Great Start by Scott Richmond, Jays Win

by Tom Dakers on Apr 29, 2009 12:39 AM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Game Recaps

Jays 8 Royals 1

Is there a bigger surprise for the Jays this early this season than Scott Richmond? Well maybe Ricky Romero, but Richmond is up there. 3-0 and a 2.70 ERA. Tonight, 7 innings, 5 hits, 3 walks, 1 run and 5 strikeouts. And the 1 run really shouldn't have happened. Alex Rios missed a very catchable ball. It turned into a double that scored Coco Crisp from first. Cy Carlson and Brandon League pitched a good inning each to finish out the game.

Offensively we were great, 14 hits and 6 walks. Everyone in the lineup had at least 1 hit except for Lind. Moonraker had a bunt single, Scoot had a pretty single up the middle when he faked a bunt then bounce the ball thru the middle. And he had 2 more walks giving him 21 in 22 games. For a guy who's career high in walks was 57 last year he's taken to the lead off role well.

Aaron Hill and Vernon Wells had 3 hits each with 2 and 3 RBI respectively. Rolen and Barajas had 2 hits each. Royals starter Gil Meche left the game in the 4th inning with a injury of some sort. Likely whiplash from watching balls go past him.

Jays of the Day were Richmond (.266 WPA), Wells (.124) and Barajas (.104). Honorable mention to Scoot and Hill , but Hill should lose a few points for calling Vernon off a popup to short center then dropping the ball. It was Vernon’s ball all the way. No Suckage Jays, though Lind came close at -.086.

Tomorrow Brian Tallet (1-0, 2.95) goes up against Zack Greinke (4-0, 0.00). It should be a good pitchers duel. Zack hasn't given up an earned run yet this year, so he's due to be hit hard.

And the important thing? We are 15-7 and in first place! A game up on the Red Sox, who finally lost one to Cleveland. So enjoy, we have the best record in baseball. The game thread was great fun, so join us for tomorrow's game.

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I was at the game tonight.

It was an absolute blast, since I go to school and spend most of my days with Royals fans. I’m not going to lie, I had a bad feeling that we could get swept in this mid-week tilt, but hopefully we can grab one more and earn a tie for the 4-game stretch.

I’ll be there tomorrow, and fortunately, I have been growing a beard for the past 20 days. All but the mustache will be shaved tomorrow morning. Go Brian Tallet! Get the job done.

I’ve watched Grienke climb up the latter (I grew up in Wichita, KS, and watched him a lot when he was in AA). He’ll win a Cy Young someday, there’s no doubt about it. And when he’s off, he will still give you 6IP and 3ER.

But, hey, I thought tonight was going to be a battle, but we roughed up Gilbert Meche (the BEST pitcher in the AL outside of Doc) enough. He may be hurt, we’ll have to wait and see I guess.

All in all a great night. I traveled to KC from Manhattan, KS, for some pre-employment stuff for my future employer tomorrow morning. Thank goodness Toronto is in town. GO JAYS! Take another tomorrow. FEAR THE STACHE!

by JaysFanInKS on Apr 29, 2009 1:20 AM EDT reply actions

nice!

rooting for the Jays on the road is funny, everyone just assumes you are Canadian I find. Greinke will be a tough nut to crack – not many can combine stuff and command like he does but even Doc has his off days.

I think Meche might have been feeling that back injury that eventually took him out of the game all along, watching the game (I went back and watched the first 6 innings) he was leaving quite a lot of pitches up.

Awesome about the stache!

"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 hugo on Apr 29, 2009 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions

let's not forget the D

lost in the headlines about surprising starting pitching, steady bullpen and prolific offense is the steady defense the Jays are putting. Why is this important? Well, arguably, the BoSox lost last night’s game vs. Cleveland due to errors – a loss that enabled the Jays to take sole possession of first place. The BoSox last night made 3 errors including an untimely miscue in the bottom of the 9th that enabled Cleveland’s winning run.

