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The Twit: TFC Moves On and Other Musings

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | Author:
Improbable Champs

Improbable Champs

Just a lot going on right now (yay for summer!), so let’s recap with an edition of The Twit:

- Toronto FC are your 2009 Voyageurs Cup Champions! TFC rolled into Montreal on Thursday and destroyed the Impact reserves 6-1 (remember, they needed a four-goal win to better the Vancouver Whitecaps). It was a disgraceful act on the part of the Impact to field a bunch of reserves in a match that was uber-meaningful to both TFC and Vancouver. That’s a bush league move. Fans in Vancouver have every right to be livid, and Impact supporters took a page from the TFC Supporters Handbook by only showing up to the Impact’s next game at halftime, stating: “If the Impact are only going to show up for a 50% effort, we will do the same”. Fan power, baby.

- Mike Weir gave golf a little shot in the arm in Canada by being amongst the leaders following the second round. Then, he faded from view.

Sign this man before someone else does!

Sign this man before someone else does!

- So the Jays sweep the defending Champs, then are one loss away from being swept by the worst team in maybe ever (the Nationals are hovering near the 1967 Mets record at this point in the season), despite stellar pitching performances by Brian Tallet and Brett Cecil. Way to pick up your starters, Jays bats. One game out of the playoffs near the halfway point of the season, boys – let’s get some help (SIGN PEDRO!!)

- F1 has turned into one big clusterfuck. Eight teams (that’s 80% of the current F1 roster) are now saying they’re breaking away to form a new series with lower ticket prices, greater accessibility, transparency and more teams. Something tells me there’s a lot of posturing going on and in the end peace will be achieved (and it will be a victory for the teams). Surely cooler heads will prevail before they wreck the sport in the exact same manner as IRL and CART did in fighting their civil war for a decade before re-uniting.

- Italy got unceremoniously dumped from the Confederations Cup, losing to Brazil yesterday. The USA made it through to the semi-finals by the skin of their teeth, tied with the Azzurri on points but having scored one more goal in their three matches. Nothing’s guaranteed in soccer, but it’s looking more and more like a Spain v. Brazil final. The Confederations Cup is a second rate tourney that is a glorified dress rehearsal for the host country of next year’s World Cup, but the teams have fielded their best players which gives the results some credibility.

- Who’s the Blue Jays ace right now? Scott Richmond or Ricky Romero? Those are two rookies, by the way. Oh, and will Dustin McGowan ever pitch again? Sign Pedro.

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The Twit: A Weekend To Satiate All Fans

Friday, June 12th, 2009 | Author:
LeMans highlights a plethora of sporting goodness this weekend

LeMans highlights a plethora of sporting goodness this weekend

There’s a bonanza of must-see-sports-tv this weekend. Let’s go down the list that got my attention.

Friday:

- Roy Halladay toys with the lowly Marlins. This one should be over by the end of the first period of the next item. (TSN, 7 pm)

- Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. We can finally be done with it. This doesn’t mean I don’t love hockey (I do) or that the quality of play has been poor (it hasn’t), it’s just that it’s fucking June already. (CBC, NBC, 8 pm)

Saturday:

- 24 Hours of LeMans. Scroll down a couple posts for my thoughts on why this event is so special. (Coverage begins at 8am on Speed, goes until noon then comes back on at 4 pm until 10 pm, then coverage picks up again at Midnight until the checkered flag at 9:30 am Sunday).

- Casey Janssen continues his journey back to dominance with a start against the Marlins (1 pm, TSN)

- This is only for those in Ottawa, but Tyson: The Documentary is playing at the Bytowne at 2:45 pm, and I’ll be there with a group of friends

- The New York Mets take on the New York Yankees. One of the only series that makes interleague play palatable. Ken Rosenthal has a good column on the Mets manager and why he’s doomed to fail. (Fox, 4 pm)

Gotta love the Summer of Tallet

Gotta love the Summer of Tallet

Sunday:

- LeMans wraps up (Speed, all morning up to 9:30 am)

- The Summer of Tallet (as Tao of Stieb refers to it) continues, with the man himself taking on the Marlins (TSN, 1 pm)

- Kobe and the Lakers could finish the series against the Magic (TSN, 8 pm)

In Other News:

- Say it ain’t so: Pedro Drawing Interest (and it ain’t from Les Geais Bleus).

