Bits on a Wednesday

by Tom Dakers on Jun 3, 2009 2:01 PM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays News

Unsurprisingly today a lot of the talk around baseball is how good Roy Halladay is. Like we didn't know that before. The Drunks have a bunch of quotes from various Angels and Jays. I guess my favorite is:

“He's the best there is in the game right now." - Torii Hunter

Because he is.

Magpie (great name, maybe less good now as the Magpies (Newcastle United) have dropped out of the Premier League) took a look at how Doc has done in the start after throwing 120+ pitches over at The Batter's Box. I'll admit I'm surprised Doc had never thrown over 130 pitches before in a game. Anyway the conclusion:

Yup. Halladay is even more likely to win the game than usual - he's won 7 of the 11 games. Over his career, Halladay has won 51% of his starts (137 of 267), which is pretty phenomenal itself.

Once in a while we get mentioned at another site and I'm thrilled every time. This time though I'm more thrilled than normal: Doc throws and throws some more: SweetSpot by Rob Neyer ESPN.Rob Neyer has written several of my favorite baseball books, so that he mentioned me, I'll be happy for days. I like his conclusion, I wish I put it this way:

I don't mean to suggest that Gaston was risking Halladay's health. I mean, maybe he was; I'm just not suggesting it. What I will suggest is that if Gaston were going to risk Halladay's health or late-season freshness, letting him throw more than 130 pitches would be a brilliant start.

Over at Fangraphs Dave Cameron listed who he thought should make the AL All-Star team and he has 4 Blue Jays making the team! I do have a couple of comments though:

Catcher: Joe Mauer (MIN), Victor Martinez (CLE), Mike Napoli (LAA) The first two are no-brainers, and Napoli gets the edge over Posada due to quantity of playing of time.

I'd take Barajas over Napoli.

Third Base: Evan Longoria (TB), Alex Rodriguez (NY), Brandon Inge (DET) Inge is flying under the radar, but having a really, really good season. There’s no real argument for anyone besides those three.

Oh I think we could make an argument for Scott Rolen. Rolen has been as good a Brandon Inge. Inge is batting .269/.360/.509, Rolen is .308/.382/.456 and I like Rolen's defense better.

Relief Pitchers: Frank Francisco (TEX), Mariano Rivera (NY), Scott Downs (TOR), Matt Thornton (CHI) Downs and Thornton deserve some recognition for the outstanding years they’re having, and the pitching staff leans heavily to the right-hand side, so having a couple of shut down lefty relievers is a nice bonus.

Boy I'd love to see Snakeface make the team.

The news about Jesse Litsch isn't all good

"Kind of the same thing, nothing’s really changed," Jays general manger J.P. Ricciardi told reporters about 30 minutes ago. "One day he feels good, another day he doesn’t feel good. So we’re just going to let him keep pitching until he doesn’t feel good. That’s what he’s doing right now."

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Napoli isn't a catcher

He plays DH 1/2 the time… Seriously he missed about 12 balls yesterday.
I’d pick Barajas over Napoli too, but Posada probably gets the nod over rod the bod. For that I don’t applaud.

Happiness is a long walk with a putter in your hand.

by craig in calgary on Jun 3, 2009 2:56 PM EDT reply actions

Hey Tom, kudos on the shoutout from Neyer

I still disagree with the severity of the reaction over the pitch count. The matter is much more involved then meets the eye though and to that end I understand both sides. I wonder how much of a background Neyer had to his previous two starts. Also another issue that this might touch on is his contract and staying with Toronto. This sort of trust and independence given to the player might help a future staying here.

I however know that all this is a risky gamble and with potential harm to his future those concerns all become moot. I’m probably 60-40 for leaving him in (and just to clarify, I was for it before the result last night)

I also admit a little part of me felt our best opportunity to secure the W was with him staying in. And I love W’s

by plen on Jun 3, 2009 5:49 PM EDT reply actions