Jays win 5-0.
Star of the Game: Ted Lilly, who had his start pushed back several days due to a stiff neck, threw 6 scoreless innings allowing just 3 singles and 2 walks. Lilly's record is at an even 10-10. It seems fairly uncommon for a pitcher to hit both double digits in wins and losses in the same season and Lilly's done it with 7 weeks left in the season.
Star II: A Benji Molina 2 run home run in the 5th provided the Jays all the runs they needed, although I felt a lot better after seeing 3 more runs in the 7th inning.
For the Twins: Pat Neshek is certainly fun to watch. 6 pitches, 2 strikeouts last night. It'll be interesting to see if teams figure him out. He seemingly came out of nowhere this year and has been dominating all year long. For the Twins this season he has 25 Ks in 17.1 innings with a 1.04 ERA and a 0.40 WHIP. That'll play.
Box Score: ESPN style
Six teams, three spots: Updated AL Standings
Detroit.......76-38
New York....67-44
Chicago......67-46
Minnesota...67-47
Boston.......65-48
Toronto......61-54
The Jays sit 7 back of the wild card and 8 back of the division. I guess losing an entire week of games didn't help.
Brandon League: In 2004 League dominated, especially in the playoffs for NH. He then had a bit of success in Toronto in three games. Last season League started the season in Toronto, struggled, was sent down, and then called up again. He struggled just about everywhere he played while trying to find an ideal arm slot to throw from.
This season League began the year in Syracuse. He pitched 54 innings over 31 games with a 2.14 ERA. His strikeout rate was solid at 7.0 per 9 and his GB/FB ratio was incredible - 120 GBs to 12 FBs (and 24 line drives).
League was called back up in early July and with the exception of one bad outing (pitching on consectutive days) has been very good. His ERA sits at 2.50, K rate of 6.5, K/BB ratio of 4.3:1, and GB/FB ratio of 4.3:1. The bonus is that he's able to work multiple innings, like he did last night giving up just 1 hit to the Twins and recording his 6 outs via 2 Ks and 4 GBs.
League's game by game results:
|
DATE |
OPP |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
GB |
FB |
|
Jul. 8 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 | |
|
Jul. 14 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
0 | |
|
Jul. 15 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 | |
|
Jul. 18 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 | |
|
Jul. 22 |
0.1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 | |
|
Jul. 23 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 | |
|
Jul. 26 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
1 | |
|
Jul. 29 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 | |
|
Aug. 1 |
1.2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 | |
|
Aug. 3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
0 | |
|
Aug. 7 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
1 | |
|
Aug. 10 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 | |
|
Total |
|
18 |
14 |
6 |
5 |
2 | 3 | 13 | 39 | 9 |
Believe it or not, League is still just 23, turning 24 during spring training. Perhaps he's figured it out.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060811112923955