2:36AM Eastern

There were a few things with which to be less than satisfied about the Blue Jays’ series-opening win in Kansas City.  For example, Kyle Drabek had a bit of a relapse, though he maintained his composure, walking six in just 5 1/3 innings of work and throwing more balls than strikes in the overall.  The offense was nearly non-existent again, managing only three hits – all singles – through the first seven innings.  And it was another nervous ninth for Sergio Santos, who gave up two hits, a run and two stolen bases in picking up his second save in four chances.

But the good outweighed the bad, as Drabek held the Royals to just two runs despite his wildness, J.P. Arencibia had a pair of RBI singles to help get the Blue Jays back in the game and Jose Bautista drove in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded single in that crazy 8th.

And of course, there was the piece de resistance.

In the bottom of the third inning, Alex Gordon led off with a double into the right-field corner and Drabek followed by walking Yuniesky Betancourt, which is an exceedingly difficult thing to do.  Had he not done so, though, he wouldn’t have set up the Blue Jays’ chance for history.

The next hitter was Eric Hosmer, and the young hotshot slugger ripped a line drive to first.  Adam Lind caught it, sprinted over to his bag and stepped on it to double up Betancourt, then fired to Yunel Escobar, who caught the ball with a foot on second base just ahead of Gordon’s headlong dive back in to complete a very rare, and very exciting triple play.

It’s been a long time since the Blue Jays have killed three birds with one stone – the unbelievable triple play they pulled off in the 1992 World Series isn’t allowed to be counted because umpire Bob Davidson didn’t see Kelly Gruber tag Deion Sanders on the foot as he scampered back to second base.  The rest of the world did, but not Davidson.

The last time the Jays actually turned a triple play that counted was way back in 1979 and, crazy as it sounds, the 4-3-6 (McKay to Kusick to Griffin) into which Damaso Garcia of the Yankees hit on September 21st, 1979 was the second one the then extremely sad-sack Blue Jays turned that month!  Who knew they’d have to wait another 33 years to do it again.

Here’s Friday night’s edition of The BlueJaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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If recent history holds, the Blue Jays will continue their series in K.C. with another win on Saturday night – they’ve gone win two, lose two all season long so far – and that will be good news for 21 year-old righty Drew Hutchison, who’ll be making his major-league debut for the Jays (and only his 7th start above A-ball).  Hutchison will square off with the Royals’ minor-league pitcher of the year in 2011, Luis Mendoza.  We’ll have all the action for you beginning with the pre-game show at 6:30PM Eastern.  Join us, won’t you?

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

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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1:25AM Eastern

The Blue Jays wrapped up their first homestand of the season with another big loss to the Rays, and wound up going 4-5 in their first sortie at Rogers Centre, falling to an even 6-6 on the season.

It’s funny, if you were told ahead of the homestand that the Jays would only win one of the three series, I doubt many would have figured it would be Boston, and not Baltimore.  Most Blue Jays fans I’m in contact with would have pencilled them in for a series loss to the Rays long before anything else, though, but try not to get too caught up in that.

It’s a shame the way it happened, with a nice little win in the opener followed by a visit from the Rays’ bomb squad in the next two games.  In the finale, it was fifth-inning home runs by Desmond Jennings and Evan Longoria that put the Tampas ahead for good.

In his first start as a 22 year-old, and just  his 13th overall in the majors, Henderson Alvarez got tagged for six runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings.  It’s the highest run total he’s allowed in a single start.  To add physical pain to the emotional toll of getting lit up, Alvarez took a Jose Bautista throw off the left collarbone in the second inning.  Bautista came up firing on a Sean Rodriguez single, trying to nail Matt Joyce at the plate, and his strong throw hit the lip that separates dirt from turf around home plate and hopped over the glove of J.P. Arencibia and blasted Alvarez, barely missing his face.  It caromed off the collarbone all the way into the Blue Jays’ dugout.

Alvarez was left writhing in pain for a minute or two, but he got up, went back to the mound, and proceeded to take things into the 7th, though not with great success.

Success was had by Arencibia, though, who was a feeble 1-for-20 on the homestand going into the finale.  He singled in his first at-bat – a hundred-hopper right up the middle that eluded Rays’ shortstop Sean Rodriguez – and in his second trip, he crushed a liner over the head of rightfielder Ben Zobrist for an RBI double.  Moments after that, Arencibia scored on a Rodriguez overthrow with a nice feat of derring-do, just getting a hand in ahead of the tag at the plate thanks to a nice dive.  That tied the game until Jennings untied it a few minutes later.

Jason Frasor blew up real good in the ninth, allowing three additional runs in an inning that seemed to take hours.  Frasor’s good for two or three such outings a year, and the Blue Jays can be thankful that the first one came in a game they were already trailing by three.  The Jays almost made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth, though, loading the bases with one out before Rays’ closer Fernando Rodney got Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus each to ground out to end it.

