Not So Far Behind

Yeah, so I didn't write the blogs for the last couple days. Sue me.

Anyway, while I was gone (and by gone I mean right here, just too Goddamn lazy to write up some blogs) the Jays went and swept the Mariners off their feet-- they landed on their asses. Oh, poor Mariners, their ninth loss in a row; sound familiar? I feel bad for them, considering all games were pretty close (7-5, 2-1 and 6-4) and the Jays got some lucky runs and some lucky outs in each and every game. I can really put myself in the M's fans' shoes considering when we decided to go nine straight winless games, a lot of them were close which made it all the worse.

In today's game, to complete the sweep, it was A.J. Burnett burning the Mariners away one-by-one with his high heat (See what I did there?). Constantly reaching 96 MPH on the radar gun at the Centre, Burnett looked phenomenal in his first three innings, not allowing a baserunner until hitting Jose Vidro in the third. Not only that, but he struck out five in the first two, including the ever-so-hard-to-K Ichiro. But in all honesty, the air-show must confuse such tiny-brained adolescents. Not like Ichiro is stupid, he's just small-brained-- only natural from the three foot tall Gold-Glove centre fielder.

Jeff Weaver was a different story, giving up two-run dingers to Gregg Zaun in the second and Matt Stairs in the third, along with a good old fashion batted-in run to give him five earnies on the night in just three very pathetic innings of work. In the fourth, after he already put two runners on in the inning, with M's manager MacLaren on the mound, Mariners' starter Jeff Weaver mouthed off to the manager, who took over as manager for Mike Hargrove on July 1st. I thought it would be another Lilly-Gibbons type fight like last year, but (un)fortunately not.

On a different note, I was near the dugout looking for players to sign my hat like I do sometimes (today Jesse Litsch, Curtis Thigpen and Blue-Jay great Jesse Barfield signed it) I saw J.P. going into the dugout so I yelled out, "Hey J.P., throw me a ball!" The only baseballs even close to him were out of his way, so it was kind of a stupid question, but nonetheless he blurted out, "But I don't have any balls!" Oh, good fun.

Not So Far Behind

Burnett's win today puts the Jays only 5.5 back of the Wild Card leaders, The New York Yankees. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, because it isn't very likely, but the Jays actually do have a shot at winnings the wild card for a playoff berth. Here are the numbers:

• We have 26 games left on the regular season.
• That includes twelve home games and fourteen road games.
  
• We face the Yankees seven times, three times at home.
• We have nine series' left.
  
• Four of those series' are versus sub-.500 teams.
  

With the Yankees' pitchers dropping like flies of the zipping variety, and their offense winding down, their remaining 25 games will probably be a struggle; they only have ten more home games, too.

Hypothetically, if the Yankees play .500 ball from now to the rest of the season (+1 win because it's an odd number), the Jays would need a 19-7 record to tie them and get any hopes of a playoff berth. That's not too impossible is it? If we keep sweeping teams we'll have a not-so-terrible chance.

Call-Up Season... Oh Well

Well it's that time of year, where that big bearded fat man crawls down your chimney and gives you presents. That's right, September Call-Ups! That means the only big, bearded fat man you'll see will be Sal Fasano for the final month of the regular season. He, along with a few young'ns, will join the club on September 1st once the rosters are expanded to 40.

J.P. nor Gibbs have told reporters exactly who is going to be called up, but there's a lot of young talent in the farm that are bound to be called up, such as Robinzon Diaz. Diaz is a young athletic catcher with very little power but he's a slap hitter, I like him though so if Gibbs doesn't call him up, tisk tisk.

The Key to Finding a Successful Call-Up

1. Overall talent: Obviously. If he doesn't have skills defensively or offensively, he probably won't be called up. Fcuk guy, use your head.

2. Minor League Road Stats: It sounds weird, I know... When you're on the road, the disadvantage is unfamiliarity; coming up to the big leagues means that you'll be in completely different, unfamiliar stadiums. If they're successful hitters on the road, they have a better chance of adjusting to a brand new ballpark like the Centre.

3. Type of hitting: For example, if the player's a reknowned power hitter, he'll fit in with the Jays or the Rangers, etc. If the player can relate to the overall team's approach at the plate he'll have much more success in the bigs.

Y'know what I find weird? We have so many great catchers in our farm system (like Diaz and Thigpen and Sal minus the bat) but Gregg Zaun sucks so much. I hope we sign Paul Lo Duca and trade Zaun away with Chacin for a cool shorstop prospect... I'll shut up now.

Oh, So Close

While I didn't have much faith in the Jays winning the extra inning bout versus the A's, it was nice to be there at least. And hell, being there because we fucked with a great closer in Huston Street is just like icing on the cake. It was in the ninth when Lyle Overbay hit a monster-fucking-homerun off of Street that got my hopes up. If Overbay can hit a monstrous second-deck homer off him like that, than hey, maybe he's coming out of his slump and Street's having an off-day, right? Exactly. So I must admit, when I saw Matt Stairs, another lefty, come to the plate, I expected the best. And the best I got... I think the ball was near his fucking ankles too, how the hell did he get that ball out of there? It was like a golf-swing a straightaway centre field.

Anyway, the rest of the game was kind of a disappointment. Halladay was definitely not at his best, walking a career single-game high 6 batters and allowing four runs-- he did go another nine innings though, miraculously. The offense was pretty crap, honestly, since all four runs came by means of solo-homerun, not that that's bad, but it would've been nice if there was some situational hitting in there somewhere. Alex Rios homered for his 21st of the season, and first since July 23rd, Lyle Overbay homered for his 9th of the season, and his first since late May. The other two came off the bats of hot-hitters Aaron Hill and the hero of the day, Matt Stairs.

Victoria's Secret

Err... Vernon's secret; he apparently has been dealing with shoulder tightness since late last season, explaining his struggles at the plate and in the field. In other news, Vernon's our new leadoff guy. I guess it's one of those "if it's not broken, don't fix it" things. He's been batting pretty damn well in the leadoff spot this season, hitting around .300 with 7 HR and 16 RBI. I get what Gibbs is getting at, seeing as how Vernon's batting much better in the one-hole than the three-hole where he's batting .228 with 5 HR and 25 RBI (that's so fucked up) but it really messes up the lineup. That means that Reed Johnson will be the number-two hitter, and Overbay will be the number six hitter, even though he has next to no power in his bat this year because of his hand troubles.

The SOBAs

The "It's-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch" Award goes to...

...Roy Halladay. I know, he went the distance and he just wasn't at his best but his walks killed us. Of the six walks, 3 of the walked batters came in to score. He let in four runs, and if he had his control he could've walked away victorious, but instead he'll walk away with a SOBA.

The Good

We demonstrated good powerful clutch hitting, which we haven't done all year. With Lyle Overbay's homerun, Matt Stairs followed up with one with two out in the ninth to tie it up against his former team.

