Blue Jays News

"As the season approaches the quarter pole, more moves will be made. There's too much money to be made in baseball for owners to sit idly by as their teams fall further behind in the standings...Teams are also more willing to dump expensive players in the interest of moving forward with prospects. It happened with Pittsburgh starter Matt Morris. So who's on the hot seat now? Here's a look:"

"In baseball, it's all about the numbers. Saturday night at Progressive Field, the numbers that counted most were Indians 12, Toronto Blue Jays 0. But there was other intriguing data: • Grady Sizemore hit two home runs and a double for 10 total bases and amassed five RBI for the second time in his career. • Coming into the game, the Tribe had scored eight runs in all of its 2008 first innings combined. Saturday night, the team scored six in the first. • The 18 runs scored by the Indians in the first two games of the series are more than they scored in the previous six games."

" The Indians finally found the fast-forward button on the remote con trol. After spending the first 35 games of the season axle-deep in muck and mire in the early innings, they started fast and clean Saturday night at Progressive Field on the way to a 12-0 victory over Toronto. They have won four of their past five games and reached the breakeven point (18-18) for the fifth time this season. "

" We're guessing a Help Wanted sign hung outside the Rogers Centre would not have worked. The tourist season is almost here and there is no telling what kind of ex-player could have walked by looked up at the giant three-storey billboard of Roy Halladay -- praying for more run support -- and notice the job opportunity. Not the Blue Jays. You can tell a lot about a club on where it looks for help in times of crisis. With Kelly Gruber injured, the 1992 Jays called up a kid infielder named Jeff Kent from the minors. "

"The Blue Jays season suffered a head on collision yesterday afternoon when an MRI revealed that Vernon Wells had suffered a fractured left wrist. Wells, the Jays centre fielder and chief run producer with a team high 24 RBIs, suffered the fracture in Friday's game after making a diving catch in shallow centre field in the sixth inning of a 6-1 loss. He will be out for six to eight weeks. In another depressing development, right-handed reliever Jeremy Accardo was also placed on the disabled list because of a strained right forearm. "

"Yogi Berra had it wrong. Sometimes it's over well before it's over. Last night was one of those times. In the first inning, one of the most miserable of Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan's career, the Cleveland Indians pounded away for six runs on five hits, a walk and a hit batter. It was the most runs a Jays starter has surrendered in any one inning this season and helped pave the way to Cleveland's 12-0 rout. "

"In the city recognized as the birthplace of rock and roll, Blue Jays starter Dustin McGowan was thoroughly rocked and the Indians' bats have started to roll. The Jays absorbed their eighth straight loss at Progressive Field last night, falling 12-0 as the Indians jumped on McGowan for six runs in the first inning and cruised from there."

"The injury news keeps getting worse for the hard luck Blue Jays. Yesterday, resurgent centre fielder Vernon Wells was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured left wrist and is expected to be out six to eight weeks. In addition, reliever Jeremy Accardo was disabled with a strained right forearm. "You move on," manager John Gibbons said, waxing philosophical. "What are you going to do? It's part of it. We picked up a couple of guys to help us out, anyway. Here's their chance to really do that. "

"The Toronto Blue Jays' disabled list is beginning to get a little crowded. With infielders John MacDonald and Adam Eckstein already sidelined, the Blue Jays have also placed outfielder Vernon Wells and pitcher Jeremy Accardo on the disabled list. Wells suffered a fractured left wrist diving for a ball during Friday's game against Cleveland. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks."

" Runners in scoring position used to present problems for Casey Blake. Now the majority of his hits come in such situations. Baseball is, indeed, a strange game. Blake hit a two-run double to ignite a six-run seventh inning as the Indians rallied to defeat the Blue Jays, 6-1, Friday night in Progressive Field. The Tribe stretched its win streak over the Blue Jays in Pro- gressive Field to seven. To ronto is 1-12 in its last 13 in Progressive Field dating to 2004."

