Notes from a Weekend Sweep.

by Tom Dakers on Jun 27, 2011 12:44 PM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Analysis

Do you ever get the feeling you are watching a totally different team, from series to series? In Boston, we couldn't pitch. In Atlanta we couldn't hit. Then, thankfully, in St. Louis, we did enough of both.

I don't know how much should be credited to the lineup changes and how much getting away from Atlanta pitching caused the change in out offense, but the weekend games were much more fun to watch.

Some notes from the weekend:

Our starting pitching, once again, was great. The starters pitched 22 of the 27 innings on the weekend. It makes life so much easier on the bullpen when the starters go that deep.
It was great to see Eric Thames back. He did seem to bring a spark to the offense in Friday's game. Then he sits the next two. It is tough to complain though, since Rivera had a home run in Saturday's game and then went 2 for 4 (with a steal!) in Sunday's game. I imagine that, since we'll have the DH again for the the rest of the season, that he'll be out there, at least against RHP, almost every day if he hits at all.
Sitting Nix helped. Edwin was 4 for 12 with 2 doubles and a home run. And no errors. I really wouldn't mind seeing him play some 3B, but I don't think the club will want to tell Jose, 'Hey, remember when we told you, again, that you would play third? We were kidding. Again.' I mean, Jose is a nice guy and all but I wouldn't want to piss him off too much. I could see something where Jose plays 3rd against RHP, with Thames in the outfield, then plays RF against LHP, with EE at third. Against right-handers, I could see Rivera getting more outfield time with EE DHing.
Nice to see Aaron Hill hitting again, he was 5 for 13, with a walk, on the weekend. But every time I think Aaron is turning a corner he goes into another slump, so I'm not counting on this continuing. He did seem comfortable in the 2 spot, other than when he was asked to bunt.
How many times, this year, have we seen a fly ball fall between Corey Patterson and somebody, when Corey has been in CF? If I'm Farrell, I'm telling him, 'when you are in CF, catch every ball you can reach. Next time that crap happens, I'm coming out on the field and pulling you from the game, physically'. I don't know what happens, if he forgets he is the Cfer for a moment, or he's just scared of collisions in the outfield, but this has got to stop. The trouble is, it doesn't cost us just one base, these plays go for, at least, a double. On a play that should be an easy out, that's not acceptable.
Other than the above, I wouldn't mind a Davis/Patterson platoon in CF, at least until one of them remembers how to hit. Davis is doing a little better vs. LHP. Surprisingly, Patterson is hitting lefties (.304/.342/.406) better than righties (249/.282/.393), but I can't see that continuing. In his career he has hit RHP better. Having just one of them in the lineup would be helpful.
On the good side, Patterson took two walks yesterday, his 3rd and 4th walk of the month. Is it possible that he will take more pitches hitting deeper in the lineup? Does he feel like he has to swing in the 2 spot?
A big hurray to Ricky Romero for making the stupid 'walk the 8th batter to face the pitcher' move fail. I still think a manager should be able to trust his pitcher to get the 8th guy in the order out and he should see the benefit of not facing the top of the order the next inning. But I love it that Ricky made them pay.
Yeah, the Jays did the same thing in the 5th inning, Romero walked the 8th hitter, Daniel Descalso, to face the pitcher and it worked out. At least that walk wasn't to load the bases.
Nice to see JP hit a home run yesterday. I hope that is a sign that his thumb is feeling better and he is ready to go on a bit of a tear.
Jose Bautista had a nice weekend too, 4 for 12, a walk, a double and a home run.It looks like the power is coming back.
I think Frank Francisco is coming around (he says, knowing that by just posting that line, Frank will get shelled tonight). Ignoring the error Saturday, he had good back-to-back outings and he has only given up 1 earned run this month. There has been too many hits, but I am trying to see the positive.
As much as I like NL games for the increased use of the bench, I will be happy to get back to having the DH tonight, and for the rest of the year.
Maybe we can have another series sweep tonight.

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Comments

Boston? Atlanta?

I don’t recall the Jays playing them recently.

by siggian on Jun 27, 2011 12:51 PM EDT reply actions

have they played them at all this year?

I mean we played the Yankees, I don’t think we’ve played Boston since that first 2 game series where we sweeped them.

by BrownMagician on Jun 27, 2011 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

2 weekends ago the Sawks were at the RC and crushed us in the sat/sun games I think it was like 25-6 or something…

by WizardofNaz on Jun 27, 2011 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

That’s the joke.

by masterkembo on Jun 27, 2011 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions

We aren’t really good with collective amnesia and historical revisionism here on BBB

by Minor Leaguer on Jun 27, 2011 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

but we’re working on it. ;-)

by Alan F. on Jun 27, 2011 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Working on what?