Although there weren't many batters on base to knock in, we still got four solo-shots to piss of Huston Street and tie the game. I'd say this is pretty damn good considering we got four homeruns during a power shortage for the whole month of August.

Halladay went nine, even though he wasn't himself.

The Bad

Roy Halladay couldn't command at all, but he still did relatively well. He walked a career single-game high six batters and gave up four earnies in the first few innings.

Our doubles streak is over, I think it stopped at 35 games.

The Ugly

Halladay's command was pretty damn ugly, but you can't be perfect I guess...

Reed Johnson went 0-for-5 versus a lefty and 0-for-1 versus a righty.

Jays Clobber A's ACTUALLY!

In all honesty, I was pretty damn surprised that the Jays actually won that game, seeing as we went into extras and we put Jason Frasor on the mound to hold up the fort. Plus, we were on the road facing a good pitching staff. Anyway.

We won, 6-2 in 12 innings of complete fucking boredom, except for of course the two innings that we actually got soemthing done in, the 3rd and the 12th. Burnett did great, though, even though it wasn't one of those sexy sexy 13 strikeout Burnett performances we've seen, he got the job done. It was going great until Casey Janssen had one of those rare fuckups and undoned the job. That's right, undoned.

In the 8th after another fine start for A.J. where he only allowed a run over five hits, Casey came in to give up a leadoff double off the left-centre field wall to former-Blue Jay-- now Blue Jay killer, Shannon "Mongoose" Stewart. He was knocked in by Dan Johnson (a lefty) to tie up the ballgame before Gibbons decided to send in the lefty specialist Downs.

But it was all good because while the A's used closer Huston Street in the ninth and tenth to ware him out completely, the Jays used seldom-used Jason Frasor to hold the fort up for Jeremy Accardo in the eleventh (who got the win after The Big Bad Wolfe put up a spotless twelfth). Troy Glaus knocked in Vernon for the go-ahead run which kept the line moving for a four-run rally in the twelfth to secure the victory for T.O.

Tip of the Night: Don't drink Coke and eat Mentos... oh fuck, it's awful.

Surprise Surprise

Well it's finally happened, Gustavo "Baldy" Chacin (pictured) underwent exploratory surgery in his left testi-- shoulder today. As a solution, the Jays signed former A's pitcher Joe Kennedy pitcher to a minor-league contract, but he's a free-agent next year so it's kinda stupid.

Anyway, Chacin's season is definitely over and, in my oppinion, so is his career in Toronto. With a very solid bullpen and J.P. hinting that the Jays are going to look for free-agent pitching in the offseason, it looks as if Gustavo will not be a Jay for much longer. The starting rotation and the bullpen looks pretty damn awesome to this point, which means having Gustavo would just be a liability, really. I still don't see why fans like the Venezuelan right-hander so much, he has a high Towers-like ERA but more wins because we gets run-support. Maybe it's because of his promising rookie-year that fans have taken a shine to the shiny-headed injury-prone young'n.

Cool Guy of the Game

A.J. Burnett, for obvious reasons... he looked great over 7 innings, and while he only struck out three he also worked his way out of jams. The only blips on his radar would be Nick Swisher's 17th homerun of the season and the five walks he gave up; but he kept the Jays in the game the whole way through.

The Good

The pitching was excellent, straight up great-- except for Casey Janssen of course, but he's entitled to a fuck-up after all he's done this season.

The offence was still pretty good, only Matt Stairs and Gregg Zaun went 0-for, and Matt Stairs got 2 walks as the leadoff man.

Speaking of, J.P. said that he has every intention of resigning Matt Stairs, and Matty said that he has every intention of ending his career in Toronto, so it looks like he's staying, folks.

The Bad

Gregg Zaun went clean-shaven and immediately went hitless. Oh, so ironic, right? Wrong, you're stupid.

The Ugly

Marco Scutaro went 0-for-6 leaving 8 on, ha ha! It's ugly for him, but pretty damn prettiful for us.

Tonight's Matchup: Jesse Litsch pitches for Blue Jays versus former Blue Jay Chad Gaudin. May I remind you, though, that former-Jay pitchers have metaphorically raped us this month... Escobar, Loaiza, Clemens and Trachsel have gone 5-0 with a 1.78 ERA against the Jays in August. Don't drop the soap Jays...

However, Gaudin only pitched 13 innings for the Jays, with a 13.15 ERA on him, so I think we might matchup, ha ha.

Jays Clobber A's... For Real This Time

Well, not the A's, exactly. But they can be called the A's if you're that ignorant...

...Anyway. The Jays were great in their 9-2 win versus the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, or as I like to call them, the LAAoA. It's much shorter, almost.

Shaun Marcum wasn't at his best, but he did pretty well overall. Going 6 innings allowing only 2 runs, Marcum pitched himself in and out of jams all night, but he never got into too much trouble, obviously.

In all honesty, without the help of some good old-fashioned Jays defence, he would have surrendered four runs to the hands of the Angels. Rios started a great relay when he threw out Kendry Morales at the plate in the second for his team-leading 11th outfield assist of the season to keep it a 2-run ballgame.

In the bottom of the fourth, V-Dub threw out Howie Kendrick trying to advance from first to third. Awesomely enough, Zaun informed the homeplate umpire that Maicer Izturis (who was at second) didn't touch homeplate before Kendrick was tagged out at third and the run didn't count.

Cool Guy of the Game

Before the game, Troy Glaus was 0-for-16 at Angel Stadium as a visiting player, as Jamie Campbell constantly, very annoyingly kept on pointing out. But that all ended in a 3-for-5 2 RBI night, a triple shy of the cycle. It's also worth pointing out that it didn't appear that his foot was bothering him, like it has for the last couple days.

Gregg Zaun wins the Co-Cool Guy of the Game Award, in his 1000th career game with his parents in attendance. He went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs and one amazingly played run. He also made a great heads-up play at the plate when he called that Howie Kendrick was tagged out at third before the non-chalantly jogging Maicer Izturis touched home plate.

The Good

Shaun Marcum did pitch well, even though he wasn't at his best.

Troy Glaus was excellent, finishing a triple shy of the cycle and getting his 17th homerun of the year.

I didn't expect much of this series, considering we're bad on the road and the Angels are excellent at home. But we won two already, amazing considering the circumstances.

Reed Johnson lead off the game with a double, making it 32 consecutive games with a double, a new team record. There were six other doubles in the game, including a back-to-back-to-back rally in the ninth by Glaus, Hill and Zaun.

Ha ha, Joe Saunders got his second loss of the season. The first one came two starts ago versus the Jays as well.

The Bad

Marcum wasn't at his best, but he didn't have to be considering his team backed him up.

The Angels scored in the first inning for the third straight game when Reggie Willits lead off with a double and Orlando Cabrera drove him in with a single.

