For a staff that's been far too hittable this season, the wrong opponent is coming into town. Having said that, they're facing a Texas staff that's been, in some ways, even worse (though against very tough opposing lineups). The next three nights may see a pitcher's duel, but I sure wouldn't bet on it.
Of course, the significance of this series goes beyond a mere matchup between two hard-hitting, soft-tossing clubs. Loonie Day or no Loonie Day, the Jays will have a packed house tonight. One of the biggest misconceptions about the Jays, particularly outside the GTA, is that the Jays have become irrelevant to the city of Toronto.
In 2001, even if there were 18,000 at the games, the FAN switchboard lit up with outrage when Gordo waived Tony Batista. Fans care, but we have learned that fans will respond to winning and winning only. There are still an awful lot of people in Toronto that honestly can't understand why the Yankees always get the Mussinas and the Jays settle for the Sturtzes. To them, baseball is a sport where Toronto can win a title and lead the league in payroll, because it really didn't happen too long ago.
Jays fans want to love the team again. They really do. But whenever the Jays have had an opportunity to recapture the city since 1993, the Jays have turned in poor performances. In 1998, 1999 and 2000, the Jays were at least in an interesting situation in August and early September -- only to get hammered in front of large walk-up crowds by the likes of Boston and Oakland. In 1997, the Dome was rocking on Canada Day against the Expos -- but the Jays allowed Jeff Juden (!) to outduel the Rocket.
This year, Opening Day offered another opportunity to impress a large crowd and sell future tickets, which was again missed. Spotlight's on, Jays. Let's turn this season -- and, at the risk of undue hyperbole, the image of this franchise around tonight.
Oh, and two more things: First, it seems a little silly for a Jays fan living in New York City to be the Advance Scout for the Rangers when Batter's Box's very own Mick Doherty resides in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Mick, please feel free to be the ombudsperson for today's column: We'd all appreciate your insights and corrections.
Second, thanks to all of you who have offered constructive and helpful suggestions for the Advance Scout column. Please feel free to post with further ideas for improvement. And I'd also like to thank the likes of Mike Moffatt, Rodent, Snellville Jones and several other BB regulars for their kind words of encouragement.
On to the Advance Scout!
* Call them the Anti-Royals: Texas is 11-14, with a record built solely against the Mariners, Angels, A's, Yankees and Red Sox ...
* John Thomson finally got his first AL victory on Wednesday, shutting down the Red Sox ... Buck Showalter praised Thomson thusly: "He really pounded the strike zone and was very aggressive" ...
* Ryan Christenson led off Wednesday's game with a Rickey Special, homering to left ... For good measure, he also made a great sliding catch ... Showalter loves him: "He gets to balls in the outfield, is always prepared and can make the clutch hit" ... Hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo is trying to loosen Christenson's lower body in his batting stance ... But in Sunday's win over the Yankees, Showalter dropped him down in the order and led Carl Everett off ... Showalter has used an incredible 24 batting orders in the club's 25 games ...
* On Thursday, every Ranger in the lineup had a hit by the third inning as Texas bludgeoned Derek Lowe and the Committee 16-5 ...
* Rafael Palmeiro has blamed a lack of "timely hitting" as the team's "biggest disappointment" ... Raffy's up to 497 career longballs ... Although he holds the dubious honour of being the Most Undeserving Gold Glove Winner Ever (he DH'd behind Lee Stevens most of the season), the Rangers are happy with Palmeiro's defence this season ...
* Juan Gonzalez is still in search of his mojo at 255/298/469 ... He had a big series against Boston, but went 2-12 against the Yankees this weekend. Prior to the Red Sox series, he had a 10-game streak with no extra-base hits and no RBI ... Gonzalez has been working on his mechanics, focusing on staying back on pitches and being more selective at the plate ... Interestingly, he leads the league in outfield assists with four ...
* But surprisingly, Everett has found his mojo: 320/386/693 ...
* Power has not been the problem for the Texans. The Rangers are second in the majors in home runs with 42 ... Until Texas' 10-run, no-homer explosion against the Yankees on Sunday, the Rangers had scored 60% of their runs by way of homer ...
* Nor has Hank Blalock been the problem. His 0-for-5 last night dropped his average to .385 ...
* Pitching. Now there's the problem! Texas is last in the AL in WHIP, having issued the most walks in the league by a wide margin ... Colby Lewis, with his 23-16 BB/K ratio, is in big trouble against the Jays on Thursday ...
* But Thomson might pose a problem for the patient Jays: only three walks in 28 innings ...
* Teams are also hitting Texas pitching hard, though not as hard as Toronto pitching has been hit ...
* But Texas starters have pitched better of late ...
* Meanwhile, late-blooming 1996 first-rounder R.A. Dickey has been solid in middle relief ...
* Another comeback in the offing? Ugueth Urbain Urbina has peripheral numbers eerily similar to Mike MacDougal before the Great Comeback on Sunday ...
* Francisco Rodriguez hasn't earned the nickname K-Rod this season. But Alex Rodriguez has, leading the league in batters' strikeouts with 30 ... Juan Acevedo whiffed him to end the game on Saturday ...
* The K's aren't sitting well with A-Rod at all: "I've been bad, I've been really bad, as bad as I can remember" ... So of course, he came through with a 5-for-5 tour de force on Sunday, driving in six ... Michael Young on Rodriguez: "Whenever he's challenged, he comes out a better player" ... A-Rod likes Showalter's approach: "There's a major difference in this club from last year's, and I give a lot of credit to Buck for that" ...
* Joe Torre on the Ranger lineup around A-Rod: "[W]e should have walked him...Tough to walk a guy when a guy with 497 career homers is in the on-deck circle" ...
* Chan Ho Park has pitched so poorly that Texas released Chad Kreuter, who was brought in simply to be Park's personal catcher-slash-therapist ... Heretofore third catcher Todd Greene gets elevated to backup catcher. "Boo-yeah," exclaimed Greene, perhaps apocryphally ...
* The Rangers' first kangaroo court session will be held in their Toronto visitors' clubhouse. Rumour has it the judges will be Greene, Urbina and Everett ...
* Ex-phenom and currently-injured-serviceable-reliever Todd Van Poppel is on his way back, pitching well in his rehab stint ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
8 Christenson
7 Mench
6 Rodriguez
9 Gonzalez
DH Sierra
3 Palmeiro
5 Teixeira
4 Young
2 Diaz
vs. RH
7 Everett
5 Blalock
6 Rodriguez
3 Palmeiro
9 Gonzalez
DH Teixeira/Sierra
8 Christenson
4 Young
2 Diaz
Pitching Probables
Tuesday: RH Thomson vs. Hendrickson
Wednesday: RH Drese vs. Sturtze
Thursday: RH Lewis vs. Halladay
Bullpen Usage
Long: Dickey R, Garcia R
Short: Shouse L, Yan R
Setup: Cordero R, Fultz L
Closer: Urbina R
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