After watching last night's lineup, I can only say it will be refreshing when Stairs and Rolen get healthy. There's not one single 30 HR threat in the entire lineup, and once you subtract Stairs/Rolen, it becomes a bunch of singles and doubles hitters who don't draw that many walks. Really, the only time I was ever comfortable watching the hitters was when Rios was hitting. Once you factor that the team was facing an extreme GB pitcher with the umps making generous strike calls in key spots, and it adds up to no offense.

I'm never going to be comfortable with this team facing a RHP, so even Mussina's decline isn't enough to make me optimistic. We need to face a lefty, ASAP.

My favorite part about that game was Jeter whining unsuccessfully to the second base ump about his tag on Scutaro, then getting gunned down himself trying to steal second an inning later.  Good times.

Too bad the home plate ump couldn't have cut the good guys a break or two.

"and no class after 11!"

Well 11:20, but it's still nice. Oh, and I'd say Thomas is still definately a 30 hr threat, while Rios and Wells are potentially.

Gibbons has a few weaknesses, and both were on display last night ... he won't use his bench enough (pinch hit for Eckstein!) and he overuses key starters (take out Halladay).  We have a better bench and a great pen, but a so-so offence.  We HAVE to maximize our offensive possibilities to have any chance at all.  More agressive baserunning is a good start though.

Coats was originally listed as an IF-OF.  Can he play third base AT ALL? 

Watched the game last night. I said to my gf in the 6th that it should be Halladays last inning. He threw a lot of pitches, it was opening day, Yanks looked like they were figuring him out. He should not go out for the 7th. So I was not surprised at all to see him give up a run in the seventh

He hadn't thrown a lot of pitches and if Eckstein or Hill had not screwed up 2 potential double plays then Doc is out of the inning with no runs scored. Bringing Doc back was absolutely the right thing to do.

• Stairs (injured, who knows how available)
• Rod Barajas (.687 OPS against righties)
• Johnny Mac (.571 OPS against righties)
• Buck Coats (.423 OPS in his limited time in the majors - career OPS+ of 45 against both sides)

<i>How many 30+ HR hitters did the Rockies have last year?  One (Holliday)?  Their season still turned out pretty well.</i>

yea but they dont play in a league with tigers, red sox and yanks

Doc was great.  No reason to pull him, and nothing was really hit hard.  His defense let him down, but I don't think that will happen too often this year.

I actually felt the opposite when watching the Jays lineup yesterday.  I was thinking 'Even with Rolen out, this lineup is going to do some damage.... no holes, good balance, even a bit of speed'.

Eck and Stewart getting on base a lot is key.. they will score a lot of runs if they do... if Wells and Overbay are truly healthy, they are a deep lineup.  Hill seems to have more pop this year, reminds me of Rios when he suddenly developed more power.  Rios seems determined to get great at-bats, and Stairs/Stewart have a chance to be better than Cat/Johnson.  Zaun/Barajas provides depth as well.

As everyone else has been saying, if this team stays mostly healthy, and Marcum/McGowan/Listch don't regress (even staying at last year's level would be fine), this is a GOOD team.

"I said it was obvious the Yankees would score off of Halladay if he went out for the 7th, the Yankees did score off of him. "

ALL HAIL JUSTIN D!

Stairs likely not in the lineup again and could go on the DL soon, also if he goes on the DL Joe Inglett gets the call.  How far has Lind fallen in the eyes of management? Also Barajas starting tonight.  Got this from the Globe and Mail blog. 

Some more bad news.  Matt Stairs is still hurt and may go on the DL.  My guess is he won't be available to come off the bench tonight, or the Jays won't have the option of back-dating his stint on the 15-day disabled list.  Also, Zaun had an ice pack on his knee after the game last night.  Stewart and Barajas are starting tonight:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball

I'm alright with Stewart starting, he hits RHP just about as well as he hits LHP.  Barajas is a fine backup catcher.  I'm just worried about the injuries and I hope neither of them are serious.  If Stairs' injury is going to be a problem all year, the Jays need to figure out what they're going to do with him.  I wonder how short Thomas' leash is.  I hope to see a platoon DH, but I know it's unlikely.  Before anyone mentions Adam Lind as a callup, thanks to the link from Marc, I noticed that after a great spring with the Jays, Lind is hitting just .196 in minor league spring training (9 for 46, but 3 of those 9 hits were homeruns).  He's not likely to get the call.

Bonds would be nice, though.

Also, Zaun had an ice pack on his knee after the game last night.

Oh, his hamstring is bothering him again.

Posada is out of the lineup with a sore shoulder.  Unfortunately, McGowan may be out tomorrow, but it's just the flu.  However, I haven't been able to translate Blue Jays vocabulary yet, so "flu-like symptoms", might mean "torn labrum".  Gotta love the Globe and Mail blogs:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/baseball

The first two games of the season and Verno hits into a DP with two runners on in each 1st inning, totally crushing early rallies, and killing our chances at an always important early lead.

Given that he did this all year long last year, I hope Gibbons is smart enough to have him on a very, very short leash as far as hitting in the middle of the lineup goes.

These are just killer.

Two close games, including one by Doc, and we still haven't seen John McDonald yet. Strange.

Why? Where would he have come in? Scrappy Sandpaper is the starter at SS, and he's obviously not going to be taken out for defensive replacements. If he was, he would have been in there in the ninth tonight.

I said it was obvious the Yankees would score off of Halladay if he went out for the 7th, the Yankees did score off of him.

Just because you predicted the outcome doesn't mean your method of determining your prediction was solid.  For 70+ years, you would accurately predict the US presidential election if you based your prediction on the outcome of the last Redskins home game before the election (if they won at home, the incumbent party won the election; if the Skins lost, so did the incumbents).  Does that mean that the Skins were a sound method for predicting the presidential election?  Of course not.

Going further - implicit in your argument is that if the Jays pulled Doc after the 7th, not only would the Yanks not score in the 7th, but they wouldn't score in the 8th or 9th either (well, that's an simplification of what you're implying).  Given the Yankees solid offense and the depleted state of our bullpen with the unproven arms in there right now, I don't think that's a fair assumption at all.

Not only that, but Roy had to sit and get cold on the bench cause the Yankees play God Bless American in between the 7th inning.

You're reaching here.  The Jays used 4 batters in the top of the 7th.  If 4 batters and God Bless America make for a long time between two bottom innings, I've been watching some really, really long games.

The home run Cabrera hit was a weak fly ball. I never said it was crushed or Halladay was getting hit hard. But ignoring the fact that Melky fouled pitch after pitch after pitch that at bat and basically owned Halladay in that at bat is ignoring what actually was happening in the game.

It's still only one at-bat.  The next 3 batters (and that's Damon, Jeter, and Abreu) didn't make it out of the infield - and not a single one was hit that hard.  Ignoring those 3 at-bats is also ignoring what actually was happening in the game.

Look, Roy doesn't have to pitch a complete game every time out, though John Gibbons would disagree.

I think you know no one said anything close to that and Gibbons did nothing similar to that last night.  There is a far cry from starting the 7th with 77 pitches under your belt and tossing a complete game.

McDonald is the very definition of "defensive replacement", just as Eckstein is defined by  "guy who should be replaced defensively close & late."

I know Ryan, I agree. I personally wish Eckstein wasn't Ricciardi's answer for '08, and Clayton wasn't in '07 etc. etc. etc, buy my names Shane, your looking for John Gibbons. Tell him, not me.

Great game.  Rios and Wells have the potential to make a fine duo for the next 7 years.  And now we have the other season opener going tomorrow, with Lansing, Dunedin, New Hampshire and Syracuse all kicking it off, I believe.  I look forward to the minor league reports throughout the season, you guys do a great job here.

On a side note, Ryan threw 21 pitches in a minor league game today.  He isn't feeling any soreness either before or after he throws, which is good.  They're optimistic he might even be ready for the April 11th series against Texas.

http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080402&content_id=2483891&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

One thing I found discouraging though, is the comment that Ryan, "hit 88 on the radar gun".  If memory serves me correctly, his fastball was usually in the 90-93 MPH range before the surgery, was it not?

As annoying as the commentators can get sometimes (I don't blame them - it's their job to fill dead air) - the guys wouldn't shut up the last couple of years about "add-on runs"......and again, as annoying as it is to hear them repeat it ad nauseam, this is always something I agreed with.

and tonight, that's exactly what we got - ADD ON RUNS. 3-0 was nice. 4-0 was better. 5-0 was perfect.

Without those key add-on runs (based on some pretty clutch hitting), that ARod homer suddenly puts the game in serious jeopardy. Nice to see the boys get the little things done right.

And an EXTREMELY ENCOURAGING outing from Accardo tonight. I have some serious doubts about him coming into this year (as I always do about any reliever with only one good - and surprising - season behind him)....but man, a couple more outings like tonight, and my worries are gone. Two runners get on through no fault of Accardo's, and ARod is the tying run in the bottom of the 9th at Yankee Stadium....and Accardo cooly and aggressively Ks ARod, and takes care of the rest. That's some clutch closing there. Huge relief for me - this bullpen this year can't afford to have Accardo turn out to be a one year wonder.

Blair refers to Eckstein and Thomas as "abscesses in the lineup."

Absolutely. Thomas: one piece of decent contact, a single into left field Tuesday, and Eckstein, my god, feeble little bleeders of the bat that barely go ninety feet every AB thus far.

Today's WPA heroes: Burnett, Tallet, Wells and Rios (2). The letdowns were: Scutaro (hope you're okay), Barajas, Thomas (2) and Eckstein (2).

I just think Blair is harping  a tad early here.

If he was actually watching the game, he would've seen Eckstein moving the runners over by sacrificing himself--if that means "he didn't hit it out of the infield" ,he can do that all year if it means a run or 2 extra per game. Besides, he missed smacking Mussina the other way by inches today. He could have easlily had at least a hit or two more. Blair's just pushing his agenda from his spring training reports.

As far as Thomas goes, everybody knows it takes older hitters some time. Did Dave Winfield hit right out of the shoot too? Could he wait more than 2 games and some meaningless spring matches to come down on him like a sledgehammer?

A few bounces in game one and the Jays would've scored like 6 runs per game in both contests. He needs to stop nitpicking. And yes, he usually comes up with the goods before the other baseball hacks do. He just gets in trouble when he hazards opinions based on his own talent decisions.

he would've seen Eckstein moving the runners over by sacrificing himself--if that means "he didn't hit it out of the infield" ,he can do that all year if it means a run or 2 extra per game.

Any number of studies over the past 30 years would contradict your assertion that small ball can contribute a run or 2 extra per game. In fact, many would argue that small ball is a net negative, with small ball tactics only being defendable in a handful of circumstances (as opposed to being defendable as a fundamental across-the-board strategy).

Were Eckstein 5'11" and not 5'6", or whatever the hell he is, his actions would be measured far more objectively by the media and the typical fan. That he's short, however, guarantees that the inspirational cliches will trump all else.

Objectively?

Did he or did he not hit .309 last year? That suggest he can hit it out of the infiled sometimes, right?

Did he or did he not win two world series, including being a huge factor in said games?

Does he or does he not get on base well? Does he or does he not hustle?

What part of these statements by the "unobjective" media are incorrect? That he hustles?

Yeah, he's short and stubby, which helps him to walk more. So what? What is so dreary about hearing someone succeed despite their physical  limitations? 

Is it ok if others enjoy hearing someone of that stature is able to contribute and be a winner? You and Blair should go have a beer together and discuss the "net negative value" of  moving the runner over.  And I'm sure major league teams will come to their senses soon and realize how stupid a play it is.  Who needs a runner closer to home? I'm sure Barajas could've scored from second on that hit to Abreu anyhoo, huh?

The job of the leadoff hitter is to get on base. His job is not to hit home runs. That's why Rios doesn't hit leadoff--or Wells (much, only when his power was down and non-existent, hence they bat him first).

How many number nine hitters hit .309 last year? Give or take? He gets on base, he makes plays, he executes.

What is not to like?

Ignoring all of that, there are logistical problems with what you are suggesting.

If they hit Eckstein ninth, who hits second? Rios? I like him third, thank you very much. And really, despite all of his injury problems the previous year, is there anyone who should be hitting fourth but Vernon? Would you prefer overbay? Rolen might work, but I'd prefer him hitting fifth ahead of Thomas (as much speed and pop as we can muster before he gets up there). Besides, Stewart is a perfect number 2.

I could see Overbay hitting fifth, sixth or seventh, but he doesn't hit well enough to be up there (and isn;t comfortable in that position either, accrding to several articles last year). He just doens't have enough pop (in the positions you need pop).

It looks like Stairs is out for at least a few weeks, which sucks. He would have been a nice counter for Frank if he continues to struggle early (and, he could hit second). But, Frank is ok in the five hole, because that is the "mistake" hole, anyway. That's the "tack on some extra runs while the pitcher is still reeling" spot. He almost did it today after the Wells home run but just got under it. Frank will be fine for the meanwhile till Rolen gets back because he hits .300, too and has a solid OBP.

DM, I'm thinking that your rant was in response to my post (as opposed to the subject matter as a whole). If so, you made a lot of assumptions based on what little I said. I said nothing disparaging about Eckstein at all. All I said was that given the human interest angle he presents, objectivity sometimes gets a pass as far as he is concerned. I concur with Mike's assessment of Eckstein's value and more appropriate role.

As for an evaluation of the merits of small ball, well, that has been done to death for over three decades now. Numerous sources exist if you are genuinely interested in reading learned analyses.

As for Eckstein's productive out, hindsight can always produce instances where an unsuccessful popout or strikeout, say, would better have been replaced by a succesful groundout that advanced runners. But what is often overlooked when a player "sacrifices himself" (which is actually not what is happening, the player is actually sacrificing one of the team's 27 outs) is that a productive non-out is always preferable, but paradoxically doesn't seem to generate the same accolades. Had Eckstein worked the at-bat for a hard earned walk, he likely would have received fewer high fives than for intentionally making an out.

And last, Eckstein's height seems to have no bearing on his ability to draw a walk. He draws fewer walks per plate appearance than the average hitter.