11:26 PM Eastern

Man, you take 48 hours off to observe a High Holiday and the entire baseball world gets turned upside down!

I figured I might as well chime in on all the Wednesday night goings-on, but first I’ll remind you that time is slipping away to vote for Tom Cheek to appear on the final ballot of the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence.  The voting continues through Saturday afternoon – it seems they’ve extended it a day to make up for the poll being down last Saturday.  Voting closes at 5:00 PM Eastern on Saturday afternoon, so make sure to get a vote in tonight and another one on the Saturday ballot.  I have no idea what the numbers have been like, but I’m hoping they’re as strong as ever.  Please don’t let up, let’s finish with a big push and get Tom the recognition he so completely deserves, and has for years now.

Just go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall click on “wall”, scroll down to find the poll and cast a vote for Tom Cheek.  Show Cooperstown what Tom meant to you, to Toronto, to Canada for 28 years of wonderful, ironman broadcasting.  Thank you.

Tom gave brain cancer all it could handle, but finally succumbed to his illness 18 months after his initial surgery.  One of the reasons that I’m taking part in “Road Hockey To Cure Cancer”, in support of The Princess Margaret, on October 1st is to honour Tom’s memory.  If you’d like to make a donation, and though I don’t want to pressure anyone, I urge you to do what you can to fight this horrible disease that has, I’m sure, personally affected everyone who is reading this, then here’s a link to my page, feel free to donate as much or as little as you like – every little bit helps:

http://www.teamuptoconquercancer.ca/c.dwJTKdO0JlI8G/b.5949225/k.9552/Find_a_Player/siteapps/personalpage/ShowPage.aspx?c=dwJTKdO0JlI8G&b=5949225&sid=cgLQI3NzGaIOK0PFIsH

Thank you.

Now, about the baseball….. you could have knocked me over with a feather with the insane results of three of the four final-night-games-with-playoff-implications.

It wasn’t just that the Rays won and the Red Sox and Braves lost, but very obviously, how it happened.

The St. Louis Cardinals took care of business in the first inning against the MLB-worst Houston Astros, and with Chris Carpenter in complete control, did what they were supposed to do, then just had to wait and see if they’d be playing a playoff game Thursday.  That was the only game that went according to script.

In St. Petersburg, the Yankees had a seven-run lead with six outs to play, but the Rays made an incredible comeback – partly because of Joe Girardi’s misplaced intransigence.

Girardi, who on Tuesday spoke out against the fact that American League teams were only going to have one day off between the end of the regular season and the first day of the post-season, said he didn’t want to overwork any of his key relievers, and therefore refused to use his “big three” of Mariano Rivera, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano in the final game because then they’d only have one day off before Game 1 of the first round (who knew they wouldn’t even finish the second inning of Game 1?).  So instead of cutting off the Rays’ huge rally by going to one of the non-Rivera righties against Evan Longoria in the 8th inning Wednesday – or even earlier, he left Luis Ayala in to give up the three-run homer that gave T-Bay life.  It could have been over right there.

The Dan Johnson pinch-hit homer with two out in the 9th was high drama, as was Longoria’s game-winner leading off the 12th – just three minutes after the Sox had lost.  But the game-winner came against Scott Proctor, who hasn’t been any good in four years and who was in his third inning of work.  Ridiculous, and it would serve Girardi and the Yankees right if the Rays wound up beating them in the ALCS when the Yanks could have all but knocked them out in Game 162.

Of course, a Yankee win wouldn’t have knocked the Rays completely out because of what happened in Baltimore – but who knows how the space-time continuum would have recreated itself had the Yanks won that game in regulation?  As it turned out, the Red Sox game was even with the Rays game, time-wise, because of an hour and 26-minute rain delay at Camden Yards, but this is a game that the Red Sox – or anyone else, for that matter – win 98 or 99 times out of 100.

Boston had a one-run lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning and, in his final move as Red Sox skipper (as it turned out), Terry Francona gave the ball to Jonathan Papelbon, who had thrown 28 pitches and given up a run in picking up the save the night before.

Papelbon – who may have been throwing his last as a Red Sock – looked awfully sharp early, with drama-free strikeouts of Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds.  He gave up a double to Chris Davis, but then got to two strikes on Nolan Reimold – just like Cory Wade did with Dan Johnson in St. Pete – but Reimold doubled in the tying run and then Robert Andino hit that little line drive that Carl Crawford couldn’t come up with for the game-winning single.

Craziness.

The Red Sox had the Orioles down to their last out with nobody on, and to their last strike with the tying run on base.  The Rays were down to their last strike with nobody on.  And the Rays came back to win while the Red Sox found a way to snatch defeat, much like they had all month long.

The Red Sox suffered the greatest September collapse in baseball history, losing a nine-game lead – but only because the Braves had half a game less to choke away.

Atlanta actually had a 10 1/2 game lead on the Cardinals on August 25th, but it was down to just 8 1/2 by September 1st.

Fredi Gonzalez leaned on his kid relievers a lot this season, and he pitched them basically every other day as the Braves’ lead slipped away in the final month.  Atlanta played 27 games in 28 days in September, going 9-18, with Jonny Venters appearing in 13 of those games and Craig Kimbrel in 12.  They carried a heavy load, and neither of them did it well.