The loss is the Blue Jays’ second straight, and it’s the third time already in this young season in which they’ve lost two straight.  They’ve also had three mini-winning streaks of exactly two games.  It’s weird, but the Jays are hopeful that the pattern continues, at least for the next two games.

Kyle Drabek gets the next start, and each of his first two starts of this season have come after a Blue Jays’ second straight loss.  He’s won them both.

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

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As you could hear off the top of that BlueJaysTalk, the Jays finally let the cat out of the bag as to the identity of their April 21st starter, the guy who will hopefully take the fifth starter’s job and run with it at least until Dustin McGowan returns in early June.  It’s going to be 21 year-old Drew Hutchison.  The righty, drafted in the 15th round in 2009 out of a Lakeland, Florida (spring home of the Detroit Tigers!) high school has posted a 2.49 ERA and sparkling 1.040 WHIP as a minor pro over the last three seasons, striking out 9.4 batters per nine innings while walking a measly 2.2.  Expect the nerves to be going pretty hard on Saturday night, though.

To make room for Hutchison on the active roster, the Jays shipped lefty Evan Crawford back to New Hampshire.  Crawford will be back, eventually to stay.  Jesse Litsch was shifted to the 60-day disabled list in order to make room for Hutchison on the 40-man roster.

I’m very excited to see Hutchison make his  major-league debut, he’s the club’s top pitching propspect among those within shouting distance of the major leagues.  Unlike the BlueJaysTalk caller who thought that asking a pair of kids in their very early 20s to be rotation regulars was asking for trouble, I welcome the infusion of youth because the youth brings with it exceptional talent on the part of both Alvarez and Hutchison.  Is he ready?  There’s only one way to know, and that’s to give him the ball and let him go.  It should be fun.

With the Blue Jays down in Kansas City, we’ll have a couple of extra pre-pre-game shows for you, the first of which will air Friday night at 7:00PM Eastern on Sportsnet590 The Fan and here on this very website.  Friday night’s show will feature an up close and personal segment with closer Sergio Santos, and Brett Lawrie and J.P. Arencibia – together – will give us their take on the first couple of weeks of the season, tongues planted firmly in cheek.  I think they did the interview specifically to service all the haters who are out there in abundance on The Twitter.  Make sure you tune us in!

Speaking of The Twitter, you can find me there @wilnerness590 – please give me a follow!  Saturday night’s Jays starter can be found @1DrewHutch.

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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11:35PM Eastern

You didn’t really think the Blue Jays were going to go the whole season without getting blown out, did you?

The Blue Jays had their heads handed to them by the Rays on Wednesday night, with Tampa Bay adding insult to injury by putting up a six-spot in the 9th inning for their ultimate ten-run victory.

Brandon Morrow got hit hard, especially by Matt Joyce who doubled twice and took him deep.  He also gave up home runs to Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez, along with a couple of doubles off the wall – but dig this, he induced a double play!  Morrow gets an easy mulligan for this one, it was his first poor outing in his last six starts in the big leagues, and he’s still developing into what the Blue Jays hope will be a legit number two starter.  He’s not there yet, and it’s not going to be an issue-free transition.

The Blue Jays did manage a dozen hits, including four from Yunel Escobar, but the only one of the twelve that went for extra bases was Jeff Mathis’ second-inning solo home run and that clutchitude that they’d exhibited through the season’s first ten games deserted them, as they were just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Astonishingly, this game marked the first time all season that the Blue Jays have gone into the 9th inning trailing by more than one run.  And hey, Omar Vizquel rapped a pinch-single in the 8th for his first hit as a Jay.  Vizquel turns 45 next Tuesday.

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

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Thursday night, the series and the homestand will come to their respective conclusions with the rubber match for each.  The Blue Jays are four to the good, four to the not so good so far on their season-opening run at home and they’re even through two with the Tampas.  Henderson Alvarez will make his first appearance as a 22 year-old, looking for his first decision of the season, having twice been a victim of the dreaded blown save.  He’ll face 2011 American League Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson, and we’ll be on the air to bring it to you starting at 7:00PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

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

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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1:17AM Eastern

If, two weeks ago, you had to choose which three Blue Jays would lead the team in home runs this season, you’d likely have put Jose Bautista at the top of the list pretty easily.  Next?  Probably two of Adam Lind, Brett Lawrie and J.P. Arencibia. I’d say maybe Kelly Johnson, but let’s be serious – not too many of you were terribly enamoured of him two weeks ago.

Going into Tuesday night’s series opener with the Rays, the aforementioned fearsome foursome had combined for exactly three big flies on the season – one each by Bautista and Arencibia on Opening Day and one by Lawrie Sunday afternoon in the win over Baltimore.  Tuesday night, that number doubled as Bautista, Lind and Lawrie all went deep – another step in the continued awakening of the slumbering Blue Jays’ offense.

