I know most teams have problems at the 4-5 spots, but I can't see anyone competing for a playoff spot with the likes of Hendrickson as their fourth guy. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I believe the Jays need to find another option. And while it's easy to be frustrated after that first inning, my feelings on the Bad Lefty have been around all season.

Is there a chance that Hendrickson will improve to the point of being a contributor to this staff, or is he as good now as he's going to get?

I think time in AAA would do Hendrickson good and the way he is pitching I maybe he'll be there fairly soon. I haven't given up on him by any manner of means, but he would really do better if he had an out pitch. He could still have success if he keeps the ball in the park, but he hasn't really been doing that either. He still has time to improve and I don't think he has reached his ceiling, but the major leagues isn't the best place to experiment.

I'm afraid the Jays have few options with respect to both Hendrickson and Davis. They couold go back and try Sturtze again. He's pitched fairly well the past two weeks. Other than that unless they actually go out and get at least a true number three man then this is as good as it gets.

At this stage I'm getting pretty worried about our two hole more than four and five.

Lidle I think is really starting to limit the Jays options. He hasn't pitched well in a month. His trade value is being deminished, that is if they were ever going to get anything for him anyway. Please see what the Mets got for Robbie considering they will be paying all of his salary with the exception of measly $150,000.

Looks to me like they might as well ride Lidle out and take the draft picks. See if they can stay anywhere near in the race, trade Stewart and a prospect for a starter who can keep his era in the 3.5 range and pray for offense.

Acevedo needs to close, Lopez stays healthy and I'm starting to wonder about that, bring Thurman up as your two inning middle man and they'll be just fine. But remember, keep praying for offense.

See I'm not panicking Coach.

I was OK until Lefty came with his recipe for success!
This Tigers have some pitching! I will write down the name of this kid one-hitting us.

Buyers or sellers?
Conspiracy theory anyone?
Lurch did well today, he is a fine number five.

http://economics.about.com
HEY! Neat! Tosca pinch hit for Cat with Johnson when the game was on the line.

Has he been reading my posts? :)

Mike

http://economics.about.com
HEY! Neat! Tosca pinch hit for Cat with Johnson when the game was on the line.

Has he been reading my posts? :)

Mike

And he is been reading them twice!

Jabonoso, alternatives?

I actually believe this is the reality. The preceeding recipe allows JP to stick with the master plan and still give this season a go. And I still believe they need to still go for it this year.

Mussina melted down tonite, maybe theres a break there. You know Wells will end up with an ERA around 4 or so. Weaver ain't no lock this year. Contreras, who knows. If Clemens pitchs like he has so far this year, I'll eat my hat. Had him the past two seasons in roto and predict he can't continue at this pace. In the field the Yanks are getting desparate taking Sierra and Karim for the ride. Derek isn't Jeter this season. Soriano has shown over the past month he isn't super man. Leaves Giambi and Godzila to carry the team for now and then they need to hope Williams and Johnson can rebound to the players before injury.

Boston. Its pitching for them. Their hitting blows my sox off.

Seattle will win the west. Oakland is the wild card here. We need to finish better than them and we have at least a sniff of a chance.

Whats the matter with that. I'll settle for a wildcard race in August and be very pleased with the results whichever way it turns out. I just want to see this team compete hard. And be better next year.

Now thats a nice stew.

Seems like I jinxed Lurch.

OK, it's a slump, but Doc pitches tomorrow. With two outs in the eighth and Frank Catalanotto representing the tying run, Trammell went to his lefty reliever Walker and Tosca sent up Reed Johnson to pinch-hit. The feisty one fouled off eight pitches before grounding into a force play, and the Jays are three outs away from losing this series. Lurch was very good from that first inning, when he served up a fat one to Craig Monroe, until he hung his first pitch of the eighth.

Dave Berg, a late scratch last night, has been placed on the DL with a mystery ailment. He's had those dizzy spells recently, and apparently suffers fatigue after taking just a few ground balls. They've done all kinds of tests and have no idea what's wrong. Howie Clark rejoins the Jays.

I was joking. But still I like Liddle and Escobar in the rotation and the elusive number 2 or 3 needs to show up soon. What I do not like at all is the pen: No closer at all, and this from a while ago, just Lopez being dominant and he looks tired now. Not much to add.
A race is a race is a race, and the kids need that much more than any particular lesson to learn from and be winners as soon as tomorrow...