" Pitching is not that easy. Blue Jays starters have been mowing down the opposition as if facing second-division teams from the 75-and-over division of the St. Petersburg old-timers league... While the starters and relievers impressed, the hitters remained as depressed as the U.S. economy. The offence hit .250 over the 13 games with seven homers and averaged exactly three runs per game (39 runs in all). The Jays had a .305 on-base percentage, a .383 slugging mark and hit a lusty .176 with runners in scoring position. "

"It might be that Roy Halladay is only human after all. With four complete games in five outings, Doc cruised through the first six innings against C.C. Sabathia last night with surgical precision. But in the seventh, the game flat-lined. A four-pitch walk to eighth-place hitter Asdrubal Cabrera and Casey Blake's bases-loaded double off the wall keyed a six-run inning and a 6-1 loss. "

"What's the Jays' game plan? Some guys collect stamps. Some collect coins. Some collect wives. Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, since last November, has obviously decided to collect left fielders. Yesterday's two roster moves by the Jays to sign free agent Brad Wilkerson and to purchase the contract of Kevin Mench from the Rangers smack of redundancy. Sure, back in the winter of 2005-06 Ricciardi made a serious bid to trade for the left-handed hitting Wilkerson after a disappointing season at Washington."

"New faces, same result. In an effort to flush out his depleted roster and shake things up in a lineup that isn't doing its job, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi yesterday brought aboard outfielder/designated hitter Kevin Mench and outfielder Brad Wilkerson... In the costly loss department, Vernon Wells suffered a jammed left wrist and right hamstring tightness while making a diving catch in the sixth inning and had to leave the game."

" After rallying from a 3-0 deficit in their last at-bat to tie the Tampa Bay Rays, the Jays squandered a room-service opportunity to win the game an inning later, failing to cash a leadoff triple by Alex Rios. They allowed the Rays to hang around for three more innings and when their time came they blew Toronto's doors off, scoring five times in the 13th for an 8-3 victory. "

"With a slew of left-handed pitching opponents in their future, Toronto is looking outside the organization for offensive help, according to general manager J.P. Ricciardi. After moving both John McDonald (ankle sprain) and David Eckstein (hip flexor) to the 15-day disabled list, the club recalled only one player from Syracuse, utilityman Joe Inglett. "

"The only word for it is excruciating. An 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay that would have been disappointing in the ninth seemed unbearable in the 13th after the Jays fought back, but then came up painfully short. The four-hour defeat set Toronto's travel plans back. It also sent the Jays on a 10-game road swing in something less than a positive frame of mind."

"Things didn't work out quite the way the Rays planned Thursday night, not with Troy Percival blowing his first save, with opportunities to retake the lead going unredeemed as extra innings mounted. But they eventually still worked out, with Dan Wheeler and J.P. Howell pitching in, and a 13th-inning rally capped by Dioner Navarro's grand slam, for a road-trip-capping, potentially inspiring 8-3 win over the Jays. "

"The ninth inning of Thursday night's game brought back some unpleasant bullpen memories for the Rays. Lucky for them, a pitcher who was responsible for a few of those forgettable moments in the past was around to help bail them out four innings later. After watching Troy Percival's perfect run closing games come to an abrupt halt when he allowed three Toronto runs to score in the bottom of the ninth, the Rays bided their time until the Blue Jays brought Shawn Camp to the mound for the 13th. Five runs later, they had themselves an 8-3 victory that took far longer than it should have."

" Shawn Marcum: K-Man of the Blue Jays staff. That is surprising given the fact Marcum doesn't throw the gas that either A.J. Burnett or Dustin McGowan can bring. Nor can he touch the heat or the stuff that Roy Halladay has mastered. But Marcum, who throws consistently in the upper 80s and whose best pitch is his changeup, finds himself as the team leader in strikeouts. Last night against the pesky Tampa Bay Rays, Marcum was doing his thing, racking up Ks and zeroes on the scoreboard in a 6-2 Jays victory. "

