Catch you down the road
I am heading back to Toronto in the morning and will have the next four days off — not making the trek to Kansas City for the big John Gibbons-Blue Jays reunion. As much as I’d love to see Gibby, I’ll take the days off at home with The Wife. So, the blog will likely be quiet until Toronto’s next homestand, barring news of course.
~JB
Major League Bastian 
I hope you and The Wife! have a great time!
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
Looking ahead, the Jays should be very happy get out of KC with a series split. They’ve got Meche and Greinke, and no Halladay for the first series this year.
a split would be very good on the road without Halladay. Who knows though maybe we can steal another one.
All pitchers have bad days, all pitchers have teams that haunt them. The White Sox was Doc’s nightmare, he had never won in Chi, now he has.
Let’s face it Doc is this team not VW who JP gave the francise to.
No single player is the team…
Can see KC being a potential banana skin, but still like the Jays’ chances of taking three (or possibly even four if Castro takes Burres’ place). Sure the Jays pitching hasn’t been quite as dominant as it was last year, but they are up against a Royals’ offence which couldn’t hit itself out of a paper bag… I’d take our solid hitting and average pitching (for a third best ERA team) over KC’s very good pitching (potentially over-performing) and vacuous hitting.
http://sjg-hr.mlblogs.com/
KC’s team era is 3.47, ours is 3.90, but a lot of the reason KC’s era is so low is Zack Greinke has 4 starts, went 29 innings and has yet to give up a run. My take is he’s overdue for a pounding. In addition , Gil Meche (era or 2.63) is a good 1.0 below his career average, so I’d bet he’s overdue for a bad one as well. Both bullpens share the identical era of 2.41.
The runs scored per game is Blue Jays 6.2 and KC 2.6. Blue Jays team BA is .298 and KC’s is .240. We’ve had 8 errors in 20 games (778 chances), KC has 7 errors in 18 games (663 chances).
Blue Jays are 7-3 on the road and KC are 4-5 at home.
Maybe someone can answer my question.
Why do we have Burres and Bullington in the majors? What the heck has hapenned to Accardo? Didn’t this guy save 20+ games for us 2 seasons ago?
Well, we needed a starter and Accardo can’t start. Cito also said they wanted someone in the bullpen who could pitch long relief. Accardo is a one inning guy.
Accardo is in a rehab start somewhere today i think.
I think Janssen is pitching in Dunedin.
Didn’t realize KC’s offense was that bad this year. Maybe the Jays could sneak out of there 3-1.
Jordan,
Would you please pass the following message along to your colleagues at mlb.com:
Dear mlb.com (in aprticular the people who put together the front page):
In case you have not noticed there are more teams in major league baseball than the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. You drive me crazy with the way you ignore virtually all other teams, certainly in the American League. I get the Boston and new York markets are sacred to mlb; but please pretend there is more to the baseball universe. by the way there is a team in Toronto in first place. Even last night on ESPN Dave Campbell was dissing the Blue Jays because they haven’t played against the East yet. That would be the tough AL East with the 7-12 Rays, the 9-10 Oriolies and the 9-9 Yankees. Give me a break you media hacks.
Janssen has now gone 4 innings in Dunedin and given up 2 hits, 2 walks, 2 k?s and no runs. So it looks like help is on the way.
That should read 3-k’s
Here we go again getting beat by one of the worst teams in the league, the free ride is over, Purcey is a pice of crap.
The good news of the day is Janssen going 4 and Litcsh cleared for throwing. Maybe both will be back in a month.
When i said Purcey is a pice of crap, I meant at this time.
Thats piece both times.lol.
Doesn’t David Purcey remind you of Kelvim Escobar? He’s great one day and bites the next. Both have power arms with control issues. Escobar turned out to be a pretty good pitcher after the Jays gave up on him, and I hope it doesn’t take Purcey that long to come around. He has a few more starts to get it together, because Jansen will likely replace Burres. When either Litsch or Romero are ready, Cito will have to decide whether to move Tallet back to the bullpen, or send Purcey for some rehab work in AAA. Once both R&L are ready, Purcey had better have both his yichees in one hand, or he’s outta here!
Accardo is in AAA trying to relearn the splitter that made him so effective a couple years ago.
Brett Cecil struckout 5, walked only 1, gave up 3 earned and pitched 6 innings in a loss today in Sacramento. Much better than his 3 previous starts in AAA. Although, pitching stats in the Pacific Coast League tend to be inflated as it is notorious for being a hitters league! For some reason, it is tough to pitch there.
Anyway, the kid is progressing and we will probably need him later amid these injury problems.
So maybe we want Halladay, Richmond, Tallet and two days of rain until we get some reinforcements. lol
Excellent start by Richmond, great over all performance by the offense and we’re back into first place with Boston loosing to Cleveland. Richmond did give up 4 of the 5 hits to lefties, but minimized the damage each time.
