Nice way to finish the season, Encarnacion and Lind homer. Jays beat Twins.
by Tom Dakers on Oct 3, 2010 5:19 PM EDT
in Toronto Blue Jays Game Recaps
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PrintIt seems fitting that we finish the season with great pitching and a couple of home runs. Marc Rzepczynski went 7 strong innings, allowing just 4 hits, 2 walks, 1 unearned run with 6 k. Just a great start for a guy who has looked good this last month. The battle for 5th starter next spring will be an interesting one. Jesse Carlson pitched a perfect 8th and Shawn Camp did the same in the 9th to pick up his 2nd save of the year. Camp's scoreless inning also brought his ERA down to 2.99 for the season.
Nice to see another great pitching performance with J.P, Arencibia catching. I guess we can put to rest the idea that he can't call a game.
Offensively we didn't do much, not surprising since Cito gave most of our regulars the day off. We only had 4 hits, but 2 of them were solo homes. Edwin Encarnacion hit his 21st and Adam Lind hit his 23rd. The two home runs tied us for the 3rd most homers ever in a season. Lind's homer, since he was playing LF today, gave us 20 or more homers from every position, DH to RF. That's pretty amazing.
Jays of the Day are Scrabble (.357 WPA), Camp (.222), Carlson (.151), Lind (.163) and EE (.106). That was quite a 4 game series for Edwin getting JoD in each game and hitting 5 home runs. Not a bad way to end the season. John McDonald (-.106) and Lyle Overbay (-.109) each had Suckage numbers but they both made some nice plays in the field. Being the last game, I don't have the heart to give them the award. The Jay of the Day race ends in a tie, with Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista each ending up with 35 JoD. Congratulations to both of them.
Overbay had an error, Rzep had Orlando Hudson picked off first, Hudson went to second and Lyle's throw hit him in the back. The error cost us the Twin's only run.
Watching that series, it is hard to believe the Twins are going to the playoffs. They didn't impress me at all. Their starting pitching looked particularly bad and they didn't show much on offense either. But, like Pat keeps telling us, they play the game right. Which, as far as I can tell, means they had the foresight to play in an awful division.
The win gives us a 85-77 record to finish out the season. All those expects that expected 100+ losses should turn in their expert card. We finish 10 games better than last year. A nice improvement.
I am glad Cito got a win to finish off his career. He ends with 894 wins and 837 losses. Not many can say they have done better.
It has been a fun season. The games were very enjoyable to watch. And our Game Threads were fun this year. Thanks to Johnny for putting them up for us and thanks to everyone for participating in them.
The season might be over, but we'll still be around. The off-season looks to be an interesting one, with a search for a new manager leading things off. Then we have a handful of free agents that Alex will have to figure out what to do with. We have some arbitration eligible players. And, odds are, Alex will be making the odd trade.
Thanks Jays for giving us so much enjoyment this season.
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Mostly positive season and future. Good things look to be coming our way. Props to the staff at bluebirdbanter for a great season and all their hard work. And a good luck to Cito in his retirement.
Why I'm a optimistic Bills fan:
The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.
- Marion Zimmer Bradley
I would have to say this off-season will be interesting. Last year was all about getting the most for Halladay and finding a temporary catcher and shortstop. This year AA will be faced with decisions about 3B, 1B and maybe another catcher. AA has to make a tough decision on EE. I would hope the Tallet decision isn’t a hard one to make as I am sure that Mills or Zep could do that job better. I wonder how long it will take for the first blockbuster to occur. So far AA has made about 4 big trades. Morrow, (Drabek et Al), Escobar, and Gose.
Bye Cito, thanks for everything
But if you ever feel like taking an extra vacation to Europe instead of advising here, please do.
Ball.
Done before?
Lind’s homer, since he was playing LF today, gave us 20 or more homers from every position, DH to RF.
that it was the first time in DH era
whoopss.
by Nadia on Oct 3, 2010 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
More Game Threads?
Coo Coo KaChoo! I am the walrus!
Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...
I'm not sure if that was an answer or not.....
I think you pushed Johnny over the edge…..
Why not a daily open thread for all the games of the day?
by Tom Dakers on Oct 3, 2010 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
great season
btw, Wells and Bautista share the Jay of the Day award for position players, as you mentioned, Tom. Ricky Romero edges Brett Cecil with 18 to 17 for the starter award, and Scott Downs runs away with the reliever award (no surprise there).
"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
just curious
who got the most suckage awards in each category?
by upstate jay fan on Oct 4, 2010 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions
Fun year, and 85 wins probably was better than the biggest Jays Homer would ever have thought.
I’m looking forward to an active offseason and it’s nice to know the current administration has the boys in blue going in the right direction. I just hope the most important move (The new manager) will happen sooner than later.
by craig in calgary on Oct 3, 2010 8:00 PM EDT reply actions
It's good to know that AA is being thorough with the process instead of just handing the job to some dude based entirely on reputation like a lot of teams seem to (our own included when it came to Cito coming back).
Since he seems to be giving serious consideration to so many guys, I don’t mind waiting a while at all.
The win gives us a 85-77 record to finish out the season. All those expects that expected 100+ losses should turn in their expert card.
Was just looking at the poll on the front page and only 12% of people who responded thought the Jays would end up with 85 wins or more. If BlueBirdBanter was a bookie, the house would have made a killing.
Great Year
Thanks Blue Jays for all the great memories this year and making me and Im sure the vast majority of us fans happy of the progress thats been accomplished this year. Thanks to Cito as well for the sometimes headaches sometimes brilliancies but most of all good and bad surprises. Great way to end the year and hopefully its a sign of things to come in the near future.
Team single-season HR record
We only had 4 hits, but 2 of them were solo homes. Edwin Encarnacion hit his 21st and Adam Lind hit his 23rd. The two home runs tied us for the 3rd most homers ever in a season. Lind’s homer, since he was playing LF today, gave us 20 or more homers from every position, DH to RF. That’s pretty amazing.
Woo-hoo, here are the final rankings for the highest single-season team HR records in MLB history:
1. 1997 Seattle Mariners 264
2. 2005 Texas Rangers 260
3. 1996 Baltimore Orioles 257
3. 2010 Toronto Blue Jays 257
4. 2000 Houston Astros 249
5. 2001 Texas Rangers 246
6. 1996 Seattle Mariners 245
7. 1999 Seattle Mariners 244
7. 2000 Toronto Blue Jays 244
7. 2009 New York Yankees 244
Though the Baseball Almanac page isn’t updated yet, for anyone who missed it yesterday, we’ve also tied the MLB record – again, with our 2000 team – for most players with 20 or more HRs in a season – at seven.
And, oh yeah, Jose Bautista shattered George Bell’s 1987 team record of 47 for most HRs in a season, by knocking out an obscene 54, which has only been done by my count 23 other times in MLB history.
Great season for the long ball, great season for the Jays and a big thanks to Cito for the good times.
A noteworthy little tidbit from an MLB article looking at this year’s league leaders:
Bautista’s 54 set a Blue Jays record by seven over George Bell’s 1987 MVP campaign, and he’s the first Toronto player to lead the AL in home runs since Fred McGriff in 1989.
There’s been a lot of talk about George Bell’s team HR record this year, but lost in the shuffle for the most part has been the fact that Bautista is the first Jay to lead the league in HRs since McGriff.
So raise a little glass too for good old Fred and his 1989 season for us.
by jabalong on Oct 4, 2010 5:44 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
next year
big question in my mind is… can we find a way to win 10 MORE games next year against the East division, and get into the playoffs? 94 wins, esp against Tampa and Boston, would go a long way. I’ll take our record against the Yanks again next year.
what will it take?
I think this depends on what AA does. It is possible to have a down year next year considering we will have some new faces in key places. We will have to go through the growing pains with JPA and with a few new bullpen arms. We were pretty lucky that our four top pitchers didn’t get any injuries, but then guys like Litsch, Zep, and Richmond did have injuries this year. Arm depth is really working out for us. Improvement will really depend on what AA does.
A Carl Crawford signing would really be amazing for attendance, PR, media, and team improvement. It wouldn’t be surprising to see us go after Crawford pretty hard as there seems to be a big buzz going around about him.
More important than Carl Crawford, the Jays need to get a stud closer. Whether it’s a player they already have in the minors or a free agent, I think that this is the one piece they haven’t clearly identified yet.
Stud like who? Papelbon? He has blown just as many saves as Gregg this year (or close anyways if I remember).
Gregg hasn’t been a dominant shut down closer striking out 1 or 2 each inning but the final results have been there in the end.
Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...
even mariano blew 5 or 6 this year
not too many “shutdown closers” out there anymore
by upstate jay fan on Oct 4, 2010 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
and it's not really fair
to gauge a player’s success solely on blown saves, because it happens all the time both for against the Jays. they just happen to be magnified when you see all 6 of them as opposed to seeing one (when the Jays stage a comeback) for another closer
Prehistoric Hoops - We're back! And we have a real domain!
Gregg certainly has a good number of saves and he has about as many blown saves as other closers. He certainly has done a good job in that roll but…
1. He’s far too much of a nibbler at the edges of the strike zone. While this has helped keep his HR rate down and the opposing batting average down, this has made him vulnerable to the walk. To his credit, he has, for the most part been able to limit the damage this year, but I feel he’s walking a fine line here.
2. He’s been more effective when he’s not pitched in back-to-back games (I can’t find the statistics to back this up though). As the Jays get better, they should have more save opportunities that occur back-to-back and this doesn’t suit Gregg.
I will say that if the Jays cannot find a closer who is clearly (and I mean clearly) better than Gregg, I’m happy to have him back as the closer next year. He had a bad 2009, but this year’s numbers are more in line with what he had done previously, so it’s not like this year is an outlier (in fact 2009 seems to be the outlier in its badness).
i definitely agree
he was (perhaps a lot) better than we all expected, and he really did perform like a top closer. he blew a couple games in spectacular fashion, but the fact is a blown save is nearly always an enormous failure. I’d much rather see the money that could go towards a closer be spent on a bat.
Prehistoric Hoops - We're back! And we have a real domain!
FWIW, Gregg had 22 shutdowns and 12 meltdowns this year. That’s not a great ratio. The really good relievers are in the neighbourhood of 3-4:1. Rafael Soriano was a ridiculous 10:1 ratio to lead (41 and 4).
http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=40&type=3&season=2010&month=0
You get a shutdown if you get a +.5 WPA and a meltdown for -.5 WPA. A replacement level reliever has a 1.6:1 ratio of shutdowns to meltdowns.
Scott Downs was 27 and 11 as the best Jays reliever.
Brian Tallet was 4 and 6.
I think
it depends on Cito’s replacement and which coaches will remain and which coaches are gone. There’s a lot of question marks for next year so I won’t be surprised if next year’s record is around 500 or a bit lower. It’s going to take a miracle to compete next year. I think in 2 years time though, if next year is a success, the Jays will get a solid chance of being a perrenial playoff contender for years to come. They have most of the pieces, just need some clutch wins and hopefully our super starting pitchers will continue to be super.
JAY'S FINISH FIRST IN ALL OF MLB!!!
Over at the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog, under the title, “That’s a Wrap” (www.rlyw.net) they have the Jay’s leading ALL OF BASEBALL in games above their pre-season “aggregate projections.”
the Jays’s lead EVERY TEAM with a 19.9+
their fellow AL East teams finish: Rays 4.8+, Yankees -1.1, Red Sox -3.9 and Orioles -8.6
We finish FIRST in the Division and FIRST in all of baseball – how come we’re not in the playoffs?
Because the Jays were predicted to be a complete shambles after Halladay’s departure maybe? Just goes to show why they still play the games.
by TakeoutArtist on Oct 4, 2010 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I can't believe it's done already
Feels like it was just April. It was a fun season though and I will be rooting for the Phillies and Halladay to win it all.
Great column, thought-provoking comments...
What a great opportunity to learn from a forum of babeball experts! Maybe one of you gentlemen can figure out the following poser and let me know.
A while back, AA and Hillsy had a meeting to discuss a possible 2011 move for Hill to 3B. How does that meeting foreshadow the results of the Jays 2011 season in a much more significant manner that anything else written on this page today?
I don’t really expect an acknowledgement of the question, let alone an answer.
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