They Always Win When I'm Not Watching

Looks like a nice win for the Jays tonight, despite a late scare.  Too bad I was flying back to Saskatoon from down east.  Maybe I just need to avoid seeing the games more, since that seems to be the only time they win these days.  Probably just my imagination.

Rzepczynski had a nice start, three hits and one walk against six strikeouts in six and a third.  With only one earned run.  That's quality.  Of course it looks like League had one of his trademark off nights and just about lost it.  In any case, it's a win against one of the top teams in baseball, so let's just be happy about it.

What Happened?

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote on here.  Between traveling and being busy at home I haven't been able to watch as much as usual.  And that might be a good thing.  I don't know what's happened, but somehow the Jays have, over the course of this season, gone from a good team playing great baseball to a good team scrapping for wins with an inexperienced pitching staff, to a team that just can't seem to win.

The losses of Rios and Rolen took away some of our star power.  But they also cleared some room for a couple of call ups.  Travis Snider is back up (finally), and did well against the Red Sox last night with a homer in his first at bat since returning to the big club.  Off Josh Beckett, no less.  And this Randy Ruiz "kid" looks good as well, showing some power.  Of course it's tough to get too excited about a 31 year old AAA callup...

This season is effectively over.  I have put off calling it as long as I could, but I have to concede it now.  Best thing to do is make good use of the forty man roster and develop the tools they have coming up, and look to the winter to try and convince Doc to stay by getting some help.

So Long Alex

Honestly, I was surprised to learn that the Jays had let Alex Rios go for no compensation. Maybe I shouldn't have been. The reality is that in Toronto Rios never lived up to his potential, and maybe he never would have. It could be that his ceiling was overestimated. It could be that he was a victim of the hitting philosphies enforced by the Gibbons regime. Either way, he wasn't giving us the production needed for someone making his salary.

Nonetheless, I'm sad to see him go. He's a fantastic fielder (maybe a move to CF in Chicago will help him out), and good on the bases. But ultimately, if freeing up salary helps us land a free agent or two in the winter, it's the right choice.

Best of luck, Alex.

Celebration Spoiled

It's hard losing to the Orioles at the best of times. But tonight, when guys from the '92 and '93 teams were in town, celebrating the best years of the club, it's even worse.

I'm a Ricky Romero fan. But the sixth inning does not seem kind to him this year. I hope he's learning, and will be ready to come out strong next year. If we can have a rotation of Doc, Marcum, Romero, maybe Richmond, and maybe even pick up another decent starter, with the same position crew as this year, we would be in good shape in 2010. Still, it's difficult to already be acknowledging that we need to look ahead already.

In other news, I was startled by the announcement that Alex Rios had been put on waivers today. That was until I looked into it a bit deeper and learned a bit more about the waiver process. I'm thinking more and more that he won't ever reach his potential in Toronto, and may need a fresh start. So if we can get a prospect, or even a useful veteran, for him that might not be so bad.

Unexpected Changes

I've been away for a few days, basically unable to watch the games the way I'd like. But following along as best I can nonetheless. I can't say I was surprised to see Doc stay in Toronto, and I'm encouraged that Ricciardi didn't settle for less than premier value for the ace. But I was surprised to see Rolen go. And a bit disappointed. Rolen's a guy I never bought into when he first came over. Starting last season on the DL didn't help his cause. I felt at the time that we had traded one fragile third baseman for another. And the new guy wasn't going to hit for Glaus' power.

But this year Rolen proved me wrong. Not only was he hitting nicely over .300, and had that long hit streak, he was absolutely outstanding in the field. He was an integral part of the Jays amazing defensive core this year. I don't know much about Encarnacion, but I will try to give him the benefit of the doubt, knowing he's been hurt part of this year. He's young enough to have some room to develop, and for the money savings if he can even be average maybe this move will allow us to spend a bit more on some veteran presence in the winter.

And maybe that will help us sway Doc.

Jays Go Downs Again

On a day when Boston and New York both lost surely Toronto would pull off a win.  You know, climb a token rung on the AL East ladder.  And when you look at the game tonight, their staff mostly did what was needed.  Mostly.

Rzepczynski looked rough to start the game, balking Ichiro over to second with none out.  Ichiro would come home to score, filling me with dread for the unravelling I have come to expect.  But the rookie settled in and actually pitched a very solid game after that (until the sixth, when, in rookie pitcher style, he started to fall apart).  He only gave up five hits and two walks, and managed eight K's (through 5.1 innings).  I'll call that a good start.

And of course the Jays offense saved themselves for late, scoring all three of their runs in the seventh and eighth innings.  This game was really defined by pitching though, and the part I'll remember most is Scott Downs, the Jays de facto closer, coming into a tie game in the bottom of the ninth and putting the first two batters on (a single and a walk).  The third batter (Chris Woodward) bunted, and with the ball rolling toward third Downs looked to easily grab it and get the lead runner.  But he missed it, so instead of one out and runners at first and second we had none out, bases loaded.

To Downs' credit he settled in after that.  The next batter grounded into an easy force out at the plate, and the one after that struck out.  But that left Ichiro to come in, two down, bases loaded.  He was two for three with a walk to that point, and as it turned out the Japanese hit production concern wasn't prepared to let up.  He hit a flare to short center field and the game came to an abrupt end.

That leaves the Jays 12.5 games back in the division.  But hey, at least they still have the best pitcher in baseball...

Slugging Out a Win

Nice to get back to winning again. Sure it's only Seattle. And Romero didn't exactly have a great outing tonight. But the bats came around with some emphasis. And against one of the top pitchers in the AL this year (Felix Hernandez). Not too much else to say. Great win. I'll enjoy it while I can.

Got One Back

Finally, a solid win. Unfortunately is came on a day I was unable to watch. But judging from the box score it looks like the Jays found a comfortable win. Four hits and three walks by Brett Cecil over seven innings. That's not bad. And the only run by the Rays came off a solo home run. Looks like a good outing for the kid.

The bad news is we managed to lose two of three in the series, so we wind up dropping another game on the Rays. Tomorrow we get Ricky Romero vs Felix Hernandez from Seattle. I'm looking forward to that one. Seattle's a very beatable club (of course, so was Cleveland...), so we'll be looking for some wins.

On the Halladay front it's looking less likely every day that a deal will be made with Philadelphia, and it seems teams are balking at the high price tag on Doc. So I'll choose to cling to what little hope is left for this season.

Extra Problems

Sigh. Today looked like a lock. Tallet looked great through six innings, and the Jays managed to pound runs in at a rate of two per inning through the first four. But with a 9-0 lead heading into the seventh the wheels came off. Tallet seemed to fall apart, needing League to bail him out. Even then we managed to get to the top of the ninth up two. Then our closer gave up two home runs. Tie game.

Both teams managed to hold each other off until the twelfth, where once again the visitors proved superior. A great come from behind win if you're a Rays fan. Sadly, I am not.

And now reports are coming in that the Jays sent an offer to Philadelphia regarding Roy Halladay, which was rejected as being a bit too much for the Phillies to give up. It looks like the tension is ramping up over the next few days. It'll be interesting to see where Halladay, Vernon Wells, Scott Rolen and Marco Scutaro are in a week. Personally I hope they're all still in Toronto.

Extra Innings Again

Such a tough loss tonight. A game that should be remembered for the incredible pitching duel between Halladay and Matt Garza will mostly be noted instead for the 10th inning collapse by Scott Downs. The usually lights out reliever got the first two batters before letting Upton and Crawford on. And those are the two guys you don't want on the base paths. Longoria's bloop to shallow left center was almost snatched by a diving Joe Inglett, but in reality it always looked to hit the floor. With two out already the runners were off and that was it. The Jays went 1-2-3 in the bottom and game over.

Never mind, of course, that both starters went the full nine. And despite Doc's three walks given up he managed to strike out ten. Garza did perhaps even better, walking none and striking out nine. An absolute gem of a performance by both.

Boston and New York both won today, so we drop a bit further. One more step towards more rebuilding.

The Roller Coaster

Up down up down. Crazy what I put myself through as a Blue Jays fan. Rzepczynski (Yes, I had to look up the spelling, and not I'm not one hundred percent sure I got it right even still) started out very good, conceding only one run through the first four innings. But it seemed to take him a lot of pitches to do it. I like this kid, he doesn't show any fear, and handles himself well on the mound. But in the fifth he seemed to fall apart a bit, and really that was the game right there.

Still, it was nice to see Hill get his 22nd homer. If we want to look for throwbacks to the 92/93 Jays (and believe me, I do) I think Hill is as good a stand in for Roberto Alomar, at least right now, as you'll find in baseball. Maybe Ian Kinsler would be another, but I have to think Hill is right there.

Losing a series to this version of the Cleveland Indians shouldn't happen. In all three games our rookie pitching staff hasn't been able to reach the level we need. It's a well known fact that injuries to our staff have been the biggest problem this year, so I'll look at the positives and say that at least these kids are getting some top level experience. The future looks bright, it's just the present I can't deal with.

In non Blue Jays news, Mark Buehrle managed to pitch only the 18th perfect game in MLB history today (with some fantastic defensive help from DeWayne Wise). Congratulations to him and all that. It's an achievement that really can't be overstated. But, perhaps more importantly, the win came against Tampa Bay...

It's Like A Different Team

After the scarcity of scoring last night I was surprised to see the combined 16 run outburst by Cleveland and the Jays tonight. Romero was lucky to take the win, giving up six hits and five walks in his 5.1 innings. Not exactly what we've been coming to expect from the kid. Maybe this is a sign of the rookie wall? I hope not.

The game tonight was notable for the sudden outburst of home runs, with even Vernon Wells and Alex Rios managing to get in on the action (on the same night no less!). And Scutaro hit two! I'm hoping this performance will boost the confidence a bit, maybe spark a run for the Jays. It can be pretty depressing this time of year, having fallen to 10+ games behind the leader and unable to even attempt to play catch up. Luckily tonight both Boston and Tampa Bay lost, so even though we don't gain any ground on the Yankees (they won) at least the win was productive.

Another plus was Brandon League. The good version showed up tonight. After he hit Ryan Garko with his first pitch, that is. Once he settled in he looked solid, using his almost unhittable splitter effectively. It's gonna be interesting to watch him the rest of this year and see how frequently he's able to put these performances together.

On the Roy Halladay front things seem to be cooling off a bit. ESPN.com reports that Ricciardi is setting a deadline of July 28 to have a deal done, but the sense I get from around the net is that this trade is becoming more unlikely. Good news for Jays fans, at least in the short term.

Last Minute Defeat

Tough loss for the Jays tonight. Not in the usual way, though, as a late throwing error helped keep the Indians alive long enough to score two in the ninth. But really, this game should have been settled long before.

In each of the first four innings Cleveland managed to get a runner as far as third, and while Brett Cecil did well to work out of those situations he shouldn't have found himself in them. On TSN Rod Black referred to the rookie's performance as a masterpiece, but as we hear so often the man with Olympic voice seems to have misspoke.

Sure, the nine strikeouts (in seven innings) were great, and taken on their own the seven hits by Cleveland don't look so bad. But the four walks seemed to come with bad timing, and limited Cecil's outing to the realm of merely decent. Despite the big home run by Scott Rolen, to put the Jays ahead in the seventh, Cliff Lee looked the better pitcher all night. And of course he should, given he's the reigning Cy Young winner and Cecil is still a rookie. I'm just being realistic.

Ultimately this was a game Toronto really needed to win. Every game is crucial right now, of course, but especially the first in a home series against a weak team. We'll get anothr shot at them tomorrow, this time with my favourite rookie lefty, Ricky Romero, on the hill.