Game #123: O's at Jays pregame
Baltimore (57-64) at Toronto (62-60)
at 1:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre
Today’s lineups:
ORIOLES
Brian Roberts, 2B
Tike Redman, CF
Nick Markakis, RF
Miguel Tejada, SS
Kevin Millar, 1B
Aubrey Huff, DH
Melvin Mora, 3B
Ramon Hernandez, C
Jay Payton, LF
PITCHING: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (7-4, 3.50 ERA)
BLUE JAYS
Matt Stairs, LF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Alex Rios, RF
Vernon Wells, CF
Frank Thomas, DH
Troy Glaus, 3B
Aaron Hill, 2B
Gregg Zaun, C
John McDonald, SS
PITCHING: RHP Roy Halladay (14-5, 3.99 ERA)
NOTES: Not much happening pregame today. Toronto manager John Gibbons said it was simply a day off for LF Reed Johnson, because he wants to continue getting Stairs steady at-bats. Gibbons added that Hill may receive the day off on Monday with INF Russ Adams getting the start at second. … The Blue Jays have made nine errors in their past six games.
AL EAST STANDINGS
entering Sunday
1. Boston 74-49 (–)
2. New York 69-54 (5)
3. Toronto 62-60 (11.5)
4. Baltimore 57-64 (16)
5. Tampa Bay 46-76 (27.5)
AL WILD CARD RACE
entering Sunday
1. Seattle 68-52 (–)
2. New York 69-54 (0.5)
3. Detroit 67-56 (2.5)
4. Toronto 62-60 (7)
5. Minnesota 61-61 (8)
TICK, TOCK…Since 1995, the runner-up in the AL Wild Card race has finished with an average of 89 victories. The Blue Jays would need to go 28-12 over their final 40 games to reach 90 wins.
Major League Bastian 
The Jays chances for the wild card are slim and none. There goal for the 2007 season should be 85 wins, that is possible.
Perhaps they can play spoiler when they play N.Y. and Bos. For some reason the Jays seem to have Boston’s number the last couple of years.
Is there anybody out there who still thinks we have a chance to win the wild card please speak up I’ll bet no more than two dreamers.
It seems every team we play has some speed in their lineup we have none also what good is frank thomas to this team he hit like a blind man the first half so how many 1 run games did he cost us I say to many.
I dont think in all the years I’v watched Toronto have I seen such astounding pitchen I’m sure unless JP is a bigger idiot than I think he is he will address the offence this offseason and add some speed if not same thing next year.
Bosox, if I was you, I’d be more worried about the Red Sox than the Jays.
You’re guys are starting to shown signs of chocking, like they normally do, when the Yanks get close.
Another great outing from Halliday and Johnny Mac. I can’t imagine anyone thinking we need a different short stop next year.
If the season ended today, he’d be a sho in for the gold glove.
I think the Mac gets a big raise next season-I hope it’s with us.
i posted this in the other one but this being latest i’m posting it here (discusses topics from last post too)
Pitching is iffy at best after halladay? look at the yanks with an old pitching staff you sign who else but clemens. Face it jays rotation is not only better now but it will also be in the future compared to yanks.
I like the fact that burnett wants more. If burnett can get ground-outs even though he is a strike-out pitcher all he needs to do is stay healthy and he can be as good as halladay. (maybe over exxagerating)
Litsch should stay i too believe that he is pitching good i just hope that the errors the jays are making aren’t getting to his head.
That’s true wells is not clean-up especially this season but i think next season he will be better. All we need to do is get vernon swinging early maybe from february.
jannesen, accardo and league does sound good at 7-8th inning. I just hope league can rebound.
my question of the day: are you guys expecting any trades involving the bluejays this off-season. IF so who do you think is gonna get traded and who do you want traded?
i love it that the jays finally started playing small ball (mcdonald’s but single last game)
nice pitchin halladay way to go!!! i was scared in the inning he gave up two i thought it was gonna be boston and tampa all over again. Good to see he is back to normal. Hated it he didn’t get the win (in my fantasy team)
thanks for the stats gsummer you are our scott carson. could you tell me what happened to snider after 5hr in 10 atbats. (finally picks up power i stated earlier that i would like more hr’s from him. seems like he read that post)
goffcg25 alias sentinelofgods.
Welcome to our site we value your input.
Please name the players you would give up for halliday and be honest now.Remember we dont want a-rod he has a sore knee lol.
gsumner You are the best for stats.
harry.
Behind Doc. we have Burnett he proved in his last two games he belongs then there is Marcum this kid is going to throw more than one no hitter he could be better than the Doc. then McGowan wait till next year he will amaze you and Jessie all guts I like this kid he will be much better than a 500 pitcher.
thegarrygay, I don’t have any names because he wouldn’t be the gum off my shoe now that we have Chamberlain, Hughes, and Wang, and Pettitte back next year. LOL!!!
