Blue Jays Baseball |
|
|
Rants and raves about the Toronto Blue Jays and baseball as a whole. With a little bit of everything else thrown in for good measure.
Home
Personal/Contact Info My Other Blog (non-baseball) Photo Gallery Contact Info Old Baseball Archives Feedback Favorite Links Archives  |
7/19/2003
Wow, Myers is having a horrible day behind the plate. That's the second throw that was bounced to the base in the past two innings. Yes, the first was a probable case of interference on Manny Ramirez. It doesn't matter now because Trot Nixon comes through and the games over. Aquilino Lopez is your hard-luck loser, though there are many things that a person could point and see where the Jays went wrong. Just dissapointing considering how well the Jays played in the first 8 and a half innings. At least he didn't blow the game, but still the game should be over and the Jays should have a 3 game winning streak. Now, I guess it's time to go back and win the game again. So with Miller on, that's two of the four with there still two innings left to play. I'm still not enthralled with Tosca's bullpen management. Nice hit and run... not. I thought the Jays were moving away from that sort of stuff, but I guess not. Of course, I think Mike Bordick - Reed Johnson isn't the optimal combination to run with. Yeah, Kershner is nibbling bigtime now. The problem is going to be when he grooves one down the middle and the result will be painful. Then he gets a really lucky call on the corner. 2-2 Kershner did well to get out of the jam, but now he just might be hitting his wall. But he has two outs and just needs to stop walking people. Lidle doesn't even go 5. Yeah, I'm not sure if this is going to be a good idea. I say that Tosca will make 4 other pitching changes in the game, unless things get really out of hand. We will probably see Thurman, Service and probably Miller and Acevedo over the next 4.1 innings. I still would rather have seen Lidle go after Ortiz. Lidle was very lucky that he only made it though that inning and allowing the one run. This game just feels like it's taking FOREVER. It looks like the Jays are beginning to get a hold of Ramiro Mendoza. Another long rip by Delgado is putting the Jays in a good position to score. Now, they just need to avoid the twin killing. NICE TO SEE THE SOX GOING HEALTHY The ubiquitous Coca-cola bottles on the light tower over the Green Monster at Fenway have now been replaced by Hood milk bottles. Remember the stink that caused a while ago? Yeah, me neither, now that the commercialization has crept in further and further into baseball. Not that I mind too much as long as I can see a quality product for a good price (ie free). So far, so good. Looks like Cory Lidle's curveball if filthy tonight, but he can't keep going into deep counts for the entire game, otherwise that soft underbelly of the Jays, their bullpen will come into play. TWO GAMES IN A ROW! Yes, I'm posting on a second Jays game in a row. Looks like a beautiful day for baseball, and an interesting start to the game. Even my mom thinks that Reed Johnson was safe on the first play of the game. Needless to say, it's an inauspicious start for the umpiring crew. 7/18/2003
I take that back, the defense WAS SUPERB. O-dawg makes up for the slip (though not his fault) by make two GREAT stops on balls up the middle. I was very surprised that Tosca stuck with Miller for the last two outs, but that shows one of a couple things: a: He has no confidence in Juan Acevedo b: He has more confidence in Trever Miller than Juan Acevedo c: He was tired and didn't want to make yet another trip to the mound. I'm going to vote a and b, because for whatever reason Juan Acevedo isn't a good relief pitcher. Too bad, but that's baseball. Oy! Defense has not been superb so far. Nice reaction by Werth, since it looked like he lost that one in the lights or something and had to dive to make up for it. Pretty good outing by Lopez, but he was running out of juice. Now, it's time to see if the seedy underbelly of the Toronto bullpen can pull the game out or not. Wow, Lopez was just filthy. I just don't think that Juan Acevedo should be the closer extraordinaire right now. Of course, that's what happens when Cliff Politte went down with that shoulder thang. Then again, a blown loss against the Red Sox won't matter in the long run if Politte isn't healthy next season. How did I get to be this pessimistic about Acevedo? Just a hunch probably. Wow! Now that was a great play by Kershner, with a bang-bang play with a great call by the 1st base ump, Paul Schriber. I'd call that a web gem, but the ESPN guys don't like the Jays that much. Still, indicative