There are a couple of decent match-ups today, but this one stood out to me as clearly the best of the bunch.
Is this Halladay's last start in a Blue Jays uniform?
Rays (52-44) @ Blue Jays (47-49), 7:07pm
TBR: Matt Garza (25, RHP, 6-7, 3.80)
TOR: Roy Halladay (32, RHP, 11-3, 2.73)
Those hoping for Travis Snider to come back and save the Blue Jays are also in for a disappointment; apparently he's nursing a bruised knee after a play at the plate a few games ago with the Las Vegas 51's. I guess the David Dellucci experiment will have to continue until the Great White Pasty Hope (hat tip ToS) is ready to return and be that other feared left handed bat that the Blue Jays have been searching for.
So now the Blue Jays (aside from Roy Halladay and Aaron Hill) will have four days to rest, regroup and refocus on the second half of the season. I've noticed that within the past few months, it seems like the Blue Jays have resorted back to their 2008 selves; all pitching and no hitting.
At their high point earlier this season, the Blue Jays were riding high at the top of the American League East and at one point were 13 games above .500. My how things have gone downhill quickly; since May 19th the Blue Jays are 17-32. I can almost pinpoint exactly where things went downhill; that faithful start in Boston on May 19th against Tim Wakefield. Ever since then, things haven't been the same for the Jays.
This is why they don't hand out titles in April.
I hate to say it, but the proverbial posterior of the Blue Jays has been spanked by the New York Yankees.A tough weekend for the Blue Jays has left them just one game above .500 and seven games behind the New York Yankees for the Wild Card. Since facing off against the Yankees for the first time back on May 12th, the Blue Jays and Yankees have gone in opposite directions. While the Jays have compiled a 15-27 record since mid-May, the Yankees have put together a 33-17 record.
Time to sell high on your Blue Jay players. Buh bye Scutaro ..
Nyjer Morgan .. grrrr.
The story ... Nyjer Morgan was no sure thing to be a starter coming out of spring training, but he won the left field job and was batting as high as .338 in Week 4. During the height of his hot start, I wrote that Morgan was a legitimate .300 hitter, because of a high BABIP fueled by low flyball rates. Morgan's average has slipped to .270, as he has hit fewer line drives and more flyballs in May and June. His flyball rate is still low at 27 percent, but he will need to hit even fewer of them even to get his average back into .280-.290 territory. He is still well on his way to a 30-plus stolen base season, so even a small boost in his batting average will make him valuable for mixed league owners.read more »The story ... Marco Scutaro walked his way to a .421 on-base percentage (OBP) in April. I remember hearing some commentator six or seven years ago saying that, if the Mets would just give Scutaro a chance to play everyday, he would be an on-base machine. Two teams and 600-some-odd major league games later, Scutaro was making that analyst very happy. His walk rate for the month of April was a staggering 20 percent, and Scutaro became a hot commodity in any league that rewarded on-base percentage. Now his OBP is down to .388 and his walk rate since April has been a more typical 12 percent. Nothing else about Scutaro's profile looks much different from what he has done over the past four seasons. Because of a lack of many viable shortstop options, Scutaro still holds some value for mixed league owners, but now is a good time to test the trade waters, before his stats deteriorate further.
Despite the fact this edition of the Jays for the most part plays an entertaining brand of baseball (like last night in an 8-2 win over the Reds), here is a top five list of reasons they Jays likely won't be able to elbow their way onto the post-season dance floor.
- Halladay needs more help.
- Aaron Hill and Marco Scutaro can't keep carrying the load.
- B.J. Ryan's contract ties up needed resources.
- Too easy to manage against the Jays.
- No top prospects are banging on the door.
Then he came out in his second outing and threw his fastball at 95-96, with a nasty splitter like the old days, and struck out 4 rather quality Phillies. What the hell?! Turns out that pitch he was throwing on in his first inning was actually a new cut fastball:
In my completely unprofessional opinion, it looks like a really good one – hard and closer to the Rivera/Halladay style that moves straight from side to side than the Jesse Litsch version that was like a mini-slider and dropped and was inevitably figured out. The fact that every Blue Jays pitcher not named Roy that has thrown/learnt a cutter from Arnsberg recently has had serious arm surgery within the next few years is a little worrying, but considering that Accardo’s slider was a bit of a joke even during his excellent closer season, along with the return of his splitter this has to make him even nastier — at least until it fries his arm
Jordan Bastian just announced that Roy Halladay will be placed on the 15-day DL tomorrow, likely retroactive to his last start. This comes after Doc cut a bullpen session short today after just 15 pitches. Come back soon, Doc. More on who will be called up as we know.
Update: Why not make it 3 in one day? Scott Downs is going to the DL with a sprained left big toe. No replacement yet, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be Accardo, who has done a fine job at Las Vegas. Doc says he'll be ready to return by June 28th, when he'll be eligible. That means he'll only be missing a couple more starts.
He injured his foot running, and Cito Gaston is upset at the system, wtf? Blue Jay pitchers don't do any sort of running before a game I guess. If that's the case, I'd say Gaston is more at fault here, than any interleague rule.
Gaston believes playing under National League rules puts his pitchers at risk, and he let that be known again after losing closer Scott Downs to a left foot injury on Tuesday night. In the top of the 10th inning of Toronto's 8-3 win over Philadelphia, with only one position player remaining on his bench, Gaston left Downs in the game to bat for himself. Downs chopped a pitch from Phillies reliever Tyler Walker to shortstop Jimmy Rollins for a groundout, but he stumbled out of the batter's box, injuring his foot on the play. "I know that a lot of people like this Interleague Play," Gaston said, "and I know it's great for the fans and all that. But that's what happens. Our [pitchers] don't take batting practice every day. They don't run. So things like this are going to happen until somebody wakes up and says, 'Look, let's play the DH the whole time or call it off.'"
read more »The Toronto Blue Jays will be happy if they never have the see the Florida Marlins ever again.
After a three game sweep at the hands of the Fish, the Jays are still winless in interleague play this season with an 0-6 record against National League teams. Now the Blue Jays have an uphill battle as they head to Philadelphia to face the defending World Champions. Just in case you thought things couldn’t get any worse, there are still twelve more interleague games to play this month.
read more »Blue Jays fans hoping for a quick return to the big leagues for outfielder Travis Snider will have to be patient. The young left fielder is currently on the Minor League disabled list with a back injury and is not expected to be back on the diamond until early July.
"It'll probably be another two more weeks," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said on Sunday.
