Game 51 Recap: That's two in a row! For us...

 
Good afternoon fellow Jays fans! A beautiful day, a tad too hot for this guy so I decided to enjoy my couch and watch a Jays game.

Nothing too exciting today and it was over quickly, Ricky must have had somewhere to be this afternoon.

Let's get to the good stuff:

Lewis continues to impress, first pitch the Jays saw today went to left and Freddy started the day off with a double. Almost looked like he wasn't going to make it home until Wells drove him in with his own double.

The Jays scored 3 in the first frame and none of those runs came in off a home run. That was a nice change, I get worried that all these bombs will dry up and we won't be able to score. A worry hitting coach Dwayne Murphy doesn't seem to have. See the bad section later.

It was nice to catch a game without Buck mis-pronouncing players names. But there is a bad side to that coin. Again see the bad section later on.

Looks like the seven spot is suiting Lyle just fine, hit his 3rd homer in 2 days. Glad to see him come around and start doing, well anything. The Angels are now looking for a first basemen after some seriously bad luck yesterday.

Ricky pitched well, only walked 2 and struck out 7 earning the fans some free pizza and doing it all on only 102 pitches for his second complete game of the year. Amazing the difference when he isn't pitching in front of his family. Just looked at his stats and this one looked like a done deal from the start, day games, on turf and at home he's been solid with an era well under 2.

Sam Cosentino started to talk about Ohman's scoreless streak and one pitch into his day J-Bau launches one. Then the wonderful announcer starts again and BOOM Gonzo lifts one out. 6th time this season the Jays have gone for back to back jacks.

The three homers today lifts the May total to 53 and the record for a month is 58. We've got Garza tomorrow night, so it's not looking like we're breaking the record.

Speaking of records, J-Bau has tied the Jays monthly homerun record with 12. That ties him with Cruz Jr and Delgado. This record has a chance to be broken since Jose has been going nuts this month.

Like I hoped, the Jays completed the sweep.

Now on the bad:

Dwayne Murphy was interviewed before the game and was asked about the low average's and on-base percentage and basically came out and said that they are over-rated and outdated stats and that they don't tell the entire story. Then asked about all the homers and said, the homers are nice, it just means we're scoring. Wow, cheerful guy. Not sure what would excite this guy.

Like I said earlier, Buck wasn't in today. But that gives us Sammy C and holy crap this guy is even worse. No show of emotion at all, hello Mr Monotone.

Ricky's first inning balk was just a sign of things to come, but with a better result a few innings later when he picked off Patterson trying to steal.

John Buck came up in the first and the third with runners on and both times did nothing, one strikeout and one pop up. His bat seems to have cooled a wee bit.

Gonzo made a couple of strange errors today. The first one was a ball that E5 should have had and Gonzo almost seemed surprised that it got to him and made a brutal throw that missed the bad by 15 feet. Then later he was attempting to make a Tony Fernandez type throw and it just dropped out of his hand. For a guy that was praised for his defense he's seems to have made more then a few errors so far this season. Although he prolly gets to more balls then most giving him more chance at an error. Ya, let's go with that.

That's all I've got, like I said it was a fairly quiet game.

A couple of things from Halladay's perfect game:

Apparently the Florida Marlins in a very classy move have given Roy the rubber from the mound.
Roy was back at the stadium at 8:45 this morning working out and someone said, you couldn't sleep in after throwing a perfect game yesterday? Classic Roy response, "I can sleep in during the winter".

Looking ahead:

Tomorrow the first place Rays come to town.  I wonder how many of their criminals will be "detained" at the airport?

Garza (5-3) Vs. Morrow (3-4) with a 7:07 start.

Game 15 Recap: Live And In Effect

When you were a kid, did you ever look forward to something SO much only to find out when you finally got there that the main event was closed that day?

Alex Gordon was not in the line up and that really chapped my ass.  I'd like to think his manager is one of the hundred or so people that reads this fucking blog everyday and he decided to keep Gordon out the line up to avoid the nightmares but.....I doubt it.  Possible, but highly unlikely.

The Good:

The game itself was a beauty.  Dana Eveland battled the mighty Royals for 5 and a third, allowing 2 ER on 94 pitches.  He left the game losing but he did manage to keep us close and gave us an opportunity to win.  That's all you can ask for from your fifth starter.  That's all you can really ask for from ANY starter in fact.

Vernon hit his 7th dinger of the young season.  A hanging breaking ball got tagged off the 3rd deck in left field.  Seems to me that he recognizes that teams are trying to get him out in the top half of the strike zone and he has made the necessary adjustment.

We win in come from behind fashion 4 - 3 moving our record to 9 - 6 for the year. 

