Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Brewers 5 - Jays 2: A Guessing Game for Father's Day

Brewers 5 - Jays 2: A Guessing Game for Father's Day

Hi Dad!!!

I hate doing game reports for games that I thought the Jays would win but didn't. Yesterday was such a game. So I've decided I won't do one. If you didn't see yesterday's game, read Fordin. He's good.

Today we'll play a game instead. Match the quote with the pundit or player who said it:

1. "Felipe Lopez, given away by the Blue Jays, has more RBIs than anyone in their lineup and more home runs than every Jay except Vernon Wells"

2. "I play the game the only way I know how... and I don't care at all what anybody thinks about me."

3. "No one defended Gord Ash's record when he was fired by the Jays. He knew it wasn't good enough. But he also knew he didn't leave the cupboard nearly as bare as J.P. Ricciardi has not so quietly accused him of doing."

4. "Toronto steadily has faded into oblivion since the arrival of general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who has yet to move to the Canadian city. The joke is he has fired more people than the Blue Jays have won games, but it is not too funny to those longtime employees who survived."

5. "He's a fantastic talent. He's got a great fastball and that curveball is pretty devastating... I was surprised I didn't see more breaking balls out of him today, because that's just such a great pitch for him. He moved the ball around the plate pretty good, changed speeds and made some pretty good pitches when he had to."

6. "You saw Doug Davis here -- was there anything that would make you say we should've held onto him?"

7. "If this had been a heavyweight title fight, Halladay would have gone in as the overwhelming favourite. But, a closer look behind the raw numbers of Sheets would have revealed the possibility of an upset for one of the game's elite young NL hurlers. His biggest issues are being bothered by injuries and a lack of run support. His team had averaged only three runs in support per game."

8. "I got the head (of the bat) out on a good fastball (for the homer) and stayed back on a ball away (for an infield single back of second base). This could go a long way."

A. Gregg Zaun
B. Gregg Zaun (again)
C. J.P. Ricciardi
D. Richard Griffin
E. Shea Hillenbrand
F. Steve Simmons
G. Steve Simmons (again)
H. Tracy Ringolsby

Sources:

Your thoughts?

Posted by Pepper Moffatt on Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 10:32 AM EDT.

Brewers 5 - Jays 2: A Guessing Game for Father's Day | 13 comments | Create New Account

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

VBF - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 10:46 AM EDT (#120014) #

1. Simmons
2. Hillenbrand
3. Ringolsby
4. Simmons (even Griff wouldn't write so much crap in a single sentence)
5. Zaun
6. Riccardi
7. Griffin
8. Zaun

Swear by the Honour System.

King Ryan - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 11:46 AM EDT (#120017) #

1. Griffin
2. Hillenbrand
3. Simmons
4. Simmons
5. Zaun
6. Ricciardi
7. Ringolsby
8. Zaun

Brett - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 11:56 AM EDT (#120018) #

1. Simmons
2. Hillenbrand
3. Simmons
4. Ringolsby
5. Zaun
6. Riccardi
7. Griffin
8. Zaun

I"m assuming that Ringolsby is the only one of that group who would refer to Toronto as "the Canadian city", but who knows...

StephenT - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 05:15 PM EDT (#120023) #

Some of us did see reasons to hold on to Davis at the time: http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030715121025999#97596

Smaj - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 08:54 PM EDT (#120027) #

OK, I have had enough! The Yanks & Bosox are vulnerable in the East and the Jays are losing ground to both. Fading to oblivion in the AL East. Offensively, this team has been woeful (certainly Koskie's injury & VW's parental absence this series deprived the lineup of its two legitimate HR threats), BUT I think the Bell Is Tolling for some Jays. Hinske is disappointing at the plate. Where have all the doubles gone from yesteryear? He whined about AB's vs. Lefties (clubbed a gopher ball off Windows) but K's galore since! He must go, he is not a 1B for a contending team.
Hudson, hey I love the way he plays the game, BUT you need consistent AB's to contend & he is showing the opposite. With Hill showing to be the second coming of Biggio the O-Dog may have to take his Gold Glove & Spaghetti Stick elsewhere. Cat-why does he receive playing time defensively? He is painful in LF. Unable to go back on a ball; opposition runs against him consistently & he plays a traditional power position which is strike three against the Cat staying. Lets see Lilly reduce the ERA & pick up some W's & then peddle him at the deadline. Towers is not a part of the future & his effectiveness in the present is questionable at best. Play Adams everyday! Instill confidence & lets see what he does (Mike G presented the stat comparison between John MacDonald & Adams = play the kid everyday!). Maybe its time Rosario sees Toronto in the rotation & Arnsberg personally gets in his "head" to determine if he is bona fide #2-#3 MLB starter.
JP has to be concerned by this lack of offence & spotty starting pitching. Lets start liquidating some assets & seeing youth on a daily basis...and oh yeah, start spending some of the $160 Million in the vault on areas of need focusing on the long run! Obviously this is easier said than done given a multitude of variables from salary, to player availability to prospect development patterns etc. etc.
The magnitude of frustration is just so enormous given that the AL East seems very ordinary so far this year & the Jays swoon has occurred at a schedule point where we expected them to make up ground.