I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...

by JohnnyG on Jun 27, 2011 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Just a sec, it’ll come to me………

by Alan F. on Jun 27, 2011 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

you lost the game

by bowling_kid25 on Jun 28, 2011 7:43 AM EDT up reply actions

I think one of CoPa’s walks last night was an IBB, so they could face JPA, which worked for St Louis.
Looks like the bullpen is over their rough patch, I’m sure the starters doing better has something to do with that.

It’s nice to see the team winning again =)

by bowling_kid25 on Jun 27, 2011 12:51 PM EDT reply actions

I think a lot of the credit for the weekend scoring should go to the Cards defense

How many runs did the Jays score after a defensive miscue? In fact they were even fortunate to have JPA called safe Saturday night on a real close play that was an out, that led to Rivera’s bash.

Then there was Berkman’s throw home yesterday, if he nails Lind at the plate, how does that inning play out?

Capitalizing on the extra out is always a great ability, but can’t be counted on.

by plen on Jun 27, 2011 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

No certainty that Lind would have been nailed on an average throw. It would have been a close play to be sure but I don’t think you can just give that play to Berkman.

by Parallex on Jun 27, 2011 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions

One thing missed

The Jays went 5-4 on the road in interleague this season. A .556 winning percentage (which includes that horrible horrible series in some place in the deep South no one wants to talk about that starts with A and ends with a)!!!!!

SSS of course but it is better than the usual 3-6, 2-7 we’ve seen from them.

In honor of the Jays 2nd Baseman who played with fire in more ways than one.

by Damaso's Burnt Shirt on Jun 27, 2011 1:03 PM EDT reply actions

first winning interleague record on the road since 2000!!

i read somwhere….

by bowling_kid25 on Jun 27, 2011 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions

6-6 total if you include the Astros series

We still have the Pirates and Phils to go.

by Woodman663 on Jun 27, 2011 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions

He did say on the road.

I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...

by JohnnyG on Jun 27, 2011 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Oops.

by Woodman663 on Jun 27, 2011 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

They played in Alabama?

At least that would explain some things.

by durga2112 on Jun 27, 2011 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Jose at 3rd tonight?

by Al Bundy is my hero on Jun 27, 2011 1:31 PM EDT reply actions

Last I heard he said maybe at home.

by Nadia on Jun 27, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

The Detroit Factor

The Jays had a 5 game winning streak into Detroit after sweeping Minnesota, and now they are carrying a 3 game winning streak after sweeping St. Louis. The Jays gotta start visiting Motown more often!

by Minor Leaguer on Jun 27, 2011 1:54 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

I just wrote an article on that.

In my humblest of opinions, any time you feel that IBBing Jayson Nix or Corey Patterson is a good idea, you might be in the wrong line of work

by TimZig on Jun 27, 2011 2:06 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not sure

Jose would be happy flipping between OF/3B depending on the LHP/RHP. Jose is a team player and all, but going infield to outfield depending on the starter that day seems a bit much to ask isn’t it?

Not to defend the Cards but even if their pitcher gets the Number 8 guy out, the jays still could have scored a run, a run that they may have thought they couldn’t afford to give up. In the end it turned into a big inning for the Jays but at that point giving up one more was was possibly too big for them.

by brett w on Jun 27, 2011 2:24 PM EDT reply actions

I dunno

I mean, if you’re getting paid millions of dollars, you should play wherever your boss tells you to play

Choose me, Ash!

by Pikachu on Jun 27, 2011 3:04 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Yeah that would be nice,
But we all know thats not the way professional sports work.

I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
Twitter is the thing with all the tweets...

by JohnnyG on Jun 27, 2011 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions

It's more like

Farrell should be trying to get the best offensive performance out of Jose as possible. And if he needs to be consistently at one position for that to happen, I don’t see the problem.

by Nadia on Jun 27, 2011 3:53 PM EDT up reply actions

That's how I saw it

Now, it’s possible that Jose doesn’t need to play only one position to stay focused at the plate (he hit okay last year). Even if it is only in his head that he’ll hit worse because he’s changing positions, the placebo effect can be quite strong

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jun 27, 2011 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Well the semi-good thing about it

He didn’t hit 5 HR in his last 5 games or something… so it might seem like it “made him better” (to him at least) if he goes on another hot streak.

by GettinGiggy on Jun 27, 2011 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Back in spring training

Jose said he wasn’t opposed to moving from RF to third if needed, but he didn’t want to be flipped back and forth. He said he wanted to stay in one position or another for a period of time.

by Alan F. on Jun 27, 2011 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Agree with the Davis / Patterson platoon in CF.

I’d like to see Thames out there playing alot so we know what we have with him. And if he and Patterson are both in the lineup at the same time, my preference would be to see Thames batting second.

by Alan F. on Jun 27, 2011 3:22 PM EDT reply actions