" There may be no more cruel place on earth than the locker room of a pro sports team. Sympathy? Empathy? Forget about it. No misfortune, no failing, no pain, no embarrassment is too small or too large to be ignored. It is no place for tender spirits. Acutely aware of that, John McDonald knew he was in for a merciless ribbing when he came walking through the Blue Jays clubhouse door yesterday. Twenty hours previous, McDonald had been lifted from the turf and loaded on a flatbed to be trundled off the field at the Rogers Centre, the victim of what appeared to be a serious ankle or foot injury. "I'm going to hear about it from my teammates for the rest of my career," said McDonald yesterday, clearly in better shape than first feared. "The only time you get carted off the field like that, you're supposed to end up in a wheelchair. "

"It's become apparent that the Jays are going to have to choose between their injured shortstops, David Eckstein and John McDonald, placing one of them on the disabled list by game time today. According to GM J.P. Ricciardi, continuing to play shorthanded – considering they carry only 13 position players – is not an option. The likely call-up from Triple-A Syracuse is infielder Joe Inglett. There was some good news yesterday. The gritty Eckstein's MRI showed nothing serious with his injured hip flexor which he jammed on a diving attempt in short left field on Tuesday. McDonald, for his part, will have an MRI on his twisted right ankle today, after the swelling goes down enough to get a good reading."

""Does this team have enough power to compete with the Bostons and New Yorks of this division?" he was asked after the Jays' comprehensive 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. "No," Rolen said. Dead-eyed stare. Uncomfortable silence. Finally, a wry smile. "Did I shock ya?" Coming as it did on the night when Toronto's offence finally seemed to discover itself, it did. Toronto bid farewell to nearly a month of offensive impotence with an impressive 6-2 win over the Rays. Possibly the team's most complete victory of the season, it was, in Rolen's words, "a lot closer a game than it ended up.""

"There weren't a lot of answers in the quiet Rays clubhouse after Wednesday's 6-2 loss to Toronto. Hitters talked about why they weren't able to do much against Jays starter Shaun Marcum. (He's good). Relievers talked about how they failed to keep the score close in the pivotal eighth inning. (They made mistakes.) "

"Pena was hardly alone Wednesday when it came to Rays hitters unable to get the job done. The Blue Jays' 6-2 victory at Rogers Centre was highlighted by the dominance of Toronto starter Shaun Marcum, who allowed only two Rays to reach base in the first eight innings before losing his grip on the cusp of victory."

"Fast forward to Tuesday night's 10-1 shellacking suffered by the Mariners at the hands of the lowly Texas Rangers. It was vintage Batista all over again, and we're not talking fine wine. More like sour grapes for what was actually the smallest crowd in Safeco Field history, which looked on stunned as Batista needed 85 pitches to make it through just 2-1/3 innings in an outing eerily similar to that of four years ago."

" They may have taken the devil out of the Tampa Bay Rays but they still seem to wield a strange kind of voodoo power over the Blue Jays. Bad enough that the Rays, coming off three losses in Boston, waltzed into Rogers Centre and took the opener of this three-gamer by a score of 5-4, ending Toronto's five-game win streak. Worse, the Jays emerged from this loss with both their shortstops injured, one of them perhaps seriously. "

"With former teammate Gabe Gross racing down the line toward first for the now-exorcised Rays, Johnny Mac tried his preferred pop-up slide again, but this time caught his cleat. The result, as he explained, is usually what he wants. This time, he collapsed in pain. "It's not a good situation," understated manager John Gibbons. "I wouldn't expect to see (him) for the next few days." It was a day of highs and lows for McDonald on a professional basis, with the lowest of lows being taken off the field on an emergency vehicle. "

"An end to their five-game winning streak is the least of Toronto's worries this morning. The Blue Jays' brain trust will be trying to reorganize the infield after losing both of their shortstops to injury during last night's 5-4 loss to Tampa."

"The Rays needed something Tuesday, and they got plenty. Another home run from Eric Hinske, the ex-Jay who was booed lustily. A pair of run-scoring hits from suddenly surging Akinori Iwamura. Six good-enough innings from Andy Sonnanstine. More dazzling defense. Splendid relief from Dan Wheeler and Troy Percival. And a win they badly needed, 5-4 over Toronto, putting the lost weekend in Boston behind them and moving them back to two games over .500 at 17-15, the fourth-best record in the AL. "

"He didn't pop off about the Blue Jays in public and he didn't leave the team in a lurch by spurning them for free agency. In fact, it was the Jays who got rid of him, trading him to Boston in August 2006 for cash. So he wasn't quite sure why he was booed by many of those in attendance at Rogers Centre on Tuesday night even before he launched a towering home run to dead center for what proved to be the decisive run in a 5-4 Rays victory."

