Blue Jays 2009

[salsamarc]

Brett Cecil, the young lefty who got the win in last night's 8-3 victory, arrived on the scene May 1 along with right-hander Rob Ray.

At the time, general manager J.P. Ricciardi said "they really shouldn't be here" and that they were simply "holding down the fort" until some of the injured pitchers such as Ricky Romero, Jesse Litsch and Casey Janssen were healthy enough to contribute.

Apparently, that's not the case

Romero and Janssen will not be called up any time soon and in the interim, the short term, maybe the long term, the Jays will continue to roll out the likes of Cecil, Ray, Scott Richmond and transplanted reliever Brian Tallet.

 

[teassoc]

Brett Cecil, the young lefty who got the win in last night's 8-3 victory, arrived on the scene May 1 along with right-hander Rob Ray.

At the time, general manager J.P. Ricciardi said "they really shouldn't be here" and that they were simply "holding down the fort" until some of the injured pitchers such as Ricky Romero, Jesse Litsch and Casey Janssen were healthy enough to contribute.

Apparently, that's not the case

Romero and Janssen will not be called up any time soon and in the interim, the short term, maybe the long term, the Jays will continue to roll out the likes of Cecil, Ray, Scott Richmond and transplanted reliever Brian Tallet.

I would have thought that Richmond and Ray would retain their places only by playing well. Right now they both have something to prove.

 

[SkyRider]

Robert Ray pitched a masterpiece to-day and deserved the W. With a young pitcher, it is best to withhold judgment until he has been around the circuit at least once to see whether the other team's hitter have adjusted.

 

[salsamarc]

a few trivial points about this season:

Toronto's four rookie pitchers (lefty Ricky Romero, righty Scott Richmond, lefty Brett Cecil and righty Robert Ray) have gone 9-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 16 starts this season. ... With the Jays' 11 hits on Saturday, the team reached 400 hits on the season. That ties the club record for fewest games needed to reach that mark, set in 2006.....Through Friday, the Jays ranked second in the American League in fielding percentage at .988, behind Minnesota at .990.

 

[teassoc]

Jays now 3 games ahead of Boston. Yankees are catching Boston fast - after the next few games vs Jays, they might have overtaken them!

 

[squash500]

Took in my first jays game of the season this afternoon. Jays looking good. Nice three run homer by Adam Lind. Doc started out a bit shaky but settled down nicely.

Jays record is now 26-14 .

 

[blueline]

Jays now 3 games ahead of Boston. Yankees are catching Boston fast - after the next few games vs Jays, they might have overtaken them!

That is very likely to happen. Jays are getting the Sox at a good time because they are brutal right about now. Worst starting pitching in the AL, second worst in all of MLB. Jays pitching will be facing pretty much a 3-4 man lineup, Youkilis may be back this series, but not til Weds at the earliest. Ortiz sat his ass on the bench the entire series in Seattle and will no doubt be put back into the 3-hole for the Jays series, while facing two lefties.

So do the math. Worst starting pitching vs. best hitting = many runs. Decent pitching vs. a combo of Kottaras, Varitek, Lugo, Green, Bailey, Baldelli, Ortiz, Lowell and his league leading 11 GIDP = no runs. Jays should try to hit the ball to the 6-hole where Lugo/Green have combined for 11 errors thus far. Scutaro has made how many? Zero last time I heard.

Prediction - it will be a slaughter for Toronto, who will take at least 2 of 3. Boston's only hope is game three because Lester normally pitches very well at Fenway.

Wakefield v. Tallet
Penny v. Cecil
Lester v. Ray

Thank goodness Doc isn't pitching. Maybe they can score 1-2 runs against these other guys.

Yankees are heating up and will be home to the Orioles so 3rd place for the Sox is looming.

 

[mandrill]

a few trivial points about this season:

Toronto's four rookie pitchers (lefty Ricky Romero, righty Scott Richmond, lefty Brett Cecil and righty Robert Ray) have gone 9-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 16 starts this season. ...

2 of those losses are Richmond's last 2 starts. The other 3 guys have lost 1 game between them.

Today's game is perhaps a test for Richmond. Was his bad start against NYY just nerves? Or have the hitters figured him out now?

 

[mandrill]

Prediction - it will be a slaughter for Toronto, who will take at least 2 of 3. Boston's only hope is game three because Lester normally pitches very well at Fenway.

Wakefield v. Tallet
Penny v. Cecil
Lester v. Ray

Thank goodness Doc isn't pitching. Maybe they can score 1-2 runs against these other guys.

This is a crafty Massachusetts strategy to lull us into complacency and then ambush us.

Won't work. The Fenway is a crazy place to play. A pitcher only needs 1 bad inning and there are 5 runs on the board in 15 minutes. And the Sox smashed NYY there earlier this year.

Jays are too savvy to fall for your cunning scheme, blueline.

 

[blueline]

This is a crafty Massachusetts strategy to lull us into complacency and then ambush us.

Won't work. The Fenway is a crazy place to play. A pitcher only needs 1 bad inning and there are 5 runs on the board in 15 minutes. And the Sox smashed NYY there earlier this year.

Jays are too savvy to fall for your cunning scheme, blueline.

Sox fans are getting desperate.

However, everything I said about the Sox is very true.

 

[teassoc]

2 of those losses are Richmond's last 2 starts. The other 3 guys have lost 1 game between them.

Today's game is perhaps a test for Richmond. Was his bad start against NYY just nerves? Or have the hitters figured him out now?

I agree. Let's hope for the best. However, no one wants another Josh Towers type (i.e. good start followed by endless failures) to be hanging around when there is so much talent to call on.

Otherwise I understand Janssen seems to be next in line for returning to the line-up. Romero and Litsch have seemingly not impressed as yet.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I predict Jays will take 1 of 3 from Boston. (Boston is 13W 4L at home this year.)
Wakefield should win his game unless it's a windy day and wind messes up his knuckleball.
And I think Jays will split last two games because Jay pitchers are rookies facing really good hitters and one of them will get rattled and distracted by the Fenway aura and lose his focus.

I'm getting the feeling that Yankees are going to power their way to another division title and other teams will have to gouge each others eyeballs out to get the wildcard and that it will likely be a really dirty war.

 

[salsamarc]

I say 2 out 3 in Boston (you gotta remember that 7 weeks into the season this team is averaging 6 runs per game and Fenway is a hitters park)

with big pappi playing poor and no Manny (he always punished Jays pitchers) we will also have a lot of confidence specially if we can take all 4 from the other soxs today

 

[The LoLRus]

Scott Richmond reminds me of Pat Hentgen

 

[mandrill]

Does anyone else think that Snider should go to AAA to work on his hitting?

 

[ROGER O. THORNHILL]

No AAA for Snider

Does anyone else think that Snider should go to AAA to work on his hitting?

No he shouldn't. He will never get the kind of coaching he gets from Cito and Tenace from AAA. Knowing he'll be back to The Show, he'll just get impatient and bored. Facing Major League pitchers is exactly what he needs.

Halladay was just announced as AL pitcher of the week.

Rios just tripled giving us the go ahead run. That's what a #3 hitter should do!

 

[SkyRider]

Rios just tripled giving us the go ahead run. That's what a #3 hitter should do!

Jays win 3-2. He deserves to get the W but will Scott Richmond get credit for the win?

 

[salsamarc]

Does anyone else think that Snider should go to AAA to work on his hitting?

send Wells to work on his hitting he was practically invisible in this series

 

[salsamarc]

Jays win 3-2. He deserves to get the W but will Scott Richmond get credit for the win?

no, the W goes to Carlson since he pitched the 8th so he blows the hold, gets the win but it was Richmond's who deserves the credit in this one

 

[Goomer]

If there's two guys on this team that I'm not pleased with, it's Vernon Wells (the most overpriced cleanup hitter in the game) and Jesse Carlson! And the fact that Carlson gets the win after blowing the 8th, and Richmond gets nothing after pitching a gem of a game, is simply not fair! That totally blows for Scott Richmond!

On the plus side, they got the win, and a win is a win! They just swept a 4 game series at home, which was pretty sweet, and have solidified their lead on the division to 3.5 games! Now if they can go to Fenway and win 2 out of 3, that will sit the naysayers down and get people finally believing that the '09 Jays are the real deal!