If the Jays play up to their potential they have a wild card shot. If they play like they’ve been playing then no.
Hitting third has apparently killed Rios’s power, but he has a .452 OBP this month. I think he should be moved back to number 2. If he still doesn’t hit homers he can at least set the table effectively, and if his power comes back he still has RBI chances from whoever’s leading off.
goff: That’s only a 4 man rotation, and you need only look as far as Kerry Wood to see the risk of making your young fireballs throw too many innings early in their careers.
torgen.
Rios belongs in the 2 hole and Wells in the three hole if Gibbons can only get it through his thick head.
JOHNSON
RIOS
WELLS
THOMAS
GLAUS
OVERBAY
HILL
ZAUN
J.MAC.
If they dont sign J.Mac. next year as the full time shortstop we will lose him,
There are a lot of scouts out there and he will get a full time job as the starting shortstop for some team.
goff.
did you say something I didn’t quite hear you gum boy
and what have you got on you smell funny”oh I know I’ts some of the salve a-rod has to rub on his sore knee LOL-LOL.
I’m sorry guys but the Jays chances for the wild card are almost zero. I don’t see where the Jays can get the wild card.
Yankees will get the wild card but Seattle is hanging around and that is a surprise to me. Who thought at the beginning of the year that the Mariners would be in the playoff hunt this year?
We have had the best pitching in baseball since the all star break. We will have the best starters and bullpen next year.
In fact we could have 4 guys fighting for the Cy Young Award-Halliday, Burnett, Marcum and McGowan.
Harry, other than trying to trade Towers, I really don’t see them making many moves over the off season. We have seen the quality of pitching we have-we have yet to see this offence fire on all cylinders.
bosox.
I don’t think the jays have a hope in H— of getting the wild card spot but your right about Seattle they came out of left field this year.
New York might pass Boston then Seattle could get the wild card then we can both cry.
Harry
Snider has continued his torrid pace-with doubles and singles. He’s raised his ba to .314, with 80 rbi’s in 104 games, 30 doubles and 13 hr’s.
This kid seems to love to hit with guys in scoring position. I have noticed that how he hits, generally depends on whether runners are on or not.
I’d expect he wins league player of the week.
bosox-personally I see the Yanks winning the division and Seattle winning th wild card.
Your guys are choking.
Wells was terrible in the 3 hole every time he was put there this season, except from the start of the season until he caught the ‘flu’. If he can hit there like he did when he was leading off, or like he did at the start of the season, then he can go back. Otherwise he should move down rather than up.
bosoxbrian: The Jays have 3 games against Seattle, 7 games against NY (including a make-up) and a make-up game against Detroit, so there are chances for the Jays to make up ground in the wild card. They just need to realize that “waiting for the 3 run homer” is what the manager does, not what the hitters do.
We also have 6 left agaqinst Boston
garry i totally agree with your lineup. I think Wells is your traditional number 3 hitter and the lineup would benefit from having 3 fast guys that can all score from first on doubles at the top of the lineup. Overbay doesn’t belong in the 2 hole and slows up our lineup. Thats the last thing we need.
I also agree with your thoughts on Johnny Mac. With the plays he makes consistently every night, even though he may not end up playing in more than 120-130 games, he should be the gold glove winner. I would also like to see him return as our shortstop next year, but maybe only for a one year deal incase Santos develops or if JP can get a big time SS.
gsumner.
I like glaus but he should be traded I used to train horses so I know how hard it is for him to play everyday this man is in a lot of pain you just have to watch him to see that,He has a big heart but that can only carry him so far.
Every other year Wells has been great out of the three hole Gibbons should put him back there.
gsumner- I don’t see the Red Sox losing the division. I do see one thing happening and that is the Jays missing the playoffs again.
There is no way that McDonald wins the gold glove at s.s. this year. Wells of course will win a gold glove again.
If J.Mac.is our shortstop next year and they bring Santos up this kid can only benefit from that setup and so will the jays.
I’ts great to see Snider doing great thanks for the info gsumner.
If J.Mac wins a gold glove this year we will have to pay a lot to get him back.
bosox if you know so much tell us why he can’t win the gold glove explain yourself.
Alex Gonzalez played in 111 games last year for Boston and made 6 errors all year and didn’t win the gold glove.
Then again Palmeiro was basically a D.H. and won the gold glove at 1b several years ago. When it comes to baseball writers, who knows what they’re thinking. They have made some strange descions over the years.
Orlando Cabrera is a better defensive s.s. than McDonald. I would go with Cabrera over McDonald. Bettencourt with the Mariners is better with the glove than McDonald. Shall I go there garryguy. He does wear a Toronto uniform but call it way you see it. For some reason fans get blinded by there own players. I am glad that I am not one of them.
