Game 9: Toronto at Minnesota pregame
As noted in the previous post, Jesse Litsch landed on the disabled list today with a right elbow/forearm injury. He will be shut down for the next two weeks before resuming on a throwing program. Toronto won’t say, but that makes it seem like Litsch will miss at least a month, likely more.
Litsch said he first felt the pain in his arm after striking out Justin Morneau with a four-seam fastball to end the first inning on Monday. Litsch stayed in the game and didn’t alert the team that he was hurting until the fourth inning.
Up from Triple-A is Bill “Dropkick” Murphy — I just gave him that nickname, hoping it sticks. He’ll move into the bullpen and lefty Brian Tallet moves into the rotation. Tallet will start on Saturday and will probably get a few turns in the rotation.
Why not Brett Cecil, whose next turn falls on Saturday, or spring wonder Brad Mills? The Minor League season just started and the Blue Jays don’t feel they’re ready for the call just yet. Maybe one of them comes up later this month. We’ll see.
Manager Cito Gaston opted to sit Travis Snider today against lefty Glen Perkins, even though Lunchbox crushed two homers yesterday. “Shoulda hit three,” I joked when Snider walked by today. “Yeah, already heard that one today,” he said with a smile.
I’m sure plenty of you Jays fans would like to see Snider in there, but Gaston wants to hand playing time to his bench guys like Jose Bautista and Kevin Millar (the latter in at first for Lyle Overbay today, too). It’s not a strict lefty/righty platoon situation, according to Gaston.
Today’s lineups:
TORONTO BLUE JAYS (6-2)
1. Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Adam Lind, DH
6. Scott Rolen, 3B
7. Kevin Millar, 1B
8. Rod Barajas, C
9. Jose Bautista, LF
Starter: LHP Ricky Romero (1-0)
MINNESOTA TWINS (3-5)
1. Denard Span, RF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Michael Cuddyer, DH
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Mike Redmond, C
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF
Starter: LHP Glen Perkins (0-1)
~JB
Major League Bastian 
Why not give Snider a chance against LH pitchen, I would rather watch Snider over Bautista anyday.
I think they could have given Lind a break instead of Snider. I know he’s scorching hot, but a little breather against a lefty wouldn’t hurt I don’t think.
That’s a tough blow for the Jays regarding Litsch. I like that they give Tallett a few starts, as opposed to throwing out Cecil and Mills so soon though. Tallett should give them a few good innings, and Cecil along with Janssen should be up in May regardless, as previously planned.
I’m surprised they called up Murphy and not Wolfe or Accardo, but I suppose at some point he deserves a kick at the can.
Lind hits leftys well.
Worth keeping an eye on… AJ has a no-no through 5. Hopefully I just jinxed him – lol!
rene-you did well on AJ. lol
The Jays are lucky they have one run in this game, they will now be 6 and 3.
Certainly does look that they will drop this one. How about some Rios 8th or 9th inning heroics. He’s due isn’t he?
Way to go Rickie. I think we have a fighter, that was a tough patch to work out of and might change the game.
Nice to see Barajas’s bat start to come alive.
finally Wells gets an important hit
Rickie strikes out Morneau to end the eight inning. What a huge outing for Romero. Gives the pen a needed rest. Come on guys-lets get the kid a couple of runs for the win.
I’m surprised Cito didn’t put Moonraker in to bat for Bautista
Looks like Dice-K caught Wang’s disease. Threw 43 pitches in the first inning against Oakland, only 22 strikes and gave up 5 runs.
I thought that idiot Cito was going to take out the LH pitcher against the RH batter, Also why did he not put Snider in in the 10th against a RH pitcher, he is 8 for 11 against the Twins??????.
Disappointing loss, but we won’t win many games when our first five hitters combine for 3 hits and 1 walk in 25 at bats. As hot as these hitters have been, a game like this was probably overdue.
But some very positive things from this game. Romero is one, the other is Wells started to hit the ball to center field instead of trying to pull everything and rolling over on it.
In the past that’s been the first sign of Wells getting hot, let’s hope that’s the same this year.
I hate to say it Gs, but I think your Moonraker attempt is failing, i know, its sad, it wasn’t bad. I had the same problem with Alexander Ovechkin, when he came in I dubbed him Ovy Wan Kenobi, to this day I think its gold, however it never caught on. Its tough to swallow but eventually I had to accept it, damn you Alexander the Gr8.
Anyways Romero was awesome, in the past I have been one to question the pick of him in ’05. Looks like I will have to eat my words, which I will gladly do. Yes Snider should have pinch hit for Bautista, and its easy to question Cito for leaving Carlson in but I refuse to do that. Tough loss, if we have any chance at competing this year we have to win every game like the one tonight.
Actually I never came up with the name Moonraker, the guys on blue bird banter did, but I do like it.
It looks to me like that extended time Romero spent in the minors is paying off, he has yet to show the jitters of a debut in the majors and looks better each time out. I hope it continues.
I don’t blame Cito for leaving Jessie in either. Point is one way or the other we had to go at least one more inning so I think he was trying squeeze that last out with Carleson.
I have also recognized a long time ago that Cito isn’t the best manager in the world in game situations, BUT he gets more out of players than any manager I know and he did win two series for us.
If it wasn’t for Cito these young guys like Lind, Snider, Romero and others wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing-so I’m a big Cito fan and have been for a long time.
One thing Bautista probably did tonight in his 0 for 4 was give Cito a reason to start Snider against some lefties. Snider seems to bring this entire team energy when he’s in the lineup along with Lind.
Well. They have lost the game.But Jose Bautista choked against left hander Perkins although Snider would have advantage over a Left hander. I totally disagree with Cito’s decision in this game to let Bautista play instead of a guy who is hitting close to .400 avg.
Dallas billionaire Tom Hicks risks losing control of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars now that his sports firm, HSG, has formally defaulted on $525 million in loans, financial experts say.
Although experts agree that creditors could force HSG into bankruptcy, that possibility also appears to be a long way down the road. Lenders have notified HSG that it has formally defaulted on $525 million in loans. Hicks said recently that he intentionally missed the March 31 interest payment as he tries to restructure the debt.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Hicks missed a $10 million quarterly interest payment on HSG loans. The paper reported that the largest lender is Galatioto Sports Partners, a New York sport-financing group, which has lent nearly $100 million to HSG.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hicks reiterated that he is in negotiations to restructure HSG’s debt and emphasized that the baseball and hockey teams have not been affected by the discussions.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
One of the knocks on Cito has always been that he will leave somebody in when anybody else would have pulled him. But then, one of the ways Cito gets the best from his players is to give them a role, and let them run with it. That way, they know the don’t have to be looking over their shoulder if they make a mistake, and they are still in the game to pick themselves up later. So is he a bad game manager because he lets his guys know that he has confidence that they can get the job done? I think the record speaks for itself.
You guys are all wrong! I know why they lost last night. I had a nice big bag of fresh pistachios, and I FORGOT to get them out! My bad. (Ball players aren’t the only ones to be superstitious.)
You guys are all wrong! I know why they lost last night. I had a nice big bag of fresh pistachios, and I FORGOT to get them out! My bad. (Ball players aren’t the only ones to be superstitious.)
Our draft order for the June draft
First round: number 20
Sandwich pick:number 37-for Burnett
Second round: Number 69
Third Round: Number 101
Third round: number 104 for Burnett
It’s disappointing that that’s all we get for Burnett.
Our draft order for the June draft
First round: number 20
Sandwich pick:number 37-for Burnett
Second round: Number 69
Third Round: Number 101
Third round: number 104 for Burnett
It’s disappointing that that’s all we get for Burnett.
Our draft order for the June draft
First round: number 20
Sandwich pick:number 37-for Burnett
Second round: Number 69
Third Round: Number 101
Third round: number 104 for Burnett
It’s disappointing that that’s all we get for Burnett.
sorry for the multiple posts
I’m getting everyone I know, here in Dallas, Texas, to vote for our jays and see if we can get Adam Lind in as the write-in candidate, INSTEAD OF ALEX RIOS.
LET’S GO FOR IT! HE’LL BE THE SECOND BLUE JAY AS A WRITE-IN, AND BEAT RIOS NUMBER OF VOTES FROM HIS ROOKIE SEASON.
SORRY, IT’S TOO LATE, SOME HAVE ALREADY STARTED WITH THE GAME PLAN.
I’m getting everyone I know, here in Dallas, Texas, to vote for our jays and see if we can get Adam Lind in as the write-in candidate, INSTEAD OF ALEX RIOS.
LET’S GO FOR IT! HE’LL BE THE SECOND BLUE JAY AS A WRITE-IN, AND BEAT RIOS NUMBER OF VOTES FROM HIS ROOKIE SEASON.
SORRY, IT’S TOO LATE, SOME HAVE ALREADY STARTED WITH THE GAME PLAN.