Gomez gets the start at SS, giving Woody's tender hamstring a rest, and Zaun is behind the plate again, in an interesting move. Cash and Batista haven't exactly been on the same page yet, so why not try another catcher, especially one who's hitting .444 as an emergency replacement?

Other lineup juggling: Phelps (0-for-6 vs. Garland) is dropped to seventh in the order, with Hinske (5-for-10, 1 HR) and Hudson (3-for-10, 2 BB) moving up a notch to make it five LHB in the first six spots.

Over in the BBFL's Barfield Division, Hudson's not so fond farewell has The Capers looking for a strong start from El Artista. Go Jays!

Since there's no television on cable in Toronto, and I can't get the GameDay audio feed yet, anyone know if there is a delay?

Tom Cheek just confirmed that Doc will start Wednesday on three days' rest. Looking beyond that, the Jays will face the same decision in two weeks because of an off-day on May 20 -- either Roy works the final game of the home stand vs. the Twins on the 19th, again on short rest, or he gets an extra day off and opens the series in Fenway on the 21st.

They're playing, Harry. Clark drew a leadoff walk.

Thanks, Coach - I tried the ESPN feed and we're good to go. Had to listen to a weird semi-rant about America the Beautiful and/or Star Spangled Banner from the on-air crew. I'll keep trying to get the FAN feed. Good news - VW made contact - 5-3 out at first.

Eleven-game hit streak for Delgado; RBI single.

"Double" for Harris - man, the Jays really need some real outfielders.

Ugh, pay-per-view just got a lot worse. During the "We'll be right back..." screen between innings, instead of silence like last Sunday, they now play elevator music, forcing me to the mute button. I'd rather they just played the Fox commercials.

Ozzie Guillen again plays small ball; how can anyone justify a sacrifice bunt -- by a guy hitting .394 -- after a leadoff double? They scored to tie it up on a sac fly, but willingly reduced their chance of a big inning.

Hard to believe that Mark Hendrickson outpitched Tim Hudson today; baseball is a funny game.

The A's are struggling nowadays. Mecir almost gave up their win last night, and they got swept two series in a row before coming to Tampa.

The Yanks have scored two off of Affeldt in the 7th to take the lead over the Royals.

Nice quick inning for Batista, as the ever-improving Hinske starts a 5-4-3 to erase the leadoff single. 14 pitches, 11 for strikes, is a tidy first two frames for Miguel; encouraging stuff.

Sac fly by Willie Harris scores Aaron Rowand following Rowand's double and a sac bunt by Olivo. More small ball from Guillen gives the White Sox the 2-1 lead.

Two leadoff doubles have scored, but you have to be thankful that Guillen hasn't played for the big inning either time. Now he's given away another out with his small-ball obsession, taking the bat out of his best hitter's hands as Zaun throws out Uribe trying to steal.

Frank Thomas hits one into the right-field bleachers and the White Sox go up 3-1.

The Big Hurt hits a solo shot, but if Uribe hadn't been thrown out and Magglio had reached, it could have been 5-1, not to mention how many more runs they might have scored without the two sac bunts. This may not make any difference in today's game; I'm just pointing out that in the long run, Ozzie's "strategy" isn't helping his offence.

First and Second, no out, Cat up next. Anyone willing to consider a bunt from Howie?

I disdain Ozzie's small ball too, but if there's a time for a bunt, that's it. Instead he flied out.

Bases juiced for Wells with one out, following 3 singles around a Clark fly out.

Working up and away to Wells again.

Hi guys. Just got in.

Would have been better for VW to strike out and let Delgado have a bash.

Vernon's slump continues as he grounds into a 4-6-3 DP. Sometime soon he's going to have a couple of weeks where he absolutes kills the ball, but in the meantime it's very frustrating to listen to.

Sac fly by Willie Harris scores Aaron Rowand following Rowand's double and a sac bunt by Olivo. More small ball from Guillen gives the White Sox the 2-1 lead.

But if not for the bunt, might it be 3-1? 4-1? Might it still be 2-1 even in the absence of the bunt?

This series against the "small ball" loving Ozzie will no doubt have a number of Jays' fans (and sports writers) arguing for some of the same in our camp, especially in light of the struggles of so many of the Jays' hitters.