Bautista’s shot came in the first inning, giving the Jays a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and it was textbook Joey Bats.  Like so many of the 98 home runs he’d hit since the beginning of the 2010 season, Bautista launched an absolute no-doubt rocket into the 200 level seats in left field.  For those so concerned about the rough start he’s had to the season, it was a welcome flashback to two years of thorough offensive domination.  Lind’s was a high fly ball to left field that carried out into the Blue Jays’ bullpen.  A place that, when his swing is right, Lind does enjoy visiting from time to time.  The homer was part of a perfect 3-for-3 game for Lind, a night that also included a walk against tough lefty-killer J.P. Howell.  As for Lawrie, his homer was a bomb into the batters’ eye in dead centre – going deep for the second straight game.

Those three power bats have the capability to combine for well over a hundred home runs in a given season, and maybe closer to 125.  It’s good to see them all (hopefully) getting going.  Arencibia still has to unlock the pop in his bat – or anything in his bat, for that matter, his 0-for-4 dropped him to 2-for-32 on the young season – but there’s really no reason to believe he won’t.  J.P. Arencibia has never had a healthy season in his professional career in which he hasn’t hit well.  It’s awfully tough for him right now, but it could turn around in a hurry – we’ve all seen him have huge games, huge weeks in the past.

Ricky Romero struggled a bit, but still managed to get into the 7th inning having only allowed three runs, and the bullpen took it from there.  Lawrie’s homer, in the bottom of the 8th, took the Blue Jays’ lead from three runs to four, removing the save situation for closer Sergio Santos, but Santos pitched the 9th anyway since he hadn’t thrown in a game in almost a week.  Santos gave up a hit – a Jeff Keppinger line drive that hit him in the back – but took care of the Rays pretty easily nevertheless.

This isn’t a watershed series for the Blue Jays.  Winning it won’t indicate that they’re ready to play with the big boys of the A.L. East or that they’ve turned a corner against a team that has given them fits for years, just like losing it won’t indicate the opposites of those things.  But it would be awfully nice to win it, and they’ve taken a big first step towards doing that.

Before the game, manager John Farrell gave another hint as to the identity of the Blue Jays’ 5th starter.  He’s an unknown right now, as off days have allowed the Jays to drop to a four-man rotation since the third game of the season, which was started by Joel Carreno.  Their next day off, though, comes on May 7th, and a 5th starter will be needed four times between now and then.

Carreno is still a candidate for the spot, though he’s scheduled to pitch for Las Vegas Wednesday evening in Salt Lake City.  If he makes that start, and throws more than a couple of innings, you can write him off for Saturday.  Chad Jenkins was a candidate, but he got absolutely shelled Tuesday night, giving up eight runs on nine hits and not making it out of the third inning for New Hampshire.  That’s not the kind of start that gets you a promotion, and the fact that the Blue Jays allowed him to make the start when he’d only have had three days’ rest before the 21st indicates that they weren’t going to give it to him anyway.

That leaves two guys:  Drew Hutchison and a previously off-the-radar Jesse Chavez.

Hutchison we know about.  He’s probably the best starting pitching prospect the Jays have right now who is anywhere near the major leagues.  He last pitched Sunday for New Hampshire in a 3-0 loss to New Britain, allowing two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking one while striking out six.  For the season, Hutchison has posted a 2.16 ERA in three starts, but hasn’t pitched more than six innings in any one of them.  He’s allowed 16 hits in 16 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out 12.  He’s only 21, and has made just six starts above A-ball in his entire life.  The Jays love him, though, and believe he’s ready, but this might be a little early to give Hutchison the call.

You can be forgiven for having forgotten about Chavez.  A waiver-wire pick-up in the off-season, the hard-throwing righty has previously pitched in the big leagues with the Pirates, Braves and Royals, though the numbers haven’t been good.  In 143 relief appearances totaling 159 2/3 innings over parts of four seasons, Chavez has a career WHIP of an even 1.500, an ERA of 5.36 and has allowed opponents to hit .281/.345/.490 off of him.

He made seven appearances for the Blue Jays in Spring Training (7 ip, 9 h, 2r, 3bb, 3k) before being sent to the minor-league complex to be stretched out to start.  Once there, he pitched well, and he has been in the rotation in Las Vegas to start the season.  Sunday, Chavez pitched a complete game in the opener of a doubleheader at notoriously hitter-friendly Colorado Springs, allowing two runs on four hits, walking one and striking out six in six innings in a loss to the Sky Sox (doubleheaders are seven innings each in the minors).  For the season, Chavez has allowed 13 hits and has walked five in 16 innings of work, striking out 18.  That’s in two starts in Vegas and one in Colorado Springs, and to put up those numbers in those hitting environments is outstanding.

Both Chavez and Hutchison would be on an extra day of rest if asked to make the start in Kansas City on Friday, and neither of them is on the 40-man roster, but it wouldn’t be hard to add either one.  Jesse Litsch could be moved to the 60-day disabled list to open up a spot.

