What Did I Just See?

Friday, June 19 2009 @ 05:09 PM EDT

Contributed by: Magpie

Here's what I think I saw. The Jays went into a National League and swept the world champs. Vernon Wells had two big hits and a crucial defensive play late in the game.

I believe I'm now required to pee in a cup, right?

The Jays wrap up this little road trip with three games in the other nation's capital. That's right - first in war, first in peace, last in the National League East.

All the other AL East contenders conveniently lost their games yesterday.  The Yankees, after dropping two of three against the very same Nationals who host the Jays tonight, will be in south Florida and hopefully the Marlins treat them with the same respect they just gave the Jays.

The Red Sox host Atlanta at Fenway this weekend - tonight's matchup features Daisuke Matsuzake for the home team and Atlanta counters with Kenshin Kawakami, who hasn't won since he shut down the Jays in Atlanta a month ago.

The Devil Fishies, having just dropped a couple of game in Coors Field, will venture into the Mets' new home. Whatever it's called.

Some folks were pointing out that the UZR numbers indicate that Vernon Wells is, by a mile, a pretty lousy centre fielder. That is indeed what those numbers say. They also say Scott Rolen is a middle of the pack third baseman, and that Derek Jeter is the fourth best defensive shortstop in the league.

All of which may be true.

We were just speaking in another thread about the wonderful Albert Pujols. Here are the career numbers per 162 games for Albert the Great and Some Other Guy:

                G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR  RBI SB BB SO BAVG  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+ TB GDP   
Albert Pujols  162 703 596 124 199 44  2 42  128  7 93 66 .334 .426 .627 1.053 171 374  20    
Some Other Guy 162 681 587 104 194 39  9 25  104  4 86 37 .331 .417 .559  .976 159 328  13  

Pujols is 29 now, and in a few years one would think he'll enter what is politely called his Decline Phase. Barring radical changes in the game, his rate stats - BAVG, SLUG, OBP - should start declining even as his counting stats move into Very Rarefied Territory.

Anyway, alll together, now - YIKES!

(And YIKES again. Some Other Guy is pretty good, too. Wonder how long he lasted.)

Anyway, the Jays have an off day after this road trip. Inter league play continues as Cincinnati comes to town for three games beginning on Tuesday, followed by what will probably be a grumpy and surly Philadelphia outfit.

The Jays will spend the off day holding open workouts for starting pitchers. Do you have your own glove? Is your right arm still attached to your shoulder? J.P. Ricciardi and Cito Gaston would like to meet with you..

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