Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Spring Training: Jays @ Houston

For some unknown reason, I found myself drawn into the Astros' playoff run last year, and followed them via the magic of internet radio. Maybe it was their terrible jerseys, or maybe it was the silly name of their stadium, who knows.

Anyhow, our beloved home team faces the Houston Minute Maids this afternoon, and the game will be broadcast on the Fan 590 for those of us in the Toronto listening area.

As we all know, Tom Cheek is on the DL and will not be calling any games in the immediate future. His temporary replacement is Warren Sawkiw, and no offense to Warren, but we hope that this temporary run is a short one.

I don't know if Sawkiw has made the trip down to Florida for the pre-season, but if he has we should get a taste of what the Jerry-Mike-Warren team will be like.

I feel a little bad for Sawkiw: obviously, no one can replace the mighty Tom Cheek, and Sawkiw's going to fall under extra criticism just because we miss Tom so much. I'm going to try to give the rookie a chance, though.

Posted by Named For Hank on Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 12:30 PM EST.

Spring Training: Jays @ Houston | 37 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Andrew K - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 12:32 PM EST (#106687) #

I don't usually pick on grammar or spelling but isn't it Sawkiw?

Named For Hank - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 12:56 PM EST (#106690) #

Yep. Silly me, I fixed it. For some reason, there's an entry for "sakiw" in my spell-checker... is that a word?

Jays lineup for today:

Adams SS
Nelson 2B
Rios CF
Quiroz C
Gross LF
Hill DH
Matos 1B
Alfaro 3B
Sanders RF

Andrew K - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:00 PM EST (#106691) #

Interesting lineup, with some NRIs. I thought that Alfaro was a SS, but presumably they want to give Adams as much practice as possible in his position. Does Nelson really have the slightest chance to make the club, and if not why would they play him, rather than assigning him to the minor league camp?

Named For Hank - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:07 PM EST (#106692) #

Wilner said today was the last day of playing the guys who are unlikely to make the big club -- starting tomorrow, the regulars are going to play for eight innings and they're going to treat the games like regular season games.

Andrew K - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:09 PM EST (#106693) #

V interesting. I wonder if Gross will be playing.

I'm sure that the management are very keen for the team to avoid a slow start, so I can see why they'd do this.

Named For Hank - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:11 PM EST (#106694) #

Dude just screwed up the words to O Canada.

Ouch, TWICE!

Named For Hank - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:12 PM EST (#106695) #

Andrew, I think the next games will tell us Gabe's chances of starting with the big club -- if he gets a bunch of starts this week, they're seriously thinking of it. If not, he's going to AAA.

Sherrystar - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:23 PM EST (#106696) #

Base hit and rbi for Gross

1-0 Jays

Solid

H Winfield Teut - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:24 PM EST (#106697) #

any play by play would be appreciated for those of us out of tv/radio range and too cheap to buy the cast.

Sherrystar - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:26 PM EST (#106698) #

Aaron Hill strikes out to end the top of the 1st

1-0 Jays going to the bottom of 2nd

Rios walked, stole second and was driven home by a solid Gabe Gross single.

They NEED to make room for this guy...

Sherrystar - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:31 PM EST (#106699) #

Chacin gets em 3 up 3 down.

Going to top of 2nd

1-0 Jays

fozzy - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:33 PM EST (#106700) #

it's on fan590.com H Winfield Teut. just click on 'listen live' at the top.

Named For Hank - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 01:40 PM EST (#106702) #

I liked the story about Chacin and Quiroz getting a parade when they went home to Marycabo because of their win with the Jays over the Yankees.

I didn't put it together until just now, but is that the same Marycabo that shows up in Sabatini novels? They're Venezuelan, right?

Flex - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 02:03 PM EST (#106703) #

I like the fact that Sabatini novels have been mentioned in a baseball forum. That makes me feel good about the world.

Flex - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 02:07 PM EST (#106704) #

By the way, it's official -- Alomar announced his retirement.

H Winfield Teut - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 02:24 PM EST (#106706) #

Thanks Foz, but i am not on my computer continually, but i like to check in to BB to see updates.

H Winfield Teut - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 02:29 PM EST (#106707) #

I did check in on your idea, seems like broadcast is behind, the mlb scoreboard shows it an inning later.

R Billie - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 02:52 PM EST (#106708) #

Chacin: 4 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 38 of 65 pitches for strikes. There was 1 error behind him.

The 1 hit was a triple lost in a tough sun by Rios.

Chacin is still working in the pen as the Jays are stretching him out further. He was showing signs of tiring already in that 4th inning.

Ron - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:13 PM EST (#106710) #

We can scratch off Berkman from the FA list after this season.

He re-upped for 6yrs/85 mil.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2017036

I think it's a fair deal. Berkman is one of the best offensive players in the game.

Looking back now, the 7yrs/100mil contract that the Cards gave Pujols was a stroke of brillance.

VBF - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:24 PM EST (#106711) #

End of the sixth: Jays 7, Astros 2.

Andrew K - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:26 PM EST (#106712) #

That doesn't remove Berkman as a possiblity. We can just trade Hinske for him, midseason.

Brent S - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:39 PM EST (#106716) #

Campbell's on the FAN right now with Jerry. He's delivered a couple good jokes and seems really relaxed. Nice work Jamie.

King Ryan - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:44 PM EST (#106717) #

Hinske for Berkman sounds like a fair deal. If we throw in Chacin, we should be able to get Houston to eat Berkman's contract as well. Get on the phone, JP!