The hint Farrell gave was to compare Chavez to Carreno.  He, too, threw in relief in big-league camp, was sent down to be stretched out, and has pitched very well.  At the moment, my money is on Chavez for that April 21st start, though we should watch Carreno’s Wednesday night start very carefully to see if he gets scratched or gets yanked after 50 pitches or so, as that would be a pretty broad hint that the call will go to him.

Here’s Tuesday night’s edition of The BlueJaysTalk, for your listening pleasure – we had one of the greatest lines ever from a caller.  Steve in Phenix City, Alabama suggested that we should get Colby Rasmus some catfish and hush puppies to make him feel more at home.  I say this with no sarcasm at all, that was a great call:

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The series continues Wednesday night with Brandon Morrow looking again for his first win of the season – he’s left each of his first two starts in position to get a W, but has twice been the victim of a blown save.  Noted Blue Jays killer David Price (9-2, 2.06, 1.000 WHIP in 12 starts) answers for the Rays.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter if you’re not doing so already, you can find me @wilnerness590.

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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11:08PM Eastern

Before Sunday’s series finale with Baltimore, Blue Jays’ manager John Farrell was asked if he was wishing for the day when his team would have a five-run lead late in a ballgame.  Farrell’s answer? “Today could very well be that day.”  And lo and behold, it was.  A seven-run lead, even.

The Blue Jays shook off an opening week’s worth of offensive frustration in Sunday’s sixth inning – scoring as many runs in that one frame as they had in any one full game all season.  They sent 13 men to the plate and seven of them came across to score, turning a 2-1 deficit into an 8-2 lead on the way to a romp.

The inning began when Jose Bautista (still suffering from the loss of the Man In White, according to one BlueJaysTalk caller) ripped a double to left-centre, just past the outstretched glove of Orioles’ centrefielder Adam Jones.  Edwin Encarnacion followed by plastering his third home run deep to left-centre to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the game.  Four hitters later, O’s starter Brian Matusz walked Rajai Davis to put two men on with two out, and he was lifted for Kevin Gregg, who took a while to get to the mound because he was lugging a massive gas can with him.

Gregg, who had 37 saves for the Jays in 2010 – all of which, it feels in retrospect, were sweaty-palmed nailbiters for the fan base – saved his absolute worst for this outing.  As nervous as he made the fans as a Blue Jay, he still got the job done far, far more often than not.  Sunday afternoon, the only job he got done was making sure the Orioles didn’t get a sweep.

Gregg gave up a single to Jeff Mathis, scoring one run.  He then coughed up back-to-back doubles to Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson, cashing three more.  Bautista and Encarnacion then each drew walks to load the bases, bringing up Brett Lawrie, who had earlier hit his first home run of the season (first extra-base hit, too – he should do the pre-game with me more often!).  Gregg got ahead of Lawrie 1-2, then hit him in the back, driving in the Blue Jays’ seventh run of the frame. Finally Ben Francisco popped out to right field, probably more out of a sense of mercy and empathy than anything else.

It was the Blue Jays’ first real romp of the season, though they did have a 7-1 lead on the Red Sox going into the 9th inning this past Tuesday night, but the Sox did manage to get the tying run to the on-deck circle.

Not to be lost in all the scoring was Kyle Drabek’s fine outing.  He threw 7 1/3 innings – the first time in his career that he’s ever recorded an out in the 8th inning of a game he’d started – while allowing just one earned run on six hits, striking out six against one walk.  He dutifully went out to the mound in the top of the first inning and drew a huge X on the dirt on the downward slope, marking the spot where his left foot should land if he’s maintaining his lines properly and staying in his mechanics.  And then he went and did it for 103 pitches, almost flawlessly.

I have noted before that Drabek got off to a pretty good start last year, too, before falling apart before mid-season and having to be shipped out, but there’s a big difference (so far, anyway) between last year and this.  This year he’s not walking people.  In his first three starts of last season, against noted free-swingers Minnesota, Anaheim and Seattle, Drabek allowed just four earned runs on 13 hits over 18 2/3 innings in three Blue Jays wins, but he also served up 10 walks.

In his first two starts this season, against notoriously-patient Boston and not-all-that-free-swinging-but-not-exactly-the-Yankees Baltimore, he’s walked four in 12 2/3 innings, and two of those walks came in his final inning of work in the Boston game.

Drabek has incredible stuff, that’s never been in question.  The only thing that has held him back is his ability to control both his stuff and himself.  He seems to be very definitely on the right track, and a successful, reliable Drabek would be a tremendous shot in the arm for the Blue Jays’ hopes both for now and the next few years.  Remember, he’s still only 24.

Evan Crawford made his major-league debut in the win, pitching the 9th inning.  His first big-league pitch was a strike, as were 9 of the 13 he wound up throwing.  He struck out Wilson Betemit for his first big-league whiff, and went on to pitch a shutout inning, allowing only a two-out double to Chris Davis.  He’s not a huge man, but he certainly has a big left arm, and though it appears he’s ticketed to head back to the minors on April 21st, when the Jays likely call up one of Joel Carreno, Chad Jenkins or Drew Hutchison to move into the rotation, Crawford seems to have a pretty bright future in the big leagues.