" Howls for the manager's head temporarily have gone silent. John Gibbons apparently has widespread support, win or ... well, just win, baby. And if you know what's good for you, keep winning. The noisy rabble will be back at the first whiff of another Blue Jays losing streak. That's the nature of the business when results lag expectations. Still, it's somewhat ironic that in this season of sub.-500 performance, Gibbons has done some of the best and most aggressive managing of his four-year career. "

" The Blue Jays got one for the thumb. After winning four in a row and looking to snooker the Chicago White Sox in a four-game series to stretch it to five, the Jays rode the strong right arm of Dustin McGowan to seal the deal. McGowan simply was outstanding last night as he blanked the White Sox on four hits over 71/3 innings to help deliver a 1-0 victory over a fading White Sox squad. Over the four games, the Jays staff limited Chicago to five runs and 14 hits. "

"It seems that the Jays' long-range planning has once again become shortsighted. Yesterday's questionable personnel move was the knee-jerk reaction that sent 24-year-old Adam Lind to warm the bench for now and the foreseeable future, a mere 10 days after being named starting left fielder. It appears to be another chapter in the Jays' impatient history of, "What have you done for me yesterday?" And it's not even a matter of how well his replacement Shannon Stewart plays in his stead."

"Toronto's 1-0 win over the struggling Chicago White Sox gives them the four-game sweep and their fifth victory in a row. Three of those wins have been shutouts. This continues Toronto's roller-coaster early season. Coming off one of their worst road trips in recent memory, the Jays now stand on the cusp of a six-game winning streak, something they haven't managed since May, 2004."

"A four-day weekend up in Canada with the boys, some drinking, a few heads getting shaved and, of course, blow-up dolls -- well, that's usually nothing more than a good time. Leave it to the White Sox to make a train wreck out of it. Totaling a whopping four hits in the latest offensive fiasco Monday night was a fitting end to an 0-6 road trip to Minnesota and Toronto. The 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre gave the Sox nine runs in those six losses. "

"The distance from third base to home plate is only 90 feet. But it seemed much longer Monday night for the White Sox as they completed six games of indoor hell with a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays. Their winless trip to Minnesota and Toronto was punctuated when Pablo Ozuna grounded back to struggling closer B.J. Ryan to start a game-ending double play with the bases loaded."

" Over in the White Sox clubhouse, they had some sort of pagan ritual going, trying to energize their anemic offence. The less everyone knows, the better, but it did involve maple bats (not syrup) and inflatable dolls. Just so you know, nobody over in the Blue Jays clubhouse was laughing. After the struggles they've had at the intersection of Bat and Ball this spring, the Jays probably were curious if it might work because, well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Fortunately for the Jays, they have a pitching staff that has piled the entire team on its shoulders just now. That includes yesterday's 4-3 victory over the Chisox in which Roy Halladay, who came in having pitched four complete games in a row, probably felt like a part-timer, seeing as he only pitched 71/3 innings yesterday. What a goldbricker. "

"Talk about being all dolled up with nowhere to go. The Chicago White Sox, who have been scuffling trying to score runs in a way reminiscent of, say, a certain local team about two weeks ago, engaged in a bizarre piece of pre-game clubhouse theatre yesterday. They tried to revive their bats with a couple of blowup dolls on the clubhouse sofa, with baseball bats posed in strategic positions that don't entirely suggest propriety dominated the exercise. Here's the problem, though: They were facing Roy Halladay, and not just the garden variety Halladay, but a Halladay due for run support and an absence of killer luck."

"The 4-3 effort over the struggling Chicago White Sox also marked the first win since April 12 for Roy Halladay. And Halladay (3-4), for the first time in five outings, was not around to finish what he started. "That has never been a focus for me," Halladay said of going the distance. "I'd rather go five innings and win than pitch nine and lose (which happened his past three starts). It's just good to get back to winning.""

