Archive for May, 2009

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Toronto’s defense has really helped its young and inexperienced pitching staff shine so far this season (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Darren Calabrese)

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So if you think back to the doomsayers regarding the Jays this offseason, many folks thought that the reason the Jays couldn’t compete was the starting rotation - namely, injuries to Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum and the departure of A.J. Burnett to free agency.  Here on Bluebird Banter, we disagreed, saying that the rotation would be, while not as excellent as last season’s, fully competent, but let’s put that aside for now.  Throw in the fact that Jesse Litsch has basically missed the entire season thusfar and David Purcey’s ineffectiveness, and one might think things would be even bleaker for the starting rotation (and the Jays) than was suggested in the offseason. 

This hasn’t happened.  The Jays starting rotation ranks 5th in the AL in ERA, 7th in OPS against, and 1st in the league in K/BB ratio.  The Jays have gotten the expected fantastic contribution from Roy Halladay and good performances from Brian Tallet, Ricky Romero, Scott Richmond, Brett Cecil, and lately, a couple of quite servicable starts from Casey Janssen.  These pitchers all deserve credit for stepping in, and have gotten plenty of kudos, but just as importantly to the performance of these gentlemen has been the great job their friends behind them are doing. 

John Dewan, he of the the Fielding Bible, highlighted just how good the Jays defense has been with his recent stat of the week  (h/t to our good friend, Mockingbird)  Dewan ranks the Jays tops in the AL East in defensive runs saved this season, and second in all of baseball (just behind the Texas Rangers):

According to Dewan, Marco Scutaro (9 runs saved) and Aaron Hill (8 runs saved) are leading the way.  The defense’s proficiency at turning batted balls into outs has really helped the Jays’ young starters do the great job they’ve been doing and keep the Jays in almost every game this season, even during our horrendous 10-game losing streak.   It’s hard to draw up a better defensive infield than Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro, and Scott Rolen.

The fact that the Jays’s starters lead the league in K/BB ratio means that if they can do a bit of a better job limiting home runs (not a particular strenght for the starters thusfar), their performance could even be expected to improve, especially with the defense continuing to do such a fantastic job. 

Our title today comes from Green Day’s great friend anthem “Pop Rocks and Coke”.  See you all in the game thread!

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I have always been a big fan of McGowan, but I have to say, seeing stuff like this gives me mixed feelings.This might be shocking news for McGowan fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I’m pretty surprised. McGowan is great, I really hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.

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Check out who is in this news again: Wells! This time, The Fugitive Helps Jays Escape With A Win! For you convenience,

Hey, I could get up and back, right on track
(Is that gonna get you back?) It’s right on track, is that gonna get you back?

Casey Janssen had more close calls than Dr. Richard Kimble but he wiggled his way through seven innings to lead the Jays to a 6-3 win over Boston Friday night at Rogers Centre.

If there was ever a time for Janssen to earn his first victory as a starter since 2006, this was the night to do it as the Jays put an end to an ugly nine game losing streak.  The 27 year-old righty knew he was going to be in for a struggle when he got into a bases loaded jam in the first.  However, he had enough raspberry to keep the ball in the park as David Ortiz’s blast to center died at the warning track and into the glove of Vernon Wells to end the inning.  Alas, the Jays were jammed themselves in the bottom of the first when Adam Lind hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases drunk. 

The Red Sox got on the board in the second when Jacoby Ellsbury doubled home a run but Julio Lugo was left stranded on third.  In the home half of the second, Lyle Overbay and Kevin Millar drew one-out walks and moved to third on a passed ball but the Jays would not score.  Janssen gave up a leadoff single in the third but his defence bailed him out as the hit was erased on a 6-4-3 double play and then Overbay made a nice snare of a Big Papi liner to end the frame. 

Toronto tied the game when they strung together a trio of two-out hits, capped out by a Scott Rolen double to score Wells.  However, Lind was left at third when Millar struck out.  The tie was short-lived in the fourth when Ellsbury knocked home his second run of the game with a single to score a double by Scarborough’s George Kottaras.  However, another 6-4-3 double play got Janssen out of another jam.  The Fugitive also navigated his way through the fifth by stranding a two-out two-bagger by Jason Bay. 