3b Chavez
ss Cabrera
2b
1b Youklis
of Wells
of Hunter
of Ichiro
c
Help me out with the others folks.
I agree that McDonald won’t win the Gold Glove, even though he deserves it. As long as it remains a vote, it will be next to impossible to unseat an incumbent winner, no matter how undeserving they are now or were when they originally won it. They should base it on Zone Rating or something so that there’s an objective measure, instead of guys like Carl Crawford and Grady Sizemore having to hope that Torii Hunter moves to the NL so they can get their due. Can you imagine if the batting title was awarded based on a vote of who the managers thought the best hitter was?
I see Sizemore taking Ichiro’s spot in the outfield this year bosox. As for C, i think that maybe Pudge or Johjima will win. At 2B I like either Jose Lopez or Hill. Other than the Ichiro thing I think you got it pretty dead on
Bosox-please
The numbers are:
J Mac-5 errors, .984 fielding average
Bettancourt-21 errors and a .960 fielding average.
Cabrera-8 errors and a .984 fielding average
Lugo-16 erros and a .966 fielding average-ouch.
Johnny Mac is the best.
Bosox
The Sox are going to lose th division, they’ve been playing .500 baseball since late May; Shilling and Wakefield are starting to look old and of course Gagne-lol.
THe closer the Yanks get, the tighter your guys cheeks will get-and the will lose it.
If I was handing them out based on Zone Rating with a minimum of 6 innings at the position for each team game, the winners right now (excluding catchers and pitchers because their zones are screwy) would be:
AL:
1B: Kotchman
2B: Ellis
SS: Crosby (McDonald doesn’t have enough innings to qualify, but his ZR is higher)
3B: Inge
LF: Crawford
CF: Sizemore (Wells is close)
RF: Ordonez
NL:
1B: Helton
2B: Utley
SS: Vizquel (barely beating Reyes right now)
3B: Feliz
LF: Byrnes
CF: Beltran
RF: Victorino
Yahoo Johnny Mac is the best yippi ki aye I knew it I just knew it oh boy oh boy.
THANKS GSUMNER.
Garry
The latest diagonosis on Glaus shows what fixed his problem is rest-which he’ll get in the off season. I’d hate to lose that bat-particulary with not a lot to replace it with.
torgen
You might be surprised. Johnny Mac should have 120 games in before it ends-maybe a few more.
The writers also vote on specacular plays-and no one does them better than our Johnny Mac.
Garry-by the way, the Jays demoted Santos back to AA yesterday, so it looks like the AAA experiment is over for now.
Jays have played 123 games, meaning there’s 39 left to play. If Johnny Mac played every inning (and that assumes no road losses where the home team doesn’t bat, which is a big stretch, and that he’s never pinch hit for, which is a smaller but still significant stretch), he would play 351 more innings. On top of the 541 he has played so far, that would make 892, which is less than the 972 he would need to qualify under my “6 innings per game” rule.
The writers vote for the Cy Young, but the managers and coaches vote for the gold gloves.
I have this strange feeling that hill will be at short and adams at second remember JP drafted adams he will play him we will lose Johnny Mac this winter to bad so sad.
torgen
well right now Johnny Mac has the fewest errors of any ss in baseball, and is only .002 out of having the best fielding percentage. He currently is tied for 3rd in baseball and tied for first in the AL.
By the way Crosby has 14 errors and a .967 fielding average.
Hey all the managers and coaches in the AL that have seen him-want to sign him-they will vote for him. It will cost us a lot to keep him
garry-no way will the Jays move Hill back to SS-they will try hard to resign Johnny Mac
Did anyone see Santana’s game? Struck out 17 in 8 innings.
That’s why I said I was basing my decisions on Zone Rating. If a ball is hit to short and you never come close to it, you can’t make an error. That doesn’t by itself make you a better fielder. Carl Crawford has 4 errors in LF and Bonds only has 2. I hope you don’t think that Bonds is a better fielder than Crawford.
Torgen
In the final analysis, it probably is a bit of all 3.
My point being, if you make an error that prevents you from making a play, that should count against you exactly as much as never reaching a ball to begin with if it should have been your ball.
torgen, in regards to your gold glove candidates, I’m not sure if you realize that the outfield isnt dont by position. You could have 3 winners from CF. There is no way that Crawford or Ordonez earn gold gloves. Inge will never win it over Chavez either
For glod gloves i don’t think that hill or mcdonald are gonna win the gold glove. They are just not that famous. I want mcdonald to win but if he does win then his price will go high. Also in CF wells should win along with seizemore and hunter.