There we go, marching shoulder to shoulder.

I certainly agree with your concerns, I'm certainly not one to wear rose coloured glasses. I figure Rome wasn't built in a day and we can't completely re-shape this team completely this year. But you never know where fortune falls.

Further, as mentioned about Robbie. There will be players out there for cheap. I hope JP at least goes out to the mall and does some window shopping but leaves his serious assests in the bank.

This is still a very fun season. I think back to last year and I was an angry young man....... well ok not that young.

Thats enough sayings for one post.

I'm more concerned about Lidle being our team's no. 2 starter than Hendrickson being in the back end of the roatation. I think he's a fine number five, Halladay is a great ace and Escobar can be a three, or a great no. 4. That leaves two holes in the rotation...

I think we have to see if Lidle can pull off his annual second magic trick again this year. If so he'll be an ok 2 man. But it would be best if JP can go out and fill that slot then I I our rotation is full. Escobar three, Lidle four or visa versa, and whoever five.

Not sure if anyone caught it but in the Red Sox/ Devil Ray game there was a situation that was almost identical to the Jays / Cardinal catch/no catch game a couple weeks ago. In this situation the umps again reversed the call after the play was over.

Has there been any word on the Jays' protest?

Carl Everett and Frank Thomas on the same team. Ohmigosh.

The All-Star break can't come soon enough, I think the Jays rode the merry go-round in Comerica a few too many times before the last 2 games.

Compare and contrast the three following players:

Player A: 464 AB, 127 H, 31 2B, 7 3B, 11 HR, 27 BB, .274 BA, .312 OBP, .443 SLG
Player B: 511 AB, 134 H, 31 2B, 4 3B, 17 HR, 20 BB, .262 BA, .297 OBP, .438 SLG
Player C: 201 AB, 49 H, 14 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 22 BB, .244 BA, .318 OBP, .343 SLG

Which would you rather have? Well, player C is the best at taking a walk, but he can't do anything else well, so he'd probably be your last choice. You'd end up taking A over B because of the extra 15 points of OBP, but it's hardly a cakewalk.

Player A is Cory Lidle's opponents' batting line. Player B is Roy Halladay's, and player C is Kelvim Escobar's as a starter.

Conclusions:

1. Cory Lidle is not having such a bad season. He's giving up more hits and extra-base hits than you'd like; however, since his walks are low, he's not letting many runners reach base. He's been giving up hits and walks in clusters, and it's killing his ERA, but you'd think that at least part of that is bad luck and that it would even out soon. His BA/OBP/SLG against are comparable to Halladay's.

2. That being said, I don't think he's the #2 man right now. Escobar has clearly outpitched him since moving to the rotation, and I'd say he's pitched better than most of the #2 men in the majors. Would any of you take Lidle over Escobar for a one-game playoff?

3. That being said, the whole exercise of "who's our #1, who's our #2..." doesn't have much value until you're in the playoffs, which is starting to seem like less of a concern.

Yes, I know, I've hand-picked the stats to fit the argument, but I will stand by my main points.

Donkit, I agree with you: no sense fretting about these three guys when #4 and #5 are scrubs.

(I had to do some guesswork on Kelvim's numbers as a starter, so his OBP and SLG are probably only correct to within .005)

Found this at the Ravens site:

The Toronto Blue Jays promoted New Haven Ravens righthander Juan Pena to Triple-A Syracuse July 1. The Ravens will receive righthander Adam Peterson from Single-A Dunedin to take Pena's place. Pena, 25, had joined the Ravens June 12 following the promotion of three players - - righthander Chris Baker, third baseman Simon Pond and lefthander Scott Wiggins - to Triple-A. In seven games, he registered five saves. He pitched 7.1 innings, allowing five hits and five walks while striking out 10 and posting a 2.45 ERA. Pena appeared in two games with the Boston Red Sox in 1999 (2-0, 0.69 ERA in 13 innings). He was originally a 25th-round draft choice by Boston in the 1995 draft and last appeared in the Eastern League in 1997 with Trenton, going 5-6 with a 4.73 ERA.

Peterson, who will be available for the game on July 2, began the season with Single-A Charleston before being promoted to Dunedin. With Dunedin, he had a 2.19 ERA in 10 games. He threw 24.2 innings, allowing 15 hits and 13 walks while striking out 19. He had a 2-4 record with one save and a 2.19 ERA.