It is former Blue Jay Corey Patterson's birthday. He turns 34 today.

Corey was a Blue Jay for most of the 2011 season, playing outfield, (51 games in LF, 30 in CF, 9 in RF), and hitting .252/.287/.379 in 89 games, with 6 home runs, 13 steals and 8 caught stealing. My memory plays tricks on me, I would have sworn all his caught stealing were times he attempted to steal third base, but, looking it up, I see he was caught stealing third 3 times, with 0 successful steals of third, as a Jay. I distinctly remember him being caught trying to steal third with Jose Bautista at the plate and 2 out. I remember it because I threw and broke something.

If you remember, Corey and Scott Podsednik were battling for the 4th outfielder job in spring training of 2011. Podsednik had a case of plantar fasciitis, so Corey won the job by default.

Why did get to play so much? Well, he had a good April (.269/.319/.448) and better May (.308/.325/.470). After that he hit much more like Corey Patterson. The rest of his time as a Jay he hit .195. Add in that Travis Snider didn't hit much either (.225/.269/.348) and we were treated to more Patterson than would would have liked.. Eric Thames would finally take his job.

All of us who watched the Jays that season remember this moment (for those of you too lazy to click on the link, Corey hit a 3-run homer on a pitch that was head level). 4 days later, he was included in the trade for Colby Rasmus, for which he'll always have a place in my heart. As a Cardinal, he hit .157/.189/.235, but they would go on to win the World Series.

Corey's defense was also an interesting thing. He, well, would take the most interesting routes to balls. Take a look at this. Fly balls, hit in his direction, often became an adventure. He kept things interesting.

Corey was the Cubs first round draft pick in 1998, the 3rd overall pick, but he never really became the player the Cubs hoped he would, mostly because he never learned to take a walk. But he played 12 years in the majors. He hit .252/.290/.424 with 118 home runs (I wonder how many of them were pitches above his shoulders) and stole 218 bases. Baseball Reference has him at a 9.6 career WAR.

Happy birthday Corey, hope it is a good one.

The Cleveland Indians have signed first baseman David Cooper to a minor league deal, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com.

2013 MLB August Waiver Tracker

Bookmark this page as your source for the latest on waiver-wire movement in the majors this August.

Crasnick adds that Cooper's contract includes a late August opt-out clause if he is not in the major leagues.

Cooper, 26, was released by the Blue Jays during spring training due to recurring health problems.

As Crasnick wrote in June, Cooper suffered from a herniated disk in his chest cavity and underwent a rare surgery known as a thoracotomy, which left his career in doubt.

The open surgical procedure, known as a thoracotomy, sounds like something out of a medieval torture chamber or the Mel Gibson movie "Braveheart." It requires an 18-inch incision in the chest wall and the removal of a rib, which allows the surgeon to pry open the chest cavity to gain access to the damaged disk. The long-term fallout can be severe, from pneumonia to chronic pain to lung complications and extended recovery periods.

Now that he is fully recovered, Cooper will try to make a comeback and regain the form that led him to hit .300 with 4 HR and 11 RBI in 45 games for the Blue Jays last season. In two seasons with Toronto, the former first round pick has hit .270 with 6 HR and 23 RBI in 72 games.

Toronto had interest in re-signing Cooper, but the Indians' status as a playoff contender likely made the decision an easy one for the first baseman who is lucky to still be playing. His opt-out date indicates that he could be close to contributing at the major league level, and he may be a solid backup option behind first baseman Nick Swisher during the final month and a half of the season.

Red Sox 4 Blue Jays 2 (11 innings)

Once again, when we can pitch, we can't hit.

All the offense came from the bat of J.P. Arencibia, who had an RBI single in the fifth inning, his first hit of the month (and yes, it is the 13th today) and first first home run since July 19, in the 8th to tie the game. Other than that, we couldn't hit at all.

6 hits in 11 innings is all we could get. 2 for JP and Brett Lawrie. 1 each for Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

Todd Richmond had a good start. 5.1 innings, just 3 hits allowed, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. He's not going to get us deep into games but 5 scoreless innings is pretty good.

Sergio Santos had some troubles, he gave up 3 hard hits, 1 walk and 2 earned. His first really bad outing of his injury shortened season. Aaron Loup was victimized by a plate umpire whose strike zone changed by the pitch. He threw strike three but the ump missed it and then Shane Victorino bounced a soft ground ball up the middle, between Mark DeRosa and Jose Reyes, scoring two and buying Loup the L.

We had a shot to win the in bottom of the ninth. Bautista led off with a single. Went to second on Edwin's ground out. Then John Idiot Farrell decides to walk Adam Lind. But Brett Lawrie popped out to right field on the first pitch he saw. Then Farrell brought in lefty Craig Breslow to face Maicer Izturis. Get that, Farrell walks Lind and brings in a lefty to face Izturis. And he wins. Gibby brought in Mark DeRosa to bat against the lefty, but he struck out, helped along by a terrible strike call by the plate umpire.

There was some good, Rajai Davis made as good a catch as you will ever see in 11th inning. He also had a nice catch earlier in the game. Brett Cecil, Neil Wagner, Darren Oliver and Casey Janssen all did a great job coming in from the pen. We were 2 for 7 with RISP, not bad really.

Jays of the Day are Redmond (.282 WPA), Janssen (.143), Cecil (.130), Wagner (.116) and Arencibia (.340, we won't mention his throwing error on a steal attempt, at least he didn't throw from his knees).

Suckage: Loup (-.412 helped by the ump and the lack of range in the middle infield), Santos (-.365), Izturis (-.155), Bonifacio (-.135), DeRosa (-.114) and Lind (-.105). Davis had a -.133, but that doesn't consider the two great catches, I wish he'd hit, but I did enjoy his defense.

Esmil Rogers gets tomorrow's start. I'd imagine Thad Weber will be first out of the bullpen and will likely pitch a few innings.

When watching baseball every fan has their own unique preferences for what it is about the game that they enjoy the most. Home runs have mass appeal, as does defensive wizardry and electric base running, but these events are uncommon enough that it would be easy to find baseball dull if they were all one enjoyed. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that readers of bluebirdbanter do not find baseball to be dull so it stands to reason there are other aspects of the game that most of us enjoy other than the obvious attractions.

For me, the best part of baseball is the duel at home plate between the pitcher and the hitter. To call it a chess match would be to use one of the worst and most prevalent clichés in professional sports commentary, and also a massive overstatement in terms of the degree of strategy involved. However, there is a tactical element to it that I really enjoy. I like watching a good hitter wait out a pitcher and force him down the plate where he gets clobbered and I like watching a pitcher paint the corners and expand the strike zone just as much. I'm not an offense or a pitching guy in particular I just enjoy the duel.

There are very few things that cheapen this enjoyment for me but one of them is seeing guys swing at awful pitches. Some people get riled up when fielding is ugly or base running mistakes are made, and I get that, but at a visceral level those don't get to me as much. The reason that guys swinging at pitches way out of the zone gets to me is twofold:

1) It seems like the pitcher didn't really earn it.

I think we all look for there to be some kind of justice in the world. We'd like to believe we inhabit a place where people get what they deserve. When J.P. Arencibia swings at a pitch a foot out of the zone on a 3 ball count the pitcher deserves to have walked him and only though J.P.'s incompetence does he remain at the plate as a potential/automatic out. I know that pitchers and catchers deserve credit for knowing tendencies and for deceptive pitches that look inside the zone but aren't and this shouldn't be dismissed or even minimized. However, I'm trying to describe the way it feels to watch more so than the way it actually is.

2) The mistake seems more mental than the equivalent mistake for a pitcher.

