Izturis at short, Bonifacio at second in today's lineup again vs. the left-hander.   Bonifacio does hit left-handers better than right-handers, but it is questionable whether the defensive cost over Kawasaki/Izturis is worth it.  Morrow is a fly-ball pitcher; that can work in Boston if the wind is blowing in, but otherwise a poor infield defence and a fly-ball pitcher is a recipe for the 3 run homer. 

Never mind.  It's a home game.  The issues are pretty similar at the RC, and it's not as though a defensive outfield of Cabrera/Rasmus/Bautista is any great shakes right now either.  Maybe Morrow will regain his mojo with the return of the sun to Toronto.

Why Bonifacio is playing anywhere other than Buffalo at the moment is one of life's enduring mysteries.  I suppose not being a Rogers subscriber or shareholder makes it a little easier to take, as it's not my money being flushed down the drain.

A big series, obviously. A Toronto sweep would put a sizeable dent in Boston's sizeable lead. A Boston sweep would put the Jays' season in serious jeopardy. You know Farrell and the Red Sox are motivated.

The Blue Jays need to start playing disciplined baseball. And while they're at it, perhaps they can shelve the bunt for a series.

I really don't like the camera view Sportsnet uses from behind home plate. I can't see the ball. I watch a lot of games on MLB TV and I don't see any other team's broadcasted games using this camera angle. Is anyone else annoyed by this or is it just me?

I mentioned this before about the behind the plate camera - the new centre field hitters eye is being used for virtual ads. It's a revenue source, which, like the mid-inning commercials, annoys the hell out of customers just trying to watch the game.

I would be happy if Toronto got someone, whatever they had to give up, who could get out Pedroia and Ortiz. Even if they couldn't get out anyone else.

Buck Martinez insists on calling Rasmus "Erasmus". Jack Morris is no great analyst but better than I would have guessed and miles easier to take than Tabler.

This is disturbing. Former first round pick Jake Eliopoulos has died at age 21. No cause of death disclosed, and I would want to discourage any speculation.

This is unbelievable. I'm not too sure why I continue to subject myself to this everyday. Yesterday was a glorious day wasn't it?

Why is it that JP can't relay signs to his pitchers? It's almost May.

Not much doubt that off-days are the best days for Blue Jays baseball right about now.

I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. It's not just the continual mistakes. I'm finding I don't enjoy the Jays' brand of baseball very much. I don't enjoy watching Arencibia catch. I don't know - maybe I would feel differently if Reyes was healthy.

Oh, that's why I subject myself to this. Edwin is locked in seeing the ball very well right now (understatement).

More importantly why did he call for another fastball on an 0-2 count to Pedroia with runners on? Pedroia was all over the fastball he'd seen several in a row. Morrow had two pitches to "waste". Arencibia couldn't call a game to save his life. Free Thole!!

Not the prettiest win but it's nice to see at least one player getting super hot (Encarnacion). It goes without saying that he carried us today, but the rest of the offence was decent as well.

I feel that everyone was ice cold at the beginning of the season. It's unlikely that it will continue like that at the very least.

Well that was a pleasant turn of events. More than two whole days without a loss - let's hope May marks a turning of the page on more than just the calendar.

With 9 hits, 3 walks and a hit batter, that's decent offense. 96 pitches over 5 innings with 2HR indicates Morrow's "dead arm" period might be over, even though he should be better than this. Aaron Loup is either not very good, or not fooling anyone. He needs to go down when Sergio Santos returns, maybe he'll solve his woes then.

Aaron Loup faced seven batters. The first four were righthanded batters. He gave up one jumbo home run to Gomes, but also "fooled" two of the seven: Mike Napoli and Stephen Drew. He would have pitched two complete innings with just one earned run with a reasonable defensive effort behind him. He threw 30 pitches; 20 were strikes.

Loup blew the save and without a much needed comeback was destined to be the Losing Pitcher. He has one pitch he throws almost always, while forgetting he has other pitches to throw. His recent track record is poor, I think only Buehrle been worse. Defend him all you want, he's not pitching well a lot lately.

The signs I kind of get. Butterfield may know them, guy on 2nd, maybe changed to prevent stealing them, misunderstandings can arise.