"Five consecutive losses, something had to give. It was manager Ozzie Guillen. Tired of ''all the managers in the press box and at home, watching the game on TV and spilling food on themselves,'' Guillen became the story after a 4-3 loss Sunday to the Toronto Blue Jays, making his feelings known about the perceived treatment he and his organization get in the Windy City."

"Just when the White Sox thought they had endured every way to lose, they were dwelling on another strange occurrence Sunday after their fifth consecutive loss. An apparent missed call by second-base umpire Dale Scott changed a potential double play into a three-run rally that added more bewilderment to a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays."

" So, what's wrong with the Blue Jays starting pitching anyhoo? After starters put together four consecutive games allowing one run or less, Jesse Litsch allowed two solo home runs yesterday. Not to worry, it was all fun and giggles and (gasp) bravado in the clubhouse of the last-place Jays after a 5-2 win over the Chicago White Sox before 27,778 fans at the Rogers Centre. "Not that you like to see anyone give up a run," pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said, "but I told Roy Halladay, it's tough to follow four gems in a row like we have had." And did Halladay, today's starter, hoot with laughter? "Well, he did laugh a little," Arnsberg said. The ace was probably in full game-face mode."

"Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi made the pitch to another big free agent early yesterday morning, but this one isn't going to happen. Well, maybe in this town, but not with this particular team. Taking a bat in hands for the first time in his life, Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin took very early batting practice with the Jays yesterday. Ricciardi did the pitching; the grounds crew did the shagging. In a Jays' jersey with his name and No.13 on the back (the Jays knew he was coming), Sundin, ripping from the right side, hit for about 30 minutes."

"Apparently, there was nothing wrong with the Blue Jays that a turn of the calendar couldn't fix. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with Jesse Litsch's two-seam fastball (a.k.a. the sinker), either. The kid just wasn't throwing it enough to suit, say, pitching coach Brad Arnsberg. Well, Litsch has seen the light, yesterday opening with four perfect innings and 7 1/3 in all as the Jays went 3-0 for May with a 5-2 verdict over the Chicago White Sox."

"Alex Rodriguez has played with some of the greatest of his era, but his pick for the best pound-for-pound ballplayer isn't named Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Edgar Martinez or Mariano Rivera. "I think pound for pound the best baseball player I have ever played with is John Olerud," A-Rod says during an interview on "YESterdays," which premieres on YES on Wednesday at 11 p.m., after the Yankees' postgame show. "I just think he influences the game in so many different ways - defensively, offensively. First base, for some reason, is very underrated defensively. There is such great value that you bring to a game, to a winning team, when you are able to field a bunt, cut off and relays. And again, one of the greatest human beings you ever want to meet. If you want to talk about a role model, John Olerud is that person.""

"In an all-too-familiar script that started last season, Sox bats were silent, the defense blinked, and another solid pitching performance was wasted in a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in front of 27,778 at the Rogers Centre. Add a four-game losing streak into the mix, and no wonder manager Ozzie Guillen was in a foul mood. "

""It's frustrating," Guillen said calmly after the Sox lost in Toronto 5-2 for their fourth consecutive setback. "All of a sudden, in one week, we forgot to hit, catch the ball, how to run the bases, how to pitch. That has happened quickly. "[I hope they] remember how to play the game the next couple of days because we have forgotten everything about the game.""

"More reasons why Blue Jays manager John Gibbons should be fired: He has zero hits with men in scoring position and he used the wrong pinch-runners in a loss on Wednesday in Boston. Marco Scutaro failed to tag at second and advance on a fly ball to right, while John McDonald was picked off first on what may have been a balk by Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon."

" Blue Jays' Shaun Marcum had the stomach flu last night. "I was fine all day," the right-hander said. "When I was warming up, my stomach, I don't know if it was from running around, but it felt like I couldn't keep anything down." Marcum, of course, was wrong. He set down the Chicago White Sox for 62/3 innings, striking out nine while allowing two singles. When he was done, the Jays had a 2-0 win and it was the White Sox who felt sick. "