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The Rosin Bag: Still On Top

Monday, May 11th, 2009 | Author:
12 wins in 20 straight gamedays

12 wins in 20 straight gamedays

I asked for 14 wins. They gave me 12. It is May 11th and the Jays sit atop the American League East – nay- the American League. Twenty games in 20 days and they went 12-8, and the pitchers who were credited with the wins were; Jason Frasor (2), Scott Richmond (3), Brian Tallet (2), Roy Halladay (3), Brian Wolfe (1), Brett Cecil (1). I bet you Baseball Prospectus didn’t predict that!

With Casey Janssen and Ricky Romero having initiated their conditioning starts in the minors, and with Jesse Litsch apparently close to coming back (although information is scarce), the Jays will soon have an embarrassment of riches at starting pitcher, but no one’s blushing. This is great news since many of these studs are very young and will be on season-long innings counts. I don’t see Cecil, Ray, Romero, Purcey or even Richmond going more than 175 innings each, which won’t suffice. If the Jays are still in contention in August, some very creative management will have to come into effect.

Which is why I still hold true to my call to sign Pedro. He is certainly no longer a threat to the Cy Young award, but he could come in and eat up some innings while we keep our young arms fresh with spot starts in the Majors and uber-controlled outings in Las Vegas or New Hampshire. He would also add a bit of experience to a rotation that is greener than The Shire.

Viewing note:

- A Sportsnet commercial this weekend claimed that tomorrow’s matchup of A.J. Burnett v. Roy Halladay was the most anticipated match of the season. No offense, Sportsnet, but I hope the most anticipated match of the Blue Jays season will come much later – like, in September. All’s fair in the marketing department, I suppose.

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The Rosin Bag: Ugh

Tuesday, May 05th, 2009 | Author:
Boom goes the dymamite

Boom goes the dymamite

To have highs, it is necessary to have lows. It’s important to remind oneself of that when watching a game play out like it did yesterday.

Brian Tallet was spectacular on the mound for six innings. He was so awesome that the Indians had a big fat “0″ in their hit column going into the seventh. At this point Tallet, a converted reliever making what amounts to a series of emergency starts, had thrown 75 pitches. “In Cito I trust”, I really do, but at the back of my mind I know that the main criticism against him is that he tends to leave his starters in the game too long.

Obviously you’re not going to pull a guy off the mound when he’s throwing a no-hitter. I get that. Nonetheless, shouldn’t you get  a guy up in the bullpen to step in at the first sign of trouble? The shot of the lifeless bullpen after Tallet gave up that first hit in the top of the seventh sent a chill down my spine. With a guy like Tallet, the pitch count should be a more significant barometer than how the guy is performing. Cito should have had someone warming up before Tallet pitched himself out of a win. That’s my take.

These resilient Jays wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, and came back to tie the game on a few occasions before finally bowing out in the 12th. The low point was giving up the tying run in the bottom of the ninth when they were one strike from victory. Brandon League caught too much of the plate and boom goes the dynamite.

Quick turnaround today as Brett Cecil makes his MLB debut (wow, another one). Five good innings is all we ask, Brett.

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The Rosin Bag: A Small Victory

Thursday, April 30th, 2009 | Author:
0.00 No More

0.00 No More

It wasn’t quite the SI curse, but the Jays did accomplish something last night despite losing 11-3: they put an end to Zach Greinke’s 43 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. It’s a long season, and you look for positives where you can.

Brian Tallet’s E.R.A. ballooned to 6.45, but believe it or not I thought he was a hard luck loser last night. Sure he gave up a couple of no-doubt bombs, but many of the other hits he gave up seemed to be bloops, squeakers and 1st or 3rd base grazers. When it comes down to it he allowed 10 runs, but I don’t think it was as bad as it looks in the box score.

The other issue that is soon to become urgent is the fact that Cito can only rely on two starters right now; Roy Halladay and Scott Richmond. Jesse Litsch and Ricky Romero are apparently very close to returning, which is good news. If Casey Janssen can continue his rehab successfully we can ship the Bri(y)ans back to Las Vegas or the bullpen.

On top of all that: SIGN PEDRO.

