Quantcast
Channel: SB Nation - Toronto Blue Jays
Viewing all 2466 articles
Browse latest View live

TankFest 2013: Weekend Preview

0
0

With the Blue Jays making it quite apparent that they're fine not putting up much of a fight as the season winds down, the only thing left to do is start watching the standings and predicting where the team's second draft pick of the first round will be. Although I don't believe management has told the team to start losing every game, the performance on the field doesn't inspire much confidence. Combined with the fact that watching some sort of a race between different teams in the Major Leagues is fun, it's clear it won't be a playoff race we're following so it will have to be a draft pick race. Without further ado, here is the bottom part of the standings before play on this Friday afternoon:

6iuh4jt_medium

With focus on the top ten teams' (Philadelphia and San Diego are tied for that spot) upcoming weekend series, here is a short preview of what to watch for and expect.

Philadelphia

The Phillies play hosts to Arizona this weekend as the Diamondbacks are still holding on to a slight glimmer of hope that they might be able to catch the NL Central teams for a wildcard berth. Tonight's pitching match-up features Cole Hamels going up against Wade Miley in a good contest. Another one of Arizona's great young pitchers, Patrick Corbin, gets the start for the D-Backs in the Sunday matinee. The Phillies have won two games in a row, while the Diamondbacks have lost two in a row. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Arizona

San Diego and Chicago Cubs

The Padres welcome the Chicago Cubs to town in a 10th worst vs. 4th worst weekend series that sees a battle of underperforming  "aces" take the hill tonight in the form of Edison Volquez against Edwin Jackson. Andrew Cashner goes up against his former team on Sunday in the middle of a pretty solid season for the fireballer. The Cubs lost three in a row to Washington at Wrigley most recently. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for San Diego

Toronto and Houston

Toronto goes to Houston to visit the bottom feeding Astros this weekend with some horrible pitching match-ups on the cards. Todd Redmond takes on Jordan Lyles tonight, while Brad Peacock and Dallas Keuchel are the other two probable Houston pitchers this weekend. Both teams are riding losing streaks into the series thanks to their division foes, with the Astros being swept in Arlington by the Rangers and the Blue Jays being beat up by the Yankees. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Toronto

What to expect:

Astros2a_medium

via www.fangraphs.com

Minnesota

The Twins go to Cleveland to face the Indians who are still remarkably in the thick of the American League Wild Card battle. The Indians most recently went to Anaheim and swept the Angels, so they are riding some hot form back home for a quick weekend set before key road games against Atlanta and Detroit. They will place a lot of importance on these games. Ubaldo Jimenez faces off against Samuel Deduno (who is having a rough August) tonight. Series Prediction: Sweep for Cleveland

San Francisco

The Giants entertain the division leading Pirates at AT&T Park this weekend in what is another huge series for Pittsburgh, with St. Louis and Cincinnati breathing down their necks in the NL Central. The Pirates already took one game from the Giants on Thursday night. Tomorrow night sees a pitching match-up that features two pitchers going in different directions as Francisco Liriano takes on Tim Lincecum. Is it weird that the opposing pitcher's name is nearly identical to the city he's pitching against? Series Prediction: 3 out of 4 for Pittsburgh

Los Angeles

The Angels go to Safeco to take on the Mariners who are also close to a top 10 draft pick this season. Felix Hernandez starts tonight in what should be a victory for Seattle, while Jared Weaver starts for Los Angeles on Sunday against Aaron Harang, which should be a victory for the currently Trout-less Angels. Los Angeles has lost four in a row and are plummeting through even the most pessimistic preseason predictions for the squad. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Seattle

Milwaukee

The Brewers go to Cincinnati to take on the Reds who are 2.5 game behind the NL Central lead. The Reds took 3 of 4 from Arizona and will want to sweep this series with a road trip coming up that features games against rivals St. Louis. Homer Bailey, Bronson Arroyo, and Tony Cingrani take the hill for the Reds and should be enough to sweep the Brewers minus Braun. Series Prediction: Sweep for Cincinnati

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox go to Arlington to face the Rangers who are battling for the AL West lead with Oakland. Chicago holds the longest active win streak in the league after taking 3 of 4 from Minnesota and sweeping the Royals, which is even more impressive when you realize both series' were in the opposing teams' ballparks. This series features some great pitching with Chris Sale going for the White Sox tonight and Yu Darvish taking the mound for Texas tomorrow. Matt Garza goes for Texas on Sunday in what likely will be the rubber match. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Texas

Miami

The Marlins look primed for another high draft pick this year as they host the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies sit just outside the top/bottom 10 as well so there will probably be about 13 people in the stadium over the course of the whole weekend. The Marlins dropped 3 of 4 to the Dodgers, while the Rockies did the same against the Phillies. Rookie of the Year candidate Jose Fernandez goes for the Marlins on Saturday, which should be the only reason anyone tunes into these games. Series Prediction: 2 out of 3 for Miami

If the Rockies win:

Troy-tulowitzki-handy-gif_medium

via itsalwayssunnyindetroit.com

It doesn't look like this will be a good weekend for the Blue Jays to make up anymore ground on the draft pick front as a multitude of teams around them face playoff contenders that will be looking to sweep the weaker competition to continue their surge to the postseason. Hopefully you now know where your rooting interests lie if you turn on one of these games this weekend and decide to watch.


Bluebird Banter Mid-Season Top Prospect Review: 21-30

0
0

Here is part 3 of our look at how the players on our top 40 prospects list are doing. The first part covering the top 10 on our list is here and the second part is here. .

21.Danny Barnes: Danny has spent most of the year on the DL, he's just starting to pitch on a rehab assignment in the GCL., 1 inning, 3 strikeouts. Hopefully he'll get back to throwing like he did last year, when he had a 1.40 ERA in 51 innings. He's 23.

22. Yeyfry Del Rosario: Munenori should have named his kid Yeyfry. Yeyfry Kawasaki. It is a winner. Anyway, Del Rosario has made 13 relief appearances for Bluefield.  He has a 1.93 ERA in 23.1 innings, 19 hits, 2 home runs, 10 walks and 28 strikeouts. Yeyfry is 19 and was a international free agent signing in 2011.

23. Ryan Goins:  Ryan has just been called up, part of our evacuation of Buffalo.  I figured he was going to be the call up when the Jays brought Munenori up the first time, since Goins was/is on the 40-man. He hit .257/311/.369, with 6 home runs, 29 walks and 85 strikeouts. His August hadn't been great .194/.265/.258 before the call up, but I guess he'll be happy enough with it now.

24. Ryan Borucki: Ryan was a 15th round pick in 2012, dropping a long way because of an elbow injury. All looked good when he rehabbed the elbow, instead of doing Tommy John, but he's had the surgery now and hasn't pitched at all this year.

25. Javier Avendano: last year, Javier had an ERA of 1.33 splitting time between Vancouver and Lansing. This year isn't going as well. In 24 games, 21 starts, he has 4.00 ERA in 108 innings. 106 hits, 8 home runs, 57 walks and 89 strikeouts.  He is 22.

26. Jeremy Gabryszwski: Jeremy is having a good year in Vancouver.  He has a 2.66 ERA in 13 starts, 71 innings, 63 hits, 0 home runs, 9 walks and 38 strikeouts. More strikeouts would be nice, but he's having success. He's just 19, a second round pick in 2011. He's a big guy, 6'4", maybe the strikeouts will come.

27. Dwight Smith, Jr: Dwight moved up to Lansing after playing in Bluefield and Vancouver last year. He is doing ok, hitting .276/.359/.381 with 7 home runs, 48 walks and 77 strikeouts with 23 steals, caught 4 times. August is going well, he's hitting .302/.375/.430 so far this month. He is 20 and was a first round pick in 2011.

28. Anthony Alford: Anthony played in all of 6 games at Bluefield, hitting .227/.414/.409, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts, 2 steals, before going on the 'Temporary Inactive List'. He transferred from Southern miss to Ole Miss after his troubles during his freshman year.  He is listed as a defensive back at Ole Miss after playing quarterback last year.

29. Jairo Labourt: Jairo is pitching in Bluefield and doing very well, 1.72 ERA in 11 games, 7 starts. In 47 innings he's allowed 32 hits, 3 home runs, 13 walks, 434 strikeouts.  He's just 19, and Bluefield is several steps from Toronto but all looks good at the moment.

30. Chad Jenkins: Chad is just off the DL, he's had 3 appearances in New Hampshire since coming off, a total of 10 innings, 8 hits, 2 unearned runs, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. He's had an eventful year.  He made 3 starts for the Blue Jays in May, 3 pretty ok starts, going exactly 5 innings in each and allowing just 2 runs in each. Then got sent to Buffalo, made a few starts there before coming out of his June 28th start after 2 innings with 'shoulder tightness'. If all goes well, I'f think we'll see him in Toronto again before the end of the season.

Houston Astros (41-85) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (57-71), 7:10 pm (CT)

0
0

Houston vs. Toronto, 7:10 pm (CT)

TV: CSN Houston, MLB.TV 
Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM
Blue Jays SBNation Blog: Bluebird Banter

Pitching Match

RHP Todd Redmond (1-1 / 3.32 ERA / 1.11 WHIP) vs. RHP Jordan Lyles (5-6 / 5.19 ERA / 1.51 WHIP)

Preview

The Blue Jays head south to the Astros in hopes of finishing strong in 2013. The Jays are currently 17.5 games out of first place and 11.5 games behind forth place. Injuries and starting pitching have been Toronto's downfall. The Blue Jays rank the third worst in the American League in wins (57), earned run average (4.39), and forth worst in WHIP (1.36). Only the Astros and Angels have been worse over all three categories.

On the mound today for the Blue Jays is Todd Redmond, this will be his eighth starts this season and second against the Astros. He had a quality start in his most recent outing, holding the Rays to one run over six innings. The lone run came off a Evan Longoria home run, happens to the best of pitchers. In the month of August, he has a 2.40 ERA over 15 innings.

In Redmon's previous start against Houston, on July 28, he pitched six innings of one-run ball. He walked two and struck out a season-high 10 batters. He only gave up three hits in the game, one was a solo home run by Brett Wallace. Marc Krauss and Jonathan Villar accounted for the other two hits.

Let's take a look at the Blue Jays over the last seven days at the plate. Brett Lawrie has been getting on base with .321 (9-28) average. Rajai has a stolen base on five of his last nine times on the base paths. Jose Reyes is battling a sore knee and hitting .353 (6-17). Anthony Gose has only four his last 23 at-bats. Jose Bautista is on the 15-day disabled list with a hip injury, joining both Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus.

On the mound today for the Astros is Jordan Lyles. Made one appearance out of the bullpen since last starting, he gave up two runs on 2.1 against the Angels. Over his last 39.1 innings before coming out of the pen, he has a 1-3 and a 7.09 ERA. This includes a 4 runs outing (5 IP, 9H, 2 HR, 3 BB, 1K) against the Blue Jays. Brett Lawrie and Jose Reyes each had solo home runs off the Astros' right-hander, the Jays also had five doubles in the game.

Two teams in the basement can't play spoiler against each other, thus these teams play to build momentum for next season.


Chien-Ming Wang to start for Blue Jays Saturday

0
0

Manager John Gibbons told reporters that Chien-Ming Wang will make tomorrow's start against the Astros. I was kind of hoping it would be Sean Nolin or Kyle Drabek or Marcus Stroman but Wang gets the call. The Jays have an open roster spot after Aaron Loup went on the paternity list today. He can be on it for up to three days, so Mrs. Loup is on the clock.

Wang, as you'll remember, made 5 starts for us earlier in the season. He had a 1-1 record with a 7.13 ERA, 35 hits, 8 walks and 11 strikeouts in 24 innings. His first 3 starts were pretty good, or pretty lucky. His last two starts he only lasted 1.2 innings in each and gave up 13 earned runs in the 3.1 innings.

Wang has been doing a good job for the Bisons, in his last 10 games he has a 4-3 record with a 3.18 ERA, 12 walks and 30 strikeouts in 51 innings.

I'm hoping the last Bison out of Buffalo remembers to turn out the lights.

Blue Jays 4 Astros 12: that was pathetic

0
0

Blue Jays 4 Astros 12

Every now and then, I think 'well, that's rock bottom, we can't get worse' and then we do.

That was just terrible. The Houston Astros got 15 hits off us. 12 runs. 5 walks. 2 home runs. 3 triples. 3 doubles, 2 of them by Brett Wallace.

Todd Redmond went a big 3.1 innings, allowing 8 hits, 8 runs (1 unearned, because of Redmond's own error), 3 walks, 6 strikeouts. The guy only gets strikeouts or hard hit balls. There is no in between with Redmond.

Brad Lincoln was no better, 1.1, 3 hits, 2 earned, 2 walks, 1 k. It is possible that he has been overworked of late. Darren Oliver gave up a 2 earned in his inning, off a massive home run by some player whose name I've never heard before.

The only bright spots, among the Jays pitchers, were Sergio Santos, who pitched 1,1 scoreless, allowing just 1 hit, while getting 2 strikeouts and Casey Janssen, who got in a scoreless inning of work. Santos seems to be coming around. 2.63 ERA on the season now, I hold he can stay healthy next year.

On offense, we got 11 hits. 2 each for Jose Reyes, Anthony Gose and Ryan Goins. Goins had his first MLB hit and his first extra base hit, a 9th inning double. I'm pulling for the guy, basically because I have nothing left to pretend to be excited about. Yay Goins. All the other starters had 1 hit, except for Moises Sierra, who was 0 for 3, with a walk.

We had 3 home runs, Edwin Encarnacion hit his 32nd. J.P. Arencibia his 20th (4 more homers than walks) and Brett Lawrie had his 10th. Brett is one of the very very few bright spots of this season. His average is up to .262 now, after being just .209 at the end of July.

No Jays of the Day, JP led us with a .092 WPA.

Suckage goes to Redmond -.463.

Tomorrow, Chien-Ming Wang gets the start for the Jays. I'd say he couldn't do much worse, but if I do, he'll find a way to prove me wrong.

Also tomorrow, we are taking the train from Montreal to Ottawa, to spend the weekend there. I had a great time in Montreal, if you overlook the lost camera (and I'm trying to, but it's tough). My first time in Quebec. I found the people very friendly, after hearing stories of how they disliked us English speakers. And it has been good to get away from Blue Jays baseball, some. But, unfortunately, all vacations have to end.

Derek Jeter set to return to Yankees on Monday

0
0

It looks likes Derek Jeter is tentatively scheduled to return to the team on Monday. After playing two games with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, he seems set to rejoin the Yankees when the team travels to Toronto on Monday to take on the Blue Jays. He will play another game at shortstop tomorrow and then join to the team in preparation for his return.

He believes he has tested his calf enough to prove that he can play after what has been his third rehab stint of the season. He originally made his season debut on July 11, then return on July 28 from a quad injury, and now has been sidelined since August 3 with a calf injury.

The Yankee captain doubled in his first game and tonight reached on an error, where he advanced to second on a poor throw and eventually scored. He faced a knuckleballer on Thursday and Friday, will face a non-knuckleballer on Saturday, and then will face R.A. Dickey in his return in Toronto.

In the meantime, the Yankees have only one shortstop on the roster in Eduardo Nunez now that Jayson Nix has been lost for the season with a broken hand. Preston Claiborne was brought back up as the injury replacement, so it would likely be him that's sent down to make room on the active roster.

More from Pinstriped Bible:

Who Are Ya: Brad Peacock

0
0

Brad Peacock takes on Chien-Ming Wang in a Saturday night affair in Houston (you can Find the Link for those two pitchers yourself). Peacock was drafted all the way in the 41st round of the 2006 draft by Washington and pitched in three games with them in 2011. In the offseason following that 2011 campaign he was involved in the Gio Gonzalez trade with Oakland and then traded with Chris Carter this February to Houston for Jed Lowrie. In 12 games and eight starts this year Peacock has a 5.59 ERA and a 5.95 FIP. His control has been lacking reflected by a 4.66 BB/9, along with a dreadful 2.05 HR/9.

Peacock's repertoire includes a fastball, curveball, changeup, and slider with his fastball sitting low-90's most of the time. His curveball is his go-to pitch and is fairly effective when he can throw it for strikes. His rarely thrown slider gets a solid amount of whiffs as well. When Blue Jays hitters fall behind to Peacock they should expect his curveball a large amount of the time. You can see how much vertical drop Peacock's curveball has and also how much run his changeup features:

Rd9xkev_medium

Some assorted media for your amusement include his nasty curveball GIF from his debut:Peacockother1_medium

via cdn.fangraphs.com

Plus a classic video of the umpire beaning him during his last start:

I'm not even completely sure who's on this AAAA team anymore so making a lineup would be a useless waste of time. To the "Find the Link" for today:

Find the link between Brad Peacock and the former #6 ranked prospect in ALL OF BASEBALL the offseason before his second year with the Blue Jays.

TankFest 2013

Screen_shot_2013-08-24_at_9

Enjoy your Saturday night!


Chad Jenkins recalled, Brad Lincoln optioned, and Maicer Izturis transferred to 60-day DL in the Blue Jays' latest roster moves

0
0

After pitching 44 pitches in 1.1 innings of five-hit, three-walk, and three-run ball in the past two games, Brad Lincoln has been sent back to the Buffalo Bisons, and Chad Jenkins was recalled from the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, according to Sportsnet's Mike Wilner. Jenkins will bolster the Blue Jays' bullpen.

Stephen Chadwick Jenkins, 25, was optioned to New Hampshire to start 2013 where he played just one game after coming back from an injury before making three spot starts with the Blue Jays back in May, going five innings each. Then he was optioned to Buffalo in early June, but after pitching for the Bisons for about a month, Jenkins re-injured his right shoulder. Since that month-long set back he has made two rehab stints with the GCL Blue Jays and has pitched three games with the Fisher Cats. He has only gotten into 14 games this year. He is probably just a fill-in with a strict pitch count at this point in time.

Brad Lincoln has looked just horrible in his last three outings, but he did look quite solid in his time in Buffalo. It's probably best that he is not with the club's back-to-school lunchbox giveaway day on August 31.

Chien-Ming Wang will take the hill tonight in a spot start for the Blue Jays after Aaron Loup was placed on the paternity list. Since Wang was not on the 40-man roster, another move before the game must be made in order to make room. It is expected that Melky Cabrera would be moved to the 60-day disabled list.

There are only eight Blue Jays out of the usual fifteen currently serving an optional assignment: Kyle Drabek, Mauro Gomez, Drew Hutchison, A.J. Jimenez, Brad Lincoln, Sean Nolin, Mickey Storey, and Thad Weber.

UPDATE

Instead of Melky Cabrera going on to the 60-day DL, Maicer Izturis has been placed there instead to make room for Wang, according to an official tweet. His ankle sprain from the series against the Yankees must be more serious than first thought.

