Looks Like Last Year...

One Week, Some Things

1. Been a horrendous week for the Jays, but there were signs of what was coming in the White Sox series. Yes, the Blue Jays won all four games, but the Chisox are terrible, and the Jays were making their pitchers look much better than they are. The fact is that the bats have gone silent in the clutch. As it stands, the Jays are hitting about .100 the past week with runners in scoring position. Vernon Wells is hitting about .160 on the year with men in scoring position. The key this past week is that Lind has hit a mini-slump. Wells may hit fourth in the lineup (can you say, Big Papi) but Lind and Hill are the engine on this team. Just a quick note about the batting order because it's been done to death, and people have asked why it matters where Wells hits in the order. The difference is what we saw last night. Hill gets a double in the ninth, and Wells leaves him stranded at third with a chance to tie the game. If Lind is hitting fourth, where he should be given the OBP of both Scutaro and Hill, the jays have a much better chance to win the game. As it is, Lind has spent the majority of the year driving in runs with two outs, because Wells has been consistently out in front of him.

2. Kawakami did not "out duel" Halladay! Who writes these dumb ass headlines, anyway? (This was the lead for the Toronto Star's Sports Section this morning.) Halladay pitched seven scoreless innings and then left for a pinch hitter in the eighth. How was he outduelled? He didn't give up any *(*(&& runs? Can we please have people who know something about sports doing the headlines? The Blue Jay hitters didn't show up. The loss had nothing to do with Halladay.
Note to headline writers: A pitcher is "outduelled" when they give up one run (sometimes two, usually one) and the other pitches a shutout. Not when they both throw shutouts.

3. The unbalanced schedule is unfair.
Jerry made a good point during the broadcast last night, it's simply not fair that teams in the east in both leagues have to play their divisional opponents 19 times. It's blatantly unfair. Why do you think the Dodgers have the best record in baseball? Because they're THAT good, even without Manny? San Francisco is above .500? Do they even have a major league hitter on that team? It's garbage. Selig needs to wake up and even things out for the teams in the East (both the NL and AL).

4. Remember that this is the point last year, when the Jays were making a run, that they blew up, no matter what Wilner says about them having only two bad months. Let's see if they can get some clutch hits the next two games before they go back to Boston. this thing could get ugly in a hurry.

-Steve