Not exactly Mike. I made note of this earlier after reading an article discussing the delivery changes they Jays were working on with Sanchez in Buffalo. In his last 5 AAA appearances (3 starts, 2 relief) spanning 21 innings he issued 5 walks. It is possible that the delivery changes are starting to bear fruit as a 1.75 BB/9 over his last 42 innings is a monumental step forward based on his career to date.

So glad the Jays have won a series in TB.

Agree that Sanchez shouldn't be warming up so much, especially as a new reliever. But holding him out of last night in case a higher leverage spot comes up tomorrow seems like folly to me, pretty much the same folly that teams fall into with their closer use. Make no mistake, one of the biggest reasons that managers don't use closers in close non-save situations is that there might be a save situation the next day they won't be available for (and then the closer complains, see Janssen). They had two leads, Sanchez pitched and the Jays won each game. This is a good outcome, the next two games could unfold almost any way. They have plenty of relievers for the next two days, including all the best ones from this year (granted, that is a shorter list than last year).

Rasmus and Janssen figure to be managed quite differently this month. Rasmus will ride the pines. Janssen won't (at least not to the same extent), since he clearly deserves to pitch. And because the oranization doesn't want to overtly disrespect him, Janssen likely won't be pitching set-up innings. Rather, I am guessing that he and Sanchez will share closing duties this month, with Janssen stepping in when Sanchez is resting.

I should have used past tense in my observation. From the moment Rasmus started sitting against RHP, it became clear he was being marginalized. Rasmus's confirmation yesterday just seemed to be a statement of the obvious.

I do think that there's a large degree of locker-room politics going on here. Janssen, in particular, because of his comments regarding the lack of moves made at the deadline and his pending free agency, has been marginalized I think. I don't particularly think that it's unwarranted however, given his recent performances. The way that Janssen has complained publicly about not being used in closing situations has been very surprising to me as I always thought that he was more of a stand-up/team-first guy.

It was interesting, and appropriate, that Rasmus used the term rookies for Pillar and Gose. I'm not sure how a propos kids would have been. Pillar is just 2.5 years younger than Rasmus.

On the topic of Gibbons managing scared, could anyone really fault him if he was? Despite a wildly inconsistent season and a horrid August, the team still has an outside shot at a playoff birth. His list of trusted performers at this point must be relatively short. Unless Gibbons starts abusing players such as Sanchez and Stroman he probably should be managing every game like it is his last - at 4.5 games out with 24 games left it could very well be that is the case.

In Games determined by one run, the Jays are 12-13, a dismal record.

Dismal? We've all seen some dismal 1-run game records around here, but this year ain't one of them (after last night, it's actually 14-14, according to MLB and baseball reference, 5-6 in extra innings). Last year was 20-29. Year before was 15-25. Those were dismal. 2009 was 21-29. In 2008 a very good team went 24-32 (burying themselves in April with a 2-8 1-run game record).

You like to dispute the use of the word "elite" for the offense (and I agree, the offense isn't elite, just above average). This year's team, and I say this with complete confidence, has been average in 1-run games. Exactly average.

Los Angeles 39-23  .629
Oakland     36-26  .581
Seattle     36-26  .581
Kansas City 32-27 .542
Cleveland   31-27  .534

Baltimore   33-29  .532
Detroit     35-31  .530
New York    33-30  .524
Tampa Bay   29-31  .483
Houston     29-33  .468

Toronto     28-34  .452
Boston      28-34  .452
Chicago     24-35  .407
Minnesota   25-38  .397
Texas       24-42  .364

Couldn't you just sell your unicorn to get the money?