According to a Bisons release, the Blue Jays have signed former Atlantic League (independent) MVP outfielder Blake Gailen to a minor league contract, assigning him to Buffalo to help them populate their outfield with warm bodies. Gailen, now 28, played 29 games in affiliated ball when he was an Arkansas Traveler in August and September 2011. He hit .288/.385/.454 with 11 homers and 20 stolen bases in 117 games this season after batting .338/.415/.949 with 22 homers in 2012, his MVP year. Baseball America named him the Independent League Player of the Year.

Earlier this week, the Blue Jays signed Ryan Langerhans to a minor league deal from the Sugarland Skeeters and also assigned him to the Bisons.


Blue Jays 5 Astros 8: the losing continues and continues and continues

0
0

Blue Jays 5 Astros 8

Wasn't it a great idea to start Chein-Ming Wang? Please, Alex, John, anyone else with a hand in the decision making process, don't have him pitch for us again.

If you ignore Wang's performance and a few errors, it wasn't all that bad. The bad parts:

  • Wang: 3 innings, 4 its, 5 runs, 4 earned, 1 walk, 3 k. And it really could have been worse. The Astros found gloves with some hard hit balls. He was missing high and low. It's funny, his numbers in Buffalo are pretty good, he can't be pitching this bad there.
  • Jose Reyes made 2 errors, one a throwing error and one an easy ground ball that he just didn't pick up. Reyes was also 0 for 5 and sort of looked like he's checked out.
  • J.P. Arencibia made a lousy play on a throw to the plate, that should have resulted in an out, but for whatever reason, he moved forward, above the plate, to receive the threw, and course couldn't dive back quick enough to make the tag. He also made a throw from his knees, on a stolen base attempt and, of course, it went wild, into center field. Luckily Anthony Gose was alertly backing up the play. And there was a passed ball that he just whiffed on. JP, I really want to be on your side, I love batters with power, but you aren't helping.
  • Rajai Davis did a couple of pirouettes on his way chasing a deep fly over his head. It wasn't an easy catch but it should have been made. And he was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.

On the good side:

  • Chad Jenkins, who I would have rather seen start that game, looked good in 4 innings of relief. His defense let him down. He allowed 3 hits, 1 that wouldn't have been a hit if Rajai could have made the catch, 3 runs only 1 earned, 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. I know Jenkins isn't likely to be great but, man, if the choice is start him or start Wang, START HIM.
  • Ryan Goins made a couple of really nice plays, including a nice relay on the play JP blew and had a hit.
  • Kevin Pillar was 2 for 4 with his first MLB home run, the umps ruled it a double at first, but changed it on replay. He doesn't look as lost at the plate.
  • Edwin Encarnacion homered and took 3 walks.
  • Brett Lawrie doubled, great swing, and played terrific defense.
  • Anthony Gose was 1 for 2 and played good defense.
  • Adam Lind was 2 for 4.

In all, it wasn't as terrible a game as yesterday, but losing to the Astros is hard to stomach. Even with all the injuries we have.

I'll admit, if I was Gibby, I'd be benching guys when they show they have mentally checked out. JP should have come out of the game tonight, Reyes too.

Suckage: Wang (-.295).  I'm giving one to Reyes, JP and Davis too.

Jays of the Day: Edwin (.097) and I'm giving one to Pillar too, cause you get one for your first MLB home run.

Sunday Morning Bantering: Phillies-Diamondbacks game, youthful indiscretions

0
0

This is like a less well done version of Thursday’s Three Things, a weekly feature that I forgot about one week in.

Thing #1

I was up until the wee hours of the morning watching the end of the Phillies-Diamondbacks game which lasted seven hours and six minutes. At one point Arizona was leading 7-1, but by the time I started watching in the bottom of the 13th, the game was tied 7-7. In that inning, the Phillies had the bases loaded with two outs and pitcher Tyler Cloyd coming up to bat. Because they didn’t have any options in the bullpen (or to pinch hit other than former Toronto fan favourite John McDonald), they were forced to let Cloyd bat. He dribbled a grounder two-thirds of the way up the third base line and hustled down to first, but was beaten by a very nice Martin Prado throw to end the inning. In his next at bat, Cloyd would line a double into the corner but was stranded there.

Because the Phillies had used up a lot of their bullpen, they called on right fielder (and former Blue Jay) Casper Wells to come in to pitch the top of the 18th. He looked fine at first, throwing 91 mph fastballs, and getting Cliff Pennington and Tuffy Gosewisch (former Blue Jays farm hand) out, but found himself being squeezed at the plate. His unwinding started after his walk of speedster Tony Campana. He allowed four runs after that walk when six straight D-backs reached. The Phillies’ new manager Ryne Sandberg went to remove Wells from the mound, sending him to right field, to bring in left fielder John McDonald to make his major league debut on the mound. Johnny Mac allowed a Cliff Pennington single before striking out Gosewisch to end the inning. That means that Johnny Mac, as a pitcher, has a career K/9 of 27 and a 50 K%. Gosewisch also had the poor distinction of making two outs in the same inning against two position players pitching.

The rare move of having two non-pitchers pitching got me thinking about the major league rule limiting coaching and managerial visits to two per pitcher per inning. Sandberg went out to visit Wells twice, meaning that Wells had to be taken out in the second visit. Normally, pitchers would be taken out of the game completely, but Wells went to the outfield. Now, the Phillies phailed to score in the bottom of the inning and lost 12-7, but if they had tied it up and the game had continued, would Wells have been allowed to pitch again? And did the umpires make a mistake in not forcing Wells to leave the game in the first place? I’ll have to look into the rulebooks for that. Perhaps there was a rule change that happened after Davey Johnson kept on switching Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell between outfield and the mound.

Because of the bullpen usage from Saturday night/Sunday morning’s game, the Phillies have activated Roy Halladay to start Sunday afternoon’s game. Doc was set to make a rehab start for the AA-Reading Fightin Phils against Deck McGuire and the Fisher Cats, so Blue Jays fans would not be able to see that matchup. Because the decision to activate him came so late, Halladay was told to drive from Reading to Philadelphia at 2 am, meaning he would get to the park at his normal ungodly hour.

Thing #2

Google is not being fair to Brett Lawrie, not letting go his youthful indiscretions.

Googlejays_medium

Thing #3

Speaking of youthful indiscretions, take look at this picture of Canada’s Justice Minister Peter MacKay in his younger days. Yankees t-shirt, really? I hope the press make him answer for that.


Blue Jays get win gift wrapped courtesy of the Astros, avoid sweep

0
0

Mark Buehrle did enough to keep the Toronto Blue Jays in the game and he needed to, because his teammates didn't do much at the plate against the Houston Astros until the top of the ninth. Buehrle threw 115 pitches, 71 for strikes, and allowed just seven hits and two walks in his eight innings of work, striking out seven Astros on the way. He also made a great fielding play, recovering quickly from a comebacker off his hand in the seventh.

Buehrlebarehand_medium

via Gamereax.com

Buehrle was OK, coming back to strike out the next batter on three pitches then coming back out for a 1-2-3 eighth. He did all that he could, and Jays fans should be appreciative of his efforts of late. He won his 10th game of the season, extending his personal streak of 10-win seasons to 13.

Let's recap how the three runs scored in this game came about. For Houston, their only run came on a bases loaded double play hit by Jake Elmore in the bottom of the second. For Toronto, Chia-Jen Lo walked Moises Sierra in the tying run with the bases loaded in the ninth, then Ryan Goins grounded out against Kevin Chapman to score the go-ahead run.

Casey Janssen game in for his 23rd save, setting a career high. He did make it interesting, though, loading the bases by walking Jason Castro, allowing a single to Jonathan Villar, and walking Brett Wallace. Astros catcher Cody Clark, making his major league debut, bounced one back to the mound, Janssen jumped and deflected the ball before Ryan Goins grabbed it and threw Clark out at first to end the game. Goins could've stepped on second to force the slow Wallace, but whatever, he got it done and the Jays won! Yay! That was the Jays' first save since August 15.

Chart_medium

via FanGraphs

Jays of the Day! Mark Buehrle (+.218 WPA), Munenori Kawasaki (+.208), Casey Janssen (+.187), and the Blue Jays fans who still care!

Suckage JaysKevin Pillar (-.235) gets it but the umpire called a very generous third strike against him in the ninth, Rajai Davis (-.156).

The Blue Jays snapped their seven-game losing streak and return home to play the New York Yankees for three games before their off day on Thursday.

Monday Morning Media Mashup: Jerseys Edition

0
0

Leading off this week's Monday Morning Media Mashup is Matthew Kory's guide to jersey buying, which appears on Sports on Earth, a how-to in buying a jersey to show your love for your favourite team, which I would assume to be the Blue Jays for most of you. A quick disclaimer: I don't own any Blue Jays jerseys and never have but that's because I'm cheap.

Kory presented eight categories of jerseys you can get in his piece, and I will annotate it with the corresponding Blue Jays player:

  1. Current Star: Jose Bautista (honorable mention: Edwin Encarnacion)
  2. Hall of Famer: Roberto Alomar (not much choice, really).
  3. Indie Hero: Munenori Kawasaki
  4. Ironic Goat: Mitch Williams, probably. (Against the Jays: John Farrell)
  5. Secondary Star / Bit Player: Colby Rasmus
  6. One-Timer: Joe Carter
  7. The Nobody: Casper Wells, Andy LaRoche, Aaron Laffey #37, Jeremy Jeffress, Justin Germano, Dave Bush #54, Mickey Storey, Edgar Gonzalez, Ricky Romero - So many to choose from!
  8. Your name: "LEAGUER #13" would look pretty decent actually. For those wondering, I've worn #13 way before Brett Lawrie, mostly because I always get picked last.

