TGIF…
I’m back in Toronto, but I won’t be heading over to the Dome tonight. I’m hitting the road again in a few days for the playoffs, so I figured I’d take this night off to have a nice evening out with the misses. So, my trusty associate Gregor will be fillin’ in for me on jays.com
How about these playoffs races? It looks like a safe bet that Boston is going to wrap up the East title, barring some Mets-like collapse. But the league’s best record is still up for grabs, which is reeking havok on postseason schedule plans. But at least it’s decided who is in for the American League.
I don’t think anyone wants to clinch ANYTHING in the National League. Well, the Rockies sure do, winning 11 in a row. Nice timing, huh? I listened to the Rox-Dodgers game last night on the radio and, I’ve got to say, I’d love to see them sneak in to the dance. That’ll be a big season-ending series with the D-backs, who still have the West and the NL’s best record in their sights.
When the season ends, I’ll also be posting my picks for the award winners in both leagues. The AL Rookie of the Year, AL Cy Young, NL Rookie of the Year, and NL MVP have quite the collection of candidates. The others seem pretty straight forward, if you ask me. I’m sure you guys can debate me on that.
As for those Jays, they’re back in Toronto to wrap up this rocky 2007 season. Probables for the Blue Birds for the three games are RHP Dustin McGowan, RHP Jesse Litsch and RHP A.J. Burnett. Don’t expect Doc to take the ball on Sunday, even though he said he’d love to. On Saturday, the Jays are set to officially announce the coaching changes.
Not sure where I sit on dismissing hitting coach Mickey Brantley. Working with a injury-riddled roster this season certainly didn’t help his situation, though the offensive numbers were flat-out horrendous. He’s saying the explanation he was given was that the players "aren’t responding to him." From talking to a lot of the players, you’re hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have praise for Brantley’s efforts. But, no one ever said this game was fair…
I’ll be back at the blog on Saturday…
BREAKING EVEN…Toronto needs just one win over its final three games to finish the season above .500.
A DAY AT THE RACES:
ALREADY IN:
Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland
STILL UNDECIDED:
AL EAST
entering Friday
1. Boston 94-65 (–)
2. New York 92-67 (2)
AL BEST RECORD
entering Friday
1. Boston 94-65 (–)
1. Cleveland 94-65 (–)
2. Los Angeles 92-67 (2)
2. New York 92-67 (2)
Major League Bastian 
My awards are
R.O.Y.—A.L. Delmon Young–leads most rookies in all offensive categories, Pedroia will be right there. Personally I think Pedroia will win the award because he played in the Boston market!!!
Cy Young Josh Beckett over Sabathia.
M.V.P.—Come on now, do I even have to write his name. Let’s say he’ll be running around 3rd base and say ” mine” and he is talking about the M.V.P.
Manager of the Year—Eric Wedge!!!
N.L.–Does anyone really care about the N.L.????
Roy-Definately Delmon Young over Petrolia, Young has the HR’s and RBI’s.
Cy Young-Beckett
MVP-One of the few years, I think, were 100% of the votes will go to the “mine” guy.
MOTY-Eric Wedge
National League
ROY-Troy Tulowitzki-now this is the short stop I wish we had-no offense JMac.
Cy Young-Jake Peavy
MVP-Prince Fielder or Matt Holliday-as a Blue Jays fan, I hope Fielder wins
MOTY-Clint Hurdle or Lou Pinella
I believe several postings ago I said Jays need to learn to play more small ball and I got a lot of flack for it . Now I read, several bloggers think the Jays need to learn to play more small ball …..hmmmmmmm , men are so fickle …..lol….GO JAYSSSSSSSSSSS.
I think Brantley is being used as a scapegoat . Unfortunately somebody always has to pay the price for a bad season and Brantley got hung out to dry . The offence was poor , too many injuries that certainly weren’t his fault .
Indigo
Just goes to show how powerfull a woman’s influence is!
Besides we all thought if we posted like that-itd bring you back to the site.
LOL
That all it took was to get Indigo back was to mention ” small ball “….
ROFLMAO….
I don’t know about Brantley whether he was any good or not.
It botherd me a bit though when Lyle Overbea gave Wells information on what he was doing wrong instead of Brantley.
On the other hand it bothered me more that Sal Fasano is the one who fixed Halliday and Marcum.
So who knows.
I would say for manager of the year in the N.L. would have to be Manny Acta.
Whoever can get the Nats to win any games is a genius in my mind!!!
Bosox-good luck tonight
well look how Hurdle has the Rockies playing
Have a good evening all
Behind every good man is a better woman ………..lol
I heard the Nats had fans in the parking lot trying out. There pitching is perhaps the worst I have ever seen.
