Toronto Blue Jays

Via Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk:

I had a chance to talk to a Toronto Star journalist (he's an acquaintance of mine) two weeks ago about the Toronto Blue Jays, and everything he said is consistent with what I've been hearing about the fans in that city.

Or more specifically, what other Torontonians are feeling about the Blue Jays, based on what I've been hearing on the Fan 590.

When the Blue Jays started the season, it came as a bit of a surprise that the manager Cito Gaston projected that the Jays lineup would live and die by the home run. 

Gaston suggested that his lineup was packed full of potential 20 home run hitters.

"Bautista has a chance to hit maybe 20-25 home runs because he's done it before," Gaston said. "Then, of course, you've got Hill, you've got Lind and Vernon who hit 20 home runs the year before.

The Toronto Blue Jays shut Brandon Morrow down after Friday’s start due to the number of innings he had thrown.  While his season didn’t end on the brightest note (3.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K), he leaves behind a stat line that shows off all the promise we’ve heard so much about:

10 Wins
146.1 Innings
4.49 ERA
1.38 WHIP
178 Strikeouts (10.95 K/9)
66 Walks (4.06 BB/9)
.348 BABIP

The Yankees got Alex Rodriguez back today, but his 2-for-5 day wasn’t enough to overcome Phil Hughes' poor start as the Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-3, ending their winning streak at eight games.

The Yankees have Phil Hughes on the mound this afternoon as they go for the sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays, and their ninth consecutive victory overall.

Here are some notes:

Jose Bautista has a very good eye for the difference between balls and strikes. (Even otherwise critical former teammates of the Pittsburgh Pirates would concede that much.) Maybe too good an eye. Ordinarily that is an advantage. But yesterday afternoon, may have been a different story.

Saturday was not one of Bautista's better games. No home runs for one. And no other hits, either. Whatever contribution he is going to make will be through his other main weapon, walks.

Jose Bautista is not what most people would consider a slugger, certainly not most fans of his former team the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yet he has emerged with a league-leading 42 home runs so far in 2008, after working on his swing last year with Toronto hitting coach, Dwayne Murphy.

This unexpected power has led to allegations that Bautista has done what Roger Clemens, or possibly even A-Rod has done in using controlled substances. Despite the improbability of his breakout, I don't believe these charges.

There was a lot of news surrounding the Toronto Blue Jays in the final weekend of August.

They were playing the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, and despite having one of his best strikeout totals, Marc Rzepczynski struggled to keep the ball in the zone and suffered as a result.

Three of the five baserunners he walked later came in to score, a costly result when he only allowed five hits. 

The article recently by Damien Cox on the "questionable" hitting success of Jose Bautista this season enraged me intensely. I generally like Damien Cox's articles, but this article was written purely to generate talking points for the FAN590. It was such a terribly written piece that the writer needs to be taken to task.