This isn't looking good at all.

Use Moffat's thread -- that is to say, this one!

Yes - where is everyone?

I'm split-screening the Leafs and the Jays ... Batista looks a little lost, and I'm hoping he settles down by, say, May. The Leafs are cautious, but taking the play to the Sens. First goal wins it.

Four nothing. *sigh*. 2005 anyone?

I'm wishing I hadn't activated Batista in my fantasy league tonight. I kept Riley on the bench. So much for hunches.

Yet another game this season which, but for a miracle comeback is essentially over by the 3 inning. It gets late early these days with this starting staff.

Oh, hell, wasn't Lopez's last season supposed to be a fluke? He's KILLING the ball again this year. Everything's a line drive somewhere.

Well, the inning is finally over, but those last two balls were hit pretty far.

Well Finally got out of it - 6 runs!!!!! Ouch that sucks. Well i'm still optomistic that they can come back.

Sorry for all those posts.

http://economics.about.com
It's okay.. we were having some technical troubles, but they seem to be fixed.

Damn it Rob Foulds gives the usual "What do ya think about that" comment on the Phelps homer.

Oh well, just 5 more runs to go.

Spartan - glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks Faulds needs another catchphrase :)

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If the game becomes a slaughter, we could turn this thread into "Let's think of a new catch phrase for Faulds".

Any suggestions?

The Jays strike out so darn much.

No, that wasn't my idea of a new catchphrase either.

"He shoots...He SCORES!!!"

Let's think of a new catch phrase for Faulds

Would you like fries with that?

I never minded the "whatdoyathinkaboutthat" until he started over using it. He should just save it for grandslams, or walk-off homers and the like, then it wouldnt be so annoying.

He could tell us what he thinks about that

Lead off walk - good start to the comeback. Perhaps Hermasen should be hitting ahead of Woodward/

Ah-looked like Hermanson swung at ball 4 on the 3-1 pitch. He ended up flying out lazily to RF.

Sincere apologies, Bauxites --- I was supposed to start the game thread tonight, but I had to pick up a rental truck and forgot entirely about my appointed rounds. Mea culpa!!! And thanks, Mike and Gitz, for picking me up. I'll be grabbing some bench with the Cabal for this one ... that is, I would, if there were a Cabal.

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Don't forget Gwyn. He's part of the three headed monster.

Do the Jays only get bad calls that go in their favour when the game is already out of hand?

Jordan, with all you and all the rest do to run this site and make it so great, being 10 minutes late on a game thread is truly nothing. Now if you could only crank up the Jays offense, we'd all appreciate it...

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Yeah, I think we can forgive Jordan. Besides, if there was a Cabal, I'm sure he'd out rank me in it. But there's no Cabal. :)

Did I hear Aaron's drum earlier? And have they now taken it away? Man the staff at the Skydome can be uptight sticks.

The new catchphrase...I'll second "Would you like fries with that?"

Way to change your post to make it make sense Mike, I saw that.

The Jays sure can make an average pitcher look like an All-Star.

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Whenever I make a typo on one of my Powerpoint slides (which I never notice until I'm presenting), I always tell my audience that it's an optical illusion. That's what happened here.

P.S. There is no cabal.

P.P.S. I'll third "Would you like fries with that?"

The Jays offense is pretty pathetic but when you don't have a starter other than Halladay with an ERA of less than 7 you've basically got no shot from the get go.

Awful day for Batista - but a couple of jacks and the Jays are back in it. But the at bats don't look good for the Jays right now.

In fairness to Faulds, that fertilzer comment was one of the more comical things to be aired on a Jays broadcast since Colin Farrell sat in last year.

At Fenway its Boston 4 Yankees 0 after one. Vazquez threw 37 pitchers and the Yanks had two errors including a horrible miff by Jeter.

Harry Neale just said:

"Peter Bondra just blocked that shot with one of his two knees"

I don't know why but I found that hilarious.

Frasor looks like just a wee thing. Thats all I can take. I'm off to the bar for the end of the Hockey game.

Yankies are losing and Jeter's glove has played a part. Was listening to a Yanks game the other day and heard this oft repeated phrase; "Up the middle and past a diving Jeter."

Go Jays Go
go leafs go
jason

On one hand I wish I lived in Toronto---I regret only being able to make the away Seattle series, as three live games whet the appetite more than they satisfy it.

On the other hand, the dome looks unbelievably boring. Is it possible the team is fairing poorly at home because there is zero energy in the building? We talk about the 30 thousand plus crowds and the Jays recent record with those crowds, but I wonder what would happen with 30 thousand bodies on a consistent basis.

Jack Foley

If that is true I would be disappointed. These guys get paid big bucks so they should be performing all the time - no matter how many fans come out.

Instead of waiting for the fans to come, the Jays need to start playing well and that will attract the fans. How the Jays do this season and how many fans they draw will, in my mind, determine if they are able to keep Delgado.

Also if the Leafs are finished early, it'll likely mean more attendence and games watched.

Spartan - That's the standard argument: They're getting paid so they *should* perform regardless. But I wonder if they actually *do*. I suppose my point is that I can't imagine the Dome being full on a regular basis would be a worse scenario than what's currently happening.

Oh, and speaking of the Leafs - Go Flames Go!

Speaking of the Flames, Go Canucks Go...

