Curious to see what's the strategy with Happ.  He has hardly pitched since being called up. I'd be surprised if he can go more than 5.

With so many LHHs in the lineup, you'd expect that the Phillies would hit RHPs better than portsiders.  Not so- .243/.307/.356 vs. the regular guys and .287/.337/.446 vs. the flakes. You'd think that the Happ leash might be pretty short.

Checking the B-R Preview of the game...
No rest: Cecil, Stroman - both should have today off
1 Day: Loup & Redmond (both threw over 25 pitches, probably have today off if possible) and Jenkins (1 pitch)
2 Days: Delabar, Santos (on a 2 days off, 1 day in routine for the past 8 days so he should be out there today)
5 Days: Rogers

What is odd is BR lists Hutchison as a reliever in the preview but doesn't have Stroman.  Given Stroman has 1 ML game pitched and it was in relief, while Hutchison has 17 games pitched all as a starter it seems a bit weird.  Ah well.

Amazing "video" highlights... Film of 1919 "Black Sox" World Series discovered ... in Dawson City, Yukon. Watch the 4 1/2 minute reel, and listen to interview on CBC As It Happens:
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/features/2014/05/05/post-19/

Saw that on another site earlier. Just amazing to see 1919 baseball.  Funny how similar it is to regular baseball today.  A few differences, but mostly minor (glove size, what the crowd wears).  Amazing how the video was used (along with others in their cans) to build up a hockey rink.

Phillies are struggling with hitting, bonus for Happ, and they have a Pitcher the Jays can hit, bonus Happ. This is the best team for Happ to get his first start at, they are not playing as well as they can.

In the third inning I fully expected Happ to get into his usual big inning trouble, but he escaped narrowly. Whether he pitches beyond the 4th, depends on his pitch count, which Gibbons said he could throw 80 pitches.

I expect Rogers next out of the pen to Start an inning.

4th inning, 4th walk.  That's more than enough.

one of those walks was intentional/unintentional.

Yeah.  An unintentional/intentional walk to an 8th place hitter with a 3-0 lead early and runners on 1st and 3rd.  Another losing strategy in the long term.

you think?

pitcher up with the bases loaded has to be better odds than legit hitter up with 2 on, no?

and he was probably pitching around Ruiz for his walk, too.

I see 5 goose eggs.

Happ at 80 pitches thru 5. 3 hits 0 runs.

Too bad he's at his limit because I'm not looking forward to Rogers coming in.

man Kendrick's been getting a huge zone tonight. I have to check to see if Happ's been getting those calls too.

you think?

pitcher up with the bases loaded has to be better odds than legit hitter up with 2 on, no?

Better chance of putting up a zero facing the pitcher, but also much better chance of putting up a crooked number.  In the game situation, it's a losing strategy.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=5&day=05&year=2014&game=gid_2014_05_05_tormlb_phimlb_1/&prevDate=0505

that's thru 5 innings.

I count 6 balls called strikes for Kendrick, 0 strikes called balls.

I count 2 balls called strikes for Happ, 1 strike called a ball.

Probably want to add a 7th ball called strike for Kendrick this inning vs. EE there.

And if you can't get the eighth hitter out, what are you doing in the major leagues?

I dunno. Walking the #8 guy to get to the pitcher seems to be a pretty common strategy to me. I'm sure someone has the run expectancy values for that situation somewhere.

Come on Thole these are two huge potential add-on runs given the state of our bullpen.

make that 8 balls called strikes for Kendrick now.

Now we get to see the bullpen go for the 4-inning save.

Can they do it?

First Up: Esmil Rogers

I'm not looking forward to Rogers coming in

Remember he's got the 3.57 xFIP, 16 Ks and only 4 BBs.

Might be okay.

have I told you guys how I feel about Esmil Rogers lately?

Oh thank you Joey! what a laser.

Dinner's on you tonight, Esmil.

Is Rogers going to bat?

Our SP ERA is down to 4.13 on the season, 3.85 without counting Morrow's numbers.

