Want an unpopular opinion?

When EE comes back they should send Snider down.

I vote Brandon Morrow for the next Jay to throw a complete game.  Now that he's worked the rust off after his preseason injury, he's been very solid in his last 3 starts.  Though his WHIP has been less than impressive, he has fanned batters at a rate of 11.84/9 IP and as he continues to round into form, I see a big strikeout day in his future where he can keep his pitch count down and go the distance. 

rotoworld's most recent blurb on EE features a Cito quote to the effect of: "bautista has to be in there, but whether LF will be Lewis or Snider we're not sure".

I can't think that Bautista has done so much in so little time under Cito that the guy is really a guaranteed starter in Cito's head. Or I hope not.

I like Jose and all, but if his recent slump isn't a slump, and it's just him regressing to career norms v. RHP, and Lewis keeps rounding into form, it'd be just plain silly if we see Lewis on the bench and a slumping Jose forced back into that already awkward "fit" of him as our leadoff hitter....especially v. RHP.

Personally, when you have two 29 year old fringe MLBers who both have blatant RHP/LHP splits, neither of whom are young enough to expect serious improvement in those splits, I would think that is the definition of the perfect opportunity for a strict platoon, especially if we're dedicated to keeping Snider on the MLB roster this year.

Of course, unless that BABIP "luck" starts turning for Snider pretty quickly, he's obviously the guy that least deserves a starting spot.

Trivia question for everyone:

Josh Roenicke:Rommie Lewis::Tim Crabtree:???

Has anyone previously brought-up or discussed what I can only term the "Halladay effect" ?

After the trade, I remember thinking to myself these related thoughts:

1) Is it possible Halladay's departure inspires/forces other Jays pitchers to step up their game (work harder, sense an oppty to flourish and be the man, be easily underestimated as a staff) and improve their results?  Kind of like the 'Ewing' effect where the Knicks always played better with him on the injury list.

2) Is it possible that the rest of the Phillie's rotation suffers a drop-off, as they realize they now have a true #1 to pick-up the slack, and also that wow this guy is so much better than me, I don't think I can ever be that good, is he thinking poorly of my work ethic, oops I gave up another homer?

I think you can come up with a rationalization for any outcome. (I don't mean you personally.) If the Jays' starters this year were doing badly, we could say, look, they're going to pieces without Halladay there to stabilize the rotation. If the Phillies were pitching the lights out this year we could say, look what they can accomplish with Halladay's example in front of them. I think any kind of Halladay effect, in either direction, on either team, would be minor and lost in noise. Although it might not seem like that to the people involved.

The only plausible rationale for that kind of Halladay Effect could only be that maybe, just maybe, he flat out made the other young pitchers nervous, and now with him not there the pressure is reduced somewhat and they can relax a bit, which might put them in more of a comfort zone.

Of course, this Halladay Effect doesn't explain why Marcum, McGowan, and Litsch all had their arms blow up on them, which is likely a better explanation for the "failure" of our recent young pitching. Especially considering Romero and Litsch and Marcum and McGown never had much of a problem pitching well around Halladay when they were, you know, healthy.

There are certain names which send a twitch to my spine. Rommie makes the list.

I found it insulting to hear the broadcast teams relay the story of how Lewis is named after a decorated Nazi war general, regardless of the positive light history tends to view Rommel in. It bothers me to see Griffin & Elliot referring to him as the "Desert Fox", and I can only wonder if they'd be all over the origin of his given name if it was something like "Himmie".

The next CG will be thrown by Brett Cecil, in Cleveland, sometime in the far-off distant future.

Sooo... uhh... That was kind of close.

Second immense positive - Snider had a special sound in his bat tonight. That homer had one of the lowest trajectories I've ever seen.

Snider's roper reminded me of some of the HRs Albert Pujols sends out to the seats in left-centre in Busch, when he absolutely smokes a line drive.