I would argue that getting men into scoring position, or to 3rd base with less than 2 outs, has not been the problem as of late. Cashing them in has been the problem. How many men has Wells stranded at 3rd where a SF (not really a true "small ball" strategy in my opinion) would have done the trick?

In almost all circumstances, Chuck, you're better off to take:

(chance of Wells taking a walk) +
(chance of Wells getting a hit) +
(chance of Wells homering) +
(chance that Wells, in trying to get a hit, hits a long fly ball to score the runner)

over

(high chance of driving in the runner, but accepting that Wells will be out)

Perhaps the once exception is with runners on first and second, nobody out, and a relatively weak hitter at the plate.

I'll tell ya what's frustrating In Leftovers, Ghost Man on Third and I go into the final day of the week with every category close enough that they can go either way. Here's todays offensive production:

Ghost Man on Third: 7-6-2-379-441-655
My Team: 1-0-1-091-131-091

Suffice to say I am now losing 10-1.

In regards to Offical Noise Day tommorow, does anyone know where I am supposed to go, or where to ask for my seats, etc?

Chuck,

A good observation. The Jays problem is probably not the lack of small ball. I agree that sac flys don't really count, as most of the time the hitter doesn't seem to be aiming for it anyway. My unscientific observation of stolen bases is that it's nowhere near worth the risk; the hit and run seems a better bet.

However the Sox have done it all so very well, it makes me realise that *when* it's appropriate (esp when both pitchers are playing very well so you confidence that one run is worth it) it can only be bad to tie Tosca's hands. I'd like to see Johnson, who bunts so well, sometimes play a squeeze if he comes to the plate with a man on 3rd. He'd have every chance of avoiding an out altogether if he gets it right.

I would also have liked to see a bit more intelligent hitting. VW really should have thought about the DP and not reached off the plate like he did last time. From the team's point of view a strikeout isn't nearly as bad as a DP! Don't they coach this sort of thing?

Hudson on second. Phelps up. Is he ever due for a 2-run homer.

Crap.

It sure is frustrating to watch all these RISP trot into their fielding positions after the third out.

What we need to do is bring the outfield walls in 100 feet so that we can turn our enormous number of baserunners into runs, when playing at home.

Don't misinterpret that comment to mean that I support smallball versus the big inning strategy. I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I was simply commenting that in the case Guillen's strategy resulted in a run. Even though I enjoy watching stolen bases and the suicide squeezes in a fan, the big inning strategy is far superior in most circumstances. I think that sac bunts and stolen bases are worth the risks in limited situations, and that the Jays do a fairly good job of using them sparingly, but when they feel it is to their advantage.

And yes, Wells has wasted several opportunities with strikeouts and DPs when a sac fly would have cashed in a run.

However the Sox have done it all so very well, it makes me realise that *when* it's appropriate

I agree that bunting a runner home from 3rd is not a bad thing, when your batter is a decent bunter. And you agree that the SF is not a small ball strategy, per se.

So that leave sac bunts, the exchange of an out for 90 feet of real estate. I would argue that there are a few occasions in AL games where I this is a viable strategy, but I can't subscribe to Guillen's indiscriminate use of bunts.

He has some damn fine hitters on his team, and for him to engage in one-run strategies in an era such as this, is absurd. This isn't 1968. As Coach has pointed out, the Sox could be up 5-1 by now for all we know. Perhaps their 3-1 lead has been Guillen's gift to Tosca.

Decent pitchng so far from Artista, anyways.

How long until we see Zaun in the 3-hole and Phelps in the 5-hole?

Rats, I meant Zaun in the 3-hole and Woodward in the 5-hole.

OK, first and third, nobody out. We can't possibly screw this up for a third consecutive inning, can we?

You just HAVE to tempt the baseball gods with rhetorical questions like that dont you...?

It's OK Jobu. Nothing matters until we get to our bullpen. Then the baseball gods send the Deluge.

Son of a....

Where's my bucket of chicken?

Incredibly, incredibly off topic, for the poets among us, I've been reading the Epic of Gilgamesh.