We had a special Super-Extendo version of The BlueJaysTalk this afternoon, and here it is, for your listening pleasure:

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As well, we had a radio version of The Blue Jays This Week, which was so well-received in podcast form last year.  Here’s that, with Ben Ennis sitting in with me, so that you can give it a listen:

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The Blue Jays have the day off Monday, and get back at it when the Tampa Bay Rays come to town for the first of a three-game set on Tuesday night.  The Rays are reeling at the moment, having lost four in a row, and they have a Patriots Day game in Boston to contend with Monday morning before they head into town.  Ricky Romero will start for the Jays against tall Tampa righty Jeff Niemann.  We’ll have all the action for you beginning at 7:00PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590.  You can find my The Blue Jays This Week co-host Ben Ennis @BennisSnet.

Comments are welcome, I read them all and respond to most!

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12:16 AM Eastern

So, this season couldn’t have started off much worse, could it?

Alex Anthopoulos went out and re-made his bullpen after 2011 saw the Blue Jays’ relief corps blow 25 saves – the third-highest total in the major leagues (though the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals did blow 26) – and this newly-refurbished Blue Jays bullpen, on paper, looked as though it was one of the best the team had ever assembled, if not the absolute best.

Then they go play for a week and the relievers cough up a late-inning lead four times in the first eight games of the season.

Saturday afternoon’s culprit, at least the guy who was charged with the blown save, was Casey Janssen, a man who was only victimized twice all of last season.  Janssen gave up a game-tying line-drive home run to right field to Wilson Betemit with two out and nobody on in the 8th inning, a pitch after just barely missing the outside corner with what could easily have been called strike three.

Janssen joins Darren Oliver, Friday night’s blown save-ist, and closer Sergio Santos, who has let a pair of opportunities get away.  Francisco Cordero, the closer in Santos’ childbirth-driven absence, came on in the 9th inning and coughed up a two-run homer to Nolan Reimold that stood up as the game-winner.

Aside from the 11 innings of shutout ball on Opening Day, it really hasn’t been a great week for the Blue Jays’ bullpen.  Amazingly, they’re on pace to blow 81 saves, which I’m sure would cause many record books to be rewritten and probably have John Farrell taking up smoking and chugging Pepto-Bismol by the end of the month, possibly at the same time.

It won’t continue, though.  It can’t.

This is a good group of relievers.  Yes, Cordero and Oliver may be on the verge of hitting their expiry dates, but they’re both coming off fantastic seasons and it would be a heck of a coincidence if they both ran out of gas at the same time, as well as dramatically falling off a cliff from excellence to awflitude.  Santos has an electric arm, with great stuff, and in his first year as a closer he was successful in 30 of 36 chances.  There’s no reason to believe he’ll continue to convert saves at a 33% rate.  Janssen has been great in every healthy season he’s ever had in the big leagues, and Jason Frasor is Mr. Reliable.

This is a very good bullpen, but it’s been tear-your-hair-out frustrating for the past week.

The Blue Jays’ lack of offense hasn’t helped, either, though they showed signs of snapping out of it on Saturday afternoon.  Colby Rasmus had a three-hit game and Brett Lawrie had two hits and drew a walk as part of a ten-hit attack.  Jose Bautista hit two balls awfully hard as part of a 1-for-4 day and Eric Thames and Adam Lind each pitched in with a double.

Lawrie was caught stealing twice, the big one in the bottom of the second inning when, with the bases loaded, two out and an 0-2 count on Bautista, Lawrie thought he had O’s starter Jason Hammel timed and took off for a straight steal of home plate.  It was extraordinarily ballsy, to try a straight steal of home with the best hitter in baseball at the plate, but Lawrie thought he could get in and he was thrown out by an eyelash, ending the inning and taking Hammel off the tightrope he’d been walking.

Hammel was probably one swing away from having the roof fall in – even though he did have Bautista over a barrel and had just struck out Kelly Johnson after battling back from a 3-0 count – but Lawrie thought he had him.

Was it a smart move?  Certainly not.  The straight steal of home is probably the lowest-percentage play in the game, and when you consider the circumstances, it certainly wasn’t the thing to do.  But was it the dumbest thing that’s ever happened on a baseball field?  Absolutely not.

Look, this is a 22 year-old kid who plays with his hair on fire, who honestly believes that he can do anything.  And we do too – how many times have we said to ourselves “Is there anything Brett Lawrie can’t do?”  If anyone’s going to think of himself as Superman, it’s probably Lawrie, and Blue Jays fans love that about him.  One of the things I’m sure he can do, though, is learn, and he learned a tough lesson there.

