Griffin: On plays that were either strikeouts for Jays pitchers or were balls hit at Hudson, the Tigers had two hits in 24 at-bats. On batted balls anywhere else on the diamond, Detroit batters were 9 for 14.

Wow. I can't believe that Hudson got to all those strikeouts. He's amazing!

Yeah, yeah, we know. The Yankees, with Mike Mussina on the hill, didn't look like a championship team in losing their opener to the Devil Rays in Tokyo. And, yes, the Red Sox, behind Pedro Martinez, didn't look like a championship team in losing to the O's in Baltimore on Sunday night.

But, that's what we're talking about. ... The rest of the AL has become a more dangerous place — including Motown.

Hmm. So is Griffin seriously suggesting that the Jays, Yankees and Red Sox will all miss the playoffs thanks to the likes of the Tigers, D-Rays and Orioles?

http://me.woot.net

[I]s Griffin seriously suggesting that the Jays, Yankees and Red Sox will all miss the playoffs thanks to the likes of the Tigers, D-Rays and Orioles?

No. He's saying that everybody is vulnerable; that anybody can lose, and that one loss doesn't mean much.

A note to everybody: it's not necessary to be hypercritical of something just because its byline lists Richard Griffin.

Hey, I'm just poking fun at Griffin's ridiculous attempt to back his argument with statistics. He's right that the Jays are an extreme long shot to make the playoffs because of strong competition. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

I, for one, don't want to think about Coach in a cheerleading uniform. Yeccch!

Thanks, that thought didn't cross my mind until you mentioned it....

Of course he's right that the Jays won't likely make the playoffs. But he keeps making up people to argue against. Who are these "cheerleaders who see 95 wins and a wild-card spot as God-given rights"? I think most of the people around here are pretty optimistic about the Jays, and supportive of the Ricciardi regime, but just about everyone seems to agree that the Jays won't make the playoffs unless everything goes exactly right.

Joe, he specifically says it isn't just one game:

But it wasn't just any loss, it was a dismal 7-0 opening day loss with most of the predicted team deficiencies coming to the surface.

Halladay giving up 6 earned runs was predicted? Did I miss the column where Griffin predicted the Jays would struggle to hit mediocre starters like Jason Johnson? Sure, the defence screwed up and they stranded a leadoff triple, but take those away and you still get a pretty dismal 5-1 Tigers win.

I'm tired of hearing about Jason Johnson's diabetes. It's something an athelete -- or anyone (like, say me) -- is born with and frankly, is pretty easy to deal with.

To say someone "overcame" diabetes to become a successful athlete became irrelevant no later than the 1970s. Ask Wade Wilson, he of 100 NFL TD passes. Or Bill Gullickson, who holds the rookie single-game strikeout record and went on to win 20 for the Tigers. Or former heavyweight champ James "Buster" Douglas. Or former Jay Dave Hollins. Or ...

Anyway, it's not a story. I wrote a story for the college paper years ago about an all-CCHA (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) defenseman who was tired of the label "best diabetic player in college hockey." The adjective does not apply to the noun.

in light of yesterday's results, I have to revise the Star-Ledger's earlier prediction: the Jays will now be pushed all the way to seven games by the Padres.

Hi Guys, this is kind of off topic.

Does anyone know if any Ottawa radio stations carry Blue Jays games?

There's a line of argument Griffin uses in that column, which I've seen elsewhere, and that I have to take exception with. It's this: The Jays may have improved, but so has the rest of the league, so therefore the Jays actually lost ground.

Well, why is it the Jays who have lost ground? Don't you have to compare everybody's improvements? Why aren't people saying that the Tigers or Devil Rays or Yankees have lost ground relative to the league?

It's because people who use this argument really believe that nothing the Jays do will work. It's sometimes propped up with a comparison of this kind: "The Jays brought in Miguel Batista and Ted Lilly to save the rotation, and Speier and Ligtenberg to save the bullpen. But last year they brought in Lidle and Sturtze and Tam and Creek, and they failed, so these new guys must be about to fail too."

