Growing Pains & Interleague

I kid you not--this has been one of the few years I've seen the Jays go through a LOT of injuries, call ups, demotions, roughings and just flat out overall adversity. In all fairness, it's safe to say that it does take YEARS to develop major league pitchers and it's exceptionally important to lay out the foundations in the minor leagues. 


Drabek & Morrow are fine examples. Both have the ability to become incredible pitchers (and they are!), but with Kyle pitching his first full season in the MLB and Morrow his second full season it's easy to see why they've faced as much adversity as they have to date. it's also easy to see what factored into Drabek having been sent back to the PCL/Las Vegas 51s in triple-A. 


My point being here though is that for anyone who thought that the pitching staff would develop in a straight line should realize otherwise. Growing pains & adversity only help a person develop. 


However, let's not depress ourselves any further-please rant to me via Twitter or in the comments section instead if you'd like to discuss such things! The Blue Jays have just wrapped up a 3-game set with the Cincinnati Reds and they've managed to sucessfully take 2 out of the 3 after a 2-1 loss in the afternoon rubber match. 


With interleague often being the pain in the butt part of their schedule, I have to admit I'm quite impressed. Remember that year when they ended up going 0-9 in interleague play? YEESH! 


That's it for now-and make sure you make it a summer
priority to catch the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre and I'll try to see YOU at the ballpark! 


cheers! 
-jLau
 Twitter: @jlau87

Morrow, Bullpen Shut Out Reds

Brandon Morrow was in cruise control on Saturday night, as the Blue Jays combine for a 4-0 shutout in game two against the Cincinnati Reds.

Morrow continued the streak of good starting pitching with a solid effort tonight. He used his fastball to get ahead in counts and to set-up his breaking pitches. He switched the grip on his change-up from a circle-change to a split finger change and it was effective when he went to it. Morrow fanned six Reds hitters, scattered five hits, and the only jam he got in all night was in the seventh after he gave up a hit to former Blue Jay Scott Rolen, plunked Chris Heisey on the next pitch and walked his only batter to load the bases (who were stranded by Jason Frasor).  The Blue Jays starters have a combined ERA at 4.58, but in their last five starts (including tonight), they are a remarkable 2.12. Like I said last night, when your starting pitching is getting you deep into the ball game, your bullpen stays fresh and does not get over-worked. Hopefully, this is a trend that is going to stay for the next few weeks.

Jose Molina was the offensive catalyst for Toronto going 2-for-3 with a double in the second and a lead-off home run in the fourth on the first pitch served up by Reds’ starter, Edison Volquez of the facing of the second deck. Jose Bautista added a pair of singles and an RBI. 

Jon Rauch closed the game in the ninth allowing a couple of singles and struck out Johnny Gomes to preserve the shut out. Toronto has  won four of their last five games since they were swept by the Boston Red Sox last weekend.

Notables
TOR
J. Molina: 2-for 3; HR, 2B, RBI
J. Bautista: 2-for-3; 2 singles, RBI

CIN
S. Rolen: 2-for-4; 2 singles
J. Bruce: 2-for-4; 2 singles

Pitching lines
B. Morrow (W, 3-4): 6.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 101 pitches
E. Volquez (L, 4-3): 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO, 1 HR, 88 pitches

The Blue Jays go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at Great American Ballpark. Carlos Villanueva (4-0, 3.25) toes the rubber for Toronto against  Bronson Arroyo (5-6, 5.23).

Former Blue Jay and franchise leader in saves (217), Tom Henke, was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame today in St. Mary’s, Ontario. He was one of my favourite pitchers growing up and would like to congratulate him on his great accomplishment. 

Until next time,

Let’s Go Blue Jays!

Twitter: @ChaseHadden

Lind, Reyes Power Blue Jays Over Reds

Jo-Jo Reyes looked great again on Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds, as the Toronto Blue Jays are back at .500 with a 3-2 victory in interleague play.

Reyes was on his game right from the first pitch. He got ahead of the majority of the Reds hitters and retired every first batter in his 6.1 innings of work. When you are able to pitch ahead and keep the lead-off hitter off the bases, you are going to be successful. The only blips in his game tonight were the two solo home runs he surrendered. Although, the first one which came from Reds’ centre fielder, Drew Stubbs, should have been caught. There was some confusion in right-centre field between Corey Patterson and Jose Bautista. Both Blue Jays fielders were calling for the fly ball and neither came up with the ball and allowed Stubbs to score on his inside-the-park home run. It was Patterson’s ball being the centre fielder; he has first priority on any fly ball in his vicinity. But, I understand why Bautista wanted to take control of the fly ball, considering how poorly Patterson has been throughout the season on fly balls close to the wall (though this one way just shy of the warning track).

Reyes has now won three of his last four starts and improves his record to 3-5 on the season. He even added a hit at the plate in the sixth (which was only the second of the night for Toronto at that point).

After the mental error between Patterson and Bautista, they teamed up in the seventh for some redemption. Patterson led off the inning by getting hit by the first pitch and stole second with Bautista up 2-0 in the count. The Blue Jays home run leader showed some patience at the plate after seeing pitches all on the outside corner and drills a RBI double to centre to tie the game at 1-1. Next batter, Adam Lind, on the very next pitch, crushes a two-run home run to centre field and put the Blue Jays up 3-2 and ended up being the game-winning hit.  Since coming off the disabled list, Lind has been on fire with eight home runs and has homered now in four consecutive games, only behind Jose Cruz Jr. who set the franchise record with six straight games back in 2001.

The bullpen was finally on their game tonight and preserved the win for Reyes. Octavio Dotel stranded a pair of inherited runners in the seventh and pitched a perfect two-thirds of the eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts.  Frank Francisco only gave up one hit and struck out a pair for his seventh save of the season. The ‘pen has been over-worked this year with the starters not getting deep into games and the Blue Jays relievers have had their struggles recently, so this performance will hopefully be the confidence boost that they need to get back on track (Marc Rzepczynski retired Joey Votto in eighth on two pitches).

Notables

TOR
J. Bautista: 2-for-4; 2B, RBI
A. Lind: 1-for-4; HR, 2 RBI

CIN
S. Rolen: 1-for-4; HR, RBI
J. Gomes: 2-for-3; 2 singles

Pitching lines:
Jo-Jo Reyes (W, 3-5): 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR, 92 pitches
M. Leake (L, 6-3): 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 99 pitches
F. Francisco (S, 7)

Game two of the three game series goes tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Brandon Morrow (2-4, 5.63) is on the hill for Toronto and faces Edison Volquez (4-2, 5.48).

Until next time,

Let’s Go Blue Jays!

Twitter: @ChaseHadden

Angry Birds: soaring to new heights.

At 28-27 after last night's 8-4 spanking of their AL East rival Baltimore Orioles, the Jays are really taking off this year. Facing a lot of adversity as "a young, inexperienced team" (including getting lit up 12-0 by Cleveland earlier this week!), I think will only help them realize that, while it sucks at times, facing adversity only makes the team stronger.

It's been a relatively awful week for the team, considering they just faced Cleveland and last night, facing the Orioles.

*************
Post-game analysis:

It's clear that the Jays simply love to face the Orioles. With the score already 3-0 going into the 5th inning (and me having been out on an errand, but hearing the game on the radio), the next thing I heard was something like this:

"Swing and a drive...it's a long one..AND GONE! GRAND SLAM FOR JP ARENCIBIA!". First career Grand Slam for Arencibia and that, my friends is the definition of a hot bat. No lie--having a young catcher who's usually defensive minded, but now working to incorporate being more offensive minded is a great thing.

"It's one of those things you don't really think about," Arencibia said. "I don't remember the last time I hit a grand slam in baseball. It was just one of those things. If I say I was trying to hit a grand slam, I'd be a liar. I just hit the ball and it was able to go out and we had three guys on base. The biggest thing, I think, was it gave our pitcher a cushion and he can pitch with that lead."


To say the least, the bats are warming up again-and the Jays are definitely looking for at least a 3 game win streak (and a series sweep) while they're on their current 7 game road trip. 


OK! OK! BLUE JAYS! LET'S PLAY BALL! 


@jlau87