That caught stealing was a major topic of discussion on The BlueJaysTalk, which is available right here, for your listening pleasure:

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Sunday afternoon the Blue Jays will try to beat back those Baltimore brooms and get back over .500 and into first place in the A.L. East in the bargain, and they’ll send Kyle Drabek to the mound to do it against lefty Brian Matusz.  We’ll be on the air at 12:30PM Eastern for a 1:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

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

Comments are welcome, I read them all and respond to most!

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12:44AM Eastern

The Blue Jays’ series-opening loss to the Orioles was disappointing to be sure, with the team having wasted a gutty seven innings from Brandon Morrow (who may have come into his own as a pitcher in this game) and four home runs, and with the bullpen blowing a save for the third time already just seven games into the season.

And really, the whole thing came down to one decision on the part of Jays’ manager John Farrell, and that was how to use his bullpen in the 8th inning, in the absence of closer Sergio Santos.

With Santos off in California having witnessed the birth of his third child, a bouncing baby boy named Troy Gabriel, on Thursday, Francisco Cordero was given the role of closer for the game.  That meant Cordero was unavailable for the 8th inning, which is his normal time to shine as a Blue Jay, and it was the 8th inning that was the difference in the game.

The Jays took a one-run lead into that penultimate frame, with the top of the Orioles’ line-up coming up, and the choice came down to Jason Frasor, Darren Oliver or Casey Janssen.  The O’s had two righties off the top, Nolan Reimold and J.J. Hardy, followed by a left-handed hitter in Nick Markakis, righty Adam Jones and a pair of switch-hitters in Matt Wieters and Wilson Betemit.

Frasor got the call to begin the inning, and he gave up a single to Reimold that just barely got by the outstretched glove of Yunel Escobar.  He then struck out Hardy and gave way to Oliver for the lefty-lefty match-up with Markakis.  As Oliver worked to his first hitter, Reimold stole second base, and the Jays’ veteran southpaw then got Markakis to hit a slow, high chopper out towards second base on which Kelly Johnson had no play, putting Baltimores at first and third with one out.

Now the wheels start turning. Do you stick with Oliver against Jones and then use him to turn the switch-hitters around or do you make the move to Casey Janssen?  Neither of them are really strikeout pitchers, though Janssen does strike out more hitters, so there’s not a real reason to choose one over the other from that sense (as in, tying run at third with less than two out, you need a strikeout).  Last season, Janssen was tougher against left-handed hitters than righties (though he was the opposite the year before) and Oliver was pretty deadly against both (though he was much more effective against lefties than righties the year before).

Jones was the first batter to deal with, and he has been an anti-platoon player for his entire career, hitting right-handed pitchers for an OPS 110 points better than he hits lefties.  With Oliver’s relative even-ness side-to-side, he stayed in to face Jones and struck him out.

This brought up the two switch-hitters with runners on the corners and now two out.

Wieters was the first, and he’s gotten off to a great start this season, posting an 1.122 OPS through the first six games. For his career, he’s hit left-handers better than right-handers (.785 OPS to .734), but fearing the hot bat, the choice was made to pitch around him, try to let him get himself out and if not, take the walk.  The biggest problem with this approach is that the walk moves the go-ahead run into scoring position, but again, fearing the hot bat, they pitched around Wieters and wound up walking him.

So now you have the bases loaded and two out, with the next switch-hitter being Betemit.  Do you stick with Oliver or go with Janssen?

In Betemit, you have a guy who is 130 points better in his career hitting left-handed (which is to say, facing right-handed pitching), and last season the difference side-to-side was almost 260 points.  Betemit’s career .683 OPS as a right-handed hitter matched the total of the 20th-worst qualified hitter in all of baseball last year.

The decision was made to stick with Oliver, who hadn’t looked good in walking Wieters on five pitches, but who had otherwise gotten a strikeout and a weak ground ball, and it backfired as Betemit slapped the first pitch up the middle for the two-run single that gave the Orioles the lead for good.  After that hit, Janssen came in to strike out Mark Reynolds and end the inning.

So was the decision to use Oliver against Betemit the wrong one?  Was it, as someone suggested on Twitter, a case of pitching to Baltimore’s weakness as opposed to the Blue Jays’ strength?  Was Oliver simply left in too long?

I think the answer to the last of those questions is a definite negative – he’d faced three batters, made two of them look pretty bad, and thrown only 16 pitches.  It certainly wasn’t a case of riding a guy one batter too long.

The other two answers aren’t as cut-and-dried, but I think Farrell’s decision-making process was right.  Oliver has been a very, very good late-inning reliever for the last six years, and more often than not over that time he’s had as much success against right-handed hitters as he has against left-handers.  Janssen has been a very reliable reliever – outstanding, in fact, in his two fully healthy seasons – and when he’s been on, he’s been even more adept at retiring left-handed hitters than he has righties.  Ultimately, you have two great weapons here – one pitcher from each side who fares better against the side against which he’s supposed to be weaker.  You can always use either one to turn a switch-hitter around to his poorer side, and that’s what Farrell did with Betemit. It just didn’t happen to work out this time.

