The Jays have still not had a winning streak this year, as they lost 11-3 to the Orioles on Friday Night.
*Fordin Notes - Tosca feels the players are pressing, Howie Clark gets a 2nd straight start, and Tosca talks about the recent death of former NFL player Pat Tillman in Afghanistan.
* Speaking of the NFL, Brian Butterfield is a big football fan, and especially the Patriots. He even did his own mock NFL draft that takes place in NYC today beginning at Noon. As a NFL Draft follower myself I think there are 4 can't miss players this year - Larry Fitzgerald, Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow and Robert Gallery. As history has shown taking QBs high in the draft is a big risk. The success rate is no better than 50%. I think JP Lohsman may be the best QB of the bunch and he's the 4th QB on just about everyone's lists.
To make this baseball related - stay tuned for baseball draft coverage here in Da Box in the coming weeks.
* Ricciardi not ready to push panic button. Don't expect Ricciardi to tap into the Blue Jays' deep minor-league system to try to kick-start the offence. Alexis Rios and Gabe Gross will be everyday contributors, but not likely this season.
"None of those guys are tearing it up in the minors right now to begin with," Ricciardi said, "but even if that was the case, there's no way we're going to sacrifice service time just to give ourselves a kick in the butt at this stage of the season."
I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen anyone in the media, and especially the Star, try and claim that the Jays are playing poorly because Tosca's in the last year of his contract. I thought that was covered in sports journalism 101.
* Baker - Pitching Poor Jays Lose Again. While the Jays pitching has been disappointing they're 9th out of 14th in the AL in ERA. The Jays, however, are last in the league in runs scored/game. The lack of hitting is the much bigger problem at this point.
* Any way you look at it, the Jays bats have been awful. However, for the most part, Mike Barnett says few of his troops are out of whack mechanically.
"Their mechanics really aren't bad," Barnett said. "The problem is they've become more outcome-oriented than process-oriented."
* El Artista isn't worried about his slow start. I'll be more confident when he starts throwing more strikes.
Batistsa - "Walks aren't harmful unless they come around and score"
Apparently Keith Law and El Artista haven't chatted too much with each other.
* All Star Ballots are out. Of course, at this point I can't think of a Jay that would deserve a vote.
* Today's Matchup - Another former O takes a shot at Baltimore today at 4:35. Pat Hentgen vs. LHP Eric Bedard.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040424092452999