 6 pitches but with Hunter Pence at the plate on a 1-1 pitch Hutchison throw a ball and hoped off the mound and called for the trainer and he was worried about right elbow and left after 9 pitches. After the game John Farrell spoke about it and said that at this point it is elbow discomfort and would not go any further right now because it would simply speculation and he was not going there and that someone would be called up for tomorrow. The Jays used 5 pitchers out of the bullpen and four of the five pitchers pitched well with Aaron Laffey being the only one to not throw strikes as he pitched 1.1 innings and he throw 29 pitches and throw 14 balls and 15 strikes with a hit and a walk by him and finished off Hunter Pence with a walk after Hutchison left the game. Then Carlos Villanueva 4 innings of very strong pitching and gave up two hits and 2 walks and finished the sixth striking out the side while finishing with 5 in the game and throw 66 pitches and 46 strikes (70%) and picked up the victory and Jason Frasor pitched the seventh and walked and k'd a batter. Darren Oliver came in to pitch the eighth inning hit a batter and gave up a single and crowd went crazy with the umps calls along with Shane Victorino being hit by a pitch and the three stolen bases as they tried to get Juan Pierre at second and it was close and then during a double steal and both Pierre and Victorino were safe and the crowd called BS on everything but Oliver knew how to fix it and that was by striking out Brian Schneider to end the inning. In the ninth with Kasey Janssen and Mike Fontenot singled off him on a ground ball to second and Kelly Johnson almost throw him out but again the Phillies got the close calls but Janssen like Oliver was able to shut down the Phillies with Jimmy Rollins popped up to end the game. The Phillies got 7 great innings from their starter Vance Worley throw a 5 hitter with two walks and 5 ks and he gave up a run with back-to-back doubles to Rajai Davis and Brett Lawrie with two outs in the third and fell victim of a throwing error by Mike Fontenot on a ball that looked like a double play by Encarnacion in the fourth and throw it away trying to get Jose Bautista at second base. It turned into a two base error as Bautista scored and Encarnacion went first to third and scored on a Yunel Escobar ground and that was the ball game. Ricky/Cliff tomorrow a juicy match-up tomorrow Tom Mehegan

Jays trade talk for Hamels about to pick up

With Brandon Morrow put on the DL for at least 15 games and most likely for a bit longer and right now it maybe a long time along with it being a season ended injury. Today lost another starter when Kyle Drabek heard something pop in his shoulder in a 6-2 loss and were swept away by the Nats so the Jays will be in the market for a veteran pitcher so double A may be heating up the phone lines. The Jays could come up with a good deal for a Veteran pitcher with the team that is heading into town for the weekend the Phillies as Cole Hamels is a free agent at the end of the season and is 8-3 this season and a career record of 82-57 in 7 seasons with the Phillies. The Phillies are 12th in the majors in runs scored with 268 and the Jays have a slugger who will also be a free agent Edwin Encarnacion who has 17 homers and 44 RBIs this season in 60 games and his best homer season of his career is 26 in 2008 with the Cincinnati Reds. It would be a very good trade for both teams as both teams are likely to not resign their current player as the Phillies will not want to resign Hamels to a big buck contract and the Jays will be well advised to not resign Encarnacion and really who knows if he will put together a season like he has been having this season. If the Jays can trade for Hamels they will hopefully be able to convince him to sign a contract with the Jays and he would be a very good third starter for the Jays. I do not know if it is a straight up one for one trade and if not then the Jays may need to put in a prospect to sweeten the deal for the Phillies

Jays not able to beat the national league

Jays have started the month of June 4 and 7 and are now now 1 and 5 against the National League this month as they drop the first two to the Nationals 4-2 as the Nationals hit the ball a little bit further. This is because Henderson Alvarez got 12 ground balls and 6 fly balls but half of those fly balls just kept flying as they cleared the fence for homers as Bryce Harper who had 3 more hits in the game and has been on base 7 of his at bats in the first two games hit a monster solo shot on the first pitch he saw in the third to open the scoring which is 7th on the season. Then in the fourth Danny Espinosa hit his sixth homer of the season also on the first pitch he saw in the at bat and it was two-run shot and when it looked like Alvarez was cruising and finishing off his second straight 3 up/3 down inning in the seventh and eight in a row but then Jhonatan Solano took a 0-2 pitch and parked it into the Jays bullpen for first homer. Henderson Alvarez pitched 7 innings and gave up 3 runs on 9 hits and k'd 3 and walked none and wind carried just a little bit further for the Nationals and Henderson Alvarez needs to mix up his first pitch of at bats as hitters are sitting dead red on the first pitch they see as they know that he will always throws a first pitch strike and if he mixes in a few balls or pitches on the outside corner so it will be harder to tattoo the ball. Then the Jays hitters got on base with 5 walks and a hit batter from Chien-Ming Wang and were unable to finish him off third inning as he loaded the bases all with two outs and had Edwin Encarnacion at the plate and he was caught looking at strike 3. Then Edwin had his shoot at hit one out twice as he almost went deep to left field right after Bautista hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2 for the Nationals and when they were down 4-2 he came up with two outs and Bautista on second and hit another one to the warning track to end the inning. Chien-Ming Wang gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and did not have control of his pitches as he throw 95 pitches over his 5 innings and he ended up thowing 48 strikes and 47 balls and this is the pitcher the Jays should of been clubbering him in this great Nationals rotation. Stephen Strasburg tomorrow will be tough after he had a 15 k game on the weekend Tom Mehegan

Brandon Morrow is day-to-day with a stain

Brandon Morrow who left two starts a go after being hit on his shin and tonight he faced two batters and throw only 9 pitches in the game and is now day-to-day with a strained left oblique muscle and is now day-to-day. So right now the next couple will determine if Brandon Morrow will end up pitching the finale of this week long homestand against the Phillies on Sunday so it is going to start tomorrow when he arrives at the Rogers Centre and the coaches will find out how soar his left arm is and then on Wednesday will be the day he is supposed to throw off the mound and how he feels the next couple of days will decide if he throws on Wednesday and if so Thursday or Friday the Jays will make a decision on if Morrow will pitch on Sunday or someone else will be taken his turn. If he is unable to pitch Sunday then three pitchers that followed him will be top contenders to pitch the finale on Sunday starting with Chad Beck who had pitched 3.2 innings and was charged 3 runs(2 earned) on 3 hits with two walks and three ks and was a good bridge in the game to the rest of the Bullpen but he been strictly a closer and this outing was the longest of the season. Then it was Luis Perez who pitched 2.1 innings tonight and gave up a run on 6 hits with a k and has been a starter in the past but looks like he is not the sharpest in the bullpen right now. Carlos Villanueva closed out the Nationals in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning and is also a former starter and is the most likely pitcher in the bullpen to start if Morrow can not. If they need to make a call to the farm for a starter it might be the opening that Brett Cecil has been looking for as he has pitched 5 straight games where he has not allowed more than 2 runs in a start of at least 4 innings until he pitched only 3 innings last Wednesday but only gave up a hit over his outing. He is still struggling with walks as he has walked 3 batter in his past three games before last Wednesday start where did not give up one. Jesse Chavez in Las Vegas has a 6-2 record in 11 starts with a 3.68 ERA and and he has given up 3 or less runs in 9 games and he pitched at least 5 innings in his last 10 games and has a complete game along with pitching 7 innings in a game and 8 innings in a game while given up 54 hits in 63.2 innings pitched. He also pitched a 5 inning relief appearance with the Jays allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 7 ks in the finale in Texas. In Washington's 6-3 victory Bryce Harper had as many hits as the Jays 3 and add a walk to and was at the plater with a 2-1 count on him when Morrow left and he ended up scoring twice and added a RBI in his first Masjor League game in Canada. The Jays got a solo homer from Colby Rasmus in the bottom of the first and a pinch hit two-run homer from Yan Gomez in the ninth as Edwin Jackson pitched quite well heading into the ninth as he gave up a run on 3 hits with 3 walks and 3 ks before being lift after Encarnacion opened the ninth with a double. Jays will need a good outing from Alvarez tomorrow Tom Mehegan

Jays finally had some fun in Atlanta

The Jays did not have much fun going into Atlanta as they had only scored 7 runs in their last 5 games in Atlanta and had lost their last 8 games there and tonight game did not start fun for the Jays either as Ricky Romero throw 69 pitches over his four inning outing as he throw only 39 strikes and 30 balls. He gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits and walked two batters and a k while the Jays bats were being eaten up by Braves pitcher Julio Teheran who only gave up an Edwin Encarnacion single over the first four inning. Then things got a lot of fun that Ricky Romero was replaced by pinch hitter Yan Gomez with the bases juiced and it started 5 straight RBI hits as the Jays put up 6 runs in the fifth inning and took a 6-4 lead as Julio Teheran gave up 3 hits and a walk to the five batters he faced while Livan Hernandez came in and gave up four straight hits to start his outing. The Jays continued to enjoy themselves in the sixth inning with another 3 runs as Brett Lawrie hit a two-run homer after Carlos Villanueva got two hits in the inning as the third base ump was shocked that Villanueva hit a ball fair down the line that he called it foul even though the ball went over the base in fair territory but then got a looping single. In the seventh inning he put up two more runs and through the fifth and seventh inning they hit .737 (14 of 19 with a walk and a sac fly). The Jays finished off the scoring by put up another run in the eighth and the Jays won the game 12-4 and had 18 hits in the game which is a season high and Carlos Villanueva won his first game of the season after pitching two innings and gave up two singles and a walk in his appearance and he used up a lot of pitches in the middle of the sixth inning as he throw 7 straight pitches for balls as he throw 30 pitches and 16 for strikes. The Jays got 3 hits from Colby Rasmus who had a two-run single and a solo homer while Brett Lawrie had two hits including a two-run homer and RBI single so both had 3 RBIs in the game. The Jays had 11 different hitters getting hits in the game which included three hits from Edwin Encarnacion and two hits from Kelly Johnson while the No. 9 hitters in the game combined 4 hits in the game. The Jays who came into this game the Jays had struggled with runners in scoring position as they went 1 for 19 in the last two games and today they started 6 of 7 with runners in scoring position and finished the game hitting 7 of 14 with Runners in scoring position. the Harper and Lawrie begins tomorrow at the Rogers Centre for two nights and a day game series finisher with Stephen Strasburg Tom Mehegan

Jays continue to struggle against Atlanta pitching

Jays have now lost 8 straight in Atlanta as they meet another Braves pitcher that had their number and it was Tommy Hanson who held the Jays to 5 hits and walked one while striking out 6 Jays on his way to a 8 inning gem. he had only two mistakes in the game with one little one followed by a big no-no pitch as in the sixth inning as falls behind 3-0 with two outs to Colby Rasmus who turns around a 3-1 pitch for a single which was followed by Jose Bautista's 5 homer game in his last 7 games and it was the only two runs the Jays scored in the 5-2 Braves victory. The Jays sent Drew Hutchison to the mound and besides Micheal Bourne who had two of the Braves 7 hits off of Hutchison it turned out that the third inning was the real damaging inning off him and it was a two out walk to Brian McCann where Hutchison walked him on four pitches with Bourne already on base and the next batter Dan Uggla made him pay dearly as he hit a three-run jack to give the Braves and Hanson all the run support he would need. Hutchison then settle down retiring the next 9 of 10 Braves he faced as he only gave up a single to Jose Constanza but his first pitch in the seventh was hammered by Andrelton Simmons major league first homer and two pitches later he gave up another single to Constanza and he ended up given up 5 runs on 7 hits with an extremely costly walk while striking out 7. Luis Perez finished the last 1.2 innings for the Jays but allowed Bourne's third hit of the night and 6 hit of the series so far which was a RBI double to score Constanza. The Jays look to Ricky tomorrow to get them a win in Atlanta as he heads into what was a gem of a pitchers duel match-up last season against Tim Hudson who did all the scoring for the Braves with a two-run homer off Ricky Tom Mehegan