Rios went 0-for-5, his third straight game without a hit, the longest streak for him this season. As Pat Tabler commented on, he didn't look comfortable at all at the plate. He's 0-for-12 in his last three starts.

The Ugly

Nada.

Oh So Disappointing

It's so disappointing when Roy Halladay could've had his third straight complete game victory if the bats woke the fuck up. In his previous start, he pitched 9 innings of 2 run ball but walked away with a no-decision because the offense couldn't get more than 2 runs themselves. This start was no exception; he went the full 8 innings yet because the Jays couldn't get 3 fucking runs he got a complete game loss.

You gotta feel sympathy for the Doc, it's almost too bad that he doesn't hit too, considering his .500 AVG... The thing is that he's just a pitcher, whether the defence or the offence performs effectively or ineffectively, Halladay can't fix it-- even if he is the doctor.

He pitched the whole game in hopes that the Jays' bats would eventually come alive...

...surprise, they didn't.

The SOBAs

The "It's-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch" Award goes to...

...Gregg Zaun. He called a great game but he left 3 on base, including two in the ninth. Zaun didn't really do that badly to be honest, but he was the worst of all the bats... unfortuantely.

The Good

Halladay was great, straight up amazing. His major-league leading sixth complete game of the season was his second complete game loss

The Bad

Don't be surprised that the Jays went 0-for-7 with RISP on the road. Don't even act it. It happens all the fucking time because no coach seems to motivate anybody.

The Ugly

The offence was pretty fucking ugly. Circus-fucking-ugly.

"Holy Handgrenades Bat-Boy! The Defence Was Effective?!"

"Why yes, yes it was."

It was the third straight start that Jesse "Robin" Litsch got an unearned run because of the bad defence backing him up. Fortunately, this time it was only one and he still got the W. With a shaky start, including an error charged to Ray Olmedo (although replays showed that the runner was still out despite Olmedo dropping the ball) Litsch gave up two runs and we all thought, "fuck, not again." Litsch being the soldier-figure he is took it like a man and settled down right away.

It was a totally different story for the Angels' starter Ervin Santana... the very same Santana that nearly got traded for the Jays' lone all-star Alex Rios. Santana started strong but melted down later to straighten his numbers out and put up a nice 5 on the board to raise his ERA above 6.00.

Admittedly, I wasn't confident about this game. Not only was my least favourite starter on the mound (I still like him though, just not as much as the other four) but my two favourite players, Rios and McDonald, got the day off. The fill-ins did great though; Matty Stairs and Ray Olmedo. Matt Stairs provided the much-needed run support for Litsch and Olmedo provided the defence, although he did make an error to give Litsch an unearned run for the third straight start.

Stairs belted a 2-run double into the right-centre field gap in the fifth, and immediately after advanced to third on a wild pitch and came home on the air-mailed throw of C Ryan Budde. Olmedo made a number of great defensive plays, the first was in the first where he dropped the ball and still managed to beat ther unner to the bag, but because the first-base-umpire missed the call and Olmedo got charged with an error. He also made a play where he took a sharply hit ball on the backhand and spun around to throw out the runner. The big play was in the seventh when Maicer Izturis was on second and 1B Quinlan grounded to Olmedo. Being the daredevil-risky-yet-confident guy Olmedo is he threw to third to get Quinlan for the second out. The next batter, Ryan Budde, singled.

Also, Zaun had a brand new stylish blue chest protector. Oh Zaun, you do impress.

The Good

The defence was finally effective behind Litsch and so was the offense. One of those rare road games where everything actually worked.

Litsch pitched a great game, going six and a third allowing only 2 earnies for his 5th win of the season/ his career. Despite a shaky start loaded with bad control of his cutter (his best pitch) Litsch settled down quickly to shut down the Angels.

Fuck effective, the defence was finger-lickin-good. Not only was The Wizard Johnny Mac's replacement, Olmedo great defensively but so was Aaron Hill-- which we haven't seen much of lately. Troy Glaus even made a great play or two... Reed Johnson also made a bonerific play in left where he dove and spread out completely to take away extra bases from Garrett Anderson.

V-Dub, Stairs and Overbay each got doubles, extending the team's doubles-streak to 30 games. If somebody doubles in tonights game they will tie the team record.

The Bad

I don't see why Troy was in the lineup, he's obviously still in pain, he limped back to the dugout when he grounded out.

The Ugly

Really just Litsch's rough start, but he did settle down which was pretty.

Jays Clobber A's

...I wish.

It was another disappointing start from an M&M boy, McGowan this time (pictured smelling himself). He pitched worse than his line indicates, he went 5 innings of 3 run ball, but he walked four and usually fell behind in counts from the get-go. This really made me think, though...

Can the rotation be based on the models that the pitchers set? Marcum mentioned that he pays attention to what Halladay does, and usually succeeds the day after because he took mental notes on Halladay's game. Is it possible that McGowan pitches well when he takes mental notes about Marcum's game? No, you're dumb.

They're both great, granted, but I think it's the different A's style that threw off the young right-handers. Let's hope a veteran pitcher in A.J. Burnett can set an example...

Tip of the Night: if you're gonna sneak food into the Centre, don't sit near the aisles. That lesbian bitch in field level gave me shit for it when she walked down the aisle between innings.

"All I brought in was this coke, that's okay right?" "WRONG"

The SOBAs

The "It's-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch" Award goes to...

...who else? Brian Tallet. You clumsy son-of-a-bitch, go back to Cleveland. You're not wanted here. On a totally unrelated note, the Jays' record when Tallet's in the game is an astonishing 10-31; he obviously wasn't to blame for all 31 losses, but he did take 3 of them... the other 28 were Towers' fault.

The Good

Frank Thomas took the lead in the Jays' homerun race with his 20th and 21st homeruns of the season... and we were disappointed in him...

Vernon got a homerun too, his long awaited 15th to tie Matt Stairs on the team... hoorah? I don't know if that counts as a good thing.

Yet another double, that's 28 straight games.

Yet another amazing fucking play from Johnny Mac, a sliding over-the-shoulder Willy Mays-type holy-fuck play in foul grounds.

The Bad

The bullpen, our most reliable bullpen, gave up the lead. Fuckin' Tallet, stop sucking.

McGowan pitched pretty crappy, even though he was an inning away from a quality start. I think Gibbs should've left him in, and put Wolfe in the next inning. McGowan was on a roll, retiring the last 9 batters he faced before he was pulled with 95 pitches. By the way, he averages about 102 pitches each start.

We didn't do well at all with RISP, going 0-for-10. Every run scored was by a homerun.

The Ugly

Brian Tallets ugly-ass pitching. I understand why Gibbs put Tallet in rather than Downs versus Swisher. Swisher would turn to the right side and Tallet has been good against righties this year, but in reality Tallet sucks when it's his turn to save the game, even versus righties. He choked against Juan Uribe in Chicago, and he choked against Nick Swisher in Toronto.

