Yes, I'm the whitest man in North America, and yes, tongue was planted firmly in cheek. I'm about as hip-hop as lite beer.

Are you Bulworth or Rappin' Homer?

Word.

Most of us around here are Homers, Scott. LOL, Master G.

Myers is catching today, and (not that I'm taking credit for this idea, but you heard it here first) Tosca has dropped Reed to seventh, with Cat and Hinske at the top of the order.

Cuzzi's the HP ump! Should be fun to watch...

Jason Frasor was just on with Tom. Sounds like a very personable guy with a good sense of humour. Hopefully he'll stick around with the big club.

1 down 8 to go. way to go josh.

No harm done in the top of the first. Mora's bunt single was perfect, all Hinske could do, playing back, was hope it rolled foul. Towers' 0-1 curve buckled Tejada's knees, then the 0-2 was a fastball tailing in on his fists. The next pitch was a big mistake -- hanging curve in the middle of the plate -- but Miguel skied it, thank goodness. Johnson took a double away from Palmeiro (first pitch fastball down Broadway) with a nice running catch.

Wow - did anybody catch this in the Sinins mail today:

7) A Dominican court ruled that Pirates RF Raul Mondesi owes former major
leaguer Mario Guerrero about $640,000, for Guerrero helping him improve his
skills.

While Mondesi is appealing, his bank accounts have been frozen and the
Pirates are withholding his pay.

I'd like to see what his hourly rate is?

take that javy.

Hinske smacked one to deep right-center and Wells smoked one down the line, but Matos and Mora made nice plays on both potential doubles. Scoreless through one.

High heat from Towers whiffs Lopez, then Josh battled back from 3-0 against Gibbons to get him looking and made Segui look helpless with a lovely change. Cuzzi's strike zone is solid, and he hasn't ejected anyone yet.

strikes out the side. GO JAYS GO.

i wish i wasn't at work.

btw, thanks for the in depth updates coach. since i'm at work i can only watch gameday (listening isn't an option) and your updates make it much more enjoyable. thank you.

I'd like to see what his hourly rate is?

I think I read it was 1% of future salary.

You're welcome. In the Jays' second, Delgado got plunked, then Phelps reached on an infield hit when Mora had to throw off-balance -- Melvin's not my idea of a great 3B. Myers struck out, then Sparky had terrific rips at two fastballs, fouling both off, before grounding into a 6-4-3 DP on an excellent offspeed pitch to strand the runners.

Ainsworth and Towers are similar. Not overpowering, but they hit their spots and can be very deceptive.

2-0 O's - Mora hit a double that scored Matos and Bigbie. Bigbie had previously stole second.

Mora - steals third.

The O's loves the small ball.

Great play by Woodward to erase the lead runner. Nice scoop, heads-up read, perfect throw.

What a rip by Hudson. We haven't seen that from him a whole lot. Just a great swing. He took a middle away fastball and ripped it just to the LF side of center for a double bouncing off the wall. Time to get those two runs back.

O-Dog scores on the F-Cat sac fly; 2-1.

Matos made another nice catch in center. That's two more times the Jays have flown out to the wall. They keep piling up. Nice to get one run back on good fundamentals, as Woody moved Hudson to 3rd on a groudout before the Cat sac fly.

No way to sugar-coat that Hinske throw; somehow they have given Lopez a base hit on a textbook E-5. Official scoring is even more inconsistent than umpiring.

Eh-a Hinske error was generously called a hit for Javy. He backed up, took forever to throw, then threw wide and somehow it's a basehit. Either way, leadoff man on. Now Gibbons followed with a hit. Rough start to the 4th.

Nice way to get out of it Towers. Pitching very well, hopefully he keep this up for the season.

A very nice back door curve to punch out Bigbie and get out of trouble unscathed. Heart of the order coming up for the Jays, overdue to do some damage.

about time Vernon.

The Wells homer tied it up, but now Roberts has led off the fifth with a double, and was sac-bunted over to third by Mora. Towers is probably nearing the limit of his pitch count, for a guy who hasn't worked since spring training.

Tough break for Towers. Tejada should have struck out on a 1-2 pitch, as he clearly went around, but the 1st base ump said no. Sac fly makes it 3-2.