Jays throw away the opener in Atlanta

The Jays in the opener against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta could of been one up in the three game set but instead because of mental mistakes give the Braves game one as they had a throwing error by J.P. tried to get Jason Heyward out trying to steal third in the 10th inning of the game and J.P. throws it low and it goes between the sliding Hey ward and Brett Lawrie glove into left field and Heyward walks home to win the game 4-3 for the Braves. It turns out to be Francisco Cordero's second straight walk off lose in as many nights and Jays fans can not wait until Sergio Santos comes off the DL so Cordero can come off the Jays roster for good. The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the third where Kyle Drabek could not find the plate with a bowling ball as he walked as with runners at first and second he walked both Brian McCann and Dan Uggla (walked 4 times in the game) to walk home the first run of the game but that was it til the sixth inning as Rajai Davis caught a fly ball off the bat of Jason Heyward to end the inning. In the sixth the Jays took a 2-1 lead after Jose Bautista hits his fourth homer in six games a solo shot and Edwin Encarnacion singles and scores on a J.P. ground out but after Drabek had retired 7 of 8 batters he walked Uggla to open the bottom of the sixth and leaves after given up a RBI double to Jason Heyward to tie the game at 2 and after Hayward moves to third on a fly ball and a walk by Luis Perez Chad Beck came in for his first appearance of the season he strikes out Freddie Freeman. So with Hayward still at third and two out and Jose Constanza at the plate he catches out of the corner of his eye Andrelton Simmons stealing second and steps off the mound and is ready to throw to second but the Jays had decided to allow him to steal second so nobody covered the bag so it was called a balk and Heyward scored the Braves third run on the call. The Jays tied up the game as Edwin Encarnacion doubled and scored on a Yunel Escobar ground out as Edwin had a 2 for 4 night with a walk in his return to the lineup but it was Heyward who was on base 3 times with two hits and a walk and scored the last two runs with his speed on the bases. While Micheal Bourne was on base with a single and two doubles while the Jays could only mustard 5 hits in 10 innings but did receive 7 free passes and were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Kyle Drabek walked 4 and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits and did not strikeout a Brave who the team idolized growing up just like tomorrow's starter for the Jays Drew Hutchison. The woes continue in Atlanta in inter league play Tom Mehegan

J.P. Arencibia aand Henderson Alvarez get heated in the dugout

J.P. Arencibia and Henderson Alvarez got quite heated in the dugout after the bottom of the sixth was over as J.P. wanted to talk to Henderson as Henderson was wanting no part of it as he passed J.P. most likely to head into the club house for a second but J.P. grabbed him and turned him around and they got heated in their conversation and Omar Vizquel stepped in to cool this down. The decision revolved around a pitch that Henderson left up in the zone to former Jay Alex Rios that he tattooed into the bullpen for a two-run shot that turn the game around for the Jays as they were rolling behind Alvarez to that point but the homer tied the game at 3 and the Jays were unable to pick-up any runs except for the second inning. The Chisoxs got a walk off base hit from former Jay Orlando Hudson off Francisco Cordero in the bottom of the ninth and it was the first walk off hit that they have had this season that has not been a homer as the Chisoxs avoid the sweep with a 4-3 victory behind former Jays collecting all four RBIs as Rios began the scoring in the first with a RBI single. Henderson Alvarez was rolling after the first inning as he retired 12 straight after allowing 3 of the first 5 soxs batters in the game reach base and had only given up a single to Hudson between the second and fifth inning and was cruising with the 3-1 lead behind Mike McCoy's first hit of the season and the only Jays hit with runners in scoring position as he had a two-run single with the bases loaded. J.P. scored on a fielding error on Alexei Ramirez as the Jays scored three runs in the second but ended the game with a 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. The Jays had their chances to get more runs in the game as in the eighth Yunel Escobar lined a pitch beautifully down the right field line and had a double and J.P. moved him over to third but Omar was unsuccessful putting down a squeeze bunt to get him home and struck out and Yun Gomez came off the bench to ground to third and Orlando Hudson went home and Yunel almost got his leg in in time but was out to end the inning. In the seventh David Cooper was unable to score Lawrie from second with two outs and in the ninth with two outs Bautista got a double but Kelly Johnson struck out swinging to end the inning. Henderson gave the Jays good pitching as he got through 7 and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and walked one and k'd two as the Jays still won the series Tom Mehegan