Terrible decision by Byrd to go, in that game situation, with Bautista moving in for the catch...Rasmus has his swing working.  It's so much better than it was in the first two weeks of the year. 

Cue the chorus of haters -- not only is Esmil Rogers the worst pitcher of all time -- but he also just flied out and wasted his at bat.

Actually, Rogers looks like he might be a better hitter than he is a pitcher.

Seriously, those were great hacks by Esmil.

"If Lawrie stays at second base, he will get hurt. I guarantee it."

We'll likely never know if playing "out of position" had any effect on Lawrie's current hamstring injury, but I do wonder.

and here's the action at bat of the evening. all leveraged up.

WE WON A REVIEW!!!!

please be a good closer.

please be a good closer.

please be a good closer.

We'll likely never know if playing "out of position" had any effect on Lawrie's current hamstring injury, but I do wonder.

Gregor Chisholm tweet: Lawrie said he has been dealing with this hamstring issue for well over a week. Needs some time to let it heal.

I dunno. Walking the #8 guy to get to the pitcher seems to be a pretty common strategy to me. I'm sure someone has the run expectancy values for that situation somewhere.

Well, there's more to it than just that. There's not only this inning to consider, there's next inning. If you can get the pitcher to be the leadoff hitter next inning, that can seriously dismantle an inning right there.

Should have been sitting against RHP rather than playing 2B then.

I didn't watch the game so may be I am missing something. Why did Rogers hit if he only played one inning? Are the Jays that short on the bench (may be that's a rhetorical question..)?

I also continue to be confused by Gibbons RP strategy vs. AA's bullpen strategy. He has a bunch of long relievers but often uses them for only one inning. I know Rogers' line looked crappy for the one inning but why not leave him in? His season inning count as a long reliever (and Redmond's too) is similar to that of the short relievers. And Happ wasn't used for days while in the pen. Sure sounds like a recipe to burn out Loup, Delabar and Cecil like last year.

Are we really sure that Gibbons manages the bullpen well...over a 162 game schedule?

Ok i see rogers pitched to one batter the following inning, so at least its clear why he hit. Still strikes me as a quick hook. He has 11 appearances to date of which only 3 are two innings in length. None at 3. Doesn't sound like a long man. Redmond is better- 9 appearances, 3 at 3 innings or more and another at 2 innings. Quasi long man I guess. With all the short outings this year by SP's, would have hoped they used long men more as long men.

It's a tradeoff of playing to win each game vs balancing the workload over the year. Not convinced Gibbons has it right... Certainly the worst of both worlds over the last few weeks.

Here are the full-season paces for the 6 relievers who have been with the team all year:

          G   IP
Santos   59   46
Cecil    79   73
Loup     64   76
Delabar  74   63
Redmond  49   94
Rogers   59   76

Looking at it that way I'd say Gibbons is riding Cecil and Loup a bit too hard, something that will hopefully be eased when Janssen returns. It might also help if Gibby took a look at the career splits for Santos and Delabar - they're both significantly better against lefties, it's not necessary to go to Loup or Cecil every time a dangerous lefty comes up.

As long as the pen has 8 bodies I don't think there's any need for Rogers to be more of a long man.

Santos hasn't pitched since May 2.  It wasn't a bad idea to give him a break after all that grief, but he does need to get back on the horse.  Tonight's the night...

Batters dealing with the shift has got to be the theme of the year.  Take last night's game.  7th inning, Blue Jays up 3-0, bases loaded (Reyes at third), 1 out.  Encarnacion at the plate.  The shift is on.  The count runs to 3-0.  Edwin has the green light on the 3-0 and fouls a meatball straight back.  He pulls the 3-1 right down the heart of the plate hard but right at the shortstop (standing in the hole) for a 6-4-3.  Surely this is a situation where the possibility of hitting a grand slam home run takes second place to the goal of not hitting a ground ball to the left side.  Jose Bautista has sometimes taken the ball to right field in these situations.  I don't know what Seitzer's take on this is, but for the benefit of Edwin's career, he is going to have to learn to sometimes drive the ball to right-center or even occasional to poke a pitch down the right field line.  The shift changes the dynamics.

