6:01 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays did it up right for Roberto Alomar before the game, then got to pounding C.J. Wilson and the Rangers once things got started between the lines.

Alomar’s number 12 was raised to the rafters (actually, it was dropped from the rafters, but poetic license applies.  Then again, I’m not a poet.  Let me just get back to the story here…..) in a moving pre-game ceremony that featured a video tribute with great highlights from his career and his induction into Cooperstown last weekend.  He gave a great speech thanking the fans of Toronto and declaring his love for the team, the city and the people, even bringing his parents up to the microphone at the end so that they could thank the fans with him.  Cito Gaston (the best manager for whom Alomar ever played) and Paul Beeston (Alomar’s “second father”) spoke.  John McDonald – who played with Alomar in Cleveland for a couple of seasons – talked about how much getting the chance to watch Robbie play every day helped him to improve his own game, and ex-Jays greats like Devon White, Duane Ward, Kelly Gruber and Candy Maldonado were in attendance while Joe Carter, Paul Molitor and John Olerud sent video tributes.

It was a great ceremony, and a packed house enjoyed it – even though if you weren’t here by 11:30 AM, you probably didn’t get a bobblehead (I was here by 10!).

Then the game started, and Brandon Morrow threw five straight balls before recovering to strike out Omar Quintanilla and Josh Hamilton while Jose Molina threw out Endy Chavez trying to steal in between.  Those were the first two of what would be a season-high 11 strikeouts for Morrow as he dominated the Rangers over seven innings of work in earning his 8th win of the season.

In the bottom of the first, Jose Bautista worked a two-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before Edwin Encarnacion absolutely crushed a ball into the 200 level in left field to give the Jays an early 2-0 lead.  How appropriate was it that Encarnacion would be the early hero, given the fact that he will go down in history as the last Blue Jay to ever wear Roberto Alomar’s number 12?

There was weirdness in the second inning – the Jays added to their lead on an RBI single by McDonald after Jose Molina had reached on a two-base throwing error by Texas shortstop Andres Blanco, but that wasn’t the weird part.  McDonald stole second, and then went for third with a 3-1 count on Rajai Davis and two out.  The pitch was a ball, and McDonald was thrown out.  Davis walked, but never left the batter’s box because the inning ended with the caught stealing.  That’s something I don’t remember ever seeing happen before – it remains amazing that you can see thousands of baseball games and still come to a ballpark and see something for the first time.

The walk/caught stealing meant that Colby Rasmus led off the third for the Jays, and after a first-inning strikeout he came to the plate with no hits in 13 at-bats as a Blue Jay.  He took a strike, then hit a flare to left field on which Josh Hamilton charged hard but couldn’t get to and it wound up bouncing past him - Rasmus had a single and wound up at second on Hamilton’s error.   The crowd reaction to the hit was incredible, a great roar and cheer as they watched the monkey get shaken off his back as he rounded first.  You sometimes get the feeling that when this place is packed, most of the seats are occupied by people who are here just for the event and not for the actual baseball, but it definitely seemed as though the overwhelming majority knew who Rasmus was, what he means to the future of this team, and that he’d been looking for his first hit as a Blue Jay for a few days.  He scored his first Jays run as Encarnacion hit into a double play later in the inning. 

The next time Rasmus came to the plate, he drilled a line drive over Chavez’ head in centrefield that bounced off the wall for a two-run double.  That extended the Jays lead to 7-0 and was the last time they’d have a runner reach base – the hit drove Wilson from the game and the Rangers’ bullpen pitched 4 1/3 perfect innings, but the lead was more than big enough.

With the win, the Blue Jays get back to two games over .500, finish the month of July 15-11 (despite the fact that they played 16 of the 26 games against teams that currently hold a playoff spot and four more against the Indians, who were in first place at the time).  They’ve had two winning months and two losing months so far this year, with two months to go.

The Jays have reached the two-thirds pole of the season at 55-53, which can’t be extrapolated if you want to wind up with whole numbers.  At this pace, they’ll finish 82 1/2 – 79 1/2.

Some numbers can be extrapolated – again, working on the condition that relative playing time remains the same from the first two-thirds to the final third (so I’m only looking at guys who have been here all year).  At this pace, Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow will each wind up with 12 wins, Frank Francisco will get 15 saves and Jon Rauch will have 12.  Jose Bautista will hit 45.5 home runs, score 117 runs and drive in 106.5, Adam Lind will hit 29.5 homers and drive in 89.5, J.P. Arencibia will set a new single-season record for home runs by a Blue Jays catcher with 25.5 and will have 73.5 RBIs.  Encarnacion is on pace to hit 39 doubles and 13.5 homers and drive in 43.5 runs and Rajai Davis is on pace to steal 46.5 bases and be caught 15 times.  None of this really means anything, of course.

Here’s today’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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It was Alomar’s day, for sure, but it was nice not to have to deal with any of the hand-wringing and rending of garments about Colby Rasmus’s hitlessness on The JaysTalk.  It’s baseball, everybody goes through what Rasmus did over his first three games as a Jay at some point.  In fact, Eric Thames went 0-for-4 in this game, and he has now gone 13 consecutive at-bats without a hit.  Thames is 3 for his last 22, but no one is worried.  That’s only because he made such a great first impression and built his early numbers to the point that even with this rut, he’s still hitting .285/.326/.485.  Had Thames gone 3 for 22 to begin his Blue Jays career, people would have been falling all over themselves to be the first to call him a bust. Perspective, please.

Also, had Rasmus gotten out in his second at-bat to extend his streak to 0-for-14 to begin his Blue Jays career, he would have matched the same streak as some guy named Jose Bautista, who didn’t get a hit until his 15th at-bat as a Jay.

The non-waiver trade deadline passed in about the 7th inning of the game, with Encarnacion and Jose Molina still on the field in a Blue Jays’ uniform.  Francisco came out and pitched the 9th well after the deadline had passed.  Alex Anthopoulos kicked some tires on deadline day, as he does every day, most notably on Astros’ lefty starter Wandy Rodriguez and Rockies’ catcher Chris Iannetta.  Rodriguez will definitely still be available in August – there’s no way he doesn’t clear waivers, and the Jays will have an opportunity to claim him before playoff teams looking for starting pitching help do anyway.  There will be deals made in August, no doubt – Francisco, Encarnacion and Jon Rauch are candidates to move, but no big-splash stuff like the midweek pair of deals that netted the Blue Jays Rasmus are likely to happen.

The Blue Jays will have Simcoe Day off, as will I (I’ll be celebrating anniversary number 12 – just like Roberto Alomar’s number! – with my lovely and long-suffering bride), but a six-game road trip through Tampa Bay and Baltimore begins on Tuesday night with the first of three at the Rays – a great battle of lefties between Ricky Romero and David Price.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern; join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590.  You can find Mr. 11 Ks @2Morrow23 and you can find Tuesday night’s starter @RickyRo24.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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 4:45 PM Eastern

There are games you’re going to win, there are games that can go either way and there are games you’re going to lose.  A subset of the “games you’re going to lose” is one of “games in which you’re going to get thoroughly dominated, and this was one of those.

Derek Holland was absolutely masterful, spoiling a very good season debut from Brad Mills.  The Rangers’ starter had the Blue Jays eating out of his left hand all afternoon.  Holland picked up his 10th win, a fourth shutout that ties him with Cliff Lee for the major-league lead, and though he allowed four hits, only one of them was legit.

Jose Bautista singled in the first inning, but that was a pop-up to first that Michael Young lost in the sun.  John McDonald had a bunt single in the second inning, but he might well have been out had Holland not thrown the ball away.  In the 8th, J.P. Arencibia beat out a ground ball into the hole at short on which Omar Quintanilla threw wildly to first.

The only legitimate hit of the afternoon was a grounder that Bautista rocketed between short and third with two out in the 6th.

The two hits for Bautista in this game upped his post-ankle injury average 27 points to .256.  He hasn’t hit a home run since coming back from that ugly ankle twistage the first game after the all-star break, but he has posted an OBP of .375 despite the lack of power.  He’s in a power slump, to be sure, but the idea that he’s lost at the plate or some such, as was suggested in the live chat, is ridiculous.

Brad Mills was sensational in his season debut, though he was pitching against a Rangers line-up that was missing Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton.  Mills really made only one mistake, and Mitch Moreland took him deep with a runner on in the second.  He threw seven innings of slow and slower, with a nice over-the-top curveball, and allowed just six hits, issuing one unintentional walk and striking out five.  It’s a start that will definitely keep him in the rotation, unless he showed enough to the scouts in the stands that he winds up part of a trade before Sunday afternoon’s deadline.  If Mills does stick around, his next four starts will be against Baltimore, Seattle and Oakland (twice) so expect him to look awfully good for a while.

Colby Rasmus took the collar again, but so did the overwhelming majority of his new teammates.  The centrefielder of the present and future is now 0-for-12 (with a walk) to begin his Blue Jays career and no, I’m not the least bit worried.

There was an ejection in the 6th inning, as Yunel Escobar hit a ground ball to second and then slowly jogged up the line.  Ian Kinsler’s throw was wild and Escobar believed it pulled Michael Young off the bag, so when he was called out, Yunel leapt up in the air and complained rather forcefully to the first-base umpire, who threw him out.  It’s not difficult to see why the Braves soured on Escobar – he rarely runs out a ground ball (there would have been neither an ejection nor an argument if he’d run out this one, because he’d have beaten the throw) and he can get lazy with his throws from shortstop.  When he’s struggling at the plate, as he did the first half of last season, those things are far less easy to slough off.  But Escobar is killing it at the plate and in the field, so you have to take the bad with the good.

Here’s today’s brief edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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The series wraps up Sunday afternoon with the rubber match – Brandon Morrow gets the ball for the Blue Jays, coming off his first poor outing in eight starts.  He’ll face Texas lefty C.J. Wilson, who is 10-4 with a 3.16 ERA and 1.199 WHIP.  While it’s the rubber match of the series, the Blue Jays can also take the season series with the Rangers if they can win it – right now they’re 5-4 this year against the defending A.L. Champs.

There’ll be a big show before the game as well, as the Jays raise Roberto Alomar’s #12 to the rafters, never to be worn again.  The ceremony begins at about 12:30 PM Eastern, which is the same time we hit the airwaves for the pre-game show.  First pitch will be pushed back to somewhere around 1:30.  If you can’t get down to the ballpark, make sure you join us along the Blue Jays Radio Network!

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  If you’re interested in following Sunday’s starting pitchers (though I doubt they’ll be tweeting during the game), you can follow Morrow @2Morrow23 and Wilson @str8edgeracer.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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11:35 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays only managed five hits in their series opener with the Rangers, but three of them came all in a row to start the bottom of the 5th, and the last of those three was a home run by J.P. Arencibia.  The rookie catcher has been on fire for the last week, and he provided all the offense Brett Cecil – who has been every bit as hot - would need, though the lefty did require the bullpen this time.

Cecil allowed a run on seven hits through seven innings of work to pick up the win and even his record for the season at 4-4.  He walked one and struck out six.  Over his last 21 innings of work, Cecil has allowed just the one run on 13 hits, walking four and striking out 14.  What happened 21 innings ago?  Mr. John sat down beside him after a rough second inning against the Mariners and told him, in no uncertain terms, to get his act together.  And he didn’t say act.  The Jays also made a mechanical adjustment with Cecil after that Seattle start, getting him to bring his hands over his head in the windup in order to get all the parts moving correctly.  So far, so really, really good.