Interesting to see KC pitch around Snider, knowing his BA with risp is now .455. Not often have I seen a rook get that kind of treatment.
Also, League touched 97 tonight for the first time this year. Maybe his velocity and control are coming back, the more work he gets.
I’m guessing that League had been backing it off a bit (only 93-94 mph!) in order to get better control. Now that he’s hitting the strike zone (8 strikes for 11 pitches), he can step on the gas.
Fletcher was commenting last night that a baseball game is a race to get to the middle relievers. With the Jays, that may not be such a good strategy.
I’m also guessing that there are not too many first basemen that could have made the throw to third that Overbay made in the first.
For sure that was a great play by Overbay. Hmmm, i wonder were all the Overbay head hunters are now???.
Scott Richmond is now 3 and 0, On some of the earlier post here a lot of people on here and i mean a lot did not want Richmond to come North with the team, i for one did and i’m sure glad he did.
Halladay, Richmond, Romero, Tallet, Litsch, will make a great starting rotation.
I wouldn’t have guessed it either, garryguy, but that’s why they play the games, eh?
Halladay, Richmond, Romero, Jansen, Litsch, with Tallet as a stopper in the bullpen. How’s that? I still haven’t given up on Purcey, because he has got a great arm, but it may take some time to get it under control. Cito will go with him as long as he can, but once Romero and Litsch are back, someone has to go, and Richmond is the better pitcher right now.
Tallet is a much better pitcher than he was 3 years ago, Janssen will make a good long reliver in the pen, I don’t see him as a starter anymore.
I don’t think McGowan will ever be back, and we can’t be sure about Marcum.
Send Purcey down to -A- ball like they did to Doc and see what happens.
I hear you about McGowan, garryguy. Shoulder injuries are a LOT more troublesome for pitchers than elbows, but I’m not counting him out yet. I’ve contended for some time that even if Marcum returns to his former self, he may not make the rotation next year. I know the Jays see Jansen as a starter, and since he will be the first one back, he will likely replace Burres. When Richmond and Litsch return, it will depend on who’s hot and who’s not. I know Tallet is a good starter, but I like him in the pen because he can rescue a starter and shut down a nasty situation before it gets out of hand. Jansen starting with Tallet and Camp as a lefty-righty backup team for a young rotation makes a lot of sense to me.
It means that if they are not leading by the time our starter is done, they are probably not going to win, and I can get an extra hour of sleep when they play out West.
I haven’t counted Purcey out either. He has 5-6 starts before Litsch and Romero are ready, and that may be enough time for him to get his ducks in a line and have some good outings.
I don’t see what the team has to lose by bringing up Castro to fill in for Burres.
I don’t understand why they picked up Burres in the first place.
I can sit and watch Purcey develope but not Burres.
Doesn’t look like tonite game will get in the forcast in Kansas calls for thunder showers with a 90% chance of precipitation. Lets hope that it is because it could me that we could skip another of Burres’ starts.
Have any of you guys noticed how much Richmond looks like Bert of sesame street.lol.
Look at all the Kansas players, they look like a football team, I wonder how many are on ROIDS.
Why is it that the Jays swing at the first or second pitch all the time, No wonder a starter last 7 or 8 INN. per game against them. in point Wells, Overbay, Snider, Rios.
To this point they have the best offense in the league and became the first team to score an earned run off Zack Greinke and yet there are complaints about them swinging at the first or second pitch all the time. Some people can never be happy, it seems. Lyle Overbay has an OBP of .426 by the way, guys don’t get that by swinging early all the time.
Tallet came down to earth today.
Enigma.
Stick it where the sun don’t shine.
Lets see what you have to say in another month when the Jays are under 500 goof.
I keep reading the comments by some of the fans on the Jays home page, and for the life of me i can’t understand why no one sees Richmond in the starting lineup in the future, what does this guy have to do to prove himself, stand on his head and crap nickles. All he has done so far is go 3 and 0 and i believe the Jays won the game he had a no decision in.
Burres is the man today, i for one would not bet on him to win at 20 to 1. When the Jays showed up in Kansas they could not hit their way out of a wet paper bag, wow what happend.
I think this team is getting tired . They had 1 day off in April, there next day off not coming until May 11 and thats coming back from a trip to the west coast . They have done a spectacular job with the patched together rotation they have used . Kudos to the players and managers for their accomplishments thus far…GO JAYSSSSSSSSSS
Garry, You are a Jerk! You are wrong 95% of the time or make dumb comments 99% of the time but yet you attack Enigma for pointing out how dumb your comments are. No one else here does that so why do you feel the need to act like a 10 year old? Who flippin cares what pitch they swing at!?! You are supposed to swing at your pitch regardless of which pitch it is in the count. Someone who’s played the game would know that.
The Jays have the hottest offence in the league but Garry is upset that they are swinging at the first or second pitch!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG something has to change!!!! We need to see more pitches or we won’t win. We should not start an AB until we are down 0-2… I’ve just realized that Garry is Denbo. HAHA!!! Give me a friggin break!
Could be the team is tired, but before the season started, if someone had suggested they’d be 15-8 at the end of April, we’d have laughed them off the board. Considering Burres, the 12th starter in the Jays depth chart is going today, would it be such a surprise if they lost?. Let’s pray it rains out.
This team has played remarkable baseball with a rotation held together with shoe strings and glue. The two major question marks before the season started (Rolen & Overbay) have played beyond anyone’s most positive expectations and I’m not sure any of us understood how much this team missed Aaron Hill last year.
Combine that with Lind maturing, Snider (with his .455 Ba with risp), and Scutaro delivering a hot OBP of .422 as a lead off hitter has resulted in a strong offense, and Rios is still struggling.
Hill isn’t going to hit .376 all year, but Rios isn’t going to hit .237 either. Point is this offense could be for real and it will only get better the more Snider plays and Rios wakes up.
We should get Romero and Janssen back in a couple of weeks, maybe 3 and Litcsh in 4-5. Both Mills & Cecil seem to be adjusting to AAA and are better each start while Fabio Castro in AA is also a potential option. So in short order, we will have a surplus of starters with tough decisions to make about who stays and who goes.
Point is, our defense is the best in baseball, our pen is either the best or close to it, our offense has shown they can hit with the best of them. When we get our rotation set and consistent in 3 weeks, this team could really go on a roll. So enjoy the ride and pray it rains today and every day Burres is set to go, we just need to hang in there till we get our guys back.
Anyone watch League today ? He had some fantastic movement on his pitches and threw it for strikes, I certainly hope that continues…..Jays aren’t out of this game yet. As I type Lind just hit a two run homerun!
GS, I agree with your comments completely, though I will add that I don’t expect Scutaro to continue with an OBP higher than .400. I’d like to be proven wrong though.
Well, if nothing else, today proved two things. First, this team has heart-almost came back enough to win. Second, Burres is a bigger disaster than anyone thought he’d be, but I think help is on the way and that’s the last start Burres makes.
Just so we remember Burres two game wonderful totals:
6.1 innings pitched
12 runs given up-10 of which were earned
5 walks
4 k’s.
However, Fabio Castro has moved from AA New Hampshire to AAA Vegas, where the starter for tonight’s game is tbd. It could be, Castro goes tonight and then would magically line up to go here when Burres’s next start would be. Or it also could be someone else is called up from Vegas.
The Brian Burres and Bryan Burlington experiments are officially over with both being re-assigned to Vegas tonight. However, what isn’t announced yet is who’s being called up to fill the roles. The likeliest candidates to fill Burlington’s role are Accardo (2.25era over 8 innings) and Johan Bayliss ( 0.00 era over 14 innings). Bayliss has struck out 18 and walked 6, while Accardo has struck out 4 and walked 2.
As posted above Fabio Castro is starting for Vegas tonight and although his pitch count is a bit high, he’s now gone 2 innings, gave up 3 hits, no runs, 0 walks and 1k.
So the 3 likely candidates are Mills, Castro and Wade Miller, Cecil is still struggling, so my guess is he won’t be the chosen one. Miller is another reclamation project who has gone 19.2 innings with an era of 4.12. I expect we’ll now soon.
A report in the New York Daily News alleged that in a new book on Alex Rodriguez to be published this Monday by Harper Collins, the star tipped pitches when he was with the Texas Rangers, essentially signaling to friendly opponents what pitch was coming. SI senior writer Selena Roberts, who along with David Epstein broke the story in February about A-Rod’s use of performance enhancing drugs, wrote the book and talked to SI.com about the allegations.
SI.com: The book claims that A-Rod tipped opposing players to pitches in the late innings of blowouts, an affront not only to teammates but also to the integrity of the game. How often was this practice performed and how does this affect his standing with his peers?
Selena Roberts: The pitch-tipping was often enough over three years to become a pattern noticeable by the ex-Rangers sources that I spoke to. Only a small number of Rangers knew about the quid pro quo that Alex was involved in and did not want it to spread around the clubhouse because it would have been devastating to the team.
Cecil’s one walk last outing probably helped him get the call up. Purcey and Burres couldn’t find their command. Quite frankly, I was scared to see what would happen to Burres if he actually did.
I’m exited to see Cecil. He is young, so even if he gets hit hard it will be okay. He is definately in our plans for the future. Nobody thought it would be this soon, but our rotation some problems right now!