Blue Jays Beat Tigers…Again, Look for Three-peat Today
The Toronto Blue Jays (68-61) scored three-runs early, and held on for the second of back-to-back victories against the visiting Detroit Tigers (64-66).
The win came, in part because of the Jays multi-positional talent and MLB homerun leader Jose Bautista.
Bautista, who continued swinging a hot bat yesterday, hit a two-run triple in the 1st-inning off of Tigers RHP Alfredo Figaro (0-2).
The early run support supplied by Bautista have increased his offensive totals against Detroit pitching to 2hr’s and 4rbi in the first three-games of the series, with a chance for more in Sundays’ game.
On the mound, Toronto starting pitcher Brandon Morrow (10-6) seemed to gain confidence from the early lead en route to his 10th win of the season.
Blue Jays Beat Yankees in Rubber Match, Take 7-5 Series Lead…Plus our BlueJaysRant Reader Poll
Want to give yourself a little chuckle?
Pose the question “who holds the season series lead between the Jays and Yankees” to any random baseball fan.
You will receive, more often than not, some incarnation of the answer ”the first place Yankees, of course!”.
Then tell them the answer is infact the Toronto Blue Jays who hold the 7-5 lead.
While the looks of confusion and shock contort the faces of those stunned fans, you can sit and chuckle at the dropped jaws, furrowed brows and scrunched faces!
That series lead was increased to 7-5 last night after the Toronto Blue Jays (66-60) won the rubber match, (6-3) in this current three-game set against the New York Yankees (78-49).
The starting pitching was strong, thanks to Jays LHP Brett Cecil (11-6), who gave up only 2-earned in 8IP, with 5k’s.
The offense was strong, as Jays captain Vernon Wells took the game over with his bat; knocking out his 23rd homerun of this campaign, and driving in 4 rbi.
Overall, with eight hits, solid defense and quality pitching from the starter to the closer, the entire squad did their part to secure Toronto’s win.
With the Blue Jays up 7-5 in the season series, and 6 games to go this year against New York this year the question is posed to you…
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Rzepczynski Isn’t the Right Guy for Jays…yet, as Yankees Win Big
The Toronto Blue Jays (65-60) were on the losing end of a terrible 11-5 beating last night to the New York Yankees (78-48) at the Rogers Centre.
Young Jays hurler, Marc Rzepczynski (1-2), had a terrible night - giving up 8 hits and 6 earned runs in only 3IP.
To be fair, Rzepczynski was facing the AL [B]East leading Bronx Bombers - a team that is prone to making even the most veteran pitchers look bad and acquired such an envious nickname for a reason.
For the Blue Jays and their fans, patience is a virtue to be adhered to.
Marc Rzepczynski has shown flashes of his talent this season with a brilliant 7IP, 6k, 2-hit shut-out vs LAA on August 13,2010 and an overall 20K/9BB ratio. All of which speaks to the need for time and patience.
If given time, Marc will eventually acquire enough innings at the MLB level to learn the nuances of a game that generally evades most rookie pitchers.
If given patience, by Toronto fans and by his team, Marc will transform from a bright spot in the Jays rotation to shining force for the blue birds in the up-coming seasons.
Until then, he should just work on his craft and hope he doesn’t facce the Yankees in the forseeable future.
The Jays will put LHP Brett Cecil (10-6) on the mound against the Yankees Ace-in-the-making Phil Hughes (15-5).
Blue Jays Jose Bautista Smashes Yanks into Submission…Plus our BlueJaysRant Reader Poll
The Toronto Blue Jays (65-59) started their current 7-game homestand with a 3-2 win against the visiting New York Yankees (77-48) last night at the Rogers Centre.
Despite going up against Yankee’s rookie pitcher Ivan Nova, none of the Blue Jays could muster more than a double in 5IP against the young prospect, none except Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.
Bautista hit his major league leading 39th homerun of the season off of the young Yankees hurler, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead.
That pitch was obviously on the mind of Nova, as he would attempt to exact some old school revenge by throwing very-high and inside at Bautista in their next match-up.
Bautista was visibly upset with the rookie pitcher, either for being part of a new wave of youthful players that shows little respect for opponents, or being brazen enough to try and bean the current 2010 home run king to rattle his cage.
A cage that was obviously not to be messed with, as Jose Bautista blasted (and stared down the Yankees squad) in the eighth, after his 40th homerun was soaring to the bleachers, thus giving the Jays a 3-2 lead, and eventual win.
With 40 homeruns and 38 games to go in the season, Jose Bautista is now closing in on George Bell’s single-season record of 47 homeruns in a Blue Jays uniform.
Which leaves the question to you…
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Blue Jays Enter Series with Boston Like a Lion, but Leave Like a Lamb
The Toronto Blue Jays (64-59) pounded the Boston Red Sox (71-54) by a whopping score of 16-2 in the first game of their 3-game set at Fenway, however since then, the Jays have faltered.
In game 2, the Jays managed to rally for 3-runs in the 6th inning to draw even with Boston, only to lose in extra innings.
That was the last time they scored a run in the series.
Game 3 was about control, although it wasn’t the Jays who were taking over, but rather the Boston Red Sox and their young Ace-in-the-making, Clay Buchholz (15-5).
Despite the Jays having plenty of opportunities to conjure up runs, they couldn’t cash-in any of the leadoff hitters who managed to get on base in six of the opening seven innings.
In fact, the blue birds had two runners on base in three of those occassions, only to have Buchholz keep the Jays hitters under wraps for 6 solid shut-out innings.