Then the Jays offence got the bats going as they strung together a big two-out rally.  Back to back RBI doubles by Rolen and Overbay put Toronto ahead 3-2 and Rod Barajas followed with a two-run single.  In A Wide World of Sports moment (cue music here), Barajas rumbled 270 feet around the bases to score on a Marco Scutaro double to make it 6-2.  Hopefully, Barajas will have caught his breath by the time you read this.  After that, Tim Wakefield was pulled from the game and replaced by fireballer Daniel Bard.

Janssen did not have a clean inning all night but the only other run he gave up was a seventh inning solo blast by J.D. Drew to cut the Toronto lead to three runs.  However, the bullpen was perfect as Brandon League and Scott Downs retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth respectively to preserve the ”W” for Janssen.  Janssen was able to effectively scatter 11 hits and two walks in seven frames and struck out a pair.  The only downside for the 32,000-plus in attendance was no pizza as League had the other Jays strikeout. Janssen also got 10 ground ball outs to go along with nine fly outs. 

The Toronto offence collected 10 hits and five walks and got two-hit nights from Rolen, Barajas and Scutaro.  Wells was on base three times with a hit and two walks and Millar also earned two bases on balls.  They were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on.

This afternoon, lefty Brian Tallet goes to the hill for Toronto and Brad Penny will do the same for Boston in a 1:07 p.m. first pitch at the Concrete Cave.  This was supposed to be Scott Richmond’s start but the Canadian righty will be in the pen instead this weekend.  Roy Halladay will pitch Tuesday in their series opener against the Angels and he’ll be followed by Janssen Wednesday.

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In other TDIB notes….

*  The Matt Wieters era begins in Baltimore with a 7-2 win over the Tigers.

*  The Jim Tracy era begins in Colorado with a 3-0 win over the Rockies.

*  Yankees upend the Tribe 3-1 and set a record in the process.

*  The Rangers take two from the A’s.

*  The Brewers Braden Looper gets a win under trying circumstances.

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How do you think this news will affect the rest of the team this season?

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Check out who is making news again: downs! Stephen Strasburg Can’t Even Save His College Team NCAA Baseball. In the interest of saving time, we have a summary,

Stephen Strasburg, who almost every scouting executive in the world cites as the most can’t-miss prospect ever, struck out 15 last night in the NCAA tournament, but took the loss by allowing two earned runs in a 5-1 loss. The defeat likely ended his college career. It was 3-years-old.

Virginia — which, for the record, was absolutely hosed by the selection committee — jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first with a 400-foot homer and secured a second run in the second off Strasburg, who bore down in his final five innings to surrender just three more hits and walk none in the entire game.

So now Strasburg will be drafted by the Nationals, and he should probably accustomed to losing a lot. Here’s one hint: Don’t make silly excuses for giving up two runs in seven innings.

“Everybody had the jitters,” Strasburg said. “It was tough playing a team we’d never heard of. There was no scouting report to rely on the first time through the batting order. We thought they were tipping our pitches when catcher Erik Castro set up so we changed it up a little after the first two innings. We went more to sinkers, sliders and the changeup earlier in the count.”

San Diego State had never heard of Virginia? There was no scouting report for the Cavaliers? They were tipping Strasburg’s pitches? Come on. Virginia just plain-old beat the best pitcher in the country by hitting a few bombs. Give the team some credit.

In other ping-related news, Southern Mississippi beat Elon 17-15, Gonzaga beat Georgia Southern 19-10 and Georgia beat Ohio-State 24-8, thanks in part to Knowshown Moreno’s 210 yards and three touchdowns. But nope — metal bats are the way to go.

Cavalier attitude Baseball America
Strasburg should get used to struggle Yahoo! Sports
Friday Recap, Saturday Preview Baseball America

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How do you think this news about downs will affect the rest of the team this season?

