I really wish the photo people had a shot of Zaun and Jamie showing the viewers the proper way to tag someone out at 2B, as demonstrated before yesterday's game, however, Cooper collecting his first major league hit will have to do for this morning.
Jays Links
Griffin with a good article on the Jays commitment to stealing bases.
Lawrie may be Jays-ready | Baseball | Sports | Toronto Sun
This article compares Lawrie to Mike Schmidt, Craig Biggio and Jeff Kent. Yeah, we don't have big expectations or anything! I thought what legendary scout Bobby Mattick (with the Jays until 2004) said was interesting:
"I always thought with a prime, young prospect you’d better err on bringing a guy up too early," Mattick told us more than once. "You don’t want to stunt his growth or cram him by leaving him at triple-A too long. "If you bring the guy up, he fails and he’s good enough, he’ll be back soon enough staring you in the eye showing you, you were wrong."
Toronto likely to go with seven-man 'pen soon
So, who gets dropped. Janssen I guess?
Bautista's Bases On Balls Turning Heads
I'm not a big fan of the "so and so is on pace for..." comments. Especially at the 1/6th mark, however, Bautista is going to accumulate a heck of a lot of walks this year.
The Southpaw reviews the Jays at the 1/6th mark of the season.
1 Blue Jays Way has an interview with the Lansing prospect.
The Rogers Centre Roof Closing at Day and Night
Ian with a couple of speed videos of the Skydome room closing.
Around the League
Heckling David Justice (with apologies to Halle Berry)
Jed RigneyIn with a story about the worst heckling he has ever heard. One time, I was at a game and we were sitting down the LF line and the whole section was heckling Manny. And there was this 40 year old lady that was a Red Sox fan, and she lost it and started swearing at everyone...and eventually broke down in tears. I didn't know weather to laugh or feel bad. Anyone have any good heckling stories?
Drew Fairservice with a graphical look at saves, shutdowns and leverage index.
Matthew Carruth wonders if there is a correlation between speed and batting average on balls in play.
Magpie at Batter's Box wonders if Curtis Granderson is this year's Jose Bautista.
Carl Pavano doesn't look like a happy camper in this video.
MLB suspends McDowell for two weeks
Roger McDowell makes a fool of himself. And now he's suspended for two weeks! I wonder how many coaches in any sport have served a 2 week suspension?