Gose playing LF tonight in Vegas & Farrell's desire for another lefthanded bat & with Snider still out - this will spark speculation that Gose may come up to platoon with Davis after this series. - It's rushing Gose but the Jays are a desperate team.

Very impressed with Boston - with all the turmoil & injuries to be where they are is very bad news for the rest of the division.

Looking at some mlb team stats today, and noticed that the Blue Jays have the highest ratio of ground ball outs to fly outs in mlb.  StL is close, but after that there's a big gap.  Most teams are around 1.10 to 1.30, while the Jays are 1.55.  Texas is at the opposite end at 0.98.

The Jays have one of the lowest team batting averages in mlb.  Three teams are below .225, then there are a few around .240 including the Jays.  The other low average teams, unlike the Jays, are typically NL (no DH) and/or play in poor hitters parks.

Until Johnson's RBI single today, their last 7 runs have all been scored on solo home runs.  When you're not hitting for average and not walking a lot, that kind of thing can happen.  There probably isn't an official record for most consecutive runs scored on solo home runs, but I would think that 7 is pretty rare.

Cooper DHing vs a left-handed pitcher doesn't look like a good idea to me.  Neither does Arencibia against a righty.  Instead of an extra bullpen arm, they need to get another bat on the roster, whether it be Gomes, Guerrero or somebody else.

Frustrating how often the Jays lose to Boston and Tampa. 

Will/should there be any ramifications for Lawrie trying to steal third base to close out the potential rally in the 8th? 

I'm sure they'll speak to him in private but I don't expect to see Mike McCoy starting at 3B tomorrow as some form of punishment. With Lawrie, you live by the sword and die by the sword. His hyperkinetic act-first-think-later behaviour often works in his favour; sometimes it works against him. You hope he'll mature over time and learn to rein in his impulses when they are not appropriate. But this is fundamentally the way this cat is wired and you know that going in. This won't be his last error in judgement.

First and third with one out is significantly better than a man on second with out.

And in the case you cited, Thames had such a decent shot at third base that Andrus should have just made the easy play at first. But he's a young dude as well, also prone to errors in judgement. That same game, Andrus gave up two infield singles because he didn't think to charge the ball, underestimating the speeds of Lawrie and Encarnacion.

I do agree that Lawrie should know that you don't make the final out at third base. And I'm sure he does know this, but was a slave to his ADHD (or whatever) that compells him to act as he does. Reason too easily takes a back seat for people so compelled.

this average comes along with a 13th ranked .271babip, so you hope that indicates that much of it is bad luck

Their .271 BABIP is 28th in baseball. They rank 30th in LD%. You have to figure the two are tightly intertwined. Are these low rates a function of luck? Approach? Skill level?

They are tied for 2nd in baseball in HR but are tied for 2nd last in doubles. They are 4th in HR/FB%. While this is a good thing, could this be helping to enforce the team's seemingly prevalent go-for-broke attitude at the plate? Note, however, that their K% rate is middle of the pack, which you'd expect to be higher given the low batting average and high HR rate.

It's hard to know what exactly to make of all this.

Sometimes players under-perform, which is largely the case here. Considering the underwhelming performance of many key players to-date, I am relieved that the Jays are still in contention and expect that the return to better health for the AL East rivals could very well be offset by simply a better performance on the field for the home nine by several key contributors.

I'm also not sure this is a fair list of underachievers. Many of us here and elsewhere had noted the big red flags around some of those names, such as Cecil, Cordero and Lind. And while Rasmus hasn't rebounded to his 2010 level, but he's hitting better than he did during his rookie season or his time in Toronto lsat year, for example. Also, if you include (and believe) the defensive numbers, it's hard to say Lawrie has underachieved with his total production.

Similarly if Hamilton, Kinsler, and say Holland for the Rangers were producing substantially lower than expected

Odd that you would cite Holland. His ERA is 5.11.

I think Moises Sierra will be up next.  He's red hot, can play defense, and I don't think management is as worried about "babying" him as they are with guys they consider to be elite prospects.  Bautista could get a bit of a rest by DH'ing for a couple games, while Sierra does a Jesse Barfield impersonation in right field for us.  A good follow-up move would be to call up Gomes ASAP, especially with a trip to a NL park coming up soon.

Perhaps tomorrow we'll see Sierra up for Chavez or Coello.  Then on Wednesday (when he's eligible), Gomes could come up for McCoy.