But watching Izturis once again prove less than competent at 2nd was maddening. We probably can't ditch him, because he's also the backup shortstop (shudder). Bt the sooner Bonifacio is replaced with someone else, the happier I'll be. And if they can replace Izturis, they should. We got him for his defense. That isn't supposed to have slumps - he's just not as advertised.

One has to wonder about the scouting of Izturis, Boni, and Cabrera. Which is really worrying, given the organization's focus on that.

Loup didn't "blow the save" - Kawasaki got a tailor-made double play ball to end the inning and couldn't make a decent 20 ft throw.

At one point in the game no other member of the starting 9 had a higher OBP than Rajai - the guy who took an entire month to get his first walk.

The Boxscore credits Loup with a blown save. So LOUP BLEW THE SAVE. The missed double play means Loup put on the guy on 1st and made a poor pitch again. Loup is supposed to be good enough to not let runners get on base.

It's a likely indicator that you're being held to an unreasonable standard when you induce what should have been a double play ball and it's characterized as "a poor pitch."

Richard, give your head a shake and use some common sense. He's did his job, you can't expect a pitcher to get 4 outs in an inning.

Loup didn't "blow the save" - Kawasaki got a tailor-made double play ball to end the inning and couldn't make a decent 20 ft throw. 

Even if they had turned the doubleplay, Loup was not going to stick around long enough for the save. To give someone a blown save that early in the game is ludicrous. That stat should be reserved for pitchers who are in the game specifically to get a save. If you want to give Loup a blown hold, deserved or otherwise, at least that makes some sense.

Loup is supposed to be good enough to not let runners get on base.

Is that where we're setting the bar now? The team may need a whole new pitching staff then. I think they've allowed baserunners.

Loup blew the save and without a much needed comeback was destined to be the Losing Pitcher.

Well, maybe in AAA he can work on the defense behind him.

I thought Loup looked reasonably sharp. He's been a valuable bullpen arm. I wonder whether he's at risk of being overused, though. He's on pace to pitch 84 innings, which would have been top-4 in all of baseball in 2012.

The Boxscore credits Loup with a blown save.

It most certainly doesn't. (Where did you find this "box score" that you speak of?) When you leave the game with a 6-4 lead, you can hardly be given a blown save. Duh. There was a blown save last night, and it went to the guy who replaced Loup with a two run lead and two men on base; the guy who then walked the bases loaded and gave up the three-run double that put the team behind. Delabar really would have been the losing pitcher, and he's the guy charged with blowing the save. You'll find him in the actual box score, he was the winning pitcher. Go figure.

"I really don't like the camera view Sportsnet uses from behind home plate. I can't see the ball. I watch a lot of games on MLB TV and I don't see any other team's broadcasted games using this camera angle. Is anyone else annoyed by this or is it just me?"

Incredibly annoyed. When you combine poor visuals with horrendous commentators you force some fans to go watch the visitor's broadcast every game.

So can we agree that the save (and blown save) is a terrible stat?

I watched a bit of the Astro-Yankee game after the Jays game, it was a good example of how managers let the save stat manage them. It was the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees were up 7-2, Houston rallied for two runs with two out. Now with the score 7-4, a runner on base and the tying run on deck, it became a save situation. Of course out came Rivera to get the one-out save. I wouldn't consider that a high leverage situation.

It most certainly doesn't. (Where did you find this "box score" that you speak of?) When you leave the game with a 6-4 lead, you can hardly be given a blown save.

To be fair I believe you can be credited with both a blown save and a win - the two aren't mutually exclusive. The whole system is fairly nonsensical though (such as being able to blow a save in the seventh).

Loup has an interesting minor and major league career to date, statistically.  He was a successful, but not overpowering, minor league reliever and made the jump from AA to the majors.  In the minor leagues, he had a K rate of about 8/9IP, a walk rate of about 3/9IP most years and a HR rate of about .7.  His BABIP was .320 once he reached the higher minors.  In the major leagues, he has struck out fewer, walked fewer and last night's homer was the first of his major league career.  He gets a lot of ground balls.  All of this means that his success depends on the quality of the defence behind him. He has had significant platoon splits.