If a pitcher throws a fastball right down the plate to Edwin Encarnacion and he is taken out of the park it almost certainly is not because he forgot it was a bad idea to throw a meatball down the pipe, but rather because he missed his spot. Very few pitchers would actively try and throw a pitch there and assume it would go well for them, except maybe on a 3-0 count. When a hitter swings for a pitch well outside the zone it almost seems like he was unaware of where the strike zone was, and if that's not the case he figured he could hit something he knew was outside the zone. Almost without exception hitters make more and better contact on pitches in the zone so it is frustrating as a fan to see hitters seemingly ignore this information. Once again I keep using words like seem because I know it's far more complicated than that and I know that strike zone judgment isn't easy or else everyone would do it.

Hopefully at this point you understand my quasi irrational issue with poor plate discipline. Instead of trying to rid myself of a difficult to justify bias that actively makes me unhappy, especially when watching certain players, I decided I would sink some research into it for your reading pleasure.

In order for me to determine which Jays hitters are swinging at the most bad pitches I had to come up with a working definition of bad pitch. If I was feeling lazy I would simply define it as a pitch outside the strike zone but I don't think that's entirely fair. Firstly, hitters are often good at hitting certain pitches outside the strike zone. For example, Jose Bautista does an excellent job of hitting pitches off the plate inside. Additionally if the pitch was close enough to the plate it might behoove the batter to swing for it due to an umpire's specific zone or a two strike count. It is hard to criticize a hitter for that.

With a little help from Brooks Baseball I settled on a definition of a bad pitch that, while imperfect, was good enough to satisfy my curiosity on the issue of the plate discipline on this team. I decided that I would define a bad pitch to swing at as a pitch that was off the plate in two directions like a high and inside pitch or one that was low and outside. For the purposes of this article I will use the letters "BP" to denote "bad pitch" as defined above. Trust me; it'll save everyone a great deal of time. Ultimately a picture can be worth a thousand words and I've already provided you with eight hundred plus words so here's a picture to show you what I'm talking about:

Above is Joey Votto's swing rate by where the pitches are thrown since 2007. Keep in mind that all these pictures are from the catcher's point of view. With a left handed hitter like Votto the leftmost squares in this picture are off the plate outside and the rightmost ones are inside. I used Votto as an example because he has an excellent eye and also because of Canadian content laws. The pitches I'm talking about are in the four corners of this picture, all of them are off the plate in two directions and as such I think it is difficult to justify swinging for them. This logic isn't perfect because they could be half an inch off the plate in both directions but more often than not they should be the pitches that are most obviously balls.

This article goes through all Jays with over 200 PA, mainly because I wanted to include Kawasaki and Lawrie, in an effort to determine who swings the most at these bad pitches, and what the result of swinging at these pitches is. If Emilio Bonifacio is hitting .450 and slugging .1000 on pitches that are both down and inside then it's hard for me to complain. Spoiler Alert: he isn't. The players below are ranked from the most to least disciplined this year in terms of not swinging for pitches in the four areas specified above:

#1 Jose Bautista

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 10.8%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 11.4%

It is interesting to note that Jose Bautista did not swing at these pitches even earlier in his career before he found his power stroke. Also he has had extraordinary success laying off the pitch low and away which is both the pitch he is thrown the most and the one that others often struggle with. You can see in the picture above that he even lays off strikes in the lower outside section more than half the time.

Results when swinging at BP

Bautista shows the ability to occasionally do something with a bad pitch, although he whiffs often, especially at the pitches low and away that he is normally so good at taking (66.6% since 2007).

#2 Munenori Kawasaki

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 11.3%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 13.6%

Munenori Kawasaki's ability to be patient at the plate is arguably his only offensive skill so it's no surprise to see him near the top of this list.

Results when swinging at BP

One shouldn't put much stock in that batting average based on the minute sample but it is interesting that Kawasaki makes contact with these pitches, presumably fouling them off.

#3 Maicer Izturis

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 12.4%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 16.4%

Maicer Izturis has shown some improvement in holding back on BP this year, unfortunately he has declined precipitously in every other aspect of playing baseball.

Results when swinging at BP

I somehow doubt that Izturis has become a wizard at hitting pitches out of the zone in 2013, this has got to be a small sample size thing because he swings at so few and as a result doesn't put many into play. However, his overall career numbers in this area are some of the best on the team.

#4 Edwin Encarnacion

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 13.5%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 15.8%

Edwin is aging like a fine wine and his plate discipline appears to be a big part of his improvement over the last two years.

Results when swinging at BP

Edwin has yet to record an extra base hit on a "bad pitch" in the PitchFx era. I wouldn't have expected that.

#5 Jose Reyes

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 14.3%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 19.5%

Jose Reyes has not swung as often for pitches at the corners of the diagram as he has in the past. This is interesting given that his walk rate is barely above his career average. We are seeing him swing at pitches down off the plate with some regularity so his total plate discipline isn't flawless. It's hard to break this picture down too much given that Reyes is a switch hitter, although he takes the majority of his swings from the left side suggesting he might have a little bit of an issue chasing down and away.

Results when swinging at BP

Reyes doesn't whiff as much as some other hitters on bad pitches but it's not like he does anything with them.

#6 Brett Lawrie

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 18.4%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 17.3%

Lawrie comes in right in the middle of the pack, perhaps a bit higher than expected. His ability to resist the temptation of the pitch low and outside stands out.

Results when swinging at BP

Hitting the BP just isn't Lawrie's thing so far in his career, let's hope he doesn't try too hard to pick it up.

#7 Adam Lind

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 20.3%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 21.3%

I did a piece last week about Lind's declining approach this year and I think this would look a lot uglier since June or so.

Results when swinging at BP

Nothing to see here.

#8 Colby Rasmus

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 22.7%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 22.9%

It seems pretty astounding to me that Rasmus has managed to hold off on 98.61% of pitches high and away. Unfortunately the overall picture isn't quite so pretty, with him have troubles laying off low pitches. To be fair to Colby that is where his power comes from.

Results when swinging at BP

Rasmus has been better than some, but with his traditional heavy helping of whiffs.

T-#9 Emilio Bonifacio

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 22.8%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 17.4%

I knew there was a reason I hate watching Bonifacio hit with such a burning passion. It's especially infuriating to note that he once had some idea how to control the strike zone

Results when swinging at BP

Some days it feels like he is hitting less than .146 with a .031 ISO now....

T-#9 Melky Cabrera

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 22.8%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 23.5%

There are no two ways about it, Melky Cabrera is an absolute hacker. This data merely confirms what Jays fans have been seeing this year.

Results when swinging at BP

Melky's career ISO on BP is higher than his total ISO in 2013. Sometimes baseball makes you sad.

#11 J.P. Arencibia

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 23.3%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 23.9%

I bet you're kind of surprised J.P.'s name isn't the last one on the list. On the plus side this is a way in which Arencibia hasn't gotten worse in 2013! On a sour note the rate at which he is swinging at that low inside pitch is awful.

Results when swinging at BP

J.P hasn't been as hopeless at hitting these pitches as some, but then again he's had a lot of practice.

#12 Rajai Davis

Swing Rate by Zone in 2013:

BP Swing% 2013: 29.8%

BP Swing% 2007-2013: 23.9%

Rajai Davis has never had much regard for the strike zone and this season is no exception. He is having more trouble with the low outside pitch than ever, not a good look for a hitter in his 30's.

Results when swinging at BP

Rajai Davis is bound to slap some ugly hits on some ugly pitches but the ends definitely do not justify the means.

After examining every hitter of importance for the Jays, sorry Mark DeRosa, two things are clear. The first is that no one has any real success hitting what this article classifies as "bad pitches". The second is that some of the Blue Jays are swinging at these pitches far more than they should. Strike zone judgment is not an easy thing but when you swing for pitches out of the zone in two directions 20% of the time and whiff on around 50% of those swings you are giving away strikes and, as a result, outs.

