Good = Bad? Apparently

Josh Towers had another miracle outing on Saturday, which creates a whole lot of trouble for the Jays. I know it's really weird after last years' problems, but this year we're just swamped in good pitching-- too much if you ask me.

We all knew Towers was going to be great again someday-- he has great stuff, but who could've guessed that it would be the same year that so many other young arms pop out and start knocking down the batters in order, over and over again? Like where the hell did McGowan come from? Last year he was just another young pitcher waiting to get comfortable, and nobody knew when he'd finally mature enough to pitch in the big leagues, and it seems now is the time. It has to be the chops... maybe they make him feel more mature... or maybe it's just that he doesn't look like he's twelve anymore and hitters are taking him seriously.

Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan, Jesse Litsch and now Josh Towers... We don't have room for Halladay, Burnett and Chacin anymore! There's only one solution now... hit the trading block. But who can you trade? It's such a hard decision!

You can't trade Halladay, he's the face of this team.
You can't trade the young'ns, you never know what you're trading away...
You can't trade Burnett either though, nobody will give up anybody good because of his injury histories and his massive paycheck.

It's things like these that make me realize how fucked we are this season. Ironic that we were so below average in the pitching department and now we're too good. Think of all the pitchers that stepped up and now are a vital part of the pitching staff of Toronto:

• Jeremy Accardo - His ERA dropped from 5.35 in 06 to 2.72 and he's now the closer for 07.
  
• Casey Janssen - ERA dropped from 5.07 in '06 to 2.38, now the setup man effectively.
  
• Scott Downs - ERA dropped from 4.09 in '06 to 2.41, now full-time lefty specialist.
  
• Shaun Marcum - ERA dropped from 5.06 in '06 to 3.73 and he has a 3.26 ERA starting.
  
• Dustin McGowan - ERA dropped from 7.24 in '06 to 4.83.
  
• Jesse Litsch - Called up from AA on May 15th and has a 4.54 ERA since.
  
• Josh Towers - ERA dropped from 8.42 in '06 to 4.97 and it's still dropping.

Now where does that leave A.J. Burnett? He has outstanding stuff, but he gets injured so often and he has such a large bank acount he can't be traded for much in return. How 'bout Chacin? He's only been a starter since 2004, he might not be comfortable in the bullpen.

In reality, we have to trade somebody, we don't have a choice. But all we can do is trade Burnett and emaybe Zaun to get a good starting catcher under contract for a few more years.

Missing Out on an MVP Season

We all know that Alex Rios is as good at baseball as a cumquat is at being hilarious, but he still isn't reaching his full potential. Because Gibbs isn't letting Rios steal more bases this season, he's missing out on an MVP-type season.

Let's flash back to last year, where David Ortiz, Derek Jeter and Justin Morneau were all in contention for the AL MVP Trophy.

Ortiz was batting .287 with 54 HR and 137 RBI.
Jeter was battng .343 with 34 SB and 97 RBI.
Morneau was batting .321 with 34 HR and 130 RBI.
Morneau rightfully won.

This year, the two favourites are Magglio Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez, of course. A-Rod's numbers this year are comparable to Ortiz' numbers last year, and Magglio's numbers are similar to Jeters, except he has more homers and less stolen bases. But if you think about it, Rios would be comparable to Justin Morneau as a favourite, if it wasn't for the team he's on:

• Because Reed Johnson was on the DL with a back injury, Rios was forced to play leadoff, and therefore got very little RBIs, hitting behind the worst hitters on the team.
• The Jays' games are rarely watched south of the border, so Rios isn't well known at all; case in point: last year he wasn't voted onto the All-Star game by fans, even though he was batting .330 with 15 HR. This year he had the most homeruns by an AL Outfielder yet he had to be added in by Jim Leyland at the last second.
  
• John Gibbons doesn't agree with base-stealing, so while Rios could have stolen 20 bases already, he only has 9.

Since the All-Star break, Rios' confidence has obviously boosted considerably, considering his performance after the break... he's batting .400 with 2 HR since the Midsummer Classic. So it wouldn't be too surprising if Rios ended the season batting .320 with 30+ HR, but because he isn't going to have the 30 SB as well, he isn't going to be much of a contender for the MVP.

Let's just hope he gets a Silver Slugger like he deserves, it's a start at least...

It's About Time...

