Stop me if you've heard this one, John McDonald homers and we win

by Tom Dakers on Sep 22, 2009 1:41 AM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Game Recaps

Anyone think that Scoot is faking the heel injury so that John McDonald could get a few starts at home, playing shortstop, in what might be his last month as a Jay. No, me neither. How about: Does it seem to anyone else that every time Johnny Mac homers, we win. Again nope, Mac has 3 homers (tying a career high) and we are 2-1 in those games. Anyway it is nice to see him play shortstop, I like him at short a lot more than I like him in LF.

David Purcey pitched a great game, 7.2 innings, giving up 4 hits, 4 walks (yeah too many but with only 4 hits it's ok), 4 strikeouts and only 1 earned run. I'd really like him to win a spot in the rotation next season. I'm sure I've said this before, but we have enough 'pitch to contact' starting pitchers, it would be nice to have someone that can strike guys out. Sometimes lefty strikeout pitchers take a little longer to figure things out in the majors. I hope Purcey is figuring it out.

Offensively we did pretty good for the first time in a bit. We had 13 hits (should have been 14, Vernon Wells got ripped off on a call at first in the 3rd inning) and we took 7 walks. As well as Mac's homer, Lyle Overbay hit one. Jose Bautista, Adam Lind, Wells, Edwin Encarnacion and Overbay each had two hits. Nice to see Wells get a couple of hits at home, if he starts hitting at home, then maybe I'll believe that he's turning it around. The only Jay in the lineup that didn't get a hit was Kyle Phillips and he has an excuse, he took a pitch in the can in the first inning. I'm amazed he was able to finish the game. Lind had 2 RBI (bringing him to 106 on the year), Encarnacion had 2 and Travis Snider had 3.

E5 had throwing error as well, it might be the first error I've seen him make. I can see throwing will be an occasional problem, but he's looked pretty good in the field to me. Looks even better now that he's started hitting.

Jays of the Day are Purcey (.237 WPA), Overbay (.126) and Lind (.107). Suckage Jay? Well, Phillips got the number (-.113) but considering he took a pitch in the nads I can't bring myself to give him the award.

.Tomorrow Brian Tallet (7-9, 5.31) starts for the Jays. I guess his foot must feel better. Former Jay Mark Hendrickson (5-5, 4.47) goes for the O's. Bad news is he's a lefty. We likely will get the pleasure of watching Kevin Millar struggle through another game. Oh joy.

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That was luck

He did not have enough power to hit the ball over the center field as we saw in his would-be double that was robbed. The home-runs he got are all on the shortest side.

by Jason Z on Sep 22, 2009 3:03 AM EDT reply actions

I don't see why you would think that's luck

I watched him in batting practice and that’s what he tried to do, pull the ball down the line, all through batting practice. I think that’s the plan for him, if he can get a pitch he can pull, do it, Seems like a good plan.

by Tom Dakers on Sep 22, 2009 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

If it clears the wall, I have a hard time calling it luck (unless the wind carries it or it bounces off a fielder’s glove or head).

I will tell you luck. As a little leaguer I once (miss-)hit a pop to short right that had a wicked spin on it. When it hit the ground in fair play the spin bit into the grass and carried the ball well into foul territory. By the time the ball was fielded, I was on my way to third. An errant throw to 3rd base allowed me to continue to the plate untouched. HOME RUN! Now that is luck. When Johnny Mac hits one like that, I will call him lucky.

Until then, he is no power hitter but I have seen him hit a few taters (including one live). He can hit the occasional HR and deserves full props when he does.

by aagoodfella on Sep 22, 2009 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions