The Sunday of a holiday weekend is typically pretty quiet in Da Box, and there's not much breaking news in Jays-land. Be my guest to take this thread wherever you want; I'm kicking it off with a brief minor-league review and a couple of quick hits on the Jays.
Work-in-progress Jason Arnold gave up two HR among nine hits and took the 5-4 loss yesterday for Syracuse; he walked two and struck out three in seven innings. Gabe Gross homered in the losing cause.
New Haven had more fun, as Russ Adams was 3-for-5 with a rare HR, Shawn Fagan 3-for-5 and Alexis Rios 3-for-4. That kind of production at the top of the order led to an easy 10-1 win, with Chris Baker throwing six shutout innings (5 hits, 0 walks, 5 Ks).
Dunedin lost 4-3 as Chad Pleiness, whose ERA is still under 3.00 though he's now 6-6, gave up seven hits and a couple of walks in his five innings. Aaron Hill had a double and a sac fly; after 23 AB in High-A, his OBP is .370 and he's struck out once.
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I'm worried about Tom Wilson. The eight men left on base and three strikeouts last night were not encouraging after a 188/220/250 July. Washburn threw him some belt-high fastballs down the middle, and he couldn't get the bat around.
Corey Thurman (0.73 ERA) can throw his changeup for a strike on 0-0, 3-2 and every count in between. That keeps hitters off balance, which speeds up his fastball. Wilson did call a good game for him last night.
In the Star, the "Oddly Enough" sidebar to Allan Ryan's weekly "Off The Wall" includes an interesting tidbit: 46.8 percent of Eric Hinske's hits this year have been doubles. The record for a season is 35.2 by Rick Wilkins of the '94 Cubs.
Jason Kershner's given up a HR in four of his last seven appearances. In two of the homer-free outings he faced just one batter, so that's a gopher ball in four of his last five when he goes an inning or more. I'm not sure whether the hitters are learning what he throws, or if he's leaving more pitches up.
In the National Post, John Lott reports that Josh Phelps (2-for-5 last night) was the last to know he'd been freed.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030803110935999