It has finally happened people! Jason Phillips, the Mendoza line batter that looks like Darth Vader with downsyndrome behind the plate, has finally been released by the club, announced Friday. Curtis Thigpen has been called up, because he's shown that he can hit at the major-league level, and Phillips has shown that he can't. "Gregg Zaun... you're next." You know what? I'm tired of our crappy catchers, but... Zaun did finally throw out a runner on Friday. I'd say it was a great play, except it was way past due, so it was mediocre at best; congratulations.

I Hate To Repeat Myself, But...

Is it just me, or should Gibbs be fired/executed for what he's been doing to this team? Today he made two stupid moves that probably cost us the game. The first mistake was in the 4th inning; Aaron Hill lead off with a double, than Gregg Zaun moved him to 3rd Base with a groundball to the right side. Now the situation is: Hill's at third and McDonald, a very good bunter, is at the plate with only one out. Why isn't McDonald ordered to bunt? Well, it's because Gibbons' IQ is still in the single digits. That play cost us a run, and McDonald, who is speedy, may have gotten on base for Reed Johnson, who could've bunted HIM over for Rios, by far the best hitter on the Jays (who by the way hit a double in the at-bat). McDonald struck out, and so did Reed Johnson.

The second mistake was getting ejected. First of all, he was arguing the second strike on Hill, not the third. Second, he probably threw off Hill's timing, which would make sense since he struck out right after that.

The Good

Well, the Jays did, finally, hit with a runner in scoring position when Glaus knocked in Rios for the second run of the game. Maybe this will start a trend and get them back to hitting above the Mendoza Line with RISP... then again, probably not.

Lyle Overbay started the game a day after he passed out in his hotel room. He feels fine now, but he did scrape his face on a chair somehow. Apparently this has happened before, which just proves my theory that he's a fuckin' rockstar!

Our two injured pitchers, A.J. and Gustavo are making progress. Burnett threw off a mound today and didn't feel pain, and Chacin is on his way to a rehab assignment.

The Bad

Jesse Litsch got hit in the ankle by a comebacker off the bat of Richie Sexson, and after that he suddenly sucked. The Jays can't afford to have one more player on the DL, and even though Litsch said he's okay, he definitely isn't. Let's just hope he's alright so we don't have to call up Ty Taubenheim... oh please no!

The Ugly

Other than Yuniesky Betancourt the only other ugly thing was Jesse Litsch's performance after getting hurt. He not only gave up a monstrous homerun, but he also let up four runs on five hits.

Oh yeah, also that Vernon Wells continues to suck balls in the number three hole, having another 0-for-4 night. The last RBI V-Dub had was on July 7th, when he got hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded.

Rotation Troubles

Today I was thinking about a certain bald kid I like to call Gustavo, and how he keeps on having nagging injuries. Well, I thought of a problem involving everybody's favourite baldy. With all these nagging injuries from pitching, would it be a smart idea to move him to the bullpen? Chacin almost never pitches more than 6 innings, yet he still gets hurt from over-pitching... he does have good stuff, however. So why would it be a bad move to move him into the 'pen? He'd make a great long reliever, and he would have less time on the disabled list, in theory.

Also, with young arms strutting their stuff, we have a lot of depth in the starters' department. My suggestion to Gibbs is that when Chacin is activated from the DL, he should be a starter for only a few games, until Burnett's back and ready to pitch, than move him into the 'pen. With a rotation of Halladay, Burnett, Marcum, McGowan and Litsch, who needs a pitcher that's going to pitch 5 or 6 starts before he's put back on the DL?

Mr. Roger$ Neighbourhood

It seems to me, that either J.P. Ricciardi doesn't know an awful lot about the game, or he's just straight up retarded because his philosophies continue to be lacking a crazy little thing called logic. Now last offseason, when J.P. "Retardi" Ricciardi signed Frank Thomas, he was assured that Thomas would produce SO many runs, that we wouldn't have the need for a shortstop that can hit like a major leaguer, so he signed Royce Clayton. Now I don't know if Retardi's shooting for first place or third because if I remember correctly, both the Yankees and the Sox have good offense for every position...

Praise be to John McDonald who stepped in and started producing offensively by surprise to save the village idiot's ass once again, but it isn't good enough.

Here in Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood we want to save money, and take our chances apparently, signing the recent failures Tomo Ohka, Victor Zambrano and John Thomson. While Thomson was injured, Ohka and Zambrano were just plain awful.

