You are here: Home / Archives for Toronto Blue Jays

Our Trip to Cleveland to see Joey Bats

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[Toronto Star]

Originally, my wife and I were going to attend Opening Night in Cincinnati. My uncle mentioned that we were invited the day before Easter to see the Tribe play the Blue Jays in Cleveland. I wanted to see Jose Bautista–after all I’ve never seen him play. I owed this to myself.

It was enjoyable, cool early April afternoon and I’m glad we went North rather than South on this first MLB Saturday of the season.

I won’t lie, it’s always going to be “The Jake” to me. Nevertheless, I’ve had a lot of good memories at this park. There’s something special about a weekend afternoon game in Cleveland. Maybe it was the Bertman’s.

I didn’t get to see Bautista hit a bomb or anything, he went 0 for 4 with a walk. He homered the night before and was probably all tuckered out from playing the longest extra inning game (16 innings) to open an MLB season in history the night before.

A view below of what used to be Pronkville. An area that used to be in some demand now has few inhabitants. Notice the Horseshoe Casino advertisement, due to open up in May. I hope it’s kinder to me than Las Vegas has been over the course of my young life.

Ubaldo Jimenez brought his ‘A’ stuff on this afternoon. This was the longest game that I’ve ever been at before in which a pitcher has carried a no-hitter. Jimenez took his 6 and 2/3 innings before allowing a single to Brett Lawrie that also let the shutout get away from him due to a walk and a wild pitch.

I came away impressed by Jimenez, he was mid 90′s on a cold afternoon and if he can get his control going better he’s going to have a nice season.

Cleveland cityscape. It’s a cool city I suppose, though I rank it behind Cincinnati and Indianapolis in a lot of categories.

Tell me that isn’t a weird line score. My uncle and I were discussing if there were to be a walk-off homer and no other base hits in the game and the game ended 2-1, has that ever happened before? Had to get the bizarro world linescore on the blog.

Hairy Buffaloes in Cleveland. My wife had to pee after we parked. As sorry as this Chief Wahoo looks, he would look sorrier before the afternoon ended.

What, we’re advertising on foul poles now? Cleveland has officially became a foul pole advertising franchise. You should be real proud of yourselves, Indians. I’m told by my friend who is a Tribe fan that these were like this last year, but I don’t buy it. I would have noticed.

Life imitates Hollywood. Shades of Major League when the Indians players show up to the park and there are ads absolutely everywhere.

We sat in the club, ate way too much food, and enjoyed a 12-inning Blue Jays victory. Sorry, Cleveland. It’s going to be another long summer for you. At least you have the warmth of the memories (speaking of, I met Carlos Baerga before the game) and the Browns to look forward to.

Scratch that. At least you had the 1995 and 1997 Indians, a lot more than any other fans can be promised to ever experience. Like Tom Petty says ‘the good old days might not return’ but at least there are good old days to look back on.

Filed Under: Cleveland Indians, Dispatches, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With: , , ,

10 Bold Predictions for 2012: Jose gets his 50 Bombtistas

March 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

As part of our preview for the upcoming 2012 season, we’ll be doing a 10 Bold Predictions for 2012 series that will be featured between now and Opening Day. Our third prediction? Jose Bautista hits 50 long ones in 2012.

It’s been done 13 times since 2000, by ten different ballplayers. When I was a kid, it was as exclusive of a group as sports really offered. Then 1996 happened and suddenly it seemed everyone was part of it.

The good news it that the 50 home run club is a big deal again, and it’s not going to be something that happens ten times in a decade too many more times, I wouldn’t think.

When someone does it now, it’s going to be a really big deal again. And it’s going to be something that you engrave in your mental sports epitaph that resides up in your head–you know the things you remember that take place of things that aren’t as important like when your children were born or when you and your wife got married or the song you first danced together to. But damn it, we knew that Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs on the dot in 1996 and we remember Cecil’s 51 back in ’90 as we do his son’s 50 back in 2007.

