That was Dreadful.

by Tom Dakers on Aug 20, 2009 10:21 PM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Game Recaps

We used to be able to play defense right? This was a comedy of errors. Brett Cecil misses a throw back from Rod Barajas picks up the ball and throws it out of play? Surprisingly enough you have to call time before throwing a live ball away. John McDonald, in for Edwin Encarnacion who left with a sore knee, throws one way over Kevin Millar at first. And Jose Bautista throws a ball from left field to someone in the stands behind Millar.

The biggest error? Cito Gaston wrote Rod Barajas name in the cleanup spot and Kevin Millar in the 5th spot. The two of them were a predictable 0 for 7. Amazingly enough we only scored one run today. We load the bases in the first and Big Rod gets a run in with a double play. And that was the only time we came close to scoring. 3 hits on the day, 2 by Aaron Hill. Even Travis Snider was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

Brett Cecil was terrible. 6-2 on the season and the 2 loses were against the Red Sox. Everything was up, our ground ball pitcher had 2 ground outs and 9 fly outs. Brian Tallet and Jesse Carlson pitched well in relief. Shawn Camp less so.

No Jay of the Day today though Hill came close (.092) so he can have an honorable mention. Suckage are Cecil (-.251) and Rod (-.102).

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It was just sad.

BUT OH MY GOD! Did anyone see Tejadas error on the easy double play ball? He went to flick it to the 2B and just kinda threw it the other way. The ball slipped out of his hand but man it made me laugh

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 20, 2009 10:36 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah I just saw that! It was funny. He's an error machine

by syc on Aug 20, 2009 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions

what a joke

As soon as I saw the line-up I knew to file this one in the loss column. AGAIN! Barajas batting clean-up and Millar fifth (how the f&$# is he still on the roster let alone batting clean-up or fifth ?!?!?! ). The Jays record against NY, BOS, and TB has been brutal this year. Tonight was a joke.

All Jays fans can hope for is that Rogers sells the team to someone who cares about competing. Hopefully the new owner would pick a decent president, and that the new pres will show JP and Cito the bus schedule, clean house at the major league level and start fresh with an increased budget. I’d miss Roy, Aaron, a few of the others but they deserve to play for a team that competes and clearly the Jays can’t against the top 3 in the A.L. East right now with this management team and this budget.

'some witty quote'
Too Lazy to Care

by DieHardDummy on Aug 20, 2009 11:48 PM EDT reply actions

Ok Why get rid of Hill?

And I know its fun to crap all over Rogers but they have done right by this team a lot of times and again it would take quite the offer to sell the team considering the amount of free advertising and free content for Sportsnet that Rogers can Milk out of the Jays. If they sold the team they would have to pay for more content for the channels and pay for more advertising during the game.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 21, 2009 12:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Hill and Roy are the the last players I would want to get rid of … but let’s face it the Jays aren’t going to turn this thing around overnight and both of those guys deserve better than to playing on a team that will bat Millar in the middle of the order at this stage of the season, in this stage of his career. He sucks big time. And Barajas hasn’t exactly been lighting it up either.

We’ve been dreaming about picking the best players off of other teams but let’s face it the other teams aren’t going to give them to us. If we could simply draft the best players of each position to the Jays then I would want to keep Roy and Aaron but that isn’t going to happen. And unless the budget increases and our minor league development and scouting improves it probably won’t improve substantially until after Roy and Hill are past their prime … Roy for sure and Aaron possibly.

You can support Rogers all you want but the fact is the Jays haven’t made the playoffs since Rogers has owned the team. And instead of pushing harder to win they are cutting payroll and letting talent walk away to other clubs without getting anything in return. I am not saying that Rogers will sell the team … and I"m not saying I want Balsillie or some jerk running it instead of Rogers … I am saying I am sick of supporting teams that year after year field teams that aren’t competitive. Why should Jays fans be loyal to Rogers Corporation (sans Ted, RIP) when they haven’t done squat for us in terms of building us a winner. IMO we need a new owner if Rogers doesn’t change the tune in a hurry and try harder to field a competitive team. One that won’t give us a lineup with Barajas batting fourth and Millar batting fifth.

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Too Lazy to Care

by DieHardDummy on Aug 21, 2009 2:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Dreaming? It was fun little game that we were playing.

If you want to rebuild it makes absolutely 0 sense to get rid of younger players like Hill, Lind, Snider. And I hate the notion of giving away a player to a contender because the player deserves it…. that’s why they get contracts to be compensated for their time with a team.

Yes Rogers cut back payroll the last two years but before that there was a big spike. Before Rogers came in there was a serious concern about the Jays and what exactly was going to happen with them. They stabilized the franchise financially and ensured the Jays would stay. Yes I want a winner, but I don’t think we need a new owner to do that. Rogers already showed that they were willing to pay money for the team, it isn’t like we are the lowest payroll in the league. You want to complain about Millar and Barajas batting 4th? That has nothing to do with Rogers, That is all Cito. You want to complain that they are on the team period? That is on JP and other front office staff. You can say you want a new GM + Coach and I would agree, in fact I don’t even think we are going to have to wait that long for that to happen.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 21, 2009 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Two things

Can we dream from the NL as well?

Hill shouldn’t be going anywhere. Entering his prime and we should be able to build around him, Lind, Snider, some of the young pitchers. I am still not opposed to trading Halladay if the deal works. I still would argue JP went about it the wrong way.

Basically, I think it comes down to starting over with the management. JP had 8 years, and though he has done some good things, he has made some questionable moves as well. I wonder if he has a plan at all anymore.

Question: would you give him an offseason to see if he did/does have a plan; or do you cut ties now and find a GM a city can rally around and trust (sort of like BC with the Raps)?

And a comment from the JP’s an A-hole file from earlier this month. There are two types. There is the Brian Burke A-hole (and I strongly dislike Burke) that respects the fans, but doesn’t put up with shit and trusts his vision on how to build a club, then there is the JP A-hole, that thinks he is smarter than everyone, is smug and doesn’t realize that the fans pay his salary.

Not a Leafs or Burke fan, but I would take the former A-hole in a heartbeat.

Sorry about the Toronto sports scene references, but I think it works. Both the Raps and Leafs started over with strong personalities that were perceived as some of the best in the business. I find it hard to believe the Jays will be able to find that type of GM, but I think they need to start looking.

Does anyone have any ideas?

by Rhinos on Aug 21, 2009 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

I would actually like to continue doing the exercise with the NL teams.

In answer to your question? If I had a suitable idea for a replacement he would gone this offseason.

Unfortunately Im not really up to date on FA GM’s or people that we could pry away from other organizations.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 21, 2009 3:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Fine… say we keep Hill, Lind, and Moonraker and a couple of the youngest pitchers. We still need to replace four-six other spots in the line-up (C, 1B, 3B, DH/LF/RF – depending on where you put Lind and Snider – for sure). It is likely going to be several years before we can develop anyone through the farm systems, and that is a maybe. We have no budget for free agents, and have only a handful of major league ready pitchers in our minor league system to trade and none of them are can’t miss prospects. We aren’t about to get much for the people on our roster that need to be replaced. So where does that leave us.

You can continue to give Rogers your loyalty if you like but I’m not going to agree with you on that one. From where I sit they haven’t done a damn thing for us – they are just using the team for free advertising and free programming and don’t really care about winning. Plus they are giving less $ to work with now that Ted isn’t around calling the shots. I still say the fresh start needs to start at the top and work all the way down with the possible exception of Hill, Lind, Snider and a few of their youngest pitchers. They need to instill a culture of expecting to win and enough talent that they will have the confidence to be able to back it up – just like the Sox and Yankees have.

P.S. I would love to see a BC or Burke type come in and try to turn things around but they have to have an owner that will give them the reins and the money to do so.

'some witty quote'
Too Lazy to Care

by DieHardDummy on Aug 21, 2009 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Don’t really care about winning is a fallacy. Teams care about winning because winning means more profits. Yes they have less money on the table this year but its still up significantly then it was in the early 2000’s.

Yes the Sox and Yankees have cultures of winning great call. Let’s ignore the blank cheques their owners write. And the fact that the Red Sox “culture of winning” is a very recent phenomena before that they thought they were cursed.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 21, 2009 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions

The Jays have been committing a ton of errors lately. Surprising given that they were the best defensive team in the league for the better part of the season until recently. Given that when you only score 2 runs over a span of 2 games, it doesn’t make a major difference if your defense is stinking. Not going to win games when you’re only scoring 1 run. Its amazing how this team went so flat overnight, literally…back near the start when they were 27-13, their hitting was awesome…how does the whole team suddenly forget how to hit so quickly? This is just ridiculous…another series loss to the AL East…lets hope this isn’t the continuation of another 9 (or more) game losing streak. It was bad enough when the Jays fell to .500, but now they’re what…9 games below or so? One keeps hoping a nice winning streak is right around the corner for the Jays, but instead its always a big losing one.

by Icedragon on Aug 21, 2009 1:22 AM EDT reply actions

We suck

Lets just try and get a top 5 draft pick next year…

and then not sign him.

Onions Baby Onions

by ohmybosh on Aug 21, 2009 11:17 AM EDT reply actions

That was one of the worst games I’ve seen all year. Terrible hitting, terrible fielding, and just no hope of doing anything.

However, I think a little perspective is needed in the amidst the wailing and rending of garments is that things aren’t actually that bad. There is a very good core of a team in this shambling mess, and a very good rotation in the making. This year had been determined to be a ‘wait until next year’ term right from the start. Only the completely monster start to the year derailed that realization and had everyone thinking playoffs. Rogers died right before the winter GM meeting, so Riccardi went into that hamstrung in any case, without a mandate from ownership one way or another. They said all along this year that if the club was still right in the mix at the All-Star game, that we’d have flexibility to add players. The Jays weren’t. Millar, Barajas, Baustia are all playing exactly how we thought they’d play.

So my point is, ‘so what’?

The core of this team is very good, and adding some pieces puts us right in the mix with Tampa Bay and Boston. That was always the plan that I read about coming from the front office after 2008. I will start complaining about Rogers if they keep the payroll down. I will start calling for the heads of the front office if they have another off-season of adding scrubs to the roster. Until then, there’s no point getting worked about the Jays being about where everyone last off-season believed that they would be this year.

by dexfarkin on Aug 21, 2009 12:35 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

So my point is, ‘so what’?

The core of this team is very good, and adding some pieces puts us right in the mix with Tampa Bay and Boston. That was always the plan that I read about coming from the front office after 2008. I will start complaining about Rogers if they keep the payroll down. I will start calling for the heads of the front office if they have another off-season of adding scrubs to the roster. Until then, there’s no point getting worked about the Jays being about where everyone last off-season believed that they would be this year.

+ Friggin 1

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on Aug 21, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions

First inning was about when it was a give away that we would lose.

Bases loaded, none out, GIDP and that’s when I turned to my dad and said “We’ve lost the game.” Lester got a huge shot in the arm to his confidence because of that. I mean, you put the first three batters on base, you HAVE to make them pay for it. But, as typical, we don’t.

Then again, once I saw that we had Barajas then Millar in the 4/5 spots I also figured it was a lost game too.

I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. ~Rogers Hornsby

by wroth91 on Aug 21, 2009 1:32 PM EDT reply actions