Brandon Morrow pitches his third complete game shutout of the season

Brandon Morrow was on fire tonight as he picked up his third complete game shutout of the season and only gave two hits both to A.J. Pierzynski was cruising through the third to the seventh as he retired 14 straight batters until Kelly Johnson gets eaten up by a ground ball that takes a trick hop and is charged with an error and Brett Lawrie almost made it close at first as he was play shallow right field. As Pierzynski second single of the night was erased by a caught stealing of his pinch runner Brent Lillibridge Morrow had only faced two batters more than the minimum through 8 innings and had thrown only 96 pitches through 26 batters. In the ninth the pressure of finishing the game got to Morrow as he lost the strike as he walked two batters in the ninth after not allowing a walk and throw 66 of 96 pitches through eighth for strikes and in the ninth he throw 12 of his 23 pitches for strikes. This was an amazing outing for Morrow who we did not really know if he would start or if he did what kind of pitcher he would be after taken a ball of his shin a week ago and the 7 and 3 Morrow has truly been the Jays best pitcher through 12 starts and has proven that pitchers sometimes be able to find a completely different way of pitching. He had a little run support behind him as it took the Jays batters to the fifth inning to cash in a run as Colby Rasmus brought home Rajai Davis on a single. Then in the sixth inning Jose Bautista had a no doubt homer as he hit his 15 of the season a solo shot and it mark the third game in the last 4 that Bautista has hit a homer and now has 40 RBIs of the season. Rajai Davis capped his three hit night with a two-run homer in the ninth to give the Jays a 4-0 victory his fourth of the season while David Cooper also had 3 of the Jays hits as well and has been a strong addition to the Jays roster. Edwin Encarnacion hand has ballooned and will be unable to swing a bat until the swelling goes down so Yan Gomez is back up with the big club Tom Mehegan

Colby Rasmus smoking hot as Romero cools down the chisoxs

Colby Rasmus who costed Ricky Romero an unearned run in the first inning made up for it in spades all game long as he went 5 for 5 with the bat and walked home to score the Jays first run of the game in the game as Phil Humber through 37 pitches in the first inning and was his own worst nightmare walking three in the inning. In the fifth Colby put the Jays up for good as he launched a two-run homer to give the Jays a 3-1 lead and Cooper put the icing on the cake as he hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run fifth inning and Humber hit the shower as the Jays had a 5-1 lead after five and in the sixth against former Blue Jay Zach Stewart Colby had one of the four two out singles as he scored one of the two runs in the inning. In the eighth inning Colby doubled home a run and scored on a Jose Bautista sac fly and fell a triple away from the cycle and now is 12 for 24 in the two spot in the order along with it being a career high in hits it is also the 20th Blue Jay to collect 5 hits in a game which is one off Frank Catalanotto's 6 hits also against the White Soxs in Chicago. Colby ended up scoring 4 times and driving in three in the ball game but he was not only one happy about moving up in the order as Brett Lawrie was the Jays lead off hitter and went 3 for 5 and scoring all three times including a double and Lawrie and Rasmus had 8 of the Jays 13 hits in the game. The change in the batting was because Edwin Encarnacion was not ready to play tonight because of his bruised hand so Yunel moved down to clean-up and Kelly Johnson got the night off with his nagging injury. Ricky Romero after having two errors in the first inning the other by Rajai Davis costed him a run he set down 15 of 16 Chisoxs after A.J. Pierzynski lead off the second inning with a single and was rolling into the seventh inning with a 7-1 lead and then he meet A.J. Pierzynski again and throw him a pitched he immediately wanted back as it lands in the seats. Then he walked Orlando Hudson thanks to an error on Brett Lawrie is able to score another unearned run and then Ricky comes out to pitch the eighth and gives Adam Dunn a pitch he did not want to as he parks it into the seats for a solo homer. So in the end Romero pitches very well through the first sixth innings and then became very frustrated over his final inning plus a batter but still gives up 5 runs but only 3 earned on 6 hits as walked only one and k'd 4 over 7 plus innings and picks up his seventh win on the season in a 9-5 Jays win to open a week long road trip. Jays may have a new top of the order Tom Mehegan

