Vernon Wells comes home and leads the Angels to victory 5-1 over the Jays

by JohnnyG on Aug 12, 2011 11:13 PM EDT in Toronto Blue Jays Game Recaps

Well they didn't boo, at least not at first. I can be happy with that. I am not sure what exactly was the attendance today at the Dome but it looked like almost everyone that was in the lower bowl gave Vernon a ~~standard~~ standing ovation when he came to the plate for his first at bat of the game. That was really nice, and made me happy and proud to be a Jays fan. Then of course Vernon took the first pitch he saw (A hanging slider) over the LF fence. After that it was all boos.

The Jays really couldn't muster anything against Ervin Santana, Of course this is nothing new, this guy always seems to have our number when it comes to the Angels/Jays matchup. Santana looked good for the entire game as he tossed the complete game (almost shut out). He gave up 7 hits and 2BBs on the day while striking out 6. The lone run came on a home run in the ninth inning by Thames. On the Jays side of the ledger things did not look so good for our hurler. Brandon Morrow was able to go 7 but he ran into some trouble in the 3rd and the Jays were never able to claw their way back. Morrows line on the day was 7 innings with 4hits and 4BBs again, he wasn't the typical Morrow that we see as he only had 3Ks on the day. The walks really will kill you everytime. The Bullpen was effective today over 2 innings as Janssen and Litsch combined to strikeout 4 over the last 2 innings to get everyone in attendance some pizza.

Our hitters obviously didn't do well today. Eric Thames and Jose Molina had two hits apiece, of course Molina was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple on one of those. Yunel Escobar, Brett Lawrie and Edwin Encarnacion had a hit apiece, Bautista and Lawrie each took a walk. Bautista also had a couple of bad throws from RF, all in all not a good night at all.

Tomorrow the Jays will try to even up the series with a 1 start time. Jared Weaver and Ricky Romero clash in what should be a good pitching matchup. The Jays need to get back on the winning track as they have now lost 3 of their last 4 and are 4-6 on the month of August so far.

No Jays of the day, Morrow gets the only suckage.

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Lawrie also had a hit, a ground-rule double

"We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct."
- Niels Bohr

by Frag on Aug 12, 2011 11:19 PM EDT reply actions

Thanks mate, Fixed. Not sure how I could forgot one of the lone bright spots…

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by JohnnyG on Aug 12, 2011 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions

After a game like that, it's understandable

The man in the white shirt.

by durga2112 on Aug 13, 2011 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Back to back frustrating game

Positives: Lawrie continue to look good at the plate and we didnt get shutout
Negatives: Well pretty much everything else, bad pitching, bad offence, bat defence, bad baserunning

At some point we were worried the Jays was going to get shutout in less than 80 pitches. Now that Thames our 2 spot hitter is out of the slump a little bit, lets hope the 3,4 man returns to normal

by noname3 on Aug 12, 2011 11:28 PM EDT reply actions

there were positives last night?

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by Bowling_Guy25 on Aug 13, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Absolutely...

…the worst Jays game I’ve ever attended. I have no idea why I stayed to the end. They looked terrible.

The highlights were, the pre-game acknowledgement of VW’s legacy in Toronto, the cheers for him when they announced the lineups and the ovation when he came to the plate.

Hugo thinks I'm a lazy academic

by bluejaysstatsgeek on Aug 12, 2011 11:48 PM EDT reply actions

the only thing I have out of this game is tha I hope they do better tomorrow

@BBBMinorLeaguer

by Minor Leaguer on Aug 13, 2011 12:03 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

24'721 at the game today.

by KWJAYS on Aug 13, 2011 12:45 AM EDT reply actions

24,692 gives you...

Over 81 home games: 2,000,052 fans a year!

We keep this level of support up for the rest of this year and next – and – voila – Rogers has a GOOD excuse to really start spending money on the team.

by Mylegacy on Aug 13, 2011 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Jays: Turn up the good, turn down the suck!

Back to back games that I couldn’t watch past the 3th inning. I had to watch tennis instead. TENNIS, people!

Seriously though, it’s times like this that reminds us all that while the Jays have a very exciting future, they aren’t quite there yet.

by shuswapslugger on Aug 13, 2011 12:56 AM EDT reply actions

3rd, not 3th... keep spelling mister!

by shuswapslugger on Aug 13, 2011 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions

AA gets me excited, though!

"We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct."
- Niels Bohr

by Frag on Aug 13, 2011 3:31 AM EDT up reply actions

You also didn't mention that Bautista struck out and ground into two double plays.

Perhaps his worst game of the year.

by Defense Counts! on Aug 13, 2011 2:33 AM EDT reply actions

How does striking out twice and grounding into two dp's

NOT merit suckage? I am completely confused with how this suckage stat is calculated, can someone please enlighten me?

by TrueBlue4Ever! on Aug 13, 2011 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Leverage

The bad things he did came in not so important situations

I demand to be heard.

Yeah, I have single digit followers. Bite me.

by Pikachu on Aug 13, 2011 10:02 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

His walk in the 9th also saved him from a suckage number

It went from something like -.102 to -.89.

The man in the white shirt.

by durga2112 on Aug 13, 2011 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

The suckage and JoD numbers come from Fangraphs

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/misc/wpa/

If you click on their scoreboard during a game, you can watch the WPA values change on each play. Pretty neat stuff.

The man in the white shirt.

by durga2112 on Aug 13, 2011 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

O-Dog is a boss..

Hechavarria's biggest fan..

by Joey Kirby on Aug 13, 2011 4:51 AM EDT reply actions

I miss Marcum :(

Hechavarria's biggest fan..

by Joey Kirby on Aug 13, 2011 4:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Really?

I will take 7 days a week of Lawrie over 1 day a week of Marcum, anytime you ask… Marcum is doing better with the change of scenery anyways. Win-win! Gotta love that…

by TrueBlue4Ever! on Aug 13, 2011 9:09 AM EDT up reply actions

i miss marcum

hes doing better cause hes out of the al east

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by Bowling_Guy25 on Aug 13, 2011 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Is it just me, or does Travis Sniders voice remind you guys of Nicolas Cage?

Hechavarria's biggest fan..

by Joey Kirby on Aug 13, 2011 6:32 AM EDT reply actions

Standard ovation?

I have to say, I’ve never come across that expression before

-- Gravity is not just the law, it's also a good idea

by mathesond on Aug 13, 2011 8:14 AM EDT reply actions

Hmm… me either…..

I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult.
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by JohnnyG on Aug 13, 2011 10:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Classic homecoming

That first at-bat by Vernon Wells was something special – a standing ovation by the fans, a step out of the box to wave his helmet in acknowledgement then a first-pitch home run. You couldn’t script it any better, like something out of The Natural.

by jabalong on Aug 13, 2011 10:08 AM EDT reply actions