I Heard Somebdy Call My Name; I Almost Climbed the Stairs - Game 35, Rays at Jays
by hugo on May 8, 2008 6:09 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Game Threads
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PrintTampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays, May 8, 2008 7:07 PM EDT
Hey all. Today's title comes courtesy of one of the first bands I ever dug, Chicago's Smoking Popes, and their song "Megan." Those guys were awesome. Today's post is in honour of my sister (of the same name as the song) who is graduating from college in two days. Congrats, Megatron!
Anyway, the Jays won a great game yesterday behind some masterful pitching by Shaun Marcum. Marcum was just unbelievable, taking a 1-hit shutout into the 9th and striking out 9 to move himself up to 4th in the league in K/9. He's not been walking them either, and that's a recipe for success, especially given that he's been keeping the ball down much more (8 groundouts yesterday) and not yielding the long ball.
Scott Rolen added a HR and Lyle Overbay hit another double to hopefully continue his march toward a .400 SLG and walked as well. He also hit another long opposite way flyball that almost made it out. Marco Scutaro wasn't much with the glove in his first game as the regular SS, but he had 3 hits, which was great. The Jays called up journeyman Jorge Velandia for added infield depth (Torgen was right, I was wrong (I said Inglett, who continues to tear up AAA)) and sent down Adam Lind, a move that has been inevitable since Gibbons started playing Stewart against righties. I, for one, hope Lind is back soon, but he needs to have better at-bats when he returns.
In injury news, there is reason to be optimistic regarding both David Eckstein and John MacDonald. Eckstein's MRI came back negative and Mac reportedly felt "great" yesterday, which is surprising. It's not clear whether either will be placed on the disabled list, but the Jays should decide by tomorrow at the latest.
Tonight, Jesse Litsch faces the team for which he once served as batboy. Edwin Jackson opposes him for the Rays.
I have rehearsal but hope to make it back in time for the second half of the game. Of course, I also thought I'd do so yesterday, but it didn't work out. Although it was great to find out that I've still got the baseball skills as I had a great game! Let's go Jays!
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4th in k/9; tied for second in Ks
with Felix Hernandez.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh, and x and Johnny Mac both got put on the DL
Only one was in time for a callup from AAA (Joe Inglett); a second callup will happen tomorrow.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jamie said the second move would likely be from outside the organization
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh, and Robinzon Diaz sprained his ankle
in a collision at home plate. Diaz was likely to get called up for interleague.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Watching Lind's 1 for 19 wore thin too
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
If only we could skip the part where it was going to get better
and get straight to the part where it was already better.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stew and Rolen don't make very good use of 3-0 counts
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
This time, anyways
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Overbay with the Jays' signature hit
a 2 out double
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Well the crowd got way too excited over it
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jamie can't tell Nathan Haynes from Carl Crawford.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Zaun pops up foul on the 11th pitch.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Scutaro singles up the middle
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Rios grounds into a double play
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Litsch works another clean inning
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Best
Jay
Ever
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stairs can't get Rolen home
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 2
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh wait, 0 for 3
Overbay’s 2 out double.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Here come the boo birds for Hinske
after the Peña lineout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
You jinxed it!
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Litsch gets the comebacker
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
That's probably game over
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Though we got a bunch of run yesterday.....
and rolen should get 2 more at bats….can hope for 2 solo homers
Well it's good that we're hitting it hard
Now to turn that into results
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Probably not
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Aren't we facing a ton of lefties in the Cleveland series?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jamie just suggested that Jason Michaels might be the player signed tomorrow...
Just what we need…another player that can ground out to short….
We were complaining about Scutaro?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I think he was .225 coming into the game
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
RISP time for Rios
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
0 for 4
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
"Blue Jays are looking for a run"
well they’re down by 2, Jamie, so I don’t think they’re looking for a run.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jeeze....Stewart looked bad swinging at those fastballs.....
Thought he was having a good at bat till the two fastballs were past before he started his swing…
Not the Sky Chiefs anymore, Jamie.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Rolen pads his Level Of Excellence credentials.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stairs Nooooooo!
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
This is not a good time to mention how much we suck in Cleveland
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Everyone does it
They usually have the good sense to miss them entirely.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
It's not your imagination
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I'm really wondering if it is a slump or if this is the team.....
Which positions should they be better than league average offensively?
They don't need to be better than average
they’re all worse than their own career numbers.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Yeah
You got a point… Outside of Rios, they really don’t have that many players with all that big of an upside
I think so....
Wells had a good season a couple ago but it was really not the standard Wells season. Overbay I like but isn’t better than the average AL First basemen. Hill is better than average, but not that much better. Eck….well we can hope for average. Rolen, hasn’t been average at 3b in a few years. Stairs had a season no one could have expected last year, why would we expect him to duplicate it. Stewart isn’t close to average in LF. Zaun…is aging though he’s batted well for us.
Caught him stealing, at least
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
thanks!
Hey man, thanks for the awesome dedication. That song is great, even if they do spell Meghan wrong. It’s also the ringtone on my cellular telephone. Lots of love, always.
Keep on writing big bro,
Meghan
Think we ought to move Rios back to a power spot it might help....he looks lost.
Try Wells lead off?
Vs. righties, I would do Overbay
but his power stroke seems to be coming back.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Longoria hit it pretty hard
for a broken bat shot.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
So, Troy Percival has allowed 2 hits all year
Think we’ll manage 4 runs off him?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Well Rolen leads off with a single
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
-.222 for the day
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Well that was uncharacteristically clutch of VW.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And by clutch I mean we still have an 88% chance of losing.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
RISP time
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
1 for 5, btw
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Now that was clutch
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Now if Hill could have made it to second on the throw
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Hill steals second
so it’s RISP time again
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
BJ was warming
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Scutaro does not come through
1 for 6
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Of course BJ's only going to go 1
and TB still has relievers they haven’t used who own us, like Wheeler.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
That's one
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
That's two
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Walk-off time, boys.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Home run rios? would feel good....
And it would finish in time I could go practice my drums for a bit….
I'll take a walk-off balk at this point
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I'm here
Got here just in time.
Also, I was screaming at Rios for trying for the triple. Glad he didn’t listen to me
I just though he would get thrown out
He wasn’t even past second when Gomes picked up the ball
Infield will be in
so probably no chance at the squeeze?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
He used to be speedy
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Pretty much right down the middle
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Maybe they'll throw a wild pitch trying to IBB him
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Of course if they're going to play at double play depth
then Stairs could shock the worlds with a squeeze bunt
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Hmm.. deep up the middle, shallow at the corners
not a good situation for the squeeze
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stairs with the unclutch strikeout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
You mean Wells?
and isn’t Barajas at first now?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And hoping Navarro can block them
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Bases loaded for barajas
He did have an RBI yesterday. Of course a walk or an HBP wins the game.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Barajas was .354 with the bases loaded
He ended up on the .646 end that time.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Barajas's one was overswinging
that looked like way too long a swing for a 2 strike pitch.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Yeah but expecting him to change his swing isn't going to happen...
His swing has been long for years now….had the fluke season that he hit 21 homers and people think he’s a player…
Wilner says it's there
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Snakeface is in
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
How about not walking the winning run into scoring position?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I kind of liked Rance tonight....but saying he should walk upton to move the runner into scoring position is just dumb...
Single scores the go ahead run now….would have taken at least a double before…
These are the situations when the Jays' lack of power is really visible
We could sure use a walkoff homer right now. I remember thinking the same thing during that 13-or-so inning loss a few weeks back. The one where Carlson struck out the side
Hill, Zaun, Scutaro due up
Who’s pitching the 12th?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
He did get an out yesterday
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Zaun draws the 1 out walk
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Scutaro gets another chance to be super-clutch
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Gibby should just tell Rios to swing for the fences
It worked in Major League III: Back to the minors
An accurate depiction of reality
if ever there was one.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
I never doubt the strategic mind
of Jake Taylor
1, 6, other 1
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Jamie reads Hardball Times?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Not with a sprained ankle he wouldn't
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
-.252
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Stairs now at -.444
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
hey all,
sounds like quite a game! just got in
"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
1 good inning
11 sucky ones.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Oh, no doubt
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
looks like tons of men left 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
but the 11 sucky ones were really sucky
We’ve hit two triples and neither has scored.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
How was Litsch?
"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
3 runs on 2 homers over 7
Not bad if you can score a few.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
yeah, that's not bad at all
"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
Bartlett singles off Hill's glove
He’s a speedster, isn’t he?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
yeah, he can 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
almost want to put in Tallet just to stop him from doing so
"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
Iwamura singles, Bartlett to third
Ugh.. I think this one is over.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Need a strikeout or infield fly
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And Iwamura now in scoring position
Funny how they can execute that play
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
You would think so
but we haven’t actually demonstrated that to be the case.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
He had been good until tonight
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
ERA of 7.20 last year....I can't figure what we thought he had in him.....
some bad luck this inning though…Hill could have made that first play and Barajas should have made the play on the seconde hit….
He added a changeup
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
League has been pitching well in Syracuse I think
"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 as usual
things have taken a turn for the worse since I got in
"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, everyone
I’ve gotta get some dinner, I’m starving. this has been a really disappointing series – nothing to do but have a good road trip I guess.
"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
Against cleveland
who always kill us
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And now Camp gets a strikeout
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
It took a lot for Camp to pass Stairs for worst Jay of the game
but he pulled it off.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Wolfe got hurt?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Coming into the game he was -.250
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Those numbers are irrelevent
You want me to count how many wins we owe to Stairs this year. Wins are relevent.
Well there was the solo homer for the 1-0 win
but how many has he cost? Those matter too.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And even in the one where he solo homered
he missed chances earlier that game.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
And the rest of the Jays did what exactly different?
the point is he was the only one who stepped up and got a run – with absolutely no help from his team. Remember, baseball is a game where a good hitter fails seven times out of ten. Keep perspective.
