It's on TSN again. Last night, Rod Black (who isn't quite as bad as Rob Faulds; he can at least understand what his partner is talking about) said this series proves interleague play is for the birds.

Kelvim Escobar had a legitimate excuse (his pitching hand hurt after getting jammed while batting in the top of the fifth) but he pitched extremely well until then. Doug Davis was ineffective in his first bullpen appearance, Jeff Tam was Jeff Tam, and Pete Walker reminds me of Monty Python's valiant knight: his pitching arm and landing leg are both gone, but it's only a flesh wound, Skip, I can go if you need me.

That's all ancient history, and tonight is about revenge. Lidle (6-0 on the road) will baffle the Cards if he has all four pitches working, while the mediocre Simontacchi will have his hands full. The good Toronto relievers, Lopez and Politte, will be ready if the score is closer than I expect.

Hard to say who will be in the lineup; Myers is unlikely to start three straight games, and they will need him against Woody tomorrow, so it could be Wilson or even the Incredible Huck behind the plate. Howie Clark is a fine hitter, but looked a bit shaky at third; despite the lefty-righty matchups, I'd prefer to see the reliable old pro Bordick out there. Still no official announcement about Stewart going on the DL, which seems inevitable. I might try Cat leading off, Hudson second, and give young Reed a break at the bottom of the order, but I'm told that sort of thing doesn't matter, so whatever Tosca decides is fine with me.

Hi. Long time lurker, first post. For those of you who, like me, don't get TSN, the Ottawa Lynx are playing Syracuse tonight on Rogers channel 10. Linton is pitching for the good guys - 4 shutout innings so far. Why don't we give him another chance? Couldn't be too much worse than Tam / Miller etc, could he?

Is it possible the Jays have the worst bunt defence ever? That's two sure outs in two games they've fouled up.

Miller has in fact been doing reasonably ok against leftie hitters, though you would like him to be dominant. I don't see anybody significantly better to replace him. As for Doug Linton? Well he might well be more use than some of the Jays pen, as would Josh Towers, but what the Jays could use is someone genuinely *good* in the pen.

Welcome aboard, Sean!

Sean, I think Linton is more comfortable as a starter, and he's one of those AAAA guys -- excellent in the IL, but not enough stuff to get big league hitters out, especially the second and third time through the order. His age is another negative; this organization is more inclined to give Mike Smith or Corey Thurman the next opportunity.

R Billie's right, fielding bunts on grass isn't something that even Bordick is used to; Hinske might be their best option. Lidle got out of a potentially disastrous first inning with a double play (nice turn by O-Dog after Bordick double-clutched) but it's 1-0 Cards after an inning and a half.

Cory Lidle, who worked a tidy second inning, is now statistically the Jays' best hitter, ripping a fastball for a legitimate single to lead off the third. Reed Johnson goes very deep, and it's 2-1 Toronto.

Some power from Johnson! That was a bolt. 2-1 Jays.

A fine 2-out single the opposite way by Hudson cashes in the Wells double and another Delgado walk; it's now 4-1. This is more like it.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/news/tor_news.jsp?ymd=20030604&content_id=355109&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/news/tor_news.jsp?ymd=20030604&content_id=355109&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

My Homepage will bring you there

Stewart and Walker to the DL is no surprise at all, and Werth is the logical callup (though I hope he doesn't play much) but I'm surprised to see Towers back. Corey Thurman's the best pitcher in Syracuse, but I guess they are taking the patient, developmental route with him until he's ready for a rotation spot with the big club.

Lidle is having a lot of trouble locating his stuff. After one out (the pitcher) he allowed a single, double, infield hit and walk -- with the bases loaded and Rolen up, Myers saved Cory a wild pitch. A big double by Renteria over Wells' head, a single by Tino and now FIVE runs have scored, making it 6-4 St. Louis. Unfortunately, we're going to need some bullpen help soon.

Is it just me or does Delgado's swing look a lot easier? He doesnt seem to press anymore. 5-6 Cards

Intersting leaving Lidle in there to lead off the 6th. I guess the bullpen wont be needed so soon as Lidle seems to be in there for the duration

Lidle, with 98 pitches and six earned runs through five innings, stays in and leads off the sixth against new pitcher Kiko Calero. That's the opposite of a quick hook -- some might say it's showing too much faith in a guy having an off night. Cory just missed his second hit, as Edmonds made an excellent catch.

I was at the Lynx-SkyChiefs game last night, a front row seat behind the screen to see Jason Arnold vs. John Stephens. (Just walked up to the ticket window a half-hour before the game and ended up with the equivalent of an "In The Action" seat for $9.50; and unlike a previous time, it wasn't windy this night, so I didn't get sand in my eyes.)

Before the game I walked over to the right-field side to watch Arnold warm up in the pen (just walked through the seating area, it's not like anyone was sitting in any of the rows). I was behind him to his right, basically what would be the shortstop's view. I could see him put 3-fingers over the ball for a bunch of pitches in a row and the pitches were slower and would drop; I'm guessing that's his palmball. Then he started throwing pitches with 2-fingers that had more of a break, some fast and some slower; I'm guessing they were curves or sliders (I'm no expert).

Interestingly, after runners reached 1st and 2nd in the 1st inning against Arnold, after his next pitch, the shortstop Moriarty ran in and said something to him. I'm guessing he could see Arnold tipping his pitches like I did, which isn't a good thing when a baserunner has the same angle.

