Blue Jays News

" 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. "

" To paraphrase a great man: "How 'bout the starting pitching by those Blue Jays?" Starter Shaun Marcum worked 62/3 innings and four relievers combined on a two-hitter against the Chicago White Sox last night. The Jays had back-to-back shutouts for the first-time since July 21-22, 2007 against the Seattle Mariners (with starts from Josh Towers and Roy Halladay). "

"Ricciardi, who said a little over a week ago that the team's performance is his responsibility, not the manager's, said "it's too early to push the panic button." "Our runs scored are greater than our runs allowed and history will tell you that's a good thing," Ricciardi said."

"There's an old adage that maintains, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Borrowing from that wisdom, it's likely going to take the Jays' slumbering offence a little longer to find itself. But there have been encouraging signs. For instance, last night, in a 2-0 victory over the White Sox, the first inning two-run rally started with two outs, nobody on. The outburst was simple – an error, a Vernon Wells double and a two-run single by Shannon Stewart. The downside is that was the Jays' total scoring for the night. "

"So the Blue Jays didn't hit much in April? Hitting slumps are as old as baseball. They all end eventually. The trick is to make sure they're over before all hope is. The Jays should thank the baseball gods that their miserable 11-17 April, in which they wasted an awful lot of very good pitching, particularly from the starters, didn't bury them entirely."

"Shaun Marcum doesn't rank as the biggest or strongest pitcher on the Jays' staff. He certainly doesn't possess a 90-m.p.h. fastball, nor does he strike fear into opposition hitters with any of his other pitches. But there was Marcum, 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds, fanning nine Chicago White Sox hitters last night and looking like a strikeout pitcher to anyone watching him for the first time. "Just one of those days; I was locating my pitches," a modest Marcum said after his masterful outing helped the Blue Jays trim Chicago 2-0 before 21,057 at the Rogers Center."

"Not one to listen to a voice of reason, Buehrle started reciting the numbers out loud, defying superstition: ''Vernon Wells .500, Shannon Stewart .378 ... I knew Stewart hit me, but not Wells.'' Both Blue Jays hitters continued to feast off Buehrle in Friday's 2-0 loss, but the South Siders have bigger problems than a few batters spending their careers messing with the left-hander's mojo -- specifically, a Sox lineup that continued to roll over and play dead."

"With a veteran lineup lacking a speedster, the White Sox admit they have few options but to work their way out of their recent slump. That became more apparent Friday night after they collected a season-low two hits in a listless 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays and Shaun Marcum that extended their losing streak to three games."

"A new month, a fresh outlook. At least that's what the Blue Jays are hoping for in the month of May. "May flowers," manager John Gibbons said wistfully prior to the game of turning the page on an awful April. "We hope that's a good thing." After it was over, after a 3-0 win over the Boston Red Sox was in the books -- the hard way as it turned out -- Gibbons amended his statement to: "So far, May's a good month." "

"A famous guy named T.S. Eliot once wrote: "April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain." The St. Louis-born writer could have been referring to the '08 Jays. Last night, April thankfully turned to May with a 3-0 win for the Jays over the Bosox and when Aaron Hill dove parallel to the ground in the fourth to spear a Brandon Moss line drive, turning it into an inning-ending double play, the game's momentum and the team's karma in what was a 1-0 game seemed to change for the better."

"After eight nights of tragedy, the Blue Jays finished their depressing nine-game road swing by edging into the surreal. The result was, in the end, positive. The Jays strung together another masterful outing from a starter and the meagerest bit of situational hitting to overtake the flat Red Sox 3-0."

"The man who helped pick Mike Lowell out of one of his career’s greatest depths stood just feet away from the Red Sox third baseman before last night’s game. But this time Gary Denbo couldn’t utter a word of advice. “I would love to be able to say something to him,” the Toronto hitting coach said, “but I can’t.” Following the 2005 season, Denbo had no American League East conflicts of interest. He was finishing a coaching stint in Japan when he received an e-mail from Lowell, who was coming off a horrific offensive campaign with the Marlins."

"Toronto closer B.J. Ryan anxiously watched his third save of the season land safely into the glove of right fielder Alex Rios in the bottom of the ninth last night at Fenway Park. Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0. Not so fast! The left-hander’s relief at closing the Blue Jays’ only win of the series was put on hold when the game took a bizarre turn in favor of the Red Sox. Second base umpire Bruce Dreckman nullified Coco Crisp’s game-ending pop to Rios by calling a balk against Ryan. "

"Nothing - not a last-second balk call or a walkoff hit - could come to the rescue of the Red Sox last night. On a night when Toronto starter A.J. Burnett had an answer for everything, the Red Sox batters had little response and Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield was left wondering what he did so wrong, the home team was unable to complete a sweep as the Blue Jays left town with a 3-0 victory."

"In the telling scene of the Beantown-based movie Good Will Hunting, actor Robin Williams, playing Matt Damon's shrink, finally breaks through by telling him over and over "It's not your fault." Prior to last night's second consecutive walkoff loss, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi performed his own version of that scene. In dissecting the poor performance of his team through the opening month, Ricciardi went out of his way to insist that the Jays' 11-17 April record and their 1-7 current trip was not manager John Gibbons' fault. "