Carlos Tosca has tweaked his "lefty-proof" lineup, dropping Hinske back down to seventh, with Bordick in the 2-hole.

At the start of the season, many of us were bemoaning the Jays' overall weakness against LHP. Lefties Delgado, Hinske and Catalanotto all figured to have fair sized platoon splits and some of the righties, if last year meant anything, figured to potentially repeat their reverse platoon splits (recognizing the whims of sample sizes for those ready with flame throwers).

It was pointed out that Bordick had occasionally hit LHP quite well in his career and we thought it sad that his lefty-killing bat might have to figure prominently in lineups against southpaws.

Well, Bordick against LHP this year has been almost as good as Delgado vs RHP (361/454/578 vs 307/439/618).

Add to that lefty-killers like Kielty (1000+ OPS) and Johnson (950), the odd appearance these days by Wilson (390 OBP), the odd Berg replacement of Hudson (900 OPS) and the Jays have, overall, hit better against lefties than righties (286/349/452 to 275/345/452).

This is not something I would have anticipated on a team who's two top bats figured to be Delgado and Hinske and who's number three hitter, while posting a 920 OPS vs LHP has hit just 4 HR against them.

hit better against lefties than righties (286/349/452 to 275/345/452)

Oops, make that 286/362/467 to 275/345/452.

Oops, make that 286/362/467 to 275/345/452.

Okay, final correction. You'd think transcribing 6 numbers would be the type of thing you could get right in one try (kids, let that be a lesson -- stay in school).

294/362/467 to 275/345/452

Totally not about tonight's game: Canadian boy Jason Bay is currently doing his best Brian Giles impersonation. He's currently 3 for 3 with 2 HR and 8 RBI.

Tonight's game is reminding me of a point Craig mentioned a night or two ago. I would love to see the pitch/AB both before and after the All-Star game because it sure seems to me that this line-up is much less patient than earlier in the season. The worst culprits are clearly Wells and Johnson.

As is often the case, perception and reality sometimes tell different stories:

TOR PA #pitches pit/pa
pre  ASG 3739 14130 3.78
post ASG 2255  8632 3.83

Vernon has gone down from 3.36 to 3.17 and Reed has gone up slightly from 3.71 to 3.78.

Other Jays

Cat: 3.69 to 3.84
Carlos: 3.93 to 4.00
Hudson: 3.60 to 4.00
Phelps: 3.72 to 3.68
Hinske: 4.05 to 4.12
Myers: 3.93 to 3.45
Bordick: 4.14 to 3.75

The three guys who lost playing time ...

Woodward: 3.87 to 3.99
Wilson: 4.35 to 4.25
Berg 3.80 to 4.63

Stewart 3.60 (first half)
Kielty 4.14 (2nd half)
Cash 3.50 (2nd half)

Absolutely horrible decision to hit and run with 1st and 3rd, no out, Cash at the plate. Inexcusable. Tosca should follow Earl Weaver's example and take the hit and run out of the playbook.

Vernon is 4 for 4 with 7 total bases and needs a homerun for the cycle. He's due up 4th in the top of the 9th, I believe.

Boston beat Cleveland tonight to mathematically eliminate the Jays from the playoffs.

Robert, thanks for doing the legwork. As you say, perception sometimes is blurry! I am surprised by Johnson.

Four hits for V-Dub, four for the Orioles. Still, I wouldn't trade Wells for their whole team.

A tip of the cap to the Sparkplug, whose 16-game hit streak establishes a Jays rookie record. Reed's been almost as good as Aquilino Lopez, the team's RoY.

Nice job by Escobar. I'm never sure how Kelvim will handle adversity, but tonight, he shook off that shot to the back of his ankle, didn't fall apart after the Bigbie HR tied the game, and was full value for his 12th victory.

With nine games left, the red-hot Jays need to go 5-4 (against Baltimore, Tampa and Cleveland, with Doc pitching twice) to reach the 85-win "goal" set by the manager and GM. This is an extremely satisfying finish to the roller-coaster season.

Just in case anyone out there secondguessed the decision to let Doug Davis go---he gave up a homerun to Randy Johnson tonight.

I didn't have my glasses on watching the game . . . was that foul ball catchable by Phelps? If so (and it did look like it was, in its blurry way), then you can charge about half of the Orioles' second run to him. Faulds and Cerutti missed this nuance, of course.

http://www.bluejayway.ca/features/me/me021303.php
Oh, and:

With nine games left, the red-hot Jays need to go 5-4 (against Baltimore, Tampa and Cleveland, with Doc pitching twice) to reach the 85-win "goal" set by the manager and GM. This is an extremely satisfying finish to the roller-coaster season.

I predicted 88 wins for the boys at the start of the year (click on my name to see) and it's still mathematically possible; they'd need to go 8-1. A tall order, but not entirely out of the question, so I'm sticking to my guns for now.

85 wins is about right. Remeber we're going to get killed by the D-Rays, since they have Anti-Blue Jay Voodoo Power.

Jays claim the throne of 'best team in baseball NOT in contention for a playoff spot'

was that foul ball catchable by Phelps?

Yes, it was. However, if Hudson had been the second baseman, it was a routine play for him. Dave Berg gamely chugged into the vicinity, just enough to distract Josh, but too late to help. Phelps did take his eye off the ball a couple of times: once to check where he was relative to the tarp, once to make sure he avoided colliding with his teammate(s).

Nobody should expect a guy who plays two or three times a month to make that play. I think it showed that Josh can make it, but he needs more reps and more consistent playing time to develop the necessary confidence.

Next year, playing for his last mega-deal, Carlos Delgado won't want to be perceived as a DH, so it may be 2005 before Phelps really shows what he can do with the glove.