Jays have a successful and profitable home stand behind Drew Hutchison

Drew Hutchison pitched opener and the closer of the home stand for the Jays and he pitched 7 beautiful innings and today in front of over 41 thousand fans he gave up a run on 5 hits and kept himself under control in the fifth when he gave up a solo shot to Kelly Shoppach with two outs and then gave up a single (Podsednik) and a walk (Nava) to bring up Adrian Gonzalez and was able to get him to pop up to second to end the inning. In the sixth got out of one and second jam by getting Nick Punto to fly out to Rajai Davis who made a an outstanding catch running down a ball at the wall that would of been a two RBI hit and would of made the game 5-3 and put a lot more pressure on the Jays. Hutchison hit two batters in the game as he hit Kelly Shoppach as Shoppach turned into the pitch in the second and in the sixth Kevin Youkilis was hit and got quite made at the pitch that got away from Hutchison and hit him in the shoulder and basically was trying to point out that if U are going to hit me hit me lower but no problems happened as both teams were warned. If Hutchison pitched well then Daniel Bard was totally the opposite and became the 47th starter to ever give up 5 runs on only 1 hit and there were no errors so it was a lot of walks (5) and had his two hit batters in Yunel Escobar who shoke it off and stayed in the game but Edwin Encarnacion was not as lucky as he got a pitch that hit him in a hand and he was down a while and stayed into run but then was lifted for a pinch hitter not time up. So it will be interesting to see how Encarnacion recovers heading into a Chicago series on the North side starting Tuesday. So Bard only hit he gave up was to Jose Bautista in the first which was a three run shot cashing in two walks and then he walked in a run to give himself 4 RBIs in the game and 37 on the season and Encarnacion cashed in another walk when he got hit and it was all the runs they could put up in a 5-1 victory. Bard went only 1.2 innings and throw only 24 of his 55 pitches for strikes and just could not handle his own fast ball as it went everywhere except the strike zone. The Jays had a successful home stand on the field with a 4-2 record and a profitable one off the field as 114,993 fans entered through the turn styles for the three game series and 166,674 on the home stand. David Cooper had a good day with a double that was almost a triple along with a single as he had two of the Jays 6 hits but he also had a not so good day as he hit into a double play in the first and ended the second on a pop up to third base foul ground. While Francisco Cordero almost had a very quick relief appearance as the first pitch he throw with two outs in the eighth was up and in to Youkilis and if he had hit him he would of been hitting the showers. Jays are on the road this week as they go North Chicago and Atlanta Tom Mehegan

