I'm Not Looking For a New England: Game 27, Toronto at Boston
by hugo on Apr 29, 2008 6:51 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Game Threads
Email
PrintToronto Blue Jays at Boston Red Sox, Apr 29, 2008 7:05 PM EDT
Tuesday, April 29- Boston, Massachusetts
7:05 PM (EDT)
Toronto Blue Jays rf Alexis Rios ss David Eckstein 3b Scott Rolen cf Vernon Wells 2b Aaron Hill 1b Lyle Overbay dh Shannon Stewart lf Adam Lind c Gregg Zaun Pitching: Doc Halladay, rhp |
Boston Red Sox cf Coco Crisp 2b Dustin Pedroia dh David Ortiz lf Manny Ramirez 1b Kevin Youkilis 3b Mike Lowell rf J.D. Drew c Jason Varitek ss Julio Lugo Pitching: Jon Lester, LHP |
We were trying to decide in the comments of yesterday's off-day thread who would DH tonight against the southpaw Lester. Well, we have our answer, Shannon Stewart. Stewart is going to have to show something soon or I think the Jays will lose patience with him. He's batting an abhorent .212/.323/.269 and has scored only 5 runs despite batting mostly at the top of the order. He has drawn a decent amount of walks, but that can't be expected to last if he keeps slugging .269. In fairness to him, he hasn't even had 70 plate appearances, but something tells me the Jays aren't going to wait around very long for him.
I'm not crazy about starting Eckstein today, I would've liked to see Mac behind Doc, just given his groundball tendencies and the way the Red Sox have played Doc (hack hack hack, which goes against their normal strategy but seems to work fairly well against him).
By the way, Lester has been terrible for Boston this season. Really, he's having the same problems he's had in the major leagues in past seasons -- 19 walks to only 16 strikeouts is certainly not going to get the job done. He's given up lots of hits as well (37 in only 31 1/3 innings) and coupled with the walks, he's rather lucky to be sporting a 5.40 ERA, really. He did have one terrific start against Oakland, but other than that, his best start has been one in which he gave up 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings. So, the Jays should be trying to take the exact opposite approach the Sox are taking with Doc - they should force Lester to throw strikes and then pound them. Of course, this game is seldom what you expect.
I'll be listening to rather than watching the game, as Mrs. Hugo hosts the Silver Spring Women Writers' Group on Tuesday. Sounds like something out of a Bronte novel, doesn't it? Let's go Jays!
By the way, today's title comes from the rabble-rousing voice of the workingman, Billy Bragg. Not sure about his politics, but I sure do love his music.
147 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Apparently it's raining?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
maybe
I think the game is starting though
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Yeah, 15 minute rain delay.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Rios takes until 3-2
then taps to the mound.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
x breaks his bat grounding to shallow third
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
sounded like
a great inning from Lester
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Rolen pops up to first
I sure hope another lefty starter isn’t going to dominate our predominantly righty lineup again.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
good start
from the Doctor
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
I'm curious why mlb.tv is still in commercial mode
when Doc has struck out crisp already.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
and Pedroia too
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
That's two strikeouts
and still no video.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Way to miss a whole half inning there, mlb.tv
Good thing I pay for this service.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Okay, switching to radio
this is getting ridiculous.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Looks like they realized the game was on
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
that's good
probably only b/c it was the red sox
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
They don't have the HD feed, though
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lyle works the walk
There goes the perfect game.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lyle draws the walk
cmon Stew
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Stew hits an unimpressive one-hopper to first
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I wonder if the weather has something to do with it
the video dropped out again.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lowell
always seems to kill the Jays
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Okay, now it's 16:9 centered in 4:3 centered in 16:9
and then on my screen in fullscreen, that’s centered in 4:3 again.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
High throw doesn't catch Youk
(running on the pitch), but Lowell strikes out.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Doc strikes out Lowell
but a bad throw from Zaun lets Youkilis steal 2nd on the 3-2 pitch
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
x makes that play uncomfortably close
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lind makes a quick out to continue his 0-fer
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Zaun strikes out looking for the second out
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Rios grounds out quickly
At least Zaun saw a few pitches.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
DH v LHP?