The one I like usually follows these lines: "Dustin McGowan is supposed to be good, but Jeff Ware was supposed to be good, too."

Exactly.

http://bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/tor/schedule/radio_network.jsp
Ryan O: Looks like Saturdays only, unfortunately (COMN), on "Oldies 1310".

Why would anyone take Griffin seriously? He's just trying (unsuccessfully) to be funny -- how else can you interpret the notion that Halladay "was supposed to be undefeated" or his conclusion that one game "proved" anything? Surely, he doesn't believe that nonsense. It's just his act, predictable and stale as any one-joke comic.

"Disturbing Signs For Jays" is another classic Star headline. Yeah, those one-game losing streaks sure are ominous. Abandon hope! Every day I refuse to buy that paper makes me a little bit happier.

I, for one, don't want to think about Coach in a cheerleading uniform. Yeccch!

Rest easy, Mike. I've been told I have nice legs for a fat guy, but I promise that my pom-poms will never be seen in public.

I'm just glad Cash isn't in the front office as in recent years Vina has hardly been an "on-base machine."

Was yesterday's loss worse than a regular one due to the crowd, the opponent and our starting pitcher? Yes. Was it apocalyptic sign the Star is telling us it is? Obviously not.

Is it just me, or does Rosie DiManno not make any sense?
Just because you know big words doesn't mean you have to throw them all into an article.

http://me.woot.net
Hey, how about we forget about trashing Griffin and trash DiManno? Her article was awful from beginning to end.

Something for people like Griffen to remember, the Yankees started off losing 3 in a row in 1998, then went 114-45 after that. And yes, there were rumours Torre would be fired after that 0-3 start.

how about we forget about trashing Griffin and trash DiManno? Her article was awful from beginning to end.

I never read DiManno anymore, but these mentions made me take a look. I got as far as the third one-sentence paragraph and "a cellar-mice distinction admittedly now relegated to the annals of the recent past, as in 2003" and just quit. WTF?

They ought to sail her out to the middle of the lake and just toss her in. I can't believe that people would actually turn to her writing with any interest at all, let alone actually come out of it being enriched - or even informed - by the experience.

Thanks Mark, that is too bad.

Just food for thought!! To John Northey, I hope your not comparing the 98 Yanks to 04 Jays, was just wondering?

Other notables that have played with diabetes was former Cubs great and borderline Hall of Famer Ron Santo and former Jay and present Syracuse Chief Scott Cassidy.

I think we're just going to have to get used to the Jays going kaboom on Opening Day. The first game of a new season, in front of over twice as many fans as usual, with lots of expectations, etc., etc., is sure to lead to disaster.

And the Jays will always open at home, because of the Dome.

Anybody ever read DiManno's book on the Jays? Glory Jays? She's no Alison Gordon.

Craig B, "they out to sail her out to the middle of the lake and just toss her in". I'm no fan of Rosie either, but I thought we were trying to be nice, weren't we?

The most troubling part of yesterday's game was a couple of managerial decisions around use of the pitching staff. These were well covered in the Game thread here (and not touched in the print media). The managerial decisions had no impact on the result, but set a bad tone for the season. Some argued that Tosca's handling of his relief staff last year was a function of the lesser talent that he had available. The very limited evidence from yesterday (as well as the decision to go with 12 pitchers rather than a 5th OF who can actually field) is that Tosca actually prefers the reliever revolving door approach.

If I was a gambling man, I'd be throwing some huge cash at the Blue Jays tonight. If I had huge cash, that is. I feel sorry for Mike Maroth, for more reasons than one, but in particular because the Jays will come out and play a heck of a game tonight.