This article reminds me of something Matt English (@mattomic on Twitter is a great follow, so do it) tweeted out earlier this month:

Brkraceciaexhc0_medium

Minor Leaguer's Additional ProTip™: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever buy ripoff jerseys. Not only does that displease Bud Selig, but ripoffs generally use incorrect fonts, graphics, numerals, patches, etc. that anyone with a keen eye can spot. Specifically, my personal pet peeve involves jerseys that have a name on the back (NOB) when there shouldn't be. If you head down to the Rogers Centre for this series, you will see Yankees "fans" wearing a bunch of RIVERA #42 and JETER #2 jerseys. Those types of fans are among the worst types of people in the world. I've recently also spotted folks wearing the Blue Jays' powder blue road jerseys with names like FIELDER or KEY or whatever on the back. The issue is that, except for 1980, the powder blues never had names on the back, and even when it did, it used a special typeface that has a white outline. I have yet to see someone wear a correct version of the 1980 road uniform. Someone came close, wearing an AINGE #2 jersey but the name on the back didn't have the white outline.

You can read parts one and two of my three-part series on the history of the Blue Jays uniform if you need further guidance. The third one is in progress (and has been since 2011), but you won't need it because no one would buy a throw-back angry bird / Black Jays-era jersey.

Blue Jays Related

Let’s Talk About Player Development - Drunk Jays Fans
Last week, John Farrell contrasted the Blue Jays' and the Red Sox's player development process, saying that his current club combines three dimensions of development (mental, physical, fundamentals) while his former club is more one dimensional in only looking at "toolsy" guys. Even though some folks on Twitter have asked me to address this "controversial" quote here I was reluctant because I don't know nearly enough about the player development in the Blue Jays' and Red Sox's organizations to say anything intelligent and worth your time to read.

I know that the Blue Jays have a reputation of drafting and acquiring high-ceiling "toolsy" players, but I also know that they are not completely negligent in the other two dimensions. They have brought in people like Jamie Evans to handle the physical development (and rehabilitation) of pitchers, Tim Raines and Sal Fasano to develop fundamentals, and they even have a roving motivational coach in Steve Springer. We know their names but how are they compared to the corresponding roles with the Red Sox? I have no idea, and neither does Andrew Stoeten. But Stoeten does a good job at using what he knows to look at the myth that the Blue Jays don't produce big leaguers while their A.L. East rivals Red Sox and Rays are much better.

John Gibbons deserves another season in Jays dugout: Kelly - Toronto Star
When a team does badly, the fanbase calls for the firing of the manager or head coach. I'm sure that's how it is in every professional club, even though only in a few cases does the manager or coach actually play in the game. After such a disappointing year with such ugly, ugly losses, John Gibbons has been the target of many Jays fans, but Cathal Kelly (who was sensational on Twitter and in his recaps this weekend in his Blue Jays coverage) thinks you're wrong. I won't say much more about this because soon I'll devote a longer piece on the issue, but I will leave you with a Gibby quote from the article: "For my own gratification, I want to win a World Series here. But more important, I want to win it for [Alex Anthopoulos]. He has confidence in me, but it couldn’t have been easy."

Jays' losing experience "awful", "frustrating" - TSN.ca
Scott MacArthur speaks with several Blue Jays about how they feel about their latest bout of crappiness. Casey Janssen chimed in with an interesting quote about whether everyone on the club is still playing with pride and not giving into what the standings say:

"I don't know," said Janssen. "That would have to be a question for each individual person if they were to look in the mirror and say, hey, I did everything I possibly could this season and it worked out or it didn't work out. Then they would have to maybe evaluate either their preparation in their in-season or off-season program to make it better."

... snip ...

"I would think that there would need to be some changes," said Janssen. "I would also say that the snowball is so big that right now it's tough to say because a fresh start would do a little bit of good. There are definitely some holes that got exposed. I would say, just from my evaluation, if we came back with the same team, although I think it would be different, it might not be a championship team."

It is difficult to dissect that single quote to find something meaningful to interpret but I think it's clear that Janssen has a few names in mind who might not exactly be mentally checked-in. I do believe that some change needs to be done to this team but we will likely not see a big turnover this offseason.

Ford Leaders in the Field - Sportsnet.ca
Ben Nicholson-Smith speaks with DeMarlo Hale, Chad Mottola, and Torey Lovullo about a day in the life of a major league coach, giving fans a bit of an insider's look into what the old men in the dugout do outside of games. This is actually the eighth installment of Sportsnet's "Leaders in the Field" series--they are all pretty good reads so do take your time and go through them.

Injury may have been blessing for rejuvenated Jenkins - BlueJays.com
Gregor Chisholm spoke with Chad Jenkins, who attributes his latest callup to the injury he suffered in Buffalo after a few lackluster starts with the Bisons following his demotion in late May.

Flashback Friday: The 1998 Toronto Blue Jays - The Blue Jay Hunter
Last Friday, Ian looked back at the very talented 1998 Blue Jays club. I think most fans don't fully appreciate how great that team's offense and starting pitching (PED-supported or not) was. Every starter except for Pat Hentgen had a below-average ERA, with Roger Clemens leading the way with a 174 ERA+. In the bullpen, Paul Quantrill (179 ERA+) and Dan Plesac (123 ERA+) formed a perfect lefty/righty middle relief combo. Little known fact: the 1998 Blue Jays were the origins of the the phrase "mind your 'P's' and 'Q's'". I think it was the 1997 and 1998 clubs that cemented my love for the Blue Jays.

ICYMI, Edwin Encarnacion is superb - HardballTalk

No, I didn't miss it, but I'll share anyway. Matthew Pouliot noted that as of Saturday night, Edwin Encarnacion was on pace to finish the season with 41 homers and 69 strikeouts. Only two players since 2001 have had a 40+ home run season while striking out fewer than 80 times: Albert Pujols did it six times and Barry Bonds thrice.

Down on the Farm

Ontario farmers create giant Blue Jays-themed corn maze - Cut4
Literally "down on the farm," starting next Saturday, you can visit Lisa and Steve Cooper's Blue Jays-themed corn maze for just $8 admission. I have been there before (that year they had a Maple Leafs-themed maze), and it is pretty fun, although right now it seems like a little early to go to a corn maze. It's more fun with the leaves having turned colours already. The Coopers' farm is in Zephyr, which is near Mount Albert, which is beside East Gwillimbury, close to Newmarket at the end of the 404, an hour and a bit north of Toronto.

Drabek’s loss of command leads to Bisons defeat - The Buffalo News
The Bisons are still kind of in the playoff race in the International League, tied with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for third in the wild card standings at 2.5 games back of the Rochester Red Wings. Their 2-2 series split with the IronPigs this weekend could have propelled them up the standings, but they fell 7-0 Sunday after a masterful effort by Sean Nolin on Saturday (6.2 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 4 K, 3 BB). Kyle Drabek fought his control, getting deep on counts, but he says that his arm felt good in the outing.

Swapping Mets for Blue Jays still a step in right direction for Bisons - The Buffalo News

The Mets' AAA affiliate Las Vegas 51 are in first place and 10 games ahead in the Pacific Coast League South , while the Buffalo Bisons are now long shots to make the playoffs in the International League. This has led to some Bisons fans to question whether it was such a good idea for them to have dumped the Mets in favour of the Blue Jays. Mike Harrington thinks that, as parent club, the Blue Jays have been much better to the Bisons than the Mets ever were, and reminds readers that it is difficult to translate minor league results between leagues. As I will let you guys know later this week, the Bisons management agrees with Harrington's take, and say that they are more than happy to have changed partners last September.

McGuire Dominates In 7-3 Win - New Hampshire Fisher Cats News

Yesterday there was supposed to have been a matchup between Roy Halladay rehabbing with the Reading Fightin Phils (actual name) and Deck McGuire starting for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (actual name). But with the Phillies playing a seven-hour 18-inning game on Saturday, Halladay had to be called in for an emergency start with the big club. McGuire did his best Halladay impression, though, and was perfect through six innings before allowing a walk and a triple to star the seventh. He finished the inning, only allowing two hits and two runs while striking out seven in his start. On the offensive side, Kevin Ahrens and Kenny Wilson both chipped in with two-run home runs, while catcher Jack Murphy was a homer short of the cycle. The Fisher Cats are 15.5 games behind the Binghamton Mets, but are only three games behind the second place Trenton Thunder. In the Eastern League, the top two teams in each division play each other in the first round.

Norris & McGuire Excel! - Batter's Box Interactive Magazine

Tercet gives us a rundown of Sunday's minor league games. Bluebird Banter guest writer Johnny Anderson had a tough outing for Dunedin, giving up five over 2.1 innings, while possible future guest writer Daniel Norris tossed four innings of one-hit, one-run ball. In Vancouver, Kyle Anderson blanked Spokane over seven innings.

Leg Kick of the Week

Moises Sierra with a backward leg kick against Chia-Jen Lo of the Houston Astros (GIF by Shermanator91):

Sierra_kick_medium

Ian Hunter wouldn't forgive me if I didn't include Carlos Villanueva's across-the strike zone kick from last season.