Who do the Jays have to replace Stewart at DH v LHP? Barajas, with his stellar .296 lifetime OBP v LHP?
Stairs has put up decent numbers vs LHP in the past few years (except for a sub .600 OPS in 2006), though significantly below his output v RHP and overall. Putting him as the everyday DH would give us 3 lefties in our lineup v LHP. How do people feel about that? And if we jettisoned Stewart, the pickings for replacements seems thin (I guess Coats, or Diaz to fill in at DH sometimes, but then we get into the whole 3 C on the roster and no PT/development for Diaz scenario).
Coats hits lefty
so he’s not a platoon option.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
good question
I think we could probably find a decent righty bat somewhere.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Halladay with another good inning
Still worried that Lester will no-hit us.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Right, I didn’t envision Coats as a platoon guy, but I figured if we dumped Stewart, we would need a 4th OF. I suppose Stairs could be that guy, but Coats is certainly a better option as a defensive replacement. I guess if we brought up Diaz, he could spell Stairs at DH if he is pressed into duty in the OF. I’m curious about others’ opinions on the matter.
how are Matthews and Smith doing at AAA?
both are righty-hitting outfielders if I recall, and both had pretty good seasons last year
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Do you think there is any hope they will dump Stewart.....
I don’t think JP will want to admit to another mistake….how many mistakes can you make and keep your job….
Maybe if they can find something better
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
that's right
I’d forgotten that Smith was hurt and was playing at AA now. As for Stewart, I think the Jays will dump him soon.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
case in point
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
x doesn't help our cause
although Lowell did make a diving play there.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Rolen grounds to his counterpart
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
VW draws the walk
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Hill pops up on the first pitch to waste that chance.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Quick grounder from Pedroia
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Quick grounder into the shift from Ortiz
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
At least Doc has allowed fewer baserunners.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Ah, good. Overbay broke it up.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stew wastes no time eliminating the runner
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Lind's 0-fer continue
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
At least x isn't making us regret his presence
so far, considering how busy he’s been.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Infield single for Moss
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Thank God for Doc
Based on today, Overbay needs to not hit in front of Stewart
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Is there anyone Stew should be hitting behind?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Barajas? Mac?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Doc seems to be on complete game pace again.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
tough to do that against Boston
though they are usually pretty aggressive against Doc
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Zaun draws the 4 pitch walk
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
this seems somewhat promising
don’t be too eager, Lexi
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Rios strikes out looking
Let’s see how x does
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
good thing Zaun wasn't running
3-2
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
If Zaun was going to run
then Rios would probably have been told
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Man, they are really holding Zaun close
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Hit and Run not on
and x grounds into the double play
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
great job fellas
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
by that logic
we should replace half our roster with defensive specialists, unfortunately
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
as I was trying to say
x’s OBP is still .340-ish. You can’t really expect that of Johnny Mac.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
.300
would be an unrealistic expectation for Mac, really. Unfortunately, OBP alone isn’t helping us as much as it should because of our lack of power and failure to hit with runners on.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
good question
I’d say you could leverage both depending on the situation, it doesn’t have to be an either/or thing. I’d have liked to have seen Mac start today, for example. But you would still need eck, b/c mac is so bad offensively I’d want to pinch-hit for him early and often
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Yeah I'd start Mac always...but would watch for the moment a pinch hitting would be most useful.....
I wouldn't mind that
but I’d still want another capable shortstop, rather than Scutaro
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Eckstein
has looked capable defensively today though, hasn’t he?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Everything's been hit straight at him
I think Lind could have played this game at short.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
maybe we should try that
with A.J., since according to Jamie he’s a “flyball pitcher”
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Please score runs!