We remember these things because they are a big deal. And it’s a milestone once again for the sexiest stat in sports.

Jose Bautista is quite the human anomaly, is he not? I have to admit, I thought his 54 home runs in 2010 were a tremendous fluke. I thought he’d hit about 19 last season. I mean he only had four home runs in April of 2010, making the whole feat even more unbelievable to begin with.

He came back last season, hit 43 more; and added in a .302 average and .447 OBP% to go with. He’s going to be 31 years old this season and I think a lot of people are expecting Joey Bats to come back to earth a little bit or at least start proving that he’s a normal player. But alas we remind you that Bautista is no normal player. And he’s got one more big time run left in him.

Although Eno Sarris at FanGraphs tells us that no player will hit 40 home runs this season, we scoff at him and let him know that Joey Bats will see him at that number by mid-August (Bautista hit #40 on August 23 and September 4th respectively the last two years–both off Yankee pitching).

We’ll say Bautista’s 50th blast comes sometime between September 27-30, ironically enough against those same Bronx Bombers at Rogers Centre. And we’ll even be nice enough to dig up this post.

We expect Bautista’s home run totals to start trailing off after this season, but he’s going to give us at least one more free admission to the bomb show in 2012. Fifty coming your way in 2012.

Filed Under: 50 home run club, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With: ,

Francisco Cordero heads North of the Border

January 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

The man logged 150 saves for the Cincinnati Reds after many in baseball thought he was done. He’ll be 37 years old this season. Today, three-time All-Star Francisco “Coco” Cordero signed a one year, $4.5 million dollar contract with the Toronto Blue Jays in a move that bolsters their bullpen to one of the top pens in the American League.

Last season the Blue Jays had a stable of guys to pick from to close out ballgames. None of those guys were very good. They’ve re-stocked the cupboard with Cordero, Darren Oliver, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen, and Sergio Santos this offseason.

While Santos is the big horse in the pen that figures to get the bulk of save opportunities, a baseball season is long and at some point the temptation to see what Cordero does in a save situation will be there. There’s likely to be a stretch of games in which Santos falters and Cordero gets an opportunity.

And that’s when Blue Jays fans will receive the feeling of horrifying dread that only a Coco Cordero blown save opportunity can evoke. Toronto, you have fun. He’s now your problem.

Filed Under: Free Agency, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With:

Pete Rose on Joey Votto being a Red beyond 2014

January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

While perusing the different Reds sites around the net, I recently found Pete Rose’s opinion on Joey Votto’s future with the Reds over at Reds Country.

“I’ve got to believe (Reds owner) Bob Castellini wants to keep him, because nobody wants to win more than Bob,” Rose said. “(After all the recent movement by big-name first baseman), it’s not such a great time to be a first baseman and a free agent. They all want (and are getting) long-term deals.

“But there are only so many clubs out there with that kind of money to spend,” Rose said. “California has (Albert) Pujols, the Yankees have (Mark) Teixeira, and somebody’s going to get Prince Fielder. I don’t know that Joey wants to go to Chicago and be a Cub. I think the Reds will try to keep him, and they might be able to, because there might not be the money out here for him somewhere else.”

 

Ah, but Pete; you’re forgetting to mention that Votto knows of the territory north of the border. I truly believe there’s nothing more the Blue Jays would like than to have homegrown Canadians Brett Lawrie and Joey Votto manning the corners of their infield. And if there is any type of hometown discount for Votto to give someone  we would suggest it’s going to be given to the Blue Jays–not the Reds.

