Jays 5 Indians 4
Before we get to the real story of the game, let's take a minute to enjoy. We are 5-1. 5-1! Say it out loud. We are in first place, currently a game up on Baltimore, with them playing the Rays tonight. Yeah we have been playing AL Central teams so far and yeah it is early, but if you have been reading the papers and the 'experts' you'd be amazed that we know what end of the bat to hold. It is early, and it might not last but enjoy it.
The real story....BJ Ryan looked awful. Awful in a whole different way than Brandon League looked awful yesterday. League's pitches were moving so much they couldn't stay in the strike zone, he'll fix that. Ryan had trouble finding the strike zone but when he did he could get to a full count but he didn't have a pitch to put guys away. It didn't appear to be a velocity problem, it seemed to be a crappy pitching problem, no good pitch that would miss bats. I don't know the answer, I'm not sure that pitching coach Brad Arnsberg knows the answer. But he doesn't look anything like a major league closer.
Jason Frasor on the other hand, comes in, tying run at second and strikes out the lefty hitting Victor Martinez ending the game. Last year Frasor was buried in the back of the pen, this year? He must be moving himself up. Scott Downs pitched a good 8th inning. And Doc was great as always, 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. I'll admit to taking a lot of glee out of Doc beating out Cliff Lee after Lee won the Cy Young last year. As good as Doc was Lee was bad, 4 earned runs in 5 innings and he was lucky it wasn't worse than that. Doc is 2-0, Lee is 0-2. Stupid Cy Young voters.
Offensively Scoot was great with 1 hit, 3 walks and a sac fly. I'll admit I hated the idea of him leading off last year but at least so far this year he is hitting the ball hard when he can and taking a walk when offered. And he looks great in the field. Aaron Hill drove in 2, was 2 for 4 with a walk. And Cito screwed him in the 4th inning. He came up, runners on 1st and 2nd, none out and a 4 run lead and Cito has him bunt. Or try to bunt. Lee's having all sorts of trouble and Aaron bunts at two out of the strike zone and then with two strikes chases a good curve for strike three. Cito, I know you aren't going to take instruction, but with your team up by 4, playing for 1 run is plain stupid. DON'T DO IT! We had a good shot at making it a blow out right there and you bunt. Oh well.
Adam Lind drove in another run, that's 12 in 6 games for Lind and he had 2 hits, as did Millar (who scored the luckiest run you'll ever see, thrown out at the plate by oh 10 feet, and the catcher doesn't squeeze the ball) and Bautista. Rolen and Wells each had a double. Rios and Barajas had ofers, but Rios drove in a run. Rod is hitting .071 at the moment. but he did hit the ball hard.
Jays of the Day? Doc (.284 WPA), Jason Frasor (.147), Aaron Hill (.157) and Scoot (.099 and great defense). I owe Scutaro an apology because I really didn't like him at short or leadoff early last season, but I was wrong. His D at short is great and he seems to be tailoring his batting for the leadoff role. Suckage Jay? Well guess. Yep, Ryan gets a Miguel Batista award (-.127 WPA).
Tomorrow David Purcey goes for the sweep against Anthony Reyes. 1:00 Eastern start. The Game Threads have been great so far this year, so join us tomorrow and see us get our first sweep of several this year.