Stewart went 3 for 4 with a triple
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
yeah he got one solo home run in a big spot....he also struck out today in a spot where he needed not to
Even Barajas has had a big hit this year…
Every single player on the Jays
failed to get a hit when the Jays needed it. One more home run at any point in this game and this game is won. Your concentration on that one at bat is irrational.
He has been a full timer
That year he hit 38 homers for Oakland, for example.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
No, because that at-bat was a high leverage situation
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
That's an illusion
Name any random time in the game where there was a player in scoring position and a player failed to get a hit – it has just as much influence on the end result as Stairs’ at-bat did.
And they are just as liable
More liable in fact because most have performed worse than him this season.
For example, when Rolen tripled with one out
and Stairs couldn’t drive him in?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Or when Rolen singled and Stairs grounded into
an inning ending double play?
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
He had a bad game
So did Rios. So did Stewart. There 161 other games in the season. Scapegoating him for the Jays woes is, again, irrational.
Expecting a 39 year old to hit like he did when he was 29 is fun and all....
but stairs, Stewart, Zaun aren’t going to suddenly become great players…Stairs was great last year…for stairs…but this years it’s more likely he’ll be the player he had been for the 5 or 6 years before that.
He's not going to be an All-star
And no, he’s not a clean-up hitter. But he’ll hold his own. I just hope the rest of the Jays can say the same.
If Stairs drives in Rolen in the 4th, do the 3 runs in the 9th win the game?
Or does Litsch still give up the same number of runs? Or do we score any runs in the 9th at all? Does Edwin Jackson pitch the 8th if it’s a 3-1 game? These are questions that can’t be answered. As a result you can’t say that Aaron Hill failing to drive home Overbay in the second had as much influence as Stairs failing to drive home Rios in the 10th. The difference in their effect on our chances of winning was huge.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Aaron Hill
(and Rios) just got a large deal in the offseason and is supposed to be a central part of the Jays offense. Stairs is an old man who will soon retire. So I don’t get mad when Stairs has a bad game, any more than I get mad at pop music for being shallow, or at life for lacking transcendental purpose. It’s all about expectations, my friend.
IF you would have said 2 years ago that Stairs would be full time DH and bat cleanup you'd say the Jays weren't a contender....
and you know….seems like you’d be right
yeah...there is no way JP should have put together a team that has Stairs clean up or DH
It isn’t Stairs fault…as a 4 th outfielder, part timer…he’s ok…pretty good…If you thing he’s the clean up hitter that is going to take the Jays past the Yankees and Red Sox…then you shouldn’t be a major league GM
Well, Thomas was supposed to be the DH
and in spring training he was visibly putting effort into not sucking to start the season, and he still sucked to start the season.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
This is still the start of the season
And he’s batting .295 That is not sucking. Final verdict can’t be given on either side of suck/not suck anyways as the sample size is way too small.
Actually batting .277, with 9 rbi's.....maybe not sucking but....find me a cleanup hitter with fewer rbis..
And course….a GM should have an real idea of what to expect from his players…Look at Stairs last 5 years…take the fluke one out and he’s doing about what you’d expect.
Same goes for Stewart….his season, so far isn’t that far off what a person would have thought he’d do. Same with Barajas….and really anyone on the team. If everyone is doing about what you would expect and the team isn’t a contender….no one should be surprised….
Hill is only having his worst season ever,
Rios’s slugging is the worst it’s been since 2005, and Overbay has never slugged this poorly in any season where he got significant plate appearances, going back to 2003. This is not ‘what you would expect’ from those players.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
To beat a dead cat...his OPS is .747 this year...about where you'd expect it to be...
With 9 count them 9 rbi’s….that’s a cleanup hitter or DH that’s going to get you past the Sox or the Yankees? Basically he’s Hinske…..and a few years back we gave him away because we knew we couldn’t win with him. Stairs should still have the job he was signed for, 4th outfielder, pinch hitter…that he would be good at.
This is the crux of the issue
I DON”T expect Stairs to replicate last year. I don’t expect him to get clean-up hitter numbers. Therefore when he has a night like last night I don’t get mad at him. He’ll have some good nights, he’ll have some bad nights. (Rios going 1 for 6 on the other hand…. and Hill and Overbay’s recent shittiness…. THOSE are the folks that are supposed to be leading the team to victory this season. Not, by any of stretch of the imagination, Stairs. Anything out of the ordinary he does should be icing on the cake)
At the end of the year, Stairs will end up with some decent, non-spectacular numbers – in the limited at-bats that will doubtless come with the Jays deals today.
“Virtually the only clutch hitter” was perhaps a bit strong, but being strongly responsible for 2 wins this past weak tends to bend my influence in his favor. And last night’s bad outing is not going to make me forget that.
Barajas bloops in a single
That’s timely.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
Hey look, Hill doubled
Only three batters away from the tying run.
"He almost has to start. Do you believe in miracles?"
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