The Jays play the Royals tonight in Kansas City.
… yep.
Scuttlebutt
Some whiner in the Toronto Sun whines that the Jays need to stop whining, while Andy Samuelson of the Canadian Press, via the Globe and Mail, tells us that Travis Snider is turning heads in Las Vegas. Elsewhere, BlueJays.com looks at the All-Star ballot, that’s been inexplicably released two weeks into the season, and… Joey Bats! No! Apparently Jose Bautista follows Justin Bieber on Twitter.
Oh, and Parkes does a little bit of nailing life over at Getting Blanked, wishing a happy anniversary to the shit box in Boston, and passing along a video from Ted Berg that absolutely must be shown to anyone trying to quote stats at you in this part of April.
TV: Sportsnet One
And now the lineups, by way of the live box score at theScore.com. And for those of you who’ll be out and about, be sure to follow all the action on your phone with Score Mobile…
Toronto Blue Jays
Y. Escobar SS
K. Johnson 2B
J. Bautista RF
A. Lind 1B
E. Encarnacion DH
E. Thames LF
B. Lawrie 3B
C. Rasmus CF
J. Arencibia C
K. Drabek RHP
Kansas City Royals
A. Gordon LF
Y. Betancourt 2B
E. Hosmer 1B
B. Butler DH
J. Francoeur RF
M. Moustakas 3B
H. Quintero C
M. Maier CF
A. Escobar SS
L. Hochevar RHP
Image via Filminglocations.com.
Santos please stop taking years off my limited existence.
It’s all relative, I guess. I’d love him to change my grey to silver.
Niiice. Done. I can go to sleep happy.
yeah, it would not be good to lose a game in which the rally centered around alicedes escobar and betancourt
My knuckles are invisible.
How the heck did we win this game. Awesome!
Well nice comeback considering pitchers allowed 15 runners and only 3 runs. Good to scratch out games like this.
Drabek 6 walks not a good sign.
Too true, but I’d rather concentrate (on this night of a win) on Drabek’s ability to somehow navigate through their lineup into the 6th inning without self-destructing, remaining calm, allowing his team the chance to come back. I think it was pretty impressive, myself.
Progression is rarely linear. I don’t think anyone expected this year to be without set backs for Drabek. The key for me is that he kept his head throughout, kept battling and didn’t melt down on the mound… something he probably would have done last year.
Yeah but 5.1 IP’s 2 runs, is not a bad outing… 6 BB’s needs work and he knows how to fix it now as opposed to last year at this time..
Wilner is a useless hack. Guy is defensive for thing he doesnt need to be and is wrong a lot
I can’t stand listening to Jays talk anymore, his pretentious attitude towards callers really bothers me sometimes. the way he talks down to people, or completely talks over people when they’re trying to finish a thought, scolds people for calling in to vent and then treats them feel like idiots when they’re happy go lucky and over-state something by needlessly correcting everything they say.
Wilner is useless? Yikes, we won the game tonight, and 94.3 per cent of the comments on this posting were in the semi nutral to negative classification. Wonder what JPA would say?
he argued with a caller that escobar didnt stop davis from getting a good to chance to steal the base and then followed it up by saying he did attempt a steal and got thrown out. 1. Escobar swung and FOULED off the first 2 pitches. That means Davis is anchored at first regardless. 2. after 2 strikes the Royals pitched out to gun down Davis because it was his only chance to run.
Wilner decided to cut the guy calling off and recount history in completely different way basically blaming Davis and not seeing any fault in Escobar. Esocbar is knob with runners on..or just when Davis is on it seems, when including last year. It seems simple but Wilner is quick to jump on people and prays on callers inexperience of calling a radio show and their lack of confidence. Wilner is a fucking dick and Im sure many people have more stories. Id actually like a post somewhere where people can post those stories of when he was exceptionally wrong or excessively a dick. I tuned in last night for sure expecting him to defend guys poor results in a small sample size with “see so and so had a good game, small sample size, small sample size.” Hes the kind of guy that criticizes people for jumping the gun but will use his own small sample size to say a guy has come out of it. Cant complain about JPA because he got 2 or 3 hits tonight…….
I understand how you feel, and you are quite correct, but the solution is to ignore him. There is more than enough coverage of the Jays in this city to enable that, handily. Thus the problem will solve itself.
My comment about JPA was not related to his improving performance, but the chin comments he made earlier regarding his slow start to the NY twitt.
Say, do any of you fellows know where Buck gets his hair done? To heck with it, I’m gonna take the plunge!
Haircut by Flowbee (see credits at close of the show)
Watching Santos pitch, I see how ‘fresh’ his arm is – damn, he’s strong – but also, how (kind of) raw the whole package is. That club-friendly contract they got with him makes perfect sense to me, now. But I like him. He should only get better. And hopefully, be good for a long time to come.
This road trip was needed for the chemistry and whatnot of the team, I think.
I really wish we had one of those beautiful goddam outdoor parks like they have in Kansas. Or Minnesota. Or Baltimore. Or … . Sometimes I think there should be a major league rule that mandated it. (Ya, wishful thinking.)
Seeing a new young pitcher making his first start can be one of the more exciting things in baseball, for me. Looking forward to seeing Hutchison tonight.
Seeing Hochevar plunk Bautista last night and then being reminded (in the Star article today) how Bautista flipped his bat after hitting a homerun off him last year – after Hochevar had pitched him inside, just after plunking Escobar – tells us all we need to know about how shit gets taken care of, all on its own, in baseball. I kind of love that aspect of the game.
I’m starting to itch to see Snider get his shot here, again. I like Thames more than most here, I suspect, but … I think it’s time we saw Travis back here. Once and for all, with any luck.
They can open the roof and then it’s “outdoors”. I for one like the fact we don’t have to worry about a rainout of cold weather. But we’re not stuck inside a dome either if the weather is nice.
*or cold weather….
I suppose. But I like baseball outdoors. So do a lot of people, I think. More atmosphere, more fun.
And … let me guess: is your name also your work address?
I have no work address. I’m not affiliated with the Jays at all.
I’m in the SkyDome isn’t terrible group too. I think a dome is a necessity in a cold-weather city, which in April and (god-willing relevant soon enough) October and November Toronto is, and the fully-functional retractable roof remains an excellent compromise.
That’s not to say that the parks that came right after SkyDome weren’t much better, Camden and Jacobs are great, or that I wouldn’t rather go to something like the newish parks in Arizona or Houston, but I don’t think a new stadium should be all that high on the priority list.
Rogers Center looks like a pterodactyl escaped Isla Nublar, and laid an egg in the middle of Toronto.
For a guy who talks alot of shit about basing thought / opinion on fact, Wilner sure doesn’t apply that when he talks about having a dome stadium vs open air stadium.
Do you realize the very, very small percentage of games that are ultimately postponed due to rain throughout MLB each year? It is worth limiting the experience you would otherwise get in a nice outdoor/grass field stadium?
I’d love to see Rogers to build a new stadium. The SkyDome was a marvel in it’s time, but it looks like a bottle of piss compared to 90% of the other ballparks nowadays. Postponed games happen maybe 3 times a year per team (just throwing a number out there).
Two big issues: where do you put a new ballpark, and why would Rogers care to fund a new one?
Off the top of my head, I’d say the Ontario Place grounds might be a spot to consider. (And I so hate that sleazy casino idea, if that’s where they’re planning to stick it.)
And because … done right, it could be a crown jewel of the Rogers empire all the while making (even) more money for them because attendance would be near-sure to increase, I’d wager. Considering they paid near-nothing for the Skydome, and how old and out-of-date it now is … and how valuable that real estate is, making the land-switch with the gov’t not that unthinkable, it might not be all that crazy an idea for them to explore.
@511
I don’t dispute that a new ballpark could be viewed by Jays fans as a “crown jewel” to their empire, but by most, MLSE must be viewed as their crown jewel (financially, not by the performance of most teams [excluding the Marlies] being shit).
I just don’t see much motivation from Rogers to fund a new ballpark that would only house the Blue Jays. SkyDome can be changed to carry events such as MLS games, concerts, Bills (ugh), Argos, and others. A new ballpark can only hold baseball, thus would be a huge loss in revenue.
I just still can’t see them getting motivated for something like that, especially with them not even seriously considering implementing natural grass at the SD.
@ Indestructible: I know, I’m just yappin. By ‘crown jewel’ I’m imagining a physical place; an actual gem-of-a-baseball park that would look pretty on tv as well as in person … like the ones that other cities/teams have. But … I don’t expect Rogers to ever build a nice new baseball stadium just for the Blue Jays. Not if they didn’t absolutely have to.
Also … I was thinking as I was out on some errands, on a day like today, cool and overcast, the skydome sounds like a better idea than it might on one of those afternoons sitting in the 100 level on the first base side (say), in the sweltering sun, with very little breeze because of the closed-bowl design of the place. On those days, I dream of an open-air baseball park … and even remember Exhibition Stadium fondly.
Well, Beeston said on PTS a couple months ago, that exploring either a retrofit of the dome or a new stadium will be on the table in the next few years.
In the event we do see a new stadium, I think the Portlands might be a likely candidate.
There’s going to be developing it gradually over the next couple decades. There’s loads of space, and there will be an incentive to draw people into the area. I think a Rogers centre retrofit is more likely, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw a baseball stadium down there in 10 – 15 years.
@James
Port Lands could theoretically work, but it has accessibility issues–only 2 ways to get on and off–and tree huggers would be uproared if they removed one of the green sections. It’s a great idea, and one that could be more logical in the 10-15 year time frame you suggested.
@511
Fair enough dude. And I agree too. Having been to a Jays game in Boston when it was freezing, it’s a completely different experience. One that most fans I’d think would enjoy better than being inside a “humidome.”
It would be freezing in the spring and fall for a new ball park near the lake. I guess you do not remember Exhibition Stadium.
The mistake by the mlake… What?! … Goulet!!
Well, there are other possible spots, I’m sure. But … how sweet would it be on those (many more) nicer days?
As for weather issues, what do they do in New York or Minnesota when it’s damp and chilly or just plain cold? Or San Francisco at the AT&T Park where it gets DAMN chilly at times? Probably, bring a jacket. Personally, I’d do that trade-off in heartbeat.
That new monstrosity of an aquarium that’s being plunked at the bottom of the skywalk has ruined pedestiran flow on that side of the stadium.
Well its nice to see Alverez is getting some seniority around here
Wonderdful to see Drew at the MLB level. Absolutely the worst thing for him. This is a mangement decision that is not well thought out…more things can go WAY wrong than right with this move. I have lots of patients (sp) with players, but none for managers.
If you have no patience, you will become one.
Anybody see this from last night’s KC broadcast?
http://i40.tinypic.com/2rom71h.jpg
Whadda mug that Cibia’s got.
PS. Rex Hudler is brutal
HAHAHA
That is way funnier than it should be.