I'd like to add that many, many things happen in the clubhouse that we are not privy to, as I was reminded yesterday by someone who knows far more than I do. In the case of Speier, it was his scheduled day to work, and it doesn't matter if that work comes on the side or in the game. For as mad as I was that he was brought in to the game, let alone to face just one batter, the move made sense when I had it explained that way. We should keep that in mind -- myself included, probably more than most of us -- before we go ballistic on a given decision. Criticize if you will, of course, but a bit of reflection before you say something is "stupid" wouldn't be terrible. Are you paying attention, Gizzi?

I don't know if I'd bet on the Jays tonight... with the 500-level seats going cheap, they'll probably have a pretty decent crowd. And we all know what that means...

I don't think using Speier was a bad idea. I think bringing him in to face one batter was a bad idea. Why not go straight to Santos? Or let Speier face the lefties?

Anyway, I don't think the general reaction is so much "Tosca is an idiot" as "here we go again."

Rosie DiManno used to be pretty good. Apparently they had to pay for her raise by firing her editor, though.

If I was a gambling man, I'd be throwing some huge cash at the Blue Jays tonight. If I had huge cash, that is. I feel sorry for Mike Maroth, for more reasons than one, but in particular because the Jays will come out and play a heck of a game tonight.

Hopefully yesterdays game was a wake up call for the Jays. I'd like to see the Jays beat up Maroth early and often.

I was wondering if Tosca was trying to get exposure to the mound for his new pitchers. Get them their first appearance for their new team. Get rid of jitters. Could be.

Devil's advocate here: One of the things Tosca's going to have to do is get work for all his relievers. He only made one mid-inning pitching change, and that one was quite justified. Perhaps even late. And he let both Douglass and de los Santos have entire innings. So I didn't see too much to object to here.

So far.

JP was on the FAN this morning (he will be on every Tuesday morning and on with Wilner on the post-game show on Tuesdays) and basically confirmed that de los Santos was brought in to get some work saying that he is still two weeks behind everybody else.

I'm just glad Cash isn't in the front office as in recent years Vina has hardly been an "on-base machine."

I wondered if anyone else noticed that bit of misinformation from Cash in the article. He's not the only one, though, because someone doing the Tigers' broadcast yesterday mentioned the same thing. I can understand it a little bit coming from a player, but you'd think a color guy would have looked at a copy of Prospectus or the Scouting Notebook. I can't believe how bad some of these guys are.

I can't believe how bad some of these guys are.

I get Extra Innings and all the Jays games are broadcast by the other team's announcers. Every series you here almost the exact same things from the announcers.

I've concluded that the primary preparation that most crews do is limited to the media game notes that are passed out and conversations with the other team's broadcasters.

"they out to sail her out to the middle of the lake and just toss her in". I'm no fan of Rosie either, but I thought we were trying to be nice, weren't we?

I am being nice.

Actually, Craig, I had just glanced at the article in my print copy of the paper and not bothered with it. After your comments, I thought that I'd read the whole thing.

You are right. It is a terrible piece of writing. Strunk and White have been doing backflips in their graves since it was published this morning. Someone should have made her completely re-write it.

I never enjoyed Dimanno's style of writing but I developed the strongest disliking for her when she wrote an article taking aim at student activists. Her advice: they're too naive, they should stick to reading books since they have the rest of your life to complain. I couldn't help but take that personally.

Oh, then there was that other one she wrote about being 'forced' by her friend to go buy a thong. After someone writes such trash, don't let them near News, Sports or any other meaningful section of the paper, keep them in the Entertainment section or kick 'em to the curb.

Now, if I see her name on the by-line, I skip the article. If I want poorly construct pros with frustratingly poor arguements, I go here.

Yes, I hold the newspapers to a higher standard than myself when it comes to editing ;-)

It is widely agreed that many teams in the American League, perhaps the entire league, improved over the off-season. We know which teams got better - Detroit, Anaheim, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto. We know which teams might have gotten better or might have just stayed about the same - New York, Tampa Bay, Oakland. Are there any that definitely got worse? Perhaps Minnesota, Seattle, Texas?

