A.J. Burnett is Yanked after 4 innings and the Blue Jay season teeters nearer the precipice.
Stars of the Game: Bernie Williams unloaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with a double, and Jaret Wright (no really, Jaret Wright) combined with 3 relievers to shut down the vaunted Blue Jay offence.
Stars of the Game: Bernie Williams unloaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth with a double, and Jaret Wright (no really, Jaret Wright) combined with 3 relievers to shut down the vaunted Blue Jay offence.The Newest Mercenary: Bob Abreu went 0-for-3 with a walk.
For the Jays: Reed Johnson returned to multi-hit form out of the leadoff spot. No other Jay reached twice, which goes hand in hand with scoring 1 lousy run. Jeremy Accardo was unintimidated by the Bronx. I thought John Gibbons made the right calls having Catalanotto, Hinske, and Zaun in the starting lineup; I’m less convinced that arranging his outfielders with pinch-hitting in mind was a great idea.
Defensive Play of the Game: Vernon Wells robbed Williams of a hit in the bottom of the third on a broken bat liner to centre; it didn’t work out so well in Bernie’s next at-bat.
Boxscore: Bleah.
A and B:
Presented for interest’s sake, with my only commentary being that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart, and that the salary scale is most definitely not linear.
Ben Molina .277 .317 .406 278 AB
Gregg Zaun .276 .374 .459 181 AB
Ramon Hernandez .262 .323 .454 359 AB
Aaron Hill .303 .357 .396 356 AB
Orlando Hudson .275 .338 .440 375 AB
Alex Rios .322 .373 .563 286 AB
Brian Giles .267 .373 .373 394 AB
Troy Glaus .262 .367 .543 363 AB
Carlos Delgado .263 .356 .534 358 AB
Lyle Overbay .302 .363 .497 394 AB
Prince Fielder .288 .347 .500 386 AB
Paul Konerko .296 .375 .552 368 AB
Reed Johnson .349 .425 .521 284 AB
Frank Catalanotto .324 .415 .480 275 AB
Manny Ramirez .317 .430 .628 360 AB
And finally, John McDonald, starting shortstop for your Toronto Blue Jays, is hitting .242 / .304 / .403 in 62 AB. Shea Hillenbrand, starting first baseman for your San Francisco Giants, is hitting .209 / .227 / .279 in 43 AB.
A similar ‘random’ set of comparisons involving Toronto pitchers would contain considerably more frustration and much less amusement for Blue Jay fans.
Today: Ted Lilly vs. Chien-Ming Wang, 7:05 PM EDT.