Michael Vick's situation. Holy crap, what a sick bastard. I hope he never plays again.

It Ain't Complete 'til It's Complete... or Other Variations

Extra inning wins are always great, because they're guaranteed walk-offs, which are nice since we're lacking them this year (not a single walk-off homerun this season). Roy Halladay pitched a great ballgame to keep us in it, even though he had a shaky third to give the O's a 2-0 lead for a whole inning. I bet we got their hopes us too...

Anyway, with Aaron Hill's walkoff sac fly, that gives us our 6th extra ining victory this season and a series win over the O's after the Jays fucked it up for everybody last night with their gloves. Troy Glaus homered for the first time since July 22nd and still, amazingly, is on pace for the crappiest season of his career; not counting his injury-plagued seasons where he played >70 games of course.

Kevin Manson

Is it just me, or does Kevin Millar look like Marilyn Monroe with his crappy crappy paintjob?


Why not?

Why haven't we resigned anybody like Matt Stairs or John McDonald yet, they're MVPs, in a sense. Fuck J.P., hurry the fuck up.

Tip of the Night: if you're going to buy a whole pizza at the Centre, make absolutely sure you and friends can finish it. You can't fit the box in the garbage cans and it's a bitch to carry around.

The Good

The Jays, believe it or not, were great with runners on-- only two were left on base, and only once were runners left in scooring position with two ut: when V-Dub doubled Rios home in the fifth he was stranded with the Big Hurt at-bat.

Troy Glaus finally got a fucking homerun...

No errors? Really? Cool! Now it's 9 errors in our last seven games, hoorah.

Usually, every other game Johnny Mac makes another strangely erotic play-- but today, would be no exception. I go to games to watch him flash the leather now, it's that good. He stabbed the ball and threw out Ramon Hernandez at first with ease... also, he made a crazy heads-up play when he cut-off a throw from Rios and caught J.R. House rounding too much at first base.

Yet another double, coming off the bat of Vernon, to extend the streak to 26 games with at least one double. 31 is the club-record.

Halladay was his usual exceptional self, pitching nine innings of two-run ball...

The Bad

Halladay was his usual exceptional self, pitching nine innings of two-run ball... but because the Jays couldn't solve Jeremy Guthrie he didn't get his well deserved 15th win of the season, or his 6th complete game of the season; second in a row.

The Ugly

Nada. In fact, I'd say this game was overall very sexy.

Unearned v.2.0

Today's game kind of reminded me of the expansion Tampa Bay D-Rays... it's pitiful. We really should've won that game-- three unearned runs? Are you fuckin' kidding me? I don't know what it is with Rojo, but the team must have something against him when they play defense. Now in back-to-back starts he's given up three unearned runs because his defence let him down. What the fuck guys?! We're supposed to be some amazing defensive team, not the holder of the fourth most errors in the AL with 79.

Overbay's defense is way down. Hill's defense is way down. Wells' defense is way down. Fuck guys, do you have daddy issues or something? Overbay's usually a great defender but he's made two errors in two games, fuck. Hill's defense is way down, which I'm really starting to think is because of his knee that was hurting in the all-star break for unknown reasons.

I love the Jays, honest I do, but the way they've been playing defensively I can honestly say they don't love me back. What good is effective pitching if the defense is standing there with their fingers in their mouths?

Anyway, enough ragging on the Jays, it makes me feel bad.

The Good

I love these little offensive explosions that we keep having, it gets my hopes up...

We did manage to get another two doubles, so that keeps the streak going, 25 straight games with a double.

Yet another bonerific play from Johnny Mac The Wizard when he blocked the baserunner from sliding into second base with his knee so he could apply the tag. Paint that shit gold.

Matt Stairs got a homerun, now he's tied with Troy Glaus with 15...

The Bad

Matt Stairs got a homerun, now he's tied with Troy Glaus with 15... what the fuck! Troy Glaus get your head out of your ass and hit some slobberknockers, as Jim Lang of Sportsnet would say.

Our gloves are still faulty, fuck.

The Ugly

Our defense, obviously, was pretty damn ugly. Renee Zellweger ugly-- and that's pretty damn ugly. In fact, I'm too pissed off to write any more.

Big Hurtin

Damn we're lookin' good on the mound. A.J. turned in his second quality start in a row since coming off the DL, and even got some run support off the bat of the Big Hurt. Before rookie left-hander Garrett Olson could even record an out in the 3rd he'd already given up 5 runs in the inning, three of which came off the bat of Frank Thomas in his 19th homerun of the season. Burnett was great again, going 6.1 IP only allowing two runs. In my oppinion, what he did best was keep the first two batters off the basepaths, Brian Roberts and Gary Patterson, so they couldn't steal any bases. Although, Roberts did get a solo-homerun in the fifth...

All-in-all though the Jays weren't that great for a winning team. Only hitting 3-for-17 with RISP? Un-fucking-acceptable. I find it ridiculous that at this point in the season I'm still ragging on the Jays' offense-- Mickey Brantley, you should be fired. J.P. Ricciardi does frequently hint that Brantley's job is in jeopardy, but in reality we all know that Brantley's going to keep his job; afterall, as J.P. would say, nobody knows the hitters as well as Brantley does. Fuck that. Jesse Barfield or George Bell, at least an ex-Blue Jay, should take his job in the offseason... or earlier.

Big Pimpin

Alex Rios, you are such a fucking pimp. Look at these pictures:


Good work buddy.

The Good

Frank Thomas went deep, the first homerun in 49 innings. What the fuck?!?! And we call ourselves a power-hitting club, pfft-- we're a doubles hitting club.

That's the 6th straight quality start from Blue Jays starters, and A.J. Burnett's still doing great coming off the DL, 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA. Damn our starters are kick-ass...

Johnson and Rios got doubles, meaning that's 24 straight games with at least one double; holy crap.

The Bad

Only 3-for-17 with RISP? Are you fucking with me? Damn... we're so lucky we won.

We left 13 runners on too! Fucking ridiculous.

Curtis Thigpen, or Thiggy as I like to call him, left 4 runners on and went hitless... but he's still cooler than Zaun.

The Ugly

Thiggy's defence was pretty shaky, I must admit. But he's never caught Burnett and that curveball would be un-fucking-believably hard to catch. I guess it just wasn't his day.

Bad News and Worse News

It was another nail-biter for the Jays today-- unfortunately we were on the losing end of it, a 4-3 loss to the Angels. McGowan pitched well enough to win, but the offense really couldn't solve the Angels' Kelvim Escobar. There were a couple opportunities where players made small mistakes that cost them runs, like in the first; Reed Johnson lead off with a single, and with an aggressive mindset decided to steal second. On the second pitch, with Johnson going, Overbay took the the other way into shallow left-centre field. Johnson, meanwhile, didn't hesitate to run all the way to third. Stupid move, Reed. The ball was too close to advance all the way to third, ya should've stayed at second. He was thrown out by a mile.

