Oh man, that’s amazing, Colby Rasmus.
Last night was, for Rasmus, “a career night: a five-for-five performance, one that saw his wOBA rise from .304 to .326, and his wRC+ rise from 89 to 104, on the season,” as our old friend Navin at NotGraphs put it. And, as you might expect, he was all business in doing so, as you can see in a GIF of his home run trot in Navin’s post.
Tonight against the lefty Quintana, though, it’s going to be a little tougher. That creep can roll.
But Rasmus remains in the two spot, with Brett Lawrie still leading off. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it– which apparently is also the Jays’ philosophy when it comes to Edwin Encarnacion’s injury. HEYO! The artist formerly known as E5 remains out.
Scuttlebutt
Speaking of the Colbster (note: huh?), Scott Carson of Sportsnet writes that Rasmus finally looks like he’s finding his comfort zone. “ In fact, Buck Martinez commented that he was playing behind Rasmus’ group at Monday’s Jays Care Foundation golf tournament and he was loose and having a good time with his corporate playing partners, something he’s not shown much of since arriving.”
Mike Cormack of Sportsnet tweets an Andrew Tinnish comment from his spot on the Fan 590 pre-game show, where he says that “Some of the seniors that we’ve taken, we’ve already agreed to terms and signed.” Cormack adds that “he did not provide any names.”
But don’t start thinking that the Jays are the only team with some curiously quick deals supposedly in place. Fox Sports Houston, via the always awesome Baseball Think Factory Newsblog, reports that Houston owner Jim Crane reports that his club has already agreed on a deal with top pick Carlos Correa.
Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets an update from John Farrell on Edwin Encarnacion. “We didn’t even put a bat in his hand today. There’s still some swelling,” Farrell says, “and we don’t want to re-aggravate things.”
And for your between-inning viewing pleasure, here’s today’s edition of Getting Blanked…
TV: Sportsnet
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
B. Lawrie 3B
C. Rasmus CF
J. Bautista RF
J. Arencibia C
Y. Escobar SS
K. Johnson 2B
Y. Gomes 1B
D. Cooper DH
R. Davis LF
B. Morrow RHP
Chicago White Sox
A. De Aza CF
G. Beckham 2B
A. Dunn DH
D. Viciedo LF
A. Rios RF
A. Pierzynski C
A. Ramirez SS
T. Flowers 1B
O. Hudson 3B
J. Quintana LHP
Image via Jonathan Daniel/Getty.
Grey on grey Unis tonight.
Let go get’em.
I love that you love these so much
me thinks farrell is getting too cute with his lineups..behold the worst cleanup hitter on the jays since kevin millar
With 2 hits so far tonight…he can hardly be called the worst since Millar.
If hear Rasmus has hit .500 in the 2 spot one more time….
Random Jays stat du jour: Jays have been 3 games over .500 at each of the 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 game marks. So I guess they’re…um…consistent?
Zoom Zoom Zoom!
No Jays feed on DirecTV tonight. Hawk Harrelson makes me want to eat a gun.
It’s not an acquired taste.
Kinda like a shit sandwich without the onions.
And that’s why Lawrie batting leadoff is a shitty idea.
But he’s got ‘energy’ and he ‘makes thing happen’ !!!!
Not really, he waited until 2 outs 2 strikes to try to make something happen, what you want from a speedy lead off hitter, he’s on base and was patient
Confido is right
I would expect a good leadoff hitter to read pitchers a bit better and not to go on the first move.
Also, given that both Bautista and JPA are basically all-or-nothing hitters at this point, stealing isn’t incredibly useful in that situation.
Finally, given the number of baserunning blunders Lawrie has made this season, his ass should be stapled to whatever base he’s currently occupying. That’s obviously not an ideal scenario for a leadoff hitter.
I would hit him seventh or eighth until he rediscovers his power and then move him up to fifth or sixth.
You’re projecting other issues, he shouldn’t be there, but nothing was wrong with going on first move with 2 strikes and 2 outs.
On a lefty wtih a good move, you go on first movement.
JP leading off next inning, yes!
I have a feeling that there will be a can of woopass opened up tonight..
On whom? ON WHOM
Damn O-Dawg, why you gotta be like that?
Sure looks like morrow is locking in early. The Sox dont look to have any clue whats coming…
Anyway to get rid of those annoying Mcdonalds banners on Gameday? One on each side cant even see the pitcher and hitter stats, ads cover it up….
adblock
More to the point, are you getting hungry?
Im a very weak individual, they will eventually wear me down. Damn those corporate guys are smart.
Can i get a picture of that stupid fucking face pierzynski was making
Feels like it’s going to be one of those frustrating coulda shoulda games.
That’s what last night felt like….until it wasnt
Buck Martinez`s body odor. Discuss.
just use the game day mini then
Was anyone else quite surprised the team didn’t take McCullers in the draft? I thought he was a lock after Giolito was taken.
I was surprised, heard nothing but good things about him…
that being said i heard good things about literally everyone.
that was pretty slick by hudson, but i bet lawrie makes that same play without having to leave his feet.