Venters had an ERA over 5.00 and a WHIP over 1.8 for the final month, with an OPS against of .793 as compared to .453 the rest of the season.  He walked a pair and hit a man in the 8th inning Wednesday night, but managed to extricate himself from the bases-loaded jam and hand the lead to Kimbrel in the 9th.

Kimbrel’s 4.76 September ERA was his worst of any month of the season, and his .692 OPS against was decent, but pretty ugly compared to the .464 he’d put up the rest of the year.  He walked a pair in the 9th to load the bases and set up Chase Utley’s game-tying sac fly, then walked Hunter Pence to reload the bases before getting yanked for Kris Medlen.

The Phillies, who had less than nothing to play for – just like the Yankees – used three strong relievers in Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson and Michael Stutes before turning it over to the kids late and eventually winning it on a little nothing flare single by Hunter Pence in the 13th.

So the Cardinals and Rays go into the playoffs on a roll, while the Yankees, Tigers and Rangers, Phillies, Brewers and Diamondbacks go in having clinched a long time ago.

Of course, the rotation-setting advantage for the Yanks and Tigers went out the window with their Game 1 rain-suspension that has screwed everything up as far as having CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander set up to pitch twice in the series, and momentum – which doesn’t exist in baseball – will be credited for carrying the Rays to a series-opening win in Texas which had more to do with C.J. Wilson being awful and Matt Moore appearing as though he might be the second coming.

It was the greatest final day of the regular season in the history of baseball – and maybe in the history of all pro sports – and the post-season has started off rather nicely.  Stick with me the rest of the way and we’ll enjoy the ride to crowning a World Series Champion together!

I’ll be with you every step of the way, with the exception of Yom Kippur next weekend – and major kudos to my Blue Jays This Week co-host Ben Ennis for filling in tonight as Rosh Hashanah wrapped up, he even had to do a Rain Delay Programme and was terrific.

Please follow me on The Twitter @wilnerness590, and follow Ben @bennis590!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome, I’ll answer the ones that are currently in the queue during the early game tomorrow.

7:05 PM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day through (and including) the first of October.  Thank you.

Now, about the game….

It really looked like as though the Blue Jays were going to finish the season with a losing record and on what was going to be their first five-game losing streak of the year.  As it had for the four games previous, the offense was shooting blanks – the Jays managed only two hits over the first eight innings, and the second one should have been called an error on White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez.

The Jays trailed 2-1 into the 9th, and were bringing three left-handed hitters to the plate in Kelly Johnson, David Cooper and Colby Rasmus against Sox lefty Chris Sale, who embarrassed the left-handed Blue Jays he faced last night.

But Even Steven came to the yard anyway.  The Blue Jays are just about the .500est .500 team in the history of .500 teams (the only way they could have wound up .500er was to finish with a run differential of zero), and they got the big rally they needed to finish up that way.

Johnson blasted a double off the wall in dead centre, and Cooper lined a single to right to put runners on the corners.  Then things got weird.  Rasmus came up looking to bunt – might have been a safety squeeze, might have just been to move the go-ahead run to second, but Sale wouldn’t throw him a strike.  Rasmus got ahead in the count 3-1 and bunted anyway, moving Cooper to second, but Johnson stayed at third.  One of the strangest things I’ve ever seen, I don’t know if it was because of an utter lack of confidence in Rasmus’ ability to hit the lefty, but it’s hard to see the light in a decision to bunt with a guy who is in such a huge advantage in the count, almost regardless of the match-up.

It worked, though, because Sale then intentionally walked J.P. Arencibia to load the bases so he could face two more lefties – Mark Teahen and Adam Loewen – and then he walked them both to force in the tying and winning runs.

You thought the Blue Jays’ bullpen had its issues?  How about bringing in a lefty specialist to face five lefties and watch them hit 1.000/1.000/1.500 against him?

Speaking of the Blue Jays’ bullpen, Casey Janssen and Shawn Camp threw a shutout inning each in relief of a bendy-but-don’t-break Brandon Morrow, who walked five and struck out seven over six innings in his final start of the season – not nearly as dominant as his two previous starts,  but he only gave up two runs, which is great.

Frank Francisco came on to work the 9th for his 17th save.  After the all-star break, Francisco allowed four runs on 18 hits in 26 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out 24.  That’s an ERA of 1.37 and a WHIP of 0.835.  And just as Jays fans are starting to fall in like with him, he’s a free agent!

Morrow actually finished this season with a better WHIP than last year – so so much for a huge step back for him.

Here’s today’s final 2011 edition of The JaysTalk – the pre-game variety – for your listening pleasure:

Download

So that’s it, huh?  It was a fun and exciting season – check sportsnet.ca over the next couple of days for a 2011 in review roundtable discussion between me and Shi Diggity, Michael Grange and Scott Carson.

I’m looking forward to the fine playoff coverage that we’ll have throughout the month of October both here and along the radio network!

Thanks so much to those of you who have made it part of your routine to check in with the bloggageness on a daily basis, to those of you who stop by to look every once in a while, and to those who have just popped in for the first time!  I appreciate you all, agree or disagree, and welcome the strong, rational debate and discussion found in our comments section and on the Twitter.  It’s going to be a long, cold winter, but the Blue Jays will be back before you know it!

