Pitching really seems to be gaining the upper hand in baseball.  Liriano with a no-hitter just the other day.  Verlander just missed a perfecto today, and in other games today, Gallardo pitched a 1-hitter and Buchholz pitched a 3-hitter, and it was just what, yesterday, that Garcia norrowly missed a no-hitter and had a perfect game going for 7 for St.Louis.

So the Jays are getting Hill back tomorrow and maybe Bautista, but now Lind is hurt.  Is this going to be one of those seasons where it's just one injury after another?  Frustrating when you never have your full lineup out there.  With Romero's ERA now over 4.00, the Jays have only 1 starter under that mark, and he's only started 3 games.  Oakland's entire rotation is 3.05 or less, with, of course, some assistance from their home park.

Buchholz pitched a 3-hitter

Buchholz actually allowed just 2 hits, but in just 5 innings.

I didn't see the game, but it sounds as though Verlander was dominant (low pitch count, fabulous velocity, one walk, pitching to contact). It would have been nice to see him tested against a better lineup, instead of one featuring Patterson, EE, Cooper, McDonald and Davis. However, I guess you could argue that players like Patterson and Davis are good candidates to break up a no-hitter (for example, with a well placed ground ball or bunt).

Pitching really seems to be gaining the upper hand in baseball

The AL slash line is 248/318/390. The final numbers for 2010 were 260/327/407.

The April/May AL OPS was 737 in 2010. So far in 2011 it is 708. I don't know if that difference can all be attributed to the unseasonably cold spring we've had. There may well be other factors at play... but what?

Nice to see Gose picking it up a bit, although his OPS is only up to 631 (863 in his last 10 games). The power is still lacking, but his BB:K ratio is better so far this year, as is his SB:CS ratio. Last year he hit 262/332/393. If he can hit about the same, maybe a bit better, as a 21-year-old in AA, I think the Jays would be pretty happy. Holding your own in AA at that age is no mean feat. But it would be great if he *really* put it together, getting on base and driving the ball for extra bases more consistently.

That game was wonderful! Verlander was throwing 100mph, hitting spots with all his pitches, and making the whole thing look easy, So natural. Arencibia's at-bat was amazing. Oh my goodness.

The best thing the Jays can do is shrug it off, get Bautista and Hill (and Lind, hopefully) in the lineup, and win the next two games in the series.

Greenfrog nailed it precisely.

The 51s is soon to get a new stadium; does it mean the Jays will be stay in Vegas next season assuming the 51s will be staying in Vegas for recent future ?

I would hope that this makes LV more appealing to other teams and the Jays can leave.  On the other hand, aside from the stadium LV is not that bad, imo.  Yes, it's far but at least it's easy to get there.  There are plenty of teams in the International League that would be worse travel-wise than LV.

Final thoughts on Verlander (Alex and I were behind home plate on the 500 level, and I shared a myriad of thoughts on twitter - @battersboxca)

We (moreso Alex) basically were worrying that the team was going to get no hit come the third. Verlander looked really good, and while he only struck out 4, there were three hard hit balls all game - a opposite field liner to first that Cabrera snared, a comebacker off Verlander, and a ball Rivera sliced to left in his first at bat. There must have been 10 pop ups - three of which came from David Cooper (pitcher's mound, second base, shallow CF). It is somewhat foolhardy to make observations based on one (or a couple ) games, but I have seen absolutely nothing to indicate Cooper can hit in the majors, just like there is very little in his minor league line to suggest  this. It's easy to pick on a guy when he's 3/27, but he has 16 FB (several of which barely cleared the infield), 5 infield flies, 2 line drives and 3 ground balls. Those aren't good numbers. Rajai Davis also looked abysmal. At one point he looked like he was closing his eyes and trying to hit a home run on a fastball a foot outside. And by one point, I mean pretty much in 2 of his 3 at bats.

Verlander looked really good, and it's nice to have a real lineup again.

The results certainly haven't been there for David Cooper, but I've liked the way he's looked at the plate. He seems comfortable in the box and takes pitches, he just hasn't started driving the ball with authority yet. I prefer carrying his LH bat on the bench than an 8th RP or Mike McCoy.

Kudos to Farrell for not hesitating to make Arencibia his DH when he's playing with a 2 man bench. The team needs offense from wherever it can get it and the team can't really afford to sit Arencibia's bat 40% of the time if they are trying to win ballgames.

This team will have to hit bottom before the players realize who they are.   They just don't believe how good they are yet.   This team is close to competing in 2012, but only if everything works.  

This just might be opening A.A's eyes on the future of the team.   He'll realize: 1) Starting Pitching is not that good and he's missing an Ace, that he might not get in-house.   2) The Offense is not that good.   Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia are the Big Bang for this team.   Travis Snider and Brett Lawrie might join them.   Rajai Davis and Yunel Escobar look to be worth keeping.   No one else is just yet.