[GDT] Jays Series Thread - VS Rays April 17-19

[Gozer]

All 5pm starts

Tue: Romero vs Neimann
Wed: Morrow vs Price
Thu: Alvarez vs Hellickson

[dustyanddaflames]

Very tough pitching matchups for the Jays... Price and Hellickson are about as good as you are going to get in the AL East.

Jays 5-2
Rays 6-3
Rays 5-4

[Tyler]

Hopefully Bautista can get back on track here soon.

Very pleased with EE's play so far. Keep him off the field!

[Tyler]

Good article on Jays' optimal batting order:

http://jaysjournal.com/2012/04/16/bl...-optimization/

[flames_1987]

Rays avoid the Sweep from the Sox winning 1-0 today.

Rays rotation is great, so you're going to be in tough every time. Rays dominated the Jays last season if I remember.

[flames_1987]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Good article on Jays' optimal batting order:

http://jaysjournal.com/2012/04/16/bl...-optimization/

John Farrell has shuffled the lineup quite a bit to start the 2012 season, but he has not gone far enough. Farrell needs to recognize the inability of some of his lefty bats to hit left-handed pitching. Specifically Lind, who has had more than enough big league at-bats to prove his platoon split deficiency.

Lind has been benched Vs every left hand starter the Jays have faced so far if memory serves me correctly.

[Caged Great]

The jays really need to start looking around the league for a quality 1st baseman or convince Bautista to go there full time. Lind is terrible and I cannot wait until he's gone.

JPA and Lind are the only two guys who I could see getting replaced between now and next season among the position players (D'Arnaud is almost ready)

I'm not exactly sure what you would trade those guys for because we're pretty well set every where else. Maybe those guys for a good 1B prospect or something (we've got major depth in the minors except at 1B)

That way both Snider and D'Arnaud could make an appearance later in the year.

[Caged Great]

One thing I've been surprised at is the caliber of starting pitching that we've been getting thus far. Drabek and Alvarez have looked equivalent to Morrow and Romero thus far. I'm hoping that it isn't a flash in the pan kind of thing. Would be nice to finally have the starting rotation problem not be the #1 problem with the team.

[zukes]

The Jays have struggled against Tampa since forever. Keeping in mind that the Rays were just gawd awful for most of their first years, have a look at their season by season records against the (Devil) Rays (according to baseball reference):

'98 7-5
'99 8-5
'00 7-5
'01 10-9
'02 11-8
'03 8-11
'04 9-9
'05 11-8
'06 12-6
'07 9-9
'08 7-11
'09 4-14
'10 8-10
'11 6-12

All time 117-122. That is pretty damning against a team with an all-time .447 winning percentage.

That being said, now is the time to turn the tables.

Jays win at least 2 of 3.

[Otsy]

The most favorable of the three pitching matchups for the Jays is today, so hopefully they start the series off right. Really looking forward to Morrow/Price tomorrow. That has pitcher duel written all over it.

[The Big Chill]

Jose with a deep shot!

[ballin]

that was a bomb

[flames_1987]

The best bat in the AL! What a bomb.

[KelVarnsen]

Some pretty good D by the Jays so far

[flames_1987]

A very calming effect watching Romero pitch, gives me the same type of confidence watching Doc when he was a Jay.

[flames_1987]

Niemann is dealing tonight. Thank god the Rays don't have a lot of fans or $$$.

[The Big Chill]

Looking at the stats would suggest that Lawrie is swinging the bat much better then Rasmus, but really I think Rasmus is swinging considerably better. It's a funny game sometimes.

[flames_1987]

#Rays Maddon on facing #BlueJays: "In a lot of ways it is like looking in a mirror right now. I'm not looking forward to it. They're good."

[flames_1987]

Well at least JP got on base.............

[flames_1987]

Let's Go Jose!