Jays Roundup - I Can Get a Job

Friday, August 13 2004 @ 09:41 AM EDT

I can pay the phone bills
I can cut the lawn, cut my hair, cut out my cholesterol
I can work overtime
I can work in a mine

I missed last night's game. Can someone tell me how Ligtenberg gave up three straight walks?

1. Short recap: Indians 6 - Jays 2. Jays only record 3 hits, one of them a home run by Orlando Hudson. Indians win by getting 9 walks and 2 home runs. Somewhere Earl Weaver is smiling. Longer recaps:
   
   
   
   • Jays can't make the pitch - Yanik
     
   • Indians leave Jays s-weepy - Hill
     
   • Just plain ugly - Ganter
     
   • Grand slam helps Cleveland complete sweep of Toronto - Blair
     
   • Chulk up another loss - AP
     
   
   
   
2. Fordin Notes (by Anthony Castrovince) on Hinske's struggles at the plate. Don't expect to see Hinske removed from the lineup anytime soon, though:
   
   
   Not only is Hinske staying in the lineup, he's staying in the heart of the order, usually batting fifth.
   
   "I think the worst thing you can do when a guy hits a struggling point during the season is to jump ship on him," Gibbons said. "He's in a cold spot right now, but he's going to come out of it."
   
   Hinske, who has seen his average drop 14 points from .265 to .251 in the last two weeks, is equally optimistic that he'll right his swing.
   
   
   What do the Bauxites think? How long should a manager stay with a struggling player before playing the hot hand?
   
   
3. It's a battle of righties at tonight's 7:05PM EST start at the Skydome. The Jays are sending the 9-7 Miguel Batista to the hill while the Orioles counter with the 7-12 Sid Ponson. I wonder if the Orioles are regretting signing Ponson when they probably could have had Batista for much cheaper. Anyhow, as always, MLB.com has a game preview.
   
   
4. Like many of the Bauxites, it's become obvious to Mike Ganter that Gibbons has a different managing style than Tosca does. In "Matchup lineup not for Gibbons" Ganter writes:
   
   
   Where Carlos Tosca relied on matchups when making out his lineup to a large degree, Gibbons is not a big proponent of that method.
   
   "You can't get carried away with that stuff," Gibbons said.
   
   
   Some Bauxites complained in the past about Tosca overmanaging. What's the verdict on Gibbons so far?
   
   
5. Ganter Notes on how well the Indians have played as of late and the resignation of Jays director of marketing Jim Bloom. Jeff Blair also discusses the resignation of Bloom and the promotion of Laurel Lindsay in "Blue Jays appoint marketing director"
   
   
6. The Star has three articles on the Jays managing situation. First is Richard Griffin's "Gibbons not exactly charging out of gate". Griffin wonders how well Gibbons will handle the pitching staff:
   
   
   It turns out that Gibbons is not a great handler of pitchers either, a major criticism of the man he replaced, Carlos Tosca.
   
   When Gibbons strode to the mound with two out, nobody on in the seventh, with starter Ted Lilly leading 2-1 at 109 pitches, it was assumed he was making a change. Wrong.
   
   "(Ronnie) Belliard is one of the most dangerous guys in the lineup, especially from the right side," Gibbons said. "I said, `Keep this guy in the park, he's dangerous.'"
   
   Two pitches later, Belliard sliced a broken-bat single over Orlando Hudson's head and Gibbons was back to take the ball from his pitcher.
   
   Kerry Ligtenberg, who has now allowed 13 of 25 inherited runners to score, disinherited one last night, walking all three batters he faced.
   
   The question becomes, "Why even talk to Lilly if there was no intention of taking him out?" The lefty had settled down after a rugged start, retiring the seven batters he faced before Belliard. It was an unnecessary intrusion on his focus and rhythm.
   
   
   I guess time will tell if Gibbons handles his pitching staff well.
   
   
7. In the second of the three articles on the Jays managerial change Doug Smith talks to Ernie Whitt in "Whitt feels for fired Jay Tosca".
   
   
8. In "A little light in a dark tunnel" Geoff Baker thinks there was more to Tosca's firing than the team "mailing it in".
   
   
   The Tosca firing and all the juggling by Gibbons does more than merely give hungry players with plenty still to prove a chance to keep the Jays close in meaningless games. It also allows the team's management to tell frustrated fans it is doing something pro-active as season-ticket renewal notices for 2005 go out in coming weeks.
   
   Selling those renewals to fans will be even tougher than it was getting Ligtenberg to find the strike zone last night.
   
   
   If the Jays have trouble selling tickets, I hope they consider bringing back the Star Pass.
   
   
9. And finally, an Olympics story: Doug Smith's "The start of something big" on Mike Johnson starting the opening game for Canada against Taiwan.
   
   

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