The Dome's pretty quiet at 5:15.
The Jays are wrapping up their BP - the night's scrubeenies (Bautista, Millar, McDonald, and Chavez) each take their six hacks and scurry out of the cage, waiting their next turn. The Yankees are on the field, engaged in group stretches and calisthentics, waiting for the Jays to vacate the field at 5:30 so they can get their hacks in...
Hey - I had some errands to run on my way to the ball park. They didn't take nearly as long as I expected! Time to kill...
Sergio Mitre takes his 11-23 career record to the hill for the Yankees. One of those 11 wins, you may recall, came back in June 2005 when he tossed 7 innings of two-hit shutout for the Cubs to beat Roy Halladay himself, back when Doc was having the year of his life. Mitre is filling in for Chien-Ming Wang, much to the chagrin of Aaron Hill , who hits Wang better than any other pitcher he's ever seen. Needing someone to fill in, the Yankees looked over the available bodies at Scranton-Wilkes and decided to go with Mitre. He was 3-1, 2.40 in 7 starts. They had other options - we all remember Kei Igawa (9-4, 3.91 in 20 starts). And still hanging in there, awaiting the call, the one and only Josh Towers (4-6, 3.78 in 14 starts.)
B.J. Ryan may have been cut loose by the Cubs - he got into 5 games for Iowa. He didn't allow a run or a hit in his 5.2 innings. He did walk 5 guys while striking out 4.
Russ Adams, of course, signed on with San Diego - an organization that seems determined to divest itself of everyone who remotely resembles a major leaguer. Clever, Russ. But you're going to have to hit a lttle bit in Portland to make this well thought-out strategy work for you. Not happening yet - he went 7-30 in his first 9 games, and then missed a couple weeks with another injury. He returned last night and went 0-4.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20090805172645324