Lyle Overbay

Lyle Overbay commented yesterday about how he is unlikely to return next season as a Blue Jay. He is in the last year of a deal he signed with the club in January of 2007, after he was traded to the Blue Jays from Milwaukee in 2005.

Overbay has been mentioned in multiple trade rumors this offseason, including a deal that would bring Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder to Toronto for him. Expect these rumors to continue up until the July 31st trade deadline.

Roy Halladay earned his league leading eighth victory this afternoon in a 8-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox, putting the Jays up 3-0 in the four-game set.

The game did not start off well for Halladay, as he gave up a double to speedy leadoff hitter Scott Podsednik and was down 2-0 before the Jays were even allowed to hit.

The Jays were able to get a run back in their half of the first when Alex Rios deposited a high fastball into the left field seats for his fifth home run of the season.

More than a month into the season the Blue Jays have seen 3 pitchers make their MLB debut and are still on top of the AL East, the toughest division in baseball. How have they done it? The Jays came off a terrible offensive year in 2008, and the line-up did not change that much.
What did change is Cito Gaston is back, and so is hitting coach Gene Tenace. With them they brought an approach that the entire team has bought into, going to every at bat with a plan. It sounds simple enough but the proof is there, the Jays averaged a run more under Gaston than Gibbons in 2008.

Am I dreaming? I never thought I would be able to start a game recap with that headline.

Yet, it is appropriate, as Vernon Wells and Alex Rios hit their fourth and second home runs respectively to lead the Jays to a 4-3 win and a series sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.

Wells started it off for the Jays, hitting a two-run shot after Rios' double put him in scoring position.

Unfortunately, the lead did not last long, as Luke Scott creamed a pitch over the wall for his fourth of the year, tying it up 2-2.

For a game that started off based around the small ball the ending was much more powerful and much more dramatic.

Lyle Overbay came up to bat with two outs and Jose Bautista on first. He then sent the 1-0 pitch Dan Giese threw to deep right-centre to seal the game. The homerun came in the 12 inning to give the Jays a 4-2 win Saturday.

“I was either going to pop that straight up or hit a homer,” Overbay said. “I was glad it went the way it did.”