To continue the discussion on Batista, it was opined that he has been just lucky rather than good. I think many of Batista's failures can be chalked up to bad luck as well. When he pitches, guys put it on the ground and sometimes the fielders throw the balls all over the place.

There has been a homerun or two.

But during the course of an entire season, unless your closer is the 2004 Eric Gagne, there is going to be a spell when your closer makes you nervous with the game on the line. I used to have that feeling with Henke, he would have a bad couple of weeks. Ward used to terrify me when he used to come out from the bullpen already drenched in sweat.

Anyhow, Batista has not been terrible as closer. I think he's adequate and it's necessary to have a stopper there at the end of the bullpen.

Remember Terry Adams? Remember even the outs he recorded were screaming line drives? Anyhow, that's all for me. Night!

I'd guess the move is Gaudin back to Syracuse to take Bush's spot in the rotation there.

So I hear we have a uniform change?

And not to get off topic, but as was asked in the discussion by Dr. Zarco if anyone was going to the Sox/Jays games at USCF, I am. Got any tips for me, where to sit, eat, drink? Thanks.

Why on earth is League in Toronto? It's been 10 days between appearances. That is a scrub's workload-not your best pitching prospect. Send him back down already.

If they are not going to use Gaudin or League, send them back. Frasor, Chulk, Schoeneweis, Speier and Batista cannot pitch 5 times a week. It's as if the ghost of Tosca has returned.

As unrealistic as Wonka's Factory, I know, but one could hope an overenthusiastic scout who worked for an impulse prone GM was on hand looking for a corner infielder tonight.
:D

Wow great game for me to watch tonight. An exciting game that could have not worked out much better for a guy who has Sexson, Ichiro, Villone, Wells, Zaun, Batista on his fantasy baseball team. So the jays win an exciting game and all my players do pretty decent.

Favourite moment from the game is when the girlfriend, who i had just previously explained to that the second baseman needs to tag the basestealer and not just touch the base, sees Spezio watch the 3rd strike go by and simply says "well thats why he doesn't play much"...maybe you had to be there.

Anyways good to see Hinske have a good game...its been a while. As much as i would like to see him out of the line-up, i realize that on a personal level it would suck to go to work everyday and be useless, all your co-workers telling you to do something, but you just can't. So I bet he felt a monkey or two jump off after that game

So I hear we have a uniform change?

Yep, road caps with home uniforms. Switched it up to break the bad luck.

I was grinning from ear to ear when I realized the team was trying something that I myself would have suggested. I wonder who came up with it? Give that man a car!

If anyone has a clear idea what the Blue Jays are doing with Brandon League, I'd love to hear it. He is, according to Baseball America, their #1 prospect, and he's spending the heart of July rotting in the back of the major-league bullpen when he should be getting innings and experience under his belt. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

The Jays should either start him in Syracuse, relieve him in Syracuse, or give him regular innings in the Toronto pen. What they should not be doing is jacking him up and down from Triple-A and retarding his development while watching his service clock tick away. The Blue Jays are looking nothing like the smart organization that prizes its talented young pitching that they suppose themselves to be.

Yep, road caps with home uniforms. Switched it up to break the bad luck.

Didn't the Jays try this back in 1993 when they started wearing the full blue hat at home?

Maybe lightening will strike twice.

Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't mind what the Jays are doing with League. I said at the beginning of the year it wouldn't be the worst thing if League spent the year as the mop-up man/long reliever/spot starter in the pen, hopefully getting 100-120 low leverage innings with major league instruction (from both coaches and pitchers). I didn't like how League was immediately thrust into mid to high leverage short inning stints early in the year, as I'd think it would be hard to learn that way. Now not pitching in ten days sucks but the Jays have played a number of close games lately. Hopefully a laugher will come up soon, and League will get some innings.

Christopher, I think you're right. Wow, that's genius.

well, we're starting to see how key Pete Walker's work out of the 'pen was for our bullpen as a whole.

Ah, VBF, I'm glad you're coming to Chicago! I think TheCell is an underrated ballpark. There aren't any bad seats in the house (similar to RC, the upper level is fairly high and steep), and I think from the inside, it's a real slick and fun-looking place. The OF seats are pretty solid, as they're pretty on top of the action. There are a ton of seats in the OF too extending back to a very wide concourse, which makes getting around pretty easy. The infield box seats (especially down the lines) can be kind of far from the action, but these are the seats I've usually had. They're pretty decent.

The food is widely regarded as very good-far, far better than Wrigley, where it's pretty crappy. TheCell has a terrific variety including sushi, mexican, deli, and the usuals. I usually just get the standard dog, so I haven't tried most of it.

Which day(s) are you going? I'll be there for at least two of the games, and if I'm feelin' saucy, maybe all three. I actually haven't gotten my tickets yet. Tuesdays are usually half price night-bring any Pepsi product and you get half off. Let me know, perhaps we can meet up at some point. You, or anyone else that might be going, can email me if you'd like, I believe it's under my profile. I always love the Jays at the Cell, it's a blast. Contrary to TheCell's reputation, I've never had a problem wearing my full Jays gear and cheering loudly.

I think we're seeing how key Halladay's innings were for the bullpen as a whole. Repeated short starts are killers.

If your not going to use either League or Gaudin in the 6th inning of last night's game, when are you going to use them? I'm with Jordan, I just don't get what the developmental thinking is right now with either of them.

Especially since it's obvious Frasor is wiped. He's going through the same 2nd half downturn he did last year. I think it takes a lot of energy for such a compact body to generate such velocity, and they clearly need to figure out a way to spare him so that he doesn't break down after half a season.

Can't tell you how grating it was to hear Rod Black repeat endlessly how tired the bullpen was -- after a day off -- especially knowing League and Gaudin were sitting in there, fresh as daisies.

Speaking of Rod Black, how many times did he actually say that Pat Borders was "42 years young"? I guess TSN had to hide him somewhere, but why does he have to ruin a perfectly good game?

I'd agree that the sixth last night would have been a good place to use League

Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Black. When a player is hit on the arm by a pitched baseball, it's not really a "beaning"

Hey Doc, I'll be there Tuesday and Thursday, but my itinerary is somewhat undecided right now. I'd probably be sitting in really good seats one of the days and really bad seats for the other.

I have also learned that a few hundred Blue Jays fans of their Fan Club will also be at USCF for the week.

Yes, it's a plunking, not a beaning. A beaning involves a ball hitting the ol' bean. And one more thing, Rodney. When a young player gets his first shot at the major leagues, he has not been "recalled" from the minors. David Bush is being "recalled" because he has been here before. Aaron Hill was not "recalled" in May, he was "called up."

Aaargh.

To continue the discussion on Batista, it was opined that he has been just lucky rather than good.

I had this argument with someone back in late June. Back then his line-drive percentage(thanks to THT) was .119 and his infield-fly rate was .216. I argued that even though he was not striking people out at a closer rate, he wasn't getting hit very hard. Since then both numbers have regressed.

Thanks for all the material for my bullpen report on Friday. I'm going to take a closer look at usage then. There really should not be a question of overuse with a 7 man pen and all the off-days.