Game #145: Yanks at Jays pregame
New York (82-62) at Toronto (72-72)
at 7:07 p.m. ET at the Rogers Centre
Today’s lineups:
YANKEES
Johnny Damon, DH
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, LF
Jorge Posada, C
Jason Giambi, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
PITCHING: RHP Mike Mussina (8-10, 5.51 ERA)
BLUE JAYS
Vernon Wells, CF
Russ Adams, 3B
Alex Rios, RF
Frank Thomas, DH
Matt Stairs, LF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Gregg Zaun, C
John McDonald, SS
PITCHING: RHP Dustin McGowan (10-8, 3.90 ERA)
NOTES: 3B Troy Glaus is done for the year. Early next week, Glaus will undergo a nerve decompression surgery on his left foot, which has been bothering him since the first week of the season. The operation will be performed in L.A. by Dr. Phillip Kwong. Glaus was not available for comment about the foot…or the steroid allegations. … Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi said he has talked to Glaus about the SI.com report that came out last week and Ricciardi said the third baseman’s explanation was satisfactory enough for him. Toronto’s GM declined to go into detail, though. … Ricciardi added that he has talked to Matt Stairs’ representatives to express his interest in re-signing the veteran for next season. Ricciardi said he hopes to contine the talks later this week. … Pitching coach Brad Arnsberg had some interesting things to say about Shaun Marcum’s recent comments about battling fatigue. Check the Jays notebook on bluejays.com later on. In his last five starts, Marcum is 2-2 with a 8.49 ERA, a .378 batting average against and an average of 4 2/3 inning per outing. In his first 18 starts, he went 9-2 with a 2.91 ERA, a .211 BAA and he averaged more than six frames per start.
AL WILD CARD RACE
entering Wednesday
1. New York 82-62 (–)
2. Detroit 79-67 (4)
3. Seattle 75-68 (6.5)
4. Toronto 72-72 (10)
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE…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 18-0 over their final 18 games to reach 90 wins.
Major League Bastian 
Let’s hope Mussina throws batting practise tonight like he has in his last 4-5 starts.
“The Moose” has not been pitching well of late and I am thinking if we can get on the Mooses back early we can pull off a win
jump on him early and hard
It looks like we are going to get smoked again, Yanks are on fire, not impressed!
Well at least Chops struck out A-Roid.
gsumner,
What is going on with your beloved Toronto Blue Jays?
I told you during the deadline that the Jays should have dealt Glaus but you guys said no way. What do you think of that now?
You can gurantee a few things in baseball.
1. Devil Rays losing 90 or more games
2. Yankees making the playoffs
3. Glaus getting hurt
Those are the facts gsumner.
One more thing you can gurantee is bosox has a big mouth and his roid red sox wont get past the first round.
Lots of hostility in here!! Where is the love??
garryguy,
I ask the questions and I get no love…. WOW…..
You were one of the guys saying you can’t get rid of Glaus back in late July.
Not a good move there. Just my opinion…..
bosox.
here I learned this from hemgold -HUG-feel beter now.
I said trade him I said he was lame but game but he would break down and I dont see the advantage of a player playing hurt.
You seem to have forgotten that gsumner is high strung when you pick on players who are hurt like Burnett who has proved you wrong,would you like to borrow Burnett for the playoffs.
How has Burnett proved me wrong?
The guy gets hurt when he rolls out of bed. When healthy he is a very good pitcher.
Burnett will not make more than 30 starts next year. We all know that.
J.P. signed him to a big $$$ contract and he has done nothing in his first 2 years in Toronto.
Perhaps Burnett and Drew can go bowling together.
Bosox
Hey, talk about contracts-your great GM signed nancy drew to what 75 mill. The mush-K signing doesn’t look a lot better-whats he given up now-isn’t it 20 runs in the last 13 innings.
Yep, looks like a 100 million dollar guy to me.
Of course, Tim Wakefield doesnt look a lot better giving up 13 runs in his last 6.
You guys won’t last a country second against the Yanks or LA-your starting pitching is toast-overused.
gsumner,
Sox are in first place—best record in baseball—
Jays are where? I think your g.m. has been sleeping for quite sometime now.