As a result, the Blue Jays fell to 4-3 and into a first-place tie in the A.L. East with the Orioles, Rays and Yankees, as opposed to being 5-2 and a game up one week into the season.  It’s not a bad place to be, especially considering they’re on pace for 93 wins and 69 blown saves.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The Extendo-Blue Jays Talk, for your listening pleasure:

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Saturday, prepare for the unusual!  The Blue Jays play a 4:07PM Eastern home game for the first time in years.  They’re doing it twice this season, both April Saturdays, with the other one coming in a couple of weeks against the Mariners.  Henderson Alvarez will try to follow up his sterling start in the Home Opener against the O’s Jason Hammel, who took a no-hitter into the 8th inning in his first start of the season before losing it on back-to-back doubles by Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham.  We’re on the air at 3:30PM with the pre-game show – join us, won’t you?

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

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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4:19PM Eastern

Ricky Romero and Jon Lester put on one heck of a show in the series finale at Roger Centre, and it was the home side that came out on top, with the difference in the game being the wheels of Rajai Davis.

Romero and Lester gave up only three hits each, with all of Romero’s coming over a span of four hitters in the third inning.  Singles by Cody Ross, Mike Aviles and Jacoby Ellsbury sandwiched around a failed bunt attempt by Kelly Shoppach gave the Red Sox an early one-run lead, but Ricky shut it down right there, retiring 17 straight Sox after the Ellsbury safety, taking that run all the way to the 9th inning.

The Jays answered Boston’s run with two of their own in the third.  Eric Thames, a bit of a surprise starter against the lefty, singled to start the inning, moved to second on a wild pitch and then scored easily as Davis legged out an RBI triple on a ball hit down the right-field line.  Yunel Escobar cashed Davis with a fly ball to medium-deep right field, and after a walk to Kelly Johnson, Lester went on a run of his own that saw him set down 15 Blue Jays in a row.

That run took Lester to two outs in the bottom of the 8th, with the Blue Jays leading 2-1, and it ended when he walked Davis.  Knowing Rajai was likely to try to steal second, Lester threw over to first base immediately and Davis was on the move.  He should have been dead to rights, but Boston first baseman Adrian Gonzalez bounced his throw to second, which gave Davis enough room to slide safely into second, from whence he scored as Escobar came through with a clutch single to centre.

Having thrown only 90 pitches, and on one heck of a roll, Romero came back out for the 9th to try for the complete game win, but Ricky lost the plate.  He walked the first two hitters of the inning on just nine pitches – the only free passes he’d allow all day – but stayed in to get Gonzalez to fly to centre.  The ball was deep enough, though, that both runners were able to move up, giving Boston men on second and third and one out, trailing by two.

That was when John Farrell came out to get his closer, Sergio Santos, and his faith was rewarded.  In just about the toughest save situation possible – having to face Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz with the tying run on second base – Santos was terrific.  He jumped ahead of Youkilis with two quick strikes before eventually getting him to chase a slider down and away, then got Ortiz to ground out harmlessly to short to end it.

It was Santos’ first save as a Blue Jay – though it would have been his second if Luis Perez hadn’t stolen a save opportunity from him in the season opener – and it showed just what a prize the Jays dealt for back in December.  He won’t be perfect, very few have been over a full season, but he’ll close out far, far more games than he doesn’t.  And, it should be mentioned, the Blue Jays are now 3-1 in the four games in which Santos has pitched.

And as I write this, Santos is speeding to the airport to spend the off-day attending the birth of his third child, so the heartiest of mazel tovs to him and his!

It being a weekday day game, there was no real BlueJaysTalk, though I was happy to sit in with Tim and Sid for a couple of segments on our flagship station Sportsnet590 The Fan until we were derailed by technical issues.  We’ll have time to do it up right after the opener with Baltimore on Friday night.

Speaking of which, the Jays have Thursday off and will welcome the Orioles for a three-game set beginning on Friday, with Brandon Morrow facing Tommy Hunter (not THAT Tommy Hunter), and we’ll have it all for you along the Blue Jays Radio Network beginning at 7:00PM Eastern.  Both Morrow and Hunter were brilliant in their season-opening starts; Morrow going seven innings of one-hitter without allowing an earned run in Cleveland, Hunter also not giving up an earned run over seven innings of work in Minnesota, though he did give up six hits.  Strangely, they both allowed a pair of unearned runs.

Please give me a follow on The Twitter – you can find me @wilnerness590!  Ricky Romero hangs out there as well, and he can be found @RickyRo24.

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

11:38PM Eastern

Sorry, gang, but a bad cold combined with a day game coming up means minimal bloggage tonight.

I’ll say this – Kyle Drabek looked very good  in taking a two-hit shutout into the 6th inning, having walked only one to that point, and his teammates did an excellent job taking advantage of their opportunities, going 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position.  There was terrific work from Jason Frasor and Luis Perez out of the bullpen, showcasing once again the depth the Jays have and what a luxury it is to be able to use such good pitchers in situations where you’d normally see guys who are barely hanging on to a big-league job.