Mick Doherty - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 09:28 PM EDT (#120029) #

First, StephenT, right on man. I've spent the last four years, since he was with Texas, saying DD was going to be the next Jamie Moyer. I still think that and expect him to be pitching in the big leagues in 2014.

And smaj: The Yanks & Bosox are vulnerable in the East

I think you've got your conjunction wrong there. It may be defensible -- MAY be -- to say the Yanks OR BoSox are vlunerable in the AL East. But not both. No way. And it seems less and less likely that the Wild Card will come out of the East.

And oh by the way, Lee Mazzilli would like a word if you're only concerned about Boston and New York. Yes, I think the O's will crash back to earth too, but if I'm looking at 2006-07-08, I'm feeling a lot more confident if I live in Ontario than if I leave off the Chesepeake.

VBF - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 09:58 PM EDT (#120033) #

and oh yeah, start spending some of the $160 Million in the vault on areas of need focusing on the long run

C'mon. He's had it for what--5 months? Believe me. J.P.'s exploring every single viable option out there. If its been mentioned here, chances are he's thoroughly explored it. There are a minority of teams out there that have decided to be sellers at this point. Come July, that will become a majority and there will be some options made available to us.

Ron - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 11:27 PM EDT (#120035) #

I'm not so sure there will be a lot of viable options for the Jays near the trade deadline. Remember JP has said he has no interest in a rental player.

The Jays need a number 2 starter and 2 power bats. The one thing I learned from last off-season was to not get my hopes up. I remember leading into last off-season, I was all hyped up because JP said it was going to be the first time he had financial flexability to make some major moves. Well that led to the loss of Delgado and the additions of Koskie, Hillenbrand, Koch, and SS.

It's very rare for .500 type teams (assuming the Jays will be around that mark) to add impact players in their prime around the trade deadline.

SimonB - Sunday, June 19 2005 @ 11:58 PM EDT (#120037) #

Remember when the Padres added Giles?

Maybe that kind of a deal is what we're looking at. Then again, it seems pretty clear which side is winning that trade at the moment, as Giles is on the downside of his career.

Ron - Monday, June 20 2005 @ 12:05 AM EDT (#120038) #

I could be wrong but when the Padres aquired Giles weren't they in the playoff hunt?

Lefty - Monday, June 20 2005 @ 12:14 AM EDT (#120039) #

Meamwhile Delgado is safely in the NL top five in each of BA, OBP and Slugging. As well among league leaders in RBI and HR.

GeoffAtMac - Monday, June 20 2005 @ 09:20 AM EDT (#120044) #

Not sure if anybody checked the posts in the other thread about yesterdays five-Capuano-walks-and-one-run-scored-on-him game, but here is who I think we should be persuing at / approaching / after the deadline:

AAA supserstar Austin Kearns -- we should pick him up for a single decent pitching prospect and lift him from the dregs of Cinci's organization. And we should do that now before the competition becomes too hot, or before someone else takes him, or Mo Pena, or whomever.

Roy Oswalt may be available (according to Baseball Rumors). We need to pay through the nose and get him! Think of what a Halladay / Oswalt / (Healthy) Lilly rotation would be like. That would make us contenders every week.

A serious upgrade in LF -- no idea who this could be. My dream would be for Hideki Hatsui, or Jason Bay, but those are purely unadulterated fantasy dreams.

One other thing I have been considering: I was thinking the other day even about trying to acquire Luis Castillo of the Marlins. He is a gold glover, and he steals bases, and hits for a high average and scores a lot of runs. His lifetime OBP is .370, and he is a two-time WS winner, thus a proven champ.

And, as everyone reading this would know, if we were to acquire him, we would have to drop the O-Dog, and then Russ Adams or Aaron Hill. I don't want to do that, but it seems like he is our greatest trading asset. Maybe it's time the Blue Jays thought about moving him to free up space for a Hill / Adams combo, or maybe trading for a guy like Castillo, giving them the O-Dog (Florida values defense I believe), so that we shake things up and get some serious offense going. I know, not really a good plan, but trying to think out loud, and think creatively.

In Castillo's case, we obviously would have to pay through the nose to get him in a way that would severely hurt the team, thus he should not be pursued except as a free agent. And the only reason FL would want to dump him is if they wanted someone we had, or to free salary. So far, I don't see that happening.

Not trying to rattle anyone's cage about trading the O-Dog, I love him too. I just want to see my Jays improve.

Paul D - Monday, June 20 2005 @ 10:33 AM EDT (#120049) #

In one of the game recaps last week, someone (Magpie?) posted numbers for the Jays position players compared to the American League, and the Jays were third in left field. The platoon out there is working fine.

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