Aug. 6-9: Blue Jays vs. Yankees Series Thread

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by browna

^Am sure they have more moves to make over the next months to address more arms.

Sounds like a character guy to add to the bench, and maybe Travis is out longer than expected.

Yup.

“He’s making progress, but I was hoping maybe next week he’d be ready to go,” said manager John Gibbons. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Travis, 24, returned to the disabled list on July 29 with a recurrence of the shoulder injury that kept him out of the lineup for 36 games from May 17 to June 25.

“I guess it’s just a lot like the first go round,” said Gibbons. “We didn’t think it was going to take that long, but it did.”

[KelVarnsen]

I honestly haven't missed Travis.

[Racki]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

I honestly haven't missed Travis.

Not really eh? I love his bat in this lineup but Goins has been pretty decent lately offensively and his glove is elite.

[Galakanokis]

I really want Goins to succeed here in Toronto but I don't see it happening. Travis will get his spot back regardless of how well Goins is playing. His glove is to good to be a situational player and his hitting seems to be coming around. Just no room for him. Good problem I guess.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Barry Davis ‏@SNBarryDavis 3m3 minutes ago
Gibbons says he was thrown out after simply saying to home plate ump "can I talk to you"? #bluejays

The case of umpires having way too much power. You can't talk to them, can't argue with them even if they made a huge mistakes. I must have seen at least 90% of managers/players get thrown out of the game for talking/arguing with the umpires. I am all for throwing someone out if they were physical with the umpire but just talking or arguing or in this case Gibbons was not even close to the umpire yet. Just stupid power tripping.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

I really want Goins to succeed here in Toronto but I don't see it happening. Travis will get his spot back regardless of how well Goins is playing. His glove is to good to be a situational player and his hitting seems to be coming around. Just no room for him. Good problem I guess.

Above average glove but is still a relatively weak hitter. The league has a ton of players like that who are pretty much bench players their entire career unless they play on a bad team. Goins is going to have success in the majors, but it will almost exclusively be as a bench player, so why not Toronto? He's your backup middle infielder who you can throw into tight games in the late innings as a defensive upgrade. He can contribute now and then with the bat, but if he ever learned how to be a strong situational hitter/bunter, then he might have the shot at an everyday job. IMO, the reason he's not a regular is that his OBP is too low. He's around .290 this year, but that's not good enough for a bat that has almost no extra base power in it. He's still a career .258 OBP. That's not nearly good enough to be an every day player so he's best suited to the bench/backup role.

[savemedrzaius]

Hopefully they can keep this going. By the sounds of it they had been pretty unlucky hte last few months.

April: 122 runs scored, 115 runs allowed (plus-7)
May: 146 runs scored, 128 runs allowed (plus-18)
June: 156 runs scored, 96 runs allowed (plus-60)
July: 126 runs scored, 107 runs allowed (plus-19)

Even when the Blue Jays were playing sub-.500 ball, they were regularly outscoring opponents overall. That's held up so far this month, when they've outscored opposing teams by a 45-22 margin -- i.e, the Blue Jays are scoring two runs for every one run they allow. That's a pretty effective way to narrow a considerable division gap.

On the season, Toronto has scored 595 runs and allowed 468, putting them 127 in the black. That's an average advantage of 1.13 runs per game. The next-best mark in the league is the Astros', with fewer than three-quarters of a run per game.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...urge-say-stats

[Strange Brew]

A Jays vs. Astros playoff series would be a dream for me. At this point, I have more confidence the Jays will make it.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Now for a random segment; Three Bluejays I remember liking in my younger Jays watching days..........

I'll bite...

#1: Paul Quantrill


Just a good ol' Canadian boy who was Mr. Reliable every season on some really sketchy Jays teams. Still remember the year he pitched in over half the games. Just a ridiculous accomplishment.

#2: Shannon Stewart


It took quite a while by my recollection to find another suitable candidate at leadoff. Stewart was tremendous and a beauty by all accounts as well. Was extremely happy to see him get a chance to end his career in TO.

#3: Brad Fullmer



This guy could be the posterchild for the steroid era. Just a monster, always had a big fat wad of chew in. I remember thinking it was so cool when I was younger that he played on both the Expos and Jays.

On the irrationally hate list:
Esteban Loaiza.

[JiriHrdina]

The first favorite Jay I had was Mookie Wilson. I don't even know why - but he was the guy that I picked as a kid to be my favorite guy. I used to model my own swing after him in little league and would bring my lower lip above my upper lip like he did.

Kelly Gruber was a big deal too - the first and one of only two guys to hit the cycle (Jeff Frye being the other).

And Jimmy Key is probably my all time favorite Jays pitcher.

[ben voyonsdonc]

I always liked Todd Stottlemyre.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Hopefully they can keep this going. By the sounds of it they had been pretty unlucky hte last few months.



http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...urge-say-stats

Their PDO was unsustainably lucky

[transplant99]

No one has really touched on it...but in hindsight I wonder why AA released Valencia when he turns around and acquires Penington yesterday?

Valencia seemingly is as versatile as CP but crushes him in the offense department.

Just sort of a weird decision when you add it all up, unless there were clubhouse issues with DV which seems unlikely.

[GirlySports]

Tony Fernandez was my favorite Blue Jay. Glad they got him back for the 93 run.

I was even mad when he made the critical error to lose the 97 World Series for Cleveland.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by transplant99

No one has really touched on it...but in hindsight I wonder why AA released Valencia when he turns around and acquires Penington yesterday?

Valencia seemingly is as versatile as CP but crushes him in the offense department.

Just sort of a weird decision when you add it all up, unless there were clubhouse issues with DV which seems unlikely.

Valencia isn't even close to comparable to guys like CP. In the parlance of some on here when comparing players, when we talk defense and their flexibility in the field, it's like Valencia <<<<<<< CP.

Valencia is not serviceable anywhere but 3B (maybe). CP has played 3B, SS, 2B, and LF this year. He can spell off a huge number of players if/when they need a break down the stretch.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Tony Fernandez was my favorite Blue Jay. Glad they got him back for the 93 run.

I was even mad when he made the critical error to lose the 97 World Series for Cleveland.

Ed Sprague has to be my favorite "not on the Blue Jays' Mount Rushmore" player, by far.

Robbie Alomar has to be in the conversation for that list (at least). I know it's nothing unique to say that he's my favorite, but he was just the best. I loved when he mockingly did that tomahawk chop crossing the plate against the stupid Braves in '92. Joe Carter's home run in '93 was obviously huge and can't be topped (I don't think), but Alomar's against Eckersley in '92 was almost as massive.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Antithesis

Valencia isn't even close to comparable to guys like CP. In the parlance of some on here when comparing players, when we talk defense and their flexibility in the field, it's like Valencia <<<<<<< CP.

Valencia is not serviceable anywhere but 3B (maybe). CP has played 3B, SS, 2B, and LF this year. He can spell off a huge number of players if/when they need a break down the stretch.

Valencia played 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF for the Jays times this season.

I don't think he was a liability defensively, at least that I remember. Maybe CP is better though? I honestly have no idea.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Valencia played 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF for the Jays times this season.

I don't think he was a liability defensively, at least that I remember. Maybe CP is better though? I honestly have no idea.

Valencia was well below average defensively at many of those positions. From what I've read and heard, CP is a significant improvement defensively. I believe I even heard the term "not even serviceable" to describe Valencia's defense at 2B and other positions. I think when you have an offense like this, you go with defense in your utility positions. Especially when you have defensive muckers like Colabello on the bench, and Navarro as well (more in terms of lack of positional flexibility).

[transplant99]

All time faves is hard for me....lots of the guys I liked the most were on mediocre to bad teams, though Alomar, Borders, White and Jack Morris were among my besties on the WS teams.

Guys like Jesse Barfield, Alfredo Griffin, Buck Martinez, Henke, Key, Wells, Gruber, Fielder, McGriff...through the 80's were always an entertaining bunch.

[Antithesis]

Oh. My. God.

I have a huge man crush on Josh Donaldson.