Really it’s all just conjuncture and speculation at this point. But anytime you can plug in a Pete Rose picture like the one I found above on your website, you do it and you move quickly.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With: , ,

Game 73, 2011: Reds 2, Blue Jays 1

June 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[Cincinnati.com]

I didn’t enjoy this small round of interleague play as much as I thought I would. Jay Bruce and Joey Votto are not hitting a whole lot; at least that is to say they aren’t hitting with a lot of power. Bruce broke out of his slump with four hits in the final two days of the weekend series and Votto also collected three hits of his own yesterday including one that started the small rally that would win the game on Miguel Cairo’s 2-run home run.

And let’s pause for a moment. How good has Miguel Cairo been this season? He’s collected a few absolutely huge hits for the Reds, and none were bigger than this one.

Bronson Arroyo rebounded with a performance that kept the Reds pitching staff rolling. He had more than just a quality start; he went 8 innings allowing only 5 hits and one run on an Aaron Hill home run. This was the type of start that Bunny Arroyo has became known for over the course of his Reds career. He’s not always effective, but more often than not when it’s a must-win the guy shows up and is able to be a ‘stopper’ of sorts.

Friday and Saturday were such disappointments in terms of entertainment in this series. The Reds salvaged a little bit of the series and find themselves two games out of the lead that the Cardinals and Brewers share.

The Reds play host to the Yankees tonight, and might get more good news with Albert Pujols going down with an injury. This is a chance before the All-Star break where as a Reds fan you would like to see the team play their best baseball and the lineup get a little hot. The weather is hot, school is out; and it’s time for these guys to try and make a move and take a stranglehold on the division. They’ve been treading water for a little bit now.

With the Yankees coming to town (minus Derek Jeter), let’s see what they’ve got. We’ll be there tonight, by the way.

Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, Interleague Play, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With: , , , , ,

Remember me? Benny Blanco from the Bronx?

May 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Couple of things here, boys and girls. And yes I saw Justin Verlander close it down today–and knew he had it when he struck out a Rajai Davis (forever a footnote on the wrong side of a trivia question) who is riding the interstate as far as his batting average goes.

  • First, this is the second time this week that a post gets tagged with the ‘no-hitter’ category on this blog. This coming after two guys (Derek Lowe, Jaime Garcia) had bids last night fall just short, and today both Verlander and Yovani Gallardo carried no-hitters into the 8th, with only Verlander holding on to his. I knew one or the other would come home with it. I was right.
  • This is the second no-hitter that Verlander has thrown since I’ve had this blog. In between all that? Well he broke down and I predicted him to be Comeback Player of the Year before the 2009 season. Five more until you run down Nolan Ryan.
  • Verlander was throwing 102 in the 9th during his last no-hitter. I saw him hit 100 MPH today in the 9th a couple of times. That’s serious, serious ched.

It’s been a pretty epic little sports Saturday. The Derby, which I missed. A bunch of NBA games down to the wire, which I also missed. A 5-time Major winner in Golf passed away early this morning. Oh yea, and that shithead closer that pitches for the Reds finally reared his ugly head just as I was starting to like him.

Happy Saturday all.

Filed Under: Detroit Tigers, History, No-hitters, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With:

Jered Weaver has gone off

April 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

[Box Score] [Halos Heaven]

I didn’t realize this, but Jered Weaver won the strikeout title last year in the AL. I think it’s safe to say that he’s getting into territory of late 90′s Pedro Martinez here pretty soon.

He struck out 15 Blue Jays yesterday in 7 and 2/3 innings. He’s now 3-0 on the season with a 0.87 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. That’s pretty.

He’s reminding me a little bit of Ubaldo Jimenez’s start last season. Winning 20 games could be imminent as long as the Angels continue to give him any semblance of run support and the bullpen tandem of Fernando Rodney and Jordan Walden don’t blow to many leads that he turns over to them.

Right now if your team is the unfortunate group that happens to draw this baddest bull at the rodeo, you’re in for a short ride.