There's an evil ogre who is described as follows:

... His voice is the deluge /
His speech is like fire, his breath is like death.

Just struck me as a really poetic phrasing.

Chuck,

I completely agree. If the squeeze trades an out for getting a run home it might be worth it. The sac bunt, trading an out for getting a runner into a position when he might score later if someone later in the inning gets a hit, is very rarely a good percentage play. Why don't more ballclubs play the squeeze? By these lights it's so much better a bet.

I'd have love to have seen VW, when he came up with the bases loaded and 1 out, drop down a bunt towards first and the runners execute a double squeeze. Apart from being hilarious if it had come off, it might even have been worth it. I daresay JP would have had a fit though...

Catalanotto flied into double play left to catcher, Zaun out at home.

I apologize. My fault, clearly the Gods were punishing my hubris. Only the baseball Gods could yield a play call like that.

I'll offer a Smartie to them right now as recompense.

It really staggering how bad this team has been with RISP and less than two out and, in particular, how bad they've been with runners on 3rd with less than two out. I actually have reached the point where its hard to follow this team because their execution is sooooo terrible.

This team has no fight, and has no character.
An optimist can say "the bats will start hitting soon!" But really, what we're saying is we'll one day get back to mediocrity this season, instead of being a steaming pile of dung.
They should change the ad campaign to stop the gun violence in Toronto: If you shoot a gun, we'll force you to see these guys play!

You make it sound like "playing for a big inning" is an automatic 3 runs. Two "small ball" innings and one HR leads to a 3 - 1 lead...

VW doubles to lead off the inning, and for a fourth consecutive inning, we have RISP.

Don't they coach this sort of thing?

Andrew K, a hitter has 4/10 of a second to make a decision and execute a swing. It's a round ball and a round bat, so there's a millimeter or two between a solid base hit and an out. Sometimes, in that first 1/10 of a second, you're fooled by the pitch, or in the second 1/10 of a second, you misjudge its location. To suggest that in the middle of all that, it might be possible for a player to "decide" to strike out instead of hitting a weak grounder is ridiculous; to imply a lack of "intelligent" hitting or blame the coaching is completely unfair. Hitting a baseball off a major-league pitcher is the most difficult challenge in any sport.

O-Dog drives in VW on a sac fly. At least we got one.

Finaly the volkswagon crosses the plate.

Looks like it will come down to Koch vs. Zaun, Gomez and Clark.

I guess Zaun-Gone isnt original enough for an offical nickname.

Coach,

I'm not suggesting that it's possible to make that decision while the ball is in flight. Obviously, as you say, that would be absurd. But presumably the hitter decides before the pitch that they won't go for balls in certain areas (e.g. will ignore low & away, if the pitcher has shown that they can't keep it on the plate there). This is what I understand they mean when they say they are "looking for" a certain pitch -- one that they know they can hit.

In the particular case I was talking about, the ball looked quite a way off the plate anyway, and possibly low. So VW shouldn't have been swinging at it in any case.

You make it sound like "playing for a big inning" is an automatic 3 runs.

Not at all, Nicholas -- my point is, when you play for one, that's usually the most you'll get, and over a long season, you'll score fewer runs by playing for one in all those situations. The White Sox are leading today despite poor strategy, not because of it. There's no way to prove how many runs Guillen squandered in today's game, but bunting over a leadoff double, as he did twice, will lower your team's productivity in the long run. So it's dumb.

The Jays' inability to capitalize on those mistakes is frustrating, I admit. But I wish we played all 162 games against Ozzie.

Personally I would have saved Johnson to pinch hit for Howie Clark in the 9th. Any thoughts?

Never mind, Koch would come in and Sparky wouldnt be pinch hitting for Clark against a right handed pitcher. I think Guillen made a mistake by playing small ball in the first but in some situations it would be nice to see the Jays push across some runs when the bats are cold by any means possible.

Andrew, I'm listening on the radio and have no idea where the pitch was that Vernon hit into the double play. If it was a ball, then the result is even more unfortunate, and can be chalked up in the "trying to do too much" category that has plagued Wells so far this season.

Still in this.

Koch, as we all know, isn't exactly a sure bet.

Zaun singles to go 4-4 on the day. I'd put Berg in to run for him, if Berg is indeed any faster, which I assume he is. I'm operating on the assumption Woody is unavailable.

1 on, none out with Gomez up.

Primer is back up!!!!

Gregg Zaun, the poor man's Mike Piazza, is now hitting .615 -- I wish he was fast enough to score from first on a double, but I'm not sure Berg is, either.

Just got home.

Boy, looking at the linescore ... two runs on eleven hits isn't very encouraging. Especially when the opponent has three on five.

Same old story? :(

Gomez takes a called third strike and has a few words for Jim Reynolds. Cheek thinks the pitch was a ball, but believes the call was consistant with the way Reynolds has been calling the game.

Clark up, 1 out.

In an ideal world you would have someone on the bench to pinch hit for Clark in this situation.

May is not off to a particularly great start.

In an ideal world you would have someone on the bench to pinch hit for Clark in this situation.

In an ideal world, your LH batting leadoff hitter is a good enough hitter that the thought would never enter your head.

Clark strikes out, Cat grounds out and the White Sox take 3 of 4.

Good observation, JackFoley.
The same can be said for the whole season.
Leafs down 6-1.
I quit sports, all my teams blow.

I agree Chuck, having Howie Clark as your leadoff hitter just doesnt cut it but I guess the options right now are limited.

Kristian, in an ideal world, the annual budget would be $40 million higher, and Vladimir Guerrero would be playing right field. Toronto fans have voted with their wallets for Howie Clark, Simon Pond, Gabe Gross or someone else making the minimum.

I hate losing as much as anyone, but I don't understand the reflex to abandon one's team.

Call it rotten luck or lack of execution but the Jays lose 2 one run games to fall to 8-17. Umpires who have incredibly large strikezones completely short circuit the Jays' approach at the plate. They went from a microscopic zone in Baltimore and Minnesotta to a huge one in Chicago. And pardon me if I don't excuse umpires for "consistently" calling pitches that are balls to be strikes. Being consistently poor on your calls doesn't make it alright.

I know the Jays don't like to give away outs but when your down one one run, have a runner on first base with zero outs and you 9 hitter come up, that's the perfect time to bunt. You eliminate the double play and you know the Cat will come up to bat with a man in scoring position.

Yes, but remember the sabermetric argument, you only play smallball when you have smallballs. But don't worry, we'll get our break-out inning in the 10th....

Coach, I am not abandoning the team at all. I agree that with a 50 million dollar budget we are going to have to suffer with growing pains and a roster that is limited. That being said even on a budget of 50 million Howie Clark leading off dosent cut it. This is my opinion and I am still going to follow every game, go the ballpark and support what JP is doing. Other teams with small budgets have very good lineups maybe we should try and explore a trade. The Twins are loaded with position players lets get a Cuddyer.

I'm not sure if I've heard a broadcaster describe a result as having one team "cube" another. Way to go Wilner.

Wilner's question tonight is "What do you do now?".

I'm sorry to say that I'm slowly falling into the "Fire Tosca" camp. If only because this team needs a kick in the butt and I think that might be the easiest way to do it.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/2004_tryout_waiver.pdf
Is the season truly a lost cause by now, or does anyone else still think there's hope the jays can finish 3rd?

Of course they can finish third. They can finish second too. 137 games to go. 137.

The thing I dislike most about baseball today:

Not having your 25 best players on your major league roster for the sake of arbitration clocks. I'm not saying that JP isn't making the correct decision to leave Rios in Syracuse right now, I just hate that players have to wither in AAA because of it.

I hardly think Rios is withering in AAA. I think it will only make him a better player. Having said that, I also would never make the argument that Howie Clark or Dave Berg is a better use of a roster spot than Rios, or even that Justin Miller would pitch better than Mcgowan or Bush. I would tend to argue that without the "arbitration clock", Bush would indeed be the 5th starter right now over Miller.

And it's not as if Rios is tearing up the International League right now. So far he's hitting .281/.317/.479. That's not bad, but it's not enough for me to say he would be better than a platoon of Clark and Johnson at this point. Leave Rios down there and let him develop.

I don't have any question that David Bush will be a better major league pitcher than Justin Miller. But Bush has pitched for a month in AAA; he's pitched well, but not spectacularly. Justin Miller had a reasonably successful year in MLB and was lights out in his short time at Syracuse this year.

And beyond that... I don't think there's anyone at Syracuse who particularly deserves to be called up. Rios is hitting .281, but with only a .317 OBP -- MLB pitchers will eat him alive. Gross is hitting .247, Quiroz .241, Adams .238. (And yes, those are only batting averages, but the other numbers ain't pretty, either)

It would be one thing to keep them in the minors if they had nothing left to learn. But clearly, they do; why waste service time teaching them things they can learn in AAA?

Moving on... Gregg Zaun is hitting .615. Thirteen at-bats... but Gregg Zaun? .615? What kind of Bizarro World is this where Gregg Zaun (not to mention Chris Gomez) can out-hit Vernon Wells?

Not that any of it matters when the Jays have to face Jon "Cy Young" Garland: Over the past three years (not including today, even), Garland has pitched 40 innings against the Jays and gone 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA. There's something profoundly disturbing about a world where any hopes the Jays may have of ever contending can be routinely dashed by the likes of Jon Garland and Joe Kennedy.

Did the Jays not end up tearing Mr. Kennedy apart once or twice later in the season last year , though? I know he owned them for awhile, but I think that changed. Wasn't he in for (part of) Delgado's 4 home run game?

Indeed they did... He only put up a 4.39 ERA against them, going 2-1. Mind you, he was 6.13, 3-12 on the season as a whole, so the Jays still come off looking pretty bad.

I totally agree with Ryan Day. None of our minor leaguers are tearing up AAA right now. McGowan is doing very well, but he is still in AA, should he do the same in AAA, I'm sure JP would call him up immediately.

I believe that seasoning and confidence are both very important as these minor leaguers come up. Perhaps some of us here think that we can call up our own Rocco Baldelli and have him hit .400 for the first month and believe we have our own ROY. But then what has Baldelli done for the D-Rays in the standings? Yea, they've moved up ahead of the Jays.

From the "it can be worse" files, consider the D-Backs game today. They go to the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 lead, and their closer Matt Mantei on the hill. He gets 2 quick outs, and then surrenders a walk and a 2 run dinger to Burrell. The game goes to extra innings. The D-Backs get a run in the top of the 14th inning to take the lead. In the bottom of the 14th, the Phils get 2 with the winning run scoring with 2 outs on a bases loaded walk after an intentional walk.
To D-Backs fans, your pain is our pain.

Or consider the Braves game.

The starting pitcher gave up 8 unearned runs thanks to seven errors by Atlanta's defense, including four by Mark DeRosa.

Talk about throwing the game away.

...or even consider the Giants game, where Pedro Feliz batted cleanup.

It can be worse.

Of course, all of the teams mentioned have a better record than the Jays. :(

The sad thing about the Jays' truly awful start is that I think they'll go on a bit of a tear this summer, when the pitching/hitting/defense gets in sync, and the team gets bolstered by a couple of rookie callups (Bush/Rios/?). It will almost certainly be too little, too late, for contention though.

Let's hope Jays fans stay interested in previewing a dynamic 05 and 06 team.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=insidedishbullpenmanagem&prov=tsn&type=lgns
The starting pitcher gave up 8 unearned runs thanks to seven errors by Atlanta's defense, including four by Mark DeRosa.

And now from Ken Rosenthal's latest column from the sporting news:

3B Mark DeRosa is surprising team officials with his defense, which they expected to be only average.

The lead paragraph of his column also makes mention of Tosca's situation and seems to insinuate his hands are tied to even attempt small ball situations. COMN for more.

That's actually a quote from the scout he talked to, thought I was paraphrasing.

Well my question, where all the cries for Howie Clark, now that he's in his real place (250)? When are people going to support Carlos Tosca? Tired of hearing front office excuses and listening to the blame on the last regime and wait till 2007!! We've heard all this stuff and we had a club in place that could win 80 plus for the most part the last 6 yrs at least. Quit blaming everyone and start being accountable for once!!

I just think Tinkering Tosca may be more suited to the National League. The prospect of a double switch practically every game would give him a torgasm, for sure.