Anyway, overall the Jays played pretty well for a losing team. They hit the ball hard and even managed to rally a couple times, including in the bottom of the ninth to qualify this game as yet another nail-biter. Oh Jesus, if I bit my nails, they would be no more. These last few games have been close and crazy, n'est-ce pas? (I hope my French was spot-on) Anyway, after Rios struck out to start the bottom of the ninth, V-Dub hit a triple into the right-centre field gap (for the record, as he rounded second I was like, "No you idiot! Vlad has a crazy arm!" but V-Dub being the daredevil he is took it the extra mile, er... 90 feet for the triple) and that's when the rally began. All in all, the Jays scored 2 runs before, with Glaus at third, Matt Stairs lined out to centre to end it.

The SOBAs

The "It's-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch" Award goes to...

...both Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios. Yes, Lyle did go 2-4 but he also killed us with his error in the seventh. Krotchman or however you spell it grounded a ball right to Lyle's left, a simple play. Unfortunately Lyle chose the wrong time to give us his impression of Billy Buckner and fuck it all up. It went under his glove and into right field, with Matthews running to second. Then, Krotchman ran to second base, and Matthews ran to third. Rios threw it back to Overbay, and he still couldn't catch it, so Matthews jogged home so non-chalantly I wanted to smack him. The next batter, Maicer Izturis then singled Krotchman home. If Lyle could've caught the ball once, we could've prevented the runs.

Rios, on the other hand is handed a SOBA because of his lack of production at the plate and he technically did make an error, even though Lyle Overbay should've caught the damn ball. He went 0-for-4 and didn't get on base once, the first time since July 31st. He also left 3 batters on base, and struck out twice, the first time he struck out since August 8th.

The Worse News

It looks as if everybody's favourite bald kid's season is over, and maybe his career with the Blue Jays. Still experiencing trouble with his left shoulder, it looks as if Gustavo Chacin will undergo exploratory surgery ending the season, and possibly his career with the Jays. With the emergence of young'ns like Jesse Litsch, Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan, along with relievers Casey Janssen, Scott Downs, Jeremy Accardo and the Big Bad Wolfe, it seems Gustavo might be used as trade bait in the offseason if necessary. Retardo had this to say about Chacin:

"We're trying to find out if we need to have exploratory surgery in his shoulder, he's probably going down that road. We've done everything we possibly can do and we're getting to a different stage now, we just need to take a different course. When you exhaust all the things you're supposed to do and it doesn't work out, you've got to try to find another [option].

Tip of the Night: don't drink warm Heineken, it tastes like yak piss. Just sayin'...

Towers Still With the Jays

Speaking of yak piss, it seems Josh Towers will remain a Jay until the end of the season, what a shame. The Rockies looked interested in him, but they instead made a deal with the Twins for Ramon Ortiz in exchange for a minor leaguer by the name of Matt Macri.

This almost definitely means that there's no chance of seeing Towers in a Colorado jersey. Fuck. Just a thought, wouldn't it have been great if the last time Towers pitched for the Jays was when he hit A-Roids?



The Good

Well, we almost won it. We rallied in the end but came up short, not bad versus one of the best relievers in the game...

Mic pitched well tonight, his sixth quality start in a row, and thirteenth of the season. Unfortunately it was also his second straight loss because of a lack of run support...

The Big Bad Wolfe pitched out of a jam in the seventh to save Dustin from allowing another run-- it was mostly Maicer Izturis' idiocy that saved it, though. When someobdy (I forget, shut up) showed bunt, and popped it straight up and into Gregg Zaun's glove, Izturis ran like a dumbass and got doubled up at second base for the double play. Wolfe pitched another inning as well, lowering his ERA to a sexy sexy 1.82.

Also, after the game we optioned down Hector Luna after he sucked ass this whole time. Mind you, there's only one person that's in the position to be brought up now, which brings me to the bad...

The Bad

Russ Adams was called up from AAA. Why God why?!

The Jays couldn't hit with runners in scoring position and really didn't seize the opportunities they were offered, it's like they're on the road all over again!

Errors from Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios (technically his error, but Lyle shouldn't have cut it off, he ran infront of it... nobody was going to move anyway, Lyle) opened doors for two add-on runs right after we cut the lead in half.

The Ugly

Overbay's fucking glove was pretty ugly, God-damnit. That really cost us the game, Lyle...

My Nails Are Bitten Already!

Yet another nail-biter-of-a-win for the Blue Jays, a 2-1 win over the Angels. Wow, that was really close. If it weren't for some key defensive plays from Gregg Zaun, John McDonald, Casey Janssen and Lyle Overbay (I'll get to that later) we might've lost-- it would've definitely been tied at least. Shaun Marcum was fantastic, like usual, only allowing one earnie on four hits and one walk in 7+ innings. He also struck out 6 innings and oh, he made the Angels his bitch.

The first great play came when Gregg Zaun threw out Chone Figgins, who stole 33 bases already. That the second time he threw out a runner in two nights! The great play wasn't just Zaun's throw, though, it was also John McDonald's tag-- another boner-inducing play from the glove of The Wizard Johnny Mac. Directly afterward, Orlando Cabrera singled to left. If Zaun didn't throw Figgins out, it would have been a tie ballgame.

Once Marcum was pulled in the 8th after walking the first batter, Angels' SS Erick Aybar, Casey Janssen came in and threw a strike to Lyle Overbay, who tagged Aybar out for the pickoff; another fine play from the Blue Jays...

The next great play came in the 9th. With nobody out and a runner at first, this is when it qualified as a nail-biter. But, Gary Matthews, Jr. then hit a linedrive directly into the glove of Overbay, who non-shalantly stepped on first base to double up the runner and just like that, there were two out. If that ball skips by Lyle, the runner probably would have scored; like the Beetles say, "All you need is glove..." Oh, so punny.

The Good

Shaun Marcum was excellent once again, improving his record to 10-4 and his ERA to 3.31, eighth best in the AL.

Alex Rios picked up yet another multi-hit game going 3-for-4. Its his fourth straight and seventh in nine games. His average is a very impressive .314 now.

Gregg Zaun did manage to throw out Chone Figgins, one of the best base stealers in the business.

The Bad

The Jays managed to get only one run in the second inning, although they were in a bases loaded with none out situation. Gregg Zaun happened to ground into a weakly-hit double play, and John McDonald couldn't score Troy Glaus from third.

The Ugly

Sometimes I feel like punching fellow Jays fans in the face. In the eighth when Casey Janssen walked a batter, fans in right field started booing him! What the fuck? Are these confused individuals so utterly incompetent that they fail to understand who they're cheering for, or can they just not grasp the fact that pitchers don't always get a batter out, and they're not completely perfect.