The Bad:

Bautista did his best E5 impression in the top of the third.  A chopper ate him up as it seemed he couldn't decide to charge it or stay back and take the long hop.  He did neither, and the ball ended up if left for a double.  The cameras didn't show how pissed Eveland was on the mound but yeah clearly unimpressed.  That runner eventually came around to score a unearned run. 

Travis Snider was called on to bunt for the first time since little league.  After missing two decent pitches to bunt, he promptly drove an outside pitch the other way for a single.  Poor execution but it worked out this time. 

The Ugly:

Royals left fielder Mitch Maier went hard after a ball down the line in foul territory in the bottom of the 4th.  The ball and his glove ended up in the stands.....and he had to hop the wall in order to get his glove back because there was no one in the section to help him out.  Eventually some fat dude waddled over and gave him his leather back, which brings me to my next point.

Attendance was announced as 10,565 but I doubt there was more than 6 thousand people in the Dome.

The fat guy vendor that sells the candy and popcorn made a 4:20 reference.  Considering he walks up and down those aisles all day and still weights 260lbs, I think that was a given that he burns and eats his profits.

Kevin Gregg our new "intimidating" closer, uses this pussy song as his entrance music in a save situation:



Not quite as cool as Enter Sandman but I guess it will just have to do.

Of Note:

I dressed up in full baseball gear right down to the eye black.  I had cleats on, baseball pants and brought my trapper.  Thought it was a good idea when I did it, then took 30 steps down Front Street and had some second thoughts.  So the camera guy sneak attacked me in my seats and I declined the offer to be videotaped like an animal in a zoo, much to the dismay of my party.  The only thing cooler than being on the JumboTron, is turning down the offer of being on the JumboTron.

Looking Forward:

Get your brooms out cuz we are trying for the sweep in about 2 hours time.  LastRow500's will be in attendance for get away day.  Bet he gets to see fucking Gordon.

Go Jays!

Game 11: Overbay Kills Us Again 7 - 5 Loss

Just finished watching the game on the PVR, tough loss, a game I thought we should have won. Somebody *cough* Lyle *cough* up again in two situations to take the lead and once again this season couldn't get it done.

Let's start off with my notes on the good stuff:

Vernon hit yet another bomb tonight, well on his way to 30. His RBI was his 736th and ties him with Joe Carter for third on the all time Jays list.
Bautista made a brilliant defensive play on a grounder that took him into foul territory and made a good throw to Overbay to finish the out. A play I'm quite certain that E5 wouldn't have made.
I've heard the players mentioning that the new turf is quite bouncy and it certainly appeared to assist Lind getting a single in the 7th inning.
Marcum, like many of the starters this year pitched into the 7th and he had some good movement tonight. He really only had the one bad inning, that being the 5th. The rest of the night, I thought he looked pretty good.
My boy Randy Ruiz did want Randy Ruiz does, hit a rocket out to left centre in the 8th, the pitch that got Weaver out of the game. God, why doesn't he play more often?
Lind crushed one, like a drop the bat and watch it go type home run. To me it looked like it bounced off the hands of some clumsy fan, but it might have hit a empty seat and bounced right back on to the field. Speaking of empty seats, attendance was UP tonight to a whopping 14779.

Now onto the bad:

Not really bad, but bad for us. Weaver was on the money tonight, he worked at Halladay like speed and kept batters guessing most of the night. He really only threw 2 bad pitches to the Jays hitters all night and they both ended up over the wall.
A bad but catchable throw from Buck to Gonzalez on a stolen base attempt, Alex was just looking ahead for the tag before he got the ball and it skipped over to Johnny Mac.
Lind got a wee bit too aggressive in his base running on a pitch that got away from Angels catcher Mathis, who quickly recovered and easily threw out Lind at third. By a mile.
Accardo, is really giving The Cito some ammo to send him back down isn't he? Another stellar performance by Accardo tonight, wild pitch and gave up the runs that put the game out of hand.
Snider really looked like a amateur out in the field on a fairly routine fly ball to right in the 8th. The misplay ended up costing the Jays a couple of runs. Snider has looked solid so far this year in the field, but in Left.
I've been reading on twitter Jays fans complaining about some of the questionable umpire calls during the White Sox series, it seemed to me that trend was continuing again tonight.
Speaking of umps, Jim Joyce, the yelling strike in the first inning was cool. By holy fuck, by the 3rd I wanted to kill the guy.

Now, The Cito Effect:

Ok Cito, I know you like the vets. But seriously check the fucking box score last night. Overbay went 0 for 5 with 4 k's. Hasn't got a hit in days, if not a week. But you insist on keeping him in the lineup, not only do you insist on keeping him in the lineup, you put him in the 5 SPOT!! Come on man!. A performance like this and Snider would have been on a bus in Vegas by now.
Cito on Overbay, "We need Lyle to get going. I don't think sitting him is going to help him." It might not help him, but it will certainly help the paying public.

That's all I've got Jays fans. There is always tomorrow.