Ted made the Bosox look like de doo-doo.

Sox fan here. Lilly was awesome last night. That curve was nasty. I just wanted to post why this was a good time for Varitek to accept the suspension, aside from the "not afraid of the Jays" interpretation.

2 of the 4 pitchers sox face during the suspension are lefties (Lilly/Ledezma)

Mirabelli 3 year splits vs. LHP 295/365/577 including a gaudy 5 for 9 with 3 HR vs Lilly (before last night)

For the two righties the sox face (Batista/Towers), Batista is going against Wakefield so Mirabelli would be playing this game anyway.

Mirabelli vs Towers 3 for 4 with 1 HR

On top of all this, after the Detroit series (the first game of which Varitek will miss) the Sox have their next two series with the Angels and Texas (all three in a virtual dead heat for wild card) at home.

It is especially important for the Sox to have Varitek's bat in the lineup for those two games at home, especially when you look at his home road splits for the year.

Home: 341/426/551
Away: 267/366/460

Correction: That last sentence should have read "two series at home"

I agree with lurd; there was no reason for Varitek not to take these games off. The Red Sox shouldn't have been afraid of the Jays -- the BoSox crushed Toronto in a three-game set at Fenway last week, and it was reasonable to expect the Jays would roll over again. The Blue Jays have earned their place as "the team against whom you rest your regulars." I don't blame Varitek, and I wouldn't take it personally.

http://aaronreynolds.ca
But it's more fun to take it personally.

It is ridiculous that Varitek can choose when to take his suspension. What is the point? He shouldn't be able to decide what match-ups hurt his team the least. It is a punishment, not an inconvenience.

Last night was a grand old time. My mother and sister came down to visit me last night, and it was their intention to see this "upper deck" that I was frequently talking about. So I invited them to a meeting -- a Cheer Club meeting.

My mom's response?

"That Aaron has a voice that would make speech therapists cringe."

So feel proud Aaron!

In other news, Kazmir had a pretty good start last night. 5 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 0 ER. Let me ask this: does anyone think that calling up Kazmir was the best move for the Rays? Would more development time have improved his repertoire? Are the Devil Rays officially scary now that Upton and Kaz are on the same team?

Orlando Hudson in August: 360/400/547

Not too shabby.

I mentioned this in the Cheer Club thread, but I'm not getting any response, so I'll be all spammy and stick it here, too.

I'll possibly have some extra tickets to tonight, good seats, that I'll give away to the first people to e-mail me.

They're here:



Section 126, row 3. COMN if you want 'em. I'll know how many I have at 12:30-ish.

does anyone think that calling up Kazmir was the best move for the Rays? Would more development time have improved his repertoire? Are the Devil Rays officially scary now that Upton and Kaz are on the same team?

I think it was the best move. Kazmir's a major league pitcher right now (in terms of quality); it's probably a good idea to let him get on with it. The Rays have some capable long men in their pen, so there's no worry about Kaz beign stretched; I'm sure they'll just give him five innings at a time from now until the end of the season.

Kazmir will probably develop faster in the majors than he would in the minors (that's always been my belief) and he won't have any "service time" issues this way. The Devil Rays are inching close to contention; they may only be a year away, more likely two. I think it makes sense to get Kazmir through his growing pains and ready to shoulder the load of an everyday starter on a contender by the time they get there.

Last year before the season started I wrote a long season preview about Tampa Bay setting out what needed to be done to turn the franchise around. Last year they didn't get that far; this year, though, they really are firing on all cylinders. It's a good time to be a Rays fan, current losses notwithstanding. Their management is being proved right on a lot of counts where many of us thought they were wrong.

Just under the "We don't get no respect" heading...

I went to mlb.com and looked at the photo gallery for Monday, expecting to find a picture of Ted Lilly after his truly remarkable performance last night.

Instead there is a picture of Pedro, with the caption that he fanned 10, but lost 3-0. :(

And the funny thing is that Kazmir might be better than Zambrano right now.

For all the people who have joined in the - Sign Delgado? - debate that has raised its head here more than a few times this year, I'd suggest a quick trip over to the USS Mariner blog to read an outsider's take on the M's going after Delgado. The overwhelming view is to stay away from a 3 year contract at $10-12 million given the risk of Delgado's age and injury history. I'm not sure I agree with all of the comments or perspectives but it is interesting to see the comments of others who aren't biased by years of hometown fandom. Even more interesting is the reluctance to take the risk with an $80-90 million payroll let alone a $48 million payroll.

Just under the "We don't get no respect" heading...

Oh, dont get me started on MLB.com's anti-blue jay agenda. It isnt the first time they've seemingly gone out of their way to ignore the Jays. I've been posting examples for months. The last one being about the cleveland series we had.

Although he's hot right now, don't expect to see O-Dog in the lineup tonight against Wakefield. Last week when the Jays played the BoSox and Wakefield was on the mound, Gibbons sat him because he believes that facing a knuckleballer would take him out of his hot streak. It appears that Gibbons was right as Hudson has continued to just mash the ball.

http://aaronreynolds.ca
I'm happy with Gibbons' strategy to keep the O-Dog hot. If it's working, why screw with it? Especially if it's a mental thing more than anything else.

Exactly NFH. Although the Jays still haven't been winning much (4 game streak aside) I still really like the job Gibbons has been doing as the team's skipper. He has a much longer leash with the starting pitchers and just the pitchers in general.

Tosca on the other hand, and no disrespect for him he was a great man just not cut out for the jub, probably would have pulled Lilly after Bellhorn?? got on base in the top of the 8th with 2 out and Manny coming up. The pitch count was high and that probably would have been it for Theodore, but instead Gibbons stuck with him and it ended up paying off.