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

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The series wraps up Wednesday afternoon with both the Blue Jays’ and Red Sox’ first rubber match of the season. It’ll be lefty against lefty, ace against ace, Ricky Romero taking on Jon Lester.  They’re both coming off Opening Day no-decisions, but Lester pitched well while Romero struggled but battled through five innings in a game that eventually went 16.  We’ll be on the air at 12:30PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on The Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590 and you can find Edwin Encarnacion, who went 2-for-3 with a homer and two stolen bases @encadwin.

Comments are welcome – I read them all and respond to most!

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11:31PM Eastern

So, that could have gone a lot better, huh?

The Blue Jays thoroughly entertained the sellout crowd at Rogers Centre for eight innings.  There was a buzz and electricity in the building from the unfurling of the huge Blue Jays banner hanging over the pitcher’s mound through Brett Lawrie’s single in the second – the Jays’ first home hit of the season! – and then the Colby Rasmus show happened in the third inning.  The much-maligned centrefielder made a phenomenal diving grab of a Jarrod Saltalamacchia liner in the top of the frame that got the nearly 50,000 in attendance right out of their seats, then tripled into that same right-centrefield gap in the bottom of the inning, scoring the Jays’ first run with a pretty slide on a little nubber by Kelly Johnson.

Edwin Encarnacion singled in a Yunel Escobar walk later in the third, and that was all the Blue Jays could muster, but for the longest time it seemed as though it would be enough.

Henderson Alvarez, the youngest pitcher ever to start a Home Opener for the Blue Jays, was spectacular.  He shut down a good Red Sox line-up on just four hits over six innings, walking only one, with the only damage being a one-out solo homer by Dustin Pedroia in the 6th.  Darren Oliver and Francisco Cordero followed with a shutout inning each, just like John Farrell drew it up, then it was time for the closer.

And Sergio Santos blew up real good.

Pitching in front of his new home crowd for the first time, already with one blown save in his back pocket back on Saturday in Cleveland, Santos appeared to really have the adrenaline going – so much so that he couldn’t control it.  His first pitch was a 95 mile an hour fastball, above the belt, and Pedroia whacked it into left field for a leadoff double.  From then on, it was Santos overthrowing, yanking fastballs into the dirt, leaving J.P. Arencibia pretty much helpless behind the plate.  Even with all that, he had two out and nobody on in a tie game, but then issued back to back walks before Ryan Sweeney singled to right.  Everyone in the ballpark, including Boston’s third base coach Jerry Royster, knew that Jose Bautista was going to destroy Darnell McDonald if he tried to score from second, but Royster sent him anyway.  He had to.  And Bautista, in his haste to get the ball out of his hand, sent the throw in a downward trajectory, hitting the ground much too early.  Even though it was on line to the plate and arrived in plenty of time, it bounced past Arencibia, allowing the eventual winning run to score.

In all, Santos gave up three runs on two hits and three walks, with a wild pitch and a passed ball that should have been called a wild pitch thrown in for good measure.  It was about as ugly as you can get, and Blue Jays fans can be forgiven for believing that they’ve been to this rodeo before, what with the 25 blown saves last year and all the baggage from Billy Koch to Kelvim Escobar to Miguel Batista and beyond.

But I do believe this is different.  Remember, Santos was a shortstop up until three years ago.  This is just his second full season in the big leagues as a pitcher, and last year, he was amazing.  It’s very difficult to have the opposition hit .181/.282/.314 against you by accident, just as it’s tough to call 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings over 63 1/3 innings of work a fluke.  This is a special arm, and I firmly believe he’s going to be just fine.

Yes, the Blue Jays have Francisco Cordero, who trails only Mariano Rivera on the active saves list and who threw a perfect 8th inning despite giving up a rocket to Jacoby Ellsbury on which Adam Lind made an eye-popping diving grab.  But it’s going to be a long time before Cordero takes over for a healthy Santos.  It may not be a long time before Santos blows another save – he blew one a month last year on his way to nailing down 30 – but Santos is going to be the Blue Jays’ lockdown closer for the long term, even though he’s probably someone who is still growing into the job.

It was most assuredly a rough night at the ol’ ballyard, but even with so many things not clicking for the Blue Jays to this point in the season, they’re still 2-2.  And heck, if they win Tuesday night, they’ll be on pace for a 96-win season.

It was a brief edition of The JaysTalk this evening, and the clowns came out – here it is, for your listening pleasure:

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The second of 81 home games takes place Tuesday night, with Kyle Drabek taking on Daniel Bard in a battle of hard-throwing young righties.  Last year, Drabek opened the season with seven innings of one-hitter in a 6-1 win over the Twins.  We’ll be on the air at 7:00PM Eastern to bring you all the action – join us, won’t you?

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

Comments are welcome – I read them all and reply to most!

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