O-dog killing em, just killing – nice to see his D just not here, not now
He’s a good’un.
Agreed.
Nice gameday mini….sweet. I never seen that before. thanks.
Gameday mini is good … also Gameday Classic is still available by clicking near the top right of the Gameday screen. It dials back the ads but still gives you all the info.
Damn Morrow is looking OK.
Gregg Zaun just tweeted me. I’m pleased.
Ask him when I can come back
Anyone else miss Buerhle – Doc 2 hour matchups?
Those games are what baseball needs more of.
Agreed. Good pitching and defense is always beautiful to see. I’ll cheer for O-Dog’s defense even though I want the Jays to win.
Comparatively, I hate it when the other team gets a lot of hits!
Agree. When Frasor is out there I wish for a pitch clock even if he is a Blue Jay.
Love the shift!
The shift loves Lawrie.
Could Dunn have touched the bag any slower
I’m (pleasantly) surprised Bautista gloved that.
Thats Gregg Zaun, reporting for Kandahar
from.. obv
That Cooper fella that seems to be missin his chin there is quite the baserunner!
Cooper’s new nickname
Lightbulb head
That’s more awkward than his baserunning.
It’ll never fly baby.
That looked like a pretty poor call at second there… Not that you could tell from that replay.
Hmm looked safe to me.
That was the most awkward slide ever
You got it–he loses several points for lack of style.
I don’t think Rasmus has ever been described as awkward before….
Only when he is forced to smile.
his facial hair is awkward
Is that what that is? I thought he had Ebola of the face or something…
Morrow has the nasty stuff going tonight. He’s hitting his spots so well.
Cletus also looks dirty. He got jobbed on the play at second – but good for him to smack one with a guy on second.
That Escobar has a cannon for an arm. There’s another guy who could probably convert to pitcher.
I don’t think escobar has the fortitude to be a pitcher
You mean strength of character?….Ok maybe closer…..
Then we’d need Santos to play SS.
who?
The one they call…. Sergio
Sarcasm…
That was… crushed…
Damn, that was 50 rows back.
Jesus that was a fast HR.
forgive him father, he knew not what he threw
why is mike mccoy sitting in the stands?
Don’t know but better in the stands than on the field.
Surprised Hudson didn’t leap 10 feet in the air to rob JP there
Jose!
JPA hits another low pitch for a base hit.
cooper runs like bert
Yeah, Bert the turtle
Time to Duck and Cover
That’s gold, Oscars Hair! GOLD!
so why didn’t alex pick up this quintana guy, 23 year old lefty for nothing?
escobar sure grounds into a lot of dps
Should put him leadoff where there’s nobody on base
So, 2 more seasons until Morrow will have 0 walks per 9 innings.
Does anyone know the URL to download Jays Talk every night?
Why do you want to listen to that
why don’t you just download a picture of wilner and stick it on your ceiling
Wilner is on itunes now. Look for blue Jays talk or Mike Wilner. It’s hilarious to listen to especaly after a loss.
Morrow has broken Sox broadcasters’ will. Nice consolation for having to listen to them.
Red Sox lose
Still only 1 base runner allowed. Wow.
Take out the disaster 0.2 innings in Texas and the Lind-related 5th inning disaster against Tampa Bay, Morrow has only 4 ER in his last 48 innings for a tidy 0.75 ERA. Cherry picking and arbitrary endpoints withstanding, that is tasty.
fuck cooper makes hitting look easy, keep him away from murph
Another hit for Bland Ichiro. He just keeps making contact. His outs yesterday were hard hit balls too.
Bland Ichiro!
Spectacularly unspectacular. Or if you’d rather, unspectacularly spectacular. He can hit though.
So, are we buying into Cooper yet?
Wilner calls him the new Overbay & bashes fans who hated Overbay in his last few years with the team.
Wilner forgets that after Overbay hurt his wrist, his power numbers went down. He took too many
3rd pitch called strikes.
His defense was still above average, but the Jays were paying him 7 million per year for that.
If Cooper is Overbay lite at 480K per year, the Jays can spend the extra cash on a starting pitcher.
overbay only 2/5 years opsing over 800
“Bland Ichiro” has two opposite field home runs already this year, and he turned around that 98 mph fastball pretty nicely.
Rasmus gets hit 0-2 and still pissed haha
Rasmus was really really leaning in there when he got hit by that pitch.
I like to listen to it on the way to work. Anybody helpful here?
U talkin bout radio or vid streams? For the latter I’m at vipbox dot tv … where I have the audio mute because it’s Hawk Harrelson.
Hey watch it, fool!
I’m laughing at the Plug LOOGY beaking the stud CF
Come on….seriously.
I don’t always hit home runs
But when I do, I prefer the bases empty
-Jose Bautista
You have the best name of any poster on this site. I giggle every time I see it! Keep up the good work.
Anybody got that Cooper kid’s number? I gotta warn him that number won base is hardder then it loocks. Do yer krunchees.
“I hate Canada”
-Random Guy in crowd
Memo to Farrell:
If you’re thinking of yanking Morrow, DO NOT put in Coco.
ADNO
Don’t think Morrow’s coming out of this game.
John Farrell:
I rarely pull a pitcher who’s got a one-hitter going.
But when I do, I prefer to roll out Coco.
stay thirsty my friend!
wow by tomorrow the jays could be 1 back
Every day I say this, but why does it feel like the jays break 3 times as many bats as any other team?
all jays hug the plate? taking inside pitches? not canadian wood?
fuck u rios hahaha
Whoo, Rios!
That’s the dumdum Rios I remember.
I love Rios (as long as he’s not on my team)
“and Rios drops it again” —- priceless.
E9!
Oh good I was worried there wouldn’t be a runner to strand this inning.
Alex ” who gives a fuck” rios!!
The very same.
oooh karen! you are hot.. are you drunk tonight?
what a stud JPA is…from the knees!!
Loved it. Although Sox fans must have puked at that play.
the ball was helicoptering toward rios, give him a break
Sorry–zero tolerance, none deserved.
I got the reference grouchy…helicopter…very good!
Too obtuse for me I guess. Google helped out though.
the sox got 3 of our players, maybe they’ll take lind off our hands too
good that flowers kid is big, he mighta got beat up in school
Like that little punk Frankie Flowers…
Yup, he’s coming back out for the ninth.
just have to mention it again for my humour. state farm is still fucking me over on my lost income benefits. and either them or TD insurance had an investigator represent themselves asmy lawyers firm in a private phone call with me. they had alot of information that they shouldnt have.dirty play even by skank standards.buyer beware when choosing your insurance.they lost a billion last year and are not paying out legitimate claims and my car ins went up 40% in a yr
Piss poor neighbours , I’d say…..
no my neighbours dont even see me.they had divorce court info, private phone #, name change info. they were seeking income and if i was working on the side. representing my lawyers interferes with my communicating with them. filed a complaint with state farm and informed them of the damage coming from posting online on MLB and every north american newspaper board every day. fuck em all.dirty bastards
HEY Zeus you missed that….state farm….”like a good neighbour”…except they’re not…
sorry, im on percs. and i thought you had experience with insurance.they are known for getting investigators to question neighbours.my family has had alot of crippling accidents.4 of us have been hit by trucks and my sister got hit by 3 at once
Look both ways.
I think he was referring to State Farm being your neighbor, because of their catchy “like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” ad campaign. But, maybe I’m wrong…
haha none of the accidents were our fault. in one yr the family had 12 accidents and 2 houses burnt down. my girlfriends daughters had 4 themselves. all innocent and everyone is afraid to go out.only 1 dead though.
Holy fuckin’ shit! You’re not related to McGowan are you?
The Toronto Blue Jays is the best 4th Place team in baseball, period.
4th place in baseball is okay ,4th in ALE is different.
I don’t know blue jays is pretty good but oriols is better
fuck off parkes!
So two hits tonight against lefties.
Cooper just keeps on doing it. And against what looks like good pitching too.
so much for vlad
imagine what the jays record would be with the sox arms
Imagine what the Jays record would be if they played in the Sox’s division
probably about the same
fuck santiago works as slow as frasor…
In Canada a base hit will soon be called a Cooper.
Yes I know it’s a low-quality stat and SSS but Cooper’s BA is .366. Ingoddamncredible.
Rajai “Babe” Davis.
Fucking Rajai drills it
What an AB!
Shit, Davis will be useless for a couple of weeks now.
“Reminds me of Rickey Henerson”- Gregg Zaun.
*Henderson. Ruins the whole thing.
rajai: i used to play with with a guy that wore a hardhat at first base.
olerud: ya rajai, that was me
My favourite-
Rickey gets on bus
Tony Gwynn: “Rickey, take my seat, you’ve got tenure.”
Rickey Henderson: “Ten years? Rickey’s got 15, 20 years now.”
Rajai!
WTF is up with Davis this year? Lol
One off his career high already
Rajai Davis
Who is this man?
Rajai Davis, power hitter
rajai has half the hr of pujols. amazing
I don’t always hit home runs
But when I do, I do it in thoroughly improbable fashion
- Rajai Davis
+5000
Man you have to wonder why a team like the White Sox didn’t take a shot at Lind seeing as who they’ve had play first since Konerko has been out.
From your lips to CWS management’s ear. Just don’t let them send Rios back to us.
I’d take Rios back in Left in Sox ate a large chunk of his contract.
I can’t imagine the fan base warming to him again; I couldn’t.
No you’re probably right. I still think he’s reasonably talented it’s his motivation that’s the huge question mark which is why he’d have to be cheap.
Laffey is getting warmed up in the pen… in vegas
I didn’t think Rajai would be a bigger homerun threat than Lawrie.
Hey, can I tongue punch your mom’s fart box?
Turn away for a sucking and Rajai parks one. Cooper/Rajai =Mantle/Maris
jeez, turn away for a second. honestly, nothing freudian
Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think!
espn game threat has 2300 posts!
Add one healthy Rajai + Murphy effect = Jose light!! Quite tasty too lol