Drew is TERRIBLE…I didn’t like the signing and most people with a half of a brain didn’t as well….
Theo fell in love with him a long time ago and had to sign the guy/gal
And of course the illustrious Lester gives up 4 runs tonight in the 1st inning against who-did I hear Tampa Bay. Hilarious
Hey Bosox-next time you come here and wanta **** on our guys-make sure your own gun is cleaned.
Know what I mean!
regular season means nothing-you guys wont get past the first round.
Your starters are toast
gsumner,
What do you think of Glaus?
You never answered.
You stated back in late July that the Jays would be nuts to trade him. I said they should deal him. You called me alot of names.
Remember?
Know what I mean.
Bosox
Most times you deserve to be called names. Glaus is going to have an operation that will clear up the injury and will be great for next spring.
On the steroids issue, I’ll wait to pass judgement until the facts come out. By the way Canseco stated a number of the Boston players including Ortiz and Manny have taken steroids-A-rod has as well.
And your point is?
Hey I said you should deal drew-so…………
No takers on Drew…
Who would take that guy/gal and his insane contract.
NOBODY…..
Glaus like Jay Gibbons fit the profile…
Always hurt and need the recovery…..
actually not as well as manny and ortiz
It’s amazing how far Manny and Ortiz’s production has fallen since testing became mandatory-have you noticed.
And both of them seem to be continually hurt. As I said they fit the profile perfectly.
Oritz hit more than 50 homers last year.
I love when fans like you just throw stuff out there and have no clue.
He just hit another one for a walk off homer.
He’s having a down year with the homers and he is going to hit 35. I’ll take it.
Garry
I’m not impressed with Arnsberg’s comments on Marcum’s conditioning. Like Marcum knew he was going to be thrust into a starters role?
Does our pitching coach, Arnsberg not set up conditioning programs for each pitcher-like every other pitching coach in the majors? NO-AND WHY NOT?
Maybe this explains the vast amount of injuries we’ve had this year. If the coaching staff are not setting up conditioning programs for each player for the off season as Arnsberg alluded to in his comments-we have a serious problem.
We have so called conditioning experts on the team-why aren’t they setting up off season conditioning programs-why expect each player will know exactly what to do. Sure explains why League came in with an “overdeveloped something or another”-caused by his conditioning program.
Another great Abner move-come on Abner these guys work for you-they aren’t doing their jobs. I guess they look to you for guidance-talk about the blind leading the blind.
And Manny has hit how many? Isn’t 35 a big drop from 50? Is Ortiz slowly turning in to Nancy?
Well I guess we’ll just have to wait till Canseco’s book comes out now won’t we. But he already mentioned their names and A-Rod’s so stay tuned.
gsumner,
Come on help the Sox tomm night. Get those Jays bats alive tomm night, wear out that Yankee pen.
hey, we got a run off of Jaba. He’s not the phenom, NY make him out to be. yes, he throws 95 mph-but its really flat-so a couple of tiems through the league and he will get pounded.
It’s kennedy versus AJ tommorrow-we’ve never faced Kennedy yet, which is normally a problem for our guys.
gsumner arnsburg was lucky this year he had nouthing to do with these pitchers they just happend to come in to there own this year if a man says he is tired he is tired.
bosox do you like the way gsumner dismissed you I did lol.so long guys casino here I come.
Bosox-hey you come on our site, **** on our team, our players and GM and expect us to help you out.
You know I’m laughing so hard it’s hard to type. lol
Jays have the pitching edge tomm night. Last time out Kenndey went 5 innings vs K.C.
Chamberlain is a PUNK. He threw at Youklis’ head. Throw at there buttocks, ribs, legs, not there head.
Garry
hey place a bet for me will you. Im outta here too-we’ll leave Bosox by himself.
You can hit Youkroids in the head but you can’t hurt him lol.
hold on bosox.
first you say AJ isn’t worth anything-and now you say we have a pitching edge. Tsk tsk tsk
ROTFLMAO.
I **** on some guys on Toronto.
I’m not a fan of Glaus, Burnett, J.P.
I don’t like Drew, that guy/gal has been awful. He has played better lately but he can’t get worse can he/she?
Burnett is a very good pitcher when healthy. He is always hurt.
