Friday, April 25- Kansas City, Missouri
8:10 PM (EDT)
| Toronto Blue Jays ss David Eckstein 2b Aaron Hill rf Alexis Rios cf Vernon Wells dh Matt Stairs 3b Scott Rolen 1b Lyle Overbay lf Shannon Stewart c Rod Barajas Pitching: A.J. Burnett, rhp | Kansas City Royals cf David DeJesus 2b Alberto Collaspo 3b Alex Gordon lf Jose Guillen rf Mark Teahen dh Brett Butler 1b Ross Gload c John Buck ss Tony Pena Jr. Pitching: Zack Greinke, RHP |
Torgen kindly provided the post of today's game thread, and we're going to stick with They Might Be Giants songs everyday until the Jays actually win again. Sadly, this about where the team is right now - the offense has been putrid and the pitching surprisingly shaky. It's no surprise, really, when the pitchers feel like the team isn't scoring enough runs to win, you'd expect them to put too fine a point on some of their pitches and end up in trouble
Anyway, I apologize for being MIA this week and for the short game threads - it's a combination of me being incredibly busy with work, going to see some baseball live, and that SB Nation has been down intermittently for the next few days. I apologize to everyone who's had trouble getting on and want to reassure you that the very fine technical folks at SB Nation have been working like dogs all week to resolve the problem.
A.J. Burnett faces off against Zack Grienke today and I can really see Grienke giving this Jays team a tough time - he generally works efficiently and keeps folks off the bases, and he's been pitching very well this season while the Jays' offense has really been pathetic. Really, they look at a lot like 2007, but with lousy defense instead of the great defense they enjoyed last year.
Of course, there are plenty of reasons why the Jays have been playing so bad. The flu bug has been going around, turned ankles, etc. But the team certainly can't afford to keep losing games, whatever the reason.
Anyway, the Jays will be welcoming Scott Rolen back to the team today. As you know, Rolen suffered a fracture in his finger during fielding practice this spring and has been out since the beginning of the season. He returns after a not-entirely-successful rehab stint in which he failed to get a hit and made an error in 3 games. He and the Jays claim that his being called up so quickly has nothing to do with how the team has been playing
Yeah, right. The team desperately needs an offensive spark with as many as 4-5 offensive sinkholes in the lineup everyday. As you can see, with Rolen in the lineup it actually looks like a legitimate AL lineup, almost. But it's pretty sad when you're treating as saviour a guy who had an awful season last year and doesn't look like he's really in game shape.
The other issue - where the heck is Adam Lind? This is getting ridiculous. Stewart is playing terrible and seeing Inglett and Scutaro in the outfield and the lineup is painful. What are we waiting for? According to Jeff Blair, "95 percent" of the reason Lind isn't up yet is service time - the Jays want to prevent him from being a super 2.
That really pisses me off as it's basically spitting in the face of the fans. Being a super-2 has nothing to do with how long the team gets to keep you under their control - the only thing it affects at all is pay - you're eligible for arbitration one year earlier. Hmmmm, sure doesn't sound to me like the Jays are serious about winning. This is beyond stupid. But also according to Blair, Lind will finally be up soon, perhaps tomorrow. I'm still pissed.
Some good news finally. Gregg Zaun seems okay. He declined to have X-rays after hurting his thumb yesterday, and should be fine, though he's out of the lineup today as his thumb is still sore.
It's friday so I'm going to try to stop being in a lousy mood. Let's go Jays!
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