I'm not trying to suggest there is an epidemic of poor plate discipline on this team (the Jays rank 9th in the league in BB%), but it is definitely an area where the team could stand to improve, especially at a couple of positions. Improving is easier said than done but it's possible. As much as I absolutely despise hearing commentator's ramble about the fundamentals of baseball, I think it would be hard not to consider taking bad pitches as something that might fall under that umbrella. That being said it's not everything either. Maicer Izturis is a player who scores well in terms of plate discipline and yet has been a remarkably ineffective player this year. There is more than one way to be a great in baseball, that's part of what makes baseball interesting. There is also more than one way to be gut-wrenchingly awful. The brand of awfulness that involves hacking at pitches well out of the zone is the one I find the most unwatchable. Unfortunately, that's a brand of awfulness that Blue Jays fans have been exposed to a fair amount this year. There are no long term solutions on the horizon, but I can think of a short term one. Bring back Kawasaki.

Multiple twitter folks are saying that Kevin Pillar is being called up to Toronto for tonight's game. That would mean that Colby Rasmus is going  on the DL, with the oblique injury. I'm sad about that, he is one of the few guys that is hitting at the moment, and he's hurt.

Anyway, Pillar has quite the year. He started at New Hampshire, hit .313/.361/.441 there in 71 games. Then was moved up the Buffalo, hitting .299/.341/.493 in 52 games there. He has 23 stolen bases, caught 13 times, so I'd rather he not steal. He's played all three outfield spots, but will likely be playing CF in Toronto.

The Jays need to make a spot on the 40-man for him. One of the guys on the DL could be moved to the 60-day or Mauro Gomez is on the 40-man, and could be DFAed, he hasn't played since 3rd and is on the 7-day minor league DL.

Pillar is 24, RHB, he really doesn't have that one skill that makes you say he should be a great major leaguer. I guess Reed Johnson might be the model. Kevin getting the call is not a sign of confidence in Anthony Gose. I hope Gose takes this as a challenge and not as a reason to give up.

Best of luck, Kevin. Looking forward to seeing you play.

Looks like it is comfirmed:

Thanks to all my friends and family that believed in me.. Today is the first day on that #roadtotheshow can't wait to be in Toronto

— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) August 14, 2013

After yesterday's piece looking at the monumental gap in pitching performances between Boston and Toronto, today will focus in on the much smaller gap in their hitting abilities. Based on runs scored the Red Sox are actually the best offense in the entire league, scoring 609 runs so far this season. The Blue Jays rank not far behind in sixth, with 545 runs this year. It's pretty well known that most of Toronto's problems don't come from the offensive side of things and the team is comfortably third best in the American League East based on hitting alone.

As was the case with the pitching comparison yesterday, Boston has had injuries this year, but not even close to the decimation that Toronto's core group of players have faced. Will Middlebrooks has been oft-injured, but was never seen as a key to Boston's playoff chances. On the Blue Jays side of the ledger, extended set backs for Brett Lawrie, Melky Cabrera, and Jose Reyes have thrust players like Emilio Bonifacio and Maicer Izturis into starting roles, which they've failed to impress in. Of the top five most valuable players for Toronto this year, two of them have played in less than two thirds of the team's games. With the same parameters for Boston, four of the top five most valuable players for the team have appeared in over 100 games thus far.

As most Blue Jays fans know, the issue hasn't been star players not performing this year, it's been the lack of any depth at all. When Brett Lawrie and Jose Reyes went down, a group of players including Mark DeRosa, Maicer Izturis, Munenori Kawasaki and Emilio Bonifacio stepped in and only Kawasaki provided any positive value to the team. One of the players who plugged the holes most often in Maicer Izturis has actually been the worst player on the team this year according to rWAR, while playing in more than 100 games.

On the Red Sox side, depth is something they don't lack with ten players providing more than one win to the team this year in terms of offensive WAR, although Jose Iglesias has been traded to Detroit (only six players have provided a win on the offensive side for the Blue Jays).

The teams actually match-up very well to show where the gains are made by Boston. The top three of each team are comparable with a corner outfielder, centre fielder, and designated hitter carrying the offensives of both Toronto and Boston by playing at least 100 games and providing immense offensive value. Daniel Nava, Jacoby Ellsbury, and David Ortiz have buoyed the Red Sox, while Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus, and Edwin Encarnacion have tried to keep the Blue Jays' head above water in the Al East. (UPDATE: Turns out Colby Rasmus is the next Blue Jays player going on the disabled list so his stretch of consistency will come to an end.) The gap begins to form after the top three have been paired up. Boston still has Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Stephen Drew, and Shane Victorino with on-base percentages north of .330. After Adam Lind and Jose Reyes, the Blue Jays fall off the depth plank into Bonifacio-infested waters.

The Red Sox could actually field a nine man squad of players with an above average OPS+ this season, which Toronto could only dream of:

via http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2013.shtml

As was the case yesterday with the pitching, hitting depth has allowed the Red Sox to scale the treacherous slopes of the AL East, while Toronto died from lack of additional supplies at base camp. The injuries to the left side of the Blue Jays' infield certainly haven't helped the team's chances, but these set backs need to be expected and planned for. Having Bonifacio and Izturis fill in for such long stretches of time can't happen if a team has aspirations of playing into the middle of October, which is what Boston looks set to be doing.

Some unexpected news this afternoon as Blue Jays' infielder Emilio Bonifacio has been traded to the Kansas City Royals according to this tweet by Shi Davidi:

#BlueJays send Emilio Bonifacio to #Royals for player to be named.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 14, 2013

Another tweet confirms that cash could also be what Kansas City sends the Blue Jays way:

Deal for Bonifacio is for player to be named or cash.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 14, 2013

Emilio has a slash line of .218/.258/.321 this year and is 12/18 in the stolen base department. He started the year playing some atrocious defense, but has stepped it up recently filling in at left field, centre field, and second base.

He was under contract this season for $2.6 million in what is his second year of arbitration eligibility after coming over from Miami in the great Marlins salary dump of 2012. Next year will be his third and final year of arbitration eligibility before becoming a free agent.

In Kansas City Bonifacio will likely be used as a utility infielder with Alcides Escobar and Chris Getz getting the starts at shortstop and second base respectively. The Royals are currently four games back of a wildcard spot after going 24-14 since the beginning of July.

This move may be what allows room for Kevin Pillar on the roster instead of the expected placement of Colby Rasmus on the disabled list. There's also a chance that another player is brought up from Buffalo if Rasmus does indeed need time on the DL:

Moving Bonifacio clears a 40-man roster spot for Pillar. If Rasmus goes to DL, does Gose join him in Toronto?

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) August 14, 2013

It turns out Colby Rasmus does need time on the disabled list and fan favourite Munenori Kawasaki will be making his long awaited return to Toronto:

The @BlueJays select the contract of OF KEVIN PILLAR and recall SS MUNENORI KAWASAKI from @BuffaloBisons (AAA).

— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) August 14, 2013

COLBY RASMUS has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left oblique strain, retro-active to August 12th.

— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) August 14, 2013

More to come...

The Kansas City Royals have acquired IF/OF Emilio Bonifacio from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, according to an announcement from the team. Bonifacio is the second infielder to join the Royals via trade this week, joining Jamey Carroll, who was acquired from the Twins on Sunday.

2013 MLB August Waiver Tracker

Bookmark this page as your source for the latest on waiver-wire movement in the majors this August.

Bonifacio, 28, was acquired last offseason in the megadeal that sent Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes to Toronto in exchange for a handful of top prospects. In 94 games with the Jays on the year, he has hit .218 with 3 HR and 20 RBI while stealing 12 bases and playing five different positions.

Bonifacio will likely see most of his time at second base for Kansas City, manning a position that has atrocious for the team all season. Due to the offensive struggles of Chris Getz, Johnny Giavotella and Elliot Johnson all year, the Royals have been forced to be aggressive on the waiver-wire in search of second base help.