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There have been quite a few stories that have come out of Cleveland that Eric Mangini is a bit of control freak and has seriously pissed off players. This story won’t change that.

Mangini recently pissed off the teams rookies by de facto forcing them on a 10-hour bus trip (there and back) to Hartford, Conn. to work at his football camp for underprivileged kids.

While having a camp for underprivileged kids is great, the problem is that these rookies are fighting for jobs, so in other words…

“It’s voluntary, but’s it’s B.S. voluntary,” said one source. “These players are fighting for starting jobs and playing time. What are they supposed to do, say ‘no, I’m not going?”’

So, how long before Mangini gets fired? Over/under is at 2 years.

Source: thebiglead.com.

I have always been a fan of camp, but I have to say, seeing stuff like this gives me mixed feelings.How do you think this news about camp will affect the team this season?

Here’s a vid of camp at his best:

Jose Canseco’s Baseball Camp (Part 3)

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Check out who is making news again, camp! Morning Prowl: Get Well, Big Al; Porcello’s Early Success; Praise for Ilitch; and Let’s Go, Wings! :

  Thoughts and get well wishes go out to our friend Big Al Beaton, who underwent back surgery at the University of Michigan hospital yesterday.  If you know Al at all, you know what he’s been through with his health.  So while this procedure and recovery will be grueling for him, it gives him a chance at a better quality of life. 

Let’s just hope this doesn’t make him less crabby during the Lions’ season.

  Yahoo! Sports‘ Jeff Passan writes about the impressive season Rick Porcello has had so far, along with another Tiger who found himself pitching in the majors at the age of 20, Edwin Jackson.  How did the two players handle their respective early success?

(Thanks to Kmann for posting this in the FanShots)

  And while we’re talking about Porcello, I never thought I’d see him in the same sentence with John Doherty.  But Mack Avenue Tigers found one.  The rookie is the first Tigers pitcher with five wins in May since Doherty did it in 1994.

  Peter Gammons praises Mike Ilitch for doing all he can to keep the Tigers competitive and give fans a diversion during rough economic times in the state of Michigan.  Defying Bud Selig’s wishes to follow salary slots for draft picks with the contract he gave Porcello is a great example of that.

  With all the hullabaloo surrounding Matt Wieters‘ debut for the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, MASN’s Roch Kubatko is also excited about another rookie starting for the O’s tonight.  Pitcher David Hernandez has thrown 60 strikeouts in 43.1 innings for Triple-A Norfolk this season.

  Hazaa points out that this 2009 Tigers pitching staff is on pace to break the franchise record for strikeouts.  The 1968 team struck out 1,115 batters.

  Get well wishes also go out to Tigers radio play-by-play announcer Dan Dickerson, who had surgery to repair a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his left leg.  Dickerson suffered the injury in a fall while jogging on Tuesday in Kansas City.  (I’m going to add this to my list of many, many excuses for not jogging.  It’s a very comprehensive list.) 

No word yet as to who will fill in on play-by-play for the Tigers’ series in Baltimore, or if the Tigers will continue to go with Jim Price, assisted by FOX Sports Detroit’s John Keating.

  Want to ask a Tigers prospect about life in the minor leagues?  Pitcher Andrew Hess, currently with the Lakeland Flying Tigers (and also a former Michigan Wolverine), is taking questions from Tigers Minors readers on any subject they’d prefer.

(via TigerBlog)

  And, of course, congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for making it to the Stanley Cup finals for the second straight year by beating the Chicago Blackhawks (sorry, ‘Duk) 2-1 in overtime.  (I love the Wings’ superstition about not touching the Clarence Campbell trophy.)

How much will Pittsburgh hate Detroit if when the Wings beat the Penguins again (and after Marian Hossa left the Pens to join the Wings this season)?

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This will be shocking news for camp fans, but there are those of you who will say that you saw it coming from a long way away. I’m pretty surprised. camp is neat, I hope this doesn’t affect the rest of the team.