This Week in Stupidity

On Sunday morning, Damien Cox decided he was going to tweet about the Blue Jays and a few standard blah blah blah fire John Gibbons tweets later he logged onto the interwebs and found out this cool fact:

Wow that settles it. Let's hire Rich Dauer. I also found an interesting fact too, and it may be of use for the Tampa Bay Rays:

Coming in a close second is the Twitter account that claims that it is Marty York's.

I'll let you decide how reliable Marty's sources are with his own tweet from four months ago:

Also:

Uh huh. John Farrell made Mike Napoli into a star. Mike Napoli is batting .192/.323/.288 in August. I mean, even J.P. Arencibia is doing better than that this month.

Poll
How many non-knockoff Blue Jays jerseys do you own?

  83 votes |Results

Chien-Ming Wang designated for assignment, Blue Jays activate Aaron Loup from paternity list

0
0

In not-surprising news, the Blue Jays have designated Chien-Ming Wang for assignment and have reactivated pitcher Aaron Loup, who was away on the weekend tending parental duties. Wang was placed back on the roster when Loup was placed on the paternity list, so this move essentially resets the previous one. Wang is now off the 40-man roster and has likely already been placed on waivers--whether it is outright or release waivers--but it is unlikely anyone would make a claim on him.

Wang is just 33 but his career was derailed with a leg injury running the bases in Houston's Minute Maid Park back in 2008. He attempted to revive his career with stints a stint in Washington the last couple of years and re-signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal this past offseason before being released and finding his way to the Blue Jays' system in June. Wang looked good in his first three starts, going a combined 20.2 innings giving up just six runs on 22 hits, striking out 10 and walking five. But then midnight struck and he turned back to a pumpkin. And when I say "midnight" I specifically am referring to the second innings of his starts. Batters were hitting .571/.605/1.000 against him in second innings this season, with him giving up 16 earned runs in the 38 plate appearances against him.  His fall over the cliff all began when Rogers decided to do that Taiwanese broadcast of Wang's start...

His numbers down in Buffalo have been decent, so I'm sure the Blue Jays won't mind sending him there to push for the playoffs, but Wang can choose to request an unconditional release. He will probably not be missed by too many Blue Jays fans.

Trading for J.A. Happ: One Year Later

0
0

It was just over 13 months ago that the Blue Jays and Astroscompleted a 10-player trade that brought J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon, and David Carpenter to Toronto. With the two clubs having just finished their first series in Houston since 2005, I thought it’d be a good time to look back on the trade and see where the pieces that were sent to Houston are now.

The majority of Blue Jays fans rejoiced as struggling reliever Francisco Cordero was finally sent packing, and backup outfielder Ben Francisco made the trip as well. In addition to the spare parts that the Jays shipped south, a package of five prospects—catcher Carlos Perez and pitchers Asher Wojciechowski, David Rollins, Joe Musgrove and Kevin Comer—was sent to Houston in a depth move for the Astros.

Carlos Perez

Signed by the Blue Jays as a 17-year-old in 2008, Perez was considered one of the Jays’ best prospects for a few years in a row. The Jays had catching depth to spare when they included him in the deal, as J.P Arencibia, Travis d’Arnaud, Yan Gomes and A.J. Jimenez were all ahead of him at the time of the trade. More hitter than catcher early in his career, Perez repeated class-A Lansing in 2012 and hit .275 with an .804 OPS in 71 games as a 21-year-old. It was that year with Lansing when Perez made significant improvements to his defensive game.

After the trade, the Astros promoted Perez to high-A Lancaster, where he hit .318 in 26 games. He opened the 2013 season at double-A Corpus Christi, but after just 16 games he was promoted once again and quickly found himself in triple-A. Through 71 games with triple-A Oklahoma City, Perez, still 22 years old, has hit .262 with a .661 OPS.

Asher Wojciechowski

Selected 41st overall by the Blue Jays in 2010, Wojciechowski was the most advanced pitching prospect in the package, having repeated high-A Dunedin and managed a 3.57 ERA/2.86 FIP in 18 starts prior to the trade. A big, 6-foot-4 right-hander at 235 pounds, Wojciechowski’s star seemed to fade quickly with the Blue Jays, after repeated attempts to modify his delivery. A dip in fastball velocity and the lack of a usable third pitch implied a reliever ceiling.

Like Perez, Wojciechowski was moved up a level once he joined the Astros and boosted his prospect stock by continuing to perform at double-A into this season, before getting promoted to triple-A after a 2.07 ERA in 69.3 double-A innings. Ranked among the Astros’ top 15 prospects, Wojciechowski has improved his changeup and is currently sporting a 3.48 ERA/3.66 FIP through 129.1 Triple-A innings.

David Rollins

Overshadowed by Lansing’s "big three" of Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard and Justin Nicolino last season, Rollins quietly managed a 2.78 ERA in 18 starts as part of the Lugnuts’ 2012 rotation. I saw Rollins a few times in Lansing, and he was a quick worker on the mound and used a mix of fastball, changeup and slider to rack up 75 strikeouts in 77.2 innings.

After remaining in A-ball following the trade and closing out the year there, Rollins opened the 2013 season up a level in high-A, where a spike in his strikeout rate and a decrease in walk rate helped him move further up the ladder. After tossing six scoreless innings in a triple-A spot start, Rollins has allowed just six earned runs in four double-A starts so far.

Joseph Musgrove

Drafted 46th overall by the Blue Jays in 2011, Musgrove went much higher than anticipated. Another big-bodied right-hander at 6’5" and 230 pounds, Musgrove was on the radar of a few AL East teams because of the movement and sink to his mid-90s fastball as well as his durable frame. Throwing a two-seamer as well, Musgrove completes his arsenal with a hammer curveball and a circle changeup.

He made it as high as Bluefield while in Toronto’s system, and remained in the Appalachian League with Houston following the trade. Musgrove’s found himself back down in the Gulf Coast League in 2013, where he’s allowed 15 earned runs on 39 hits in 26.2 innings.

Kevin Comer

Included as the player to be named later of the group, Comer was another supplemental pick by the Blue Jays at 57th overall in 2011. Because he signed late, he had to make his big league debut the following year in 2012, and had to be in the minors for a year before he could be traded, hence the PTBNL.

Committed to Vanderbilt but eventually signed by the Jays for an over-slot deal of $1.65 million, Comer had a fastball-sinker combo and a feel for a changeup and curveball, which he hadn’t been throwing for too long. Comer’s name blew up in a Keith Law tweet that said his fastball velocity dipped to the high 80s, and speculation crept in that that part could have been a reason the Blue Jays soured on him so quickly.

Dealt after throwing only 43.1 innings in the Blue Jays organization, Comer stayed in the rookie-level Appalachian League after the trade before moving his way up to the New York Penn League this season. In 12 games (six starts) with the Tri-City ValleyCats, Comer has managed a 4.70 ERA and seen increases to both his strikeout and walk rates.

* * *

While it was puzzling that high draft picks Wojciechowski, Comer and Musgrove appeared to have been given up on so fast, the deal made sense for both parties as the Astros were looking to re-stock their farm system with as many players as possible and the Blue Jays were in desperate need of pitching help.

What were your thoughts on the deal?

Poll
In hindsight, was this a good trade for the Blue Jays?

  968 votes |Results

The Best, The Worst and The Rest: A Look at Top Blue Jays Prospects From The Past Week

0
0

I'm back again with another look at the standout and notable performances in the Blue Jays system from the past week. I'll be adding in my own thoughts on the minor league games I've watched and listened to as well as mix in some of what the actual experts thought.

The Best:

I'll start with Drew Hutchison who went 4.1 innings in his start on August 20 giving up five hits, one earned run with one walk and five strikeouts. He looked markedly better than the last time out.  According to the Pawtucket Red Sox broadcast, Hutch's fastball was in the low 90's and he was "putting it wherever he wants it."

They also mentioned that Hutch had great arm action on his changeup. He wasn't as sharp near the end of his start but he is on a limited pitch count and was likely tiring at that point, but an encouraging start.

I've finally been able to watch A.J. Jimenez now that he's with the Bisons and he's come as advertised, the great arm and the contact bat I've read about have been on full display.

I got the rare luxury of seeing a Marcus Stroman start on MiLB.TV on August 22, the camera angle was terrible and the broadcast was unique to say the least as at one point an unannounced guest walked into the booth and began asking about a car he saw for sale outside the stadium. Stroman had another strong performance in this game and I got to see how incredibly fast he works, he's the anti-Jason Frasor on the mound. The Reading broadcast had this to say about Stroman:

"It's so hard against this guy when you're behind in the count, he can spot 93, 94 and 95 on the black".

For the most part Stroman looked great in this game but he did give up another home run which is now his 13th in 100.2 innings pitched, which could be a problem especially in the Rogers Centre.

If I had a mediocre category that's where I'd put Kyle Drabek, but just for the fact that's he's healthy and throwing in the low to mid 90's is great to see after his second Tommy John surgery.  He still has a lot of deep counts but his curveball has been filthy in both starts and Drabek actually looked great for his first three innings on August 25, but the wheels absolutely fell off in the fourth inning and he was hit hard and started to hang some curve balls. So again as with Hutch hopefully this was just Drabek tiring.

The Bisons broadcast in Drabek's last start noted that he's looked really quick off the mound covering first, and said he's lost 20 or more pounds during his rehab. The most interesting thing I learned watching his last two starts was the Pawtucket broadcast mentioned that Drabek said he came back too early from Tommy John the last time and could never really get rid of the pain, and this time he feels much better. So that alone warrants enough to place him in the Good.