Great game last night

Interesting take Dave. You might be right; Tosca might well have given the bullpen a run to save Lilly.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/040823kazmir.html
COMN for an interesting BA article on Kazmir. I had forgotten that Tim Wilken ended up in the Devil Ray organization. That'll help them.

What was interesting to me (especially since I called it beforehand) was that when Lilly had a runner on and Ramirez at the plate in the 8th, it was Justin Speier warming up, not Chulk or Frasor. That could simply be because the latter two needed a rest, but I also think the team might start looking more closely at Speier in September.

Jordan, I agree that the Jays will take a good look at Speier in September. While JP has said that he likes Speier, the question is whether he likes him at around $2 million per year (which would be my guess at his 2005 salary - give or take). I think he'll have to show the Jays that he's healthy and that he's a realistic option for either the principal set-up roll or closer for them to want to spend that much money on him.

Justin Speier should close. It seems he's been banished from late-inning appearances after a couple not-so-great performances in tight situations back in April. He's really come a long way since then, I would prefer to see him in a late situation than Chulk or Frasor.

I think the Frasor train and Chulkamania has run its course.

Correction on my earlier post, it was Cabrera who collected his second hit of the night off Lilly in the 8th to get to Ramirez, not Bellhorn.

With regards to the bullpen, I agree that Speier needs more late-inning chances. I wouldn't mind if he were the new "setup man" instead of Chulk, seeing as how Vinnie has really been scuffling as of late. But as far as the closer goes, I think I'd keep Frasor then until he truly implodes. The guy's been money in the bank for the better part of the season, make him lose the job don't just strip him of it wrongfully.

But I have faith in Gibbons, he knows what he's doing.

The other thing that JP might be worried about is that farsor/chulk (one of both) might implode like Lopez did this year. At least then if he has confidence in Speier he knows that he has experience behind him.

The Angels and Dodgers will combine to sell nearly seven million tickets this season. The Dodgers and Angels rank second and third, respectively, in MLB attendance behind only the Yankees. Both teams are playoff contenders.

2004 Attendance leaders:
1 NY Yankees
2 Los Angeles
3 Anaheim
4 Philadelphia
5 San Francisco
6 Chicago Cubs

So of the top 6 teams in attendance 5 of them share a market with another team (and the other team has a new stadium). All 5 are in the playoff race.

But Baltimore can't compete if the Expos move to DC.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/statalpitch/
COMN for the Hardball times updated pitching stats (cursor to the bottom). In reality, most of the Jay relievers pitched about the same. Adams, Frasor, Chulk, Ligtenberg and Speier all pitched OK (I know it did not seem that way subjectively). Frasor was the best of the lot because he gave up relatively few homers, but whether he can sustain this in light of his less than inspiring K/W ratio is a good question.

My conclusions:

1. none of 'em are worth $2 million/year,
2. it doesn't matter that much who is assigned what role, as long as the Manager makes the decision and has enough confidence in his own judgment to give players a fair shot in their roles.

So far, I am wildly impressed with Gibbons (I said it while they were losing, so I can say it now), and I am quite sure that he has the ability to take care of #2. I hope that he's back next year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/bestgames
Two things that I found cool:

1) Lilly's start last night was good for a 92-point rating in game scores. That ties him for Johan Santana with the best start so far in the American League. Santana put up an identical line in early July. COMN for the rankings courtesy of ESPN.

2) The Jays are now just 5 games back of third place! The Orioles have lost seven in a row. If their slide continues, and the Jays can keep hot, then maybe they won't finish last afteral.

Five games is a lot to overcome with about five weeks to go but not impossible if the offence is finally waking up. Losing Vernon Wells would not help at all though.

I am wildly impressed with Gibbons... and I am quite sure that he has the ability to take care of #2

Ewww.

:)

Wow, that game last night was awesome. My first time ever at SkyDome (and I didn't even know Pedro was pitching until I got to the park). Lilly was unbelievable... That curveball was just filthy. I was right in section 117 with apparently 80% Boston fans but it was still a blast... I plan on going to a couple more games this week. Hopefully I can meet up with some other Bauxites in section 518.

Mark, the drum will be there tomorrow night up in 518.

And I should mention that me and bird droppings will be down in the left field corner heckling the hell out of Manny tonight. ;)

Lilly's start last night was good for a 92-point rating in game scores. That ties him for Johan Santana with the best start so far in the American League

Those stats are pretty neat. Interesting things to note (well at least interesting to me anyway)...

1. Randy Johnson, Jason Schmidt and Ben Sheets have combined to pitch 7 of the best 10 NL games so far this year.

2. Four of the top 10 AL games have involved the White Sox, but none took place in Chicago.

3. The Tigers have 3 different guys on the top 10 AL games list (Bonderman, Johnson, Maroth), the White Sox 2 (Buerhle, L_____), and the Jays 2 (Lilly, Batista).

4. Seven of the top 10 AL games took place in July/August while six of the top ten NL games took place in April/May.

5. Most victimized teams: White Sox twice (B. Anderson, Bonderman), Kansas City twice (Santana, Mulder), Atlanta twice (R. Johnson, Sheets), Boston twice (Schmidt, Lilly).

To give some context for those Game Score rankings, normally a league sees (IIRC) about 10 scores of 90 or better per year. A 100 (like Randy put up in his 13-K perfect game) only comes along once a decade or so.

Halladay's epic 10-inning shutout against Detroit last year got a 90.