Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - TDIB: Toronto 6 Baltimore 3

Lots of homers and lots of of relievers is enough to beat the O's.

Player of the Game: Business as usual for Vernon, two for three with lots of runs and ribbies and homers and effortless catches and All Star Votes.

For the Orioles: Mr Tejada seemed to be enjoying himself tonight as well he might as he was a nifty three for four to bring his average up to a Rios-like .336. The Orioles need to keep Miggy happy the last thing their season needs is him to throw another snit and start making trade demands.

Unsung Hero: Rosario threw 41 pitches to go 2 1/3 scoreless Innings, after Downs and Chulk had struggled. He put a stop to all that silly run scoring business the O's had been getting up to early on.

Boxscore

Blink and you'd miss him: Jay Gibbons makes one of the shortest returns from the DL this side of Jaun Gone as he went back onto the DL yesterday after coming off it on Monday. He re-injured his right knee on Tuesday during an at-bat.

Write In Rios: Melvin Mora is behind the cause - "He's the first guy who should be there...He needs to be there."

Lurch: Had another terrific start last night. Going against the Tigers, he took a one-hit shoutout into the ninth only for a couple of silly infield hits to put some runners on and allow Thames to stroke a single into left to tie the game. The Rays went on to win in extras as Todd Jones was lit-up, but Lurch didn't get the win he deserved for a 9 Inning one-run outing.

And that's the Law: An article of Keith's on the good side of the subscriber wall at ESPN, as Law looks at the D'Backs 'solid baseball decision' to release Russ Ortiz and gives a primer on the sunk cost.

A.J watch: Burnett threw on the side prior on Wednesday evening and has showed no signs of any elbow trouble since Monday's start.

Elsewhere in the East: Minnesota beat up on the Red Sox and the hapless Matt Clement eight to one. the Yankees won in Cleveland six to one although Randy Johnson was ejected for throwing at Eduardo Perez, who is apparently something of a nemesis of the Big Units' (as surprising as that seems). Earlier Jason Johnson had brushed back Jeter and inspired some faux-macho posturing from Jorge Posada as Cleveland dropped another road game.

Posted by Gwyn on Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 09:00 AM EDT.

TDIB: Toronto 6 Baltimore 3 | 43 comments | Create New Account

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

DrJohnEvans - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 09:54 AM EDT (#149036) #

Vinnie Chulk ended up getting the win? The first post-game box score I saw (on The Score) had Rosario listed as the winning pitcher, and I was all ready to make a snarky comment about the "unsung" hero getting a song that started with a W. Hmm.

MatO - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 09:55 AM EDT (#149037) #

Did anyone notice that Rios is up to 21BB's now and is nearing the magical 1BB in every 10 AB level? My guess is that most of those have come in the last month with the new found respect pitchers are giving him and he's responded by not chasing as many bad pitches.

Hill's swing now looks exactly like the one he had when he first came up last year. Something like this: wait, wait, wait, wait, OK rip!

Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 10:22 AM EDT (#149039) #

John Gibbons deserves credit for his handling of Rios this year. By first departing from the planned platoon and then resisting the temptation to bat him down in the order to "take advantage" of Rios' power, Gibbons has helped to create conditions which have enabled Rios to succeed. Of course, Mickey Brantley also deserves credit for successfully adjusting Rios' swing to introduce a modest uppercut. The results- more power, more walks, a few more strikeouts and fewer double plays- really could not be better.

The beauty of the current batting order is that with Hill and Adams batting 8th and 9th, there will be baserunners for Rios but he will not have the pressure of hitting in the middle of the order. Similarly, Hill and Adams have the offensive heat taken off them.

Dave Till - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 10:33 AM EDT (#149041) #

MatO, you are absolutely correct: according to ESPN's web site, Alex has eight walks and 49 AB this month. His batting average is off - he's hitting .265 in June - but his on-base percentage is a healthy .379. He is showing that he can lay off borderline pitches, which is the best possible news.

A shout-out for Aaron Hill, whose accomplishments have not been recognized, thanks to his slow start. He has been in the majors for less than a year, and has already successfully adapted to playing three different middle infield positions and made the necessary adjustments to work his way out of a hitting slump. That's quite impressive.

Joanna - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#149043) #

Big props to the bullpen. I loved seeing how fired up Spier was about being taken out and I respected the way Gibbons seemed to handle him both on the mound (letting him yell it out) and back in the dugout (smoothing it over when Spier had calmed down). It's an example of Gibbons establishing who's boss but not alienating his guys.

Oh and the HRs were great too.

TheyCallMeMorty - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 10:39 AM EDT (#149044) #

Spier seemed pretty angry when Gibbons gave him the hook. I didn't see the game, but wasn't it just a walk? I'm up for bringing in Ryan as early as necessary but why not give Spier a little more rope with a 3-run lead?

Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 11:06 AM EDT (#149050) #

faux-macho

Maybe I'm missing something, but I haven't seen that turn of phrase before. It would definitely have its uses. Fuzzy dice hanging on a living room wall..."faux-macho". Wearing boxing gloves while doing a workout..."faux-macho".

Pistol - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 11:09 AM EDT (#149051) #

made the necessary adjustments to work his way out of a hitting slump

I guess so. Prior to May 8th Hill's batting average was .182. After last night's game his BA is .282.

Original Ryan - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 11:51 AM EDT (#149053) #

Worth noting that Vernon Wells isn't in today's starting lineup. Rios shifts over to centre and bats third while Hinske plays right. Hopefully Gibbons is just giving Vernon a day off. The last thing this team needs is another injury to a key player.

China fan - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 11:52 AM EDT (#149054) #

I am extremely puzzled by a report in today's Sun, which says that Gibbons has decided to give an extra day of rest to Halladay and Janssen after the off-day on Monday. The starters in the Atlanta series next week will be Lilly, Taubenheim and Burnett. Okay, I can understand the decision to get Burnett into the rotation as soon as possible, but why give an extra day of rest to the two pitchers with the best ERA in the starting rotation? Halladay just had an extra day of rest a couple weeks ago, and Janssen seems healthy and strong. Can anyone explain this mystery? Why would Gibbons give preference to his worst pitcher, Taubenheim, ahead of two of his best pitchers? Taubenheim might have future potential, but he has failed to go beyond five innings in any start so far. Why not take this excellent opportunity to have him bumped from a start, while keeping the stronger pitchers on their normal schedule?

The link to the Sun article: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/Toronto/2006/06/15/1634064-sun.html

China fan - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:02 PM EDT (#149055) #

Okay, after looking at this a little more closely, I can see that it's not as simple as I first suggested. Taubenheim goes on Wednesday on four days rest, whereas Janssen and Halladay will get five days rest because of the return of Burnett. Janssen and Halladay could not go in Taubenheim's slot because they will pitch this weekend, so I was wrong to suggest otherwise. But it seems a little odd that Burnett could not go in Taubenheim's slot, allowing Halladay and Janssen to follow in the rotation and allowing Taubenheim to be bumped. Did they consider perhaps giving Burnett a shorter start at New Hampshire on Saturday, so that he could go on Wednesday against Atlanta? Also, I'm not sure what the alternative would have been, but it seems unfortunate that Taubenheim will be pitching more frequently (over the next week ) than Halladay and Janssen.

The Bone - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:10 PM EDT (#149057) #

Original Ryan, Vernon is 0 for 16 against Daniel Cabrera lifetime...probably Gibby's thinking

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=4166

Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:12 PM EDT (#149058) #

It is wise not to have a pitcher on rehab, such as Burnett, pitching on short rest.

I have already indicated my view that Marcum is a better pitcher than Taubenheim right now, but the organization apparently sees Marcum as a reliever, and aside from Marcum, there really are no major league ready starters.

Pistol - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:27 PM EDT (#149059) #

It took me a bit to figure out the upcoming rotation, but I figured out the decision for next week.

Last night's spot matches up with the offday on Monday. Lilly and Taubenheim go today and tomorrow and then stay on their 5 day schedule for Tues/Weds next week. There's no getting around that. Burnett pitches Saturday and his 5 day schedule gives him the Thursday start.

The only reasonable change the Jays could make would be to have Halladay pitch next Friday and skip Janssen. But in that case Janssen would have to start the Saturday game - he'd be the only one with enough rest (unless Lilly went on three days rest). So the choice is Halladay on 5 and Janssen on 7 or both on 6.

Also, and probably the real reason, the All Star game is coming up shortly. If Halladay goes on Saturday next week he then goes Thurs, Tues, and then Sun (the last game before the break). If Halladay went on regular rest next week he'd pitch Friday, Weds, Mon, Sat. Either way he's only going to get 4 starts before the break.

Plus, if Halladay pitches on Sunday before the break he can skip out of the game.

With an offday on the 26th the Jays have an oppurtunity to pass over Taubenheim and pitch Burnett on his regular schedule the following Tuesday. I suspect that they'll do that because it lines things up with Halladay getting the last start before the break. Then they'll have Taubenheim in the bullpen from after his start next Wed until June 29th.

Paul D - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:33 PM EDT (#149060) #

and aside from Marcum, there really are no major league ready starters.

What about Towers? Or do you consider him done with the Jays?

binnister - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 12:34 PM EDT (#149061) #

...no starting major league-ready pitchers...

Just wondering: What would it take to make Rosario a starting pitcher?

Right now, he's playing an important part in the bullpen, but he has been a very good starter in the past.

Is Rosario 'Plan B' if the Jays are unable/unwilling to resign Speier next season?

Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 02:10 PM EDT (#149065) #

Josh Towers needs, in my view, a little more time and success before attempting a return. Francisco Rosario is another post-TJ surgery project. He could be returned to the starting role, but in my view, as a power pitcher, that would be detrimental to his long term career/health.

I perhaps overstated the situation previously. All of the starting options for Taubenheim, aside from Marcum, are probably not risks worth taking at this time.

Ron - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 03:43 PM EDT (#149071) #

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051101.wblai/BNStory/Sports/

If you're one of those folks that thought Glaus should play SS more often, your prayers have been answered. Gibby has decided to play Glaus at SS in the inter-league games except when Doc is pitching. Hill is switching back to 2B for those games.

You be the skipper:

Is this a good move?

Here's another you be the skipper question:

The Jays have a 1 run lead. The O's are batting with 2 outs in the top of the 8th with a man on 3rd.. Left-handed hitting Corey Patterson is coming to the plate. BJ Ryan is available. Do you go with BJ Ryan or a reliever such as Tallet in this extremely high leverage situation?

DiscoDave - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 04:16 PM EDT (#149072) #

Go with BJ. He has proven that he can get 4 outs and I like him a lot better facing the right hander that BAL would replace Patterson with.

Fawaz - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 05:12 PM EDT (#149080) #

I probably go with Ryan, but I'm wary about making him go more than an inning in a day game following a night game in which he pitched two innings. That being the case, I might not have him warming up early enough to enter the game in the event that Jeff Conine triples.

js_magloire - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 05:12 PM EDT (#149081) #

re: glaus.

I think it's a terrible idea to play Glaus. A) we're playing Atlanta and Florida, it's not like we won't be scoring any runs, B) is it really worth the possible injury to Glaus just to have Hillenbrand or Overbay in instead of Adams/Hill? Definitely NOT! Plus, it's always nice to have a good guy coming off the bench. Hillenbrand is playing well, so put him at first instead of Overbay, case closed. Gibbons is playing with fire here, over marginal gains....

re: Tallet...it seemed to work out fine, but I would have gone with BJ.

Jays are now 1 game back. I hope they string together some wins because it is rather crappy that their longest winning streak this year is 3 games. They can do better! PS: right now, for the Mets series, we're slotted to miss Pedro Martinez, which means we might have a shot against them....it will be muscle vs. muscle.

Cristian - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 05:36 PM EDT (#149082) #

B) is it really worth the possible injury to Glaus just to have Hillenbrand or Overbay in instead of Adams/Hill? Definitely NOT!

Are you assuming that Glaus is more likely to get hurt playing SS? If so, why?

dan gordon - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 06:19 PM EDT (#149087) #

I agree that the reason Ryan didn't come in until the ninth today is the fact he pitched 2 innings last night. Otherwise, it's a no-brainer to bring him in to face Patterson.

I like the idea of playing Glaus at SS in NL parks against a LHP if they are willing to move Hill to 2nd. You get Overbay in the lineup instead of Adams. That is a big upgrade vs LHP. Against RHP, I don't think the decision is quiite so clear cut. You get Hillenbrand in the lineup instead of either Adams or Hill. Normally, I wouldn't think that was a huge upgrade vs RHP, except that Hillenbrand is continuing to hit like it is still early in the season - he hasn't started his usual fade yet. Given that he is still swinging a hot bat, I think it makes sense.

dan gordon - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 06:30 PM EDT (#149090) #

The situation with Reed Johnson is rather interesting. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, if you take his numbers for last year and this year combined, he is actually better against RHP than LHP. Also, he has better numbers than Catalanotto vs RHP this year. Given that he is a considerably better defensive player, I think he merits serious consideration for more playing time. The idea that Johnson is a poor hitter against RHP is still prevalent (Mike Wilner still believes it), but he is showing by his performance that it is not true any more. Sometimes people get stuck with labels in baseball, and it is tough to shake them, even when they are no longer valid.

R Billie - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 07:01 PM EDT (#149094) #

The main risk in playing shortstop or second is a collision turning the DP at 2B. Glaus perhaps not being a light on his feet as your typical shortstop might be at risk of getting run and injuring a leg or his back.

I think if it does happen it would be an early inning thing and eventually the Jays would change over Glaus to third or even out of the game as the score dictating and pinch hitters from the bench were used in the pitcher slot.

Geoff - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 07:23 PM EDT (#149096) #

Today is a red-letter day. The Jays are one game out of first and heading to Florida for the weekend while the Yanks go to D.C. and the Sox are in Atlanta to see Hudson, Ramirez and Smoltz. The Jays will see the Braves next, likely Thomson, Sosa and Hudson.

The Yanks will be pitching Chacon, Wright and Wang against Hill, Ortiz and O'Connor. And Washington should be a much tougher opponent now that John Wetteland and his undisciplined ways have been removed from bullpen coaching duties.

Anyhow, great to see the Jays close out a series with a win, although I am going to miss Melvin Mora's praise of the Jays.

"I'll be honest -- they have a great pitcher, but Lilly doesn't know how nasty he is," Mora said. "If only he used the fastball more. That's what he did today. He was able to locate it inside and outside."

And it appears that Halladay is succeeding in the conversion of others to his ways of pitching to contact.

"He makes it look pretty easy. I would certainly rather go out there and do that and get a lot of groundballs, so I think I'm going to keep finding a way to do that," Lilly said. "Trying to locate my fastball is where I'd like to start."

Mind you, Lilly only lasted six innings on 103 pitches with 8Ks and 4BBs, with a 4:5 GB:FB ratio, so he's not looking like much of a convert yet. But if you wanted to step up your excitement level, today looks to be a good day to do that.

Geoff - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 07:36 PM EDT (#149097) #

Glaus will likely have trouble running to the bag in timing the double play, but he shouldn't be in too much danger of getting hammered. His limited range would be the greatest concern.

I saw him dive for a grounder up the middle because his feet couldn't move fast enough and it was worth some concern that he would injure himself by trying to find a way to move faster than he was capable if he was to play regularly at short. He can field and throw well for the balls he can get to, but he's more likely to injure himself through overcompensating for his lack of footspeed by diving or making awkward throws. The shortstop plays deeper to cover more ground and that isn't playing to Glaus's strengths.

If he only plays within his abilities and his range isn't exploited too much, it will be a successful experiment, provided his bat isn't distracted by the change. Because he's such a focussed competitor, I expect his bat won't be affected but he also won't let up in trying to do more than he can do and risk some damage.

Ron - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 07:46 PM EDT (#149099) #

Did the 2 innings last night from Ryan really effect him so much that he couldn't face an extra batter this afternoon?

Does facing the extra batter (assuming he's retired) make Ryan an injury risk?

I thought it was a no brainer to stall for time and then bring in Ryan to face Patterson but I'm not the skipper or Ryan. I don't know how his arm felt or whether Gibby just wanted to boost Tallet's confidence by brining him in for a high leverage situation.

Either way I was puzzled by the move just like how Ryan wasn't brought into the Angels game earlier this season.

Fawaz - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 08:08 PM EDT (#149101) #

One more out probably wouldn't have been a big deal (though I don't know what the effect of sitting in the dugout for a half inning and then coming out again might be), but bringing Ryan in at that time would have meant having him warm up fairly early. You can only stall from so long. If no one gets on, he's left hanging until the ninth. (Wouldn't you know it, the Jays scored in the bottom of the 8th and the Orioles made a pitching change. That half took some time.) If Millar or Lopez got aboard, the time wasting might have commenced and Ryan might have been ready to face Patterson (if they even wanted to stretch him out), but it took a JEFF CONINE TRIPLE to make us say "Damn, where's Ryan?" Also, Tallet vs. Patterson (or the righty on the bench, Ed Rogers) is not a terrible match-up. Tallet's been bad, but Patterson's been pretty bad against the lefties too and I don't see him trying to bunt his way on in that situation.

All of which is to say, I wish Ryan was in there too, but it's hardly a shocking turn of events.

Fawaz - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 08:25 PM EDT (#149102) #

Or rather, a shocking decision. A Conine triple is a little unusual.

As for Reed Johnson, I'm happy with how much playing time he's been getting. It's been discussed here before how his performance tends to suffer with too much playing time, possibly because of the energy and intensity he predicates his game on. I would also chalk up his numbers against righties to sample size (I wouldn't expect the numbers against lefties to stay like that either) and I suspect that the righties he's facing are predominantly middle relievers (when he enters as a defensive replacement), while Cat has been facing starters and quality relievers (when he pinch-hits for Johnson). The outfield of Wells, Rios and Johnalanotto has been great to watch this year and I'm happy not to have it messed with yet.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 15 2006 @ 11:13 PM EDT (#149115) #

On balance, I have been favourably impressed by John Gibbons' work this year so far. But breaking up the Adams-Hill double play combination, and exposing Glaus to additional risk of injury on the DP, and losing ground on defence simply to get Shea Hillenbrand's bat into the lineup instead of Adams' in the interleague games strikes me as a very poor decision. Against a right-handed pitcher, Adams' bat is almost as good as Hillenbrand's over the long haul and against a left-handed pitcher, one could simply sub in Hillenbrand for Overbay at first. Riding the hot hand is fine, but in this case, the negatives are overwhelming.

Bruce Wrigley - Friday, June 16 2006 @ 09:30 AM EDT (#149127) #

MLB Runs Scored per Plate Appearance (100+ PA)

Reed Johnson .233
Albert Pujols .223
Rickie Weeks .200
Carlos Beltran .200
Travis Hafner .197
Brad Wilkerson .197
Hanley Ramirez .195
HEY GUYS IT'S JI JIM THOME .191
Marcus Thames .190
Scott Rolen .188

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