Quite the temper there Miguel.

He must be on 'roids ;)

Tejada had words with Towers, who expressed frustration with the pitch. Raffy beats the shift with a well-placed single to left, and from where I sit, Josh is all done.

After the walk to Lopez, Tosca agrees with me. It's Kershner time, for two innings if he has good stuff.

http://me.woot.net
It's guys like Tejada that make me happy the Jays don't have guys like Tejada in the clubhouse.

Re Vernon's first homer, going ten or so games without a homer is not unusual even for a slugger. In fact, it's to be expected. Last year, Wells had five stretches of at least ten games without going yard including an 18-game stretch in Aug-Sep.

That said, Wells, has just six homers in his last 68 games.

Towers was angry because he left the outside fastball over the plate but he should be mad at himself with the pitch selection. Tejada was not close to hitting the fastball up and in or the breaking ball low and away. Either of those pitches would have been preferable to throwing a very hittable outside fastball to a fastball hitter.

Jason Kershner comes in and uses his skill to induce a screaming liner at Hudson to strand two runners.

does an hbp count towards obp?

i think it should count against whip too. (even though i know by definition of w+h/ip it doesn't).

Small-ball for the home team, as a nice Woodward bunt advances the runners to second and third. Cat drives in the run and didn't like the very close out call at first. Tied up again.

Yes, HBPs count toward on-base percentage. And Sac Flies count against. Sac bunts don't count anywhere.

Two sac hits in one game for Toronto?

A lot of Sparky's OBP comes from HBP; he's the master of the one-pitch walk, leaning into anything inside without making it look obvious.

Cat has two RBI without extending his nine-game hit streak (yet).

Today's fun stat is AL Bullpen ERA (through Friday):

Baltimore - 2.09
Toronto - 2.96
Texas - 3.19
...
Cleveland - 7.49

On the OOTS (Out Of Town Scoreboard, available for sponsorship) -- What's up with Mike Mussina? Five hits and three walks through three innings, as Boston and Schilling have a 3-0 lead.

So far so good for the crafty BBFL owner who picked up Maroth on waivers last night; five shutout innings vs. the Tribe.

Ummm, what is up with your radio announcer and "Miguel Tah-HEY-dah."

Delgado continues to look terrible. Not only making outs, but making them in a very ugly fashion with a lot of K's and weak grounders.

If it's Tom Cheek, he's just being consistent, Scott. He calls I-Rod and A-Rod "Rod-REEK-ez" and the Seattle closer is "Goddardo."

So far so good for the crafty BBFL owner who picked up Maroth on waivers last night; five shutout innings vs. the Tribe.

Five shutout innings with 7 HITS though coach. Oh wait - your fantasy league doesn't have 3000 stat categories like my stupid league.

I picked up Tiger's fifth starter Nate Robertson the other day. 16 ks in 11 innings.

Eddie, we do count WHIP but also K/BB, where Maroth's doing fine (5/1) today, and IP, where he might make the difference for me this week.

Hey, where are all the Tosca bullpen management critics? He stuck with Kershner for five batters, spread across three innings, and Jason was perfect. Now he brings in ROOGY supreme #1 to face Mora and Tejada. Then we should see de los Santos, with three of the next four batters lefties.

Ligtenberg comes in for a quick inning's work. Let's see if this vaunted offence can manage more than three runs for once.

I'm watching the Moose getting rocked, Coach. Manny just took him DEEP -- over the monster, over the net, possibly on the way to London as I type.

Wow! Great catch by Matos on a 400-foot blast by Myers, then Roberts absolutely robbed Sparky of a single up the middle. Pretty good ball game; one mistake may decide it now.

Holy doodle -- Ligtenberg stays in to face Palmeiro, presumably so he can get Lopez. But he better be careful here...

Good bullpen management by Tosca so far. It would have been tempting to leave Towers in against Gibbons to try to give him a chance for the win, but Towers looked like he was done. However, Kershner was very lucky that Gibbons hit the ball right at Hudson.

I was surprised to see Ainsworth come out for the 7th inning, and was not surprised to see him give up a few hard hit balls. Mazilli should really get him out of there now. Nice job by the Aussie.