Here’s a video of camp at his best:

Women Only Boot Camp Baseball

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Look who is in this news again - downs! Just Win, Baby: Cubs Break Losing Streak In Rain-Shortened Game, 6-1 Over Pirates. , we have a summary -

Looking at weather radars late yesterday afternoon, I wouldn’t have given real good odds that the game would have been played at all — the Chicago area seemed surrounded by thunderstorms and more were heading north from downstate.

But the area got just enough of a break from the weather — it was mostly dry from about 5:00 until a downpour hit just before 9:00 — for the Cubs and Pirates to get an official five innings in before the umpires finally called everyone off the field with a 1-2 count on ex-Cub Craig Monroe in the top of the sixth. Result: a 6-1 rain-shortened Cubs win over the Pirates, the second game of the year that went into the books with fewer than nine innings played, and the eight-game losing streak is history. The Cubs returned to the .500 mark and with the Cardinals’ 8-1 win over the Brewers, crept back to four games out of first place (three in the loss column).

With only five innings played, both Sean Marshall and Ian Snell, the game’s starting pitchers, get credit for complete games; Marshall threw perhaps his best game of the year, allowing only four hits (all singles), striking out six, and making two slick defensive plays — catching a line drive and also snagging a sharply hit grounder up the middle for an easy 1-3 putout.

Meanwhile, the Cubs offense continued its awakening from the dismal road trip; Kosuke Fukudome hit his first home run in a month. Micah Hoffpauir drove in a pair of runs with a double, and Marshall, who has turned himself into a pretty good hitter (3-for-12 this year with two RBI), singled in a run. The club also resumed its patient ways, walking four times in only five innings of batting.

How baseball has changed: I remember a game day around this time of year in 1978, when a game was called at 10 am because of the mere threat of rain. Of course, that was in the days where the average attendance was about 18,000 and the average ticket price was about $5 (yes, seriously, $5 — even box seats weren’t that pricey), so the team’s financial exposure wasn’t that high for a postponement. Today, with the price of an average ticket approaching $50 and virtually every game a sellout, a rainout could cost the Cubs somewhere in the range of $1.5 million to $1.8 million — or, to put it in another way, about the cost of Aaron Heilman’s salary for 2009. In addition, there are other pressures, such as tight schedules with no scheduled doubleheaders (and no, I’m not arguing in favor of that — there’s no way the owners are giving up the revenue to give two games for the price of one, not to mention the fact that you can’t get a regular DH finished in less than seven hours these days) and the rule requiring a day off at least every 20 days.

That’s why we see games like last night’s, played in part in very difficult conditions — the last inning was played in a pretty hard downpour and you could just imagine fielders saying to themselves, “Please don’t hit me a popup!” — pushed to at least be official games. A little more than half of the listed paid crowd, 38,303, actually showed up to brave the rain and almost all of us, myself included, ducked out when the delay was called just before 9:00. After an hour and six minutes, the result was made official at 10:05. Strangely enough, at the 7:05 scheduled game time, it was not raining — though it had much of the time when batting practice normally would have been held — the field was uncovered, and pitchers had warmed up, but no one, not even the umpires, had appeared. Finally, about 7:10 the umpires came out of the dugout — one of the few times you’ll ever see umpires applauded — and the first pitch was thrown at 7:12.

The Cubs will take them, these days, any way they can. The offense seems to have awakened and if the pitching can settle back into the groove it had even during the road trip portion of the losing streak, things can turn around quickly. The two teams will try again this afternoon, weather permitting:

Today: Today: Showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Patchy fog before 1pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 69. North northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Notes: sources tell me, despite me and some others wanting the Cubs to go after Mark DeRosa, the Cubs will not seek his return, nor are they at this time looking for help outside the organization; and, further, there are no immediate plans to call up Jake Fox. If the team keeps hitting the way they have the last two games, a turnaround could come as quickly as the losing streak did.

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How do you think this news will affect the rest of the team this season?

