I hate west coast trips - especially when the Jays are losing. Another tough one last night mostly thanks to Michael Pineda's fastball, which the Jays couldn't seem to catch up with (at least during the first four innings that I managed to watch). Of course, according to the Sun, the Jays showed no fight last night.
Can someone explain that headline to me? Is 'fight' one of those intangibles that goes hand in hand with chemistry? Can't we just attribute the loss to a great performance by a rookie with some serious 'Smoak' on his pitches? (see what I did there).
I think I'm going to start writing like the Sun writers.
One poorly formed sentence for each paragraph.
The Sun only mentioned Pineda's effort in one sentence...err, paragraph.
But they really pounded home the fact that Romero wasn't good enough with stuff like this:
The Jays had their ace on the hill on Tuesday in lefty Ricky Romero, but he wasn’t as sharp as his first two outings when in starts against Minnesota and Oakland, he allowed just one earned run in each.
He blew by that total in the third inning when the Mariners bunched three hits to put up three runs on the board.
this:
seven superb innings coupled with one mediocre frame didn’t cut it this night.
and this:
neither Romero nor the offence were quite up to the job.
If you read the Sun, I'm not sure you would know who was pitching for the M's last night. Romero pitched a good game, but Pineda was better. The M's didn't win because of the Jays 'lack of fight' or the 'mediocre' pitching performance of Romero though.
Anyway, that's probably enough ranting for this morning. Links after the jump.
Jays Links
Historical Displays of Bad Control
You thought three walks in a row with the bases loaded was bad? Apparently it's happened 108 times since sometime around 1900. And it's gotten worse:
Eight times in history the hitting team has benefited from four straight free passes [with the bases loaded] and twice it amazingly went to five in a row.
Matthew Carruth at FanGraphs tells the stories of the two 'five walks in row with the bases loaded' situations. One involved 8 walks in a row, and the other involved 11 walks in one inning. Crazy.
Whither Purcey?
Apparently AA thinks Purcey can be dealt - the Southpaw speculates where. I can't imagine they would get a whole lot for him at this point. Too bad, he was supposed to be one of my favorites in the 'pen this year. Shows what I know.
Strikeouts are Good
Drew at Ghostrunner tries to figure out what's wrong with Cecil so far with the help of pitch f/x data.
The Rogers Centre’s "Sightlines Restaurant" Review
Callum Hughson reviews the new 'open air' restaurant in centrefield. Could be an interesting place to sit.
Around the League
Monkeys Riding Dogs Herding Goats Sweeping the Nation at Minor League Ballparks
This is quite possibly the greatest thing in the history of time. I love how the players are trying to warm up around a bunch of goats running around the field.
Rangers’ Josh Hamilton breaks arm
Another star bites the dust. Hamilton out for six-eight after breaking his arm.
Pittsburgh Pirates fan clubbed and tasered by police at PNC Park
There's a video embedded in the article - seems like overkill to me. Got to love how the crowd is chanting USA in the video...
The Evolution of Joey Votto
The reigning National League MVP is getting...better? Have fun with that, NL teams.
Better Living Through Chemistry
This is for you, Kevin Millar.
10,000th franchise homer
Brent Lillibridge hit the 10,000th homerun in the history of the White Sox yesterday. The Hardball Times has a list of other players that hit their franchises 10,000th homerun. The Jays have hit 5,548 so they have a ways to go yet.
Pro baseball provides morale boost in Japan
Japanese baseball is back.
The real reason Red Sox fans should be concerned
This is from Friday, but I love the thought of Red Sox fans squirming.