As for Arencibia, he got hot when the Jays went into Texas last week, homering twice in the opener of that series.  Over  his last six games, Arencibia has five home runs and nine RBIs, has scored five runs and is hitting .350/.381/1.200.  He’s 7-for-20 and all seven hits have gone for extra bases.  Awfully swell.

Edwin Encarnacion stayed red-hot, too, going 2-for-2 with a double and a couple of walks.  He’s certainly impressing any scouts who are here to take a look at him.  Since the all-star break, Edwin is hitting .353/.475/.608.  That’s a swell little OPS of 1.083.  Granted, it’s only 14 games, but it’s the right 14 games as we head up to Sunday’s trade deadline.

Frank Francisco pitched a shutout 8th, allowing a Mike Young flare double that snapped a streak of 14 consecutive hitters retired, but Frankie McFrankFrank is heating up at the right time, too.  Apparently there are scouts sniffing around him with teams looking for bullpen help, and Frankie has retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he’s faced, though he has only struck out three of them.

On the Daily Colby Rasmus Report (TM) – the newly-acquired centerfielder was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, but he did draw a walk in the 4th, the first time he’s reached base as a Blue Jay.  He’s going to be just fine, you’ll never remember this, I promise.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure. ERBLETHSA!!!!!!!!!!

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The series continues on Saturday afternoon with the Blue Jays looking to pick up a fourth straight win and climb three games over the .500 mark for the first time since they were 5-2 on April 8th.  Brad Mills will make his first start of the season, in what may well be a showcase appearance.  The rookie lefty has had a very nice year in Las Vegas, posting a 3.99 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in a very, very tough hitters’ league.  Mills is an old-fashioned lefty junkballer who comes straight over the top and is a lot of fun to watch – the question is, will his stuff play against big swingers in the major leagues?  Lefty Derek Holland answers for the Rangers.  We’ll be on the air at 12:30 PM Eastern with a pre-game show that will feature an interview with Colby Rasmus, among other wonderful things – first pitch flies at 1:07.  Join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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1:25 AM Eastern

It wasn’t exactly an auspicious debut for Colby Rasmus as he donned a Blue Jays uniform for the first time, hit second in the line-up, and proceeded to go 0-for-5, but that’s OK.  Anyone who expected him to have a J.P. Arencibia-esque debut was bound to be disappointed, and anyone who makes any judgements on him based on one 0-for-5 is going to be someone whose mind will be easily changed when he hits his first home run or two.

There were a couple of things I really liked about Rasmus on Day 1, though.  I loved the way he played a pair of line drives that were hit right at him, for starters.  He sort of stalked them, got his eyes down low to catch the flight of the ball,  which is a method I haven’t seen too many centrefielders use.  He played a really strong centrefield – good routes, good coverage, very impressive but for the one throw he needed to make, and I’ll excuse that, because of the way the ball was hit.

It was a soft liner by Adam Jones in the 5th inning on which Rasmus had to hang back, since there was no way he was going to catch it, and play the bounce off a surface with which he’s unfamiliar.  He wound up catching the ball flatfooted and tried to make a hero throw to the plate to nail a pretty quick J.J. Hardy, and didn’t get enough on it, so it short-hopped J.P. Arencibia well in front of the plate.  He gets a mulligan on that one for me.

Rasmus definitely showed himself to be a quiet country boy in his introductory news conference.  He said all the right things about fresh starts, about relaxing and letting his talent take over and about having fun playing the game.  He also said that it was difficult to keep up with Alex Anthopoulos because he talks so fast and he referred to Jays’ manager John Farrell as “Mr. John”.  Rasmus said he didn’t think he’d have any trouble with big-city life so long as he could find some good food, so here’s hoping he hooks up with Travis Snider pretty quickly.

Speaking of Snider, the Jays’ leftfielder singled in each of his first two at-bats to break out of a 2-for-26 slide, and scored on a J.P. Arencibia double in the 3rd.  Orioles catcher Matt Wieters dropped the relay throw on that play, which was a very good thing.  If he hadn’t, Snider was preparing to, as they say, hit him so hard that his children would feel it.

P.J. Walters made his Blue Jays’ debut in the 6th inning, with a strikeout and a walk that was erased by a fantastic catch by Adam Lind on a looper over his head that was turned into a double play.  After the game, Walters was optioned to Las Vegas and Jesse Litsch was called up to take his spot.  Litsch will serve as a long man out of the bullpen for now.

The reason Litsch wasn’t called up sooner, and that Walters got to spend a day with the big club, was because Jesse wouldn’t have been able to pitch in either of the last two games, given the fact that he’d started and thrown 88 pitches for Las Vegas on Monday night.  Litsch will watch as Brad Mills starts Saturday afternoon against the Rangers, which I’m assuming is a one-shot deal for Mills, perhaps as a showcase in case he’s part of a trade before Sunday’s deadline.

Here’s today’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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The homestand continues as the Texas Rangers hit town for a three-game series that begins Friday night.  It’s a rematch of last Sunday night’s beauty of a pitchers’ duel between Brett Cecil and Alexi Ogando.  Cecil threw a four-hit shutout for his first-ever nine-inning complete game, and Ogando only gave up runs in one of his 6 2/3 innings of work.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:34 AM Eastern

I can certainly understand if you thought there might not have been one, given everything that happened earlier in the day, and there’s no question that the game was secondary to the huge trade that the Blue Jays made a few hours before first pitch, but there was a game, and it was a good one.

Ricky Romero took care of any worries about a short bullpen with a dominant performance in picking up his 8th win of the season.  He took a four-hit shutout into the 9th inning, having thrown 113 pitches through eight – 41 of those coming in the first two innings over which he issued three walks.  Romero really turned it on the rest of the way, facing just two Orioles over the minimum from the third to the eighth and allowing only one runner past first base over that span.  The lefty came back out to start the 9th and struck out Adam Jones and Vladimir Guerrero, but J.P. Arencibia couldn’t corral the change-up in the dirt on which Vladdy whiffed, so Guerrero reached first.  Romero then got ahead of Derrek Lee, but hit him in the foot to bring the tying run to the plate, and watched the rest of the game.