Every day could be opening day when you open your check-book and see the logo of your favorite Major League Baseball team prominently displayed. All 30 teams available. Coordinating labels and cover are also available. These baseball checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com

ryan needs to be traded,

The Nuggets/Lakers series is all tied up after the Nuggets ran roughshod over the Lakers Monday night despite Carmelo Anthony suffering from the flu and having a bum ankle.

Chauncey Billups and JR Smith both had 24 points while Kobe Bryant dropped in 34.

Source: espn.go.com.

What do you think?

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Look who is making news again, Ryan! This time, Yeah I Don’t Know the Answer Either, Jays Loss to Braves. In the interest of saving time:

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

about 4 hours ago: Toronto Blue Jays starter Casey Janssen delivers to the Atlanta Braves during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, May 23, 2009, at Turner Field in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

Browse more photos »

Jays 3 Braves 4

Against the Red Sox we were getting lots of just no runs. Last night, not much for hits. Tonight we had some hits (7) and some walks (5). We even had a lead for a moment when Scoot drove in 2 with a double in the 3rd but the Braves got them back in the bottom of the inning. Braves got 1 more in the 4th on an RBI single by Derek Lowe. Yeah the pitcher, he was 2 for 3 today. Braves got an insurance run on a Kelly Johnson home run off BJ Ryan. It looked like a decent enough pitch, inside, but Johnson, a left handed batter is killing lefty pitchers, that was his 3rd homer off lefty pitching in 36 at bats. If Cito was gaining any confidence in BJ it’s gone now.

Jays didn’t do much else offensively till the 9th. Lind doubled, Rolen walked (now I complained about umps in yesterday’s game, today Rolen got a ball on one I thought he swung at, and the other balls were very close to the strike zone, but Scott showed a good eye). Overbay, allowed to hit against the lefty reliever singled, driving in Lind and Rolen went to 3rd, just barely getting in safe. Barajas walked on 4 pitches, not one pitch close to the strike zone. So we had bases loaded, one out.

Millar pinch hit, Braves brought in a right handed pitcher, but Millar is hitting much better against righties (.320/.370/.600) than lefties (.280/.308/.420). We needed a fly ball, but Millar struck out, not coming close on the swinging strike 3. Hard to get on him, cause he has done well, but man I wanted that fly ball. Then with 2 out Scutaro gave us that fly out. But with 2 outs already it was less good.

Janssen was good, not great, 6 innings 3 earned, 14 ground outs. Lowe did much the same job going 7.1, 2 earned and 16 ground outs, so he won the battle of the ground outs. Jay of the Day Lyle Overbay (.217 WPA).  Suckage Jays are Millar (-.224), Scutaro (-.190), Rios (-.156) and Wells (-.129). I thought Rios had pulled out of his slump, he had been hitting great in May but he looked lost today. And so did Wells.

Yeah I don’t know what to do about the offense right now and I am sure Cito is not laying awake thinking ‘what would Tom do to pull us out of this’. Cito is a terrific batting coach, but me….I’d give the guys a couple of days off batting practice. I guess since tomorrow is a day game batting practice won’t be happening anyway. I think I’d also give Wells the day off tomorrow, but Cito has publicly stated he doesn’t believe in that. Maybe I’d take them all out to the bar tomorrow night and get them good and drunk.

Good news is thanks to a Papelbon blown save (couldn’t happen to a nicer guy), we are still in first. But we really could start winning again any time. Like tomorrow maybe?

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How do you think this news about Ryan will affect the team this season?

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league is at it once again,

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Tell us your opinion.

Every day can be opening day when you open your checkbook and see the logo of your favorite MLB team proudly displayed. All 30 teams available. Matching labels and cover are also available. These MLB checks are only $27.90 at DesignerChecks.com

For all you fans out there, here’s some news about ryan -

Kobe Bryant scored 41 points to lead the Lakers to a 103-97 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony had his worst game of the series, scoring 21 points but just three after halftime.
Source: sports.yahoo.com.

Any thoughts on Kobe Bryant has 41 points in Lakers 103-97 victory over Nuggets?

Take a look at a clip of ryan doing his thing:

Ryan’s First Baseball Game

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