Aaron Hill continues his feel-good season. He leads he Majors in hits, stretching his advantage to four over Victor Martinez, who has 34. The man is on fire and we’re all happy to see it. I’m also ready to declare Marco Scutaro as leadoff hitter a success. His OBP is .422 (22nd in MLB) and he’s second in the league in walks with 22 (Jason Bay leads with 23). What more can you ask of a leadoff hitter not called Rickey Henderson than to get on base almost half the time? I really enjoyed his hustle during his first at-bat last night, hitting a bloop and stretching into a double when Mitch Maier lazily fielded the ball. Way to go get ‘em,  Scoots.

Today’s game, which will be the Jays attempt to earn a draw in this series, goes at 2:10 Eastern. Ex-Ottawa Lynx Brian Burres gets the call for the Jays while Kyle Davies is the man for the Royals. We’ll see if I get hit with the blackout rule on MLB.tv!

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The Rosin Bag: Attrition

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Author:

1. Dustin McGowan
2. Shaun Marcum
3. Jesse Litsch
4. Ricky Romero

If you were the GM of an expansion team, wouldn’t you be feeling pretty good about your team if those were your first four starters in the rotation? I bet you would be. The Jays would be happy to have them too, if they weren’t all on the disabled list. You can also add B.J. Ryan to that list, but we’ll notch that one up as addition by subtraction. My blood pressure thanks you, “tight trapezius muscle“. I can just see the meeting in JP’s office now:

Ricciardi: Robert Victor, are you SURE you’re not injured? Like, pretty please?

Ryan: No JP, like I told you, I feel fine. I’m just sucking like a rented mule right now.

The Cito: I don’t know B.J., or whatever your real name is. It looks to me like you have a tight trapezius muscle…

Ryan: Come again?

Ricciardi: Yeah B.J., like Cito said. A tight trapezoid is not something you want to mess with.

Ryan: (looking worried) Well, ummm, how would I know I have that?

The Cito: (reassuring nod and reaches out to squeeze B.J.’s forearm) You just leave that up to us, son.

All joking aside, didn’t you feel 100x better seeing Scott Downs coming out of the pen for the save last night? No drama, no anxious moments, just 1-2-3 game over. As it should be. Also nice to see Rios start swinging the bat and actually getting on base. Welcome to the party, Alex. My buddy Big Turk and I were discussing his struggles the other night, and it’s like being the parent of an underachieving teenager: you want to smack him because he doesn’t seem to care that his grades are in the shitter. Of course we have to remind ourselves that Alex has never been one to exhibit much emotion, whether he’s hitting .320 or .230.

Five series wins to start the season. They’re now 12 wins away from the 14 I called for out of this 20-games-in 20-days stretch. Tonight the Jays begin a weekend series against the Chicago White Sox, who currently occupy first place in the Central with an 8-7 record. Brian Tallet gets his second start, facing off against Gavin Floyd. Could you give us another solid six innings Brian? Thanks.

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The Rosin Bag: Deflation

Thursday, April 09th, 2009 | Author:

Dammit! And here I was starting to think the Jays would go 162-0! Ok maybe not, but that two game winning streak to start the season was fun, wasn’t it? Didn’t really feel like letting go of it, to be honest. 

But here we are, and Jesse Litsch kinda wet the bed in his first outing. If Ricky Romero can give us a good performance today, all will be forgotten. Oh, and where did the bats go? Zach Miner giving the Jays hitters all kinsd of headaches? Yeesh. Third base coach Nick Leyva also needs to share part of the blame after killing a rally with an ill-advised green light given to Alex Rios on a sac fly with the bases juiced in the bottom of the first (result displayed in picture, right). At least Brian Tallet looked good (and I’m not just talking about his ‘stache). Miguel Cabrera is on fire though, he’ll be sad to leave Rogers Centre today – he’s hitting .700 with 2 dingers. 
It was nice to see the boys in HD last night, but today we revert back to what I presume will be Fox Sports Detroit’s feed in standard definition, since we’re being asked to tune in to the free preview channel. I guess I’ll live. At least I’m home to watch the game (vacation coinciding with the start of the baseball season? What a coincidence!). I’m quite intrigued by this Romero business; 1st round pick looks like he’s going to be a bust, then suddenly has a great spring and makes the team, both because of what he showed and the necessity to show that a first round pick was not wasted. I’m still somewhat of JP guy so I hope he does well. 
That’s all I’ve got this morning, so enjoy the game and I’ll be back soon with something non-baseball related, most likely. Here’s a drunk Red Sox dancer to lighten up your day!
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