In any given baseball game, the "impossible" can happen. For example, last night the Tigers beat the A's, with Steve Avery getting his first save in 15 years as a pro, and Cleveland, with a rookie pitcher facing Freddy Garcia, beat Seattle. So the D-Rays can win this afternoon, even though their pitcher's ERA has been above 8.00 for the last three years.
Soft-tossing lefty Jim Parque, (maybe) 170 pounds, with a history of arm trouble, had his most promising start in ages last week. It was "only" the Tigers -- keep in mind the Jays have scored more than twice as many runs as Detroit this season -- but he had a no-hitter through six innings. He threw 100 pitches, just 57 for strikes, walking four while striking out just two, as the shutout improved his 2003 ERA to 9.24. Although Parque has had success against Carlos Delgado in the past (1-for-12 with 5 strikeouts) he has generally not been a lefty-killer, so I won't be surprised if Cat and Hinske are also in the lineup.
LH Doug Davis makes his third start in a Blue Jay uniform, aware of Kelvim Escobar looking over his shoulder. If Davis pitches well again, and Mark Hendrickson does the same tomorrow, Toronto may have to send Escobar to AAA for a start or two, or they might consider him for Tanyon Sturtze's next turn. Expect Stewart to sit for the first time this year, and Dave Berg might even play left field. Mike Bordick is again unavailable; he's attending to unspecified personal business.
This game marks the end of the first 25% of the season, arguably the most difficult quarter, and with a win, the Jays will be one game under .500, to the surprise of those who wrote them off at 7-15 not so long ago. It's a 12:35 start, radio only, with the roof open for the first time this season. I won't hear much of it because UFA plays its final regular season game this afternoon, against East York.
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