Ligtenberg got to pitch against Palmeiro??? I will be shocked if de los Santos isn't called on to pitch against Gibbons...

Nice K on Lopez...

Clutch strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. I was almost gonna comment that Raines was guaranteed 2nd, since Myers couldn't throw out Bigbie on a pitchout.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1783863
COMN for ESPN story confirming Prior's injury may be serious. I figure there's three very worried BBFL owners right now!

Another pitching change? Tosca is using up the pen too fast again!!!!!!!!1

Cuzzi gave Kerry a nice call on 3-1, but he lost Raffy anyway. Raines in to run, but is erased on the 2-4 double play -- nice throw by Crash.

Now it's Adams, just as good as most southpaws with his reverse platoon split, coming in to face Gibbons.

Spartan, I don't know what game you're watching.

Coach - He has already used 3 pitchers and we are still in the 8th of a tie game. What if this goes into extra innings?

Another pitching change? Tosca is using up the pen too fast again!!!!!!!!1


This is defensible. Lightenberg is not great against LHB, so I don't mind playing the percentages on this one. Lopez and Frasor should probably not be used today, but de los Santos and Speier are still available. If the game is tied in the 9th, I predict Adams will stay out there.

Anyone else surprised to see Woody lay down a sacrifice bunt in the 5th inning? I suppose when your struggling to get base hits, it makes sense to scratch out runs any way you can.

http://me.woot.net
Coach, the '!!!!!!1' is a dead giveaway that his post was facetious. :)

facetious

Um, what?

Cuzzi has been giving a very generous strike zone all day. Especially on low pitches on the third base side of the plate.

Anyone else notice Bigbie's nod after Towers got him looking with a curveball to end the 4th? It looked like he was saying to Towers "good one, you got me." It's very refresing to see good sportsmanship out there.

http://me.woot.net
facetious.

I'm an accredited Tosca 'bullpen management basher' (BMB for short), but I agree with Coach, Tosca's done fine so far. The Tosca I complain about would have used at least five pitchers by now. His moves so far have made sense (as all he has is short men) and having Speier warm up while Adams struggles makes sense. It's removing pitchers for now apparent reason that drives me nuts.

Excuse me if I missed the humour. I'm losing patience with armchair managers who offer knee-jerk criticism of the skipper's every move.

When the Jays pull this out, let's give credit where it's due -- a simply perfect job of getting his matchups by Tosca, and excellent execution by his relievers.

Man, Cuzzi's zone is wiiiiiiiide.

Good recognition by Adams that a dropping a little breaker over the high outside corner would get him a strike call. 80% of umpires, that's a ball.

Sorry Joe, Just looked up Facetious - I thought it wasn't actually a word, haha

Well i guess there was some humour in it, but i'm still a bit concerned with the bullpen manageing

Am I the only one that thinks that, especially with the new Ligtnebergesque sideburns, Terry Adams looks an awful lot like Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys?

Am I the only one that thinks that, especially with the new Ligtnebergesque sideburns, Terry Adams looks an awful lot like Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys?

HAHAHAHAHA

Sorry to sound like a knee-jerk idiot casual fan, but where the hell is the offense? The is SkyDome with the roof closed, and we can't score runs. Not a good sign.

Move over Miller, Arnold, and Bush! After tossing six shutout innings last start (O BB, 8 K), Chris Baker is throwing a no-no through five today. (Sorry to divert you from the riveting Jays game...)

So much for Cat's hit streak -- Berg pinch hit for him, grounding out to second. Gomez hitting for Hinske is a bit of a head-scratcher, though.

Pinch hitting with Dave Berg and Chris Gomez? Is that really a net gain? Is that worth taking Cat's bat out of the game should things last beyond Ryan's tenure?

I'll give credit for where its due - good call with the pinch hit by Tosca, too bad we don't have better betters than Berg and Gomez though.

Lordy, why is Hinske being pinch hit for by Gomez???

If Tosca really wanted Gomez in the game, he could have hit for Woody...

Berg to 3B, Gomez to SS, Hermansen to LF?

where the hell is the offense?