If someone gets on first, they need to run
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Rolen strikes out on the high cheese
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lester has been so bad this season
and of course we’re making him look unbelievable.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
How are we not hitting lefties this year?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
maybe our hitters didn't get enough practice this spring
b/c we don’t have any lefty starters? this is ridiculously reaching, I know.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
We don't play that many intra-squad games
Plus, don’t we have a few in AAA?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
at the start of the season....I thought Wells was back.....
But boy he’s looked sad lately….maybe last year wasn’t because of a bad shoulder….
he was set up to fail with that contract
he’s paid like a superstar, but he’s really just an above-average player. I still like him though
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Hill draws the 4 pitch walk
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lyle
gave it a ride
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
A fly ball against Lester?
Is that the second ball we’ve hit out of the infield?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
although I don't really care about Doc
pitching a complete game every time out, it is going to be lame when he’s prevented from doing so today by the Jays crap offense. of course, that happened several times last season, and he still easily led the league.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
He did go 10 that one time
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
that was flipping awesome
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
they keep talking about
how terrible the Jays are with runners in scoring position. guys, we haven’t even gotten anyone in scoring position, have we?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
The sox have, and they're 0-fer.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Strikes out Man-Ram
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Wilner now broadcasting the game
they lost the audio feed
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Bloody 9 pitch at-bats
That’s like a whole inning for Doc.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stew strikes out
making his small sample size point further away from success vs. lefties.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
any chance of getting past Lester?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
As soon as he's out, Papelbon is in
and we don’t have Adams to grand slam off him.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I'll take anything
at this point
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
And Zaun grounds out to third
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lester is at .563 WPA
Obviously if Doc works a scoreless inning he’ll be there too.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
which is worse?
sweet caroline or God bless america?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Fly ball, lineout
A little scary for a Doc inning so far
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
sounds like
the Sawx are hitting it hard this inning
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Varitek with the ground ball single up the middle
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Doc strikes out Lugo to go to .563
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
attaway, Doc!
now let’s see if we can get you a run
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Well, you got your wish
Lester out, Papelbon in.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Rios out looking on three pitches
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stairs in
to pinch-hit for Eck, meaning we will get Mac as defensive replacement
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Stairs pinch hitting
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Strikes out
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
so far this isn't going great
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
This was always going to be a 'pick your poison'
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
is Papelbon
a two-inning guy in this type of situation?
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
nice, Rolen!
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Rolen!
Now it’s Wells’ chance to be the hero
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
clutch time
for Vernon
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Good defensive play from Pedroia
to save the game
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
well
we’re only 0-1 with runners in scoring position today
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
I assume when Doc comes out
we’ll have a few innings of Carlson?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
the bullpen is actually pretty fresh
not sure about Snakeface, but everyone else should be good to go. of course, I don’t think we’ll be holding off Boston for too much longer
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
wow
would you believe Doc is 4th in the league in strikeouts? of course, a lot of it has to be the innings, but still.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Okajima is up
Just what we need, another lefty on the mound.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Loses Ortiz for his first walk
Hopefully he can get Man-Ram out.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Single in front of Wells
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
man
this is garbage
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
no one is even warming
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Doesn't matter now
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Awful.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
what a great way to lose
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Doc gets his 4th straight CG
3 of them losses
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I think it's safe to say
this team is going nowhere
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Jay of the Day
Doc and nobody
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
So that makes us 0-5 against lefty starters?
It’s funny because there was an article the other day about teams you don’t want your lefty facing, and the Jays were on atop the list.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Are all post-loss titles going to be TMBG?
Or are we going to save those for significant losing streaks?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I say we do all post-losses
until we get back to .500
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Kate Upton’s new MLB 2K12 ad is really something
- Five tips for Showtime’s second season of ‘The Franchise,’ featuring the Miami Marlins
- The 10 best things about being a Detroit Tigers fan
- Surprise! A’s finally end the Yoenis Cespedes derby with $36 million deal for Cuban star
- The time Whitney Houston sang to Jim Bowden
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
