Jays Roundup - Hush Now, Don't You Cry

Monday, June 14 2004 @ 09:00 AM EDT

Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You're lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream

The Jays finish their interleague homestand with a 3-3 record, which is pretty good when you consider the lineups they've been using due to injury.

1. A couple of costly missed balls in the infield and the Jays lose 5-3. The gory details are contained in Spencer Fordin's "Lilly dealt first loss since April", Steve Gilbert's "Big Unit wins sixth straight start", Larry Millson's "Big Unit shrugs off shaky start", Geoff Baker's "Struggling Unit too much for Jays", and Mike Rutsey's "Defence rests".

2. Fordin Notes on Woodward's defensive misplay yesterday and the scare Rios gave us all yesterday.

3. It's an off day today. Tomorrow the Jays face the Giants in San Fran. What's the over-under on how long it takes a talking head to say that the NL Giants are struggling against Batista because they've never seen the AL hurler?

4. The Richard Griffin article "Blue Jays may be writing Phelps out of plans" should generate some discussion. Here's some hilights:

   • After all, when Delgado exits, stage left, in the next eight months, many believed Phelps would become the new man at first base. Instead, over 14 games with Delgado out, including yesterday's 5-3 loss to Randy Johnson and the D-Backs, Phelps has six starts at first base, none since June 6. Lefty Howie Clark has five starts, with the other three assignments going to utility midget Dave Berg. Neither man figures in the Jays' long-term plans. So it makes no sense.

   • Yesterday, with runners on first and second and down by two with nobody out in the seventh, Tosca called for a sacrifice from Frank Menechino. It resulted in a force at third and no runs. Ricciardi, a Moneyball guy, was spinning in his bunker.

   • Combined, the red-hot Clark/Berg first base platoon is hitting .213 with two homers and 12 RBIs in 118 at-bats. Phelps is at .237, with five homers and 26 RBIs, the same average as another struggling starter, Eric Hinske, who has just one extra homer and four more RBIs than Phelps in three more plate appearances.

   What's your take? I, for one, would like to see Phelps play more, but then again, there could be all kinds of reasons to sit him that I'm not aware of.

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