I wish Stairs was on the Sox. I like guys like him.
Rios is one my favorites, except when he plays the Sox.
Actually it might improve how Youkroids thinks-or at least get him around to trying to think. You think?
Hey we’ll trade you stairs for drew-just pay us 25 mill per year
hold on Bosox-you don’t like JP
Now lets see-theo signed nancy for 75 mill, JP signed Stairs for 850K. Theo signed Mushcake-k for 100 mill and JP signed marcum and Mcgowan for a grand total of 800K.
Theo traded for Gaggy who costs how much-and JP traded Hillebrand for Accardo who makes 400K a year.
And you dont’t like JP-you must absolutly detest and hate Theo then. Huh?
gsumner are you drinking vodka tonight your in top form that might bring hemgold out lol,Well I’m gone.
You can’t even compare J.P. and Theo.
Only thing they have in common is they’re from Massachusetts.
Let’s think for a moment gsumner. One has a World Series ring and the other doesn’t. This year one of them has put the best record in baseball together and the other well you know the sad story there. Please don’t compare J.P. and Theo. Apples and oranges.
J.P. will be fired after next season and then he’ll be off to Oakland to make coffee for Billy Beane.
Theo signed for Oritz. Pretty good move don’t you think gsumner? The best clutch hitter in baseball.
I could go on but why bother.
Oh yeah, Papelbon was drafted by Theo ( 4th round )
Bucholtz—Mr. No hitter ( drafted by Theo ) compensation for Pedro Martinez going to N.Y.
Shall I go on?
Drew signing was a joke but perhaps he/she can help in the playoffs while the team that J.P. put together watches like you and I.
Bosox-one last item
I guess you think Theo siging Lugo to $8.25 mill per year is a good deal huh? How many years was that- 4 or 5.
Must be painfull for you to see JP sign Johnny Mac to a 2 year deal worth 3.8 mill. Let’s see Lugo is batting .240, Johnny Mac-.250, lugo has 18 errors JM 7.
Yep, Jp is a bad guy-I can now understand why you don’t like him. If we had Theo and you had JP, we probably wouldn’t like JP either.
Not with the deals he makes.
Painful…
One team is going to the playoffs and one team is watching.
I would think it is painful to watch.
The Jays miss the playoffs AGAIN.
Your very funny, comparing the Jays and the Sox.
How is your big $$$$ closer doing?
Looking for his arm somewhere in Canada I assume.
The Ortiz signing will come back and haunt him, his production is way down this year and continue to drop. It was too much and too long.
Hey you can have your one game wonder budapest-I’ll take McGowan and Marcum any day.
We’ll try not to make the laydown to NY too obvious tommorrow night.
J.P. could have had the Sox g.m. job but turned it down.
AMEN…
When you see him around, thank him for me….
Shut the **** up bosox!!
Ok, this is getting a little silly.
I’m a Jays fan, but JP is completely on crack. His “throw a bunch of broken has-beens against a wall and see what sticks” plan for the 5th starter was crazy. He has completely lied to Jays fans and the media about the health of his players. VW has been hurt all season and we’re just finding out this week? Don’t you think this type of information might have alleviated some of the catcalls VW has been hearing all season (and he has). It’s this “treating the fans like children” attitude that is causing people to get sick of following the Jays. Unfortunatlely, JP is safe as long as Godfrey is the man upstairs…someone has to start whispering in Ted Rogers’ ear.
Bosox,
You are confrontational, but I can’t think of one time I’ve disagreed with something you’ve said about our boys, or about the Sox or Yanks. These teams are sailing into the postseason unmolested by anyone in the AL Least. I will say that the Yanks and Sox pitching staffs look tenuous at best, but you can’t argue with the results. Last year Detroit went to the finals with a bunch of unknowns and Kenny Rogers, and lost to the Cardinals who had a bunch of role players and Carpenter/Pujols. I would take a bunch of roleplayers and guys that want to play as a team, rather than a team full of guys that look great on paper.
