Jesse is a Friend and He's Always Been a Good Friend of Mine: Game 32, Pale Hose at Jays
by hugo on May 4, 2008 12:27 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Game Threads
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PrintChicago White Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, May 4, 2008 1:07 PM EDT
Don't look now, but our azure-coloured heroes have won 3 in a row and are looking to inch closer to .500 today against the White Sox. The Jays took yesterday's game behind an extremely strong performance by Jesse Litsch, a good day at the plate by Vernon Wells, and Marco Scutaro's first homerun of the season. Litsch was wonderful, yielding only 5 hits over 7 1/3 innings, striking out 3 while walking no one, and surrendering just 2 runs, both on solo shots.
After Litsch, who is now 4-1, left the game, Downs and Ryan kept things close, finishing out the game with 3 Ks, no walks, and just one single off Ryan. It's good to see Downs pitching effectively, and Ryan still has yet to yield a run.
Today, Doc Halladay faces off against Jose Contreras. Halladay has tossed 4 consecutive complete games but, due to horrid run support (8 runs over those 4 games), has lost the last 3 of them. The Jays really need to score some runs in support of Doc today.
I did end up going to the Nats game yesterday afternoon (hence my not being around), and it was pretty great - beautiful warm weather and an exciting game. There was a sizable contingent of Jays fans in my section, visiting DC from Canada, so that was fun. The only thing was that the game dragged a bit with all the offense. Let's go Jays!
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This one's on WGN
but I’ll stick with Jamie and Rance, because I can’t stand The Hawk.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Swisher strikes out
AT&T finally upgraded their network so I can get 2.5Mbps DSL, but the 1.2Mbps stream is choppy. I miss the old Windows Media based mlb.tv. The new Silverlight client is terrible.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
that sucks
"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
Cabrera strikes out too
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Doc strikes out the side
Now about that run support.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jays go 1-2-3
with a strikeout, a groundout, and a fly ball.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Two grounders with a strikeout between for Doc
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Shaun McGowan?
Nice one, Rance.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
perhaps he's a Pogues fan?
that would bring it a bit closer
"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 looks pretty vicious thusfar
"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 with the leadoff double
breaking up the no-hitter.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
RISP time!
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 1
Wells moves Stairs up to third.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lyle with the sac fly
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Now Hill with the 2 out double
so it’s still RISP time!
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 2
Lind grounds to first.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
One pitch, one out from Quentin
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
well
we’re ahead of Doc’s last start
"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
Crede sees a few more pitches
but ultimately grounds out to x.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
another good inning for Doc
hope we can put some more pressure on Contreras
"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
Ozuna out on a chopper to Rolen
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Zaun with the leadoff single
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
A bit off topic but...
I was at the game yesterday and I got to wondering how the roof impacts the park factor of the Dome. It seems to me that it probably plays fairly neutral (~100 park factor) in both cases, but a bit more favourable to pitchers with the dome open.
Anyone care to shed some light on the issue?
With it open, the overhanging part causes downdrafts
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Are downdrafts better for pitchers or hitters (I would think pitchers). Does anyone know what the park factor ratings are?
They would knock down fly balls
which would help the pitcher.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
as for the park factors
it’s interesting. I think at RC there has been a ton of variation. Historically, it had been a hitter-friendly park, but last season it played heavily pitcher-friendly, so there has been a fair amount of variation over the years.
"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've also always wondered
How (if at all) do park factor ratings account for variabilities in home-team ability. E.g. if the home team is good-pitching but poor hitting (like the ‘07 Jays), that would tend to depress the number of runs scored in the park that season. How is this accounted for?
As another example, I was discussing Orel Hershiser’s 1988 season (59 consecutive scoreless innings) and my friend mentioned that he might have been aided by pitching in Dodger Stadium. The one-year park factor mentioned on baseball-reference shows Dodger Stadium (by conventional wisdom known as a pitcher’s haven) shows that it actually played as a hitter’s park that year. Could this be acounted for by the fact that the home team was a good deal above average in terms of offensive production that year?
that's an interesting question
I’m not sure if the park factor is determined just by comparing production in a park to the mean (which would, as you say, be skewed by home team pitching and batting performance), or whether it is determined by comparing the home team’s hitting and pitching in other parks to the home park (which presumably wouldn’t).
"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 doubles, Zaun to third
RISP time!