I'd have to say that the White Sox definitely got worse. Their record might not be worse than last year's if Crede and Konerko return to their normal career paths, but all that would mean is that they have missed an opportunity to win the division easily, and be competitive in the playoffs.

Mike Green's post actually convinced me to go back and slog through the whole article, not just the first three paragraphs.

Wow, just wow. It got *worse* as it went on. I certainly wouldn't accept this as a Pinch Hit without major rewriting.

Headline in Sports Illustrated's Baseball preview : "Model of Efficiency" . Subtitle to said headline: " Cost-effective and statistically solid, the face of the information age is ... Frank Catalanotto?" Nice little feature :-)

Hopefully these stories come as a pleasant diversion from the Opening Day Massacre. One of the truly great things about following the Jays is that by extending your focus -- past the narrow lens of individual matchups (resulting in randomized outcomes) on a 162 game sked -- one can still appreciate the team's success.

The following is your day-after-the-storm Minor League Roundup for April 6:

- The Charleston Alley Cats gear up for their opening day Thursday, with Danny Core as the scheduled starter.

- The Fisher Cats (no relation to alley cats) arrived -- with hype -- in Manchester. The story of 21-year old Brandon League's transition to closer continues. "I don’t know exactly what my role is going to be, but I hope to be a closer," League says. McGowan gets the start on Thursday against the Yanks' AA affiliate.

- In Syracuse, David Bush is the surprising opening day starter Thursday. His spring stats (19 K, 1 BB, 5 ER, 15 IP) probably pushed him ahead of Arnold, possibly on the major league depth chart as well. Until Peterson (or League!) arrives from New Hampshire, the Chiefs closer will be none other than ... Mike Smith. That leaves a rotation of Bush, Arnold, Miller, Chen, and Baker (until Dustin arrives).

Time to start a minor league thread, me thinks!

When Speier started warming up it was still a relatively close game. How would Tosca know Roy would give up a 3 run homer? It's one of the problems with the "use your best pitcher at the most critical time" approach, you don't know what the situation will be by the time the pitcher is warmed up. If White would've walked instead of homered (loading the bases) we would've been mad if say Douglass or Santos were warming up.

Forgot to paste the Fisher Cat link ... here it is. Thanks to the Daily-Mail, Union Leader, and Post-Standard for their contributions.
It's too bad there's no local coverage for the D-Jays. Otherwise, we'd have confirmation on their roster by now.

DiManno is even amusing on a mathematical level: But a fat fastball down the middle to Carlos Pena turned into a parabola, the first of three homers he issued.

You know, a popup is a parabola too. And Pena's homer looked more like a linear function than a quadratic to me.

Man, imagine her article if Pena hit a hyperbola!

When Speier started warming up it was still a relatively close game. How would Tosca know Roy would give up a 3 run homer?

Thanks to The Fridge for making this very important point. Speier was warming up because putting out a fire with the score 4-0 can be very important. This isn't DMB where you can pull the pitcher at any time and throw anybody in from the pen.

Personally, I'd like to see somebody hit a step function.

In the Manchester story, Brandon League confirms he is in the bullpen for good, hoping to be a closer one day. It is a surprising move by the Jays but I am sure we will get an explanation soon.

League, who is from Hawaii, gets to see snow for the first time.

http://www.gerrymcdonald.ca/depthchart.htm
It's too bad there's no local coverage for the D-Jays. Otherwise, we'd have confirmation on their roster by now.

I have the Dunedin roster. Coach will update the depth chart later. COMN for my own version of the chart, updated. Syracuse is till one player over the limit so there is a roster move or a DL trip coming before Thursday at 4 pm.

RE: Cat in Sports Illustrated. I bought that issue, don't know if it's online. There's a big section on "the new stats": how RBI aren't important, clutch hitting (with a picture of Jetes), Jack McKeon, and the article Donkit talked about.

It's a good read. If I had the link, I'd post some of it here.
They compare him with LF's Godzilla, Stew, and Ibanez....Cat says "I think I have the potential to be an ideal Moneyball guy."...It ends by declaring that since Cat was a high-school signee, the Jays would never draft him nowadays.

I would love a book on JP similar to Moneyball to make up for the lost chapter. I'm sure some guys here could write it, given our close ties to the team. ;) The only question is what to call it...Zombieball?

Time to start a minor league thread, me thinks!

You thinks correctly! Thanks, Steve -- a separate minor-league thread is now in place. Gerry, would you like to add your terrific depth chart update to the new thread as well?

Gerry, Justin Maureau's back in Auburn? Vermilyea still in the pen (instead of Pleiness) in Dunedin? Tingler and Hassey both skip Charleston? I'm sure you were just as suprised as I am.

Re: Richard Griffin

I find it ironic that we at BB.ca dislike Griffin for saying things without having real reason and then we turn around and do the same to him. Think about it.

http://economics.about.com
I find it ironic that we at BB.ca dislike Griffin for saying things without having real reason and then we turn around and do the same to him.

I find it ironic that you'd use the term "we" to indicate that you belong to a group of people, yet use a pseudonym so none of "us" know who the heck you are.

Cheers,

Mike

Pistol: I would like to know what the typical broadcaster says about the Jays and how much they really know.

Rob: I enjoyed your math comments; I'm just glad that she left the derivatives out of it.

I'd like to see somebody hit a step function

Prediction : Delgado will hit at least one Maroth pitch so hard tonight that it produces an essential discontinuity.

Interesting looking at the minor league depth chart and seeing 8 (!) names for the pen in Syracuse, 7 in AA, 6 in Dunedin, 6 in Charleston, and 5 in Auburn even though their season doesn't start until after the draft iirc and they will be re-stocked via the draft thus adding more to the pen.

The more I think about it the more value I see in having a deeper pen in the majors, but in AAA and the rest of the minors why would you be doing left/right and all that other stuff? You are developing players so you should be having them pitch as much as possible without hurting them. An 8 man bullpen is just way too many, especially with a full 5 man rotation thus adding a 9th to the pen at times. Just noticed that File is DL'ed too so that would add a 9th to the pen potentially. Ugh!

Btw, the '98 Yank reference was more to point out there is no reason for panic after just one game, or even 3. I do not see these Jays as comparable to those Yankees.

It's nice to see the exact same line up against the Tigers today.

I find it ironic that we at BB.ca dislike Griffin for saying things without having real reason and then we turn around and do the same to him. Think about it.

This point is well-taken. The fact that the person did not want to reveal his/her identity does not diminish the argument. It diminishes the arguer, but that's not the same thing.

Craig: for we dumb Americans, what is an essential discontinuity?

http://www.shu.edu/projects/reals/cont/disconti.html

See 6.3.3 and 6.3.7. Best I can do. Basically, it's a function that's not only discontinuous, but crazily so. (Not smooth like a parabola, or even a hyperbola)

Anyone notice yesterday that the "offensively challenged" Dodgers - pounded out 15 hits yesterday, walked 5 times, but managed only 2 runs. If they keep getting guys on base like that, they should shed that label pretty quick.

I think we should change the current Roundup game -- guessing 80's lyrics -- to one where the ZLC has to solve implicit or explicit differentiation problems. :) We could even offer prizes, like the second derivative (Sorry Ben NS) of 100x dollars.

Considering I was born in '84, haven't taken a math course since 2001 and am an Arts student with a background in social activism, I have about an equal shot at both games but I question why anyone should do Rob's homework for him ;-)

http://economics.about.com
I think we should change the current Roundup game -- guessing 80's lyrics -- to one where the ZLC has to solve implicit or explicit differentiation problems.

You know, it would probably be easier for me to come up with a new problem in complex analysis each morning than it is to find a song I haven't quoted.

Or I'll just get you to prove the first and second theorems of welfare economics. The proof of the first one is only about six lines if you do it right. :)