I'll throw out this timely question from Keith Law's chat on August 21st regarding Drabek:

Bret (Toronto)

Kyle Drabek is rehabbing from Tommy John, and one positive in the small sample size is that he's avoided walks. Anthopoulos has said that the Jays are optimistic that his awful command/control could have been caused by the need for Tommy John, and that with it behind him, his command should rebound. Is that just wishful thinking or could their be something to it that leads to Drabek reaching some of his potential?

Klaw (2:15 PM)

His explanation is plausible, but I don't think we'll know for sure until he reaches the majors.

The Worst:

It's been a disastrous year for Ricky Romero so putting him here feels like kicking a guy while he's down so I'll be brief. Romero was hit hard in this start and his fastball velocity was around 88 mph according to the few times the broadcast mentioned it, I heard nothing over that during the game. He gave up nine hits and five runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings and was saved by his defense from giving up more. On the plus side Romero was getting far more swing and misses than I recall him getting earlier in the year and only walked one batter, but still.

Blue Jays 30th round draft pick Rowdy Tellez, paid $850,000 to sign hasn't exactly gotten off to a great start sporting a .185/.276/.250 slash line in 108 at bats. He obviously has tons of time to turn this around though. Here's what Baseball Prospectus had to say about him in their Monday Morning Ten Pack last week:

"If Tellez can make some adjustments to his approach and swing while somehow finding a way to get his power to cross over from BP to live game action, he will be dangerous. Tellez has a lot to prove, and will for a while to justify the money he was given."

The Rest:

All right just to cause this fan base more pain here's some more soul crushing information this time courtesy of Baseball America. First BA on former Blue Jay Noah Syndergaard:

"Syndergaard throws just as hard as Wheeler, but his fastball command is well ahead of Wheeler's. With the improvement of his secondary stuff this year, he has the look of a potential No. 2 starter."

BA on former Blue Jay Justin Nicolino:

"Nicolino has the look of a mid-rotation starter, with enough upside to potentially end up as a frontline guy."

And from Ask BA Jim Callis projects the top prospects for the 2014 draft class and this name should sound familiar to Jays fans as Callis has him ranked seventh:

"7. Tyler Beede, rhp, Vanderbilt
Can make hitters swing and miss with three pitches but can't always control and command them."

Finally from BA an exciting name to add to the list of starting pitchers available this offseason, perhaps just maybe an area the Jays could use an upgrade at:

"The most prized talent in Japan is [Masahiro] Tanaka, a 24-year-old who some scouts project as a potential No. 2 starter who can immediately step into a major league rotation. That could make him the most coveted pitcher on the market this offseason"

They mention he has a low 90's fastball and can touch 96, but some scouts worry that it comes in on a flat plan, they also mention he has two secondary pitches that have earned grades of 60 or better on the 20-80 scouting scale, a splitter and a slider.

So, press conference at 9:00 anyone?

And lastly some nuggets from John Gibbons interview on XM from Thursday:

Gibby said there was talk at one point this year of putting Josh Johnson in the pen.

Gibby commenting on some of the recent offensive struggles:

"one of our problems this year is we are a dead hooking team, we've got to be willing to use the whole field"

Gibby on Anthony Gose:

"you've got to hit at this level, if he can make some adjustments and become a pretty good hitter the sky is the limit"


Blue Jays minor leaguer Sean Ochinko suspended 50 games for amphetamine use

0
0

According to a press release from the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Buffalo Bisons catcher Sean Ochinko was suspended for 50 games without pay after testing positive for an amphetamine, to begin immediately. Ochinko joins two others in suspension for violations against the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program: outfielder Brandon Bayardi of the Orem Owels (Angels) for methylhexaneamine and pitcher Daniel Huchingson of the Binghamton Mets for a drug of abuse.

Amphetamines are a class of drugs that include amphetamine - dextroamphetamine ("Adderall"), methamphetamine ("meth"), 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine ("ecstasy").

Ochinko, 25, started the season at New Hampshire before he was promoted to AAA Buffalo following Josh Thole's callup to the majors. He shared the catching role with Mike Nickeas, but his playing time has been reduced lately due to the promotion of A.J. Jimenez from New Hampshire. Ochinko was an 11th round pick in the 2009 draft.

Earlier this year, Blue Jays farmhand Alan Farina served a 50-game suspension for a drug of abuse violation. Last week, it was announced that Miguel Tejada was suspended for 105 games for amphetamine use.

Blue Jays snap 10-game losing streak against Yankees, beating them 5-2

0
0

The Blue Jays extend their winning streak to two whole games after a 5-2 win over the visiting Yankees, disappointing the New York fans, which included one Paul Simon, who traveled to the Rogers Centre.

Brett Gardner scored the game's first run, thanks in part to a Josh Thole mishandling of an R.A. Dickey knuckleball leading to a passed ball. After giving up that single run, Dickey sailed through the next few innings until the top of the fifth when fan favourite Alex Rodriguez led off with a solo homer. Dickey allowed another couple of singles and a walk that inning but got out of it unscathed.

In the bottom of the second, Kevin Pillar hit a ball off his shoetop and blooped a single to shallow centre to score Brett Lawrie for his fifth career RBI. It wasn't pretty (and it looked like his eyes were closed when he hit it) but it worked to put the Jays in flight. In the next inning, Jose Reyes got on with a walk then Edwin Encarnacion cashed him in with a single to give the home team a brief lead.

After the A-Rod home run, the Blue Jays answered right away in the bottom of the inning. Reyes got on base again, lining a double to right followed by a Ryan Goins single to the same direction. Edwin Encarnacion then became the third batter in a row to hit a ball at Ichiro Suzuki, a deep fly near the wall that Suzuki misjudged. It clanged off of his glove and the error brought in Reyes to score the go-ahead (and later, the winning) run. Adam Lind doubled in Goins and then a sac fly by Moises Sierra brought in Encarnacion to score the fifth and final run.

Back to the pitching side, Dickey was taken out of the game with one out in the seventh in favour of Aaron Loup. We have seen complaints that Dickey is left in the game too long, so Gibbons decided to adapt, telling Brendan Kennedy that Dickey had done his job already so there is no point in making him stay later, when he tends to give up long balls. Dickey finished his 6.1 innings with six runs and two runs (one earned), striking out six and walking three. Aaron Loup came in to strike out three of the five batters he faced, and Sergio Santos struck out A-Rod, the only guy he faced. Casey Janssen came in for his second save opportunity in as many days and got the Yankees 1-2-3 without any drama.

Phil Hughes gave up all five runs (three earned) in 4.2 innings, striking out and walking three. Long reliever David Huff came in and mystified the Blue Jays batters holding them hitless for the remaining of the game, walking just one and striking out five.

No wonder why Buffalo Bisons manager Marty Brown wasn't ever really happy with Moises Sierra when he was in AAA--he looks like he leaves his brain off sometimes. In the bottom of the second he was on first and Brett Lawrie was on third when Josh Thole was batting. Thole hit a grounder to second baseman Robinson Cano but Sierra kept his head down and didn't follow the play. Instead of slowing down or avoiding the fielder, Sierra basically runs right past Cano, who tagged him and threw to first for an easy double play.

Jays of the Day! Edwin Encarnacion (+.183 WPA), R..A. Dickey (+.094) was close enough.

Suckage Jays Josh Thole (-.151). I'll give Sierra a half suckage for that baserunning blunder.

8/26 - Blue Jays MiLB Recap: Dalton Pompey hits two long balls in Lansing's big win!

0
0

Sorry for the long wait between posts for those of you that were anxiously waiting my next post (I hope none of you, because that would be kinda sad), but yeah, I had some baseball activities of my own that were in the way.  It's now time to get back into the 'swing' of things, so without any further delay, lets begin with the Bisons highlights (and low-lights)!

Buffalo Bisons (70-66)

The Buffalo Bisons won the first game of their double header yesterday against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs by a final score of 5-2 in 7 innings.  The Bisons are currently a long shot for the IL Wild Card as they sit two and a half games back of the IL Wild Card behind the Norfolk Tides and their elimination number is currently at six games.

  • Mike McCoy - 2-4/2RBI/SB, with the stolen base that is his 28th on the year, he has successfully stolen 28 bases in 35 attempts now, good for a SB% of 80%.
  • A.J. Jimenez - 0-4/SO
  • Mauro Gomez - 0-4/3SO
  • Brad Glenn - 0-2/BB, Glenn has put up a line of .314/.419/.600 since joining the Bisons.
  • Andy LaRoche - 1-3/2B
  • Ricardo Nanita - 1-2/BB
  • Luis Jimenez - 1-3
  • Ryan Langerhans - 2-3/2B
  • Drew Hutchison - 4.1IP/6H/2ER/1BB/5K/1HR, apparently Hutchison was serving up some cookies tonight according to a scout who was at the game.
  • John Stilson - 1.2IP/2H/0ER/0BB/3K, it really would be nice to see JStilly in September.
  • Jeremy Jeffress - 1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/1K, would be nice to see Jeffress in September also, he has been great after the all-star break in limited time, putting up an ERA of 1.13 in 16 innings.

Buffalo Bisons (70-67)

The Bisons lost the second game of their double header by a final score of 3-2, the Herd lineup collected just two hits and three baserunners in this one.

  • Mike McCoy - 0-2/BB, also had an error in the field, his 10th on the season.
  • Blake Gailen - 2-3/HR/2RBI/SB, Gailen has put up a line of .417/.385/.667 since being signed out of the Atlantic League just a few days back.
  • Justin Germano - 6IP/5H/1ER/0BB/4K
  • Mickey Storey - 0.2IP/3H/0ER/0BB/0K

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (66-68)

The Fisher Cats were doubled up 10-5 in their game yesterday against the Portland Sea Dogs, the Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. With the loss the Fisher Cats are now fifteen and a half games back of first and three games back of second, the Fisher Cats elimination number is now at five games.