Overall only three-of-nine Jays collected a hit – two each by Vernon Wells, Jose Bautista and Jose Molina.
In the pitching department, Jays RHP Shawn Marcum was strong, going 7 innings and giving up just 3-earned, while striking out 6 batters against a strong Boston club, but his efforts were not enough to keep Toronto from another disheartening loss.
The road ahead does not get any easier, as the Blue Jays head home to face the first-place New York Yankees (77-47).
Toronto’s Win Manufactures Many Rare Feats Against Boston
The Toronto Blue Jays (64-57) managed to accomplish a few rare feats in last night’s 16-2 thrashing of the Boston Red Sox (69-54).
First, the Blue Jays beat Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester.
Going into play against Toronto, Lester was 2W-0L with a sparkling 1.38era this season, and he held a 2W-0L, 0.81era lifetime record against the Jays at Fenway Park.
Second, by scoring 16-runs against Boston, the Jays scored the most runs in their long-standing rivalry against their AL East counterparts.
Third, this was the first victory for Jays pitcher Brett Cecil in four career starts against the Red Sox.
Fourth and finally, Jose Bautista hit his league leading 38th homerun of the season, which extends his streak of consecutive-series with a homerun to an impressive 14.
After suffering a power outage in the final two-games against Oakland (both losses), the blue birds smashed 4 homeruns, raising thier leage leading total to 187 (second place goes to Boston with 166).
Two of those Blue Jays homeruns were by 1B Lyle Overbay.
Overbay, who has been under a constant microscope this season and has heard the constant speculation that he will be moved (as aresult of the former Brett Wallace watch), has continued to chug-along. With last night’s 7-rbi performance, Overbay took another positive step towards earning a contract with another team next season by raising his total homerun’s to 15, rbi to 54 and his season averagge to .253.
The Blue Jays will put LHP Ricky Romero (10-7) versus Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4).
BlueJaysRant Reader Poll – The Rocket Soared with Jays on Juice?
With new evidence indicating the Roger “The Rocket” Clemens purged himself (allegedly – he and his attorneys continue to claim otherwise) in front of the supreme court in the United States, it is getting harder to believe that his stats with the Blue Jays were not tainted?
This leaves the question to you…
[poll id="19"]
Blue Jays Rally with 3-Run Ninth, Only to Lose in the Ninth
The Toronto Blue Jays (63-57) have shown a penchant for coming back against teams during late innings play; however they have also shown an ability to squander their opportunities.
That was the exact script for yesterday’s loss ot the Oakland Athletics (59-60).
After Toronto rallied from a 3-run deficit to tie the game 4-4 with A’s in the final frame, Blue Jays RHP Casey Janssen entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and subsequently gave-up a hit to Oakland rookie, Steve Tolleson, threw a passed-ball that moved Tolleson to second, and finally the winning run on a Cliff Pennington single to shallow right.
Toronto ended the evening with a 5-4 ninth-inning loss, and also a 2-1 series loss to Oakland to end their California road trip.
Overall, the Jays finished their fun in the sun with a 3W-3L record, thus inferring that they may have only had fun half of the time.
The Jays will get a day-off on Thursday, and will resume play on Friday against the Boston Red Sox.
Oakland Beats Toronto, Dallas Braden Calls Blue Jays a Beer League Team
The Toronto Blue Jays (63-56) could n0t muster the offense to beat the Oakland Athletics (58-60) in last night’s 6-2 loss, and will instead look to this afternoon to secure the series win.
A win that may have extra incentive for Toronto, after Oakland A’s pitcher Dallas Braden referred to the Blue Jays as a Beer League squad.
The Associated Press released an exerpt of an interview in which Braden was quoted as saying “I tried to utilize their aggressiveness against them…It’s almost like staring down the barrel of a beer league team because they can hit home runs almost at will…”.
Despite Braden trying to justify his association of the Blue Jays MLB leading power with the power of a bunch of barrel-chested-beer chuggers, it is almost assured that the Jays will not take kindly to the connection, and will be looking to power up this afternoon.
The Blue Jays target will be the A’s young lefty, Gio Gonzalez (10-8), while Oakland will face Toronto LHP Marc Rzepczynski (1-1).
Jays Beat Athletics Via Shawn Marcum’s One-hitter & Jose Bautista’s Inside-the-Park-Homerun
The Toronto Blue Jays (63-55) have extended their winning ways along the sunny California coastline, as they defeated the Oakland Athletics (57-60) by the score of 3-1.
The win came off the shoulder of starting pitcher Shawn Marcum (11-6), who finished with a complete-game, one-hitter that helped to erase the memories of two previous disappointing outings. The dominant win also served to show that he has yet to hit the proverbial wall expected for pitchers coming off major arm surgeries.
The Jays offense partly came in unusual fashion yesterday, as Jose Bautista scored Toronto’s first run of the game via an inside-the-park homerun in the fourth inning.
What made the Bautista’s MLB leading 37th homerun of the season so unusual, was A’s left-fielder Conor Jackson, who appeared to give up on the ball, after Bautista’s drive bounced back onto the field and rolled back up the left field foul line, towards the infield.
In the confusion, the Oakland squad simply watched the ball roll while Bautista, taking nothing for granted, chugged around the bases to score.
After Bautista crossed the plate, giving the Jays a 1-0 lead, the replay showed what Conor Jackson saw; the ball had struck the foul pole – which signifies a standard homerun. However, the umpires failed to signal the homerun and the official scorer marked the strange play as an inside the park homerun.
The Blue Jays will send Brandon Morrow (9-6) to the mound tonight to face the A’s Dallas Braden (7-8).