I am perfectly comfortable with him coming into face Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz in the 7th or 8th inning with a 1 or 2 run lead (actually more comfortable than having Darren Oliver do this); I am not comfortable with him in to face Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli...Or if it is just Ellsbury or Ortiz, that is fine too.

This has been one of the hardest months of Blue Jays baseball to endure, ever. (And I was a functional adult in 1987.) Of course, some ups and downs are to be expected in a long season, but there's a very real possibility that the Jays might be out of contention already. (Unless they win 5 in a row or something, and make me look stupid in the process. I am willing to look stupid, if that's what it takes.) We were all promised jet packs and flying cars!

I can't guess what is actually happening to the Blue Jays, but I see four factors:

- Bad luck. The Jays are 3-7 in one-run games. Of course, they've been clobbered a couple of times, so their Pythagorean projection is dead on, but still. Turn the 3-7 into 7-3, and they would be 14-13 right now.

- Pressing. Extra super pressing with maple sugar on top. When a team is last in the league in runs scored, second-last in batting average, but third in home runs, it's quite possible that they're trying to hit a home run every time up.

- Weather. It's been cruddy. We had freezing rain in mid-April, and I don't think the temperature was above average once all month. It's hard to really be in a baseball state of mind when the weather is more suited to ice skating or staying inside and drinking warm beverages.

- Jose Reyes. He was supposed to be the sparkplug that ignited the offense. He's not there. It's not igniting. Nuff said.

At least Encarnacion and Bautista seem to have rediscovered their swings. If only anyone could get on base ahead of them. Now would be a great time for Brett Lawrie to discover the value of patience.

Just remember, it could be worse.  Anaheim..err..LA Angels are now 9-17 vs the Jays 10-17. 

Josh Hamilton, their big free agent has a 55 OPS+.  Every last pitcher who has started a game has an ERA+ below 100.  Joe Blanton has a 54.  Their top 5 relievers are well over 100 each, but every other pitcher is sub.  That is out of 18 pitchers used, just like the Jays who have one starter doing well (Happ at 111) and 7 relievers over 100 (all the guys with more than 2 appearances). 

Jays are listed at Cot's as being at $119 million, Angels at $137 million.  Both frustrated, both having big off season guys stinking up the joint, both hoping April was just an illusion.

Vernon Wells cursed both clubs, and now he's probably going to lead the Yankees to another World Series title.

Vernon Wells cursed both clubs

New Rule: No dancing in the street when someone is traded away. Ever. No matter how much you hated his contract (Toronto) or how poorly he played for you (Anaheim.) These things have a half-life....

you can be credited with both a blown save and a win

Indeed - Delabar got both last night. Which means only that as problematic as the Save rule can be, the ones that designate someone a Winning Pitcher are often just as weird.

you can be credited with both a blown save and a win

Indeed - Delabar got both last night. Which means only that as problematic as the Save rule can be, the ones that designate someone a Winning Pitcher are often just as weird.

How does that happen? Well, while I'm lamenting the double post - I'd bet that a not insignificant number of games in which a team's Closer records a Win also sees first record a Blown Save.

New Rule: No dancing in the street when someone is traded away.

Also: No booing unless there's a legit reason for it. Alex Rios gets booed every time he sets foot in the Dome, and he keeps turning that hate into home runs.

Hey, I've got an idea. Let's abolish Pitcher Wins and Pitcher Losses. Don't just ignore them, don't just mock people who cite them like they mean anything at all - banish them from the earth forever.

It's so hard, Alex.  Just last night, Jack Morris was saying that Lester had been rocked around pretty good in the early going but hung in there long enough (got the mute button just in time...)  It did aggravate my trigger thumb injury, but it was worth the price.

I've learned to space out when that kind of insight seems imminent. I actually have enjoyed listening to Morris when he's been in there.

Morris is tolerable. Tabler is....what does Tabler add to the broadcast? I can't think of anything.

Tabby has a tree-mendous gift for mispronouning.

In my limited experience, I found Morris generally insightful, but not particularly animated or enthusiastic - it seemed like his co-hosts have to prompt & prod him for commentary. Maybe that will improve with time.

Tabler would be easier to take if he wasn't paired with Buck, who is also excessively optimistic & generally superficial.

I miss Alan Ashby.