Benson'll be happy to see Alfonzo in the lineup tonight then.

Rookie right fielder Nick Markakis helped the Jays score a run in the 5th when he threw to third base after fielding Bengie Molina’s ground ball single. Both runners had broken backwards on contact, and Hillenbrand could have been had at second.

Actually, he did throw to second, but made a poor throw, though not as poor as his later throw home.

The gears were turning for my man John Gibbons, as he sent out his setup duo of Justin Speier and Scott Schoeneweis to handle the heart of the Oriole order in the 7th, followed by nominal 7th inning man Jason Frasor for the 8th inning.

Speier has seemed off for a while now and it seems that he's temporarily lost his duties as 8th inning man. A committee approach to get to Ryan seems like Gibbons' only option at the moment. It would be nice to see at least one of Speier and Frasor show more consistency and serve as Duane Ward to Ryan's Henke, or even as Burt Ward to Ryan's Adam West.

Overbay pinch-hit for Alfonzo last night and delivered a useful sac fly. I'm wondering, though, if GIbbons wouldn't have been better served to pinch-hit Overbay for Alfonzo in the 6th, with two out and the bases loaded, even against a LHP.

For Alfonzo to even reach the Mendoza line, he'd need hits in his next 10 at-bats.

Maybe the Jays should let their pitchers hit and DH for their second basemen instead.

How long do you think they'll leave Adams at Syracuse?  He does have 4 errors in 12 games, but he's also hitting 300 (though against AAA pitching)

I think Alfonzo is going to be riding the bench when MacDonald comes of the DL

Not that that's a big upgrade offensively, either.

Although Jason Frasor did a good job last night, he only threw one curve ball and it hit the dirt in front of the plate. He has not been able to throw the curveball for strikes since his return fron Syracuse. He was sent down to locate his fastball, now his curveball has deserted him. If the hitters just sit on his fastball he will get burned.

As Pistol pointed out in today's minor league update, Vinny Chulk has been throwing very well in Syracuse and should be returning shortly.  Brandon League has also been throwing well (striking out the side in the 9th inning last night); we might see him again in Toronto before the end of the season. He looks to me to be the most likely set-up man of the medium term. That, of course, is a change from the beginning of 2006.

Old friend Dave Bush threw a complete game gem against the Padres and Jake Peavy last night, and threw in a big hit to boot. 

 

 

     Can anyone offer some analysis on Hill's performance at shortstop so far?   His hitting continues to improve, which seems to give him above-average offensive skills for the SS position, but he's had two or three throwing errors in the past few games.    Since I haven't seen those games, can anyone comment on whether he seems to have the defensive skills to keep the job?  I'm a bit surprised at the lack of comment from Bauxites so far.  If Hill can make the adjustment to SS, the Jays could potentially have one of the better-hitting shortstops in the league, which would be a big plus for the team.  On the other hand, if he cannot handle the defensive aspects, the Jays will continue to struggle in the search for a decent middle infield.  It seems like a crucial issue.

     On a related matter:  the improvement of Sergio Santos at Syracuse is encouraging.   But after the recent collision between Hill and Glaus, which knocked Glaus out of the lineup for a couple of games, I'd shudder to think of a similar collision between Glaus and the massive Santos!   It could knock Glaus out for the season!

With the caveat that the following observation is purely subjective, it seems that Hill has not yet adjusted to his move to shortstop. Where his throws from shortstop did not look problematic last year, this year he appears to be underthrowing, and inadvertently skipping some throws. I have every confidence that he will eventually shake this and return to last year's form.

From an offensive perspective, he is now finally parlaying all his contact into some base hits. The next steps, no small ones to be sure, are to add some pop and/or draw some walks.

I don't regard it as being a case of Hill making an adjustment to shortstop.  He's been a shortstop for most of his career.  He seems to me to be handling the position very well.  I always thought it made more sense to have Hill at SS and Adams at 2B due to Adams' throwing problems.  I would be very surprised if Hill cannot do a good job defensively at SS.

As far as his hitting is concerned, he's got a long way to go before I'd consider him to be one of the better-hitting shortstops in the league.  Don't forget that SS is not the offensive void it used to be.  You've got Tejada, Young, Jeter, Guillen and others, just in the AL.  So far Hill has not demonstrated much power at the big league level.  He is not drawing a lot of walks.  His current YTD stats are far behind those of the better hitting SS's in the league.  Of course, Hill is just 24, and has a chance to put up significantly better numbers than he has done so far.  He did draw 34 walks last year, and 63 in AA 2 years ago.  He also had 11 homers in AA that year, so the potential is certainly there.  He seems to have a quick bat.  I like his chances of becoming a very good all around player, but I doubt that he will ever be a hitter like Tejada, Young, or Jeter.