Speaking of The Twitter, you can follow me over at @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!  Shana Tova!

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1:25 AM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day through (and including) the first of October.  Thank you.

Now, about the game….

It was another terrific outing for Henderson Alvarez, who in his 1o major-league starts this season completely shattered anyone’s expectations of him.  We’d heard about this Venezuelan kid in A-ball who was really going to be something even back when J.P. Ricciardi was still around, but Alvarez took a big step forward this spring – so much so that he was one of three kids singled (tripled?) out by John Farrell as his biggest surprises of camp – and then took another one when he spent the better part of his summer under the tutelage of Sal Fasano and Pete Walker in New Hampshire.

A surprise call-up in August, the 21 year-old wound up securing himself a spot in the top three of the Blue Jays’ rotation next season by posting an ERA of 3.53 and a sparkling WHIP of just 1.13.  In ten starts, he walked eight.  He allowed more than three earned runs in an outing only twice.  He showed a blazing fastball that reached the upper 90s and complemented it with a great change-up.  He has a work-in-progress slider, but often those first two pitches were more than enough.

In this final start of the season, Alvarez allowed a second-inning solo homer to Tyler Flowers and that should have been it, but Jose Molina left too much of the plate available to a sliding Alejandro de Aza in the 6th, and he scored on a two-out single by A.J. Pierzynski despite a phenomenal throw by Jose Bautista – made even better by the fact that it was pouring and the ground was soaked.  Alvarez went seven innings of seven-hitter, didn’t walk a man while striking out six and basically matched Mark Buehrle pitch for pitch in a game that only took two hours and 15 minutes to play.

What wasn’t enough was the offense.  In his final start of the season, the Blue Jays got him one whole run – a Mike McCoy solo shot leading off the 8th (he finally ate that extra Wheatie!).  That’s the fourth time in 10 Alvarez outings in which the Jays have been held to one run.  Couple that with a pair of blown saves behind him and Alvarez finishes a spectacular third-of-a-rookie-season with only one win.

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

Download

The season ends on Wednesday afternoon – too soon, but tempus will fugit and there’s naught about it that any of us can do.  The Blue Jays will send Brandon Morrow to the mound to bring down the curtain against Chicago righty Phillip Humber.  Morrow has been thoroughly spectacular his last two outings – he’s on a streak of 15 straight shutout innings over which he’s allowed just six hits, all singles, and only two of them have made it out of the infield!  He’ll be trying to finish the season with a winning record and in so doing ensure that the Blue Jays won’t finish the season with a losing record.  We’ll be on the air across the network at 2:00 PM Eastern for a 2:10 first pitch, but those of you listening on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 and on this very website get the extra-special treat of a full one-hour pre-pre-game show!  Since it’s a weekday day game and we won’t have a chance to JaysTalk it up afterwards, we will do a pre-game JaysTalk to give you the opportunity to reflect back on the 2011 season and look forward to 2012 and beyond.  Join us, won’t you?

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

Since I’m asking you to do stuff, it would be great if any of you wanted to sponsor me in this weekend’s Road Hockey To Conquer Cancer event in support of Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital.  Here’s a link, any donation would be much appreciated: http://bit.ly/nmoZhL  Thank you very much!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:40 AM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day through (and including) the first of October.  Thank you.

Now, about the game….

This was pretty much a snooze-fest for eight innings.  Two teams that have nothing to play for but pride just kind of getting through the 160th game of the season.  Tyler Flowers’ three-run homer came with two out in the second inning off Dustin McGowan, after McGowan had walked Adam Dunn and hit Alejandro de Aza with a pitch while he was turning to bunt.  The pitch actually hit de Aza on his left leg while his leg was behind the plate, so he should have been out, but it’s a lot to expect umpires to know all the rules and stuff.

Anyway, Flowers took a slider that didn’t quite bite enough (but wasn’t a huge hanger or anything) and sent it deep into the night and it appeared as though that would stand up, especially since the Jays were set to match their three-hit performance of Sunday afternoon as they went into the 9th inning down 4-1.

But then things got fun.

Sergio Santos, the former Jays shortstop prospect turned White Sox closer, came in to try to nail down his 30th save, and he walked J.P. Arencibia and gave up a single up the middle to Mark Teahen.  Santos settled down and struck out both Colby Rasmus and Adam Loewen, each of whom represented the tying run, and David Cooper came out to hit for Mike McCoy.

Cooper worked the count full, then blasted a two-run double off the base of the left field wall to get the Jays back within one.  Santos’ control then left him, and he walked both Eric Thames and Jose Bautista (I didn’t expect him to play tonight, either) to load the bases for Adam Lind.  The proud new papa, working on what I’m assuming is very little to no sleep over the last three days, got behind in the count and fouled off a pair of two-strike pitches before swinging and missing at a ball that just squirted away from White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, but Pierzynski was able to go get the ball and step on the plate just ahead of a sliding pinch-runner Chris Woodward to end the game.

The game went from a snorer to high drama in a heartbeat, and though they wound up on the wrong end, it was typical of the way the Jays have fought hard to the last in pretty much every game they’ve played this season.