In seven major league seasons with the Diamondbacks (2007-2008), Nationals (2008), Marlins (2009-2012) and Blue Jays (2013), Bonifacio has hit .261 with 10 HR and 120 RBI. He averages 35 steals per 162-game season, and his versatility will be valuable to the Royals in the last month and a half of the season.

Bonifacio is under team control through next season, and joins his brother Jorge in the Royals' organization. Jorge, a 20-year old outfielder, is currently at Double-A Northern Arkansas.

So a busy day for those of us following Blue Jay roster moves. The latest: Munenori Kawasaki is being recalled from Buffalo and Colby Rasmus is going on the DL.

So lots more bowing. Kawasaki hit .213 with a .319 OBP in 70 games for the Jays earlier in the season. He also led the league in fan pleasing moments. I'm glad to see him coming back. He was hitting .260 with a .400 OBP in 25 games with the Bisons.

Too bad about Colby, but we knew it was going to happen.

Hopefully, Munenori and Kevin Pillar will add a bit of life to a pretty lifeless Jays team, or at least that's the story line we are going to go with. The good part is, it can't possibly get worse than it has been in the last couple of weeks. The Jays at least could have a little fun out there.

The Blue Jays organization played nine games yesterday in minor league action and Blue Jays affiliate teams won four of them. Buffalo played one game, New Hampshire played two, Dunedin played two, Vancouver played one, the GCL Jays played one and the DSL Jays also played one. Both of Bluefield's scheduled games were postponed due to rain. So without further ado, lets take a look at the highlights and low-lights.

Buffalo Bisons (64-60)

The Buffalo Bisons squared off against the Syracuse Chiefs in International League action yesterday, they lost by a final score of 13-4 as the Chiefs really teed off on Tommy Hottovy and Scott Gracey. The Bisons now sit one game back in the IL Wild Card race behind the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Norfolk Tides who are tied for first.

• Anthony Gose - 2-5/SB, with this steal it was his 21st on the year, Anthony has had seven consecutive successful steals in his last ten games without being caught.
• Kevin Pillar - 0-3/BB
• Luis Jimenez - 1-2/BB
• Andy LaRoche - 3-4/2 2B/BB
• Jim Negrych - 2-5
• Moises Sierra - 1-5/CS/PO, jeez..Sierra seems to be terrible base-runner.
• Sean Ochinko - 1-4
• Munenori Kawasaki - 2-3/BB/SB
• Buddy Carlyle - 2IP/2H/2ER/0BB/2K/1HR
• Tommy Hottovy - 2IP/7H/5ER/1BB/2K/1HR
• Scott Gracey - 2IP/4H/3ER/1BB/2K
• John Stilson - 1.2IP/1H/0ER/0BB/1K
• Mike McCoy - 1IP/2H/0ER/1BB/0K/1HR

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (57-62)

New Hampshire played a double header against the New Britain Rock Cats yesterday, the Fisher Cats won the first 7 inning game by a final score of 5-4.

• Kenny Wilson - 2-4/SB
• Andy Burns - 2-4/2B/HR/2RBI, hitting .300/.349/.600 in his last ten.
• Adam Loewen - 1-3/HR
• Brad Glenn - 1-3
• A.J. Jimenez - 1-3/2B
• Ryan Schimpf - 1-2/HR/BB
• Sean Nolin - 7IP/9H/4ER/1BB/4K/2HR

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (57-63)

The Fisher Cats lost the second game in their double header against the Rock Cats by a score of 6-5 as New Britain stormed back late and walked off, they scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh and final inning. With a win and loss today, the Fisher Cats now sit six and a half games out of a playoff spot in the Eastern League Eastern division.

• Kenny Wilson - 1-4/2B
• Adam Loewen - 0-1/2BB
• Gabe Jacobo - 2-3/2HR/5RBI
• Andy Burns - 1-3
• Kevin Ahrens - 2-3
• Tyson Brummett - 4IP/4H/1ER/1BB/4K
• Randy Boone - 2.1IP/3H/3ER/0BB/2K
• Alan Farina - 0.1IP/0H/0ER/2BB/1K

Dunedin Blue Jays (57-57)

Dunedin played a double header against the Lakeland Flying Tigers yesterday, the Blue Jays won the first game over the Flying Tigers by a score of 3-1.

• Shane Opitz - 1-3
• Mike Crouse - 0-3/3SO
• K.C. Hobson - 1-3/HR
• Marcus Knecht - 1-3/SB
• Matt Newman - 2-2/2B/3B
• Austin Bibens-Dirkx - 5IP/6H/1ER/2BB/3K
• Tyler Ybarra - 1IP/1H/0ER/1BB/1K
• Blake McFarland - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/0K

Dunedin Blue Jays (58-57)

The Blue Jays also won the second game of the double header against the Flying Tigers, the second game was a 4-2 final for the Blue Jays on the box score, the Blue Jays really made a great effort late in this game as they scored all of their runs in the sixth inning. The Dunedin Blue Jays now sit second place in the Florida State League Northern division behind the Daytona Cubs.

• Shane Opitz - 1-3
• Mike Crouse - 1-2/SB/BB
• Pierce Rankin - 1-2/BB
• Casey Lawrence - 3.1IP/4H/2ER/1BB/2K
• Tony Davis - 1IP/1H/0ER/2BB/4K
• Dustin Antolin - 2IP/0H/0ER/0BB/3K

Vancouver Canadians (30-27)

The Vancouver Canadians played against the Everett AquaSox yesterday and lost by a final score of 5-3. The Canadians now sit one game back of first place in their division behind the AquaSox and Indians who are both tied for first place.

• Chaz Frank - 1-3/BB
• Dickie Thon - 1-1
• Andy Fermin - 1-3/BB/CS
• L.B. Dantzler - 1-4/2B
• Christian Vazquez - 1-4/SB
• Ian Parmley - 1-4
• Colton Turner - 4.2IP/8H/5ER/1BB/3K/1HR
• Alonzo Gonzalez - 3.2IP/2H/0ER/2BB/2K
• Matt Johnson - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/0K

GCL Blue Jays (21-25)

The GCL Blue Jays won their game yesterday by a final score of 6-1 as they faced the GCL Pirates. The most well recognized name in this box score other than maybe Franklin Barreto for the Blue Jays has to be Austin Meadows, who was the designated hitter for the GCL Pirates in this one. Meadows is an outfielder who was rumored to be going to the Blue Jays in this years draft, he went 1-4 in yesterdays game and is hitting .311/.383/.529 on the year with the GCL Pirates. The GCL Blue Jays currently sit two games back of first place in their division in the GCL.

• Franklin Barreto - 1-4/2B
• Edwin Fuentes - 1-4
• Thomas Collins III - 1-3/2B/BB
• Gabriel Cenas - 0-3/BB
• Dan Jansen - 0-2/2BB
• Sean Hurley - 2-4/2B/3RBI
• Nathan DeSouza - 1-4/2B
• Chris Rowley - 6IP/4H/0ER/0BB/3K
• Danny Barnes - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/3K
• Jacob Brentz - 1IP/0H/0ER/1BB/1K
• Kamakani Usui - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/1K

DSL Blue Jays (35-25)

The DSL Blue Jays squared off against the DSL Brewers yesterday in Dominican Summer League action, the Blue Jays would end up losing the game by a score of 3-2 as both teams scored early in the game, but the bats would be quieted down for the remainder of the game. The DSL Blue Jays currently sit five and a half games back of first place in their division, though they are in a playoff spot at the moment are they are second place.