He watched Jon Rauch came in from a bullpen that no longer had Octavio Dotel, Jason Frasor or Marc Rzepczynski in it, and saw the big righty get two outs on fly balls to left – the first one a shot that Travis Snider ran down in the gap – to save the game.

From an offensive perspective, it was business as usual for Rajai Davis, who singled, stole second and third and then scored on a two-out single by Eric Thames.  Jose Bautista drove in a run with a 1st-inning single and J.P. Arencibia belted his 16th home run of the season, putting him only four back of John Buck’s single-season club record for homers by a catcher.  Pretty impressive for a rookie, and J.P. showed such easy power in taking accused involuntary manslaughterer Alfredo Simon deep in the 4th.

On a down note, Travis Snider struck out four times – though he gave Troy Patton a heck of a battle in his final at-bat.  That’s six Ks for Snider in his last seven at-bats; he’s 2-for-26 since hitting the three-run homer that capped a 5 RBI night last Wednesday against the Mariners.  It’s no secret, but I still have a lot of faith in Snider, still believe he’s going to figure it out and eventually be a monster.  Remember – he’s still younger than Eric Thames and Colby Rasmus.  That’s not an insignificant thing.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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The JaysTalk was mostly about the day’s big trade – or trades, depending on how you want to categorize things.  In the overall, the Blue Jays traded Zach Stewart, Frasor, Rzepczynski, Dotel and Corey Patterson and got back Rasmus, Mark Teahen, Trever Miller, P.J. Walters and an injured Brian Tallet.  As part of the deal, Edwin Jackson went from the White Sox to the Cardinals via the Jays.  The Blue Jays also owe St. Louis three players to be named later – those players will move by Dec. 31 of this year off a list the Jays have already provided to the Cards, and if St. Louis can’t find three players they like on the list, the Jays will give them cash.  That stipulation indicates to me that  none of the players are likely to be decent prospects.

So, just your typical 11- to 14-player deal, no big whoop.

Rasmus is a guy on whom Alex Anthopoulos has had his eye for a very long time.  He’s a high-ceiling, all-star potential middle of the diamond player, the kind that Anthopoulos has been known to covet (see Yunel Escobar, Travis d’Arnaud, Adeiny Hechavarria, Dickie Thon, Jr., Jake Marisnick et al).  Rasmus was available because Tony LaRussa’s patience with him had worn thin, much like Bobby Cox’s patience with Escobar had last July. 

You can hear my thoughts on the deal on The JaysTalk just above, but I’ll summarize thusly – the Blue Jays got the best player in the trade, and pretty easily.  Players like Rasmus, who is just 24 years old and still under team control through the end of 2014, are not easily acquired.  You generally can’t get them at all unless something isn’t going right, which is why both Rasmus and Escobar came over once they had worn out their welcomes with their original teams for whatever reason.  Anthopoulos is gambling both on Rasmus’ talent and on his prior production in the big leagues, just like he did with Escobar. Rasmus hit .276/.361/.498 last season as a 23 year-old in St. Louis, with 28 doubles, 23 home runs and 12 stolen bases (8 cs).  He’s a five-tool guy who, again, has the potential to be a perennial all-star.

In order to get Rasmus, the Jays had to take Teahen, who hasn’t had a really good year since 2006 and who is owed just over $7 million through the end of next season, and they had to move all those pitchers.  Teahen will be a utility guy here, backing up first, third and the outfield corners.

Stewart has the highest ceiling of the arms the Jays moved; they said that he was neck-and-neck with Kyle Drabek at the end of last season.  The young righty didn’t go out and dominate AA this year, but he showed well in a brief cup of coffee in the bigs and I don’t really think the Jays have soured on him all that much.  They just needed him to get Jackson, for whom the Cardinals were willing to deal Rasmus.  The deal wouldn’t have worked without Rzepczynski, who is having a very good season as a late-inning lefty.  He might wind up being a solid starter in St. Louis, and he might wind up being Scott Downs.  Either way, he’s a guy you don’t hesitate to include in a deal to get a talent like Rasmus, especially when the Cardinals insist on his inclusion in the deal.  Jason Frasor and Octavio Dotel are good bullpen arms, with Frasor being the freak-of-nature non-closer who is consistently very good year after year, but relievers are abundant in the wild, and packaging bullpen arms to get a centre-field stud is a no-brainer.  Also, the Jays managed to move Patterson in this deal, and no harm done there.

The Jays get back Miller as a bullpen lefty who is really going through it this season (though, as Shi Davidi noticed, Miller was the only one of the new Jays who didn’t have a nameplate up in the clubhouse after the game – hmmmmmmm), and P.J. Walters comes over as well.  Walters is a big righty who has the same birthday as Jerry Howarth.  He’s had sporadic and unsuccessful time in the bigs over the last three years, but he’s put up decent numbers in the Pacific Coast League the last three seasons as a starter.  The Cardinals called Walters up earlier this month, and he’d made three spotless appearances out of the bullpen (3 2/3 shutout innings, no hits, 1 walk, 3K) before getting lit up by the Astros Monday night.

Tallet’s injury puts the rest of his season in doubt, so he may never suit of for the Jays in his second tour of duty with the organization.

Maybe Walters winds up being something, but it really doesn’t matter.  The Jays can get by with a bullpen that includes Rauch, Frank Francisco, Casey Janssen, Shawn Camp, Walters and maybe Wil Ledezma and Miller or Luis Perez for the rest of the season.  It’s not as strong as the one that had Zep, Frasor and Dotel, but the difference might be two or three wins at the absolute most in a season in which they’re going to finish well out of the playoffs.