Aaron Hill made another error, which makes me wonder what happened to his defence? I don't know if I'm the first to think this, but has his defence been down since the all-star break? Maybe it's that knee injury he never got placed on the DL for...

Damnit, That Game Took FOREVER

Well, it's another disappointing outing from the Jays' worst pitcher, Roy Halladay. Not only was he horrible, like usual, but he was also so slow. God Halladay, get your act together... you don't even have a complete game yet!

In all seriousness, Halladay was great like usual, throwing the full 9 innings, only throwing 99 pitches and it all took less than 2 hours. In his 5th complete game of the year, he allowed only 5 hits and one run, dipping his ERA below 4.00. Oddly, he only struck out 2 batters, but that really just kept his pitch-count down. The offense wasn't bad, either, although they only had 8 hits and two runs, they kept the line moving as well as possible. The Angels' defence definitely helped, though, having commited 4 errors. Rios had 3 singles and a run-- oh, and was caught stealing.

In other news, Troy Glaus was out of the lineup for a second straight day with a hurting foot. Why does God hate the Jays? Right when he starting coming out of his slump his foot starts hurting and he can't play. Why?!?! Now Hector Luna, the equivalent to the 2006 Russ Adams, is playing third base; how humiliating.

Chone Shakur

Chone Figgins looks like Tupac, that's all I'm sayin'...


The Good

We won versus a great AL West team, which we don't do that well.

Roy Halladay was excellent, showing that he's still capable of winning awards for his pitching; what a cool guy. He got his league-leading 5th complete game as well.

The defence was a complete turn-around; it was pretty damn good compared to the 3-error game last night against the Royals.

Rios went 3-for-4 and is batting .636 (7-for-11) in his last 3 games. He hasn't gone two straight games without a hit since July 15th in Boston.

The Bad

There wasn't much, except that we didn't score past the first inning... we really didn't need to though.

The Ugly

Nada.

Unearned

You have to be shitting me! Did the teams switch around or something 'cause this is outrageous! Not only did the Royals tack on more runs on Litsch than everybody's favourite blue birds put on a 5.87 ERA starter in Perez, but the Royals played good defence, and the Jays looked like kids!

I'm sure everybody remembers that movie that doesn't exist where two personalities just switch in a matter of minutes, and everythings just fucked up... oh yeah, that movie does exist! Freaky Friday! But this game was different in the fact that I didn't watch it for the sole purpose of seeing Lohan's huge tits.

I can't even remember the last time I got angry at the Jays' defence, but today was a different story. One error, I can handle-- hell, even two! Three or more is un-fuckin-acceptable. Not only did two great defenders in Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay make errors, but Hector "look-at-me, I'm-a-useless-motherfuck" Luna made one too, making me dispise him even more than I already do.

We have a hell of a lot of infield prospects, why did we bother picking him up? It cost us Howie Clark, who was really great defensively, and he hasn't contributed one bit. I just can't wait until September when Sergio Santos has the opportunity to play in the bigs, show his stuff. The First-round pick belted 17 homeruns this year in AA and is expected to be called up in September for a cup of coffee along with catcher Robinzon Diaz.

Anyway, in a different matter, Josh Towers is being sought after by many clubs including the Colorado Rockies. On Sunday, the Rockies sent RHP Tim Harikkala to work versus the Cubs because they couldn't trade for a starter in time. Reports say that they're looking at trading for either Towers or Orioles' veteran right-hander Steve Trachsel as they both have cleared waivers. Towers could be traded in the next several days. Although, the Jays probably won't get much in return so don't get too excited. Remember that Towers is just a mediocre pitcher and is only signed through this year, so the Rockies won't be willing to give up much for him, maybe a semi-promising prospect.

On the note of trading players, let me get this clear as many people have talked to me about this recently. All the time I hear from so many people that A.J. Burnett should be traded, and I'm really hoping that after yesterday's near flawless effort those people might come to their senses and shut the fuck up. A.J. Burnett will stay in Toronto, period. He's a great pitcher when healthy, and it's a shame he isn't healthy more often. But, for that same reason, we can't trade him. Think about it, teams won't trade much for a pitcher that might be on the DL for 75% of the season. Also, with Toronto's luck, the year he leaves he won't go on the DL once and win the Cy Young with flying colours, it's bound to happen.

The SOBAs

The "It's-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch" Award goes to...

Frank Thomas, almost unanimously. The Big Hurt had 4 AB, in one of them he got a double, fantastic. In the other three, however, he left runners in scoring position with two out, including once striking out with the bases loaded, and two out. Plus, I'm sure if he wasn't a DH he'd have an error too...

Just Sayin'...

I know I'm not the first to be pissed off that Aaron Hill wasn't in the All-Star game, even though it was so long ago, but I just wanted to note that Hanley Ramirez and Eric Byrnes, the only two players with at least 15 homeruns and 30 stolen bases, weren't in the all-star game either-- Hanley's also an MVP candidate. So don't feel too bad that Hill didn't make it.

The Good

Well, despite losing, Litsch pitched a pretty good ballgame. He did allow 5 runs, but only two were earned because he really didn't get any help from his defence.

There were actually a few good defensive plays; one by Alex Rios in the first when he pretended to be running slowly to the ball so that David DeJesus would try to stretch and single into a double, but then he sped up and threw a strike to Johnald McDonald to tag him out by a mile. What a ninja. The second good defensive play was by, who else? The Wizard! He dove for a ball and threw out the runner from his knees. Paint that shit gold.

The Bad

Not only did we lose but we lost to the Royals! We needed to take at-least 3-of-4 and we didn't, what a bitch, eh?

Frank Thomas couldn't come up in the clutch, at all. He came up three times with two outs and runners in scoring position and still couldn't produce. The team as whole, though, couldn't produce with RISP, like always on the road.

Vernon missed yet another ball he would've gotten last year, and it ended up being a 2-run triple in the favour of Ross Gload.

The Ugly

Our defence, as a whole, was awful. Hector Luna and Lyle Overbay made errors on very easy plays, and they both were very costly. Aaron Hill's error wasn't as bad, the ball was hit sharply and Hill just couldn't catch it on the short-hop. If we didn't make any errors, we would have gone into extra innings in theory. That really just kicks you in the ass.

Welcome Back Burney

After his second stint on the DL, Burnett finally returned and became victorious over the Royals. Through 7.1 innings Burnett only allowed one earnie, a homerun to up-and-coming third baseman Alex Gordon. Burnett was so pissed off because of it too, haha. A.J. only threw 90 pitches however, which is outstanding for 7.1 IP-- it was probably better on his shoulder too.

Glaus continued to come out of his slump going 2-for-4, Overbay also continued to come out going 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs. Thomas, however, seems to be cooling down, considering he was 0-for his last 8 AB, two games.

Oh yeah, and we won 4-1

Big Bad Wolfe

Damnit, how can you not love this guy? He has the lowest ERA among all relievers, and he totally owns righties, holding them to a .128 average.

