tampa and interleague

This week, it's been about Toronto facing Tampa Bay and beginning an Interleague series vs. Houston. We also saw the return of Litsch to the 15-day DL and WAY too many fielding errors from Edwin Encaracion. Heck, even Juan Rivera's making a case for himself to play at 1B..and what about Eric Thames at first?

In my mind's eye, the first game vs Tampa was pretty bad, with Litsch and Encaracion really having an off night, with bad plays and bad fielding choices, resulting in a 6-5 victory. As per Scott Carson's article on Sportsnet.ca about EE:

That evening's 6-5 loss was flat-out doomed from the beginning. On a night where Jesse Litsch brought nothing better, arguably, than No. 5 starter stuff, he sure didn't get any help from the defence. When the lights finally went on yet another one-run loss, the boxscore was ugly: The Jays made five errors, just one short of the club record set and equalled by the 1981 & '82.

Litsch and Encarnacion made two each; although Edwin was saved by some questionable scoring and could have been charged with two -- maybe three -- more. It was as sloppy a game as I can remember the Jays playing during my tenure. Couple it with the fact that the Jays continue to have trouble hitting with runners in scoring position - 2 for 12 on the night, and 11 for its last 53 - and the team really let one slip away.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that I started feeling sorry for Encarnacion, but his performance at first base, a position he was originally going to share with Adam Lind when spring training started this year, was brutal. Every ball hit his way was an absolute adventure. And with every failure in the field, coupled with the 0-for-4 performance at the plate where he failed to hit a ball out of the infield, the grumbling and the boos started getting louder.

One leather lung even bellowed out: "You suck!"; a sentiment normally reserved for the opposition.

So now the bigger question becomes: What do the Jays do with Edwin?'

If he can't play the field and with prospect Eric Thames up from triple-A and looking like his stay might be for more than just until Lind returns from the disabled list, there is no room for a DH in with zero home runs. Plus with the ticket buyers clamouring for Canadian Brett Lawrie to be called-up from Las Vegas to take over at third base, sure seems like the sand in EE's hour glass has almost siphoned out. David Cooper arrived from triple-A and, while he didn't hit for average, he didn't look out of place. Thames has the look and confidence of a solid player, and we now wait for Lawrie. Behind them is the next wave of prospects, led by Anthony Gose, no more than a year and a half away, if that. So, why not start getting bodies out of the way and expedite the remodelling if this franchise into a sleeker, leaner machine.

Interleague: I'm personally no fan of interleague play, as I find it's had a tendency to expose greater flaws, like the DH/no DH rule and that pitchers can't hit etc. However, having heard last night's game vs Houston wasn't the greatest, but as I caught bits and pieces of today's game and how the Blue Jays rallied from 4-0 down to win 7-5 thanks to a 2 run shot by Escobar, a 3-run shot by bautista, and capped off with a solo bautista bomb to bring his HR total to 18, I'm wondering if we should keep interleague play.

till next week,
@jlau