• Richard Urena - 0-4
• Ronniel Demorizi - 1-3/BB
• Javier Hernandez - 1-4
• Angel Perdomo - 2IP/1ER/4BB/5K
• Wilfri Aleton - 1IP/0H/1ER/3BB/0K
• Jhonny Hernandez - 3IP/0H/0ER/0BB/2K
• Rauly Castillo - 3IP/1H/0ER/0BB/1K

According to 60 Minutes, members of Alex Rodriguez's inner mafia circle apparently obtained and then leaked important documents that implicated Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, his own teammate Francisco Cervelli, former teammate current Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera, and minor league pitcher Cesar Carrillo. The leak occurred soon after the New Miami Times first dropped the story all the way back in February.

The newspaper obtained documents with redacted names, but A-Rod's camp obtained documents with unredacted names and leaked them to Yahoo! Sports. Those documents were the handwritten notes of Anthony Bosch that listed names, money, and doping regimens.

Original Biogenesis whistleblower Porter Fischer claims that several important documents were stolen from his car and there is now evidence that A-Rod did obtain evidence. If that is true then it opens up an opportunity for MLB to argue that he was trying to prevent investigators from finding them. There is also evidence claiming that A-Rod tried to interfere with a witness of the case.

A-Rod's lawyer David Cornwell issued a statement:

These allegations are untrue and are another attempt to harm Alex, this time by driving a wedge between him and other players in the league," Cornwell said. "While Alex focuses on baseball and repeatedly states that he is going to respect the appeal process, the drumbeat of false allegations continues. These improper and viciously false leaks will not alter the fact that MLB exceeded its authority under the JDA (Joint Drug Agreement) and the 211 game (suspension) will not stand.

This all sounds like a stretch to me because this leak is what got MLB on the scent in the first place, but I've been very wrong about all of this stuff already. A-Rod's intention could have been to try and deflect attention off himself after the initial article was written, but coming to MLB and making a plea agreement might have been the better course of action. Of course, when has Alex Rodriguez done something that makes sense?

If this is true, how does Rodriguez ever show his face in a clubhouse again?

More from Pinstriped Bible:

• Pinstripe Alley Podcast Episode 19: Steinbrenner face
• Mark Reynolds agrees to deal with the Yankees, per Jon Heyman
• Phil Hughes will consider signing as a reliever in the offseason
• MLB Instant Replay: Expansion is needed, but current proposal is flawed
• Yankees prospects: Mason Williams promoted to Double-A Trenton

So the headline says it all, there is going to be a mini nori, Munenori Kawasaki is going on the Paternity List. To take his spot J.A. Happ come off the Bereavement List. So we have the circle of life happening.

Kawasaki can be on the Paternity List for up to three games, so his wife Maiko is under the gun now. Get on it. Actually, they don't normally go on the Paternity List until labour has started so there will be a tiny Kawasaki pretty soon I'm sure. We should get them a present, I'm sure there is money left in the Super PAC.

Happ was away from the team to go to his grandfather's funeral. Time on the Bereavement List can last up to 7 games, I thought the Jays weren't going to activate him until his next start, but since they have the roster space now, no reason not to activate him. When Munenori returns to the team, someone, likely a reliever will be sent now.

The roster moves keep coming. Last night Anthony Gose joined the club and Mickey Storey was sent down. It is never boring.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Kawasaki. They'll never have a good night's sleep again. I get the feeling that Munenori will be a great dad, he doesn't seem to have grownup himself.

Line drives back to the pitcher are frightening. It's scary even watching them, never mind being in the sights of one. Daniel Norris, a Blue Jays pitching prospect playing for their Single-A affiliate, knows this firsthand, as only his ridiculously quick reflexes saved him from a horrific head injury on Thursday in a minor-league game between Norris' Lansing Lugnuts and the West Michigan Whitecaps:

The batter, David Gonzalez, thinks that he struck Norris because of the way the left-hander went down, but Norris is lying on the ground contemplating how lucky he is to not be hit. He gets up a few seconds later, and shows the ball in his glove, giving the umpire the chance to signal out and everyone else in the stadium to exhale.

Just watching this is making me anxious, and he didn't even get hit. The Whitecaps, on their YouTube page, named the video this GIF was made from, "Daniel Norris saves face (Literally!)" which will be funny once I convince myself he's going to catch the ball with his glove every time I watch.

Hat tip to Yahoo! and Big League Stew for the video.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• Report: A-Rod leaked Biogenesis names

• Goldman: MLB instant replay still emphasizes getting it wrong

• Neyer: Your favorite instant replay system ain't perfect, either

• Prince Fielder's personal issues are none of our business

• Longform: The death of a ballplayer

Last night there was a bit of a disturbance in the Blue Jays' dugout. A twitter report suggested that Adam Lind went off the beam after being pulled for a pinch hitter. Those of us that went through the Yu Darvish stuff know not to listen to random voices on Twitter, but it did cause a bit of conversation. As with all of these consider the source, if Shi Davidi tweets it, listen, if it isn't him, look for confirmation. I'll admit I didn't believe it from the start, it seemed out of character for Adam.

Several folks heard a loud bang from the Jays dugout. As it turned out it was Jose Bautista, who wasn't thrilled with the official scorer's initial ruling of an error on the ball he hit to start the 7th inning rally. Jose took a swing at the wall on the way to the clubhouse, not knowing the that ruling had already been changed.

Now, losing your temper over an official scorer's ruling is totally the wrong thing to do. Jose should have been happy that we were back to tied. But Jose is Jose, he plays the game with a chip on his shoulder and seems to do best when he thinks every one is out to get him.

I am the last guy to get on someone about his temper. People in glass houses shouldn't slam a bat into the walls. When ever I think I have a handle on mine, JP throws a ball into the outfield and I'm back to breaking things. I sometimes feel bad for players, their outbursts of temper play out on national TV, the rest of us do it on a far smaller stage.

In a perfect world, that wouldn't be the sort of thing that would set Jose off, but he's had a rough time of it, the team is doing terrible and sometimes venting, even if it is about the wrong thing, helps. I'd much rather worry about what he does between the lines, as long as he isn't hurting anyone.

Jose apologized for being a distraction (I really doubt it was that much of a distraction) and the team won and the bullpen phone still works, so all is well. If Jose hits 3 home runs against the Rays, all will be forgotten.

Blue Jays 4 Rays 5

I liked yesterday's walk off game. This one, not so much.

R.A. Dickey was ok, not great. If he had come out after 5 innings, it would have looked so much better. He gave up 3 runs over the 6th and 7th innings. In all, 6 hits, 4 earned, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, in 7 innings plus the home run allowed to Matt Joyce. He left with us down 4-3 but we tied things again in the top of the 8th.

Sergio Santos started the 8th and gave up a lead off single, but struck out Matt Joyce, and after a intentional walk to Evan Longoria, got Wil Myers to ground to Jose Reyes, who got the force at 3rd. Aaron Loup came and got James Loney to ground out. Maicer Izturis made a very nice play to get to the ball hit to his right.

But Loup gave up a 1 out walk to Yunel Escobar and Jose Lobaton drove a ball down the right field line that Jose Bautista bobbled. Yunel scored easily on it and that was the game.

Escobar had a good game against us, he had a triple (though it could have been a double plus an error to Gose, he run a long way to cut off the drive, before it got to the wall, but then kicked it)  to go along with the walk, scored twice and had an RBI.

We should have scored more. We had 13 hits, but they were all singles, except for Josh Thole's triple. Maicer Iztuiris had 3 hits. 2 each for Edwin Encaracion, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie. Everyone else in the starting lineup had at least 1 hit, except for Kevin Pillar, who was 0 for 3 but did put down a nice bunt.

Anthony Gose was 1 for 4 and had 2 RBI. He made a couple of nice catches in center field.

Once again we left a lot of guys on base, 11. We went 3 for 13 with RISP.

Jays of the Day are Gose (.196 WPA) and Izturis (.128).