Cecil made my BBFL team proud tonight, even with the 2 7th inning walks. I would have expected the umpire to be a wee bit more gracious on his strike zone in the latter third of a perfect game; a couple of the pitches to Grady/Choo could easily have been called strikes.

Also, I would like to make the following comment (which admittedly I might be unable to make later in the season):   For the second year in a row, the Jays have a better shortstop than the Red Sox.  But I guess that shouldn't be surprising, since the same two individuals are involved, right?

I wonder if Theo Epstein is slapping his forehead and going "D'oh!"

And I wonder if any credit should go to Gaston and the Jays hitting coaches.  I haven't seen any commentary on this, but did they spot something in Gonzalez that they improved?  When the slugging improves so dramatically, it's hard to dismiss ALL of it as a complete fluke.  Maybe it is a fluke, of course.  I'm just wondering.

China Fan:

While pitch counts are important, stressful situations are important too.  If a pitcher has a very long inning(s), or a pressure filled inning where he has to reach back and try to throw the ball extra hard, that is as bad as pitch counts.

Last night Cecil cruised until the seventh so although his pitch count was high he was only stressed once, in the seventh.

Gerry, I agree with you, of course.  It's the pitch-count-obsessives who don't seem able to look past the raw number.

Defense. Even if the offensive talent matches up pretty well, and it is closer than I thought, the defense isn't close.

Well, that's good news then, because  if the major difference between us and what people are calling the unstoppably talented best team in the world is defense (and, to be honest, mainly just outfield defense)....well, I'm thinking that the talent on this Jays' squad may be a little better than most people gave them credit for.

and what are the major defensive advantages for the Rays if we get specific? I'd guess that the Jays have the advantage at 1B, the Rays at 3B....and I guess the Rays at all 3 outfield positions...although, to be honest, I'm not exactly overwhelmed by the defensive abilities of Crawford in left (especially compared to a guy like Lewis), or Kapler/Zobrist in right.

I'm not exactly overwhelmed by the defensive abilities of Crawford in left (especially compared to a guy like Lewis)

I am. Great jumps plus elite speed equals a tonne of turf covered. On defense alone, there's a 10 win difference between the two teams (going by UZR), and that gap isn't shrinking particularly quickly. Gonzalez and Lewis were added, but Rolen's 2/3 of a year was replaced with EE. Heck. The difference between EE and Longoria is 30 runs saved alone. Watching them play, I'd believe it.

So, at the moment, it's second baseman Zobrist  and Gabe Kapler providing that elite defense in RF.

Completely agree.

Last year imo his rating was hurt by at least 6 balls that while not easy to catch, were ones that he would normally handle but bounced off his glove.  This year he seems in better shape, and has closed really well on a few balls that looked like they might drop.

Yeah I was just throwing the idea out there, of a 'Halladay effect', b/c it seems like a big enough loss/gain to the respective teams where the impact may be psychological, as well as the obvious physical effect of losing/gaining such an elite starter.

There are personal dynamics in every social structure, and sometimes people thrive when they aren't expected to, and vice-versa, but one thing that strikes me at true is that nature abhors a vacuum.. 

If Wells keeps up this early season defense and still rates as a gigantic negative with UZR at the end of the year I will officially kick UZR to the curb IMO. There hasn't been one ball the entire year where I thought a better defensive CF makes that play, and I've been the first one to jump on Vernon's fieldng the last few years. Frankly, I have no idea how the # could be a negative at this point, even once you consider the sample size alert.

Not sure exactly how the current sample size is affected by one or two plays, but I have an inkling that that one game vs. LA, where Matsui hit two rockets to LCF when Wells was shading fairly strongly to RCF and couldn't track them down might be hurting him right now. Not sure exactly how UZR determines zones but I could see Wells getting screwed on those two plays.

Other than that, though, I agree - he's tracked down everything near him. I'm a little surprised at the UZR rating as well.