That was a terrible ending to the ball game last night. Up until then it was a fun game. I know there are managers that pick 3 or 4 guys they like in the pen, and pitch them all the time, but I wish Cito would learn to trust some of the other guys. Also I'm not a big fan of multiple pitchers in one inning too. With the team up by 3, why pull Carlson after just one batter? And then pull League after one batter? My theory has always been that the more pitchers you put into one game the more likely you are to come up to the one having a bad night. Frasor was that one last night.
I'll admit it is hard to complain about riding certain relievers, Joe Torre did that for years with the Yankees and, you might not have heard, but the team was pretty successful with him as manager. Cito did the same last year, he was driving us nuts by using League, Down and Ryan every time the Jays had the lead. Even if it was a big lead. Anyway, it still should have worked last night. We still should have won.
The voting for the best limerick seems to have petered out, so I think I'll declare a winner, and it's me. I wish I could make fanfare music play. I'm deeply honored, mostly because I thought many of the other limericks were better. Most of the limericks got votes and they all were good. We'll try again with haiku later on. This was the winning limerick:
There once was a man named Vernon
Whose paycheck he wasn’t earnin’
Pop out or strikeout
A swear he would shout
And hearing fans boos was certain
Well, I wouldn't have voted for it. But I'll take the $100,000 prize, the Chevy truck (thanks to Chevy for sponsoring) and the evening with Alyssa Milano (sorry Craig).
Over in the Globe and Mail Jeff Blair talks about an interview Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed did with Gordon Pitts. He really didn't say much other than the club is not for sale and that the team would have more money for salary next year.
At Bluejays.com there is a little talk with Travis Snider, with Travis talking about areas he would like to improve. Health, defense and baserunning were all mentioned. And this:
Snider also wants to become more effective at pulling inside pitches into right field while at the plate. Of his six home runs this season, only one has come to right, when he drilled one out in Fenway Park earlier this summer. That is both good and bad -- because many young hitters come out to the Majors trying to pull everything and are unable to go up the middle or go the other way, something Gaston referred to over the weekend.
In other MLB news, Twin first baseman and Canadian Justin Morneau has a stress fracture in his back and is done for the season. It is too bad that the Twins are 5.5 games back from the Tigers. If there were a little closer, they might be looking for someone to fill in for him and Lyle Overbay might be a good choice.
And elsewhere...if you think being the sidelines girl for NFL broadcasts is easy work, watch Suzy Kolber try to get a few words in with Tom Brady after last night's game. I guess it could have been worse, he could have been drunk and wanting a kiss.
Which reminds me, last year we did a weekly NFL pool, just picking the winners versus the spread each week. There was no money involved, it was just for fun and to let us know how little we knew about football. Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to do the same this year. Let me know in the thread.