This deal was made not with the last 58 games of 2011 in mind, but with 2012 and beyond and, as he almost always does, Alex Anthopoulos got his man.  We can only hope the fresh start and change of scenery help Rasmus achieve the potential that he’s shown in the past and that everyone knows is in there.  If he does, a Blue Jays outfield of Snider, Rasmus and Bautista could be an ever better Blue Jays outfield than George Bell, Lloyd Moseby and Jesse Barfield.  Heresy, I know.

So what happens when Brett Lawrie comes up?  Well, before the game, Anthopoulos said that the young future stud wouldn’t be arriving on the scene on August 2nd, as I had predicted, but we know things can change in a hurry with this group.  When Lawrie does get here, Bautista moves back to right field and Eric Thames likely starts to do a lot of DHing.  Rajai Davis will lose playing time, and so will Edwin Encarnacion, but they’re two right-handed hitters who hit lefties well, so they’ll likely get some time in against left-handers, and Edwin (if he’s not traded by then) could also give Lawrie a breather at third every once in a while.

I don’t anticipate that the dealing is done, though.

Rasmus makes his Blue Jays’ debut as the series with the Orioles wraps up Thursday night - Carlos Villanueva takes on Brad Bergesen, whose name always reminds me of Norm MacDonald as Burt Reynolds on Saturday Night Live’s send-up of Jeopardy! We’ll be on at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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11:25 PM Eastern

Maybe he just had too much cake this afternoon.

Brandon Morrow had been pitching so well lately – over his last seven starts he’d gone 5-0, 2.85 with a WHIP barely above 1.000, having allowed 48 baserunners in 47 1/3 innings while striking out 52.  Batters were hitting .196/.266/.296 against him over that span.  I’m not saying he was due for a bad start, but I am saying that he can be forgiven for one.  If this happens once every eight times out, that’s fine – it’s just too bad it  had to spoil Morrow’s 27th birthday.

A pall was cast over the  Rogers Centre denizens in the third inning when Jose Bautista took a Jake Arrieta fastball right in the head.  The ball bounced off the left ear flap of Bautista’s batting helmet and the Jays’ slugger crumpled to the ground.  He stayed there, relatively motionless, on his hands and knees, and came out of the game, but the rest of the news is good.  Bautista showed no signs of a concussion and should be back in the line-up Wednesday night.  He reported after the game that he felt fine, no dizziness, nothing, and that he stayed on the ground because he figured that was what you were supposed to do after you get hit in the head.

Generally when Bautista gets buzzed, he will take that pitcher deep later in the game, and usually in a big spot.  This time, there was no opportunity for that, so Adam Lind did the job for him.  Lind followed the Bautista beaning by taking Arrieta deep for a three-run homer that looked pretty huge at the time.  It brought the Jays back from 4-0 down to within a run, but then Nolan Reimold took Morrow deep on the first pitch of the 4th, and J.J. Hardy hit his second homer of the game later in that inning, and the Jays were never really in it again.

Wilfredo Ledezma made his Blue Jays’ debut in the 7th inning, as the Jays’ third reliever of the night, trying to hold the game at 10-4.  He got off to a spectacular start, striking out the first two batters he faced in a perfect inning, and earned the right to come back out for the 8th, which didn’t go as well.  After Adam Jones flied out to the wall in right and Vladimir Guerrero lined to second, Ledezma walked Matt Wieters and then gave up a two-run homer to dead centre to Derrek Lee.

Travis Snider tracked the Lee shot, which wound up bouncing off the facing of the 100 level, and made a valiant, but ultimately futile, leap at the wall.  The amazing thing was that Snider actually got his glove up and over the wall, which I don’t think I have ever seen happen before at this place.  There’s a chance that Snider may one day be able to pull a home run back, which would be amazing.  According to Jerry Howarth, that has only happened once in the history of Rogers Centre, and it was Ken Griffey, Jr. who did it.  No question Snider would absolutely love to be in exclusive company with The Kid.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk – always fun and interesting – for your listening pleasure:

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The series continues Wednesday night with Ricky Romero trying to restore order against the O’s Alfredo Simon, who somehow continues to be let into this country, which is kind of interesting seeing how he’s facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter back in the Dominican Republic.  If the Blue Jays can win that one, they’ll  up their record to 26-4 in their last 30 at home against Baltimore and all will be right with the world once again.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  You should also follow @jaysthisweek, where you can find links to The Blue Jays This Week podcast, the latest of which was just posted a few hours ago.  I made lunch while we were taping it, to make some sort of internet history or something.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:18 AM Eastern

Brett Cecil capped a wonderful day for the Blue Jays and for baseball fans all across Canada by completely dominating the Rangers in their own backyard and in so doing, beating back the Texas brooms and getting the Jays back to the .500 mark.

Cecil threw his first career complete-game shutout, recording outs in the 9th inning for the first time in the big leagues, and he was pretty ridiculous.  Cecil allowed only one runner past first base all night and half the hits he the Rangers managed went less than 50 feet.  He walked two and struck out seven, the last of which ended the game on his 121st pitch of the night – which was also a career-high.

In his last start, Cecil allowed five runs in the first two innings to the struggling Seattle Mariners, and as Cecil sat in the dugout after the second inning, John Farrell came over and not-so-gently told Cecil to get his, umm, “stuff” together.  Since that exceedingly one-sided conversation, Cecil has thrown 14 innings of six-hit shutout.

Cecil got offensive support in only one inning, but he made it stand up.  Alexi Ogando matched him almost pitch-for-pitch through the first five, but gave up Yunel Escobar’s third hit of the night leading off the 6th, and an out later, Jose Bautista smacked the night’s first extra-base hit – a double to left-centre that scored Escobar.  Back-to-back two-out doubles by Edwin Encarnacion and Travis Snider later in the inning made it 3-0, and that was more than Cecil would need.

After the game, the Jays announced that Carlos Villanueva is going to be bumped up to pitch on Thursday night, which means that Jo-Jo Reyes’ now-vacated spot moves all the way to next Saturday.  That’s a pretty broad hint that Jesse Litsch is going to  be called up to make that start, which to me is the right thing to do.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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There was much more than just a ballgame for Blue Jays fans, though. While eyes and ears were focused on Arlington, Texas, hearts were thousands of miles north and east, as Pat Gillick and Roberto Alomar were inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.  The greatest General Manager of all-time and arguably the best second baseman of all-time, and both went into the Hall as Blue Jays.

Gillick was the Jays’ GM from 1978-94, through the formative years and the glory years.  It’s impossible to properly credit Gillick enough for the great Jays teams – he did the drafting and the trading and signed the free agents that helped the Jays win a pair of whole shebangs in a row.  Gillick’s greatest strength was that he surrounded himself with terrific baseball people, men like Al LaMacchia, Bobby Mattick and Mel Queen, all three of whom he singled out in a wonderful, emotional speech (which you can find in the audio on demand section of this very website).

Alomar came over to the Jays after the 1990, in one of the most spectacular trades of all-time.  He was the least known of the foursome that included bubble Hall of Famers Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez and World Series hero Joe Carter, and wound up being the best of the bunch.  Alomar was a Blue Jay for only five years, but they were a pretty impressive five years.  In that short span of time, Alomar wowed Jays fans on a regular basis with spectacular defense at second base – making some plays that still can’t really be believed in looking back.  He also hit what might have been the biggest home run in Jays’ history, and what Jays’ fan can forget Alomar doing the Tomahawk Chop as he trotted home from third base in the World Series against the Braves.

Stats-ically, Alomar had a 123 OPS+ as a Blue Jay, walked more than he struck out and stole 206 bases in 252 attempts for an 81.7% success rate.  he was an all-star five times, won (and earned) five Gold Gloves and finished in the top six in MVP voting three times.

Alomar spoke about all the teams for which he played, but saved the Blue Jays for last.  He is the first player in the Hall of Fame wearing a Blue Jay cap on his plaque and could not have been more proud.  He specifically singled out Cito Gaston, his only manager as a Jay, for teaching him how to be a professional, and Jays’ President then and now, Paul Beeston, who he said was like a second father to him.

The ceremony in Cooperstown unleashed a flood of spectacular Blue Jays memories; reminders of how much fun it was to follow a team that put together 11 consecutive winning seasons.  A team that finished more than two games out of first place only ONCE between 1985-93.  One hopes the Jays are on their way back to that kind of prominence; they certainly appear to be on the right track.

The 2011 edition of the Blue Jays will get back at it on Tuesday night, opening up a six-game homestand with a visit from the Baltimore Orioles.  The Jays have won each of Brandon Morrow’s last seven starts, and they’ll try to make it eight straight in the opener against O’s righty Jake Arrieta.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern with our full crew back together – join us, won’t you?

Please follow me on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  If you want to follow the author of the latest Blue Jays’ pitching masterpiece, Brett Cecil can be found @CEC0208.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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1:40 AM Eastern

There was much wailing after the Blue Jays’ latest loss about the awful bullpen and the brutal managing of John Farrell, but really, neither argument held up under any scrutiny.

The Blue Jays didn’t blow this game because of poor relief work or because of any decisions the manager did or didn’t make.  The Jays blew this game because of two things:  Marc Rzepczynski’s inability to field a bunt properly and Corey Patterson’s inability to catch a fly ball.

Carlos Villanueva allowed 10 hits through 5 2/3 innings but only three runs (he didn’t walk anybody), and left with a 4-3 lead because the Blue Jays hit for the cycle against Matt Harrison in the top of the 6th.

Trailing 3-1, the deficit was cut in half immediately by J.P. Arencibia’s third home run in four at-bats.  Yunel Escobar followed with a double and Eric Thames tripled him home to tie the game.  Jose Bautista was next, and he singled to right to complete the four-batter cycle and cash the go-ahead run.

Thanks to some fine relief work by Octavio Dotel (one up, one down) and Jason Frasor (two shutout innings), the Jays took that one-run lead to the 9th when, with a pair of left-handed hitters due to lead the inning off, Marc Rzepczynski was brought in.

That would be the same Marc Rzepczynski against whom lefties have hit .147/.259/.203 this season, who had allowed four baserunners in 23 plate appearances in July going into this game and against whom the opposition was hitting .194/.266/.250 when the score is within one run.

Zep was on to take care of lefties Chris Davis and Mitch Moreland, but Rangers manager Ron Washington went to his bench for noted lefty-killer Mike Napoli to start things off.  Rzepczynski got ahead of Napoli 0-2, but didn’t throw him another strike and wound up issuing that dreaded leadoff walk.  Moreland came up to drop a bunt and move the tying run to second, but Rzepczynski went to barehand it when he had more than enough time to make a proper play with the glove, and as a result couldn’t get a good grip and wound up throwing wild to first, allegedly pulling Adam Lind off the bag.  Moreland was safe, and with the top of the line-up coming up, Jon Rauch came in to try to clean up the mess.

Two bunts later, the Rangers had the game tied, two out and the winning run on third for Josh Hamilton, who was rightly intentionally walked to bring Michael Young to the plate.  Young lifted a fly ball to deep right that looked pretty routine but kept drifting and drifting.  While the ball was drifting, Corey Patterson (just inserted into the game for defense in right field) brought us all back to the great softball game between WKRP and WPIG, turning around once, then again, and butchering what should have been the inning’s third out into the game-winning single.  At least Les Nessman caught his ball, eyes closed or not.

After the game, Patterson said he didn’t feel that the ball was catchable.  I think it’s safe to say that he’s the only one who saw the game that felt that way.  It was a ball that is caught by pretty much every big-league outfielder not named Juan Rivera.  This was a game that should still be going on, but instead it’s the Jays’ 10th loss in a game in which they blow a save.

The JaysTalk featured more armchair managers than usual, maybe more than the entirety of the season to this point combined!  You can hear the ideas, and my responses, below, but just to address a couple of things:

-The idea that Elvis Andrus should have been intentionally walked to load the bases for Josh Hamilton borders on insanity.  The Jays still had the lead with runners at second and third with one out, Andrus at the plate (he squeezed in the tying run, as it turned out) and Hamilton on deck.  Walking Andrus would have set up a force at the plate or the possibility of a game-ending double play.  It also would have brought the Rangers’ best hitter to the plate, a guy who was already 3-for-4 on the night to bring his numbers against right-handers up to .343/.399/.573 on the season.  That’s who I want to face in a one-run game with the bases loaded and one out.  Not so much.

-The idea that bringing in Rzepczynski was the wrong move.  The only reason that might be the case is that Farrell had to know that Washington would counter with Napoli.  So basically it’s bringing Zep in to face Napoli as opposed to bringing Rauch in to face Davis and Moreland, the two lefties.  It’s a pick your poison kind of moment.  The way to get around it is to go to Casey Janssen, who has been devastating against left-handed hitters this season (.219/.275/.281) and whose entry into the game wouldn’t have brought out the pinch-hitters.  In a perfect world, Janssen’s the guy in that spot.  The last time Casey pitched though, Thursday, in just his second outing since coming off the DL, he faced three hitters and didn’t get any of them out, giving up a Grand Slam in the bargain.

One caller suggested Rauch for Napoli, then Zep for Moreland, then Camp for Kinsler, ignoring the fact that there wouldn’t have been a Napoli had Rauch come in to face the lefties, and conveniently forgetting that Camp gave up four runs on five hits in an inning and a third the night before.

There’s never a perfect right or wrong answer, but the truth is that no matter what moves Farrell did or didn’t make, if Rzepczynski can field an easy bunt cleanly and if Patterson can catch a deep fly ball, the Blue Jays more than likely win the game.

Here’s the show, for your listening pleasure:

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The series wraps up with a Sunday nighter that’s not Sunday Night Baseball, Brett Cecil taking on the out-of-his-skull Alexi Ogando (10-3, 2.72, WHIP of 1.003).  It’s Hall of Fame Induction day, so we’ll be all over the events in Cooperstown through the pre-pre-game show, which begins at 7:00 PM Eastern on Sportsnet Radio The Fan590 and on this very website, and on the network pre-game, which goes across the country half an hour later.  Don’t miss it!

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:53 AM Eastern

Right?  If we all agree that nothing happened, then nothing happened.

The only thing the Blue Jays can take from their series-opening shellacking at the hands of the Texas Rangers is that J.P. Arencibia homered twice.  Arencibia had been 0-for-16 going into his second at-bat of this game (which came in the 6th inning, after eight Rangers had come to bat three times each), and Colby Lewis was cruising with a no-hitter and an 8-0 lead, but the rookie catcher changed that with a no-doubt blast to left for his 13th homer of the season.

Arencibia added number 14 on Arthur Rhodes’ first pitch of the 8th, just sneaking it out to dead centre.

It’s been a rough go lately for Arencibia, much like it is for pretty much every catcher in his first year in the big leagues.  He’d had an 0-for-17 to start July, then had six hits in four games before starting back on a bad run.  He’s got a lot on his plate as a freshman backstop, and his left hand is banged up as well, making things even more difficult.

Despite all this, he’s still on pace to set a single-season club record for home runs by a catcher.  Not a rookie, any catcher.

So that’s the positive, let’s leave it at that.  No need to go over the fact that while Jo-Jo Reyes is 5-5 over his past 11 starts including tonight, he’s posted an ERA of 6.46 and a WHIP of 1.663, averaging just four strikeouts per nine innings of work.  We don’t need to bring that up, or John Farrell’s non-committal non-answer as to Reyes’ future in the rotation, because this game never happened.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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The series in Texas starts Saturday night (because tonight, again, was Major League 3 – never happened) with the Jays sending Carlos Villanueva  to the mound against Rangers’ lefty Matt Harrison.  Prior to the game, former Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne will be presented with the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence as part of Induction Weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY and we wish him a hearty congratulations and hope that his one-time back-up, Tom Cheek, is soon to follow.

Join us for the pre-pre-game show at 7:00 PM Eastern on Sportsnet Radio The Fan590 and on this very website; we’ll hook up with the rest of the country on the full network starting at 7:30 for an 8:05 first pitch.  As part of the pre-game show, Alan Ashby will talk to Farrell, and you’ll hear my conversation with Sandy Alomar, Sr., father of Sunday’s HOF inductee Roberto.  Join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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5:55 PM Eastern

It started out as a pitching clinic and finished as anything but.  Two of the best-but-least-supported starting pitchers in the majors set out to battle under a closed roof on a scalding hot day in Toronto, and Doug Fister and Ricky Romero put on a show for four innings before both blinked in the 5th.

Ricky was first, committing the Cardinal sin of issuing back-to-back two-out walks to the 8th- and 9th-place hitters in the line-up.  He paid for it as Ichiro Suzuki opened the scoring with a ground single up the middle.  But the Blue Jays, who had just one baserunner in the first four frames (an Eric Thames single), got to Fister in the bottom of the inning, also because of control issues.  Fister walked Edwin Encarnacion to lead things off, then after getting two quick outs on pop-ups, hit J.P. Arencibia with an 0-1 pitch to extend the inning.  Mike McCoy, taking advantage of a rare chance to start with Aaron Hill getting the day off, smacked a double down the left-field line to tie the game.

