Red Hot Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have been on some streak here. In their past 9 games (6-3) they have only allowed12 runs in that stretch – that is a 1.33 ERA. They have won their past 5 even though this streak started off pretty badly. Here is the 9 game stretch:

4/26 – Royals – Loss – 1-2
4/27 – Royals – Won – 5-2
4/29 – Red Sox – Loss – 0-1
4/30 – Red Sox – Loss – 1-2
5/1 – Red Sox – Win – 3-0
5/2 – White Sox – Win – 2-0
5/3 – White Sox – Win – 5-2
5/4 – White Sox – Win – 4-3
5/5 – White Sox – Win – 1-0

In that stretch, take a look at the Jays starting pitching staff going 7-1 in the 9 games:

Roy Halladay (1-1): 16 IP and 1.13 ERA
Dustin McGowan (2-0): 14.2 IP and 0.63 ERA
AJ Burnett (1-0): 7.2 IP and 0 ERA
Shaun Marcum (1-1): 12.2 IP and 1.48 ERA
Jesse Litsch (2-0): 14.1 IP and 1.91

As if the starting pitching wasn’t impressive enough the bullpen has been even better. They have pitched 13.0 innings in the 9 game stretch allowing only ONE (1) earned run. In that stretch they have lost 1 game while picking up 6 saves. You can do that math (or I can do it for you) that is a 0.69 ERA.

Let’s keep all this in perspective. Yes the Jays have won 5 straight but they are still 16-17, 4 games back of Boston Red Sox and 1 of the Yankees. It is still only the 5th of May and playoffs start in October. There is a long ways to go but certainly if the pitching can keep things rolling (certainly you won’t expect a staff to keep a 1.3 ERA although that would be amazing), the Jays offense really needs to start clicking. They can’t afford to lose games 2-1 and 1-0 in the AL East. They Jays are currently 4-8 in one run games and 1-2 in extra innings which will need to improve if they Jays want to contend down the stretch.

Speaking of pitching and the AL East, it was nice to see Darrell Rasner who got roughed up in the first inning to settle down and shut out the Marines the rest of the way. He can provide the Yankee staff quite the boost if he can provide quality starts every now and then with Wang and Moose clicking. Also, keep an eye out for an absolute pitching dandy on Wednesday when Chien-Ming Wang (6.0 – 3.00 ERA) of the Yankees goes up against Cliff Lee (5.0 – 0.96 ERA) of the Indians. That is going to be just a great game.

Grab Bag Of The Month

I haven’t really gotten a chance to post recently, been busy with classes and finals and what not but I’ll put up a couple of cool clips I saw recently below the Facebook rant.

Anyways, I had been collecting my “application” requests on Facebook for maybe 2 or 3 months now and finally late last week it cracked triple digits. I have gotten random invitations bid on what my friends are worth in “friends for sale”, another application that is titled “how many kids” and certainly the “which swear word are you?”. Sure every now and then there is a good one like “Oregon Trail” or a March Madness Bracket Selection but the other 100 or so that have stayed on my sidebar to rot (take a look at the thumbnail here) really start to make me angry. Facebook has become littered with these nonsense applications, ridiculous ads and useless features like the chat that they just added. I totally agree with what my roommate said the other day, “Like I don’t have enough ways to instant message someone already? Why do I need this chat?” The “People You May Know” feature on the side that suggests people you may know by looking at common friends is a good addition and you have the potential of meeting with an old friend from another country or elementary school so I will not criticize that but these other things are really making me an ABG.

To view the videos regarding the awesome kick save by a pitcher, a great way to get into home plate without being out and an awesome penalty shock in hockey, please read on.

Continue reading “Grab Bag Of The Month”

22 Inning Baseball Game

I was just talking to my brother last night about lengthy baseball games after hearing it on Mike and the Mad Dog. They were talking about the long Yankee/Red Sox games that seem to take away from the rivalry now with the pitchers just unable to hand the two explosive offensive sides. This happens the very same day that the Padres and Rockies duke out a 2-1 game that lasted 22 Innings – MLB Wrap Up.

I’ve heard arguments that rosters should be expanded to more than 25 so teams can be allowed to carry an extra pitcher or two incase they get burned out the day before but I am totally against that. If a team is able to hit around your starter where you are forced to go to your bullpen rather early in the game or are unable to score runs in extra innings where you are forced to use multiple relievers, that is your fault and not your opponents. Your opponent should be rewarded for putting you in such a situation the next day where they face a tired team.

Yea we constantly hear that baseball has just become a hitters game with no respect being shown to the pitchers but I think most of these pitchers are just babied way too much. “Oh, we must put an innings limit on him” or “He’s on a pitch limit today”. Let these guys go out and pitch as long as they can. Let them get out of trouble and don’t bail them out and go to someone in your pen. None of the young guys ever learn that way and if they don’t get the experience now, you’re bound to pay for it later.

Let me know what you guys think… should the MLB expand rosters to say 27-28 where 2-3 guys are on reserve and a team is able to rotate players in and out on a given night to rest some players? So you always have 25 guys suited up for a game but in between games, a team can switch players and not have to option a guy or put him on a list. It’s an interesting idea to toss around.