Other than that one blip where he surrendered a game-winning homerun to a wristless Carl Crawford, he's been really reliable, and we got him for practically nothing! Only Corey Koskie, which is just about worthless anyway.

Mark 'em Dead

It's no surprise that Shaun Marcum was as spectacular as he was last night in Kansas City, afterall he was pitching in front of friends and family. Sure, he got the jitters in the first, walking DeJesus to leadoff the game, but after that he was downright fantastic, allowing one hit in 6.2 IP. And as much as I don't like Darrin Fletcher (I don't know why, he's a great guy, he just pisses me off) I think he had a point when he said that giving up that hit was all for the best. If he retired him, he'd still have to leave the game because of his leg problem, but he'd still have a no-hitter intact.

All in all, a win is a win, and because of Johnny Mac's amazing defence, Marcum picked up his 9th win of the year when The Wizard barehanded a flip from Aaron Hill to get the runner at second and make a strong throw to first to get the runner by mere steps. If the runner at first wasn't called out, the runner on third would have scored and tied the game, meaning Marcum couldn't have gotten the win.

Vernon Wells hit a two-run double into the left-centre field gap for all of the Jays' scoring, Rios and Overbay came in to count. All in all, the offence was good, even though only two runs got scored... every starter got at least a hit-- except for, of course, Troy Glaus.

Damnit Troy Glaus, I don't know what's wrong with you but it's pissing me off anyhow. You were hitting around .290, on pace for a respectable year at least, but hey-- maybe Glaus just feels more comfortable hitting around .250? Bullshit, he just can't see the ball to save his life. Popups and strikeouts; it's hard to think that he's only 31, he looks like he needs a cane to stay balanced. I thought Gibbs would be smart and bench him yesterday, give him two days off to rest like he did with Frank Thomas (except Thomas had 3) and look how he's turned out. Yesterday marked the first time since August 1st that the Big Hurt didn't drive somebody in, that's insane. Also since August 1st, he's raised his average from .249 to .266, a respectable average for an aged power hitter.

Hell, Thomas is one of the few Blue Jays that hasn't missed any games due to injury. And we were worried about his health... Haha.

Somewhat Slumping

Rios is hitting the ball well, yes, batting .444 in his last 9 AB, but strangely enough he hasn't had a homerun in 16 games. Strangely enough, Rios' last 5 HR came on series openers. Isn't that strange at all? No, you're dumb.

Wells is in the same situation. Although he's hitting well average wise, he hasn't had a homerun in 15 games. However, in those last 15 games he has 16 RBIs because he's hitting so well with runners in scoring position.

Tonight's Matchup

Today features Dustin McGowan versus the 23-year old rookie right hander Leo Nunez. Nunez is a relief pitcher, though, and although his ERA is only 1.93, he's only played 3 games; 2 starts. McGowan will be looking for his fourth straight quality start and ninth win of the season.

Payback, Bitches...

Now THIS is payback. Not only did we win 15-4, but we injured A-Rod! HA! Think twice before you fuck with the Jays Roidsy. Really, I think it was just Matt Stairs that won the game, really. It was obvious he was pissed off about yesterday, considering his sit on the Gatorade keg. Hell, even Johnny Damon did that today... what a copycat bitch. Matty hit two doubles before striking out, ending a 5-consecutive doubles run-- a Jays record, by the way.

A-Rod sat out tonights game; his excuse? "Well, my leg still hurts," A-Rod said, "and I don't want to risk hurting it again. Josh Towers is a big bully and I have a vagina." ...alright, maybe he didn't say that but he sent that message of course.

You gotta be impressed with the Jays' approach tonight, not aiming for the fences but just hitting doubles and keeping the line moving--small ball, and they won 15-4, no surprise. Frank Thomas was excellent, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs and 1 run... oh, and he also had 2 of the 9 doubles, a Jays record.

Troy Glaus, on the other hand, is just disappointing still. He was the only Jay without a hit, and one of only two Jays not to get an RBI (the other being leadoff man Matt Stairs). Overbay broke out of his slump though, going 3-for-5 with 3 runs, 1 RBI and a double.

The Good

We made the Yankees our bitch. Period. Halladay was fantastic, our offence was unbelievable and our defence even was still it's normal great. Great game overall... and A-Roid got injured!

The Bad

Was there any bad today? Maybe that Halladay gave up three homeruns, but that's just about it.

The Ugly

Troy Glaus you slumping son-of-a-bitch get a broken bat single and get out of your slump, you're pissing me off.

My Favourite Loss

Holy crap, that loss was fun. Yeah, we lost, but hey that was hilarious. Not only were there two bench-clearings in one inning-- that's right, two-- but there were like a half a bajillion great defensive plays by Johnny Mac, Aaron Hill, Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay, Reed Johnson, Alex Rios and definitely not Vernon Wells. God-damnit V-Dub won't win a Gold Glove this year and I hate it.

But, on the bright side, John McDonald might, because he definitely showed up Derek Jeter tonight. Not only did he do his own signature play by sliding, getting up and throwing at the same time, but he also did Jeter's jumping thing that looks great throwing to second to end the inning. He dived, and turned a sure base-hit into a double play. He made the Yankees his bitch tonight and I'm lovin' it.

Hey, another thought, Overbay has a good chance as well. With Teixeira in Atlanta and Mientkie... out for most of the season (maybe the whole season), Lyle Overbay's great defence might be rewarded this year. Really, I wouldn't mind Vernon not getting a Gold-Glove at all, if Overbay and Johnny Mac do instead... maybe Aaron Hill as well, considering how great he's been.

I can't believe I've wrote this much without even mentioning A-Roids. In the 3rd, A-Rod got hit by a pitch in the kneecap, and immediately walked towards JT, obviously trying to mask his homosexuality. It's only natural, no man wants to admit he's a dirty bitch; I could see him yelling at Josh Towers, "Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me?" Who the fuck are you? Al Pacino? Shut the fuck up Roidsy. It's funny how manly he acts once Jason Giambi's back, trying to impress a special guy A-Rod? Gregg Zaun and the home plate umpire Angel Hernandez (how the fuck do I remember his name?) held A-Rod and JT back as they exchanged words. The benches cleared, nobody threw a punch, A-Rod walked to first base. Then, JT and the infielders are talking on the mound when A-Rod starts walking towards JT again, yelling, and the benches cleared again. Seriously dumbass, why can't you just shut the fuck up? Damn A-Rod's a douche; this just proves that the Blue Jays and the Yanks just don't get along...

After A-Rod was hit by the pitch, both benches were warned. In the seventh inning, however, Clemens hit Rios in the back with a pitch so Clemens was ejected. Haha, karma's a bitch. Rios scored, along with Vernon Wells, on a Big Hurt double to break up the shutout. That's why you just don't fuck with Rios, bitch. Clemens even fought with the umpire, saying it wasn't intentional. Bitch please, it was obvious you wanted to drill him like you drilled Andy Pettitte-- but in a different sense of course.