The most interesting matchup of the night was Arnold vs. Jack Cust, which might become a regular major league matchup by this September. The left-handed batting Cust walked off Arnold in the 1st and lined a double to right in the 3rd. In the 5th, with the bases loaded and none out, Arnold got Cust to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. After that, Arnold got 4 more outs in a row to finish with a minimum quality start (6 innings, 3 runs).

Overall, Arnold threw 99 pitches in the 6 innings with just 3 strikeouts. He allowed 2 walks, no home runs, but 2 loud doubles, 4 line singles, plus one infield hit (which drew an argument from the SkyChiefs' manager on the call at first). He got 7 ground ball outs and 7 fly outs to the outfield; no popups unless you count a ball Werth made a nice running catch coming in on. The Lynx first-baseman Lemonis stole a base on the Cash-Arnold combination in the 2nd. (Cust also stole a base on Cash-Young in the 8th; Cash was 0 for 2 at throwing out runners.)

The better pitcher on the night was Orioles' 23-year-old John Stephens, a Baseball Prospectus favorite who obviously didn't throw even nearly as hard as Arnold, but the SkyChiefs batters weren't making much contact. In 6.2 innings (105 pitches), Stephens got 6 strikeouts, 6 groundouts, 2 infield popups, 1 infield lineout, 4 flyouts, and 1 caught stealing (Ryan). He did allow 4 walks, a double to the wall (by Cash) when he tired in the 7th, and 2 line singles. If the Jays are ever looking for a prospect from the Orioles, Stephens is probably one they are under-valuing.

Werth played the whole game (and apparently later flew to St. Louis before I found time to even write this). The scoreboard listed him as the catcher, but of course he played center-field. Against Stephens, he popped out, struck out and walked, then grounded out in his last at bat (against Pulsipher). In centre, he made 4 catches, though was charged with an error on a bobble (probably distracted by Aven).

Also spotted on the field were former Jays Darwin Cubillan, Pedro Swann (both now Lynx) and Scott Cassidy.

(As an aside, the Lynx broadcasters tonight said that the Lynx batters are now told not to swing until after one strike in their first time up. Checking the record on the previous night, in fact 4 of 9 Lynx did swing on Arnold before their first strike their first time up (so much for broadcaster information).)

The Ottawa Sun blurb the next day focused on Stephens and didn't mention that the Jays' top AAA pitching prospect even pitched. The official attendance was 1656.

some might say it's showing too much faith in a guy having an off night

Tosca's got that Cito Gason, deer-in-the-headlights thing going managing in an NL park.

As Coach mentioned, Lidle had been struggling and was just shy of 100 pitches. You've got about 8 guys in the bullpen and some sticks on the bench. Pinch-hitting for your pitcher in the 6th is pretty much a no-brainer... no?

And don't get me started on Tosca's penchant for issuing IBB's to Mike Matheny.

I can hardly wait for the first double-switch that has Clark ending up at 1B and Delgado out of the game.

Jays missed quite a few plays tonight. Hudson did not cover on the bunt; Johnson's throw was off line trying to get Pujols at the plate, a good throw would have had him; and Woodward made a bad throw when they had Martinez dead at third. Last night was the same. We know this is a team that is developing, they should see the plays they are missing and learn from them.

Two things learned, the Jays are not quite as good as their record for May had us believe, and not as bad as they have looked in these first 2 games in St. Lo, Woody tonight,a tough one. Keep Thurman and Arnold right where they are, at least 'till Sept.

I'm guessing he could see Arnold tipping his pitches

Thanks for the update, Stephen. For a guy who's "no expert," these are great observations -- that's exactly the kind of thing a second-year pro needs to learn in AAA. The IL hitters are smart enough to take advantage of such knowledge, but might not hit everything hard even when they know what's coming. Big leaguers would light him up like a pinball machine. Arnold remains a gem, in need of additional polishing.

Chuck, I don't mind walking Matheny when you need a DP and the pitcher's on deck, but I can't understand sticking with Lidle when he was leaving every other pitch up in the zone. My "some might say" was a deliberately gentle first-guess, and I'm not pinning the loss entirely on the manager, but it's easy to conclude that it was a mistake that cost the Jays an out and two runs. Hard to believe Tosca thought Cory was going to have a 2-for-3 night, then rediscover his command. I was disappointed enough to switch to basketball after the first triple in the sixth.

Hudson was there for the bunt - when Bordick was ready to throw, Hudson was 2 steps from the bag. Bordick should have thrown it to the bag and Hudson would easily have been there (like a steal attempt, the middle infielder isn't usually at the bag by the time the catcher releases the ball). Bordick double clutched and the play was ruled an infield hit. Hudson had a very long way to run, but there's no doubt that he would have covered in time.

Matheny was walked intentionally with 2 out (man on 2nd) in the third inning. This of course meant that the top of the order led off the 4th instead of the pitcher (assuming you get Matheny out).

I can imagine a couple of reasons why you MIGHT want to walk Matheny.

1. Two out, runners on second and third, opposition pitcher is almost certainly not going to be pinch-hit for.

2. Two out, runner on second, Lidle is faltering badly but is due to bat and will be pinch-hit for, Tosca doesn't want to burn a reliever for one batter (hah!) and is willing to leave in Lidle to end the inning against the opposition pitcher.

Letting the Cardinals start an inning from the top of the order because he is fearful that Matheny will drive in a run shows that Tosca doesn't understand that the downside risk of his strategy is much greater than the upside gain.

Coach: I'm not pinning the loss entirely on the manager.

I agree. There were plenty of screw-ups on the field. Still, I am concerned that Tosca, the natural leader of men, is also a very poor in-game tactician, which the NL game only accentuates.