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This Day in Baseball TDIB Weekend Edition
Hey, that's Vernon Wells' picture on the ESPN leader board! Tied for the AL lead in RBIs! He's on pace to drive in 192! A new record!

Well, that's kind of unlikely.


Two more games in Texas, and then two in Baltimore before coming home.

The team has scored 53 runs in 10 games, which is more than enough. The old folks haven't quite warmed up yet, but they have hit a few big flies at least. Most interesting development to me is all this plate discipline from Alex Rios. He's walked 10 times (and struck out 10 times, because that will happen when you're working the count). He hasn't hit a homer yet, but I think he's about ready to go on a binge.

I'm not at all happy with David Eckstein's defense - if McDonald had been at short in the final game against Oakland, the leadoff man never gets on in the 12th. I think McDonald may also have had a play on Buck's two run double. But the Jays will just have to live with it for a bit. I think Eckstein will make more plays than he has so far, but he needs to get everything working for him. He's that type of player, ya know (this is already a source of press box humour. If Eckstein does anything - field a grounder, get a hit - someone, anyone, will say "that was SCRAPPY!" Maybe you have to be there.)

Anyway, he needs a little more time. He needs to know the pitchers better than he does. And his home field. And the league, he's been away for a few years. He'll never be McDonald, but I think he'll be better than he he's been so far.

The Doctor. Texas. Still fills me with dread...

Posted by Magpie on Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 11:05 AM EDT.
TDIB Weekend Edition | 15 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Rob - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 12:25 PM EDT (#182598) #
Frank Thomas is about to break Harmon Killebrew's record...

...for most PAs without a sacrifice hit (B-Ref via THT).

Two things I noticed from that list of players:
  • Of the top 20, only Killebrew, George Bell, and Cecil Fielder played a while ago. Everyone else is recent.
  • Um, are there enough Blue Jays? Delgado, Bell, Hinske, Fielder, Fullmer, Glaus, Thomas...even Josh Phelps shows up at #40.
It's just another reason to hope Gibby doesn't call for a bunt.
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R Billie - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 12:37 PM EDT (#182600) #

I think the Jays really need to assert John MacDonald as the shortstop when they're leading or tied in the later innings.  Chances are in those high leverage situations, there will be more opportunities for a defensive play to affect the outcome of the game than an at bat taken every 9 batters.

Really last night in Texas there wasn't much reason for John MacDonald not to be playing the last couple of innings where the Jays already led by 4 runs.  There might have been a liner or grounder he might have snagged and turned into an extra out which Eckstein did not get.  And it certainly struck me in the 12th inning against Oakland when he dove headlong and couldn't get a ball which Mac probably would have fielded on his feet.

David is starting to pick up his average though which is encouraging.  But only 1 walk in 40 at bats and a whole lot of first pitch swinging from a guy with little power is not ideal.  His current .318 onbase is well ahead of what Mac put up for the season last year and that should get up to the .350 range in time.  He should probably be hitting 8th or 9th and not leadoff. 

Of course, it's always easy to pick on what a player does not do...sports fans and organizations are famous for being down on players who actually help in a tangible way.  I can appreciate that he a capable though not great shortstop in the field and can contribute modestly with the bat.  It's also fun to figure out which hobbit he most reminds you of (I'm Samwise myself).

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Magpie - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 12:47 PM EDT (#182601) #
are there enough Blue Jays?

And there's also Geronimo Berroa (#26), who never played in Toronto until near the end of his career, but was actually signed by them out of the Dominican as an 18 year old. He played in the organization from 1984 through 1989 (great year at AA Knoxville in 1987) and laid down a total of 2 sacs in A ball.
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Mike D - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#182604) #
Public service announcement: With no further comment, you may want to check out the Detroit-Chicago game right about now. Sportsnet is televising it...
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Radster - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 03:09 PM EDT (#182606) #

Another interesting stat - the Jays lead the majors in stolen bases.

I didn't see that coming!

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ANationalAcrobat - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 03:30 PM EDT (#182608) #
Public service announcement: With no further comment, you may want to check out the Detroit-Chicago game right about now. Sportsnet is televising it...

Excellent start by Gavin Floyd, but the hitting conditions were absolutely awful. I'm still watching the game and I can't believe what Bobby Jenks has grown on his chin. Perhaps he's trying to look more like a closer, but that long blond goatee is just brutal. Nick Swisher's closely cropped blond one is also terrible.

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Shane - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 03:56 PM EDT (#182609) #

I'm still watching the game and I can't believe what Bobby Jenks has grown on his chin. Perhaps he's trying to look more like a closer, but that long blond goatee is just brutal.

Would you rather he have a tatoo of a snake on his face? Now that is intimidating. If you've been listening to postgame shows with Wilner, you know what I mean.

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HollywoodHartman - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 04:04 PM EDT (#182610) #
I mean Downs would have gotten the final 2 outs without throwing a pitch yesterday if he looked tougher.
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NDG - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 05:14 PM EDT (#182613) #

The only problem with using MacDonald as a defensive replacement is that, IMO, he doesn't do a great job when put in that situation.  A couple years ago while late-inning caddying for Adams, he seemed to make an usually high number of errors and other poor plays when subbing in.  This obviously doesn't seem to be an issue when he's starting but maybe he's just one of those guys who "need to feel like they're in it", or maybe it's just physical; two to three hours of relative motionless, then we expect catlike reflexes when he gets on the field.
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Magpie - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 07:18 PM EDT (#182616) #
A couple years ago while late-inning caddying for Adams, he seemed to make an usually high number of errors and other poor plays when subbing in.

Your memory plays you false, which happens to me as well. But having just gone through the game logs, I can confirm that McDonald has never made an error when he came into the game as a defensive substitute. All 26 errors he has made as a Blue Jay (25 at ss, 1 at 3b) came when he was in the starting lineup.

For those who remember him wearing down when he played every day in 2006... well, he made 7 of his 14 errors in September that year.
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SheldonL - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 07:22 PM EDT (#182617) #
I loved the double steal last night by Zaun and Coats!
I think with runners on 1st and 3rd with less than 2 outs, you must send the runner on first always!
The reason why is because as soon as the catcher releases his throw, the guy on third can take off for home with virtually no chance of the middle infielder throwing back in time to get him out.
And if it's done alot, catchers might just refrain from throwing to second at all. Thus allowing an easy steal of second base.

It gets one more runner in scoring position and takes away the double play.
Worst case scenario: the guy at second gets caught stealing... but you trade that out for a run as the guy on third runs home!
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scottt - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 07:58 PM EDT (#182618) #
The defense against that move is to have the pitcher cut off the throw to second and then the third  base runner is an easy out if he left his base.

My son's junior team worked on this a lot. Worse case scenario you give the second base.



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Chuck - Saturday, April 12 2008 @ 08:26 PM EDT (#182619) #
The reason why is because as soon as the catcher releases his throw, the guy on third can take off for home with virtually no chance of the middle infielder throwing back in time to get him out.

When I was kid, and I'm taling little league here, there was another defense for this (other than having the pitcher cut it off). The catcher would throw the ball to the second baseman who wasn't actually covering second -- he would actually be charging in towards the catcher. The second baseman would just catch the ball and immediately return it home. The runner on third, seeing the catcher throw the ball past the pitcher, would run home not realizing that the ball would soon be there to greet him.
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John Northey - Sunday, April 13 2008 @ 01:09 AM EDT (#182622) #
An interesting stat...
In the AL East the Jays have scored the most runs and allowed the fewest, despite playing one less game than NY and Boston.

57 runs scored = #1, Tampa is tied for #1 having also played 11 games.
41 runs allowed = #1, #2 is NYY at 44 but they played on more game thus lead in RA/G 3.67 vs 3.28

In the AL only Chicago at 59 and Oakland at 58 have scored more, Chicago in just 10 games and Oakland in 12.
In the AL only KC at 31 (!) and Minnesota at 39 have allowed fewer, both also in 11 games.

For freakshow look at Florida in the NL East, first place despite a runs for/against of 55/65 (7-4 lead by 1 1/2 games)
For scary good look at Arizona in the NL West, first place with a runs for/against of 72/32 (9-2 and you wonder how they lost 2)
Meanwhile poor Detroit has allowed more runs than anyone - 67 in 11 games while scoring just 33 which is also worst in the majors, tied with (of all teams) Colorado.

Early season stats are fun to look at eh?

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Chuck - Sunday, April 13 2008 @ 08:54 AM EDT (#182626) #

Arizona is working hard to silence the critics. They won 90 last year despite being outscored and some rightfully pointed to that as a basis for cautious optimism moving forward.

Pet peeve: why do none of the major sports web sites show each team's RF/G and RA/G in the standings? This is far more interesting than "Last 10" and "Streak" and "Interleague" and "Turf". Just another reason to celebrate bb-ref which is far more valuable than a fan has a right to expect.

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