Running with it
TORONTO — Oh the sights you’ll see when running along the Toronto lakefront. Beautiful day out today, so I got in a cool five miles and stopped to say hello to Alan Ashby and his wife, waved as I jogged by Roy Halladay and strength and conditioning coach Donovan Santas and said hi to Marty Pevey later on when I was walking my dog.
Over at the ballyard, the Jays ran out yet another lineup. (See what I did there? Sticking with the running theme?) The cool new thing to do is to move Shannon Stewart into the No. 2 hole and slide Master of Grit David Eckstein to the No. 9 spot. That makes, ready for it? 28 different lineup in 33 games. That’s an 85-percent new lineup rate.
“It’s just a different look,” Jays skip John Gibbons said. “We’ve tinkered here and there to try some different things. We’ll just try this and see how this works.”
Gibby said he’d try this lineup for a few days to see if it amounts to anything. He believes getting Stewart in the mix on a more regular basis can help get his bat going. Gibbons added that “it’s too early” to be thinking this switch means Adam Lind (1-for-19 since being called up) might have a trip back to Triple-A in store.
There’s been a whole heckuva lot of lineups used, but there have been factors involved — this isn’t just Gibby flip-flopping John Kerry style. Consider that the Jays once employed a guy named Frank Thomas, shuffling people in and out of DH since he was released. Scott Rolen was injured and Toronto mixed and matched at third until he came back.
Once upon a time there was a platoon in left field…so there’s been things forcing Gibbons’ hand some. Not to mention the offense’s struggles, leading Gibbons to switch things up to try to find some sort of consistency. So 28 out of 33 is high, no doubt, but it’s not really too surprising when you think about it.
In other news — I hate that segue — Gibbons said that the Jays can now use B.J. Ryan in consecutive games. You probably won’t see him in three games in a row yet and you won’t see him used in multi-inning saves this year, but this is good news for the Jays. No more closer by committee every other day.
Today’s lineups:
CHICAGO (14-15) at TORONTO (15-17)
at 7:07 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre
WHITE SOX
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Carlos Quentin, LF
Jim Thome, DH
Paul Konerko, 1B
Jermaine Dye, RF
Nick Swisher, CF
*Pablo Ozuna, 3B
Juan Uribe, 2B
Toby Hall, C
PITCHING: RHP Javier Vazquez
BLUE JAYS
Alex Rios, RF
Shannon Stewart, LF
Scott Rolen, 3B
Matt Stairs, DH
Vernon Wells, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Aaron Hill, 2B
Gregg Zaun, C
David Eckstein, SS
PITCHING: RHP Dustin McGowan
*Sox 3B Joe Crede scratched with a migraine
Major League Bastian 
Nice way to work out of a nasty spot. I think a year ago, Dustin would have blown up in that situation. He seems to grow each and every outing.
I have been watching Overbay for a while now, and he seems to strike out every time he comes up to the plate with 2 outs. I have also noticed that Eckstein grounds out every at bat. I wouldn’t even mind seeing a pop up from him, but it is always a groundout.
I don’t mind the ground outs, I just don’t like the ground into double plays which he seems to do a lot of.
Bad move by Rolen but Stairs hits a double play ball anyway.
One run may win this game so much for the Jays bats breaking out.
gsummer, well personally I don’t like either one, atleast if it was a fly out we would know that he is atleast getting a piece of the ball. Eckstein is currently 2nd in the AL and 3rd in the Mlb in groundouts at 52.
Hey but Stewart actually got a hit against a rh. That’s a good thing.
Yea it’s just this guy though, if you read the preview to the game, he has a 350 average.
Lead off double by Wells! I hope this inning we can get something done.
freedom
I didn’t realize that; that sounds like he’s got a swing problem. That should be able to be fixed. One thing is for sure, I like him better in the 9th hole than the 2nd hole.
Man I like it when Wells is hitting to rf on that outside pitch versus pulling it and hitting those soft ground balls. I do not understand why he doesn’t do that all the time. When he does, sooner or later they try to bust him inside and he takes them downtown.
Jacque Jones was cut by the Tigers today how much do you want to bet JP picks him up.
What do you think guys.
Garry, I wouldnt think that J.P would go after him, considering we released Thomas for the same reason they released him. Hey but J.P is crazy so you never know.
yah, batting .165, he’d fit in quite well. lol
Chops is bring the heat this inning, hit 99 twice on that last hitter.
The last three games Wells has put it all on the line it’s good to see him play that way.
Iguess sumner can shove his stats up his you know what. Shannon triples guess he cant hit a right hander…. only been doing the last 10 years…..,.300 lifetime hitter. Thank god we put that idiot Lind on the bench. Hopefully back to trips next. I still cant figure out how after reading all of sumners crap he is not the manager of this team. He is not even a real fan…he hopes eckstein and Stewart fail so he seems like he is knowledgable. Eck with some great defense tonite. all of you can kiss his butt, but if you had any brains you would see he is simply a guy who is in love with his own opinion and nothing but an IDIOT>
Rshobie, this blog has been going really good as of late, with no fighting or stupid comments and attacks. Why do you have to attack gsumner and ruin it for all of us?
gsumner, please don’t attack back, I am really sick of this.
Nice homerun by stairs!
It looks like the virus is back,
Don’t worry Fredom no one cares about him it’s like having a bad case of the crabs lol.
gsumner has all you guys trained well…………..He can tear apart all of your opinions but NOBODY can disagree with his idiotic comments about Adam Lind, Robinson Diaz. John Macdonald, Sergio Santos, Chip Cannon…….etc……etc. Now I’m hearing Shawn Marcum is next in line for the Cy Young………What a complete Moron!!!!!!!!!
freedom, if he really upsets you or anyone else; you can report him by simply clicking on the report any abuse or scam link and express your feelings to MLB.
McGowan did a good job tonight clap clap clap.
yep, another great outing by a starter. Lets hope they win it for him
Who’s the dummy who said he lost respect for Roger Clemen’s because he cheated on his wife???? What an idiot…LOL LOL LOL.. Don’t you know that every wealthy man cheats on his wife ….Not just athletes!!!!! The only men who are faithfull are the ones who really don’t have any options.
a ground ball would be nice right about now
rhobie, we all disagree with some of the stuff that everybody says on here including gsumner. But don’t forget that he has a right to disagree with us and post an opinion just like the rest of us. After all I do believe that’s why Jordan created this site. It’s not that big of a deal if someone has a different opinion than the rest of us. Now I will watch and enjoy the rest of the game.
gsumner.
Where is this report button I would like to report to MLB that I have a virus on my computor.
Nice way to get out of a tight situation. Thats waht you call ducking a bullet
Garry
look right under your name and you’ll see “Report any abuse or spam” in blue. Click on it.
Oops-click on that lettering under the post you want to report
gumner he asked you a question? Your pupils need some direction! My how they look up to you!!!! You really are their idol here. …….. SICK to here grown men cry like babies. If you dont like the comments dont read them. Its not hard to just skim over and ignore them….Maybe I shouldnt assume there are grown men out here maybe just a bunch of kids.
Wow what do you know Shannon gets his 3rd hit tonite…lol.lol. Not bad for a guy who cant hit RH’s. The new Blue Jay wanna bee manage Gsumner woulda had .050 Lind in the lineup and .160 JM…..LOL LOL
If you read on the Jays site, our pitching staff has logged in the most innings than any other Mlb team. Pretty impressive. It’s too bad that we don’t have a record to show for it.
When somone calls me a dummy I make it a point to find out where they live and I can ensure you I am not a very nice person.Most people make sure they know who they are dealing with before they open their mouths and if you read the Sun you would see he was with a 15 year old girl witch makes him a creep and anyone who sticks up for him is the same kind of person a sex ofender.
You need help my friend…………Major emotional problems you appear to have.
Garry-dont feed the troll
I think we need a K here-maybe 2.
That was a nail bitter and a half.
Well that works too
I think that was the best game Stewart’s played this year. I hope he keeps it up. I bet Chicago is wondering what hit them., we only gave up 5 runs on 4 games. Wow…
Great to see Mcdonald in defensively to replace Eckstein, I hope that continues, the same with Eck being at the bottom of the order.
Only 16.602 at the game today what a shame.
enigma-i agree
shame indeed garry…..the streak of increasing attendance the last few years seems to be in jeopardy thus far.
Maybe if they get over 500 the fans will come back we can only hope they control the payroll no fans no money.
It’s early in the season and during the week. I think attendanace is always lower at this time of year and then picks up after schools out.
16.6 k is OK for a Monday night. There are a lot of teams don’t get that.
How on earth did Gibbons stay with Ryan after walking the bases full? That took some big cojones.
BTW, Vasquez was lights out last night. Any team in baseball would have been lucky to score one run.
BBTW, when Mulineks, Fletcher, and Gibbons call JMac the best shortstop in baseball, I have to go with their opinion over some psycho that crawls out of his beer long enough to heap sh** and abuse on anybody within his myopic little field of vision. And I really take offense to his assertion that I agree with gsumner. LOL. Not all the time, anyway.
Always nice
Great game last night and I agree gnorman , Jays were very lucky to score one run off Vazquez.
I read somewhere that baseball scheduling is done by hand and when you look through it , I have to wonder what they were smoking or drinking. Jays get one day off this month after another three week stint , four days off next month and three days off in July before the all star break…just a little crazy.
Did anyone else notice that Frank Thomas is listed as the Jays DH on the MLB all star voting site ? Have a great day all and take care .
Gibbons stayed with Ryan because he is your closer, your paying all that money to get the save. You leave him in untill he blows it. If he gives up a run then you pull him, although I would have bet money on it he was going to blow it.