The Jays took their first lead in the bottom of the 6th, as Thames struck out but reached as Miguel Olivo couldn’t corral strike three, then scored on a booming double to left by Jose Bautista.

In the 7th, Fister let things get away from him – he walked Arencibia after a leadoff infield single by Corey Patterson, then had Patterson dead to rights at third on a McCoy bunt, but the ball popped out of his hand as he went to throw.  Yunel Escobar singled to centre on the next pitch to score one run, and Fister then walked Thames to force another in before hitting the showers.  Bautista greeted Chris Ray with a sac fly to make it 5-1, but after a Rajai Davis (running for Thames) steal of second and an intentional walk to Adam Lind, the Jays could cash no more.  Still, 5-1 seemed to be a pretty comfortable lead to take to the 8th, especially with Romero having retired seven in a row since the Suzuki hit – five of them via the strikeout.

But the 8th was not kind to the Jays’ ace.  After Jack Wilson grounded to short for the first out, Suzuki hit a grounder wide of first.  It was an easy play for McCoy at second, but Lind thought he might be able to get to it too, so he overcommitted and couldn’t get back to first in time.  McCoy threw to Romero covering but Ichiro, as he is wont to do, beat the pitcher to the bag.  Brendan Ryan followed with a chopper that Romero came off the mound to field, but Ricky hesitated ever-so-slightly before throwing to first and Ryan beat it. Adam Kennedy was next, and he drew a walk – Romero’s fourth of the game – and that was it for the lefty.

On came Casey Janssen, who looked so good in shutting the Mariners down in the 14th inning Tuesday night to pick up the win.  This time, though, he couldn’t get anybody out.  Worse still, Olivo took his second pitch and put it in the seats for the Mariners’ first Grand Slam of the season, tying the game at five and taking all the air out of the building.  After a couple of anticlimactic singles, Jon Rauch came riding in on what would have to be a rather massive figurative white horse to pop up Franklin Gutierrez and strike out Chone Figgins to end the threat.

In a tie game, Seattle went to David Pauley, who has been an incredibly reliable reliever for them this season and who threw three innings of one-hit shutout in the extra inning affair on Tuesday.  But in so doing they kept Brandon League in the bullpen once again – the guy who is allegedly Seattle’s best reliever didn’t pitch at all in this series, one that involved seven innings from the 8th on in which games were tied.  Pauley got two quick outs, but McCoy played hero again, doubling to left.  After a walk to Escobar, it was Davis’ turn to be the hero with the bat, and not his legs, and he smacked a line drive to right-centre over a slightly-drawn-in Suzuki that went for a two-run double to give the Jays the lead for good.

Rauch came back in the 9th and, not eligible for the save because he was the pitcher of record to win, gave up a two-out single and nothing more to secure the sweep.  With the win, the Jays are back over .500 (50-49) for the first time since June 18th, they finish the homestand 5-2 and they’ve won eight of their last 10 games.

It doesn’t feel like the Jays are on a roll, though, because of the slam today and another blown save, though the Jays overcame that to win. 

Let’s take a good, hard look at the blown saves out over which so many Blue Jays fans seem to be tearing their hair:

The Blue Jays have blown 16 save opportunities in 14 games this season.  In those 14 games, the Jays are 5-9, which is pretty remarkable. You’d expect something more like 3-11 or 2-12.  There have been two games in which the Jays’ bullpen blew two save opportunities, and the Jays actually won one of those, beating the Red Sox 7-6 in 10 innings in a game in which Marc Rzepczynski blew a save in the 8th and Frank Francisco blew another one in the 9th.

Of the 16 blown saves, three have come in the 7th, five have come in the 8th and eight have come in the 9th.  Francisco has four of the blown saves, all of which have come in the 9th inning, while Marc Rzepczynski also has four, none of which have come in the 9th.

But what about the opposition?  If you’re going to hold these blown saves against the Blue Jays, then you have to consider the save opportunities that the Jays have forced their opponents to blow.  While the Jays have 16 blown saves, they have forced only nine.  But while the Jays have lost nine games in which they have blown a save, they have won seven games in which their opponent has blown a save.

The difference, in a perfect world in which nobody’s relievers ever messed anything up?  Two wins. 

Here’s today’s edition of The JaysTalk, featuring special guest Will Carroll of SI.com, for your listening pleasure:

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The Blue Jays are off on a quick little road trip now, they’ll visit the Texas Rangers for three before coming home for three each with the Orioles and Rangers.  It’s right back into the fire, taking on a first-place team, after facing the struggling Mariners.  The three games in Texas will bring the Jays’ total to 21 of their last 24 games (and 24 of 30) against a team that is either in a playoff spot or within half a game of first place as I write this.  Tough sledding, but so far over that stretch, they’re 11-10 (or 14-13, depending where you start to count), which is pretty terrific.  Last time they were in Texas, though, the Jays took three of four, outscoring the Rangers 27-16, and Adam Lind hit three homers and drove in eight.  The one game they lost, though, was started by Jo-Jo Reyes, and the lefty will get the call in the opener against the Rangers’ Colby Lewis, who the Jays dropped in the opener of that last series in Arlington.

It’s Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown, and Jerry Howarth with be there to attend the ceremonies for Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick (and Bert Blyleven and Dave Van Horne).  Former Blue Jay Tim Crabtree will be joining Alan Ashby for the three games in Texas.  We’re on the air across the country at 7:30 pm Eastern Friday night for an 8:05 first pitch, and those listening on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 and this very website get the special treat of a pre-pre-game show. starting at 7:00 PM Eastern.  Make sure you tune in to hear from some old-time Blue Jays who were in town with the Mariners these last three days (no, not Brandon League – I mean REAL old-time Jays, like from the 1970s).

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  You can also follow JaysTalk guest Will Carroll @injuryexpert!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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