:(

Yes. Go golfing :)

JackFoley - Well I guess its one of those things that feed off each other. If they Jays play better, they'll get more support. And the more support they get the better they'll play which will lead to bigger crowds.

But with so many sports teams and various entertainment options in Toronto its up to the Jays to draw the fans.

I Admit It. What's To Say?

Maybe the Game Thread should have just been posted ONCE?

I used to have a Jays column on a fan site called Sportsnutz and the title of each was a Pearl Jam reference. No one ever got it. Not once.

Sad, but I persevered.

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I thought the first words from that Pearl Jam album were appropriate for Game Ten.

RE: Jays Home Record

My guess would be that it has more to do with the fact that the Jays aren't well suited to turf, than some sort of crowd effect.

Cheers,

Mike

Spartan, while it's partially up to the Jays to win, I suppose why I generally disagree is that to me a city having a major league team isn't a right, it's a privilege, and it's one that (from an outsiders perspective) has been slightly abused by the GTA.

Of course, your point is well taken. And I do look a little foolish as the score jumps to 11-1. What casual fan would want to be at this game?

Mike, I agree completely that it has more to do with turf, but I question if it's exclusively to do with turf.

My entry for the Rob Faulds signature call contest:

"I'm a stupid moron with an ugly face and big butt and my butt smells and I like to kiss my own butt"

How are the Jays not suited to the Turf? Poor Infield defense?

Consistently losing is one thing, but many of these games whether wins or loses have little of anything happening in them that is of interest in watching. Ten games in, the club looks lifeless.

Looks like all 4 Minor leage clubs will win again as soon as the Alley Cats finish off the 9th inning. That is good news at least.

And I just want to add that since I got Alexis Rios to sign my ball he has gotten 8 RBI in 4 games :)

I think McGowan might be a bit too good for the Eastern league, like Arnold was last year. He should get the call to AAA any time now.

Alexis Rios has 0 walks in 38 ABs. Not quite sure what this means, but for a small sample size it doesn't look good.

On another note, wouldn't it be neat if he kept dominating those hitters like he is and made the 2-level jump like Dontrelle last year? I don't see an organization that prizes its pitching prospects like the Jays doing that, but it would be neat.

I'm not sure that giving up tons of walks and homeruns and hitting like stink in the SkyDome has much to do with the turf. Nor does Delgado and Wells not performing...we've all seen them hit in the SkyDome before. They just aren't at the moment. There might be something about the atmosphere but I just don't know. It seems like they can't get away with anything in the Dome.

I was at that poor excuse for a game. Loved being back at Skydome but there were a number of things that came to be painfully obvious by the time nine innings had been played.

As mentioned, the Jays are striking out at an alarming rate and many times not even putting up a real fight. For some reason all of Delgado's strikeouts come out this way and the first one made him look rediculously overmatched. And what was up with removing him from the game in favour of Chris Gomez in the ninth? I'm not opposed to sending in the subs to play out the string of an 11-1 game but why not have Phelps get an inning at first and let Gomez bat as the DH in Delgado's spot (on second thought I'm not sure that could work...anyone know?).

The bullpen didn't take much thought in this one though I did have a bit of an issue with Tosca removing Frasnor with two out so De Los Santos could take on the lefty. In a blow out, why not test the youngest a little? The newbie didn't look overly impressive but he held the fort down for a couple innings in a situation that some may have let their minds wonder. I'd like to see him in a tighter game. Speaking of newbies, Hermensen was far less than impressive and continuously threw poor mid-inning warm-ups with the ball boy (short hopping him, to the left, to the right, etc). I know warm ups mean exactly nothing but over nine innings he just didn't seem to have anything in the tank.

Cash joined the rest of the team as he came down to earth (though at this point his teammates might be considered below earth) but compared to the past, he had an approach that made him look like he belongs in the Big Leagues. In his final AB he was robbed of a single up the middle by the diving SS.

This was a game that hurt to watch. From the very beginning things just didn't seem to be going our way, as Batista seemed to momentarily forget his assignment (covering first) on what turned out to be an infield single. Woodward wasn't charged with an error but his defense left alot to be desired, especially in contrast to his conuterpart, as a few balls got by his out stretched glove...Even Cash was a bit off his game, with a throw that Berg did a nice job to keep from slipping into right field.

I'll be out there tomorrow for a 1:05 first pitch. Probably won't be there too long but with my Pass I figure I can pin down a Hentgen bobble head doll, take in an inning or two and scoot over to a meeting. Souvenirs go out to the first 10,000 so if you get there before the 7th inning stretch you'll be able to score one ;-)

You cannot remove the DH and put him on the field and still have the DH spot.

So if Delgaldo 1B hitting 4th leaves the game, Phelps DH hitting 5th goes to play 1B for the rest of the game, then the 4th hitter becomes the pitcher.

Young, that makes perfect sense, thanks. Now here comes the slightly complex (and potentially nonsensical) but a nonetheless interesting way of handling that...Down by 10, you move Phelps to play first, forfeit the DH spot, send a pinch-hitter (Gomez, if that's who Tosca really wanted to bat)in the for the pitcher during the bottom of the inning and IF the Jays were to tie the game you could pinch hit in future innings for the pitcher's spot in the line up (what are the odds a team goes around the order more than once in extra innings anyways?). The point of all that would to be getting Phelps an inning in the field.