I’m joking when I say Manny Acta as manager of the year.
I would lean towards Charlie Manuel.
Phillies have been banged up all year and there pen is almost toast but somehow they could win the division. Great job by Manuel.
Fielder has had a huge month in September. He is carrying his team.
Matt Holiday the best player that nobody hears of.
B.J. Upton would be on that list as well.
Question for Bosox:
What do you think about Buchholtz being shut down?
I think it’s BS, Theo want’s to coddle him and doesn’t want there to be blamed if the Sox don’t win the WS.
Now if they don’t win it’s “What if Buchholtz was healthy” as opposed to “What if Theo wasn’t babying the kid”.
I think Fielder is the youngest (at 23) to ever hit 50 home runs in a season. Im gaine how many he’ll put on the board if he continues like this and stays healthy.
Could be the first non drugy hope to break the HR record.
LOL
Bosox
It likely will get down to either Manuel, Pinella or Hurdle.
By the way nice win tonight by the Sox.
Robert
I think Francona was quite clear in the release, when he said that shutting Buckholz down was not the option he was hoping for.
I don’t see any reason for him to lie.
Bosox
Well, I’m sure after the season he’s having this year, a lot of people will know Matt Holiday. .339 Ba, 36 Hr’s and 133 RBI’s tend to get attention.
The reason to lie is that they’re scared to let him keep pitching cause the little baby might get a boo-boo.
Well, what they said was he was suffering from arm fatigue-that’s a good enough reason to shut him down.
So I’m not sure where you think they’re lying!
I think they are lying. Arm fatigue, that is a easy way out. If it was arm fatigue, they would be very worried.
Sox are 90 feet away from there first division title in a longgggggggg time.
I don’t think he has arm fatige. That’s my point.
This is an organization that was going to pull the kid from a no hitter, I wouldn’t put it past them to shut him down just because they think he’s thrown too many innings this year.
AH HA HA HA HA HA.
The Mest lost and Philly won.
So pathetic.
If it wasn’t so funny I’d feel bad for Delgado and Co.
Of course they’re full of it!!!
You can’t believe too many things in sports. Arm fatigue!!!
Theo went to Yale, he could have come up with something better!!
I don’t understand why you think it’s a problem if the management decided to shut him down for that reason.
Personally, I think that’s good management, not bad.
But I don’t think that’s the reason, I do think they would have liked to have him in the post season. Look at their starters-they ain’t what they were at the start of the season.
gsumner,
I was thinking about you. Mora puts down a bunt and the Orioles win.
We were just talking about that last night!!!
Congrats to Boston, but I’m cheering for Cleveland.
I would expect we’ll see some changes in the Mets
There you go bunting is a big weapon-I wish we had it. lol
It’s only a problem if you’re trying to win.
Oh wait?
Understand?
Buchholtz could help them win, but they aren’t willing to take the risk.
Theo’s chicken.
Hernandez then of the A’s now with the Orioles. He bunted against Boston back in the A.L.D.S. game 1. Extra innings, 10th I believe and he put down a perfect bunt just like Mora did tonight and the A’s won and the Sox were shocked!!! I was like, I can’t believe what happened. What a way to lose. Of course the A’s blew the series. Shocking!!!
NOT!!!
lol-hey as I said last night, Id have Ortiz bunting if the situation is right. In the end it’s about winning, not how many HR’s are hit
Bosox
we keep this up and we’ll get Indigo back here.
lol
Bosox
By the way congratulations to The Sox…
Did you see Baltimore got 20 hits off Yanks pitching? 3 off of Rivera
Cleveland lose
So Bosox, you still have to win 1 more or Cleveland need to lose one in order for you to have the best record.
I really don’t care if Boston ends up with the best record. If they do that’s nice. Winning the division was vital. They had a huge lead all year and you couldn’t go into the playoffs as a wildcard. They led N.Y. by 14.5 games on May 29th.
Personally I think the Yankees will beat the Tribe and the Sox will take out the Angels. In that scenario, Boston has home field advantage anyway!!!
I’m not sure the Yanks will beat Cleveland, and I hope they don’t. Cleveland has good starting pitching and home field atvantage which tends to make the difference is a short series.
Yankees will make there 2 top starters work for it. If Paul Byrd pitches at Yankee Stadium in game 3 or game 4, he will get smoked.
Yankees have the edge in the bullpen. Yankees bats will be alive and well. Not much experience on the Tribe roster. That to me is huge for the Yankees, they have seen it all.
Sox will take out the Angels. Lackey gets smacked around at Fenway. Beckett and Schilling going in the first 2 games. Dice K looked very sharp last night. If Boston has 3 starters that do well, they will be one tough team to beat. Papelbon awaits at the end!!