Pitching

The last two days the Jays have received two excellent performances from their starters.  Morrow improved to 3 - 0 on the road!  He pitched 6 & 2/3 innings without giving up a run.  The bullpen came in and shut down the Reds which is good, cause the bullpen has been driving me crazy lately.

Carlos Villanueva pitched a great outing, only giving up 2 runs, but the Jays offence could only produce one run.  Solid effort.  Carlos had a streak of 84 consecutive outings without giving up a loss before today's performance!  Most of that was out of the bullpen but man, he's the complete opposite of Jo Jo Reyes.  How come we heard all about Jo Jo's negative streak, but this is the first time I heard about Carlos' streak?  Odd.

Escobar Extension

The Jays signed Escobar for 2012 & 2013 @ 5 mil a piece.  They also have club options for 2014 & 2015 at the same price.  This seems a lot like the Aaron Hill deal a while back and is a pretty sweet move by the Jays.

The only thing I wonder, is where this puts their "star" cuban shortstop in the minors?  Does Adeiny Hechavarria become trade bait to the Yankees as they try to find a replacement for Jeter?  Do they move him to second base because we've got a gaping hole there if we decide to cut Hill loose at the end of the season (please do)?

- Rusty

Zach Stewart

Zach Stewart made his MLB debut in a game vs the Orioles yesterday.  I listened to the game at work on The Fan 590 and I liked what I heard.  Stewart only gave up 1 hit in the first five innings, but the next hit in the sixth was a home run.  Still, a very impressive debut, hopefully we get many more shut out innings in the future from him.

Of course, the bullpen came in to a tie game and handed it over to the Orioles.  Their first win at Skydome since August 2009.  A pity since Mr Stewart gave such a commanding performance in the early going.

Lind had a 2 run shot and is still very much on fire.  I still can't wait for Lawrie to get healed & into this line up.  I'd love to see him hit second, Bautista third, Lind fourth & Arencibia hit fifth.

The Jays are in WKRP Cincinnati tonight, and while I will (of course) be rooting for the Jays, I still hope fellow Canadian Joey Votto puts on a good show for us.  Go Jays Go.

Jays vs Orioles Recap

K's & Homers.  Escobar & River had solo homers, Lind with a 2 run shot (he's on fire since coming back).  Ricky matched a career high with 12 K's.  Rumor has it he dropped an "eh" in batting practice a couple days ago - he's now an honorary Canadian and has evened his record to 6-6 while the Jays came back up to .500 as well.

Ashby had a pretty funny comment after he saw the first two pitches in the 9th to Gurrerro "You'd have to check the record books to see the last time Vlad watched two strikes go by without swinging".  Funny guy, great announcer.

Zack Stewart is making his MLB debut tomorrow.  We'll have to tune in to see how that goes.

- Rusty

Drabek

Disappointed. That is the only word I have for the demotion of Kyle Drabek to Vegas.  I feel like he needed to work out his struggles up here, but, I'm not the GM.  I know that Drabeck & Morrow have been having their troubles this season, but I feel like dealing with it up here will only make it better down the line when we're a contender.

Even Jo Jo Reyes has made me a believer after his 28 straight starts without a winner.  This season is for shit, we all know it.  Why not let Drabek, Morrow, Cecil & hell Litsch sort it out up here so two years from now we can destroy all advocates?

Blue Jays vs Red Sux

I went to the game yesterday - a 16 to 4 win for the Red Sox.  It sucked cause it was the first game I'd seen Morrow pitch this year & I was wearing my Morrow jersey. My boss gave me his Row 1 tickets so I decided we were going to put up K's in Morrow's honor.  Well, after 4 K's we gave up cause the score was like 12 -2 for the Red Sux or something stupid.  Morrow had been yanked and had given up 9 runs in the process.  He was a slow starter last year & I can only pray it's the same way this year.

I guess the only silver lining from the day was that I started taking pictures & eventually video with my i-touch.  Below are some shots of Morrow pitching, Bautista hitting & Lind avoiding a fastball (for the ladies).  I will post some video a bit later after I've edited it.

Jays VS Boston

Got FREEBIE tix for Saturday: Jays VS Red Sux while Morrow is on the mound.  Can't wait to go out there with the "LORDIE WE NEED LAWRIE" sign and have Morrow shut down the Red Sux with 28 strikeouts.  SWEET!!!!!!!!

- Rusty