of how the evening is going. This looks like Kelvim's last batter. He's done well, but I think it's time for a new pitcher depending on how Kelvim does here against Varitek. It also looks like the umps strike zone is NOT consistant. There are some obvious times when the same pitch would be called differently. Working a knuckleballer and a knucklehead would do that, so too much blame can't be given out, but if it didn't seem like the game wasn't going the Jays way so much, then I would say that this could be a more contentious issue. On NESN, they have one of the player's wifes doing some spiel for a food drive and boy is she hot! Back to the game, yet another 1-2-3 inning for Kelvim, who barring another bullpen implosion will garner my fantasy team a very-needed win. RED SOX REDUX With my boy Kelvim Escobar on the mound, it looks like tonight's gonna be the Jays night. Base hits falling in, Escobar getting the outs that are needed, clutch hitting... everything so far means a Jays win. *Knock on wood* But it looks like the Jays are doing well so far. 7/15/2003
So Garrett Anderson won the All-Star MVP award. Not too bad, even though I would've preferred Vernon Wells or Hank Blaylock, mainly because I voted for them. So the AL won. Thus, in the unlikely event that the Jays make the World Series, Games 1 & 2 will be at SkyDome. It's possible. It doesn't help that the All-Star voting thing would be down, now that the end of the game has approached and it would be nice to register my satisfaction with Vernon Wells. Of course, the MLB site is completely down now. Figures. Of course, now that the good guys are back on top, the sound is getting freaky on FOX now. I don't think it's strictly the TV but either way, Vernon Wells is the mack diggity. Well, so much for the NL having such an insumountable lead. And Garrett Anderson shows off his underrated talent again. Ouch, this is just getting ugly for the good guys now. And the umps are right (as well as McCarver) that Furcal is going to score on this play. And the AL manager arguing against the call is just another unfortunate side-effect of the fact that "this time it counts". Geez, I go away for 4 minutes and I miss the big event this inning. It also looks like whoever this pitcher is, which looks like Hasagawa, is getting hit around bigtime. I haven't seen him pitch very much this season, so I can't tell you if he'd be a good selection to the team or not. It looks to me that Barry Zito would've been better, but again. I haven't seen the stats to be certain. And now they're advertising, yes, the Braves vs. Mets as next week's game of the week. Someone should tell these guys that the Mets are BAD this season. Please. Carlos drives in the first run in the person of Ichiro Suzuki. This is after both Joe Buck and McCarver profess that they haven't seen a single Jays game this season. They said: With Carlos Delgado and Vernon Wells on this team, how can they not be in the middle of the playoff race? Duh, the answer is their pitching beyond Roy Halladay. It doesn't take much research to figure that out. That is if Fox and these two would actually watch other teams than the Yankees, Mets, and Braves. Of course, as soon as I write that, Jason Schmidt gets himself in two-out trouble, and against an all-star lineup, that could be a big problem. ALL-STAR POSTING Time to write and watch at the same time. So far, no problems, except that tool, Tim McCarver, who I can't stand as a color commentator. Right now, 0-0 after two with both pitchers going off. 6/10/2003
Meanwhile, I'm watching the Yankees game with my boy Mike "the Moose" Mussina on the mound. What I need is a good performance so that my fantasy baseball team will finally get out of its funk it's in. Hopefully, this will be the start of a better week for the Isotopes. AND I'M BACK This is the first time I've been online and able to post during a game in a long time. As mentioned before, this was going to be the series that I would see in person with a Mr. Jon Shoup-Mendizabal. Of course, that fell through and now I'm at home watching the Jays bats take the Pirate pitching to the woodshed. It's too bad I couldn't see it in person, but oh well. Right now, it's 11-6 Jays with Cory Lidle doing the "just pitch enough to get the win" strategy to perfection. 4/2/2003
MY BAD, AS USUAL Of course, because I'm retarded, I forgot to see that the article was posted on April 1st. I was damn well fooled. But all is right in the world, Doug Pappas is still a good guy and Budzilla is still evil. You may go back to doing whatever it is you're doing. BEYOND BELIEF Now this is something that I really can't come to grips with. This could possibly be one of the worst articles that I've ever seen written. There are many things that I have to take issue with. In order: "The starting point for any real understanding of Major League Baseball's economics must be the detailed, comprehensive financial information disclosed by Major League Baseball after the 2001 season" The first thing is that I can't believe that MLB's financial information cannot be taken at face value. In fact, this might be the first time that I've seen an opinion writer take MLB's numbers factually. Further, Pappas goes on to write: "Zimbalist goes on to identify a number of clubs with media or stadium affiliates, suggesting that some of the profits earned by these related ventures should be attributed to the baseball team. Why? Don't these other businesses deserve to make money, too?" The answer to that is: of course. However, if you're going to complain about baseball losing millions but turn a blind eye to the profits that that an obviously attached venture, that's just contradictory. The problem is that, for the two examples mentioned in the article, the Braves and the Dodgers lost massive amounts of money. Of course, we don't know how much the Braves and Dodgers WOULD HAVE MADE had their rights fees for their games go to the same people that own the club. It's very easy to cook the books by saying that your income from broadcasting is less than market value. Looking through AOL Time Warner's shareholder statement, it's impoosible to separate the wheat from the chaff. Since it's all a part of of the same division of AOL (cable and sports franchises), it's all put together in one big pie. I imagine its the same for News Corp. Finally, there's the personal vendetta that Pappas seems to have against Zimbalist. There's these two quotes: "Prof. Zimbalist knows nothing at all about the world of pro sports, although at least part of his ignorance may be explained by the fact that he teaches at a women's college." This could be one of the most sexist comments I've read in a while. But one absolutely has nothing to do with the other. Then there's the final comment: Noted sportswriter Phil Rogers wrote last July that: "Commissioner Bud Selig has gone on a crusade to save his sport from itself." We who love baseball can only hope he succeeds. Major League Baseball needs more Bud Seligs and fewer Andrew Zimbalists. Save the sport from itself? Where was that quote from. Furthermore, this is the first time that I can remember Pappas coming out pro-Selig. This is a shock to say the least. And a very poorly written article too. Shame on Baseball Prospectus for publishing this hatchet job. 3/31/2003
Oh, wow again. Halladay was not at his spring best. The scary part is the home runs he allowed, giving up three of them, I think. This is not the way to start the season, for sure. Oh, wow. That was a huge blow that Derek Jeter just took. Not that I care, but it'll be a huge blow if it's a serious injury. Of course, that's what he gets for sliding in head first into third. THEY'RE LATE Of course, the stupid Brewer/St. Louis game went late. Not that it would be a game in doubt. Meanwhile the first view is of the Yanks with a runner in scoring position with two outs. The announcers are Rob Dibble and... some other guy. They sound good so far. AH, A RIVALRY Now that we're into real games, it seems like the Yankees have their panties in a bunch. Specifically, the Yankees are upset that the Jays made an ad showing the Yankee hat with bird droppings on it and also one that encourages fans to boo Hideki Matsui. Here's the article on ESPN.com. And then there's the quote by Joe Torre, "I thought it was tasteless, especially in the climate of what's going on in the world today". Now I have no problem with him saying it's tasteless. He should know, he's managed around all the tasteless things that New Yorkers have said about his team and his opponents in the past. What I have a problem with is the second part, where he says "in the climate of what's going on in the world today". Now, I really don't know what this has to do with world peace, terrorism, and war. Of course the problem is that players and people in the game are going to try to stretch comparisions between baseball and the real world. And of course, that's just not going to work. Just see what happened to Jim Bowden in the wake of 9/11 last year (Just scroll down to the 8/2 post). Of course, this isn't as "insensitive" as what Bowden said, but it's more like batter beware. Also, the Yanks should be glad that the Jays fans are booing Matsui. It'll just make him more prepared when the "fans" in Yankee Stadium boo him for the first time. Anyway, Opening Day: Halladay vs. Clemens. Televised on the Deuce starting at 7 in front of a packed SkyDome. For the sake of baseball, I really hope the Jays destroy the Yanks. I'll be posting during the game, since I have the evening off. 3/10/2003
SPRING TRAINING RECAP Now that I'm comfortably back in Blacksburg, time for an all encompassing replay of Spring Training goings on. First of all, I'm not doing a Red Sox game recap per se, unlike the last two posts. I'm doing this mainly because the 6-0 loss was unremarkable for the most part. So I'll just incorporate them into my general comments on what went on last week. First of all, the Jays infield D needs some improvement, especially with turning the double play. The pitching staff is chock full of guys who put the ball on the ground, Halladay and Pollite being two names that come to mind. So fielding is something that will need to be worked out. Russ Adams, who probably got more playing time than expected because of Chris Woodward's injury problems, really needs to improve defensively, including making yet another error in the Red Sox game. Hinske looked good for the most part, but still having some issues with his throwing, both in terms of footwork and getting the throw out quickly. I don't have a basis for comparision with last year, so I can't say with absolute certainty that he's improved, but if everyone smarter than I am says he's doing better, then I'll take it at their word. Delgado/Wilson did a pretty good job at first, with nothing outstanding or anything bad happening. I was most impressed with Orlando Hudson, who was erratic but showed signs of brilliance during the two games I saw of him. Speaking of infield D, Mike Bordick made what I though was a boneheaded play in the Red Sox game and won't appear on any box score. With one out and runners on second and third, Cesar Crespo hit a grounder to Bordick, who proceded to go home with the throw. In the box score, the catcher, Guillermo Quiroz was charged, but it wasn't a great throw to begin with and it would've been tough to get the runner (Hillenbrand, I think). I had it down as E-6, but the scorer though differently and gave the benefit of a doubt to the guy with the record for consecutive errorless games. I would've tried to get the out at first, mainly because the ball wasn't hit all that hard to begin with and Hillenbrand took off on contact, so to limit the damage, it would've been better to go to first. Then again, that's why there's spring training to begin with. The outfield too was pretty average, with nothing showing that they're going to save some runs, but at the same time not showing that outfield D will be a liability this year either. Everyone took good tracks to balls and made some good plays so it's a wash. Hitting I'm not going to go into here, since there was absolutely nothing of interest in the Red Sox game, so you can just scroll down and see what I wrote for the other to games to get a sense of where the Jays are hitting wise. And finally pitching. I got to see Mark Hendrickson, Corey Thurman and Jason Kerchner two twice, with the most impressive being Corey Thurman. Thurman was throwing electric stuff this spring. I know that Coach disagrees with me on this, but I think that Thurman should stay with the club, though it does depend on where you see Thurman's role with the club. If you see him as a starter, then it might be a good idea to send him down to the minors to get his stamina up. I, however, think that Thurman should stay with the big league club, to further help his development. While he won't get a starting rotation job, he can still get his arm stretched out from the pen, being thrown into a long relief/spot starter position. Kerchner did a better job in a non LOOGY role against the Red Sox and did pretty well in dealing with the top three of the Red Sox order. Hendrickson also did pretty well against the Sox, but not as well as I would've like to have seen, with his control being just a little off that day. But it was still good enough to get pretty much nail down the 4 spot in the rotation. I was going to get around to writing who I would take up in the 25 man roster to start the season, but I don't have the time right now. Maybe after some reflection I'll get around to that later this week. And finally, I would like to thank J.P. Riccardi, Carlos Tosca and Mike Smith for taking the time to sign the Batters Box Fantasy League Championship t-shirt. All three were nice enough to sign for me, especially Riccardi, who had to deal with a sunburned kid interrupting his day at the ball park. Still, it's nice to see him do that sort of stuff for the fans. |