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 3 with the x groundout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 4 on the Rolen lineout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
1 for 5 with the 2 run double
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
2 for 6 with the Wells flare to CF
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Wells to second on the throw
so it’s still RISP time
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
2 for 7 on the Overbay strikeout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jays are hitting Contreras pretty hard
"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 were really tagging him last inning....but to be fair there was a blown call at second.
Rios was tagged and should have been out….would have changed the inning.
that's true
Eckstein definitely didn’t hit it well and the Jays were fortunate on that call
"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
Swisher breaks up the no-no with the ground rule double
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Funny that it's called a ground rule double
when it’s in effect in all ballparks.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
x with the throwing error
pulling Overbay off the bag
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
It's Sunday and a Doc start and Johnny Mac isn't playing
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Why with Litsch?
I thought he was more of a flyball pitcher than most of the other starters?
Last year he was a GB pitcher
I think this year his splits are more even, and his K rate is up.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Litsch hasn't gotten as many grounders earlier this season
b/c his sinker hasn’t been working effectively. Now that it seems to be working well again, I’d expect more grounders, like last season.
"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
Thome singles to center
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Konerko with the double over Rolen's head
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
now there is a txt question for you....who is your favorite Ontario bred band?
Watching the Chicago feed.
Does the Band count?
I also like Kathleen Edwards and Metric quite a bit. Lately I’ve been listening to plenty of the Constantines as well.
"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
Dye strikes out
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
RBI grounders for Pierzynski
That’s the 2ER… any more and the streak is broken.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Actually, if the runner at third scores, is it unearned?
Because the inning would be over if not for the error.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Doc plunks Quentin
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh right, since the second out drove in a run, only one is earned.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Crede flies to center to strand 2
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Ozuna strikes out on 3 pitches
I think that’s his 8th pitch in 2 games.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
That was a little too close for comfort
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Doc's at 75 pitches
I don’t think he’s going to make it to complete game #5. Of course if he has innings like that one the rest of the way then he could.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
3 grounders to the right side
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
You can only cause the grounder, you can't aim it
unless you’re Maddux.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Especially when the last two were 15 combined.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Going to miss the end of the game...Taking my boys to see Iron Man
Why they’d want to see a movie about a guy taking the wrinkles out of his shirts, I don’t know.
Love those first pitch outs.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
except when they happen to us
"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 crowd cheers for pizza
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Lind looked a bit awkward on that
but at least he made the catch
"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
After Crede's 10 pitch AB, Doc is at 98
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
what was Lind swinging at?
"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
Fooled badly on some breaking balls
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I can understand the last one, but he was way too aggressive 0-1
"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 the kind of at-bat
that gets you benched/sent down
"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
Cy Carlson warming
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And after Ozuna grounds out, Gibby pulls Doc at 101 pitches.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I guess
if Carlson can finish this inning, we’ll have Accardo to close
"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 Carlson gets Cabrera, Thome will be leading off the 9th
so maybe Carlson will face him too.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Carlson strikes out Swisher
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Cabrera singles off Rolen's glove
so Carlson will get his chance against Thome right now.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Er, doubles.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Cy
with the K of Thome on three straight
"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
Strikes out Thome
That’s a good .2IP from Carlson
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
it would be nice
to get another run or two, but the way we’ve hit over the past few innings, it doesn’t seem too likely
"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
Nope, we go 1-2-3 again
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
1 pitch, 1 out for Accardo
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Dye flies to center for the second out
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Gibby out to ask Downs for the 1 out save.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
with Frasor waiting in the wings
should AJ get 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
Do we feel nervous about it being Frasor?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
with Camp as the only other righty option, I guess not...
"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
Camp has been great so far
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
yes, he has
"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
Downs does the job
got a little help from the ump on a 1-0 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
The streak is at 8!
Tying the ‘91 Royals and the ‘88 Tigers (I think I said).
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
4 in a row
it should feel better than it does, but it still feels pretty good
"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
Of course the Yankees and Red Sox are winning
so we might gain no ground from this win streak.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
JotD
Doc (.276), Stairs (.193), Accardo (.130)
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jays of the Day
Doc, Stairs, and I suppose Accardo, though really the pen should share one
"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
Wasn't it pink bat day?
I don’t remember Jamie and Rance mentioning it, but it was a fast game.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh wait, that's next week
Good thing I haven’t called my parents yet
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
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