Filed Under: Anaheim Angels, Toronto Blue Jays Tagged With:

American League East 2011 Season Preview

March 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Leading up to the start of the 2011 Regular Season, Diamond Hoggers will preview each of MLB’s 30 teams . Today’s preview features the Boston Red Sox. Stay tuned as Diamond Hoggers previews every team division by division until the start of the regular season. We’re running out of time, so here is a preview of the American League East. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Baltimore Orioles, Red Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees Tagged With:

Cito Gaston manages last game in Toronto

September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Cito Gaston has managed his last game in Toronto, and addressed fans in a letter he wrote in the Toronto Star. Below is a snippet from the letter.

That first World Series will always be special. We won the second one in such dramatic fashion. But the first one’s always going to be the one. When Winfield hit the ball down the line and Robby scored from first base — I can still see that ball. Both series were great, because the way the second one ended, what a fairytale that is. I know Joe Carter must still think of that every day.

Cito seems like a genuinely good dude. I think it’s neat that he came back for a second tour of duty in Toronto, although it was kind of a dead end to begin with with all of the loaded teams that are in that division. He came back and spent a few more years around the game, which is just nostalgic and cool for guys like me who saw Gaston manage those tremendous Toronto teams while growing up and first following the game.

If I’d known then how rotten most Canadians were, I would have never been a bandwagon Blue Jays fan boy as a 12 year old. But that’s neither here nor there at this point.

Rob Neyer asks if Gaston is a Hall of Famer. Personally, we think that his merits (.516 career W%) are borderline but he is the first black manager to win a World Series.

Cito my man, thanks for being another good figure in a game that is full of them. Another tie to my childhood is gone from this game. They’re getting fewer and far between.

Filed Under: Cito Gaston, retirements, Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista joins the 50 home run club

September 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment


In a league where so much is about the young stars of this game, it’s fittingly an unknown commodity at age 29 that pops up out of nowhere and has a 50 home run season. Bautista did it in a 1-0 game off a legitimate ace under the afternoon Canada sun.

In the same game, Ichiro Suzuki collected his 200th hit becoming the first player in Major League history to begin a career with 10 straight 200-hit seasons. Felix Hernandez also fell to 12-12 on the season, failing to get a run or less for the 5th time in a loss this season.

God forbid Bautista fails to hit 20 next year like he has his entire career. Our general feeling is that he’s probably clean, but he’s a guy who does look fairly cut and just because he is a lean muscle type guy doesn’t necessarily mean he’s completely clean. With everything else, time should tell the story on Jose Bautista.

Filed Under: 50 home run club, Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Bautista, King Felix, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista’s historic power season

September 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“After failing to hit more than 16 homers or bat better than .254 in any of his first six big-league seasons, Bautista could be the first player since 2007 to hit 50 homers. Somehow, stars have aligned for him in 2010. With revamped mechanics at the plate and a chance to play every day, Bautista leads the majors in home runs — eight more than three-time MVP Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.” [USA Today]

Filed Under: everyone digs the long ball, Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays

Doc Halladay, Cliff Lee part of a mega-deal

December 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Breaking news on a big time trade, and other then Sports Illustrated we’re one of the first baseball blogs to get it up.

The Phillies are in agreement on a three-team trade with the Mariners and Blue Jays to acquire star pitcher Roy Halladay, SI.com has learned.

Sources say Halladay will agree to a contract extension to complete the deal. It’s expected to be a formality.

The Phillies have discussed Cliff Lee in trades, but it isn’t confirmed who the Mariners would be receiving in this deal.

The other part of this? Someone is getting some major prospects. You’re talking about two of the biggest pitchers in baseball getting dealt, and with a third team involved, two of these teams are giving up blue chip minor league talent to get this pushed through.

And if you’re an NL fan, your team gets to face Roy Halladay another couple times each season now. That should be funzies.