They’re 80-80 with two to play, and need to win those last two games in order to secure their 5th winning season in the last six years.

This was the last game Ozzie Guillen would manage for the White Sox.  He quit before the game started (actually asked to be let out of his contract and the Sox agreed) but managed it anyway.  He says no deal is in the works, but it seems pretty apparent that he’ll be the manager of the to-be-newly-named Miami Marlins when they open things up in their new playpen next April.

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

Download

This was McGowan’s final start of the season, and the fact that he was able to take the mound five times in the big leagues this month is both a minor medical miracle and a testament to McGowan’s hard work and perseverance.  He wound up throwing 21 innings in the majors this year (to go with 35 1/3 in the minors) and went 0-2 with an ERA of 6.43 and a WHIP of 1.571.  And that’s awesome – I say that with all seriousness.  He also struck out 20 in 21 innings, which is pretty cool.

If McGowan gets through the winter healthy and comes to Spring Training on the same schedule as everyone else, the Blue Jays will have a fantastic additional weapon in their rotation.  A top four of Romero, Morrow, Alvarez and McGowan seems to be a little ridiculous.

The penultimate game of the season is almost upon us!  Henderson Alvarez will get the call looking for his second win of the season in 10 tries.  However, the Jays have won four of his last five starts, he has a stupid-for-a-21-year-old WHIP of 1.15 and has issued a grand total of eight walks in his first nine starts.  Mark Buehrle will start for the White Sox, so don’t tune in late – we’re on at 7:30 PM Eastern for an 8:10 PM first pitch.

Actually, you’re going to want to tune in early, because the Blue Jays’ team MVP and Pitcher of the Year will be on the pre-pre-game show that begins at 7:00 PM Eastern on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 and on this very website.  I spoke to the pitcher, Alan Ashby handled the interviewing duties for the MVP.  I won’t reveal the winners until the show starts, but I’m pretty sure you can figure it out on your own regardless.  I hope you enjoyed tonight’s pre-pre-game, which featured Jays Rookie of the Year J.P. Arencibia and Most Pleasant Surprise of the Season Brett Lawrie, as voted on by the Blue Jays players and coaching staff.

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

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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10:41 PM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September, and even though there was no new poll posted Saturday, there was one today.  Thank you.

Now, about the game….

It was a poor end to a forgettable season for Brett Cecil.  Coming off a 15-win campaign in 2010, big things were expected from the Jays’ young lefty, but he flamed out early and had to be sent back down to AAA.  Cecil came back in late June and has been a mainstay in the rotation ever since, but he never showed the consistent ability to throw quality strikes and stay down in the zone, and he didn’t really have much in the way of run support, either, so he wraps up his 2011 campaign an ugly 4-11.

Sunday afternoon, Cecil couldn’t make it out of the 4th inning.  He managed to get 10 outs, but gave up four runs on five hits – three of them home runs.  Granted, one of the homers was an inside-the-park job, a Ben Zobrist blast off the right-field wall on which Jose Bautista smacked his knee into a door frame on the wall while going after it.  Bautista was writhing in pain on the warning track while Zobrist circled the bases and eventually had to come out of the game a few innings later.

The home run was Cecil’s greatest nemesis this season.  He allowed 22 round-trippers in just 123 2/3 innings of work, as compared to 18 allowed in 172 2/3 innings last season.  And that was really the only difference between Cecil’s successful 2010 and his disappointing 2011.

Cecil’s ERA in 2011 was half a run higher than last season’s (4.73 vs. 4.22), but his WHIP was exactly the same – 1.326 each year.  So he allowed the same number of baserunners relative to innings pitched and gave up an extra half-run every nine innings, but winds up 4-11 as opposed to 15-7 on the year.

That’s kind of crazy, but the extra home runs and a lack of run support were the difference.  What it basically means was that Cecil wasn’t as good as he looked last year, but also wasn’t as bad as he looked this year.  The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, and what it comes down to is his ability to keep his stuff down in the strike zone.

The home run that B.J. Upton crushed, for example, came on an 88 mile-an-hour 2-0 fastball that stayed up.  Maybe last year Cecil could have thrown that pitch at 92, but if it had been up, it still gets smacked.  It’s much more about location than velocity.

As for the run support, the Jays scored once while Cecil was in the game Sunday.  That makes it six runs scored for him over his last six starts.  Tough to get too many wins that way, no matter how you pitch.

The Blue Jays almost  hit for the cycle – as a team.  They managed all of three hits off Wade Davis:  A David Cooper double, an Eric Thames triple and a Dewayne Wise home run.

Wise was playing because Colby Rasmus was a late scratch with “flu-like symptoms”.  Cooper was in because Adam Lind was back in Toronto following the Saturday evening birth of his baby girl.  Lind should be back Monday, and Rasmus might, but the Jays will likely be without Bautista, who bruised the inside of his left knee against that hidden door frame in the wall – shades of Tony Fernandez in 1987!

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

Download

The Jays wound up the season 6-12 against the Rays, 7-11 against the Yankees and 8-10 against the Red Sox.  That’s a total of 21-33 against arguably the three best teams in the league and, so far, 59-46 against everyone else.