You know what would be really great? If A-Roids got a staph infection because of that hit-by-pitch... that would make my day.

Oh, and by the way, Barry Bonds is the new home-run king.

WTF J.P!

Why the hell didn't J.P. trade Royce Clayton, he was designated for assignment God-damnit, don't release him, trade him! Trade him for a prospect, take a chance at least! I think the Jays have something wrong with trading. They didn't trade anybody at the trade deadline when they should've, they don't trade any of the many players they designated for assignment... let's take a look at the DFA club:

• Royce Clayton- Released
• Jason Phillips- Released
• Sal Fasano- Demoted [That's a good idea though, he's great]
  
• Tomo Ohka- Released
• Victor Zambrano- Released
• Howie Clark- Still DFA

Why not trade any of them? We could pick up prospects! We could've traded both Howie Clark and Royce Clayton for a good prospect, at least! This isn't one of those trades that all these assholes come up with like "trade Russ Adams, Dustin McGowan and a whole bunch of prospects for Johan Santana!"... this is a "let's trade reliable infielders for a young player that might be reliable one day." The Jays really have a problem with trading, don't they?

Record Setting Weekend Report

I kept off writing blogs for a couple days while I waited out milestones, and wow; A-Roid became the youngest person to reach the 500-homerun plateau. Tom Glavine recorded his 300th win and Barry Bonds finally tied Hank Aaron on the all-time homerun list.

Out of all these milestones, which one will never be met? Barry Bonds' record, whatever it will be once he retires, will most likely be broken by Ster-Rod since he still has a long time to go and doesn't have a nagging injury to worry about. Ster-Rod/A-Roid won't be the youngest to reach 500 for long, Ryan Howard is one of the most prolific power hitters of the time now, and he's only in his second full season of his career already boasting 112 homeruns. Tom Glavine, however, has a chance of being the last player ever to reach 300-- the closest to 300 after him is The Big Unit. Randy Johnson has 284 wins, but he's close to retirement, chances are he won't be able to get 16 more wins before he's forced to retire.

Anyway, this isn't what this blog is about.

Get to the Jays, dumbass!

OKAY! STOP YELLING! GOD! ...While I was gone, the Jays had two wins to complete the sweep versus the Rangers. The pitching was fantastic and so was the offence... I guess? On Saturday, every Jay except Lyle Overbay got at least one hit, and Frank Thomas hit two homeruns (he's finally heating up and setting himself up for a huge August like last year) and also The Wizard Johnny Mac had three RBIs as the Jays won 9-5.

Sunday was a totally different game; Dustin McGowan was the story of that game as he went 8 innings allowing just one run to pick up his 8th win and lower his ERA to a great 4.11. In fact, in his last three home starts, McGowan, who I like to call Mic, owned a 3-0 record and a 0.37 ERA, 1st in the AL in that time and 2nd in MLB next to Chris Young who was perfect.

Today the Yankees snapped the Jays' 8-game home win streak in a close 5-4 loss. The It-Was-All-Your-Fault-You-Son-Of-a-Bitch award, or the SOBA goes to the slumping Troy Glaus for not taking the walk in the 8th inning when he very well could have. On a 3-1 count, Glaus swung at an outside slider and popped it straight up. The next batter, Aaron Hill, homered to make it a 5-4 game.

Gazing into the Future

A.J. Burnett made his first rehab start today for the Syracuse Chiefs, striking out 7 and allowing one run on 3 hits over 5 innings. He's expected to start against the Royals on Monday, taking Josh Towers' spot in the rotation. One of the 5 runs the Chiefs scored, however, came off of a solo-homerun by John Ford-Griffin-- his 23rd of the season. The young outfielder was traded to the Jays for a crappy prospect named Jason Perry and now finds himself among the league leaders in homeruns.

Enough about the young'ns, how about some suggestions and comparisons? The Yankees have very much fucked themselves over for next season, case in point: their free agents. 13 players on the 25 man roster are elligible free agents after this season: Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cairo, Roger Clemens, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jose Molina, Mike Myers, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, A-Roid, Ron Villone and Luis Vizcaino. There's no way even the Yankees have enough money to resign all of them, so some of their key players like A-Rod and Posada will leave. The Jays, on the other hand, set themselves up very nicely. Because of all the young pitchers kickin' ass this year, we have young talent not elligible for free-agency. In other words, we're probably not losing any key players this year to free-agency.

Our pitching staff:

Roy Halladay - signed thru 2010
A.J. Burnett - signed thru 2010
Shaun Marcum - still in arbitration years
Dustin McGowan - still in arbitration years
Jesse Litsch - still in arbitration years

Jeremy Accardo - still in arbitration years
Casey Janssen - still in arbitration years
Scott Downs - still in arbitration years
Brandon League - still in arbitration years
Brian Wolfe - still in arbitration years
Brian Tallet - still in arbitration years
Jason Frasor - still in arbitration years

B.J. Ryan - signed thru 2010
Gustavo Chacin - still in arbitration years

Our lineup:

Reed Johnson - still in arbitration years
Vernon Wells - signed thru 2014
Alex Rios - still in arbitration years
Frank Thomas - signed thru 2008
Troy Glaus - signed thru 2008
Lyle Overbay - signed thru 2010
Aaron Hill - still in arbitration years
Gregg Zaun - signed thru 2008
John McDonald - free agent

Matt Stairs - free agent

So, in conclusion, 11/14 pitchers are still in their arbitration years, and only 2 players are free agents this offseason, both non-expensive. So we really have a lot of money to blow away on improving our little troubles, such as a good bat at shortstop and a good all around catcher behind the plate.

Gregg Zaun, you're a great player but you've really let us down and you're costing us wins because of it. There are two free agent catchers that can really improve the ballclub both offensively and defensively-- Ivan Rodriguez and Jorge Posada.

At short, two free agents have reliable bats and steady gloves: Juan Uribe and 2006 World Series MVP David Eckstein. The Chicago White Sox, however, must opt out of Juan Uribe's contract to make him elligible.

By the way, teams looking to improve defensively are at luck this offseason; Gold-Glove outfielders Andruw Jones, Mike Cameron and Torii Hunter are free agents, along with Gold-Glove infielders Omar Vizquel, Mark Grudzielanek, Doug Mientkiewicz and Mike Lowell. Also on the market is Gold-Glove pitcher Kenny Rogers and Gold-Glove catchers Ivan Rodriguez and Brad Ausmus. Wow...

Oh, and for those thinking the Jays might not resign Matt Stairs, New Brunswick's MVP, think again... John Gibbons told reporters that they have every intent of holding onto him as long as possible, and that's why they didn't trade him at the trade deadline.

"I've said it many times: If you had nine of him, you'd have one heck of a team."

--Gibbs