Jays Roundup - Find a Canary

Thursday, September 30 2004 @ 08:30 AM EDT

A bird to bring my message home
Carry my obituary
My coffin doesn't have a phone

Game 1 : Orioles 7 - Jays 6

Game 2 : Orioles 4 - Jays 0

1. Recaps:
   
   • Game 1 - Spencer Fordin:
     
     
     The hazards were on and the shoulder was full.
     
     Ted Lilly closed out his breakout season with a breakdown at Camden Yards, walking five batters in less than five innings on Wednesday. The Orioles chased him early and won the game late, using a rally in their last lick to take a 7-6 win in the first half of a doubleheader.
     
     "I wanted to take a time-out and just practice for a little bit. I lost it that bad," Lilly said. "Unfortunately, that was about as tough as it's been for me to find the strike zone. And not only was I not locating the ball in the strike zone, I couldn't throw a strike when I had to."
     
     
     
   • Game 1 - Gary Washburn
     
     
     The Orioles did not make things easy for themselves in the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader with the Toronto Blue Jays. They blew a three-run lead in the late innings and wasted a golden opportunity to take the lead in the eighth inning.
     
     Just when it appeared the O's were headed to extra innings in a consistent downpour, David Newhan punched a bases-loaded single to left field off Justin Speier as the Orioles earned the Game 1 win, 7-6, at Camden Yards.
     
     
     
   • Game 2 - Spencer Fordin:
     
     
     Don't judge a game by the box score. Despite the final score, this one was close until the final moments.
     
     The Blue Jays and Orioles were locked in a one-run game on Wednesday night, but Baltimore pulled away with three runs in the eighth inning. The end result was a 4-0 win for the O's and a doubleheader sweep. In the nightcap, Rick Bauer outpitched Gustavo Chacin by the barest of margins and watched his offense beat up on Toronto's bullpen.
     
     
     
   • Game 2 - Gary Washburn:
     
     
     Rick Bauer thought there would never have been an opportunity to prove himself with the Orioles after he was demoted for a third time to Triple-A Ottawa in July. He thought the Orioles gave up on him, especially after he criticized management because of his treatment.
     
     Bauer was wrong. He took his demotion, straightened up his mechanics and his attitude in Ottawa and has returned, hoping to secure his future in Baltimore.
     
     
     
   • Mike Ganter:
     
     
     Gustavo Chacin will head home to Maracaibo, Venezuela on a high note in a few days when the season ends.
     
     The rookie left-hander, with the hitch in his motion, made it to a major-league mound for the second and final time this season last night in Baltimore and for the second time held his opponents in check.
     
     
     
   • AP:
     
     
     The Blue Jays are 8-10 against Baltimore, their first losing season against the Orioles in four years. Toronto had won six straight at Camden Yards before Wednesday.
     
     Tejada's run-scoring single in the fifth inning of the opener gave him 143 RBIs, snapping the mark set by Palmeiro in 1996.
     
     "That's awesome, to have it on the same team as me and see him do it," Palmeiro said. "When I did it, it didn't seem like that many. When he did it, it seemed like a whole ton of RBIs."
     
     
     
   • Larry Millson:
     
     
     This has been a difficult year for the Toronto Blue Jays and a difficult year for one of their premier players, centre fielder Vernon Wells.
     
     "Unfortunately, once you get into a slump, it's hard tough to get out of it," he said yesterday. "It's a learning process for young players. It's been a down year at times, it's been a great year at times."
     
     There was a little bit of both for Wells and the Blue Jays yesterday in their 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader at Camden Yards on Dave Newhan's two-out single in the ninth inning.
     
     In the second game before an announced attendance of 20,600, the Orioles completed the sweep with a 4-0 victory as their starter Rick Bauer gave up three hits through six innings.
     
     
     
   • Mark Zwolinski:
     
     
     Gustavo Chacin is now one of the poster boys for the Jays next season.
     
     It's only been two starts since the lefty with the two-step windup was called up from the minors. But he has been sensational and the Jays certainly feel that with what they've seen from him and shortstop Russ Adams, a return to respectability in 2005 is closer.
     