Here’s some math for you – if you redistribute those numbers to a system that has a balanced schedule, then instead of being 80-79 right now, the Blue Jays would be 83-76.  Not a huge improvement, indeed, but what happens when you give the Jays a non-AL East schedule under the current imbalance?  Then they would wind up at 86-73, and two games out of a playoff spot in a rebuilding season, all else being equal (which it wouldn’t be).

The season wraps up in Chicago where the Jays will begin the series without skipper John Farrell, who will be home in Boston with his son as he goes through a scheduled surgery.  Dustin McGowan, who has had several of those, takes the mound for his final start of the season looking for his first win since July 2008 – and that would be a heck of a way to go into the winter for him.  Rookie Dylan Axelrod answers for the White Sox.  We’ll be on the air across the network with a full pre-game show starting at 7:30 PM Eastern for an 8:10 first pitch.

Those of you listening to Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 or here on the website will get a pre-pre-game show starting at 7:00 PM Eastern, during which you’ll hear from the Blue Jays 2011 Rookie of the Year and Most Pleasant Surprise of the Season, as voted on by the Jays themselves.  Tuesday night you’ll hear from the club MVP and pitcher of the year. Tune in – won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  Also please follow @VoteTomCheek – September is winding down, but keep voting every day!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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10:45 PM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September, though for some reason, there wasn’t a new poll posted today.  Thank you.

Now, about the game….

One of the things that makes baseball so wonderful is that there’s no clock.  If you can score more runs than your opponent within your allotted number of outs, then you’ll win.  One of the less wonderful things is that sometimes teams are given more than their allotted numbers of outs, and when that happens, they usually win.  That’s what happened tonight in Tampa Bay.

The Blue Jays gave the Rays SIX outs in the bottom of the first inning, allowing them to score twice, and then granted them an additional extra out in the 8th that resulted in three more runs coming in.  If the Jays play it clean, the Rays only score one run against Ricky Romero in eight innings of work.

Unfortunately, they didn’t.  With one out and nobody on in the first inning, B.J. Upton popped up in foul territory.  Can of corn for David Cooper, but the rookie stumbled underneath it and the ball dropped in to give Upton a second life, which he used to hit a looper to right for a single, but Romero struck out Evan Longoria and got Ben Zobrist to hit a grounder to short.  Easy play to end the inning, except that Mike McCoy’s poor throw bounced past Cooper and allowed Upton to score.  Johnny Damon followed with a pop-up to shallow centre field.  Kelly Johnson and Colby Rasmus each settled under it, but neither one of them made a move to catch it.

It was a horrifying bottom of the first, but the Jays still came out of the inning in a 2-2 tie because of Jose Bautista’s 43rd home run of the season – a two-run shot in the top of the first against a struggling Jeff Niemann.

Having been given three huge gifts by the Jays’ defense, Rays manager Joe Maddon decided that he wasn’t going to let Niemann go back out there, and he brought in rookie lefty Alex Torres, who shut the Jays down over five innings of relief.  In fact, the Jays didn’t get a sniff off the three guys who followed Torres, either – the Rays bullpen combined to throw eight innings of five-hit shutout, allowing only one Jays runner to make it past first base.

Ben Zobrist put the Rays on top with a home run leading off the 4th inning, and just for good measure, the Jays’ defense handed the Rays some insurance in the 8th.  With a man on second and one out, McCoy couldn’t handle a Longoria grounder to his right.  The shortstop’s second boot of the evening extended the inning beyond a Zobrist fly out, and Damon made the extra out count, taking Romero deep for a three-run homer that ended Ricky’s season.

This one was ugly with a capital “ug”, and the Blue Jays’ ace deserved better.  Romero gave up one earned run over 7 2/3 innings of work, lowering his ERA to a sparkling 2.92.  He finishes the season 15-11.

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

Download

The series wraps up Sunday afternoon with Brett Cecil (who, amazingly, has a better WHIP than he did in his 15-win season last year) taking on Rays’ righty Wade Davis.  The Rays could be tied with the Red Sox for the wild card by close of business Sunday, they could be three games back, or they could be somewhere in the middle.  Should be fun!  We’re on the air at 1:00 PM Eastern for a 1:40 first pitch.  Those listening on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 or here on the website get the extra-special treat of a pre-pre-game show, which will feature a couple of Blue Jays rookie-league MVPs – outfielder Chris Hawkins of the Bluefield Blue Jays and Gulf Coast League shortstop Jorge Vega-Rosado – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  Also please follow @VoteTomCheek – only six days to go!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:25 AM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September.  Thank you.

Now, about the game…..

That was a second straight “that is about which that I am talking” start from Brandon Morrow.  With the Rays fighting for their playoff lives, the most tantalizing  piece of the Blue Jays’ puzzle completely shut them down.  Morrow went seven innings of two-hit shutout, one of those hits a grounder in between the mound and first base on which there was a little “I got it, you take it” routine.  He struck out nine, though he walked four and hit a batter, but in the overall, didn’t give the home team a sniff.

Last time out, Morrow was even better in throwing eight innings of four-hit shutout at the Yankees.  Better because he only walked one and still struck out eight, and better because three of the hits in that game were infield singles.

