The good guys win a close one in Seattle, although for me it was one of those games that seem a lot easier than the box score suggests. I never felt the jays were going to lose this one. Cecil got the win going 6 1/3 solid Innings and Gregg got his twelfth save, albeit a rather nervous one as he let a couple of hitters reach base after getting the first two outs.
Coming into this year I was concerned that one way the Jays were going to miss Halladay was in the sheer quantity of Innings he threw. The bullpen, I thought might have to eat up another 70 Innings or so. Of the many pleasant surprises this team has given us so far this season then, I'm delighted that they're second in the AL in Starting Innings pitched at 248.1 (second to the Rays at 255). The good work has mostly been done by Marcum who seems to go seven every time out and Romero who has only once failed to get out of the fifth.
QOTD: Romero (2nd) and Marcum (5th) and both in fangraphs top five AL starters by RAR, can you name the other three? I got two, but missed the guy who's number one. I'll give you a clue - only one of them is on an AL East club.
Game Day. God day to duck out of work early as the Jays have a 3:40 ET start in Seattle, fire up the grill, have an adult beverage or two and listen to the game on the radio. Romero goes to the hill against the surprisingly effective Jason Vargas. Vargas has a 2.93 ERA and a 33/13 K/BB ratio, he had a home run problem last year, but he's given up just 3 in 46 Innings this year. The Jays can sure hit homers this year though, so maybe today's the day his old problems catch up with him.
It's off to Arizona for the weekend, and three games with the struggling D'Backs. The Jays get to avoid Arizona's best two starters this year, AL East old boys Ian Kennedy and Rodrigo Lopez. They'll instead see Haren (coming off back to back bad outings), Edwin Jackson (6.33 ERA but coming off his best outing of the year) and Billy Buckner. It's the bullpen of course that will have Jays hitters licking their lips. Arizona's reliever's have put together a staggering -18.3 RAR for the year in 108 Innings.
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