Praise be to the young'ns that stepped in and saved Retardi's ass for the second time this season. Shaun Marcum has been ridiculously amazing so far this season... Dustin McGowan has been inconsistent, but overall still good, and Jesse Litsch has been very inconsistent but overall still very good.

Now why am I talking about all this? Well... it's because the young'ns can save us for the offseason. With the emergences of Marcum, McGowan, Litsch, and sometimes Towers, we have less of a concern for starting pitching in the offseason. Searching for relievers would be downright stupid, the way Downs, Janssen, Accardo and Tallet have been pitching this season in the absense of League and Ryan. So, now we can blow a shit load of cash on some star players to really liven up our roster and contend next season.

So what are the spots that need sharpening up? Well, lets start with the catcher, because our beloved Gregg Zaun can't throw out an old lady crossing the street. The best catcher on the free agent market is Jorge Posada, ya can't go wrong with an all-star catcher that's great offensively and defensively. The second best choice would be Michael Barrett, who isn't great offensively but he's average for a catcher, and he has a cannon for an arm, as Carlos Zambrano would know all about...

The only other spot that needs help is at short, where John McDonald has been steady, but not good enough for contention. This is one of those spots that you need more defense than offense, but if you can get a steady glove and a bat with pop, you can have a slick little player. "Hey, ya know who's kick-ass? That Juan Uribe fella." "Hey, you're right he is kick-ass, you're a genius!"

Honestly the Jays will be a team not to be reckoned with next season if we pick up these guys. We have young talent and veteran leadership, power and speed, and a hell of a lot more. What we need to do is use all of it, rather than just listen to the fucker on the bench with his hands in his pants and tobacco in his mouth with that dumb look on his face.

Look at this:

Lineup:

Reed Johnson - LF
Lyle Overbay - 1B
Vernon Wells - CF
Frank Thomas - DH
Alex Rios - RF
Troy Glaus - 3B
Jorge Posada - C
Juan Uribe - SS
Aaron Hill - 2B

Starters:

1. Roy Halladay - RHP
2. A.J. Burnett - RHP
3. Shaun Marcum - RHP
4. Dustin McGowan - RHP
5. Gustavo Chacin - LHP

Relievers:

B.J. Ryan - Closer
Brandon League - Setup
Scott Downs - Lefty Specialist
Jeremy Accardo
Casey Janssen
Brian Tallet
Jason Frasor
Brian Wolfe

First off...

My name's Stuart and I'm a diehard Jays fan. I started watching baseball when I was about 13, so not very long ago, but since then I know just about everything about baseball. Well, baseball's been in my family forever, so I grew up around the game, but I never really watched it; it's surprising how much you can learn from just watching. I thought I knew baseball well before I started watching it, but I was dead wrong. After 2 years of watching it though, I know more than anybody else in my school about the game, and it seems I know more than a peticular manager as well...

I have a lot of respect for John Gibbons, he's a great manager probably, but he tends to have a stupid perception on the game. Think of it this way, the Jays are on the verge of getting the shit end of the stick on a four-game series sweep by the New York Yankees, and we could've won at least one if he thought harder. One thing I think is costing us is Gibby's philosophy of base-stealing. The Jays' lineup is based solely around power hitters, so, the speed demons of our lineup such as Reed Johnson, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill don't steal bases because if they're caught, and the next player hits a homer that's one less run...

...that's the stupidest shit I've heard.

Alright think about this for a second...
Most of the hits in a ballgame are singles, right? Right.
Homeruns are the hardest hit to get, right? Right.
A single will usually score a runner at second, right? Right.

Four out of the nine players in our lineup can steal 20+ bases every season, yet they don't because Mr. Gibbons wants to play long ball, rather than small ball and long ball. I hate to say it, but the reason the Yankees are so good is because they play both small ball and long ball... they steal bases so a single could knock them in, but they also hit homeruns-- look how successful they are because of it.

The seventh inning tonight portrays this perfectly... Reed Johnson leads off with a walk, Alex Rios follows that up with a single. Vernon Wells is at the plate, and Gibbons doesn't decide to make him bunt to move the runners over. If he bunted, we'd have two runners in scoring position with 1 out. A flyball, or a groundout to the right side from Troy Glaus would then score one run, a basehit would score two. But, instead, not a single run plates, because Gibby refuses to play small ball.

Mr. Gibbons I'm sorry but that's just unprofessional, you need to get runs on the board somehow, and waiting for a longball isn't good enough.