Lansing Lugnuts (57-66)

The Lansing Lugnuts lineup had an offensive explosion last night as they put up 18 runs, en route to defeating the Dayton Dragons by a score of 18-6. With a current winning percentage of .474, it's pretty easy to see that the Lugnuts are out of a playoff spot, but if you needed extra re-assurance I'll just tell you that they're currently 21 games back. The Lugnuts broadcast team had a closer view of the action in this one as they called this one from the stands!

  • Dalton Pompey - 3-4/2HR/2RBI/2BB
  • Emilio Guerrero - 3-6/2B/HR/4RBI
  • Christian Lopes - 2-5/2RBI
  • Kevin Patterson - 2-6/RBI/3SO
  • Daniel Klein - 1-5/2B/BB
  • Chris Hawkins - 1-1/4BB
  • Jordan Leyland - 3-5/HR/6RBI
  • Carlos Ramirez - 0-4/BB
  • Jason Leblebijian - 2-5/RBI
  • Eric Brown - 6IP/3H/2ER/1BB/1K/1HR
  • Tucker Donahue - 1IP/3H/1ER/0BB/1K
  • Chad Girodo - 1IP/2H/2ER/1BB/2K
  • Griffin Murphy - 1IP/2H/0ER/0BB/0K

Vancouver Canadians (36-34)

The Canadians won their game last night as they squared off against the Spokane Indians and won by a final score of 3-1. With the win the last night the Canadians now sit four and a half games back of first in their division with just seven games left to play in the season. The Canadians will make the playoffs if they continue to hold the second place spot in their division.

  • Chaz Frank - 2-4/2B
  • Justin Atkinson - 1-3/BB
  • L.B. Dantzler - 0-2/2BB
  • Brenden Kalfus - 1-3/BB/SB
  • Dawel Lugo - 2-4/RBI
  • Ian Parmley - 1-3
  • Alonzo Gonzalez - 5.1IP/2H/0ER/1BB/3K
  • Scott Silverstein - 1.2IP/1H/1ER/2BB/1K
  • Garrett Pickens - 1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/1K
  • Chuck Ghysels - 1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/1K

Bluefield Blue Jays (40-23)

Bluefield took a 3-2 loss last night against the Greenville Astros as the 'stros walked off on a throwing error by Franklin Barreto. As the Blue Jays were going for a 4-6-3 double play in attempt to get out of the inning, they got the first out at second, but Barreto could not make a good enough throw to get the second out, which resulted in the runner on third base scoring. With the loss last night the Pulaski Mariners gained some ground on Bluefield in their division as the Blue Jays now hold a half a game lead.

  • Franklin Barreto - 1-5, Barreto had two errors in the field today.
  • D.J. Davis - 1-3
  • Tim Locastro - 0-3/BB/SB
  • Mitch Nay - 1-4
  • Matt Dean - 2-4/2SB
  • Jonathan Davis - 1-4
  • Jorge Saez - 1-4
  • Nico Taylor - 1-3/SB
  • Alexis Maldonado - 1-4
  • Alberto Tirado - 3IP/2H/1ER/3BB/1K, also had a throwing error.
  • Mark Biggs - 3IP/3H/0ER/1BB/1K
  • Yeyfry Del Rosario - 2IP/1H/0ER/2BB/2K
  • Joe Lovecchio - 0.2IP/1H/0ER/1BB/1K

GCL Blue Jays (27-30)

The GCL Blue Jays lost this one by a final score of 7-6 as they fell to the GCL Pirates when the Pirates made a late rally in the final few innings. The GCL Jays now sit four games back of first place in their division after the loss yesterday.

  • Richard Urena - 2-4, also had a missed catch error on the box score. Urena has had a nice start to his stint in the GCL since his promotion from the FSL, he has put up a line of .333/.364/.381 in 5 games.
  • Dan Jansen - 2-5
  • Gabriel Cenas - 1-5/2SO, Cenas has had a rough stretch in his last ten games in which he's hitting .216/.302/.243.
  • Rowdy Tellez - 2-5/HR, hopefully Rowdy starts to turn it around offensively.
  • Edwin Fuentes - 0-1/3BB/SB
  • Sean Hurley - 0-3/BB
  • Wil Dupont - 2-4/2B/3RBI/2SO
  • Josh Almonte - 1-4/2B/CS
  • Jesus Tinoco - 3.2IP/9H/5ER/1BB/4K
  • Oscar Cabrera - 1.1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/2K
  • Francisco Diaz - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/1K
  • Jose Fernandez - 1IP/2H/0ER/0BB/0K
  • Kamakani Usui - 1IP/1H/1ER/0BB/0K
  • Chad Beck - 1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/1K
Poll
Who will be the more successful big leaguer?

  30 votes |Results

When Narrative Goes Right: Brett Lawrie's 2013 Season

0
0

One of my biggest pet peeves as a sports fan in general, but a baseball fan specifically, is the way commentators and reporters can latch onto a narrative with absolutely no basis in provable fact and trumpet it repeatedly as if it's gospel. Jon Paul Morosi's infamous tweet regarding Colby Rasmus's lack of "winning baseball instincts" is a perfect example. It is impossible to really define what he means by that term, let alone prove that it doesn't apply to Rasmus, yet he is willing to throw it out willy nilly as if it is an absolute matter of fact. A lot of comments coming out about John Gibbons recently with terms like "winning culture" strike me as similarly illogical. Maybe Gibbons has installed a great winning culture but the players have just been awful, or you know, injured. Even if everything a Dirk Hayhurst type says is true, if he has no way of proving it so he ought to keep to himself. If CNN had a story that they were pretty sure was true but wasn't supported by reliable sources they would not run the story. In fact, I'm sure there are dozens of stories daily that are relevant and would drive viewership that networks feel are true, but can't run due to a lack of indisputable evidence. For some reason, sports reporters often feel no need for such a standard.

I know that there are excellent reporters who position such things as their opinion only and are very responsible with such statements but I feel like they are in the minority. The Blue Jays TV commentary team habitually makes statements about the importance of veterans that could conceivably be true, but probably aren't and are completely impossible to prove. Suffice it to say that I am skeptical of a large percentage of mainstream media narratives. That being said, sometimes I have to tip my hat when the Buck Martinez's and Pat Tabler's of the world seem to have gotten something right. Random chance would suggest they are bound to at some point, but I don't mean to be dismissive. I mean to be congratulatory. Today we examine the rare phenomenon of narratives going right with the story of Brett Lawrie's 2013 season.

The Narrative of Brett Lawrie's Season: Brett Lawrie was hurried back from an oblique injury in April because the team was struggling and needed a boost. Given that he had not participated in Spring Training he did not have his timing down and struggled. When he hurt his ankle he was brought back at a slower pace, with a solid rehab stint, and was MLB ready upon his return, leading to his success.

First things first, as I am not Brett Lawrie I can't verify how he felt at any of these stages or how ready he was to play major league ball. The main part of this statement I mean to address is the one regarding his timing. Normally I think it would be pretty difficult to quantify a problem with a hitter's timing and usually I find saying a hitter's timing is off to be an incomplete analysis that doesn't offer much in the way of true understanding. However, in this case I think there is compelling numerical evidence to suggest that Brett Lawrie's timing was in fact off at the beginning of the season. In order to explore how this could be the case we'll start with the basics. The first thing to do is to look at Lawrie's numbers when he came back from his oblique injury in April and compare them to his numbers after his return from his ankle injury in July. I will use the long form to describe these time periods in this chart but for the rest of the article they will be referred to as "Return 1" and "Return 2":

Time Period

Average

On-Base

Slugging

K%

BB%

Isolated Power

Return from Oblique Injury-Ankle Injury

.209

.281

.374

23.4%

5.9%

.165

Return from Ankle Injury- Present

.308

.357

.490

8.9%

6.3%

.182

Given that the power and patience numbers here are very similar, the major differences between these two lines are the strikeouts and the BABIP. First we'll look at the strikeouts. Strikeouts have never been a huge problem for Lawrie before this year, or recently, as seen in the chart below tracking his strikeout rate and contact rate over time:

Time Period

K%

Contact%

2011 Season

18.1%

77.9%

2012 Season

16%

83.6%

April 2013

28.1%

70.9%

May 2013

20.8%

77.4%

July 2013

15%

88.4%

August 2013

5.2%

87.9%

Career

16.4%

81.9%

This definitely has the look of a player struggling with his timing early and finding it later in the year. However, strikeouts and contact% are not related to timing alone and this isn't enough to confirm the narrative. To do that we need to be a little bit more specific.

I recalled thinking that Lawrie was struggling with fastballs early in the year and I figured that was a good a place to start as any. Below is the Brooks Baseball picture outlining Lawrie's Whiff rate against fastballs from the beginning of the year until his ankle injury (aka "Return 1").