Suckage: Dickey (-.382), Loup (-.300), Reyes (-.188) and Pillar (-.120).

Another day, another loss. Sort of immune, but I could have done without Escobar scoring the winning run.

Nice game thread tonight. 33 of us put up 1,070 comments. Kraemer_17 led the way, showing great character.

The New York Mets will promote catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud from Triple-A Las Vegas prior to their game on Saturday against the San Diego Padres, according to ESPN New York's Adam Rubin. D'Arnaud will replace catcher John Buck, who will be placed on paternity leave for three days.

D'Arnaud is hitting .286/.420/.514 in 131 minor-league plate appearances. He missed a chunk of the season with a fractured foot after being acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in the R.A. Dickey trade during the offseason. D'Arnaud appeared in only 67 games in 2012 while dealing with injuries, as well, though he hit .333/.380/.595 when healthy.

The 24-year-old native of California will be given a shot to stay on the Mets' roster, general manager Sandy Alderson told Rubin.

While Buck was with his wife and d'Arnaud was stuck in Salt Lake City, Utah, for Las Vegas' Pacific Coast League contest, the Mets utilized outfielder Andrew Brown, who has not caught in a professional game, as their backup catcher on Friday.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• Report: A-Rod leaked Biogenesis names

• Goldman: MLB instant replay still emphasizes getting it wrong

• Neyer: Your favorite instant replay system ain't perfect, either

• Prince Fielder's personal issues are none of our business

• Longform: The death of a ballplayer

One of the hardest things to do when watching baseball is to determining where blame or credit lies regarding any individual outcome. When R.A. Dickey gets taken out of the yard by Chris Davis sometimes it's hard to tell if Dickey has thrown a bad pitch or Davis just put an unbelievable swing on the ball. When Mariano Rivera blew two saves last week due to the heroics of Miguel Cabrera, was he pitching poorly or was Cabrera hitting well? Commentators tend to take about "mistake pitches" leaving the park and attribute home runs allowed to the pitcher. There is usually truth to that, but there are times when a pitcher puts the ball right where he wants to and the batter hits a home run nonetheless. Ultimately, it takes two to tango.

While it is difficult to attribute responsibility at times, there is one scenario where you can put the blame on the shoulders of the pitcher. That scenario is when a pitcher throws one right down the middle of the plate about belt high, aka the "meatball". I'm sure if I searched long enough I could find a player in the MLB who has had trouble with a pitch right down the middle, but by and large, if you've made it to the big leagues you are able to not only hit a pitch in that location but clobber it. For example, since 2007 (the beginning of the PitchFx era) Miguel Cabrera has hit .475 on pitches right down the middle of the plate. Here's an aesthetically pleasing look at his isolated power by pitch location:

Cabrera is a monster anywhere in strike zone or inside but if you put one down the pipe you are in serious trouble. You don't have to be Miguel Cabrera to hit a pitch like that because it's the easiest pitch in baseball to hit. When the ball is placed in that location and it gets destroyed it is fair to say that the pitcher was at fault.

Given that the Blue Jays pitching staff has been wretched this year and has been especially victimized by the long ball I thought I would give a look at which pitchers are serving up the most meatballs and how hard those meatballs are getting hit. So far I have described meatballs as simply pitches thrown down the centre of the plate, but there is one condition. For the purposes of these rankings I will not include pitches thrown on 3-0 counts because they are commonly thrown down the middle and rarely swung at and as such it is hard to blame pitchers for throwing them there. Additionally, their inclusion would water down the amount of damage down on the mistake pitch type meatballs I am trying to describe. The Brooks Baseball diagrams I will be using will include these 3-0 pitches which accounts for the differences between my numbers and theirs. Unfortunately, there is no way that I know of to show a diagram of "everything except 3-0 counts". The cutoff for inclusion on this list was 40 IP so I could include the key relievers (Cecil, Janssen, Delabar and Loup) as well as the starters. I will also use the acronym "MB" for meatballs throughout the article because people seem fine with seeing the same short form over and over again but word repetition really grinds their gears. I don't know why that is but it just seems to be the case. Now that you've skimmed through the terms and conditions we are ready to get started. Here are the Blue Jays pitchers who've thrown the highest percentage of meatballs in 2013 in ascending order with the biggest distributor of meatballs earning the infamy of the title: "Swedish Chef":

Casey Janssen

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 3.4%

MB% 2007-2013: 4.9%

This is what it looks like when someone has excellent command. Wow. It seems like that command is only getting better with age also.

Results when throwing a MB

Janssen has thrown a MB so infrequently in 2013 that the line for this year is virtually meaningless, his numbers since 2007 are far more standard.

Mark Buehrle

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 3.9%

MB% 2007-2013: 3.9%

Mark Buehrle keeps being Mark Buehrle. He was never a threat to wear the chef's hat.

Results when throwing a MB

Once again Buehrle basically does what he does. Like anyone he is hurt by pitching in this location but he hasn't been slaughtered like some of his compatriots.

Josh Johnson

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 4.8%

MB% 2007-2013: 4.7%

One could argue that nibbling around the edges of the plate has been a bigger issue this year than coming over it, but it is frustrating to see yet another measure where Johnson seems to be pitching like he's done his whole career except for the fact that this year he is getting annihilated day in and day out.

Results when throwing a MB

Johnson hasn't thrown any more juicy ones over the plate but when he has they have been punished harder. Perhaps when he had his big time velocity it was easier to get away with the odd mistake, perhaps a tougher park and tougher lineups are the issue. There are probably multiple factors at play.

R.A Dickey

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 5.2%

MB% 2007-2013: 6.1%

I'm a bit astounded that Dickey is throwing fewer balls down the pipe than his career average but that career average does include some rough years pre-2010. He has also had more trouble finding the strike zone in general in 2013 so it ‘s understandable. It is a bit hard to call any knuckleball a true meatball due to its unique movement. At the same time we can't give up on analyzing Dickey and say "Oooo he's a got a special pitch with special powers sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't" because that's lazy and at the end of the day he is a pitcher like other pitchers who has to do the same things to succeed.

Results when throwing a MB

Dickey may not be throwing MB's as often as he traditionally has, and he has actually got a few more whiffs with them, but he is getting destroyed when he comes over the centre of the plate. There are a number of possible explanations but the bottom line is that when Dickey comes right down the plate the results have been devastating.

Esmil Rogers

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 5.3%

MB% Career: 6%

Rogers has improved at keeping the ball away from the heart of the plate this year and the diagram above shows a strong tendency to keep the ball down in 2013.

Results when throwing a MB

Pretty standard stuff here. Interesting that for a guy with some velocity Rogers can't get a whiff down the plate to save his life.

Steve Delabar

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 5.7%

MB% Career: 5.5%

Steve Delabar has demonstrated some spotty command in his tenure with the Jays, which can be forgiven on account of his dynamite stuff. At the very least this picture seems to suggest that when he misses he misses down.

Results when throwing a MB

Delabar gets absolutely pounded on the MB, but at the same time he still manages to generate a respectable amount of whiffs. Sounds about right.

J.A. Happ

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB%: 6.7%

MB% Career: 5.4%

This is not very encouraging by Happ, especially when represented visually. He's never had fantastic command and this picture is a demonstration of that.

Results when throwing a MB

Happ seems to be getting away with his MB's this year. That has to be a function of a small sample size and he has shown in the past he gets hit around on these pitches just like everyone else.

Aaron Loup

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 6.8 %

MB% Career: 6.5%

I bet you wouldn't have guessed you'd find Aaron Loup down here. Loup pounds the strike zone but this one was really surprising for me. Note how he never, ever leaves the ball up.

Results when throwing a MB

Loup definitely isn't blowing anyone away down the middle, which makes sense given his lack of swing and miss stuff.

Brandon Morrow

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 6.9%

MB% Career: 5.2%

It's possible that we have part of an explanation for Morrow's struggles this year here, though there have been so many other pitching struggles since then that they seem like a distant memory. We know that Brandon can be better than this; it's just a matter of getting him healthy for 2014.

Results when throwing a MB

No surprises here. A few whiffs but largely a shelling.

Brett Cecil

Pitch Location in 2013:

MB% 2013: 7.1%

MB% Career: 5.4%

We have a winner! A winner I would have never have guessed, though one with the smallish sample that comes from being a reliever, but a winner nonetheless. Cecil dons the Swedish chef's floppy hat of shame on account of the copious amounts of meatballs he's been serving up.

I have to say I'm pretty stunned by this result. I would not have guessed this in a million years. Cecil has been so effective this year I would have assumed he was painting the corners of the plate and staying away from the heart of it. Apparently that's not exactly the case.

Results when throwing a MB

Given how successful Cecil has been this is some pretty crazy stuff. It shows how dominant he's been when he locates anywhere else. Give that Cecil is our Swedish Chef he deserves a little bit more of detailed analysis. Here is his batting average against by zone this year:

He's pretty much unhittable in the vast majority of locations, but down the middle he has conceded 30% (12/40) of his hits against. The visual is even more profound when we look at isolated power against:

I guess my big tip for Cecil then would be STAY AWAY FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE PLATE. It's not even remotely close to that easy but sometimes it's fun to put a write something in all capitals.

At the end of the day there it seems that meatball percentage is unlikely to become the next big thing in baseball analysis as it correlates fairly poorly to overall success. Throwing a pitch down the heart of the plate is a terrible idea and often results in disaster. However, it is an uncommon enough event, between 3% and 7% among Blue Jays pitchers, that knowing its frequency doesn't actually tell us that much about a pitcher's overall results. That makes this whole endeavor more about fun than serious research, but I can live with that. I'm fairly pro fun and I would hope most of you are as well. More than anything I hope the nickname Brett "Swedish Chef" Cecil becomes a thing because that would validate everything I've done with my life to this point. I've got a sneaking suspicion that validation will have to wait for another day...

Yankees 10, Red Sox 3:Alfonso Soriano was at it again on Friday, going 3-for-4 with a three-run home run in the Yankees' rout of Boston. Soriano knocked in four runs, bringing his total over his last four games to 18. He also had a dozen hits during that stretch, becoming the first player with at least 12 hits and 18 RBI in a four-game span in major league history.

Soriano is also the first Yankee with four consecutive three-hit games since Johnny Damon did it in 2006.

Alex Rodriguez had a pair of hits and Mark Reynolds hit his first home run since joining the Yankees. Andy Pettitte earned the win by allowing three runs -- none earned -- on six hits in 6 ⅔ innings.

Dodgers 4, Phillies 0: Hanley Ramirez went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run to give the Dodgers their ninth consecutive win and spoil Ryne Sandberg's big-league managerial debut. The Phillies' offense mustered up just three hits against Zack Greinke, who worked around four walks to toss seven shutout innings.

Cliff Lee struck out six batters in eight innings, but allowed three runs on five hits en route to the Phillies' 20th loss in their last 24 games.

At least the cameramen at Citizen's Bank Park were on their game:

Braves 3, Nationals 2:Justin Upton hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to send Atlanta to its 18th win in 20 games. The win also gave the Braves a 15 ½-game lead over the Nats in the National League East.

Alex Wood was brilliant in 6 ⅓ innings, racking up nine strikeouts while allowing a run on five hits. Upton, Jason Heyward and Andrelton Simmons had two hits apiece. Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper went 1-for-2 and reached base via hit-by-pitch twice.

Royals 2, Tigers 1: Kansas City hurler Danny Duffy outdueled Justin Verlander, holding the Tigers scoreless for six innings while allowing just one hit. Verlander gave up only two runs in eight innings, but surrendered a home run to Eric Hosmer and allowed a run-scoring ground-rule double to Emilio Bonifacio in what proved to be the deciding run.

Ramon Santiago's eighth-inning solo home run was one of just two hits the Tigers had in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Billy Butler and Justin Maxwell had two hits apiece for the Royals.

Royals 3, Tigers 0 (Game 2):James Shields tip-toed around four walks to make it through seven innings without allowing a run. The Tigers finished with just four hits in Game 2, meaning they had six hits in 18 innings on Friday.

Hosmer homered again in the nightcap, taking Tigers starter Jose Alvarez deep in the third inning to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Kansas City cut its deficit in the AL Central to 6 ½ games with the sweep of first-place Detroit.

Rays 5, Blue Jays 4:Jose Lobaton had three hits, including a walk-off triple in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull Tampa Bay to within one game of the AL East-leading Red Sox. The Rays won despite being outhit by Toronto, 13-8. Maicer Izturis led the Jays with three hits, while Edwin Encarnacion, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie finished with two apiece.

Pirates 6, Diamondbacks 2:Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen each had two hits and Jose Tabata hit a two-run home run off J.J. Putz to seal the win for Gerrit Cole, who struck out five in six innings of two-run ball.

Arizona finished with just five hits, two of which came off the bat of Martin Prado. Brandon McCarthy took the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits in 5 ⅔ innings.

Brewers 7, Reds 6: Jonathan Lucroy, who was 0-for-5 with five strikeouts against Aroldis Chapman entering Friday, hit a two-run, walk-off homer against the Reds' closer to cap off a three-hit performance.

Jean Segura also had three hits and Juan Francisco hit his 18th home run of the season for the Brewers. Chris Heisey and Todd Frazier homered for Cincinnati, which lost to Milwaukee for just the fourth time in 11 games in 2013.

Cubs 7, Cardinals 0: The Cubs jumped on St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook for three runs in the first and wound up scoring all seven of their runs off the veteran sinkerballer. Donnie Murphy, Welington Castillo and Darwin Barney had three hits apiece for the Cubs and Nate Schierholtz knocked in three runs.

Jake Arrieta surrendered just two hits in seven shutout innings, striking out seven batters and walking two. Carlos Beltran had both of the Cardinals' hits.

Mariners 3, Rangers 1:Hisashi Iwakuma baffled the Rangers for seven innings, registering eight strikeouts while giving up a run on four singles. Justin Smoak provided a large chunk of Seattle's offense, which accounted for all three of its runs in the final two innings. Smoak went 2-for-3 with a ninth-inning solo home run and Corey Seager shouldered the rest of the Mariners' offensive load with his two-run homer in the eighth.

Texas' bullpen spoiled a solid performance from starter Derek Holland, who tossed seven scoreless innings and allowed only two hits.

Rockies 6, Orioles 3: The Rockies used the help of four home runs to earn just their second win in their last 11 tries on the road. Charlie Culberson hit his first career dinger and Todd Helton launched his 362nd. Charlie Blackmon and Wilin Rosario homered in between.

The Orioles got home runs from Nate McLouth and Matt Wieters, but went without a hit from Adam Jones' one-out single in the third inning until Wieters' long ball with one out in the ninth.

Giants 14, Marlins 10: San Francisco scored 11 runs off Miami starter Nathan Eovaldi but needed a solid bullpen performance to get out of Marlins Park with a win.

Hector Sanchez hit his second home run in as many days, a three-run shot in the fourth inning that gave the Giants an 11-4 advantage. Justin Ruggiano homered twice for the Marlins to keep it respectable, but 19 hits by the Giants -- including four apiece from Brandon Belt and Pablo Sandoval and three from Hunter Pence -- proved to be too much to overcome.

Ruggiano, Christian Yelich and Donovan Solano each had three hits for Miami in the loss.

White Sox 5, Twins 2: Joe Mauer homered to cap off a three-hit day, giving him nine knocks over his past three games, but it wasn't enough for the Twins, who scuffled against White Sox starter Jose Quintana. Quintana struck out seven and allowed two runs on six hits in 6 ⅔ innings to earn his seventh win of the season.