There's a .132 hole in the cleanup spot; that will have ripples.

Am I the only one that thinks that, especially with the new Ligtnebergesque sideburns, Terry Adams looks an awful lot like Ricky from the Trailer Park Boys?

Actually - I was thought the 2003 Hinske could have been Ricky's younger brother.

Actually, he's got the sleepy eyes, so he's sort of a cross between Ricky and Julian.

Good one though.

They just pitched around V-Dub to get to Delgado; how often has that ever happened?

Delgado looked like he was in pain (ribs?) swinging on that first pitch. Is there something wrong? He looked bad on the swinging K too ...

Oh man, that wasn't pretty

They just pitched around V-Dub to get to Delgado; how often has that ever happened?


Not often, but it makes sense. Ryan is the anti Ligtenberg. Hell on lefties, ordinary against righties.

Is your mother proud Carlos?! Come on.

Great, that hit by Gomez probably ensures that he will pinch hit for Hinske for the next month. I take back my comment that Tosca's doing fine.

As I watch Delgado flail away, I checked the stats, we're not imagining things, the Jays have struck out 15% more than any other AL team so far (that team being the Tigers). In fact only two NL teams have struck more than the Jays. Not good.

If Chuck McSlim* stays anywhere near this form, do you think anyone will pay $14M for him?

*Delgado

What looks bad about Carlos is his approach. Every year it's the same story with him. When he hits to left field he's as dangerous as anyone in the game. When he tries to pull everything he's harmless. He was clearly trying to pull Ryan on pitches he should have been smoking off the left field wall. Instead he strikes out weakly.

Ryan's a tough guy to hit against, though. Give the guy a break.

He's going to win his share of games this year. He might yet win this one.

Whoops.

Speier left a pitch right over the plate, and Bigbie jacked it out.

There are 15 more 10-game stretches to come; this one may be the worst for the Jays' bats. But it is painful to watch.

Billie, you wanna stand in there against Ryan batting left-handed? Sure, Delgado's struggling now, but Ryan is tough on left-handed hitters, no matter what approach Delgado takes to the plate.

Can't blame the pitching if they lose this - again the fault of the hitters.

I'm thinking of the first and second no about out situation in the 3rd or 4th - should've at least cashed in one run.

"no body out" I mean

Speier gives up the solo shot to put Baltimore ahead. It's unfortunate the bullpen will get the blame when that's the first run they've allowed in relief of Towers. Just too many hitters looking completely lost at the plate right now.

The thing that worries me about Carlos is that he is a notoriously fast starter. His career OPS in April is over 1000. He was the one complaining that spring training is too long. A 900 OPS season by Carlos is not going to help the Jays chances.

Now I think that game is a lesson as to why small ball can pay off. I guess you all disagree that it pays off in the long run?

Andrew - Playing for the big innings work when you actually have guys that can hit.

Gitz, tough on lefties or not, Delgado's approach was terrible. He was also batting well under .200 coming into the game (in the third week of April I might add) and wasn't close to hitting the righty Ainsworth either. He's just plain swinging the bat badly and lapsing into some poor habits. Until he starts taking those low pitches on the outer half to left field he's going to continue to look just as helpless as he looked today.

Ah, I see that Craig and I had the same thought re: B.J. Ryan.

OK, fine then just pinch-hit Miguel Batista for Delgado, then. See where that gets you. Give me a break. A left-hander like Ryan is going to give Bonds problems.

I didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it did, Billie. If we were in a bar when I made that comment, I'd be smiling. True, I'd be in Candada, so that would make me happy!

I'd even be in Canada. And, no, I'm not trying to break the BB record for most consecutive non-accidental posts.

I'm starting to get a little concerned about the Orioles. They are going to be a very competitive team this year.

Game over - god they better turn this around.

Just in case anyone wasn't sure, the Jays have never gone 0-5 at home to start the season before. This really sucks.

I'm starting to get a little concerned about the Orioles. They are going to be a very competitive team this year.

It's FAR too early to say that!

/actually, I'm scared as hell too.

I know Tosca wanted to play meaningful baseball in September but if something doesn't improve we aren't going to be playing meaningful baseball in May.