Looks like Eckstein is slowly losing his position. About time, I miss watching McDonald play. Really the only way I see Eckstein being more valuable if he is hitting 280-300 with a 350 OPB and he is far from that right now.
I agree, tothd, but the floor in the dugout got a new groove from Gibby’s pacing. It seems BJ knows how to win games even if he doesn’t have his best stuff. That’s what they pay him the big bucks for.
One of my favorite Jay’s pitchers of all time was David Wells, because in his second stint with the Jays, there were a lot of days when he was sore, or his best stuff wasn’t there, but he still found a way to get the job done. I am starting to see that from our young staff now, too. Good sign.
Always nice
WOW this pitching we have is very impressive!!! Could take us very far if this offence picks it up a bit.
Eckstein will lose his job if his bat doesn’t start picking it up. Although I am not a big fan of using cold players as D replacements late in the games, I think if anyone can handle it it would be JM. He is too good and too consitant on D for his focus to wonder. I think that if anyone could handle a demotion/diminished playing time it will be Eckstein… Too good of a team mate to let this be a distraction.
Wells when using the entire field is extremely dangerous!!!
gnorman.
You bring up a good point when you mention Abners pacing last year he used to half lay down on the bench in the dugout It used to make me sick when they showed a shot of him on the tube I thought what a lazy manager now this year he stands up a lot walks back and forth like he has an intrest in the game, I still don’t think he is the right manager for this team but if he goes who do you turn to Butter…Whit…They wont pay big dollars to anyone and who can you get for less than JP gets because you can bet he came cheap..
Let’s hope we deliver some payback to Tampa Bay after the rude way they treated us in April. 3 of 3 would be nice.
The Jays pitching is looking great. I’m sorry I missed last nights game, shouldn’t miss tonights, unless my lack of sleep catches up with me from the night before. There is one thing I would like to see the club do, and it isn’t signing Bonds. They are now a small ball team and it wold be nice to see them play like one, bunt to move runners over, hit and run, steal some bases. Thats how small ball teams win. The Jays need to do that, or go and get themselves a home run hitter. I can’t see this club getting more than 100 of them this year. Small ball, small ball.
I’m with you on that G. Tampa has always been a thorn in our side so maybe we can give it to them this time.
Have you noticed how Abner is making all the right moves latley maybe someone higher up told JP to keep his nose out of it and let Abner manage the team his way and I like the moves he has been making so far now if the great [NOT] Denbo can get these guys to hit, Brantley was a much better hitting coach and he was nouthing but a scape goat for JP.
Garry
I don’t think the problem is Denbo, although I’m not sure what it is. I like Denbo’s methods.
mcdanny-I agree, lets see some bunts, some hit and runs, some base stealing. We now have a team era close to 3.5, so we don’t need to put 6-7 runs on the board to win.
Garry it really does seem that way with Gibbons……last week J.p. ripped apart the idea that Mcdonald should be used as a defensive replacement late in the game, now I get home and lo and behold the jays plan on doing just that. I guess maybe with this being John’s final year of his contract he probably thinks that if he goes down it’ll be his way not J.P’s.
Oh and Jordan i disagree with your comparison about Jeter. The guy is a great hitter and average defender where as Eckstein is a decent hitter and below average feilder so there is no comparison to make. The jays also have arguably the best defensive shortstop in the game. If I were in New York i’d still want Mcdonald late defensively instead of Jeter if they had him.
Oh and the problem I have with the attendance is that it’s already below last year’s average (at this point in time) and seems to me that there are less then 20thou. more frequently so far. It’s already happened 5 times, last year it was twice at this point.
In case you’re interested :
http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=mlb/teams/040/attendance.aspx?team=040
Question:
Does anyone know what is up with Travis Snider?
burt.
I belive Snider was injured and is working his way back but don’t worry I’m sure he will be back in top form soon.
gsumner.
I don’t like Denbo I said so when they hired him the Yankees had him for 1 year and dumped him if he was any good he would still be there the only reason he is here is they got him cheap.
One of the problems the jays have is they pick up cheap staff so we can’t expect to much from them.
Bosox.
Will you be watching the game tonight or don’t they heve TV way down in Tampa lol.
enigma
Thanks for that link on attendance.
Sounds like JMac is finally going to get some playing time. Thats a good thing.
Re: Gibbon’s pacing–
There are signs that management thinks this is the year. Gibbons is more intense, and the team is running more, trying to manufacture more runs. They didn’t do it up until now because of the potential to injure someone when they weren’t going to make it anyway. Riccardi had a plan when he came here, and up until last year, pieces were still missing. Everything is there now, and if we can get the camel’s nose under the playoff tent somehow, we should be able to do some damage with our P&D.
Here is a prediction: if this team looks good by the all star break, Ted Rogers will reach for the stash under his mattress and buy us another bat before the trade deadline.
Always nice