Sounds like Hinske will be back in a week or less as well. It'll be good for this offense to get back to full strength. They could use a bump with Delgado's big current 'slump'.

Back when I was new to the BB Blog I had a huge rant which did elicit quite some debate. It was on the question of the Cats playing time and the actual nature of his health. I figured that there was no indication his back was acting up and yet he was getting sat.

Now he has had a hell of a string of games. The guy just went from one big game to another. But he has now crashed back to earth.

He's batted less than a buck for the past week and probably less than two bucks the past two plus weeks.

Is this the Blue Jays policy of low casting injury news or is something up with the Cat?

I will not argue for him to be in the line-up tonite. Even if he was hitting at his regular clip its time for a break.

Sorry if it was mentioned elsewhere here, but, the "player to be named later" in the Arnold/Griffin deal is...Jason Perry.

I'd mentioned a month or so ago, that i'd seen a poster on a A's site who said as much. He said he wasn't full of sh@t, and maybe he wasn't after all?

Nice of the Orioles to provide some extra BP for Shannon Stewart (and the rest of the Jays). Thank you, Omar Daal.

Well I expect Coach is out enjoying a nice Birthday dinner with his family. Sure hope the lounge has a TV.

Nice relief work by Mr Driskill too....

Good grief. The Orioles are really laying on a spread for Coach's birthday.

Carlos made a very good defensive play in the early innings, after watching him this year I'd like to pronounce his D at least average and dare I say, maybe even slightly above average?

Also, Faulds and Cerrutti have gotz to go.

I hate bitching about the umpires in a 13-2 game, but it would be nice if their calls weren't quite so ridiculous. Fordyce covers the ball with his mitt and gets the force? Wilson gets called out on a check swing that doesn't get near the plate? Very odd.

Service had his ugly moments in the 7th, but wound up doing great.

Happy birthday Coach.

The ZLC went all out for you on this one. If that Furlong guy ever has a seventh kid, his soul's mine.

So now that Stewart's back, and seemingly ready to attack on all cylinders, does this mean that Cat has a few more off days down the stretch to rest his back (a platoon rotating Johnson, Stewart and Catalanatto between the corners)? Or will Johnson be demoted until after the front office decides on how to deal with Stewart. I really can't see Johnson getting sent down because of the outstanding work he's done with the Big Club and I like the prospect of giving Cat a few days to rest, so when Stewart is gone Frank'll be able to give us a couple months of solid work down the stretch.

...This whole 'waiting for Davis to fail' bit is getting on my nerves. Can he go out, blow one game and get demoted to the 'pen already?

I know that strikeouts are statistically the same as non-dp grounders or flyballs. However, watching Batista strikeout on pitches 1 to 2 feet out of the strike zone makes me feel happy that he doesn't man the hot corner in Toronto anymore eventhough he's an above-average offensive third baseman. Those strikeouts had me yelling at the TV when he played for the Blue Jays.

A, Johnson's not going anywhere. Stewart will play every day as long as he's healthy, and Wells is an iron man, so Reed won't get many starts except in RF when the Jays face a lefty. That's the most logical time to rest Cat, who nobody expected to play every inning of 162 games. Johnson's going to make some late-inning defensive appearances, be the #1 pinch-runner and contribute any other way he can; he's well-suited emotionally to a bench role and at the same time, a marvellous insurance policy.

The man on the bubble, when Hinske returns, is Howie Clark. I prefer his lefty bat off the bench to a 12th pitcher, but as usual, they won't be consulting me. Tosca has expressed his preference before in regular AL play for a shorter bench and a deeper bullpen.

Here is a funny quote taken from TSN's Inside Dish:

"My strength is not in numbers. I didn't know how to turn on a computer until three years ago. I hated math in high school. I hated school. I kept looking outside. My favorite time was when the last bell rang so I could go play baseball and basketball. All of a sudden, I'm some nerd with a pocket protector trying to apply to MIT." - J.P. Riccardi

I was at tonight's debacle. Really, the Orioles should be embarrased.

I agree the call on Wilson's check swing was ludicrous.

Bordick made an incredible defensive play, one of the best I've seen this year (for those who weren't watching, runners on 1st and 2nd, batter hits a line shot about 3 feet insude the 3B line, Bordick dives, takes it on the short hop, gets up, runs towards third base, steps on it and whirls and throws in one motion to first for the DOUBLE PLAY).

A, Johnson's not going anywhere.

I agree with Coach's assessment. I'm sure Johnson has bought himself the 4th OF's job for the balance of the season. Stewart and Catalanotto will need time off to deal with their injuries and Wells will probably need a day off eventually, if only to have his cape dry cleaned.

While this might be hyperbole, Johnson's 100+ AB's could well be what launches an MLB career. He has a broad skillset that would make him a useful 4th OF for many teams, even if the Jays one day suddenly can't find a spot for him.

Johnson isn't really a member of the 850-900 OPS fraternity (he's just visiting), but even at 750-800, there's no reason he shouldn't be able to say farewell to AAA buses and motels for the next 3-5 years.

http://economics,about.com
I prefer his lefty bat off the bench to a 12th pitcher, but as usual, they won't be consulting me.

I think they ought to.

I watched the Saturday game with my Dad and he thought the Jays were hitting better this year because they're swinging at more first pitch fastballs than in years past. I didn't think much of it then, but I heard it mentioned by the color guy last night. Is my old man onto something?

Mike
(Who applied to do his PhD at MIT and is most certainly a nerd, but has NEVER worn a pocket protector)

Certainly, if a pitcher like Daal throws a cookie early in the count to try to get ahead, the thing to do is whack it.

http://economics.about.com
Certainly, if a pitcher like Daal throws a cookie early in the count to try to get ahead, the thing to do is whack it.

Right. But are they doing it more than previous years? I'm wondering where I could find that info.

My Dad has always been a big proponent of swining at first pitching fastballs. When he coached a few of the teams I played on, he'd berate us if we didn't swing at a pitch down the center of the plate. The scary thing is he resembles Lou Piniella in both appearance and tone, so you bet we listened!

Anyhow, I figure if my Dad is noticing it that it's probably true. However I'd like to be able to confirm/deny this for him.

Mike

I was at Monday night's game. The Orioles looked embarrassingly awful, and the Jays' offense was frighteningly good, but you all know that already. :-)

I think Acevedo might be able to help the Jays. He throws hard; he'd be really effective in relief of a relative soft-tosser (Lurch, Davis, Sturtze), as the batters would need time to dial it back up. Lots of useful players have been struck down by Ed Whitson's Disease (fear of New York) in the past, and gone on to be useful elsewhere. He doesn't have great command, though, so I wouldn't expect miracles.

Reed Johnson is definitely going to have himself a major league career. He can hit, can play all three outfield positions, runs well, and is a well-liked, hustling ballplayer. If the Jays can't use him, someone else will.

Mike, I don't have the data you seek, but here's a shameless plug for Friday's Mike Barnett interview: the hitting coach mentions the seeming contradiction between "working the count" and attacking the get-ahead fastball. The Jays' philosophy is to pounce on mistakes. You don't swing at a first-pitch slider on the black at the knees, even if it is a strike. But as Delgado says, "if they throw you a cookie, man, you're chopping."

Jason, thanks for the J.P. quote. Like his mentor and buddy in Oakland, he's a product of traditional baseball "wisdom" who has an open mind to new ideas. Certain media types and rival executives find it easier to apply incorrect labels than to investigate anything that challenges their assumptions.

Here's the thing, once you show your hand and admit you're taking the first pitch, you're giving the pitcher an advantage. Really, you should be down 0-1 every time you step to the plate.

A good hitter will adjust. Take the first pitch until he starts getting good, hittable fastballs that are trying to get him in a hole. I think this is what's happening to the Jays. Everyone hears the talk of walks, walks, walks so pitchers are trying to take advantage. The Jays adjust. Soon, they'll be back to offspeed and breaking stuff away to start the count, and the hitters will have to adjust again.

Certainly, if a pitcher like Daal throws a cookie early in the count to try to get ahead, the thing to do is whack it.

Right. But are they doing it more than previous years?

No, they really aren't.

Well, to be more specific, the group of Jays who were on the team in both 2002 and 2003 aren't swinging that much more at first pitches. This is another one of those things where anecdotal, subjective experience doesn't tell the whole story. Here's the % of plate appearances where the regulars have swung and made contact on the first pitch, the first column being 2003 and the second being 2002:

Wells	15.3%	17.0%
Phelps	15.3%	17.6%
Woody	14.0%	12.4%
Berg	13.4%	7.0%
Delgado	12.9%	12.5%
Stewart	12.9%	11.9%
Hudson	10.3%	12.3%
Hinske	9.7%	10.3%
Wilson	7.4%	8.9%

In total, these Jays swung and made contact on 12.7% of first pitches this year and 12.3% of first pitches in 2002. So, these Jays are hitting first pitches at a rate of 1 more for every 10 games. That's nothing.

(If you want to know how I got to these numbers, I divided the 0-0 AB into the number of Plate Appearances. I didn't include HBP, SF and S, because none of those categories have anything to do with being aggressive. Stats are from ESPN.com.)

I considered that maybe the new Jays were being more aggressive and that was affecting the overall numbers. Nope.

Myers	15.8%
Cat	 9.8%
Bordick	 7.2%
Johnson	 4.0%

These are 2003 stats only. The new Jays only hit 9.8% of first pitches...well under the rest of the team.

Mike
(Who applied to do his PhD at MIT and is most certainly a nerd, but has NEVER worn a pocket protector)

I'm a Commerce grad so that doesn't make me a nerd but I do seem to have nerdish tendencies in my spare time, as evidenced by me taking 30 minutes out of my day to compile the above.

http://economics.about.com
Thanks for the info! Interesting stuff. It's too bad we don't have a Buck/Tosca breakdown for 2002.

I'm a Commerce grad so that doesn't make me a nerd but I do seem to have nerdish tendencies in my spare time, as evidenced by me taking 30 minutes out of my day to compile the above.

Oh yeah? Which school. My girlfriend was a Commie/Film Studies student at Queen's. I like calling her a commie. :)

Mike

I considered that maybe the new Jays were being more aggressive and that was affecting the overall numbers. Nope.

Keep in mind Johnson has leadoff the majority of his games played so 1 of 4 AB is dedicated to taking the first pitch.