All of the individual samples here are pretty small but the overall picture is a guy who was swinging and missing on fastballs a lot. This is especially troubling in the strike zone where hitters normally abuse fastballs. Consider the comparison between this picture and Lawrie's whiffs on fastballs since "Return 2":

Here we see a guy who is not getting beat by fastballs. This seems like a more Brett Lawrie-esque picture. One thinks of Lawrie as being a fastball hitter and being unable to handle the heater, as he was earlier this year, seems pretty out of character. Below is chart showing some of Lawrie's outcomes against the fastball in these two time periods as well as his career:

Time Period

Whiff%

Ball in Play%

Line Drive %

Return 1

13.82%

13.82%

3.69%

Return 2

5.10%

23.53%

5.88%

Career

8.17%

19.63%

4.66%

Early in the year Lawrie proved unable to make contact with and drive fastballs, a problem that has not been typical of his career to date. I think this lends credence to the idea that his timing was off because the ability to square up a fastball seems like one of the best possible indicators of "timing" available.

If we are working on the theory that Lawrie couldn't catch up to fastballs early in the year one place to look to confirm that information would be with batted ball data. Here's is a spray chart with Lawrie's hits in April and May with pitch type indicated by color:

It is clear that Lawrie is not turning on fastballs and pulling them to left field. The majority of the fastballs, and balls to the outfield in general, go to right field. In theory there is nothing wrong with taking the ball the other way but Lawrie has a .247 BABIP and 97 wRC+ when hitting the ball the opposite way as opposed to a 267 BABIP and 166 wRC+ when pulling it in 2013 so I doubt that this is by design. Instead, I think that this, along with the whiffs, lends credence to the idea that Lawrie might have been late on fastballs to begin the year. The difference is apparent when examining his spray chart since his return from his ankle injury in July:

Here we see Lawrie depositing the ball in left field and quite a few instances of him pulling fastballs with authority.Not only does this indicate an ability to catch up to fastballs it is also a major reason for his bump in BABIP as he's had a higher BABIP going to centre field and left field that hitting the ball the other way.

When people figured that Brett Lawrie's timing was off early in 2013 as a result of missing Spring Training it seemed like a lazy explanation to me at the time. I figured there had to be more to the story than that. However, after examining the evidence it appears that the narrative weavers may have gotten one right this time. Messed up timing, due a lack of game action, could definitely account for a mysterious inability to catch up to fastballs for a 23 year old player who had never had that problem. In fact, given the data presented here I can't think of a more logical explanation. This doesn't make me any less of a skeptic regarding convenient stories like this one, but a hat tip is deserved in this case. Just because it doesn't seem like someone has the information to support their claim it doesn't necessarily mean they are wrong. However, I do think it makes them much more likely to be wrong.

The battle between "old school" and "new school" is often a hot topic in the world of baseball and the way that commonly manifests itself is in debates regarding common baseball narratives. Personally, I would rather admit ignorance then declare knowledge of something I can't possibly know or prove, like how veterans are affecting a locker room or what the effect of a particular manager's leadership style is. For that reason I find myself firmly on one side of debates of that nature. Brett Lawrie's season represents a win for the other side but I'm not discouraged. I'm in this for the long haul.

A Blue Jays mascot race: Why not?

0
0

What do President's Choice brand water, an apple, and the Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time have in common? Nothing. The answer is nothing. Good lord why would those things have any commonalities between them? I just kind of named three things that are sitting on my desk right now because I couldn't think of three things that shared no relation, and when you Google "three things that have no relation" all you get is dating tips. Or maybe all I get is dating tips, because that's what Google senses that I need. Question though--said apple has been sitting here for about three weeks...do you think it's still OK to eat? It feels normal to the touch and nothing is crawling on it, so that's probably a good thing.

Let's try again! What do sausages, pierogies, former Presidents of the United States of America, and sea creatures have in common? You were maybe going to guess food after the first two items listed, but former Presidents of the United States are certainly not edible, so there goes that.

The answer is that they are all featured characters in mascot races around Major League Baseball!

Mascots have been a large part of sport for a very long time. They provide entertainment for fans of all ages - not just kids. Heck, when the team is losing 14-5 to the Dodgers on a Monday night in the midst of a hugely disappointing season, the mascot might just be all that is keeping the fans interested at times.

There are many races throughout the major and minor leagues. I'll point out some highlights as not to bore you. Most of this info is taken off of team websites.

Sausage Race - Milwaukee

Bratwurst, Polish Sausage, Italian Sausage, Hot Dog, and Chorizo began as a video board race some time in the early 90s, then actually raced in the stadium starting in 2000. They start on the dirt by the seats at third base, and race around home to first.

The Brewers have done nicely to promote this and extend the ‘Sausage Race' product, as there is now a "‘5K Famous Sausage Race" and you can even book appearances for up to one hour for the sausages at a rate of $50 for non-profit and $100 for profit events.

Presidents Race - Washington

Large-headed mascots depicting George Washington (George), Thomas Jefferson (Tom), Abraham Lincoln (Abe), Theodore Roosevelt (Teddy), and newly added William Howard Taft (Bill) race from right-centre field along the warning track towards first base.

In 2008, two years after the race inauguration, Teddy had yet to win, prompting a ‘Let Teddy Win' fan campaign. Some causes for Teddy not winning included:

  • Teddy running off-course across the outfield after being distracted by members of the opposing team;
  • Teddy being tripped towards the finish line by a variety of costumed characters;
  • Teddy being tripped right in front of the line by the rival Baltimore Orioles mascot;
  • Teddy being disqualified for riding a motor scooter;
  • Teddy running in to a wall despite being in the lead and eventually losing; and
  • Teddy being beaten up by the four pierogies who race in Pittsburgh.

Teddy would eventually win towards the end of the 2012 season.

You can also book the Presidents for your own events, although price is not displayed on the website.

Wing, Cheese, Celery Race

Similarly in Buffalo, the ‘Wing, Cheese, Celery Race' occurs, pitting Chicken Wing, Atomic Wing, Bleu Cheese, and Celery against one another in a race for Buffalo stardom. Celery, like early Teddy, never wins, prompting public outcry.

Tuesday night update from Josh Gold-Smith:

Ozarka Dot Race - Texas

One of a few sponsored races, three "dot" would race from left field to first base, while literally beating the crap out of each other. Fans were given a red, green, or blue coupon, and whichever coloured dot won, fans with that coupon could redeem for free Ozarka water in store.

This race no longer exists, either due to the fact that the people running in dot costumes broke too many bones, or that Ozarka got tired of handing out free water.

D-Backs Legends Race - Arizona

Again large-headed, these mascots depicting Diamondbacks legends run from right field to the batters box along the first base line. Randy Johnson, Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez, and Mark Grace race so that they can be freed the curse that depicts them as large-headed mascots, doomed to race for tens of thousands of slightly drunk, slightly obese Arizona fans. They just want to return to normal life where they don't have to use an entire bottle shampoo when they want to wash their hair. Especially Randy Johnson.

There are man more races across MLB, including the Great Sea Race in Miami, the Tool Race in Atlanta, and the Reds Race in Cincinnati, but there most certainly is not one in Toronto.

Toronto

The closest we get to a mascot race here is the animated video of a Streetcar, Taxi, and I believe the mascot(?) Ace racing through Toronto, among other similarly-styled videos. Why can't we have a real race though?

Yes, we do have a sort of live-entertainment with the "world's fastest grounds crew" bit in the middle of the fifth, but here are some potential ideas for races involving mascots here in Toronto. Let's go with right field to first base as the route.

Former Players

Similar to Arizona, Blue Jays legends from the Level of Excellence, mascots depicting Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, Tony Fernandez, and Dave Stieb race. Joe Carter wins once.

TTC

Everyone loves the TTC! Characters displaying a likeness to a streetcar, subway, bus, and LRT race, and no one can tell streetcars and LRT apart. None of the characters ever win. This would be a good way to win the subway/LRT battle once and for all, though.

Honda

Honda and the Blue Jays are already partners for many events, both in game and outside of home games. Honda Super Camps, Instructional Clinics, and the Baseball Academy all exist to instruct adults and youth alike. Honda also sponsors opening night, holds a contest to fly two people to opening night, and even gives away a lawnmower (!) to a fan as part of an in game promotion.

I propose a race between mascots depicting a car, motorcycle, ATV, and Jet Ski, and Honda can still give away that lawnmower to a fan post-race if they so choose.

Food

Toronto is well known for being multicultural, and nothing represents culture like food. A race between a gyro, penne pasta, spring roll, plantain, and pierogy would be rather hilarious, and the Jays could even sell those items at concession stands. Some sort of discount on the winning food item, perhaps?

Attractions

Toronto has plenty to see, and plenty of fans from outside of the city come to game looking for things to do while here. Why not showcase what our city has to offer with a race between characters Eggplant Sandwich (St Lawrence Market), Directional Sign (Eaton Centre), CN Tower (CN Tower), Elephant (Zoo), and Roller Coaster (Wonderland). It's either roller coaster or pile of vomit, still undecided on that one.

Local Brews

Definitely the less kid-friendly version, but Toronto has plenty of locally brewed beers, and many are quite good. Mascot beer bottles of Mill Street, Steam Whistle, Amsterdam, and of course our good friends at Left Field Brewery race for your love and drunken affection.

Rob Ford

This is the one I would actually like to see. Forget the others. This is the one. Drunken Rob Ford (Drunky), Cracked out Rob Ford (Cracky), Sober Rob Ford (Bobby), and Doug Ford (Douggy) all race. Bobby always wins when Douggy pushed Drunky and Cracky over and makes sure they don't make it to the finish line. The costumes follow the style of the small, round Raptors mascot who eats cheerleaders.

46871-raptor-mascot-eats-cheerleader-nsla_medium

via http://pandawhale.com/post/13009/mascot-eats-cheerleader-gif

So what do you think? There is a poll below, please vote for the race you would most like to see!

Poll
Which race would you most like to see?

  87 votes |Results

Viewing all 2466 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images