So far this season, the Jays lead in putouts, assists, are tied for 6th in fewest errors, are 5th in double plays, tied for 8th in caught stealing, 4th in defensive efficiency rating and tied for 4th in fielding percentage. There were multiple putouts at 3rd against KC last night. Bottom line, defense has been a key component to the Jays’ success this season.

Testament to the completeness of the team effort fielded by the Jays this year.

by aagoodfella on Apr 29, 2009 10:49 AM EDT reply actions

Oh yeah the defense has been very good this year

even with a couple of misplays last night. I think we have the best defensive shortstop and second baseman in baseball. Easily the best defensive infield in baseball. And the outfield isn’t too shabby either.

People are going to hate hearing this but JP deserves a lot of credit for putting this group together.

by Tom Dakers on Apr 29, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Point/Counterpoint

You can give JP the credit, I’ll give it to Cito! I guess as I type this I’ll change my point, I guess JP did a good job putting this team together, but rode Gibby too long. Soon as Cito came along, they started playing much better. I’ll argue 2008 Jays > 2009 Jays talent wise, but not record wise.

If you go out and you’re looking for the girl to wink at you and she hasn’t winked at you before 12 she isn’t going to. You might as well go home.

by craig in calgary on Apr 29, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Cito didn't make the team's defense....

we were great defensively last year.

by Tom Dakers on Apr 29, 2009 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Question

I’m not from Toronto, but am a little suprised at the size of crowds in Toronto. With the Leafs and Raptors not being relavant since before Christmas, I thought they would rally behind the Jays. And now that we are in 1st place, I thought for sure we’d see 30K per game. Here’s hopeing crowds show up this weekend.

If you go out and you’re looking for the girl to wink at you and she hasn’t winked at you before 12 she isn’t going to. You might as well go home.

by craig in calgary on Apr 29, 2009 11:02 AM EDT reply actions

The media and really the Jay's management

spent the whole winter telling their fans that the team wasn’t going to be good this year. It will take a bit before it sinks into the general population that this is a good team. We complained a number of times this winter that the jays weren’t working to sell tickets this winter. Hopefully as the season goes on, people will notice and start coming out.

by Tom Dakers on Apr 29, 2009 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Toronto has always been a bandwagon town...

‘cept for the Leafs. When the Skydome opened and the Jays were winning, they regularly got 50K per game. I think they were the first team to draw in 2mil or something. However since they have been mired in mediocrity for the last 15 years, and the lustre of the ’dome have worn off, the crowds have diminished. It’s likely that you won’t 30K until the Red Sox and Yankees come to town and you’ll only see 30K in August if the Jays are still in it. Torontonians just don’t seem to get that a team can be good and still not make the playoffs in baseball. They are used to hockey where every team makes the playoffs. Except the leafs, hahahahahahahaha.

I miss going to opening day.

We don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks. - Calvin

by solace on Apr 29, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Something is wrong with the atmosphere

The Toronto Blue Jay games problem lies with the crowd being incredibly stale. You don’t need to win to be successful ala Toronto FC.
Yes Toronto is a bandwagon town but, most cities are because: the atmosphere at the games suck. Why shell out money when you’re getting a much better experience watching TV and chatting it up on the internet? ;)

These criticisms are very harsh but I think that’s ultimately why you don’t see crowds flocking to these games. Just not fun enough.

Nobody – maybe a handful of fans are cheering on when a Jays pitcher has 2 strikes. I find that some of things the Blue Jays management try to be incredibly cheesy – only the handful of children are likely going to be singing along and the older folks are just dead silent. Evidenced from my experiences in hockey games and soccer games – people will come out to the less-family oriented crowd interactions (yet still bring their kids anyway).

Again it depends on the game but the atmosphere definitely disappoints me more.

AWmusic - mp3 blog on independent music..

by achengy on Apr 29, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions