50 games left and at .500 once again. I am hoping that this series will put us above .500 for the long haul. Doc as always was amazing, 8 innings and only 4 hits allowed, 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. And the offense found a way to score with the bases loaded, take one for the team. Our first two runs were scored because of hit batters with the bases loaded Scoot in the first and Lind in the second. After Lind was hit, Gallagher (the Jay's MVP on the night) threw a pitch over Stairs' head, that was ruled a passed ball.  Then Stairs singled and Wilk hit a sac fly and the game was over.

The offense the offense had a good night, if they could do this more often Doc would be the unanimous Cy Young winner. Everyone in the lineup had a hit, except Overbay, who scored and drove in a run, and Mac, who made a handful of nice defensive plays. Eck, Rios and Stairs each had two hits. We still had a lack of power, 10 hits and only 2 doubles.

I'm not going to post the fangraph, basically it shows that after the third inning we had the game won. It is here if you want to see it. Jays of the Day? Doc (like I needed to tell you, .257 WPA), Scoot (.113) and Lind (.110). Suckage Jay Eck (-.092), and that was with 2 hits in four at bats......

My only complaint was Cito using Downs to pitch the ninth with a 5 run lead. Downs has been amazing and leads the team in appearances (one more than Cy), but why is he needed in the ninth of a blow out?  The other guys in the pen have been good too. Oh well, he pitched another scoreless inning and has his ERA is down to 1.34 on the season.

In other news: Joe Inglett was a late scratch with a sore knee. Hope it doesn't keep him out long, without him Wilk will play every day. Rolen has sat the last two days. Vernon likely will be back at some point next week, I'm interested in who they will send down or release to make room for him.

Everyone's favorite first round, Ricky Romero, has had two good starts since being promoted to AAA, 10 innings and just 2 earned runs, 7 strikeouts but 8 walks. Hopefully he is finding himself (and will soon find the strike zone).

In tonight's Yankees/Rangers game Joba Chamberlain left the game after 4.2 with a stiff right shoulder. If he's lost for any extended period it would be really tough on the Yankees. They also lost the game tonight 9-5. Red Sox and Rays lost too.....if we were in the race, that would matter.

If you haven't seen the video of the fight in the Brewers dugout you ought to take a look on this page. Prince Fielder (how do you get a name like Prince?) shoved starting pitcher Manny Parra hard twice into the bench. I wouldn't want to take on Fielder, he's a big guy.

Tomorrow Scott Richmond gets his second start for us, Greg Smith a left-hander is to start for the A's. It should be an interesting game.

Boy it's nice to win two games in one day. And we scored 11 runs in one day. We have had weeks where we haven't scored 11 runs. Do I think we've turned the corner on offense? No or at least they haven't proven it to me. We've faced some awful pitchers the last few days. We've scored 22 runs over three games but then the starters are terrible and their bullpen is worse.

I'm not going to include the fangraph for this game....it isn't that interesting. We got ahead early and it was never really in doubt. If you want to check it out, here is the link Fangraph.

Best parts? Doc was great yet again. 7 innings and 1 run, 6 k's. Scoot went 3 for 4 and scored twice. Rios 2 for 5, Lind 3 for 4, 2 runs (batting .308 now, would we be fighting it out for last if JP kept him up the first time and Gibby used him everyday) (would Gibby still have a job?). Wilk was 2 for 3!! Wilk? You know it's crappy pitching if Wilk gets hits. Zaun and Overbay drove in two as well.

Inglett and Stairs were each 0 for 4. Stairs is now hitting .114 for the month with 20 strikeouts in 44 at bats. I wish we had someone else that could DH....anyone against trying Mench in the lineup for a couple of weeks?

It was nice to see Quiroz catching for the O's today. He was a 'hot prospect' for the Jays for a long time. Never did pan out, and since he's batting .200 on the season, doubt he ever will. But, if he can stick with them for a season or so he can get his backup catcher union card. Those cards are worth more money than I'll ever see in my life.

Baltimore seems to have to start of a decent team. They could use some pitching and help at first, short and catcher. But they have the makings of a good outfield with Markakis, Jones and Scott. And Roberts isn't a bad guy to build a team around.

Jays of the Game? Second set of the day. Halladay (.267 WPA), Wilk (!) (.101) and Lind (.100) and I'm giving one to Scoot (.093) because he was 3 for 4 and scored two runs. Suckage Jay? Not Stairs for a change, Zaun (-.138).

But it sure is nice to get two wins in one day and we are back at .500, we've got a little space between us and last and if you were the optimistic sort, we are only 8.5 games out of the wild card. Yeah I know it is a long shot but I do expect some of the teams in front of us to fall back.

Ok, let me get this off my chest first. WHY WHY WHY, when Marcum has a 65 pitch limit today, does Cito leave him in for the 5th inning. The only reason I can see is he wanted Marcum to have a shot at the win. Which shouldn't be a consideration. What should be important is Marcum's arm or the health of Marcum's arm. And next consideration should be winning the game. But at 62 pitches Cito sends Marcum out there, I'm sure that he'll have someone up throwing in the pen. We scored 5 runs in the top of the inning and have our first lead of the day, 6 to 4.

Marcum has thrown 62 pitches and Cito, surprising me to no end sends him out. But figured Cito would have someone up ready to come in after the first batter. Huff doubles on the first pitch....and I'm sure Marcum is gone....63 pitches. But no, second pitch to Mora is a home run and we are tied and Marcum has thrown 65 pitches. And again I'm sure he's gone. He strikes out Scott on three pitches. 68 and still pitching.  Millar pops out on the 6th pitch and...well you guessed it. 74 pitches and counting. But two out.

So two out and Hernandez up....bang a home run and now Marcum is in line for the loss......76 pitches and still no Cito. Castro singles on the first pitch and finally Cito gets up and goes and gets Marcum after 77 pitches and his team behind. And I'm still wondering 'what goes on in Cito's mind'. Leave him out....isn't like the game is important to the Jays....we are last. And Marcum's arm is important to the Jays, if we can get a few pieces for next season he is very, very important to us because with AJ likely gone by next season Marcum is our number two starter.

Ok, Cy Carlson comes in and finishes the inning. And pitches a very nice 6th. And we come back and all. But.....WTF is Cito thinking? Marcum getting a shot at the win is more important that his future??

The fangraph...it's a fun one:

As you can see after Markakis hit his two run homer in the bottom of the first, the O's had almost an 75% chance to win. And that isn't taking into account how lousy we have been hitting. Markakis owns Marcum. His 5th home off Shawn in 16 at bats. The O's chance to win keeps getting better till at the end of the 3rd they have over an 85% chance.

Then in the top of the fouth we load the bases and Mac hits a sac fly to get our first run. But the O's still have about an 80% chance to win. Then in the 5th we load the bases for the 3rd time in 5 innings, after Rios has hit a solo shot (he's back? I hope so). This time with the bases Mac doubles to clear the bases. When was the last time Mac drove in 4 runs in a game? Boy he looked good at the plate and in the field, but we are used to that. Stairs pinch hits for Eck with Mac at second and I'm cursing Cito, but Stairs gets a single and Mac scores and we are up by 2. Stairs second hit since the All-Star break and his one hit today in three at bats.

So see above the Fangraph for my rant about the bottom of the 5th. I guess the short version is we quickly went from a 75% chance to win to a 75% chance to lose, all with Cito sitting on his hands. Thankfully, Garrett Olson is pitching for the O's, man he is awful.  Lind hit his 5th home run in 6th to keep himself one behind Rios. Lind was one of the stories of the game going 4 for 5 and raising his average to .289 and gettng 3 RBIs to bring him to 22 half as many as Rios has. Of course, he's had 97 at bats while Rios has 385. And JP thought that Wilk was a better choice in the outfield. Reason number 56 to fire JP, collect them all.

Anyway, again our bullpen did the job...though BJ added a few gray hairs to my head in the nineth. Why should it be easy? But Cy, Camp, and Downs pitched 3.1 scoreless. Camp has brought his ERA down to 3.29 and is likely the top choice among right handed relievers in Cito's pen. And deserves to be...I don't trust him but then I am thinking more of the 7.10 ERA from last year, he is doing the job this year.

It was a great day for the bats, every Jay hit except Scoot who was 0 for 5. Eck was 2 for 3 before he was pinch hit for by Stairs. Rios 2 for 5 with the homer. Overbay and Rolen were both 2 for 4. Mac was 1 for 3 with 4 RBIs and course Lind 4 for 5 with a homer and a double, 2 runs, 3 RBIs.

Jays of the Day? Lind (.496!! WPA), Mac (.304), Cy (.100). Honorable mention Mench (.099) and Stairs (.094). Suckage Jay? By the numbers it should be Marcum (-.583) but most of that was because of Cito leaving him out when he shouldn't have. So I'm giving it to Cito. Scoot shares it with a -.162.

Tomorrow is game 3 of this 4 game set with AJ going against Jeremy Guthrie (6-7, 3.60) and last place on the line again. 100 games in and we are two games below .500. Craptacular year. And JP still has a job.

Yeah, the break helped a bunch. AJ goes 7, gives up two runs and gets the loss. I have them at 0 for 4 with RISP.  Lind hit his fourth home run and got his average up to .272. Overbay went 2 for 4 with a double. And that sums up the good news of the game.

Bad.....everything else. Inglett 0 for 3, Scoot (how long can we have him bat second???) 0 for 4, Rios 1 for 4 with a caught stealling. Stair 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. Rolen 0 for 3 and Wilk 0 for 2 with a walk.

Man do we need a DH. And we need to take Scoot out of the number 2 spot in the order. I know Eck's defense is.....well poor is likely the wrong word, comical is the one that comes to mind, but if a shortstop is going to bat second, it should be Eck. And we need Wilk out of the lineup. I'd love them to bring up Travis Snider but I know they don't want to start the arbitration clock. It would be nice if they would make a discission that wasn't based on money once in a while. Travis is the future....really can't hurt to give him a look now.