So to sum it up, over his last two starts, both against teams in playoff races, Morrow has thrown 15 innings of six-hit shutout, striking out 17 against five walks, and four of the hits didn’t leave the infield (the other two were ground balls that got through).

This is why I keep saying that Brandon Morrow is definitely worth keeping around and definitely worth keeping in the rotation.  He can be this good, he just hasn’t been able to be this good on a regular basis yet.  Of course, no one has ever been this good on a regular basis, so there’s no reason to believe he ever will be – but there’s reason to believe that he can develop into a starter who is consistently well above-average.

And hey, he even got a double-play ball!  With a runner on first and one out in the 5th, Desmond Jennings hit a ground ball to second.  Kelly Johnson fed Mike McCoy,who relayed to David Cooper at first for the inning-ending double play.  Routine, right?

Right.  So routine that we had yet to see that in a Morrow start this season.  In fact, the last time Morrow got a hitter to ground into a double play was over a year ago, on August 28, 2010 against the Tigers.  With Johnny Damon on first (he was tonight’s clean-up hitter for the Rays, by the way), Morrow got Miguel Cabrera to hit a weak ground ball to Yunel Escobar, who flipped it to Aaron Hill, who fired to – believe it or not – Adam Lind at first base to complete the twin killing.  It was the ninth ground-ball double play induced by Morrow last season, and the last one until tonight, 173 innings later.  Amazing that none of the three guys who turned the DP last season played for the Jays in this game.

Morrow was approaching the all-time record for longest run without inducing a ground-ball double play – he finished 16 1/3 innings shy of Don Sutton’s mark of 189 1/3.  Sutton is in the Hall of Fame, as is the man who had the second-longest such streak, Ferguson Jenkins.

After Kelly Johnson started the double play to end the 5th, he led off the 6th by taking David Price deep on the first pitch, his third home run as a Blue Jay.  Johnson is starting to heat up as the curtain is coming down on 2011.  Over his last 10 games, he’s hitting .375/.474/.531 for a nifty OPS of 1.005.

Price was his own worst enemy, making two throwing errors in the top of the 3rd that led to three unearned runs, more than Morrow (and Joel Carreno and Luis Perez – each of whom pitched an inning of relief) would need.

With the loss, the Rays lose a chance to pick up half a game on the wild card Red Sox, who were rained out.  T-Bay is now 2 1/2 games back.

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

Download

The series continues Saturday night, with Ricky Romero getting the call against big, tall righty Jeff Niemann.  Romero is making his final start of the season and taking a shot at his 16th win.  We’ll be on the air at 6:30 PM Eastern across the network for a 7:10 first pitch, but there will be an extra half-hour pre-pre-game show on Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 and this very website in which we’ll air an interview with Dunedin Blue Jays manager (and Florida State League Manager of the Year) Clayton McCullough.  It’s terrific stuff, I felt like I could have talked to him for a couple of hours, well worth a listen.  Join us, won’t you?

Please follow me on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  Also please follow @VoteTomCheek.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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12:29 AM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September.  Thank you.

Now, about the game…..

It was truly the most fitting way the Blue Jays could have closed out their home schedule – a walk-off win in extra innings, with Edwin Encarnacion providing the heroic final blow by leading off the bottom of the 12th with his 17th home run of the season, a drive down the left-field line that had plenty of distance and just stayed fair.

It was the Jays’ 42nd home win of the season, and the 13th that they walked off.  They improved to 11-0 in extra innings at home – and no team since 1920 has ever played more than 10 extra-inning home games in a season without losing one.  Until now.

There was a charge in this building that had been felt very rarely the last 18 years, but was felt a few times this season.  It reached its apex in the bottom of the 9th inning when Jose Bautista came to the plate with nobody on and one out.  The crowd of almost 23,000 rose as one and started chanting “MVP! MVP!” through the entire eight pitch at-bat, screaming as Bautista fouled off a couple of two-strike offerings from Scott Downs before he finally ripped a single to left.  They stood and cheered again when Bautista came to the plate in the 11th, but there weren’t as many of them left by then.

With six games to go in the season, the Blue Jays left their home fans with a great taste in their collective mouth as they anticipate even better things to come in 2012.  If the Jays can at least split those final six games – three each against the Rays and the White Sox – (and they’re 11-9 so far in September) then they’ll have their fifth winning season in the last six years.  That’s no small accomplishment, especially in the A.L. East – but it also hasn’t been good enough.

They’re getting there, though, and some of the “there” was on display tonight as Henderson Alvarez worked seven very strong innings, allowing three runs on seven hits without issuing a walk, striking out four.  Eric Thames doubled and homered, scoring twice, Colby Rasmus drew a couple of walks – and how about the bullpen?

A group that has taken a pounding from the fan base for the most part this season, sometimes very deservedly, saw five pitchers come out of the now-nonexistant bullpen gate in the left-field wall (they’ve already torn down the whole wall), and they combined to throw five innings of one-hit shutout, walking one, striking out three and not allowing an Angels baserunner past first base.  Casey Janssen gave up the hit, Shawn Camp issued the walk, and Jesse Litsch, Frank Francisco and Joel Carreno each supplied a three-up three-down inning.  Litsch’s was especially noteworthy, as he was in on all three outs.  Litsch covered the bag on a grounder to Adam Lind, raced in to snare a little dribbler by Torii Hunter and snared a low liner by Mark Trumbo just inches off the dirt.  Say what you will about how the man looks, he remains incredible at fielding his position.