The thing to remember is, they're 3.5 games out of first with 151 to play, and it is frankly impossible to keep hitting this poorly as a team.

I don't think it's too early to say the Orioles are going to be competetive. Clearly, they will be. Their offense is improved quite a bit, and while we can't expect Lopez to keep his Piazza imitation going all year, they're a better team this year. Their pitching is unpredictable, however, but the offense is going to keep them in a lot of games.

It IS too early to be so down on the Jays.

I'm a quick panicker, but I am comforted by:

1. 2005 is (has always been) the year (eyes on the prize!)
   
2. the Yankees are not winning.

Everyone in the AL East is a competitive team this year, including the Devil Rays. The Jays are going to find themselves below .500 at the end of the year if they continue on like this.

It's FAR too early to say that!

I should have used the sarcasm tag here. I thought the "/actually, I'm scared as hell too." comment would have given it away. The O's lineup is scary as hell, and so long as they get quality starts from one or two of their starters and the pen keeps this up - they're going to battle.

Wilner's taking calls after the out of town scoreboard.

The Jays go up against Eric Dubose tomorrow, who is on my BBFL squad, so I guarantee their bats will do better.

Thank goodness for an exciting start to the season by the Minor Jays!

It's FAR too early to say that!

actually, I'm scared as hell too.

And make not mistake, I'm not reacting to how bad the Jays have been.

Baltimore has a fantastic young starting rotation, especially their young lefties. Riley, Dubose, and Bedard may end up outperforming Lilly, Hentgen, and Towers. However, there's no guarantees that they will turn potential into performance -- everyone remembers the frustrating slow development of Carpenter, Escobar, and Halladay in the 1999 and 2000.

Hitting wise, the additions of Tejada, Lopez, and Palmeiro make their lineup very solid, possibly better than Toronto. Defensively, they might be better as well.

Hijack:

Calvin Pickering watch in Omaha.

After a 2HR, 7 RBI game yesterday, his numbers stand at:

BA: .542
OBP: .636
SLG: 1.833
HR: 10
RBI: 26

That's in 24 AB. Pickering has more RBI than AB right now.

This obviously can't last, but it is pretty cool and unexpected :)

no matter the sample size that is one crazy sample.

I'm starting to get a little concerned about the Orioles. They are going to be a very competitive team this year.

I just don't see their pitching holding up. Though it is young and potentially good, it's also young and potentially horrid. Young pitchers, even promising ones, tend to skew to the bad side.

I do think the world of Riley, but the other guys don't impress me a whole lot yet.

It IS too early to be so down on the Jays.

Well, it's too early to be down on the team, but it's certainly not too early to be down on the results.

This has not been a tough stretch of games. Six against Detroit, two against Baltimore, and they're 2-6 in those games. Those are putrid results, especially given that four of those losses were blowouts. I'd take the 1-2 against the Red Sox if they can manage to take five of eight against two of the weak sisters in the AL.

We know this is a much better team than they've showed, and even that's not *absolutely* horrible. They've played better than a 3-8 team. But if the team continues to look promising and still lose ballgames, there will be Big Trouble.

These are certainly depressing results. After such a huge amount of hype the Jays are definately struggling, not terrible, but struggling. These losses will eventually turn in our favor. Even Alex Rodriquez is looking awkward as hell.

Ever the contrarian, I am as optimistic as it is possible to be after a 3-8 start. The bullpen is taking some shape. Some nice pitching options have been acquired should injury or ineffectivness plague some current members of the staff. The bats will return.

I remember the 1989 Jays, which had more talent than this team, starting out 12-24, and winning the division. I'm not suggesting that this version will do the same, but I'm not at all worried by the start to the season.

I was at the game and that makes it 0 and 5 for me this season. I've never seen Delgado swing at so many balls in the dirt. He needs a day off tomorrow.

Hinske should have made the play, but it should not go down as an error. Errors are given on bad throws and mishandles. Hinske let the ball take an extra long hop and his throw was basically online but too late. You can't give a player an error just because they have a weak arm.

Has anyone noticed any subtle differences in Delgado's batting mechanics from last year???? Is he "cheating" fastballs because of a sore knee????