The Fangraph:

As you can see it was anyone's game til the Zobrist home run. Then it was a 75% chance that the Rays would win. Then in the 8th Lind reached second on an error by Zobriist (did anything happen this game that didn't center around those two?). Inglett bunted him to third. I really don't understand that. Inglett has been the one batter that has shown an ability to drive in a run when it is needed. The chance of scoring a runner from second with no outs isn't much different than the chance of scoring a runner from third with one out.  And since we needed more than one run to win, the chances of scoring more than one run is much better with a runner on second with none out than with a runner on third and one out. Add in that the two guys after Inglett aren't hitting with RISP at all, the bunt was a dumb more. Anyway, Lind's on third and Scoot grounds out and Rios strikes out and suddenly there is about an 85% chance the Rays win. Oh well. I hate the bunt and I hate the bunt that much more when the guys behind the man bunting can't hit.

Anyway...Jay of the Day Adam Lind (.227 WPA). You have to be impressed with him. I thought, when he was sent down after just a handful of at bats, that his confidence would be shot and his career was quite likely over. The change of managers was a great thing for him and for the organization as we really need him. Honorable mention should go to AJ, 7 innings and just 2 runs should mean a win but a guy has to be perfect with this team.

Suckage Jay? Scoot (-194 WPA), Barajas (-.127), Rios (-.127) and Stairs (-.106). Wasn't Cito supposed to fix the bats? It takes time you say? Well, hurry the f### up.

Tomorrow a battle of All-Stars Doc vs Kazmir. Should me a great pitchers duel. In Jays news, they announced Marcum will be back with the team to start on Tuesday. Not sure who they will send down to make room for him, but if I had to bet I'd say League.

Oh well, another loss....we can't beat good teams and we can't beat bad teams....can we find someone else to play?

The good.....hmmmmm give me a while, I'll think of something. Well, Lind's two run, home run was good. He continues to impress. Sending he down earlier in the year is starting to look like reason #446 to fried JP. And League pitched! Honest, he did. I was starting to think there would have to be a plague to get him on the mound. Two innings of shutout ball. Yeah, I'm not going to mention the 2 walks, 2 hits (one a hard hit ground rule double) and the amazing double play that Rolen pulled off that saved his bacon.

The bad....everything else. They managed to make Washburn look like a very good pitcher. They also made 4 relief pitchers look amazing. Three innings of no hit relief pitching. Rios looked lost at the plate. Stairs and Barajas looked just as bad. Zaun had as poor a pinch hit appearance as you are likely to see. McGowan again looked bad on the road. He did make one of the defensive plays of the year, Sexson hit a hard one at him that knocked his glove off, but he chased the ball and glove down and threw out Sexson. And....well let's just say if they wore a Jays jersey they didn't look good out there....expect for Lind's home run.

The unders won in the RISP pool as we had zero. 0 for 7. Jay of the Day? Would have to be Lind and Lind alone.

We had a very lively and fun Game Thread...414 comments....we were visited by some very friendly M's fans...misery love company. And had a lurker unlurk....come back often domefan.

Tomorrow's an off day for our boys to lick their wounds after losing a series to the worst team in the AL. Friday they are in California to face the Angels, AJ vs Jered Weaver. Be sure to join in in the Game Thread.  Four games under .500 and the hope of getting back there before the All-Star break slipping away. With nine games, they'd have to go 7 and 2 to get there. We can hope.

We got hits with RISP, we got a big lead.....we lost.

The good: Lind went 3 for 4 and drove in 3. He looked locked in at the plate. I love Cito for bringing him back and putting him in the lineup. Wells went 3 for 5, Zaun 2 for 4 and 2 driven in and got robbed of a hit because Wells had a brain cramp at second base. He thought Zaun's liner would be caught at SS and ran back to the bag.....by the time he realized it was a hit it was too late to get to third and was forced. Zaun hit into the terribly common 7-5 force out.

The bad: Litsch gives up 10 hits in 5.2 and worse he throws a makes an error that cost us 2 runs and in the long run the game. Cy Carlson comes in and gives up a two run home run to Beltre on a pitch I swear was over Beltre's head. I can't remember seeing a home run on a pitch so high and off the plate before. But he tomahawked it for an opposite field homerun.

But all wasn't lost, we still had a one run lead and Downs came in. Had to feel confident Downs hadn't given up a run since April. Then came Richie Sexton, he of the .226 average and 9 homers....but showing God plays with loaded dice, Sexton hits one out to tie the game.

Top of the 9th we go down without a fight.....well a two out walk to Overbay, but nothing else. Bottom of the 9th Downs starts out by walking Ibanez, Vidro bunts, we intentionally walk Beltre...worried that he'll reach out and smoke one of the four balls...all of which I'm almost sure were closer to the strike zone than the one he hit off Cy.

Camp comes in to pitch to Bloomquist. Now it's worth noting that Camp's ERA was 7.10 last year. 7.10! Which should end your baseball career, but JP feels the inability to pitch shouldn't disqualify a person from a spot on a major league staff. Of course, Bloomquist rips  the first pitch into left and we are 3 games before .500. Insert curse words here.

 Tomorrow McGowan vs Washburn.