Monday Morning Media Mashup: Southeastern Edition

Hey look! The Monday Morning Media Mashup is back after a two-week hiatus! Since the last edition of MMMM, the Blue Jays have gone 10-7, but have only gained one game in the wild card and the division races. The team is on a nice five-game winning streak after sweeping the Texas Rangers down in Arlington and will hope to stretch that to six games tonight against the Colorado Rockies.

Stepping away from baseball a little, I'd like to plug Jason Isbell's newest release Southeastern, which has been my favourite new album so far in 2013. As a long-time Isbell fan I am certainly biased, but the album has received near-universal acclaim. It has received the coveted Minor Leaguer and Rob Neyer double approval:

I'll stop bugging you guys soon, but @JasonIsbell is a big Braves fan AND his new record is fantastic http://t.co/OkEUqmsZg9

— robneyer (@robneyer) June 13, 2013

You can listen to the full album on CBC"s website until Wednesday. Go do that and then buy it (just forget he's a Barves fan).

The folks at Jays Days Beer Club are holding a Bike Parade tonight at 6 pm starting at TallBoys Craft Beer House and ending at the Rogers Centre for the Rockies game. They plan to raffle out a pair of tickets to the game for participants! The next Jays Days Beer Club night will be on Thursday, June 27 when the Jays take on the Red Sox, but if you can't wait that long for beer, be sure to grab tickets ($52) to the Session Toronto Craft Beer Festival, which will feature Left Field Brewery and Dirk Hayhurst's Garfoose Breakfast Stout.

Blue Jays Related

After helping Blue Jays, Evans joins them - bluejays.com
In a quiet move that has flown under the radar, the Blue Jays have placed Jamie Evans--the trainer who is responsible for the "Steve Delabar" heavy-ball training program--on their payroll. That means that other professional clubs will no longer be allowed to approach Evans to have their pitchers go through the successful program. The Blue Jays who have gone through it include Delabar, Casey Janssen, Brett Cecil, and Dustin McGowan. Exclusive buyouts of training programs is clearly the new market inefficiency.

Veteran DeRosa talks all things Jays - TSN.ca
Mark DeRosa sat down with Scott MacArthur and had some nice things to say about manager John Gibbons: "He's a man's man, he treats us like men, he expects us to show up and perform and be accountable and be an adult. For me he's been absolutely everything I thought he'd be from the guys I talked to coming in."

Taking Stock - Blue Jays Way
Matt Brown takes a look at the good and the bad so far in the 2013 season.

Blue Jays June Success Sparked By Pitching - Jays Journal
The Blue Jays are on a roll, and have been carried by some solid pitching, Kyle Franzoni writes.

On outside looking in, Bautista needs ASG help - bluejays.com
Go vote for Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Adam Lind while you #WriteInKawasaki. The ballot is right here.

Back in Blue Network
Jays fans, don't forget to check BackInBlue.ca every week for their wonderful video podcast.

Down on the Farm

Bisons fall to PawSox, 5-3 - Bisons.com
The Bisons are struggling right now. After holding on to first place in the North division of the International League for much of April and May, they now sit at 35-33 (.515) and in third place, 5.0 games behind the Pawtucket Red Sox. Two games of that deficit came this past series, when the Herd dropped three of four against the PawSox. Anthony Gose continues to struggle at the plate, going in the game. He is hitting .167/.205/.194 since he was sent back to Buffalo. The one win they did have came on Saturday when waiver claimee Thad Weber no-hit the PawSox through seven innings of work before handing it over to the bullpen. The Bisons are back home for a seven-game stretch, so if you're in the area, and you don't want to go to Sessions Toronto, try to schedule a weekend trip down to see them face the Durham Bulls! It's Star Wars Night on Saturday!

Jays’ Reyes likely to rehab with Bisons - The Buffalo News

Another reason to head down to Buffalo? Jose Reyes is likely to rehab there after a few games down in Dunedin, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.

Jimenez leads Cats in 22-run outburst - MiLB.com
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats ran over the Erie SeaWolves 22-1 one day after being beaten by them 16-2. Let's talk about that 16-2 drubbing first. Prospect Sean Nolin left after three batters faced because Erie's Daniel Fields lined a pitch right back at Nolin's left elbow. Poor Matt Wright then went into the game in relief and proceeded to throw 3.1 innings, giving up 12 runs on 13 hits. Good thing the Fisher Cats' bats lightened the mood Sunday with a huge offensive effort. Catching prospect A.J. Jimenez had five hits, drove in three, and scored five, and Adam Loewen went 4-for-6 with two homers and five runs batted in. Marcus Stroman threw six innings of three-hit, one-run ball. I had a brief chat with Nolin on Sunday and he said he was feeling fine, just a bit sore and that he should be OK in a few days.

Marcus Stroman: Missing Lots of Bats - Jays Prospects
Bluebird Banter's Jared Macdonald wrote a brief update on prospect Marcus Stroman.

Hanson homers, named All-Star MVP - MiLB.com
The Dunedin Blue Jays were off this weekend because they were hosting the Florida State League All-Star game. The South Division beat the North (where Dunedin resides) 8-1. Dunedin's 3B Andy Burns went 0-for-2, RHP Scott Copeland threw a perfect inning, LHP Tony Davis allowed two hits but struck out two in his inning of work, RHP Blake McFarland got one out in the ninth before a runner reached on an error. RHP Jesse Hernandez was selected onto the team but did not appear. Several former Blue Jays prospects appeared for the South team: Anthony DeSclafani, Justin Nicolino, and Noah Syndergaard all gave up a hit in an inning of work, with Syndergaard getting the "W".

Wil Browning Racking Up The Strikeouts - Jays Prospects
Brian Crawford profiles Lansing Lugnuts reliever Wil Browning, who has recorded 49 strikeouts in 31.1 innings pitched.

Around Baseball

Robby Cano’s RISPy Business - High Heat Stats
John Autin wrote about a very interesting stat line: Robinson Cano's career slash line with runners in scoring position, which sits at .273/.333/.450 despite a career line of .307/.351/.504. Among batters with a .290 career batting average and at least 1000 PA with RISP since 1961, Cano's BA and OBP rank dead last (out of 127), and his SLG is second last to Hal Morris. And when the search was extended to all high-leverage situations, each of Cano's triple slash components turned up last.

Wil Myers promoted by the Tampa Bay Rays - DRaysBay
Just in case you missed the news on Sunday, the Tampa Bay Rays are promoting future hall-of-famer Wil Myers (what's with spelling "Will" with one "L"? Did the Myers and Browning families lose the second "L" to the Colllege World Series?).

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers go Down Under - Sports on Earth
Good news to our Australian (and New Zealander) readers: the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks are playing regular season games Down Under in 2014. Eric Nusbaum also explores the internationalization of the Diamondbacks organization.

Indians Prank Clint Frazier with Red Wigs - MLBFanCave.com
Cute. The Indians wore red wigs when redhead and recent first-round draft pick Clint Frazer visited the team.

Not Baseball

Miss Utah USA Gives Worst Pageant Answer Since Miss South Carolina - Deadspin [Video]
Maybe Sportsnet can hire her for the "Ask the Experts" segment?