Blue Jays 2009

[ckupets04]

Fuck these guys choke more than a rookie trying to deepthroat!

Good job by Overbay on that fielding error in the 9th that set up the Indians comeback eh? It was an aggressive play and I like that he was being aggressive and he would have gotten Valbueno out had the throw been on target but he air mailed it and that was really the turning point of the ball game.

That all being said the Blue Jays were lucky to have even had a lead in this game. The Indians left a lot of runners on base in this ball game particularly in the early innings of the game but it seemed like Cecil would get a timely K or good defense just when he needed it most and he kept on getting out of those innings unscathed. Cecil pitched well but Cliff Lee pitched better in my opinion, the only mistake of course was the pitch to Rolen which was a no doubter out of the park.. Also in the top of the 7th the Indians almost scored runs too but again the Jays escaped unscathed. With 2 outs Overbay made a great play on the Choo hit but Cecil was late getting over to 1B and then Martinez doubled to left and Aaron Hill had a lapse in concentration on that play and missed the tag. It was a textbook slide by Martinez but still it was probably a tag that Hill should have made. So the Tribe had runners on 2nd and 3rd w/ 2 out but Cecil got Pronk to ground out to 2B which Hill made a pretty good defensive play on.

Rolen also made a nice play to end the top half of the 9th inning throwing a strike to Hill at 2B to get Peralta out. Heads up play by Rolen b/c he knew he couldnt get the out at 1B due to the speed of Francisco.

For a while there it looked like the Jays were gonna win the ball game and Lee was gonna be a victim of what he has been a victim of all season long - poor run-support as Tabby and Rod Black illustrated during the telecast.

Some other misc. notes on the game....
1. It was nice to see Hentgen in the booth there chatting with Tabby and Black in the 4th inning
2. Tabby was right - he had the porn stache going on those baseball cards they showed of him.

 

[Rockslinger]

For a while there it looked like the Jays were gonna win the ball game and Lee was gonna be a victim of what he has been a victim of all season long - poor run-support

The Jays have to win these games if they are to have any hope of finishing at .500. Rolen hits only 7 home runs and we wasted one of them. BTW Did Vernon Wells play to-night?

 

[ckupets04]

The Jays have to win these games if they are to have any hope of finishing at .500. Rolen hits only 7 home runs and we wasted one of them. BTW Did Vernon Wells play to-night?

Yep, Vernon did play tonight. Didnt do anything offensively but then again the Jays as team didnt do much offensively either and Cliff Lee pitched very well. Early in the game there were a couple of plays where Wells was challenged defensively and he tried to track down some balls but they were just out of his reach. I was disappointed that he didnt make the play on at least one of them. It would have been very good catch had he made it but still I think its fair to at least expect him to make one of those out of the two opportunities that came his way.

 

[ckupets04]

Anyone watch tonight's ball game? The long ball definitely did it for the Jays tonight. And it was nice to have Wells and Rios contribute with some power for a change. The 5th inning was really the key inning for the Blue Jays. It all started with the Rios solo shot but then Pavano got Dellucci and Chavez out for 2 quick outs and then the Jays did a lot of their damage in that inning with 2 outs. How about that HR by Scutaro in the 5th on the 0-2 pitch from Pavano, seemed like Scutaro didnt even get all of it but he got enough of it to send it out of the park. And then the Rolen bloop single that scored Lind seemed to be baseball justice because Rolen had hit a ball really hard to CF earlier in the game but had nothing to show for it. On that bloop single Rolen broke his bat on a pitch that jammed him and he got an RBI single. Rolen was then able to score on the Overbay double b/c he had a running start on the 3-2 pitch to Overbay.

Romero seemed to be pitching well until the 6th inning. The BBs have been a problem for him though in recent starts. It was again tonight. He is having some command issues.

Funny moment in the 7th when Garko got HBP and then he picked up the ball, I was wondering if he was gonna pick it up and throw it at League, would have been funny if he did that.

That home plate umpire tonight though had a pretty tight K-zone didnt he?

I am glad those kids in the stands was actually Tabler's kids. For a second I was thinking what the hell are these kids wearing Tabler jerseys for.

 

[Rockslinger]

I am glad those kids in the stands was actually Tabler's kids.

I think he said that 3 of those kids are his but the other 3 are his brother's or something like that. I don't think all 6 boys are his. Who has 6 kids in this day and age (the poor mother)?

 

[maurice93]

Anybody watching the Dodgers game. The Dodgers fans love Manny - its like he did nothing.

It was his bobblehead night, not sure why he did not start, but they brought him into pinch hit in the sixth with the bases loaded.... crowd in a fury... one pitch, line drive grand slam.

 

[samgyeopsal27]

Anybody watching the Dodgers game. The Dodgers fans love Manny - its like he did nothing.

It was his bobblehead night, not sure why he did not start, but they brought him into pinch hit in the sixth with the bases loaded.... crowd in a fury... one pitch, line drive grand slam.

Manny took a fastball on the hand on Tuesday's game, so they didn't start him.

 

[ckupets04]

I think he said that 3 of those kids are his but the other 3 are his brother's or something like that. I don't think all 6 boys are his. Who has 6 kids in this day and age (the poor mother)?

Yeah there was that one kid that turned around and was showing off the Tabler jersey and I suspected that thats who Tabler was referring to.

 

[splover69]

Go Red Soxs Go

 

[blueline]

Manny took a fastball on the hand on Tuesday's game, so they didn't start him.

Life must be great for Manny in LaLa land. There was more than one time in Boston where he would not come off the bench when he was given the night off. Then there was then time he did come off the bench against the Yankees. The bat never left his shoulders as he took three straight from Mo. In my head I could hear Michael Kay hollering .. Seeeee Ya!!!!,

 

[mandrill]

Toronto is as good a baseball town as 90% of the other places. Few teams pack in the fans if there is no decent product on the field. Only Bosox and Yanks draw consistently, bad year or good.

Cleveland and Detriot draw vastly more when they are winning. Ditto Baltimore, Minne and all the others.

Put a good, winning team in TO and the fans would stream back to the Dome. The problem is that TO is the most non-competitive team in the AL (along with KC) for the past 15 years. What fan is going to put up with that shit for a decade and a half?!

 

[maurice93]

Toronto is as good a baseball town as 90% of the other places. Few teams pack in the fans if there is no decent product on the field. Only Bosox and Yanks draw consistently, bad year or good.

You forget the National League

Chicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals
San Framciso Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers

Cleveland and Baltimore also do much better in difficult times.

Toronto is am average market at best, but not so far down, that it can't be vaiable long-ter,/

 

[blueline]

You forget the National League

Chicago Cubs
St. Louis Cardinals
San Framciso Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers

Cleveland and Baltimore also do much better in difficult times.

Toronto is am average market at best, but not so far down, that it can't be vaiable long-ter,/

Yes - Especially Cubs fans. Now if anyone had an excuse to not go to games, it would be Cubs fans. They pack 'em in win or lose. St. Louis is a great baseball city, with a very rich in tradition. As for LA (Dodgers), I would expect they take head counts somewhere between the 3rd and 7th innings so as to capture the late arrivals and early departures. LOL.

How about some more numbers for anyone who thinks Toronto is such a good baseball city. The Jays are 29th out of 30 MLB teams in average attendance capacity at 46.4%. They have had 12 crowds of 16,000 or less and 2 of under 13,000. I think you would see as many fans at Christie Pits when the Maple Leafs play? A lot of those small crowds were in the spring when the Jays had one of the best records in MLB. So playing winning baseball didn't seem to do much to get people going to games. Maybe they were going to Leafs playoff games. Oh wait. Okay, then they must have been going to Raptors playoff games. Oh wait. Where the hell were they.........

Where would baseball be on the interest list of the four pro sports - NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, for Toronto sports fans? I am thinking it is a toss up between baseball and basketball for 3rd and 4th spots with NHL and NFL far ahead at 1 and 2.

 

[SkyRider]

Yes - Especially Cubs fans. Now if anyone had an excuse to not go to games, it would be Cubs fans. They pack 'em in win or lose. St. Louis is a great baseball city, with a very rich in tradition.

Ken Burns' baseball documentary said that most of the ball players (all white) of the 1930's and 1940's came from the "Heartland" of America. Maybe, that is the historical root of baseball's popularity in Chicago and St. Louis.

 

[blueline]

Ken Burns' baseball documentary said that most of the ball players (all white) of the 1930's and 1940's came from the "Heartland" of America. Maybe, that is the historical root of baseball's popularity in Chicago and St. Louis.

Those two teams also have a very intense rivalry, similar to Yankees - Red Sox.

 

[mandrill]

I remember back in the Delgado/ Green era, there was a nice spurt where the Jays played contending ball for several weeks and appeared to "come from nowhere" to make a run on the wild card. All of a sudden, there was a sudden BOOM in walk-up sales and this was due to the fact that this was the first ray of excitement with a Jays team since '93.

The fans are there. They just have to believe that the team can really accomplish something better than 3rd place in the East occasionally.

 

[SkyRider]

I had this sinking feeling when Doc Halladay allowed those two early runs that this game was probably lost.

A condition of any Halladay trade would have to be the other team taking Wells' contract. Doesn't matter what they do with the player, just take the damn contract. Vernon "0 for 4" Wells is done in Toronto . The fans (both of them) are booing him every time he comes to bat. If he stays with the Jays, let's play him only on the road.

 

[Rockslinger]

9-9 top of the ninth after leading 9-0 earlier in the game. Another debacle.

 

[scouser1]

any Jays fan who wants to cry, whine, complain, scream and boo hoo about how they can never compete with the Bosox or Yankees I have 3 words for you: Tampa Bay Rays!!!!

 

[salsamarc]

I had this sinking feeling when Doc Halladay allowed those two early runs that this game was probably lost.

A condition of any Halladay trade would have to be the other team taking Wells' contract. Doesn't matter what they do with the player, just take the damn contract. Vernon "0 for 4" Wells is done in Toronto . The fans (both of them) are booing him every time he comes to bat. If he stays with the Jays, let's play him only on the road.

maybe JP will let him go with all that money same as he did with B.J