The BR Preview and relievers...
2 days in a row: Cecil - time for a night off
No rest: Delabar, Loup, Rogers - 14+ pitches each, lowest to Loup so he might be around for a batter or two today
1 day off: Stroman - probably won't be used unless extras or knocked out early
2 days: Jenkins (1 pitch in majors last 8 days), Redmond (29 pitches then),
3 days: Santos (35 pitches the last 8 days, just 2 appearances)

So very available are Santos & Jenkins.  Redmond and Stroman should be available if needed but hopefully not needed. Then in order Loup, Delabar, Rogers, Cecil.  I really hope he lets Cecil have the night off as he has pitched 2 days straight, 3 of the past 4 throwing 61 pitches over that stretch.  Luckily the pen should be getting a bit of a break as it goes Hutchison, Buehrle, Dickey the next 3 days before McGowan and TBA (Happ I'd think but odd that the Jays site has it listed that way...could a deal be happening?).

The AL East now is 1.5 games from top (Baltimore & NYY) to bottom (Jays, Tampa, Boston).  In other divisions we see Milwaukee with the biggest lead (5 games) followed by Detroit (4.5 games).  The furthest back is Arizona (11 1/2, 5 games from 2nd last in the NL West, 8 out of the 2nd wild card...Kirk Gibson must be on a very, very hot seat right now).

FYI: Arizona signed Bronson Arroyo who was a potential target for the Jays.  So far he has a 60 ERA+ and barely over 5 IP per game.  Team ERA+ of just 73.  Wonder if a Happ for Hill deal could happen?  Hrm..unlikely as Hill gets $11 mil this year and $12 mil each of the next 2 and even hitting well (108 OPS+) I'd be worried as he is 32 and 2B tend to collapse quickly at that stage plus Arizona would want youth not older players. Still, it would be nice and Arizona soon could be in salary dump mode.

Adam Lind left todays Blue Jay game after two at-bats. Does he have a flight to Toronto perhaps?

Quick, off topic question. Are the Blue Jays games blacked out in Canada on MLB-TV?

The Jays don't appear to be blacked out in Canada - I've been watching the games on MLB.tv.

"I didn't watch the game so may be I am missing something. Why did Rogers hit if he only played one inning? Are the Jays that short on the bench (may be that's a rhetorical question..)?"

First of all yes, they were that short. Lawrie had just been removed from the game, so Gibbons didn't want to push his luck by PHing with the lead. Secondly, as pointed out, Gibbons was trying to milk a second inning out of Rogers, but when he put the leadoff man on it wasn't to be. The reason why Rogers wasn't used in a longer role was because Gibbons was trying to do exactly that and Esmil was getting his ears pinned back. He was lucky to survive the 6th without surrendering a run - the inning went triple, line drive DP out (Bautista nailed runner at the plate), and then a well struck out to LF. To open the 7th, Rogers walked the batter.

As usual, Gibbons pulled all the right strings. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't, but the moves are pretty much always understandable and justifiable with context.

Thx 92-93 for the explanation. With that context it makes more sense for yesterday's game.

On balance though, I worry that Gibbons doesn't give his long relievers more rope. There seem to be too many games where he is using 3+ relievers. Tough on arms over the course of the year especially when the SP's weren't initially eating innings. Will be interesting to see if he gives Stroman more than an inning per appearance while in the pen.

Hopefully recent trends with the starters continue and there are less innings for the RP's to eat.

I find that we have this discussion every year (that we're going to burn out relievers) but generally speaking it doesn't happen because our starters get stretched out and begin to go deeper into games right around now.
-N.B. The two previous seasons are exceptions given that massive injuries crippled the rotation and meant that we were stretching out pitchers (i.e. Rogers, Villaneueva, Redmond, Jenkins, etc...) all season.

With the exception of Santos, I think that Gibbons has been spot on with his relievers and I can't remember a situation where I thought he handled a starter inappropriately this year. Once Dickey and Buerhle start churning out complete games the situation will look alot better I think.

Marcus Stroman pitched 123.1 innings last year between AA and AFL play. I can see Toronto going 150.0 to 155.0 IP for him this year. He's pitched 26.67 innings in AAA this year. Over the next 10 weeks (All Star Break), I can't see Marcus pitching more than 42.0 innings (4.0 - 4.1 per week) as a Reliever. That leaves him with 80.0 - 85.0 innings or 11-13 Starts of 6.0 - 7.0 innings as a Starter.

I'm not sure, but I think Toronto doesn't do too well lately using more than two relievers.

The PPD Game (April 16th - Cold/Snow) was a turning point in the season for Toronto. Was the emergence of Marcus Stroman another turning point? They are 2-0 since.

How are the Jays doing vs the AL?
Staff: 4.59 RA vs league average 4.48, Yankees are worse, Tampa just a tiny bit better than the Jays (0.06), Baltimore 0.01 better than the Rays, Boston at 4.34 ... at the top you have Oakland at 3.38, 0.43 better than anyone else.

The pen has blown 5 wins for the starts, 2nd worst in the AL (Houston has lost 7, KC tied with 5). Tampa & Boston lead with just 1 lost lead.  Just twice have the Jays saved their starter from getting a loss, only Houston has done worse.

Just 6 complete games in the AL so far.  The 14 Quality Starts for the Jays is 1 below the average. Just 11 times the Jays starter has thrown 100+ pitches, 4 AL teams did it less often (Seattle, Tampa, Texas - despite 2 complete games, Yankees).  The 112 max for Jay starters is 3rd lowest in the AL (Minnesota & Oakland are lower, despite each having a complete game).

8 saves is league average, 5 blown is 4th worst (Oakland, KC, and Houston are worse). 25 holds is #2 in the AL to Seattle (26) and 2 ahead of NYY, everyone else is 17 or less. 21 of 64 inherited runners have scored, near league average (33% vs 31%) but a bit below - far better than KC where 61% of inherited runners have scored.

Interesting stuff.  Basically the staff as a whole is slightly below average thus far.

Those aren't the measures that I would look at.  The bullpen has been bad- an ERA over 5 and the worst WPA in the majors.  The starters have been league average (at best) in performance measures- average ERA, 2nd worst xFIP, and have thrown the fewest IP/start of any team in the majors. Notwithstanding that, it is easy to see in the individual performances how this club might have average pitching or slightly better than that by the time the season is done.

There is the challenge... not just how have they done but what to expect.
So far...
Cuts...

• Morrow pitched poorly, now on DL probably for season. Probably gone forever as his option won't be picked up (I suspect)
  
• Jeffress didn't do well, now in Milwaukee's system (AAA - 5 walks in 5 2/3 IP)
• Wagner - in AAA now, 4 1/3 IP 0 BB 4 K 2 H 0 R, should be back at some point.
  

Cut soon?

• Rogers - has yet to get into an average leverage situation (close to it yesterday) - 3 run lead is as close as he is allowed in
• Happ - I suspect is about to be traded
• Santos - 9 BB in 9 1/3 IP is scary, but so are 17 K's - buy him a map of the strike zone
• Jenkins - always a bridesmaid...
• Redmond - always on edge, 3 games with high pressure and blew 2 of them
• Stroman - if not traded or promoted to rotation then probably back to AAA
  

The rotation 1-4 seems solid now after McGowan had 2 solid games in a row - thus 3 solid starts (6+ IP, 3 or fewer runs) and 3 ugly (4 or fewer IP, 3+ runs allowed).  Buehrle has been excellent, Dickey frustrating but should be good, Hutchison very solid (5+ in all but 1 start, 3 or fewer walks every game, 2 or less his last 4 starts, just the one bad game really).  Happ might be decent in the #5 slot but he seems like a tightrope act - not much has to go wrong for his starts to become disasters.  Hopefully someone offers something 1/2 decent for him and Stroman gets his shot.

The club ought to be content to give Stroman 3 or 4 innings per week out of the bullpen for at least six weeks.  Hendriks is probably a better choice for a few starts if Happ falters.

"Marcus Stroman pitched 123.1 innings last year between AA and AFL play"

Probably more than that. I doubt he was sitting around scratching his arse during his suspension.

"Gibbons was trying to milk a second inning out of Rogers"

Not sure he wanted a whole inning from him - he just didn't want to burn another RP before the pitcher's slot came up. He wanted to force the phils' hand with the pinchhitter before then deciding which reliever to bring in. As soon as the lefty PH was announced, in came Loup. He brings in loup to start the inning vs. The #8 hitter, then loup is forced to face a righty PH.

That's what i think gibby was doing, and it was very smart.

Gibber's great at handling his 'pen, and he always manages to win the lefty/righty matchup battles (which farrell somehow managed to lose every single time).

My complaints about his too-quick hook for his SPs this year is entirely separate from his bullpen managment. I love the way he handles the 'pen. He just put a bit too much stress on them this year with his quick hook, especially since our best releiver has been out.

Not thrilled about Francisco hitting 5th but I recognize the lack of options.

Love Hutch's fielding so far in this game. Running right at Byrd on that comebacker is just how they teach ya how to do it, good play on the Hamels bunt also. Nice to see him get a knock there too.

Not as wild about his attempt at a take out slide at second though...

So today's bench is:

Thole (backup catcher)
Navarro (injured)
Lawrie (injured)
Chris Getz

Not thrilled about Francisco hitting 5th but I recognize the lack of options.

Francisco's .400 career OPS against lefties has been cited a couple of times in recent days. And yet he continues to start against lefties. And bat 5th.

Incidentally, he is, as I type this, 0-for-12 with 6 Ks against LHP this season.

Incidentally, he is, as I type this, 0-for-12 with 6 Ks against LHP this season.

They clearly need to use Hutchison in those situations.

Not thrilled about Francisco hitting 5th but I recognize the lack of options.

Still, it probably makes sense to play Tolleson at 3B and Getz at 2B against lefties. Basically substituting Getz for Francisco and getting better defense with similar offense (not that I've ever seen Tolleson at 3B). That also allows you to save Francisco for a key pinch hitting opportunity.

Man oh man that's some tough luck for hutch. Absolutely dominant tonight, aside from a one inning meltdown. He deserved better.

The boys better get his back here.

Time for stroman to get his first mlb win.

Or loss.

Win.

Stroman looks pretty good. I like the way he competed tonight in a pressure situation. Potential poll question: Marcus Stroman: starting pitcher or reliever?

I don't like the wild pitches.

Francisco has been doing a great job for the team.

I like the way Stroman rebounded from the wild pitch (which could have been caught) to efficiently dispatch the last two hitters of the inning.

He had 0 WP this year in Buffalo, and four WP in 111.2 IP in AA last year. Not concerned about that aspect of his game.

Gibber's probable wrongheaded decision to ignore platoon splits and ride francisco's hot bat in the 5hoke vs a lefty....actually worked.

2 key sacrifice rbi and a hit to boot.

Wonderful piece of hitting from Bautista. It looks like he's really learning to handle the shift this year, especially with two strikes.

Like Gibbons' decision to let Stroman start the 10th also. Not relying on one guy to close out every game (especially if he's not especially effective) really helps get the right match-ups.

I don't think anybody expected Hamels to last very long, so it makes sense to use Francisco there rather than pinch hit him. 

Right now they need help in the pen more than in the rotation. Not sure what happens when Jenssen comes back though.

Nice and well deserved win.

Would have been a travesty to lose this one when really we played a helluva game.

Some wonderful situational hitting by bautista and francisco to get the winning run in. We sure did not see much of that last year.

A lot of positives in that game.

• Stroman getting his first ML win in a high pressure situation. 1 hit, 1 K in 1 1/3 IP (plus the wild pitch).
• Loup coming in after being worked a fair amount and doing the job
• Hutchison... 8 innings with one nightmare inning and 7 sweet ones. I was annoyed at Gibby when he was left in with the bases loaded and appearing to be losing it then the grand slam but in the end it was the right thing to do. Hutch crossed a line, he had a nightmare inning but was left in and got 2 more shutout innings in.  I think he might be showing that ace potential I hoped we'd see and if he does Gibby deserves credit for pushing him today well past where I would've pulled him (even with the low pitch count I still wanted to).
• Encarnacion getting a pair of hits is always good to see, as is 3 for Bautista

I admit it, I wanted Hutch pulled when things were falling apart in the 6th and maybe it would've upped the odds of winning today but it was worth risking a loss in order to get him over that hump I think.  He now knows he can recover from a nightmare inning and that his manager has faith in him. Lets hope this leads to even better things.

Nice start by Henderson Alvarez tonight against the Mets (9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K). He just turned 24, so he could have a decent career ahead of him as a mid-rotation NL starter.

I don't think anybody expected Hamels to last very long, so it makes sense to use Francisco there rather than pinch hit him.

Except that Francisco didn't face a RHP all night.

I think Gibbons had to leave Hutchison in, because he had limited options. It really did two things, showing he could pitch in and through adversity. Showed Gibbons he could be trusted when he needs him to do so. Will he fill Doc's shoes?

The Offense is doing well, except I've noticed that when they really must score, they don't. They fix this issue, they won't be beat. Eventually I think those who can't hit LHP - will. I think our Hitting Coach is making a difference and I think Francisco is more teachable than Lind.

Toronto finished 12-15 in April instead of 19-8 (better Relief, better Offense) which was possible. They were still in the thick of the race. Toronto is 4-2 thus far in May and could be 6-0 (better Relief, better Offense). Right now, with games still due in, Toronto is 1.5 games out of first place in the Division and 1 game out of both wild card berths. It's not 25-8 or something close, but I think they'll starting moving now.

Dickey is being more consistent. Buehrle is enjoying himself and so am I. Hutchison is the real thing. McGowan looks like he's here to stay. Stroman looks like he can pitch (and pitch well) up here. Janssen is 7-10 days away, while Lind is 3-7 days away. Things are looking up.

Gibbons didn't even consider removing him for a second.

He was dominating, and on 60-odd pitches. There was no way he was ever coming out there. A groundball to 2nd and he's out of trouble with a 4 run lead.

The worst possible result happened, and it ended up a tie game, and then hutch dominated for 2 more innings and we won the game.

I have no idea when everyone here got so trigger happy in pulling SP. You don't pull SP every time they get into trouble.

Any other team, if a Pitcher gives up a Grand Slam, he's gone.

Except that Francisco didn't face a RHP all night.

Yeah, but you probably don't see Bastardo coming out against Cabrera, Bautista, Encarnation, if a right handed hitter follow rather than Francisco.

"I have no idea when everyone here got so trigger happy in pulling SP. You don't pull SP every time they get into trouble."

Exactly. If the SP don't start lasting 6+ regularly, we will definitely burn out the pen. Good for Gibbons.

So if Adam Lind is back on this weekend, tentatively Friday, whom does he replace? Casey Janssen is still further away so the question should have less meaning for him. I don't think sending down Stroman, with the issues this Bullpen has, is the right decision. There are too many alternatives that make better sense.

Rogers, Redmond, Jenkins are not trusted by Gibbons. Loup, Cecil and Delabar are possibly used too much, or used too much on the same day. Santos' confidence is shaken and until he trusts his fastball again, not easily recovered. Until that happens, he's of little use for the team. Stroman's innings can be managed until he adjusts (either he does or he doesn't).

I can't see keeping an eight-man Bullpen any longer. The Jays are going home for nine games and then to Texas for three and then an off day takes you into Boston on May 20th. The cold and most of the wet should be gone.

Jenkins is the obvious one.

Jenkins is in AAA already.

When Lind comes back tomorrow Kratz is the obvious fall-guy.

When Janssen comes back Stroman is the obvious demotion based on AA's actions to date. With Janssen back the bullpen would be:

Closer: Janssen
8th inning RHP: Delabar and Santos
8th inning LHP: Cecil and Loup
Long relief: Rogers and Redmond

That is your 7 man bullpen. If the Jays keep Stroman then either Rogers or Redmond go, or the Jays go back to an 8 man pen. In that case one of Getz, Tolleson or Francisco have to go. With the starters now going longer in games there is less need for an 8 man pen.

Moises Sierra was 4-4 last night.

It was a pleasure to watch Hutchison and Stroman pitch last night.  The combination of command, composure, aggressivity and stuff is hard to beat, and both have it.  I wonder what the discussions between Hutchison and Kratz were about in the 6th inning.  It looked to me like Hutchison wasn't getting enough separation between his fastball and his change that inning (plus not locating as well as usual).  He dialed up the velocity on the fastball in the 7th and 8th. 

As far as roster composition goes, the first thing is that the club cannot afford to have two players on a 4 man bench restricted to pinch-hitting duties or less for days on end.  Let's assume that Navarro is ready for action tomorrow, and Lind is called up.  You do need a RH platoon partner for Lind. The best thing with the personnel on hand would be to call up Pillar or Mastroianni and Diaz.  Send out Tolleson.  You can then cycle Cabrera, Bautista and Reyes through the DH slot when you face lefties.  Diaz starts at second when Pillar subs in for Cabrera and Bautista; Pillar starts in CF when Diaz starts at short for Reyes (all at home to save his legs). 

The bullpen may sort itself out by the time Janssen arrives.  I thought that it was a little odd that the club had Santos up in the 8th and then went with Stroman instead in a tie game.  Perhaps the thought was that it was more important to keep the pressure off Santos than off Stroman or maybe Stroman just had better stuff while warming.

"Jenkins is in AAA already."

Au contraire. Jenkins was wearing a Toronto jersery when he threw his 1 pitch in the last 10 days.

I do agree that he's the one that clearly should be gone when Lind is activated. Kratz should be sent out in favour of Pillar. And Diaz probably makes more sense than Tolleson as the platoon mate for Getz and general defensive sub.

Stroman was really spotting his fastball on the edges last night, it was fun to watch.

Huthcison's problems in the sixth could have been related to his hitting. Here are his activities in one stretch last night:

Pitch the bottom of the fourth
Lead off the fifth with a single
Stay on base through two outs, a single and a third out
Return to pitch the bottom of the fifth
Hit in the top of the sixth and make the last out
Pitch the bottom of the sixth - trouble

In that 2.5 inning stretch Hutchison was fully involved for most of it, no chance to rest. That is unusual for an AL pitcher. It might have contributed to his being "off" in the sixth.

And Diaz probably makes more sense than Tolleson as the platoon mate for Getz and general defensive sub.

Concur with this. Further, Diaz starting at SS against LHP frees Reyes up to DH. This offers Reyes some rest and keeps Lind/Francisco from starting against a lefty. The downside of Reyes at DH, though, is later in the game when you might want to pinch-hit for Diaz. Still, a short bench is going to result in the odd occasion where your DH has to enter the game. It's just a risk you run.

In that 2.5 inning stretch Hutchison was fully involved for most of it, no chance to rest. That is unusual for an AL pitcher. It might have contributed to his being "off" in the sixth.

That's a good point, Gerry.  While watching, I attributed the increased velocity in the 7th/8th to Hutchison just being pissed at himself and adrenalin flowing, but it might have been a regaining of strength after getting a chance to rest. 

Watching the Expos, having a pitcher get on base during an inning was always the equivalent of going through the rotation a third time.

I was impressed that Hutch didn't falter in the 5th. I didn't  think he was  really pressed in the top of the sixth however.