As to the “injury bug” this year. Someone mentioned a while back that a long hard look needs to be taken at the conditioning programs of the players. Can they not be TOLD to follow program A, B or C depending on their needs? Look at last offseason – Reed Johnson and Brandon League went down this year due primarily to their conditioning during the offseason (mostly from working too hard, which I do admire, but still). We have a fleet of doctors, coaches, and guys with kinesiology degrees who can make a big difference to the season – use them! Yes the players are grown men, but they get paid a lot of money to perform, the least they can do is ensure they are well enough to do so.
My last whine, is about the coaching staff. Particularly Peavey, Gibbons, and Brantley. Although all 3 of them may be fine coaches in their own right for their own special talents, they obviously don’t fit the mold that JP has thrown out there. Peavy (and Gibbons) need to be sending the runners that do have speed…Rios is the team leader in steals with what, 14? Wells is second with 9?? These guys are fast – use them better. Brantley has these guys hitting last year, but something about him isn’t clicking now, and it might be time for him to move on and help another team. Perhaps another coach (Paul Molitor —please!!!!) could serve as a mentor to these guys. Gibbons….well he’s a good baseball man overall, but his instincts for this team just feel off. Sometimes his a cowboy, sometimes he’s a babysitter, and sometimes it feels like he’s daydreaming through the game. Players are responsible for themselves, and I’m not usually a fan of firing people, but in this instance these guys need to be a part of a shakeup to get our team playing like a team.
Thanks for listening. I feel better now.
Bosox
Well at least now I know why you don’t like JP. He rejected your team-you feel rejected.
Poor boy-you should get some help in dealing with rejection Brian. I’ve been told there’s some good DR.’s in Tampa.
gusmner,
Actually Billy Beane could have had the g.m. job with the Red Sox as well and I have alot of respect for him. He is one of the best general manager’s in baseball.
J.P. is one of these self promoters that have done nothing. He’ll be back in Oakland getting Beane his coffee again and making sure his shirts are ironed and cleaning Beane’s car.
swagmanjay,
I give my opinions and that is all they are. Some folks on here take it to personal if you disagree with them.
I don’t disagree with you on your post here. At least you have it in perspective. Always good to read when fans have it in perspective because as we all know some don’t.
gsumner,
Billy Beane held the job as g.m. for the Red Sox for about 24 hours. He then for family reasons turned it down. I can respect a guy for that. John Schuerholtz is the best g.m. in baseball and Billy Beane is right there.
I would put J.P. on the bottom of the list.
Bosox
So your boy genius Theo traded Pena to the Nats for Chris Carter and sent 1.5 mill to boot.
I see Willy’s hitting .277 for the Nats with 8 Hr’s and 16 Rbi’s in 83 at bats. Nancy is hitting .263 with 8 Hr’s and 50 RBI’s in 419 at bats for your guys. Pena’s fa with the nats is 1.000 and Nancy is .971.
Nancy gets 14.4 mill this year and Willie gets 1.875 mill-of which 1.5 is paid by Boston.
Great trade. Theo is remarkable. So hey, put JP where you want, just make sure when you do your ratings Theo is 10 steps below him-he’s an idiot.
Now deal with rejection son.
gsumner,
Theo is the g.m. of a team that has the best record in baseball. I’ll take that idiot any day of the week.
Looks like we’ve got some old fashioned mud-slinging going on in here. You folks should be politicians, not bloggers….
Just to throw in my two cents, I’ve got to agree with BoSox on this one. The Red Sox, after all, are going to the playoffs. The Jays are not.
With that said, I don’t think JP’s as bad as some people make him out to be. Could he use some PR work? Definitely. Has he made some brutal moves? Definitely. But he’s kept this team afloat despite (until this year and arguably 2006 as well) a pretty meager pay roll. But is he a top 10 GM? No way. The Red Sox and the Yankees, for example, have also dealt with slumping players, injuries, and bad trades/signings, but they’ve still managed to win this year. I love the Jays, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re still just a barely .500 team who’s stuck in third place….
Every fan finds fault with “their” team’s managerial staff . If you read the Boston site they refer to Tito as FranCOMA . Yankee fans trash Cashman and Torre. Those same fans will defend that managerial staff . I don’t particularly like the jay’s staff . I think it needs shaking up.