Kyle Drabek is let down by his defense as he pitches pretty good

If U look at Kyle Drabek numbers in today's game of 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits with 4 walks along with 4 ks in 6.2 innings pitch does not give Drabek justice as it was all around the top of the second with two outs when the Soxs got their damage on him as he could not get the three out of the inning. With a walk around two ks it was looking like Drabek was going to keep the game scoreless going into the bottom of the inning but Ryan Sweeney singled, Will Middlebrooks drives in the first run of the game with a RBI single, and then Nick Punto had a RBI double to cash in the second run of the game. Then with the score 2-0 Soxs the miss play of the game happened as Daniel Nava sent a ball to Colby Rasmus and he is unable to get the ball all the way into his glove as it kicks off the heel of his glove and is credited as a two-run single but Rasmus should of had it and another step towards the plate he has the catch and instead of it only being 2-0 it is 4-0. Jeff Mathis hits a solo homer in the third and it become the 7 straight Jays run on solo homers in the past three games but in the same inning the Jays had the bases juiced Rasmus kills the inning by getting under a ball and popping it sky high to third base to end the inning and the Jays are down 4-1. In the top of the fourth inning the Jays infielder became spectators as Kevin Youkilis doubles off the wall and instead of Yunel Escobar taken a step back to field the really the ball goes over his head and nobody is backing him up as Drabek is watching the play on the mound and is not in position as it gets by him and Lawrie is at third base even though he does not need to be and the balls ends up rolling all the way into foul ground at third. Kevin Youkilis is standing on third and scored on a double play and would of not scored if someone had kept that ball in front of them and Bautista even though he made a great play getting that ball back into the infield is charged with error and an unearned run and what should of been three unearned was the difference in the ball game as the Soxs won 7-4 and leap frog the Jays in the standings. The Jays had two solo homers in the game as Bautista ended a 2 for 19 streak leading off the bottom of the fifth while Kelly Johnson had a RBI single in the fourth and Brett Lawrie had a RBI double in the eighth as the Jays were still down 6-3 but also ended the inning by trying to steal third and was caught as his decision making was horrible along with his timing. The Bullpen gave up single runs in the eighth and ninth as Ryan Sweeney hit a ball with the bases loaded to first and Edwin if he charges the ball may of had a play at home but it looked like he was only looking for a double play ball and when he did not get it he went to the bag for the easy out. In the ninth Nick Punto lead off of Carlos Villanueva as he crushed his first major league homer and got the silent treatment but still did get the ball as someone did throw it back. The Jays got a very nice crowd of over 43 thousand and will get the same tomorrow for Yunel Escobar bubble head day but hopefully can take the finally Tom Mehegan

Luis Perez did not have a good night

Luis Perez came into the game with one out with a runner on second in the seventhin a Red Sox 3-1 lead and after he got Nick Punto to ground out he gave up four straight hits which all scored a run and when David Otriz took a big turn at first and could not get back in time to end the inning. Luis had come into the game with not giving up a run in 9 of his 10 appearances and only had given up 3 hits and a 1.86 ERA over that time in 9.2 innings pitched and his only problem coming into the game just like a lot of other pitchers on the Jays as he had 8 walks and he will be back on his game next time but he left the game down 7-1. The Jays faced Clay Buckholz and he was not hit a lot 6 hits in 8 innings but when the Jays got a hit it was headed into the stands as he gave up two solo homers to make 6 solo homers (Yunel in the third and David Copper in the seventh) and nothing else in the last two games. The Jays could of smoked him early in the game and his ERA that is over 6 could of taken a beaten as in the first the Jays got their first two batters of the game on base on errors and then Bautista was struck out and Encarnacion hit into a double play to end the inning and in the second Colby Rasmus was hit to lead off the inning and he did not get past first base as Buckholz went three fly ball outs to end the inning. Henderson Alvarez had an OK game especially heading into the sixth when he needed some serious maintenance on the mound before the inning as he gave up a solo homer to David Ortiz in the second and an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single in the third as he gave up 5 hits and was only trailing 2-1. After the maintenance he gave a single to Daniel Nava, a double to Adrian Gonzalez, and a walk to load the bases and settled down and got two straight ground balls including a double play and only gave a single run but the Jays could get any run support for Alvarez as he ended the game with four runs on 8 hits abut only had two ks on the night. Hopefully Kyle Drabek can even the series for the Jays Tom Mehegan