Adam Dunn hit his 28th home run of the year and Jeff Keppinger added a solo homer. Both players, as well as Dayan Viciedo, finished with two hits.

Athletics 3, Indians 2: Asdrubal Cabrera lined into a game-ending double play with one out and runners on first and second to end Cleveland's rally attempt in Oakland. Yoenis Cespedes got the A's started on the right foot, blasting a two-run home run in the first inning.

A.J. Griffin issued five walks but gave up just four hits in five innings of one-run ball. Sean Doolittle ended Griffin's shot at a win when he allowed a game-tying single to Nick Swisher in the seventh inning, but Eric Sogard saved the day for the A's with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning.

Mets 5, Padres2: Jon Niese scattered six hits and a walk while allowing just a run to pick up the win for New York. Meanwhile, his club teed off on San Diego starter to the tune of three home runs: Marlon Byrd and Ike Davis each had solo shots in the third, and Daniel Murphy drove in two with a blast in the fifth.

Will Venable hit a solo home run of his own for the Padres.

Astros 8, Angels 2: Houston broke open a close game with back-to-back ninth-inning home runs by Chris Carter and Matt Dominguez. Dominguez and L.J. Hoes each had three hits. Brad Peacock allowed two runs, neither earned, on four hits to get the win.

Hank Conger had two hits and drove in a run. L.A. Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen left in the seventh after being hit on the hand by a ball.

More from SB Nation MLB:

• Report: A-Rod leaked Biogenesis names

• Goldman: MLB instant replay still emphasizes getting it wrong

• Neyer: Your favorite instant replay system ain't perfect, either

• Prince Fielder's personal issues are none of our business

• Longform: The death of a ballplayer

Good morning prospect watchers. I hope your Friday evening went well. Let's get down to business.

***Articles pending for the coming days: Prospect Retrospectives on Raul Ibanez, Jeff Kent, and LaTroy Hawkins. Prospect of the Day lineup includes Andrew Lambo, Chad Bettis, Ethan Martin, Christian Bethancourt, Leury Garcia, Vic Black, and anyone important who gets into the news (as Kolten Wong did yesterday). I am also working on a "where are they now" piece for the 2012 draft.

***Yesterday's Minor League Ball Gameday thread.

***Since being promoted to the major leagues by the Pirates this week, Lambo is 1-for-8 with a double, a walk, and two strikeouts. I will have more to say about him the actual Prospect of the Day piece, but someone asked me how i would grade him given his 31-homer season this year. I had him as a Grade C pre-season and that would have to be at least a C+ now. I would not give him a Grade B, so it would be strong C+ or a B-. I'm thinking about it.

***As noted by BlueBirdBanter on Thursday, Brett Lawrie has been on fire lately for the Toronto Blue Jays, pushing his season line up .258/.318/.435 with nine homers, 104 OPS+, wRC+ 104. . .still not a great line, but a lot better than where he was three weeks ago, thanks to a 1.046 OPS in August. The BBB article links his improvement to changes in his hitting setup, which makes a good a sense as anything else.

Say what you will about Lawrie, but he's made adjustments before when necessary. The hitter I saw for Low-A Wisconsin in 2009 wasn't the same guy I saw battering Triple-A pitching in '11; he made changes then, too, closing his stance up a little, and was much better about controlling the strike zone after the Blue Jays emphasized this to him. He's still just 23 years old and I think he's going to have some beast seasons if he can keep himself healthy.

***The Philadelphia Phillies promoted 2013 first-round pick J.P. Crawford from the Gulf Coast League to Low-A Lakewood in the South Atlantic League yesterday. His pro debut has been excellent thus far: .345/.443/.465 in rookie ball, with 25 walks and 25 strikeouts in 142 at-bats, 12 steals, and strong positive reviews for his defense at shortstop.

A promotion was rumored for days. . .the GCL was not challenging him . . .but it was generally assumed he'd move up to Williamsport in the New York-Penn League. The jump to full-season ball will prove most illuminating. The Lakewood team is mired in last place with a 46-75 record so he's not going to get any post-season exposure here, but the fact that they are moving him that high at all speaks well of the early impression Crawford has made.

Gradewise, I'd rate him a B+ based on his early pro performance, scouting reports, and draft status. The obvious recent comparison would be Addison Russell in the Oakland Athletics system, another high school shortstop jumped aggressively to full-season ball two months after being drafted, although the two are dissimilar as physical specimens.

I had Russell as a B+ entering '13. It is too early to consider where Crawford would slot on a Top 50 list, given that will also depend on how other guys are rated, but he'd definitely be on it, very likely in the Top 30 and probably in the Top 20. (CLARIFICATION: I am referring to a Top 50 hitters-only list, not Top 50 prospects including hitters and pitchers. In my book every year I separate the hitters and pitchers on different lists.)

By the way, that photo isn't from the Lakewood Blue Claws. The photo is Crawford in his high school uniform: he went to Lakewood high school in California.

***Today's Minor League baseball schedule.

More from Minor League Ball:

• Royals' John Lamb struggles in Triple-A debut
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 16
• Prospect of the Day: Kolten Wong, 2B, St. Louis Cardinals
• The Pacific Coast League announces realignment for 2014
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 15
• Prospect Retrospective: C.J. Wilson
• Prospect of the Day: Michael Choice, OF, Oakland Athletics
• Minor League Ball Gameday, August 14
• Prospect Retrospective: Chris Davis
• Windmill windups, childhood dreams and infield flies

Blue Jays 6 Rays 2

It is always nice to win one at Tropicana Field.

Also ice to see some extra base hits out of our offense too. 3 home runs tonight. 1 for Jose Bautista and 2 for Adam Lind. All solo homers, but still, nice to see. That's Adam's first 2 home run game of the season. Nice to see him made some good contact. Brett Lawrie and Mark DeRosa each doubled too.

We had 10 hits, 2 each from Lind, Lawrie and DeRosa. The only guys not to hit were Edwin Encarnacion (he had an RBI) and Anthony Gose (0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts). Gose also made an error in the field, getting a late break on a shallow fly, diving and managing to knock it behind him. Then he made a poor throw to home on the next play, a Ben Zobrist sac fly, where I thought Gose had a good shot at getting the runner at the plate, but he copied Colby's method of throwing it up the line. I'm not expecting Gose to hit much but I do expect him to play good defense.

J.A. Happ had a nice start, coming off the bereavement list. He didn't go deep into the game, just 5.1 innings, allowing  hits, 1 walk, with 5 strikeouts. He hurt his knee a bit in he 4th inning, then allowed the hit that Gose should have caught and and 2 more hits, and 2 runs before getting out of the inning.

Our bullpen did their job tonight, something that hasn't happened enough lately, but they pitched the final 3.2 innings without allowing a run. Neil Wagner went 1.2 with a walk and a strikeout. Brad Lincoln gave up a single and got a strikeout and showed off a great curveball. Darren Oliver gave up a single in the 9th, got help from a nice play by Lawrie on a ground ball and made a nice play of his own on a grounder.

Jays of the Day are Lawrie (.187 WPA), Lind (.140), Bautista (.129) and Wagner (.138).

No one gets the Suckage, Gose had the low mark at -.052 and with his misplay and poor throws maybe should get one but I'll let him off since we won.

Lawrie scored a nice run in the 6th, he doubled, watched J.P. Arencibia and Mark DeRosa strikeout, and decided to take things into his own hands with Gose up. Before Alex Torres threw a pitch, Brett took off for third, Torres throw was late and wild and Brett came home.

I've had a long day, who books a flight at 6:00 am? I'm going to miss tomorrow's game, there is a game with some Expo alumni here tomorrow that I'd like to see.