     Chacin followed up an eye-opening debut against the Yankees with seven solid innings last night in a 4-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles before 20,600 at Camden Yards.
     
     "He showed something again," manager John Gibbons said after Chacin allowed four hits, fanned four and walked none.
     
     "He's had one heckuva year. The two starts here (in the majors) were very impressive. He is just so composed, he looks like he knows what he's doing."
     
     
     
   
   
   
2. Fordin Notes on the managerial strategies of John Gibbons and which Jays players are headed for arbitration:
   
   
   Only four Blue Jays are eligible for arbitration, which is extended to players with three years of service time. Those four are Speier, Chris Woodward, Frank Menechino and Bobby Estalella. Arbitration often results in a raise, which makes it a dicey proposition: Speier and Menechino are good candidates to return, but Woodward and Estalella will likely be casualties of the non-tender deadline in late December.
   
   There is one other consideration: Seventeen percent of players with two years of service time are granted Super 2 status, which gives them an early shot at arbitration. Generally speaking, those players fall into a narrow niche: The historical cutoff point is two years and 128 days of service, while the high side is two years and 140 days.
   
   Anyone over that second point is all but guaranteed to be a Super 2 -- anyone under the first one should fall short. By those measurements, only one Jay is affected. When the season ends, Bob File will have two years and 154 days of service, which means the Jays will either offer him arbitration or settle beforehand. A third option, of course, is to sever ties with the right-hander.
   
   Two key contributors -- Josh Towers and Orlando Hudson -- fall just shy of the Super 2 mark. Towers will have two years and 60 days of service, and Hudson has an extra 20 days.
   
   
   
3. Ganter Notes on organizational award winners and the defense of the O-Dog:
   
   
   Not that there is much they can do about it, but the Jays coaching staff is making a subtle push for Orlando Hudson as this year's pick for the American League gold glove award at second base. Managers and coaches vote on the awards, but they select a player from their own club.
   
   "I don't know where you'll find a second baseman that has been much better than him," Jays interim manager John Gibbons said.
   
   Hudson leads the American League in assists per nine innings at 3.61, but has the type of range that routinely has him make the highlight packages as he chases down balls into the outfield. The most recent time the Jays had a Gold Glove winner was 1999 in outfielder Shawn Green.
   
   
   
   
4. Mike Ganter talks to one of the young pitching studs of the organization in "High hopes for Chacin":
   
   
   One-game wonder or future mainstay in the Blue Jays rotation?
   
   Not even Gustavo Chacin (pronounced Cha-seen) can say for sure.
   
   In a Blue Jays season short of feel-good stories, his arrival has managed to somewhat even the scales.
   
   Chacin hasn't exactly taken the traditional route to the big leagues.
   
   Two years ago, the Jays took him off the 40-man roster and exposed him to any of the 29 other clubs that cared to take a shot.
   
   
   
5. In "Be wary Blue Jay fans" Dave Perkins tells us why Jays fans should take notice of what happened in Montreal:
   
   
   Decades of a depressed Canadian dollar make operating here financially dicey for a fringe sport — and in Canada, everything except hockey is, regrettably, a fringe sport. (Revenue sharing has helped the Jays immensely here; without it they already would be in serious trouble.)
   
   A number of minor pro baseball teams, most notably Triple-A sides in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, plus a Double-A club in London, Ont., beat the Expos across the border. The Canadian public isn't clamouring for more baseball. The Jays might have inherited the title of "Canada's team" but if Canada isn't much interested, what good is it?
   
   The NBA Grizzlies fled Vancouver, too. Nothing says U.S. pro leagues, beyond the NHL, care about keeping Canada as part of the package — if they ever did. It was quaint to expand to Canada and harvest new markets, but that was long before 9/11 turned border crossings into a serious pain and turned U.S. eyes ever more inward.
   
   
   
   
6. Tonight's 7:05PM EST start in Baltimore: RHP Josh Towers (9-7, 4.99 ERA) vs. LHP Matt Riley (2-4, 5.64 ERA). For more details see the game preview.
   

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