Now to the Yankee games. Our pitchers are tired , they did not expect to be in the rotation so did not train for it . Hughes and Kennedy are both fresh arms for the yanks . Its a huge advantage that has worked in their favour. Even Mussina has not pitched in the rotation for a few weeks so his arm is rested. Yanks are a strong force right now . I only hope Boston’s pitchers are “on” this weekend and their bats are alive . Tonight lets hope for a solid performance from Burnett, he is the freshest arm we have .
Get the **** off this site bosox, I still fart on your Mom’s head s h i t h e a d!!!
Great comments hem,gold, I thought that was very well said, however, I don’t mean to use it as an excuse for J.P. BUT the payrolls can make a difference…. especially when it comes to the mistakes a g.m. can make. By stating that he intends to bring back almost the same team next year, he is basically saying that he hasn’t made a mistake (with these players). That’s why I, as a fan am willing to give him one more year and then i’ll decide whether this year was an abberation or if J.P. is just a bad g.m.
I still think he should bring in a new manager/hitting coach though (reading between the lines last night on Wilner’s show it sounds like he’ll keep Gibby and think about Brantley)
spelled it wrong: aberration
Hey, amire10 with a mouth like your’s who needs’s a toilet?
Let’s go Jays!!! Let’s go Jays!!!
Bats for Toronto will be alive and well. Knock around this rookie!!!! He went 5 innings his last time out and that was against K.C.
Thomas goes deep tonight and Rios as well.
When bosox first came on this site he had an ignorant way about him,but most of what he said made sense,He dosn’t like JP because of some of the moves he makes big deal we don’t like some of the moves either,
bosox has since cleaned up his act,Yesterday we had a little fun at his expense but to insult his mother like amire10 did is wrong,
bosox knows his baseball and he tells it like he sees it is that wrong????
I will still joke around with him and maybe the odd insult but lets keep our toilet mouths to ourselves as will I.
bosox your asking the wrong team for help we can’t seem to help ourselfs.
Manager of the year GIBBONS.
GM of the year JP.
They nominated each other.
L
LOL
L
LOL LOL LOL
GSUMNER I made a $10.000 bet for you and lost you can mail it to me LOL.
Lets hope Burnett can go 9 tonight and pick up a win.
Garry
I think Amire is the new alias for sentinel. I see he made the identical post on the Boston site.
Garry
What id you bet on?
Garry
I pulled this off the Boston site.
Four contenders for AL manager award
Scioscia, Francona, Wedge, Torre among league’s elite
By Tom Singer / MLB.com
I’m not sure where you heard that Abner rumor, but it clearly isn’t true. ThHank goodness.
I bet that bosox had a brain lol.
garryguy and gsumner—I like talking baseball with you folks. To me it is fun. We all think that J.P. and Gibbons are sleeping at the controls.
With the right moves Toronto can be a player next season for sure. Of course the moves have to be right, can J.P. do it? That is a question that has yet to be determined.
Jays bats should be where they used to be for next season. I am very surprised at how there bats have just been silented this year. Wells has had a poor year, Overbay getting hurt that didn’t help. Glaus well you know the story there, he is always hurt, missing games and nagging injuries. Reed Johnson’s back gave him major troubles, he hasn’t been the same player. Johnson has been a Red Sox killer over the last few seasons. He gets things started at the top of the order, his injury hurt them for sure. Thomas, well he is pretty old and what can you expect from someone who has had a bunch of injuries over the years at his age. He might have 1 good year left.
lol-no wonder I lost.Ok checks in the mail
lol
No rumor just me and no vodka.
A.L. manager of the year, I would lean towards Eric Wedge.
M.V.P. A-Rod
Cy Young Beckett or Sabathia
Rookie of the year Pedroia
What do you Jays fans think?
Bosox
I agree with you on Gibbons, but not JP-so we will agree to disagree on that.
Remember 5 of our front line starters, Wells, Johnson, Overbea, Glaus, Zaun have virtually hobbled all season-so it’s not really a surprise the bats aren’t there. I expect they all come back healthy next year.
Our pitching is the best in baseball right now and will get better with League, Ryan and Romero back. Chacin will be back as well, but time will tell whether he’s the 5th or someone else is.