22,769 came out to the final home game of the season – the crowd was almost 8,000 people stronger than the next-most-highly-attended game of this Angels series.  The final home attendance for the Blue Jays in 2011 was 1,818,103, or an average of 22,446 per game.  That’s an increase of almost 3,300 over last season’s average attendance.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, the last one I will host from the broadcast booth at Rogers Centre this year, for your listening pleasure:

Download

The Blue Jays are off on the road for the remainder of the season, opening up in St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night.  Brandon Morrow gets the ball, facing the team against whom he authored one of the greatest games ever pitched.  He’ll face lefty David Price, who the Jays have beaten this season but who is still 9-1, 1.99 with a 0.987 WHIP.  The Rays are trying their best to take advantage of The Great Boston Collapse, but they still sit two games back of the Red Sox for the A.L. wild card.  The Angels are only a game behind T-Bay. 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.  Please also follow @VoteTomCheek.

I kind of want to keep going for a while here, because I don’t really want to leave.  The last home game of the season seems really to sneak up on you every year, and it’s sad to sit here writing this up knowing that after I’m done I’ll have to pack up and that I won’t be back in this booth again until next year (if the creek don’t rise, as it were).  That I’m not going to be at a baseball game for almost five months, even though there are still six games left and I’ll be hosting our playoff coverage on the Blue Jays Radio Network.  Just taking a long, last look at this place for 2011 it’s amazing to think that I’m wrapping up my 10th year doing this.  It’s an incredible privilege to be able to bring these games to you, to be able to interact with you, to be your eyes and ears on the field, to get to do this amazing job for a living.  I can’t wait to be back.  To quote the late, great Rogers Hornsby, when asked what he did all winter, “I just stare out the window and wait for spring.”

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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11:27 PM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September.  Thank you.

Now, about the game…..

It was pretty terrific while Dustin McGowan was pitching.  The righty followed the best outing since his return with an outing that was even better.  McGowan threw five strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits.  He struck out eight without issuing a walk, in stark contrast to his first start – a five-walk outing without a strikeout.  It was the first time McGowan had struck out as many as eight hitters in a game in over four years, the last time being September 17, 2007 when he punched out nine Red Sox in a complete game 6-1 win.

What sticks out to me especially about McGowan is that right now, just four appearances into his return from an over three-year absence, he looks like just another big-league pitcher (albeit one who throws 96-97 with four phenomenal pitches that he can throw for strikes).  He’s improved in leaps and bounds over the course of his four outings, as opposed to having a slow, steady climb and getting knocked around every fifth day. It’s really been incredible to watch, and every Blue Jays fan should be absolutely thrilled to see it.  No one is pencilling McGowan into the 2012 starting rotation just yet, but this is pretty fantastic stuff so far.

After he left, nothing good happened except for Eric Thames’ 11th home run – an absolute laser beam into the 200 level in right field.  Though Vernon Wells did have a big day with a two-run single off Jesse Litsch and a two-run homer off Casey Janssen.  If the Angels have to score a bunch of runs, it might as well be Vernon driving them in.

The big news happened about an hour and a half before the game even started, while the Blue Jays were taking batting practice.  Brett Lawrie was fielding ground balls, as every big-league infielder does before every game, but one of them took a bad hop, came up and clipped him on the middle finger of his right hand.  The ball broke Lawrie’s finger, the non-displaced fracture means he’ll miss the rest of the regular season, though there’s no concern at all about him being completely healthy by the start of Spring Training.

So that’s a broken finger on the right hand to go with the broken left hand he suffered back in May, when he was just a couple of days away from the big leagues.  Hopefully, it’s all out of his system now.

Lawrie’s astonishing first taste of the major leagues ends with him having hit .293/.373/.580.  He hit nine homers, eight doubles and four triples, scored 26 runs and drove in 25 in just 43 games, and stole seven bases in eight attempts.  You might be interested to know how that stacks up when those numbers are pro-rated over 162 games.  The slash stats stay the same, obviously, but the other stuff winds up looking like 34 homers, 30 doubles, 15 triples, 98 runs scored, 94 RBIs, 26 stolen bases while being caught four times, and 328 total bases (note: Jose Bautista has 301 total bases this season).

Lawrie certainly put a charge into this team in the month and a half in which he was a major part of it, and it’s too bad that we won’t get to see him play anymore this season.  But he definitely left an impression and it’ll be exciting to see him as a part of this thing from Day One next year.  Edwin Encarnacion played third tonight, expect him to share the spot with Mark Teahen the rest of the way.

