11:55 PM Eastern

Another frustrating night featuring an almost-complete lack of offense and a couple of poorly-timed double plays.  There’s really not much to say about tonight’s game except that it’s amazing how bad this offense can look at times.

I really feel as though the Jays’ line-up is more than good enough to back up the great pitching and truly compete for a playoff spot, but man have they looked bad the last couple of days.  They plastered Vicente Padilla back in Texas, but couldn’t touch him tonight, and even though for the most part they were only down a run or two, it never felt like they were really in the game

I understand the fans’ frustrations. I feel it, too, but there’s still a whole lot of season left, and without the guy who was supposed to be their clean-up hitter, the Jays are still a .500 team and only a game and a half out in the division.  The Tigers worry me, though.  I can see Detroit coming in here and taking three of four, because they started SO slowly and water always returns to its level.  They’ve started to wake up, tonight aside, and if they continue it through the weekend, you’re looking at a 1-5 homestand and a 9-11 record through 20 games and I’d be afraid that there might be some self-immolation going on among the Blue Jays’ faithful.

I’m looking forward to David Purcey’s major-league debut tomorrow night against the Tigers, but he’s going to have his hands full with great right-handed hitters like Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Placido Polanco, Carlos Guillen and probably Brandon Inge (murders lefties).  Still, if the Jays can’t touch lefties who are making their major-league debuts, why shouldn’t the opposite hold?  It’d be nice, but I’ll wager the team will still have to score more than one run to win.  Kenny Rogers is a guy whose ears they should pin back with relative ease, but I said the same thing about Greg Smith, Dana Eveland and Kason Gabbard, and they couldn’t touch any of them.

Most of tonight’s JaysTalk seemed to be centred around A.J. Burnett again, which is the reason for the title of tonight’s post.  Halladay threw his second straight complete game, and though he didn’t have his best stuff, likely would have carried the lead into at least the 7th had he gotten ANY help from the people on the team who swing the bats.  As a result of the loss, his record for the season stands at 2-2.  He’s a .500 pitcher.  I say this to point out the sheer and unadulterated ludicrosity of using that distinction to indicate anything about a pitcher other than the amount of games he’s won and lost.

Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in the American League.  Roy Halladay is a .500 pitcher.  Compare and contrast.

A caller made a very good point tonight, saying that maybe people expect Burnett to be another Halladay, and that’s why they’re so frustrated with him.  All I’m saying is look at the things that Burnett actually has control over – which is not wins and losses – and the picture you get is of a pretty good pitcher.

Yes, he’s had a disappointing season so far, but the Jays have won two of his three starts, and in the other one the game was tied going into the 9th.  It seems as though if he doesn’t throw a three-hit shutout with 13 Ks, people are going to rip him.  When he’s been healthy, he’s been very, very good for the Jays more often than not.  Last year, when Halladay went down with appendicitis, he carried the team.  He’s been immature and he’s been a jerk, but so far this year he’s been pretty level-headed on the mound and actually friendly off it.  For someone to call in yesterday and call him one of the team’s worst signings ever is just ridiculous.  He’s not even in the conversation.  Remember, this is a team that signed guys like Esteban Loaiza, Joey Hamilton and Erik Hanson to lucrative multi-year deals.  Not to mention the whole Ken Dayley thing.  I’m not saying lay off Burnett, if you don’t like him, you don’t like him.  What I’m saying is at least go at him with something reasonable, not the fact that he’s 71-67 lifetime.

I’m sure I’m opening the door to another ton of anti-Burnett rants, which is unfortunate, because it does seem like we go over the same thing time and time again in the comments section and on the show, but so be it, I guess.

Frank Thomas did not look good tonight.  But he looked exactly as bad as he did last April and the April before.  There’s no more of an indication that he’s done now as there was that he was done last year or the year before.  The only difference is that vesting option.  I’d like to see Thomas lower in the line-up until he starts to come out of it, though.  He always starts slow, it’s true, but that’s no reason to keep him in the middle of the order until he heats up.  Let him go through his slump hitting 8th.

As always, comments are both welcome and encouraged, and I’ll try to answer as many as I can.  It’s how we keep the JaysTalk going 24/7.  Try to keep the book-writing to a minimum, though, please.

8:03 PM Eastern

Just a quick update, loyal reader/listeners:  J.P. Ricciardi will not be on the post-game show tonight.  He’ll begin his weekly appearances next Wednesday, after the Jays and Rays play at Disneyworld.

Please listen to tonight’s show anyway.

1:55 PM Eastern

In hopes of getting out of the ol’ ballyard before 2:00 AM, this post will likely not be as long as most of the other ones.

This was a fantastic game to watch, almost the diametric opposite of Tuesday night’s Trachsel-fest in Baltimore.  The problem for Jays fans is that the sleep-mo-tizing  game was a win, and this one was a loss.

Look, this game should never have gone 14 innings, the Jays should never have had the chances to win that they did.  The Rangers were in control of it from the moment Jason Botts ripped that two-run double to break the 2-2 tie in the 6th.  Only by the grace of Ben Broussard did the Jays ever have a chance.  They scored three runs in the 8th, tying the game with the benefit of just one hit, a pool-cue shot single to left by Matt Stairs, three walks, and Broussard’s massive error.

It doesn’t matter, though, because great teams are supposed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat on a regular basis, right?  Yeah, they are, but great teams lose a whole whack of games as well.

I understand the frustration, and it shone through on the late-night JaysTalk, but the thing is that had the Jays won this game, they’d be 9-6, playing .600 ball and on pace to win about 97 games and all would be well with the world.  And this with using their honest-to-goodness closer in exactly one save situation and without the guy who was supposed to be their clean-up hitter.  That ain’t bad.

All the games that they’ve lost have been very close – five one-run games, a three-run game (that they led going into the 9th) and this 14-inning job.  Believe it or not, that’s a good sign.  The fact that they could be 15-0 or 11-4 instead of 8-7 speaks well.  If they were winning the close ones and getting blown out in the others, I think I’d be more worried.  Of course, I’m writing this at 1:30 in the morning, so I could just be really tired.  Eventually, the wins in games like this will come, and when eventually comes, it won’t be too late to get into the playoff race that they currently are in anyway, being only half a game out of first place.

The common complaint seemed to be that the Jays can’t get the big hit when they need it, and my retort is that they’re doing just fine with the big hit when they need it in games they win.  Here’s a secret – in losses, no team ever comes up with the big hit when it’s most needed.

As a team, the Jays went into this game hitting .284 with runners in scoring position, which was two points higher than their overall average, so they’ve actually been hitting BETTER with runners in scoring position than not.  Yes, batting average is a bad stat, but it’s all I’ve got on this.

Going into this game, the Jays were second in the majors in average and first in on-base percentage, second in run differential and third in the league in ERA.  These are all good things, and indications of good things to come.  Don’t let 15 games ruin you.  Hell, don’t let one game ruin you- again, had Joe Inglett’s suicide squeeze attempt in the 10th not kicked foul, the Jays would be alone in first place and on pace for 97 wins right now.

Two things that require mentioning:

-Blaming this loss on A.J. Burnett is ridiculous.  The very fact that a starting pitcher comes out of the bullpen on two days’ rest, in the 14th inning, is an incredible thing.  Burnett wasn’t at his overwhelming best (he hasn’t been all year), but it was utterly irrational to have expected that from him.  Still, he wound up with two out in the inning and a zero still on the board, with the big hit having been a Frank Catalanotto grounder that was fair by about seven inches.  He bounced a curveball, Gregg Zaun didn’t stay down on it, and the next guy drove in a run with a double.  If that had been Roy Halladay, people would be singing his praises from the rooftops for being gutsy and giving it his best shot.

-Jesse Carlson.  You knew I’d get around to the post’s title eventually, no?  Or maybe I should just be naming posts with complete non-sequiturs or 80s music lyrics like the batters box boys used to do in the fun days.

Carlson was unbecredible tonight.  So good that I had to combine two adjectives, and I don’t usually do that.  He came in with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th, and cleaned up Brian Wolfe’s mess by striking out all three batters he faced.  He followed with a 1-2-3 12th and worked his way around a leadoff double in the 13th, loading the bases with a couple of intentional walks around a strikeout and a deep fly out, and getting David Murphy on a groundball, all the while knowing that he was basically the last line of defense.  I’m not waiting for the next shoe to drop with Carlson, nor am I thinking he’s going to win the Cy Young Award.  I’m just enjoying watching him work.

Lastly, there are those who will blame John Gibbons’ bullpen management for forcing the Jays to go to Burnett in the 14th.  After all, the Rangers still had relievers left, didn’t they?  But it wasn’t Gibbons’ fault.  The move to go to Tallet in the 6th was the right one, after Litsch had allowed two hard hits to start the inning.  There was only one bat out of the next four who hurts lefties, Gerald Laird, and I didn’t expect Ron Washington to go to Ian Kinsler that early for Ramon Vazquez, either.  What it came down to, though, was Tallet walking Catalanotto with two out to load the bases.  He gets Cat, as he should, and he’s back out for the 7th and you can go Downs-Ryan in the 8th and 9th (because B.J. had to pitch today).  He walks him, and you have to go to the righty for Mike Young.

In a close game, though, you have to come back with the lefty in the 7th, because it’s lefty-switch-lefty-switch-lefty, and neither Josh Hamilton nor Hank Blalock hit lefties well.  So Downs does his job, and you go to Accardo (or Wolfe, whichever at this point) in the 8th for Laird and Kinsler.  Once you get to the 9th and it’s tied, there’s no option but to use Ryan.  He had to pitch today or tomorrow after sitting for two, and since you’re tied at home in the 9th, there’ll never be a save situation, so you might as well get him in.

Once extras hit, you still have Wolfe and Carlson, who should be able to combine to get you at least four, and had Wolfe not run into a ton of trouble in the 11th, he would have gone two, maybe three, but with second and third and nobody out, he had to go.

You can’t manage your ‘pen thinking “what if we go 14″?  I didn’t have an issue at all with how Gibbons ran things tonight.  Well, I really didn’t like Hill bunting in the 11th, but the way he managed the pitching, I liked a lot.

And hey, give credit to the man for the hit-and-run call with Scutaro in the 10th that set up runners on the corners with one out, and the suicide squeeze call that followed.  I loved that, it’s just too bad it didn’t work.

Comments are encouraged, but I got me some sleeping to do, so I probably won’t be answering them for a while.

11:45 PM Eastern

There are a lot of people who complain that baseball moves too slowly, that it’s boring and tough to keep focused on.  To those people, I generally say that if you really understood the game, knew just how important every pitch can be and how all the little nuances flow together, you’d never be bored.  Sounds just like a soccer fan, I know.  But on nights like this, I tell those people:  “Yup.”

Wow, is Steve Trachsel painful to watch.  Luckily for us, the Blue Jays battered him all over the yard in the 3rd inning, so we only had to endure about an hour-40 of him.  I swear, and I said this on the post-game, I was in a deep discussion with K-Rod and Neil Oosten about some radio station stuff that took at least five, maybe eight minutes, and I looked up and Trachsel had thrown TWO pitches.  Is it too much to ask for a cattle prod?  Honestly!

Shaun Marcum was terrific again, and credit where it’s due, he’s been awesome every time he’s touched the ball this season.  Marcum has been the Jays’ best starter this year, which is saying something with this rotation, and I’d love to see this continue.  He doesn’t overwhelm you with his stuff, but he overwhelms you with the stuff that he does have.  Last year, people were saying he could wind up being the right-handed Tom Glavine, and I’m sure Jays fans would take that in a heartbeat.

I don’t know if this will give the smallballers ammunition or not (everything seems to), but the four-run 3rd inning came after a blown sac bunt try and a missed hit-and-run that resulted in a caught stealing.  They still scored four though, three on one swing of Aaron Hill’s bat.  Heck, the guy who said that you should always try the double steal with first and second, none out may even be emboldened.  They tried, it failed, and they still scored four!

And then David Eckstein bunts after a lead-off double in the 4th.  Are you kidding me?  I hope we’re not going to see stuff like that on a regular basis this year, because that’s just nuts.  As it turned out, a hit batsman and a single followed, so there proved no need to have bunted the runner up, but that’s hindsight, and there was no need anyway!  It’s the top of the line-up.  I mean, I’ll grant that Eckstein is one of your worst hitters, but he’s not a guy who tends to have to bunt to move a runner.  He rarely strikes out and he rarely flies out – chances are if he tries to hit he’s going to make a productive out in that situation a lot of the time.

There are two other things I have to point out in an otherwise terrific game for the Jays:

-What the hell was Alex Rios doing in the 4th inning?  He singled to right, and tried to go to second on a throw that the whole ballpark knew was going to be cut off.  He wound up in a rundown, and was dead.  That cost the Jays at least a run, maybe more, but more importantly it’s one of a few times we’ve seen Rios lose focus either on the basepaths or in the field this year, and this year is only two weeks old.  I really thought he was past this.

-Bad send by Marty Pevey in the 9th inning for a couple of reasons.  One, it was Gregg Zaun running from second on a ground single to right fielder Nick Markakis, who has a decent arm.  Two, the score was 10-3 at the time.  Markakis didn’t make a good throw, so Zaun was able to score, but anything with a little more arm behind it gets him easily.  And what’s the point?  It’s not like the Jays needed to push another run across by then.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if Inglett, who followed the RBI single, had been drilled by the first pitch. 

Pevey has been around a long, long time, and there’s no question he knows the game inside out.  He managed nine seasons in the minors, so he’s coached a lot of third base, but he has made some odd decisions these first couple of weeks.  I’m writing it off to nerves, getting his first shot at the big-league level, but I’m hoping those nerves go away really, really soon.

In the happy news department, every starter on the “struggling offense” got at least one hit and either scored a run or drove one in.

And is Randor Bierd one of the best names you’ve ever heard or what?  Sounds like he should be a super-villain.

Remember, the JaysTalk continues all day long down in the comments section.

11:35 PM Eastern

Well, that was a weird night.  The Blue Jays lose because, as always (when they lose – it seems), they didn’t hit, Brian Tallet has a rough outing, the Jays ground into three double plays and attempt neither a sacrifice bunt nor a stolen base, and all people seemed to want to call in about was how great I am and how much they love the show and the blog.

I appreciate all the compliments, it’s nice to know that there are those of you out there who don’t think I’m completely wrong about everything and that I’m rude and a jackass, but it was definitely strange.  Not usually the vibe the show has, especially after a loss.  Thanks, though.

This game was typical of most of the games the Jays have lost this season.  Good starting pitching and no hitting to speak of.  As shaky as McGowan looked in giving up 10 hits in his six innings, he limited the O’s to just three runs, and if not for a hanger to Kevin Millar with two out in the 5th, it could have been just one.  It’s funny, before the game I made some crack to my fine producer K-Rod about Millar hitting clean-up for a first place team, something about how that shows exactly where the O’s are going to wind up, then he goes out and drives in three.

The Orioles are still going to finish last in the division, by the way.

The major point of debate was the use of Alex Rios as a pinch-hitter.  He came on for Lyle Overbay in the 9th with a runner on and the score 4-1, and promptly hit his first homer of the season.  Fine work indeed, but there was a situation the inning before that screamed out for his being used – Matt Stairs was up against lefty-killer Jamie Walker with one out and a runner on second in a 3-1 game.

Here’s the thing – you know Baltimore has a left-handed closer who absolutely abuses left-handed hitters , and you know that if you don’t tie the game in the 8th, he’s coming in in the 9th and will face Lyle Overbay.  So the question becomes, do you want to use Rios in the 8th for Stairs and be forced to use Marco Scutaro or John McDonald in the 9th for Overbay (assuming The Captain’s groin still isn’t right), or do you let Stairs take a rip against Walker, who also kills lefties (but not as much), and use Rios in the 9th against Sherrill?

It’s a tough call, and I don’t know which way I would have gone.  At the time, I thought Rios in the 8th, chance to tie the game right there, and I still think that’s the move I’d have made.  But holding him back for the 9th is fair, as well.  Stairs hit lefties better than he hit righties last year, so it’s not like he’s lost at the plate.  Also, he was 4 for 13 lifetime against Walker with a homer, so he’d had success against him in the past, albeit in a tiny sample size.  It doesn’t mean anything, but at least it’s not Clay Buchholz.

And of course, Rios probably doesn’t hit the homer if he’s hitting in the 8th.  Different space-time continuum and all that.

Two more things before I go:

-McGowan allowed two more stolen bases tonight, and had Adam Jones picked off first in the 4th but threw the ball away.  I wonder if worrying about a slide step or speeding up his time to the plate makes a difference to him.  That is, should he not bother with it, allow all the steals they want but get the hitters out?  There are a lot of great pitchers who are AWFUL at holding baserunners, but the stolen bases don’t hurt them.  I wonder if that could eventually be the case with McGowan, and if that learning curve could get higher faster if he stopped thinking about baserunners, as opposed to going the other way.

-Shannon Stewart threw out Jay Payton at the plate on a medium-depth fly ball in the 8th inning.  Just wanted to make sure everybody knows.

Comments are encouraged, and more often than not, answered!  It’s the living, breathing, internettic embodiment of the super-extendo-JaysTalk! 

8:20 PM Eastern

First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind words and wishes about the food poisoning.  I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, but as of about 1:00 this afternoon, I have been feeling a LOT better.  Sorry that there was no The Blue Jays This Week this week, but the 3:38 ballgame made sure of that.  All the audio that we were going to use on the show is available in the hot audio section of the website.

Lots of good things about the Blue Jays’ win in Texas today, completing their first three-game sweep in Arlington in 23 years.  Among them, big two-out hits from unlikely sources Rod Barajas and Joe Inglett, a couple of great defensive plays by Alex Rios (around a dropped pop-up, we’ll get to that later) and a bunch of relievers coming up huge, not the least of whom was B.J. Ryan.

The Jays’ closer got his first save since last April by giving up a leadoff triple to Marlon Byrd and stranding him 90 feet from paydirt with a grounder to short (with the infield in), a pop-up and a fly ball on which Rios made one of his terrific plays.  It was good to see Ryan back and dealing again.  He works quickly, he pounds the strike zone, and even without a tattoo of a snake on his face, he intimidates.  But it’s the deceptive nature of his motion and his ability to spot the ball that makes him successful, even on a day like today when he never hit 90 mph with any pitch.  He’s back, and he’s the closer, though he won’t be called upon to pitch on consecutive days for the next three weeks or so, at least.

Jesse Carlson retired Josh Hamilton and Hank Blalock with the winning run on first in the bottom of the 9th to pick up his first major-league win.  Carlson has faced eight hitters so far in his three big-league appearances, and has retired them all.  Nice work so far, and his fellow non-closer lefties, Brian Tallet and Snakeface Downs, each notched a big strikeout.  Tallet to the only hitter he faced, coming in for A.J. Burnett down a run in the 6th and whiffing Ben Broussard on three pitches.  Downs’ K got him out of a jam of his own making, after he loaded the bases with two out in a tie game in the 8th, but it was big nonetheless.

By the way, if you complain that Burnett was allowed to stay in too long, you’re not allowed to complain that John Gibbons yanks his starters too early and doesn’t let them pitch out of trouble.

Among the bad was the pop-up that clanked off the heel of Rios’ glove in the 5th, extending the inning, but not contributing to any damage.  That was just a lazy, unfocused play, probably the result of Rios taking his last few at-bats into the field with him.

Also bad – Barajas pulling a groin muscle while running out Joe Inglett’s two-out fly ball in the 6th.  He had to come out, and if he can’t go tomorrow, the Jays will have to make a move to bring up a catcher.  Robinzon Diaz is lighting it up in AAA right now, hitting .407, though with only one walk and two extra-base hits, but I don’t think the Jays would want to bring him up for a few days just to sit and back up Gregg Zaun (though maybe a taste of the big-league life wouldn’t be that bad).  It wouldn’t surprise me to see Curtis Thigpen meeting the Jays in Baltimore tomorrow.  The reciprocal roster move would be tough if Barajas isn’t hurt enough to go on the DL, but with a pulled groin that’s bad enough to have you limping off the field, two weeks on the shelf is probably a likely scenario.

OK, now let’s talk about the bunting.  I have already seen a comment that says I’m going to have to eat crow because the Jays had two successful sacrifices today, each of which led to a run, and they won the game by one.  Sorry, though,  I still don’t think the bunts were the right move.

Both bunts happened with runners at first and second and nobody out.  The first was in the 7th, by Aaron Hill, with the Jays down a run, the other in the 10th, by Gregg Zaun, in a tie game.

You can make the argument that Zaun’s bunt was a good idea.  Tie game in extra innings, 7-8-9 coming up, and the likelihood that they were going to be able to get the hit that drives in the run was relatively low, seeing as Zaun, Inglett and Eckstein were the worst three hitters in that line-up today.  The Hill bunt is almost indefensible.  Why would you EVER ask your second-place hitter to bunt?  If a guy is hitting in that spot that means that he’s a good enough hitter that you want him to get more plate appearances than almost anybody else in your line-up, so why take the bat out of his hands?  Also, the heart of the order follows.  There’s a solid chance that one of your 2-3-4 hitters is going to get a hit.  By bunting, you increase your odds of scoring one run, but greatly decrease your odds of scoring more than one (as happened with each of the four sac bunts in this game).  It’s the 7th inning, why would you not want to try to put a crooked number up on the scoreboard?

The reason that bunt happened was because the previous two times that the Jays had runners on first and second and nobody out, the next hitter (Barajas, then Lyle Overbay) had hit into a double play.  There was also a first-and-second, one-out double play that Shannon Stewart hit into in the 2nd.  As well, the Rangers had executed two successful sacrifice bunts, in the 5th and 6th, and each time the run wound up scoring – though each time it required a two-out hit.

Yes, the bunts worked, and worked to perfection, because each one was followed immediately by a sac fly, and the Jays managed to score the winning run in the 10th without the benefit of a hit in the inning, but had they not bunted in the 7th, there might not have been the need to go to the 10th, because they might have scored two or more runs there. 

Look, give me runners at first and second and nobody out with my 2-3-4 hitters coming up, and I’m a happy guy.  I’m feeling like I’m gonna score me some runs there, and I’m certainly not going to give up any outs to do it.  It won’t always happen, but we’re talking about the Blue Jays here, and as much as some want to complain about the “struggling offense”, they happen to be second in the league in runs scored.  They’re driving in runs by getting hits, some of which go for extra bases, walking, and getting productive outs that they’re not actually trying to get.  Let the hitters hit and you’ll win more often than by taking the bat out of the hands of good hitters.

As I said in the comments section of the previous post, it’s true that a bunt with runners at first and second and none out gives a better result than a double play ball, but if you bunt every time you’re in a DP situation, you’re going to be an historically poor team.  You can’t use the “at least he wouldn’t have hit into a double play” to defend bunting unless you’re prepared to sacrifice every time there’s a force play available with less than two out.

Comments are welcome, and make sure you check them out – it’s how we keep the JaysTalk going all day long!

3:11 PM Eastern

The Jays and Rangers are about to get going, but I thought I’d just let you all know that there was a good reason for the lack of bloggage after yesterday’s brilliantly-pitched win:  Serious, serious food poisoning.  Frankly, I’m surprised I actually made it through the post-game show, it was definitely touch-and-go on the way home.  I thought I was going to die.

Anyway, there will be bloggage after the game tonight, as long as you promise to listen to The Blue Jays This Week at 7:05 Eastern along most of your friendly Fan Radio Network stations.  Tonight we’ll talk drunken idiots (as opposed to the well-behaved, thoughtful and humourous drunks) with Jays’ Director of Team Safety Ron Sandelli, and we’ll also hear from Frank Thomas and the newest Jay, Jesse Carlson.

And in case you haven’t heard, the Jays activated B.J. Ryan from the disabled list today.  It was a year ago tomorrow that he last threw a pitch in the big leagues.  Brandon League was optioned to Syracuse, where he might actually get a chance to pitch.

1:00 AM Eastern

This one’s going to be short and sweet, because I have to get up really early in the morning to run my sim league auction, sorry about that.  I’ll let you know who I land tomorrow night, I have a few targets in mind, but might not get any of them.

So the Blue Jays fly out of town at 2:00 AM after a disheartening 12-inning loss, get to their hotel rooms at about 5:00 AM local time (6:00 Toronto time), and then go out and pound the Rangers in the series opener.

The struggling offense managed 13 hits, but only two for extra bases.  They made up for it, though, by taking advantage of the suddenly weak-armed Gerald Laird (that was different – good advancing by the Jays, though), and steal four bases, and they watched the Rangers trip all over themselves on the field.

It’s pretty obvious, to anyone who reads or listens to me, that I don’t like the sacrifice bunt.  Actually, that might be a little conservative.  I detest the sacrifice bunt.  But a lot of people have taken that stance to mean that I also don’t like the stolen base, and nothing could be further than the truth.  Like the phobic who isn’t afraid of flying, but crashing, I love the stolen base, but I hate the caught stealing.  When the opportunity presents itself wherein the odds of a successful steal are greatly in your favour, you have to run, and it’s great to see that the Blue Jays are doing that this season.

Last year, there were dozens of times when the opposition was all but handing Toronto baserunners an extra 90 feet, and they would say “thanks, but no thanks.”  The threat of the possibility of the consideration of a stolen base wasn’t even there.  Now, all is different.  They nabbed four bags tonight, and twice Laird threw the ball past his middle infielders into centre, allowing the runner to advance to third.  Another time, on the Coats-Zaun double steal, Laird short-hopped it to second, and the bounce away allowed Zaun to score without a problem.  I’m really hoping the Jays keep this up, but that they don’t get overzealous about it like they did in the second game of the season.

Nice to see Vernon Wells do some damage in his hometown, it’s something that hasn’t happened a lot (on the baseball field, at least, I know nothing of his personal life).  He hit two absolute ropes tonight – one for the RBI double in the 4th on which Frank Catalanotto almost made a spectacular running catch – and he took advantage of some I-got-it-you-take-it between Ben Broussard and Kazuo Fukumori to pick up a third hit. 

Jesse Carlson looked great again.  He’s certainly showing the Jays’ brass that he can help them.  He’s going back down to AAA in a week, more than likely, but he’s leaving an impression, at least.

People will debate whether the appearance of Scott “SnakeFace” Downs to pick up the save was a vote of non-confidence in Jeremy Accardo.  Notwithstanding the fact that if the vote of non-confidence were to pass, the Governor-General would be forced to dissolve the Blue Jays’ bullpen and they’d have to go to Spring Training again, I think it probably was.

Accardo did some great things last season, and some great things the first week of this season, as well, but he seems obviously to have lost either the feel for or his confidence in his splitter, which served him so well in picking up most of his 30 saves last season.  Until he’s comfortable bringing that weapon back, he shouldn’t be the automatic option at the end of every game.  With a switch-hitter at the plate and two lefties to follow, Downs was the right guy, and thanks to his newly-shaven head and fierce tattoo, he was able to intimidate two batters into getting out,  and thereby pick up the save.

This unsettled bullpen situation is likely to only last a week, because B.J. Ryan should be back that soon.

One last thing before I go – if Buck Coats is going to be a reliable defensive replacement for Shannon Stewart or Matt Stairs in the outfield, he’s got to learn to call off his infielders when they’re sprinting back to try to catch a pop-up whether they call it or not, and whether or not they’re former World Series MVPs.  The fact that he let Eckstein try to make the catch on Milton Bradley’s pop-up in the 7th is pretty much inexcusable.  There was no way Eckstein had a better chance of making the play than Coats, and rookie new guy or otherwise, he has to get the shortstop the Eck out of there and make that catch.  Both Stewart and Stairs make that play.

Comments are encouraged, as always, but I probably won’t be able to answer them tomorrow.  The auction is going to go from 9:30 AM until I have to leave to get to the radio station for the pre-game.  I’ll try to find some time somewhere, though.

12:50 PM Eastern

See, if the Blue Jays had been more careful about where they left their stuff, this wouldn’t have happened.  It’s just that careless, lazy attitude big-leaguers have, thinking someone will always be around to pick up after them, so they just left a bunch of brooms lying all around the ballpark after sweeping the Red Sox on the weekend.  The A’s came in, found them, and put them to good use.

This was a bad series, and this game should remind everyone of last year, when the Jays wasted good pitching performance after good pitching performance.  This time, it was a spectacular effort by Shaun Marcum, followed by equally strong outings by Jason Frasor and Brian Tallet.  On a night when the bullpen was spent, and none of Jeremy Accardo, Scott Downs and Brian Wolfe were available, the three of them got the game to the 11th inning and allowed only one run.  You’d think that’s a win, but not tonight.

Brandon League looked sharp in the 11th, but came way undone in the 12th, and the biggest problem – same as Accardo last night – was the hit batsman.  For League, it came on the first pitch to Kurt Suzuki after intentionally walking Jack Hannahan to both avoid the lefty and set up the double play.  He still had a chance of emerging unscathed, but after a nice play by John McDonald to cut down a runner at the plate, Travis Buck took him to left-centre for a two-run double.  Buck almost single-handedly killed the Jays over the sweep, going 7-for-17 with six doubles, three runs scored and four RBIs.  Not bad for a guy who came in to town 0-for-21.

Still, this one was all about missed opportunities, especially against a guy like Dana Eveland.  The Jays should be destroying lefties all year long, especially ones who barely break 90, given the line-up they’ve got, but this was the second straight night they got stymied.  Eveland had them tied up in knots, taking a three-hit shutout into the 7th inning.

The biggest missed opportunity was just having a relatively soft throwing lefty on the mound, but the actual chances to win came in extras, with the Jays having shots to put it away in both the 10th and 11th.

In the 10th, they were unlucky, because Vernon Wells’ little bloop job was hit in the exact right place so that Alex Rios was meatcake trying to get to second once it dropped.  Frank Thomas had the chance, but needed a hit, and struck out on three pitches – his fourth K of the game.

In the 11th, the magic of Johnny Mac came to the fore.  He singled, thought about stretching but didn’t, then stole second anyway and went to third on a gift single by Gregg Zaun where pitcher Joey Devine just plain forgot to cover first base.  Those are the kinds of breaks in close games that lead to wins more often than not, but Marco Scutaro was absolutely robbed by Jack Hannahan on his hot shot headed to left, and that was that.

I expected to hear some of the Chicken Littles on the post-game show, but I didn’t get that many – there was actually some thoughtful discussion.  But I liked how one of the first callers brought up the example of Scutaro bunting on his own in the third and it failing to show the bunt-happy folks out there that bunting doesn’t always work, and to stop already.  Then about half a dozen people called in to say Shannon Stewart should have bunted in the 6th (first and second, none out, down one), which would have been nuts.  Even though the outcome of that at-bat should have been a triple play, a bunt still wasn’t the right move (unless you know that ahead of time – which if you did, I would like to set up a business venture with you).

People who can actually hit shouldn’t bunt, unless it’s a do-or-die situation in the bottom of the ninth or later.  Other than that, bunting should be reserved for pitchers and for hitters with an obp under .300 who are actually good at bunting.

I did think one caller was going to threaten me, Ross the Yeller, but I was glad to hear that all he wanted in the future was an apology if I ever call him insane again.  But here’s the thing – saying the Jays aren’t going to go anywhere this year if they can’t beat mediocre teams on a consistent basis is fine.  Saying the Jays aren’t going to go anywhere this year if they don’t WIN THIS SERIES is nuts.

The good from tonight:

-The pitchers, as mentioned above, and how about Jesse Carlson?  He gets called up from Syracuse late last night and makes his major league debut being brought in with the bases loaded and two out in the 12th inning, and strikes out Daric Barton on three pitches.

-John McDonald.  What more can I say?  He’s such a pleasure to watch.  McDonald should be starting every time the Jays face a left-handed pitcher.

-Alex Rios.  He had a rough time early, and carried a 1-for-11 into his 8th inning plate appearance, but he walked, then singled and doubled in his next two trips.

-Shannon Stewart, who made a very, very nice diving/sliding catch on a sinking liner by Mike Sweeney to end the 8th inning.  He actually can catch the ball, for those of you who use the rote “Stewart can’t play defense at all” argument.

The bad:

-Yesterday was the first time this season that the losses of Scott Rolen and B.J. Ryan reared their ugly heads, and tonight was the first time the Jays’ decision to go with David Eckstein over John McDonald at short really bit them.  There were two plays in the top of the 12th inning that I believe McDonald makes relatively easily, and Eckstein couldn’t make either one.  The first was the leadoff bouncer up the middle by Chris Denorfia – I was stunned that it actually got through.  That’s a routine out for Mac.  The second was the Buck double.  I believe there’s a very good chance that McDonald catches the line drive.  In the long-term, it’s better to have the bat of Eckstein in there, but with him going 1-for-6 tonight  (driving the average down to .222 with just 3 walk/hpb’s) and again failing to hit a ball out of the infield, it stands out.  McDonald shouldn’t be a fixture on the bench, he’s got to get some games in at shortstop.

-Bobby Crosby denied us the chance to see a triple play in the 6th.  With runners on first and second and none out, Stewart hit a little soft looper that Crosby caught at about knee level.  If he had taken a step back and let it drop, there was a very good chance that the A’s would have been able to turn three, and at least two.

-It should go without saying that 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position goes in the bad column, but I’ll throw it in here just in case someone wants to argue about it.

The Jays are off to Texas, where at least they don’t have to worry about any soft-tossing lefty starters.  It’ll be Jesse Litsch against Vicente Padilla Friday night, with the network starting up at 7:30 Eastern for an 8:05 first pitch.  Those of you who can listen to the FAN590 get a special pre-pre-game show starting at 7:00, our first of the year.

Keep those comments coming, it’s our way of continuing the JaysTalk all day long!

12:35AM Eastern

You would think that after six-plus seasons of doing a post-game call-in show, I would learn. But it still surprises me how incredibly knee-jerky (another new word) so many of you are out there. It really is amazing, and I continue to blame the Maple Leafs. They have ruined sports fandom in Toronto with their 41 years of futility, alternately teasing fans and just being bloody awful. People now expect the collapse, because that’s what they’ve always gotten.

Anyway, to have someone call in and say that unless Overbay, Zaun, Stewart and Scutaro sit out tomorrow’s game, to make them accountable for tonight, all is lost and we might as well just pack up, really threw me for a loop. I didn’t think anyone could be that reactionary, but I have learned my lesson.

Overbay dropped a throw from McGowan as he moved across the bag at first and tried to avoid a sliding Daric Barton, who probably beat the throw anyway. He should be benched.

Zaun didn’t call out the Jays’ defensive assignments with runners on the corners and one out in the 9th. He also didn’t yell out instructions to Scutaro on the Emil Brown grounder on which Scutaro made an incredibly bad decision. He should be benched.

Scutaro made an incredibly bad decision on Brown’s grounder, whirling and twisting and trying to make an impossible throw home to stop the go-ahead run instead of trying to start a double play and at least assuring one out. He should be benched.

Stewart, ummm, Stewart singled and walked three times. He should be benched. Elsewise all is lost!

Oh, and it’s John Gibbons’ fault that Jeremy Accardo has given up RBI triples in the 9th on consecutive nights and the Jays haven’t had a reliable closer since before Miguel Batista got here.

Can you believe that there are human beings who actually think this way? I wouldn’t if I hadn’t heard it myself. But there it was, live and in colour moving left to right across your radio.

Look, this one was ugly, as was last night’s loss. But very rarely are there pretty losses, and everybody loses at least 50 games, usually plenty more. Football is the only sport where you’re within your rights to live and die with every win and loss, because there are only 16 or 18 games in the season. And heck, it wasn’t so long ago that an NFL team started 0-4 and wound up in the Super Bowl, or the Argos sat last in the East at the midway point and still played for the Grey Cup. Bear in mind that the baseball season is six months long, with a game everyday. The Jays have 154 games left.

Plenty of stuff went wrong tonight. The Jays completely let Greg Smith off the hook when they could have ruined him in the first inning with everything falling apart. They let him regain his composure and shut them out for five innings afterwards. Dustin McGowan threw 57 pitches combined (by my unofficial count) in the 4th and 5th innings, necessitating plenty of work from the bullpen. He also walked a man with the bases loaded, this after dominating the A’s over the first three innings.

Accardo was awful, and unaccountable – not showing his face in the clubhouse afterwards to talk to reporters and through them, you.

And that play by Scutaro – what on Earth was he thinking? Wait, I can tell you, because he actually did come out to speak to reporters after the game. According to the intrepid Jordan Bastian of mlb.com, Scutaro said that he was thinking of throwing home from the get-go, that he didn’t think he could get a double play, and that it was a really tough play.

In case you missed it – the score was tied 3-3, Oakland had one out and runners on the corners. Emil Brown hit a grounder hard to Scutaro’s left, he went to get it, and with all his momentum carrying him toward second base, where he ought to have tried to start a double play, he instead twisted himself around to try to make the aforementioned impossible play, opening the floodgates for the big inning. Bad decision. So bad that it caught Gregg Zaun completely by surprise, for the simple reason that Scutaro had no business trying it. If he goes to second, at least they get one, if not two, but he was never going to throw out Mark Ellis trying to score.

All of the above said, if the grounder up the middle that Zaun hit in the 8th doesn’t hit the pitcher (Fernando Hernandez), it’s an RBI single and it’s probably all academic, because the Jays likely win. Then no one would complain, the sky wouldn’t be falling, and we would once again be in the land of rainbows and happy unicorns that we were in on Monday.

I will continue to try to be the voice of reason on the air, but I fear that before this season is out, I may go insane. But that’s part of the fun, right?

Tomorrow, it’s Shaun Marcum’s turn to try to right the ship, against lefty Dana Eveland. The Blue Jays’ offense should swallow left-handers whole, but it didn’t happen tonight. We’ll likely see Barajas behind the plate, but I think that’ll be the only change from today’s line-up.

A couple of other notes – after the game the Jays designated Randy Wells for assignment, which means they have 10 days to trade or waive him. If he passes through waivers, he must be offered back to the Cubs for half the $50,000 Rule Five fee. He threw one shutout inning with the Jays and made it onto one pre-game show. I couldn’t give him his Fazooli’s certificate, though. Hopefully he makes it back to town at some point. In Wells’ place arrives Jesse Carlson, who could make his major-league debut as early as Thursday night, seeing how Scott Downs and Jeremy Accardo will both be no-gos because Downs threw 2 2/3 innings tonight and Accardo has pitched poorly on consecutive nights. Accardo might actually be available, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Carlson is a 27 year-old lefty who was on fire at Syracuse, allowing only one hit and no walks in two relief outings totalling 3 2/3 innings. It’s his seventh pro season, he was a 15th-round pick of the Tigers back in 2002. And he was born in New Britain! Go Rock Cats! Carlson was one of the last cuts this spring, having thrown 10 Grapefruit League innings, allowing only one run on five hits, walking one and striking out seven.

Also, in response to the idiots who don’t know what to do with themselves after throwing down a couple of beers, so they just start fights in the stands, the Jays have announced that they will no longer be selling alcohol in the $2 ticket sections on Twonie Tuesdays. They also said they’ll be more vigilant about people sneaking their own booze into the ballpark, which I’m sure some of my more loyal readers will be pretty upset about (I have faith in you guys nonetheless). I’m fine with all these measures. People need to be free to have a good time at the game, but they also need to respect others’ rights to have a good time as well. Like your mother once said, certain things are privileges, not rights, and if you can’t handle having the privilege, you lose it.

Speaking of losing it – if the Jays get swept by Oakland tomorrow night, we may see The JaysTalk hit a brand-new low. I’m frightened. For my sake, Jays, if for nothing else, screw your courage to the sticking place, gather up all the grittitude and hustleness you can and damnit, show some leadership out there!

Comments are encouraged as always, and if you’re not reading the comments, you’re missing out. It’s like a mini-JaysTalk down there!