So I’m not sure theres a lot of moves to be made.
gsumner,
If the Jays sit on this roster, they’ll be in DEEP TROUBLE next year. Can you say .500 baseball.
Not alot of moves? I totally disagree with you there. I would assume most Jays fans will disagree with you as well. The roster doesn’t need to be blownup but changes have to be made.
Manager ok
A-Roid cheats tainted
Beckett is a creep
sabathia ok
Pedroia baby face roid freak just like yuki he drools when he is at the plate.
ok what changes would you make who would you change for?
Manager-is close, between Scioscia and Wedge, although Torre is a dark horse if the Yanks do well in the playoffs.Personally I like Scioscia.
MVP-A-Rod-no question
Cy Young-Sabathia
Rookie-could be Delmon Young, Brian Bannister or Pedrolia-it’s a toss up.
gusmner,
When it comes to awards for the season. Playoffs have nothing to do with it. So when you say Torre if he had a good post-season, the votes are already in.
Obviously the starting rotation is something J.P. needs to address.
Litsch is not the answer and Chacin I wonder about him.
Glaus your stuck with him at 3b. Nobody will want him, makes too much $$$$ and is always hurt. The Jays need a catcher as well. Zaun isn’t the answer and of course the pen needs to be looked at. Ryan who knows what happens with him. He’ll join the team sometime during the season and who knows how effective he’ll be. A very tough injury to come back from.
Stairs had a solid season but you can’t count on him. The guy has been inconsisent in his career.
bosox
We have 4 alternatives for the 5th starter-Chacin, Litsch, Janssen and Wolfe. My preference is Chacin because he stones both Boston and NY.
Assuming Chacin makes it as a 5th starter, we have Accardo, Downs, League, Janssen, Ryan and Wolfe as locks in the pen, with Frasor, Tallet and Romero fighting it out for the last spot. Ill take our chances with this pen over anyones.
Our pen has been great all year and our pitching overall is the best in baseball post all star-and getting better next year.
I do agree Zaun isn’t the complete answer for catching. We have a good prospect in Robinson Diaz, who would have been a call up, but got injured. He is our long term answer and will be playing in the Arizona fall league-but it’s too early to bring him up and heap huge responsibilities on him. There’s not a lot on the FA market so we might just have to make due.
The major change we need is a new manager
JP never had money to spend before and when Rogers turned on the green light he went nuts Glaus was a mild mistake, Burnett was hurt to offten, Johnson was and still is a platoon player,Thomas was a big mistake to old can he put together another year????,Zaun was a mistake not good enough just a backup catcher at best,Wells contract to long to big it may hurt us,Overbay just a bad year will come back,Stairs wants to end it here will end it in a big way,
After all that the only change he can make is Gibbons [abner] but he will drop the hammer on the hitting coach instead and dismis the fans again.
My god is everyone who is somewhat good on steroids?! Christ give guys some credit!!
Garry
You forget what Glaus did for us last year when he was healthy. He played in 153 games, hit 38 Hr’s and knocked in 104. He has been injured this year-but played through injury by comparision to Giambi who went on the DL for 8 weeks. So I think I’d cut him some slack.
All Johnson did last year was hit .319 with an OBP of .390, hit 12 HR’s and drove in 49 for the lead off position in playing in 134 games. My bet is he’ll be back.
Burnett’s injury this year was caused by overusage by Abner-we both know that. Watch him tonight and pay particular notice to the changing of speeds. He’s becoming a pitcher not a thrower and providing Abner isnt the manager next year, I’d bet he wins the Cy Young..Remember I said that first.
Wait until you see what Hunter signs for and what A-Rod gets in his new contract. I think you’ll feel differently about the one Wells got-and I do think he’ll be back to form next year as well. Although I hope they put him under the knife soon.
Beckett is a jerk, he won’teven win the Cy Young, the lineup needs to be tweaked a little, not overhauled, the pitching staff is fine for next seaso, Piccardi definitely needs to go, you can forget about the WC (should have done that a long time ago), and bosox is still a r e t a r d e d S h it h e a d
amire10 this blog is for baseball related discussion’s, not trash-talk which is apparently all you know. Why don’t you go now and play with your tiddlely-wink’s. And tell your mommy I
said Hi b***h……………