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

Download

The series – and the home schedule – conclude on Thursday night with the Blue Jays trying to remain above .500.  They’ll throw Henderson Alvarez, another 21 year-old who has been astonishing in his first taste of the major leagues.  The Angels suddenly find themselves in the thick of the wild card race, thanks to the flailing about of the Red Sox and Rays – the Halos are tied with the Tampa Bays, just 2 1/2 games back of the Bostons.  Ervin Santana gets the call for the visitors.  We’ll be on at 7:00PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.  Please also follow @VoteTomCheek – thank you!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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11:30 PM Eastern

Before you read the rest of what’s certain to be a riveting, informative and entertaining blog post, please go to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and cast a vote for Tom Cheek to win the Ford C. Frick Award for Broadcasting Excellence, gaining him entry into the Broadcasters’ Wing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Tom was the Blue Jays’ lead broadcaster from Day 1, April 7, 1977, and didn’t miss a single game until his father died in June of 2004. 4,036 consecutive games – plus pre-season and post-season.  A week after returning from his father’s funeral, Tom was diagnosed with brain cancer and he passed away 18 months later, far too early.

Cheek was the voice of summer in Canada for 28 years.  Chances are very good that if you heard him, you loved him.  If you never heard him do a game, odds are you’ve at least heard the great “Touch ‘Em All, Joe” call that ended the 1993 World Series.  Please make your voice heard and let the decision-makers know how much Tom meant to you, to all Blue Jays fans and to an entire nation.

You can vote by, again, going to www.facebook.com/baseballhall and once you’re there, clicking on the wall (that link is on the left-hand side of the page) and scrolling down on the wall until you see the poll question about the Ford C. Frick Award.  You’re allowed to vote once a day each day throughout the month of September.  Thank you.

Now, about the game…..

It wasn’t a lot of fun.

Brett Cecil was cruising along with two out in the top of the third, nobody on, and leading 2-1 when he hit a massive speed bump that completely knocked him off the rails, if I may mix my metaphors.

From that point until Kyle Drabek got Vernon Wells to fly out to end the top of the fourth, the Blue Jays looked so awful that you half-expected to hear “Yakety Sax” start blaring through the Rogers Centre speakers.

It started with an Alberto Callaspo double off the wall and ended with a three-run bomb by Mark Trumbo.  In between, the Angels picked up seven hits while the Jays recorded just four outs.  There was a steal of third with neither Brett Lawrie or J.P. Arencibia making a move, a blown rundown in which Edwin Encarnacion got too distracted by Torii Hunter bouncing off third and allowed Trumbo to dance around him safely back to first even though Trumbo was absolute meatcake, a blown suicide squeeze on a pitch that Arencibia couldn’t handle, resulting in an Angels steal of home and Mike McCoy trying to make a tag before he caught a pickoff throw from Drabek at second.  At least Drabek didn’t walk anybody – well, not until the 6th, anyway.

It was an awful 13-batter stretch, and it saw Cecil get yanked after the third and Drabek come in to give up five runs in the fourth.  It buried the Jays, though they made a valiant effort to come back – putting the Angels in a save situation in the bottom of the 9th.  Scott Downs nailed down that save, striking out Colby Rasmus on three pitches with the tying run on deck, his first save as an Angel and first since July 10, 2009.  That night in Baltimore, Downs pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his ninth save of the season, finishing off a combined 2-0 shutout of the Orioles – Brett Cecil went the first six for the win..

All in all, a forgettable night for the Blue Jays, but please allow me to point something out about young Kyle Drabek.  At the tender age of 23, in his first real exposure to the major leagues, he went into this game with a career WHIP of 1.662.  At the tender age of 23, Clay Buchholz had a WHIP of 1.601 through his first full season in the bigs.  Jon Lester’s WHIP was 1.648 in his first real exposure to the bigs, though he was only 22.

Don’t close the door on Drabek just yet.

Trailing 10-2 through six, the Jays tried to make a game of it in the bottom of the 7th, loading the bases with nobody out and knocking Joel Pineiro from the game.  Encarnacion, who went 0-for-5 with the bases loaded this past weekend without driving in a run, didn’t manage a hit but at least picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to centre.  Kelly Johnson followed with an RBI single and then Brett Lawrie got a taste of his own medicine when Callaspo absolutely robbed him of a run-scoring double with a terrific diving stab of a rocket that was ticketed for the left-field corner.  Lawrie beat out the double-play relay and a run scored, but the air was sucked out of the inning.

The Jays scored just once more, but it was a beaut – Eric Thames came in all the way from first base on a grounder to second by Johnson.  Thames was off with the pitch and when Trumbo couldn’t handle Howie Kendrick’s throw, Thames sprinted to third.  When he got there, he saw that no one was covering the plate – with catcher Bobby Wilson having gone to retrieve the ball – and that it was just going to be a sprint home against Callaspo, so he took off and won that footrace.  Lawrie walked to bring the tying run to the on-deck circle, but the call went out to Downs, who came on and struck out Rasmus to end it.

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

Download

The series continues Wednesday night with Dustin McGowan making his third start of the season as his remarkable comeback gathers even more steam.  He threw a strong five innings against the Yankees last time out and is looking for his first win since June 22, 2008 – which happened to be the first victory of Cito Gaston’s second go-round with the Jays.  Dan Haren will oppose for the Halos, who suddenly find themselves in the thick of the A.L. wild card race, just 3 1/2 games behind the Red Sox.  We’ll be on at 7:00 PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590.  It’s also worth your while to follow @VoteTomCheek, and @jaysthisweek as well – a new Blue Jays This Week podcast went up Tuesday evening.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

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