Dr. Phil - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 03:59 PM EST (#106719) #

hey there fellow bauxites, finally registered here's some play by play for the ninth

one out somehow
gross walks (maybe) hill at bat, gross steals second, throw goes into centerfield but collision at 2nd keeps gross at second
hill then strikes out, but he had one hit today
matos then flies out
end of ninth jays up 7-4

VBF - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 04:08 PM EST (#106720) #

Jays win 7-4!

Dr. Phil - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 04:09 PM EST (#106721) #

glynn pitching
chacins line 4 inn, 1r, 1h, the hit and run were from a ball lost into the lights by Rios
miller, and somebody else pitched good
league ran into trouble, 2 run hr allowed
flyball out
royce huffman at bat 7th pitch, full count, *strike three*
rivera(sp??) hits a grounder to Matos at first, fumbled and runner is safe
don't know who's batting, the announcers aren't really focussing on the game, talking more about the Bobby Mattix facility
batter lines it into right field, double into corner, rivera(sp?) stops at third
Gibson at bat
loud foul ball into right field, I think Rios is playing center
bruntley was the last batter
some guy makes a nice play, long throw to get the batter at first
final score jays 7, rays 4
hope this helps, sorry I couldn't do it earlier

VBF - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 04:13 PM EST (#106722) #

Thanks doctor.

Dr. Phil - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 04:13 PM EST (#106723) #

one thing that has really impressed me with the pitchers that the jays have selected for the bullpen thus far is that when they need a strikeout in an important situation, then they seem to have guys that have the firepower to k a batter when they need to
I know that a strikeout isn't always the most economical way to get an out, but I personally believe that sometimes you need a strikeout to kill a rally, or to set up for a double play inning ender, etc...
Pitchers like league, speier, frasor, batista can all get an important strikeout when they need one

Ducey - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 04:51 PM EST (#106725) #

It seems League is having a lot of trouble locating his pitches in the last two games. Could be that he has not yet refined this in spring training and will get his location down by Opening Day. I have always hoped they would send him down to AAA for 1/2 the year and if he continues to struggle, that will be where he goes. If so, who will be in the pen?
1. Batista
2. Speier
3. Frasor
4. Shoeneweis
These are a given, but who gets the last two spots (if they don't give one to Gross)

As of today, I think P. Walk (as a long guy) would get one and maybe Glynn or Burnside? (Chulk has struggled)
Is Andrade injured?

Pepper Moffatt - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 05:13 PM EST (#106726) #

It'd be highly unlikely that Chulk won't be on the team. He hasn't pitched spectacular, but it is only spring training!

best400 - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 05:22 PM EST (#106727) #

How much has Schoenweiss pitched during Spring Training, i havent been hearing much about him

Mike Green - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 07:17 PM EST (#106735) #

It sounded as though Quiroz arrived at spring training with the same fire that has propelled Gross. He's battling every at-bat, and it is paying off. Today, there were a couple of hits, including a double to right, and a walk.

It was a bit of a New Haven Ravens 2003 reunion today with Adams, Rios, Gross and Quiroz all in the starting lineup.

Lefty - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 09:22 PM EST (#106739) #

Does anybody have a favorite website for up to date spring training stats?
Thanks

H Winfield Teut - Saturday, March 19 2005 @ 10:17 PM EST (#106740) #

I usually refer to USA Today's site

Chuck - Sunday, March 20 2005 @ 11:27 AM EST (#106755) #

Looking back now, the 7yrs/100mil contract that the Cards gave Pujols was a stroke of brillance.

Ron, I'm not questioning the merits of the Pujols contract, but just pointing out that you can't really compare Berkman's 6/84 contract with Pujols' 7/100. It's not exactly apples and oranges, maybe just two different types of apples.

Pujols' contract includes his 3 arb-eligible years and 4 FA years. Berkman's contract includes 1 arb-eligible year and 5 FA years (in fact, his contract is really a 5-year extension since he and the Astros had already worked out a deal for 2005, his final arb year).

I do agree that Pujols would likely have made more money by going to arbitration 3 times and then signing a 4-year FA contract, but of course he wouldn't have the security he has now (all the more valuable given his current injury status).

One thing with Pujols that continues to remains a question is his age. It has been argued that he is in fact really 3 years older than claimed, meaning that his 7-year contracts really covers ages 27-33 and not 24-30. I have read unsubstantiated speculation that the Cardinals are aware of his real age. If all this is true, perhaps this factored into the contract amount as well.

Craig B - Sunday, March 20 2005 @ 12:53 PM EST (#106762) #

I can't even imagine what kind of money Pujols would make in arbitration. There's no meaningful comparison for him; all his decent comparables have light-years more service time than he does.

I mean, Pujols's only meaningful comparisons that I can think of are Bonds, Helton, Ramirez, Sheffield, Edmonds, and Vlad. Maybe Delgado and Thome and Berkman, maybe a couple of others. And he's better than pretty much all of them (except probably for Bonds). And they're all older players with one or even two big free agent in their history, while Pujols was just starting.

Chuck - Sunday, March 20 2005 @ 01:36 PM EST (#106770) #

Craig, I hear you. Since the arb process (for non-FA's) seems so highly contingent upon service time, I'm guessing that the best Pujols could have hoped for would have been to match the highest existing salary of a player with the same service time. Would there have been a whole lot more wiggle room than that?

Perhaps the Cards were fearful of introducing a tear to the space-time continuum and thus elected to avoid arbitration with Pujols altogether.

Spring Training: Jays @ Houston | 37 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.