Filed Under: Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays

Beat up North of the border, by a guy with a Porn 'stache

June 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
[Box Score]
It doesn’t matter what kind of lefty it is that opposes the Cincinnati Reds. And it has been this way for a long time now. The Reds just don’t hit left handed pitching. Not a little, not at all.
Brian Tallet, who looks like your garden-variety junior high physical education teacher; could have done whatever he wanted with the Reds last night. They were at his mercy. I’m shocked that he was removed from the game after only 90 pitches. And I know when there is a lefty on the mound, the Reds are going to have to wait him out rather then attack and try and score off the lefty starter. Doesn’t matter who it is. It might as well be an off night and there might as well be no game on the schedule if they’re facing a lefty. It’s not even worth watching most of the time.

For 6 innings, Tallet cruised through the Reds lineup, striking out 7 and allowing only 3 hits with of course no runs. Micah Owings dug the Reds a nice hole, as they found themselves down 6-0 before Jay Bruce’s bases loaded double (off a lefty reliever) opened up scoring. The Reds would add a few more mercy runs, but would lose the game 7-5.

In Joey Votto’s return he went 1 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Chris Dickerson went 2 for 3 with an RBI.
It has become so obvious that the Reds need to add a big right handed bat. Walt Jocketty says at this point that the Reds are buyers. Now is that time, as we’re under .500 for the first time since before mid-April. They’re 14-21 since May 14.
Filed Under: Cincinnati Reds, mustaches, Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays 2009 Season Preview

March 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Leading up to the start of the 2009 Regular Season, Diamond Hoggers will preview each of MLB’s 30 teams. Today’s team is the Toronto Blue Jays. Stay tuned as Diamond Hoggers will preview every team division by division until the start of the regular season.

Blue Jays fans can finally have something to look forward to this season. They’ve got some really good young prospects like left handed pitcher Ricky Romero and possible American League Rookie of the Year Travis Snider ready to break into the big leagues and make an impact. They also have a nice mix of old stars as well.

The lineup starts off with shortstop Marco Scutaro. Scrappy little ballplayer. Aaron Hill is the second baseman. Alex Rios is the right fielder and will hit in the middle of the order. Vernon Wells is still the headliner but he must stay healthy and have one of those seasons that restores faith and shows people that all of the sustained injuries in past years have not permanently damaged him. A few years ago, Wells was that guy who signed a mega contract that every team in baseball would have scrambled to build around.

Adam Lind revived his career, and this year he could approach 30 home runs as a DH/OF. Scott Rolen is closing out a long career quietly but still has pop. Lyle Overbay will be the first baseman and hit 7th. Travis Snider, as we mentioned before; will possibly be the headliner on this team by next season. The guy is a bulky, muscular kid. Rod Barajas will hit enough to hold down the catching job. Kevin Millar is also available off the bench.

Roy Halladay is the ace of this staff and the franchise’s most recognizable player. There are already rumblings that if this team isn’t a contender in 2009, that he’ll be dangled at the trade deadline. And that’s a damn shame. Guys like Roy Halladay should remain in the same big league city until their arm falls off. Halladay will give the Blue Jays a chance to win every night that he is on the hill and will serve as the rotation’s streak stopper. Jesse Litsch is the #2 starter heading into the season. David Purcey and Casey Janssen follow him. They’re relative unknowns aren’t they? Dustin Mcgowan will be in there somewhere, and he’s been very impressive when he’s been out there for the Jays.

There’s another superstar in the bullpen. Closer BJ Ryan. If he can stay healthy he’ll do his thing and be this era’s Billy Wagner. Brandon League is a good set-up guy. Jesse Carlson, Scott Downs, and Jason Frasor also log innings in this pen.

The manager is Cito Gaston. Cito Gaston! This is good for the nostalgic baseball fan, but Cito’s last tour of duty isn’t with as much talent. He could lose his job pretty easily. They Jays are in a tough division and while they won’t God awful, but they won’t be able to contend for a top spot in this stacked AL East either.

Filed Under: 2009 Diamond Hoggers Season Previews, Toronto Blue Jays
« Older Posts