About the playoffs positioning the jays certainly have a chance but they have to capitalize on them which they haven’t been doing especially on the road. the jays certainly don’t have a chance on winning the division. Maybe the wild card but they have to start playing some small ball and if the hr start coming let them come when they can don’t depend on them.
In the future the jays will not only have the better pitching staff than the yanks but also will be spending less money for a better team. And golf you are entitled to your opinion just as i am but i still think that the jays will easily beat the yanks in the future. I will come up with some numbers later unless someone else comes up with them first.
gsumner you’re deluded as usual, not a surprise here. No one on your staff will be competing for the CyYoung any time soon so stop with your idiotic statements. Yeah right, Marcum, Burnett, McGowan fighting for the Cy Young. LOL!!!!! What a dope.
I know that the outfield isn’t done by position. It should be.
semigolfff25god.
This blog is not just for a-holes like you.I’s for us blue jay fans to give our views on what we would like to have happen.
Correct me if I’m wrong I belive gsumner said we “could” see 4 of our starters competing for the cy young not we will, but then I guess you can see into the future therefore the reason you use the word God on the end of your name you should try Devil it would suit you more.
VW says Johnny Mac is a dork JM agrees,reason because he studies deffence so much “dork” is a good thing.
As for the cy young the Doc. is still in the running this year,Remember it’s not the amount of wins there are a lot of other factors in there like complete games innings pitched ERA. W/S ratio.
goffcg25,
Marcum has joined the Jays rotation in the middle of may sporting a 6.5 ERA and a 1-2 Record…
As a starter he has gone 9-2 with an ERA of 2.90…
Can you please tell me which Yankees pitcher has been more consistant in that time span? Remember in his first 10 starts he threw 9 QS (one game was injury shortened) and had only 3 wins to show for it… Since then he had outpitched most of the AL CY front runners…
I do not think that Burnett will be a CY candidate… not because he is not good… smply because he is burnett (i.e. never lives up to his potential)
Though I am sure that Mcgowan has the potential of being more like verlander… now he seems inclined to be more like burnett…
None the less the rotation has a nice streak of like 10 quality starts in a row…
Halladay is having another phenomenal season… and again denied the win yesterday due to low scoring 😦
With the exception of 3 horrid games and a 3 week trip to cutting table… he has been the doc that we love to watch.
I think Hill has a legitimate chance for a GG, but his case has been harmed by a few recent errors… J.MAC has probably not played enough…
All of you are forgetting that Marcum has been a phenomenal fielder this year and could have a shot at a GG
goffcg you said no jays pitcher will be competing for the CY soon… let’s bet that Doc ends with more CY votes than any Yankee rotation pitcher this year?
goff is like duelling with an unarmed man. The short bus will be along soon to pick him up. I heard he can’t post on yanks site anymore , partly because of his language but he also likes to expel about his escapades with minors.
I heard a great quote ….being a yankee fan shows nor requires any originality. Its like going to a casino and rooting for the house.
Good Luck Jays tonight
As for WC hopes for te jays…
I say the “Magic Number” is 9… meaning that the moment the Jays lose their 9th game starting today they are pretty much done for…
I am not going to lose sleep over their playoff race… I am not overly optimistic 🙂
Though I am likely to catch a few more games at the dome and enjoy some wonderful pitching + watching Hill and JMAC is always exciting… hopefully there will be some hitting happening by people who are not named rios
This team was playing fine without Overbay two more weeks off and his hand would have been that much better.
Also if Burnett would have been given a little more time off the first time on the DL this year he may not have went there the 2nd time.
Toronto rushes their players back to soon and it cost them.
goff keep them comeing never has anyone shown their stupidity as much as you do it’s hilarious.
One of the reasons Marcum is so good is he has no fear of any batter no matter who he is,A lot of pitchers get through the first 5 and then relax not Marcum the no 9 hitter means the same to him as the no 4 hitter does.
Guys and Gals
You’re all making a mistake in your repsonses to Golf/Semigod.
You’re making an assumption he can understand large words. Please keep your responses down to single syllable words so he can comprehend what you’re posting to him.
He will be back tonight, as soon as his Mommy allows him back on the PC.
In the meantime-Go Jays
Garry
I think Marcum’s nickname should be Bulldog.
Fit’s doesn’t it?
Rontal
What we all forget about The Bulldog is, he had 6 no decisions, in which he went about 40 innings and only gave up two runs or so.
He could be 16 and 4 if he had any run support in those games and be leading baseball in wins.
Rontal
I think the magic number is 12. The Jays have 39 games left-if they win 27, they would be at 90 wins.
I think I’d take my chances at 90 wins this year.
I just hope they focus one winning tonight, then tommorrow focus on winning tommorrow night. And So on.
gsumner. sorry had company.
Bulldog is a very fitting name for Marcum and run support would have made him the big dog.