Richmond Terrific, Jays Win

by Tom Dakers on Jun 17, 2009 11:11 PM EDT in Game Recaps Comment 10 comments

After not watching ball for a few days, that was very very enjoyable. I'd admit to being a huge Scott Richmond fan, but I don't expect him to pitch like that every time out. We saw him as a good choice for 5th starter this season but 5th starters don't often go 8 innings, giving up jus 5 hits, 1 walk and striking out 11. Did anyone here think Scott Richmond would ever strike 11 out in a game? Against a strong, left-handed hitting lineup? He was just great. I don't expect a Doc like start from him very often. On the flip side B.J. Ryan looked terrible, in the 9th, he couldn't find the strike zone but Brandon League was very good coming in to relieve for him. League has so much movement on his pitches, if he can keep them near the strike zone he is almost unhittable.

Offensively we were great,12 hits and 3 walks against a pitcher older than dirt. We got hits out of every starter except for Lyle Overbay (and Richmond, of course). Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill each had three hits, 2 runs and Hill had a homer and drove in 3. Scott Rolen had 2 hits, including his first homer in a long while. Rod Barajas had a solo shot. Vernon Wells had a walk, a hit and an important steal of third that got us a run. I thought he was looking great then he struck out his last couple of times up looking lost yet again. So I have no idea.

Jays of the Day are Richmond (.242 WPA) and Hill (.152). Honorable mention to just about everyone else, real team effort today, Rolen, Scoot, Barajas and Wells get the mention. No Suckage Jays, Overbay had the worst number (-.058) but far short of getting the award.

Jays have announced who is coming up to fill in for the trio of DLed pitchers. Brad Mills is up to start tomorrow's game, Jeremy Accardo is coming up to fill Scott Down's spot on the roster and Brett Cecil is on his way to make Saturday's start.

Tomorrow's game is in the afternoon, 1:00 Eastern start. I'm going to enjoy watching Mills, he looked great in spring training. His numbers might not look good at Vegas (4.43 ERA) but it isn't easy to pitch in the PCL and Joe Blanton hasn't been amazing for the Phillies (4-3, 5.17). With the way our bats are going, suddenly, it should be a lot of fun.

We had a lively gamethread tonight, and a couple of new folks joined in. The more the merrier, so if you can watch tomorrow's game, join us.

PS: I totally forgot to mention Alex Rios' adventure on the base paths tonight. In the 3rd with one out and Overbay at bat, Rios took off on a line out to center and was doubled off to end the inning. It is getting to the point where Alex is making baserunning errors far too often to ignore. He is hitting the ball well enough at the moment but why is he making so many errors running the bases? Is he unable to keep his head in the game? I generally ignore the odd mistake on the bases, but when it starts happening this often, it is hard ignore. Oh well, let's just follow along and see if this keeps being an issue.

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Here's my question...

Where were these good performances against the Marlins? The Jays can beat the Phillies but not Florida? Phillies have a much better hitting lineup than the Marlins do, so whats the deal? Strangely, the Jays have always been terrible against the Marlins though, so I guess history repeats itself. But anyway, great pitching by Richmond, we needed this with all the bad news with the Jays lately. Now lets hope they can sweep tomorrow. Hopefully they don’t follow suit with the Marlins and stink against Washington next though…Here’s to hoping.

by Icedragon on Jun 17, 2009 11:41 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

is life....

sometimes you are good sometimes not…..the Yankees lost to the Nationals today. How does a good team lost to those guys?

Or I think about myself…sometimes I write something and think it is great and sometimes….well….it isn’t. And yet I’m the same guy each time.

by Tom Dakers on Jun 17, 2009 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

how does any team lose to those guys?

but that’s why they play the games. anybody can beat anybody on any given day.
here’s hoping Mills has a great debut tomorrow

by jlahey on Jun 18, 2009 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hey hey

can’t say enough about Richmond’s performance tonight. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I don’t remember many people other than us saying that Richmond could be an above-average AL starter. I don’t expect him to pitch this way every time, of course, but I think he’s given us a quality outing (I caught it in the pub after my softball game, thanks ESPN!) more often than not. Look at his overall numbers – they look pretty freaking good. OK enough self-congratulation

So, that’s one Doc start that we’ve won – don’t know we could have asked for a better outing from Doc than Richmond gave us tonight. Let’s see what Mills can do tomorrow.

"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 Jun 18, 2009 12:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Truly a beautiful effort, great way to start my morning.........

Congratulations to Scott Richmond!

As far as Thursday’s game, let’s hope for the best.

It would be magnificent to win but given the current situation, things certainly remain tough as Boston keeps winning.

Any help we can get from the opponents of those other two clubs is very welcome.

It’s true that these two great games sound strange given how the club played 3 games at home against Florida.

The Jays certainly need to recover their consistency, the one they showed during the first 40 games of the season.

For that to happen, putting up a good streak is indispensable or at least playing .600 ball as a team for a while.

Best wishes to Brad Mills for Thursday’s game.

An interesting fact about Tuesday’s win: it was Toronto’s first win this year in 28 games when trailing after 8 innings. Great job, it should happen more often!

On the other hand, Tuesday Ricky Romero batted 3 times with a total of 8 men on base but struck out all 3 times and fouled off a suicide-squeeze bunt in one occasion.

Moreover, Toronto left the bases full in the 6th, 8th and 9th.

Given the current events, we can’t afford to shatter that many chances.

by Marco1978 on Jun 18, 2009 3:48 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

john mcdonald batting in the pitcher's slot also batted with the bases loaded

"The NY Mets are my favorite squadron" -- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

by jessef on Jun 18, 2009 8:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to keep harping on this

but let’s not bag on BJ. It is a case of overutilizing certain relief pitchers. BJ has had several good outings in recent days, but last night was one time too many to the well.

Last night was BJ’s 4th appearance in 5 days. This is way too much for a reliever, even if they are short appearances. Remember the guy has to warm up before hand (~25 pitches) each time. It adds up. 3 appearances in 5 days is pushing it. 4 in 5 is ridiculous.

The Jays have already burned out Carlson this year, by leaning on him too heavily until his performance declined (look at his blow up after 5 outings in 7 days in May). Let’s not do this anymore. Let’s start being more intelligent about the use of relief pitchers.

by aagoodfella on Jun 18, 2009 9:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Completely agree.

Maybe giving Downs a bit of a break (albeit on the DL) will help.

by JaysFanInKS on Jun 18, 2009 9:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't disagree at all, but it is such a fine line

because even without overuse, relievers run so hot and cold. So a manager like Cito has to thread the needle between using the hot hand and not overdoing it.

"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 Jun 18, 2009 9:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs