Holy shit, it’s more interleague baseball! And tonight it takes us– well… the Toronto Blue Jays– to the monstrosity of a boondoggle of a garish clusterfuck of a phony neighbourhood revitalization project labelled a stadium.
Hey! But at least Ricky Romero is on the hill– or the guy who looks a whole lot like the guy who Romero used to be. And with Brett Cecil and Henderson Alvarez also set to pitch this series– or… wait… does Chavez go Sunday? (Note: yes, he does)– it almost feels like one that the Jays might have a hope in hell of not needing 12 runs a game to win.
I’m sorry, I think I just puked in my mouth a little bit.
Scuttlebutt
Good news, potentially. John Lott of the National Post tweets that Drew Hutchison will not be having surgery! He also won’t be throwing for four-to-six weeks, then rehabbing, so he’s still out for a while. But if it cures what ails him, that’s terrific. Of course, if not, and he needs surgery anyway– a possibility, from what I understand– then it could be curtains for this season and next. Best of luck to Hutch for a speedy recovery.
Lott writes in the Post about the Jays’ bullpen woes, which have been contributed to significantly by their rotation woes of late. Interestingly, in the piece John Farrell confirms what many have suspected, which is that he’s intentionally underworking Darren Oliver. “He’s been so effective for us, it’s easy to call down there and say, ‘Hey, get Oliver going,’ ” Farrell says. Apparently he’s wary of putting too much strain on that 41-year-old arm.
Roster note: Shi Davidi tweets that Alan Farina, who had Tommy John surgery last year, has been reinstated from the 60-day DL. Kyle Drabek moves to the 60-day himself, clearing the 40-man spot.
Davidi also tweets some draft-pick-related stuff, quoting Alex Anthopoulos on Marcus Stroman as saying, “He’s probably the one guy I don’t know at this time the way that one’s going to go.” To go back into the draft next year as a college senior, who has no choice but to either sign with whoever chose him or go play independent ball, and therefore very little leverage in negotiations, doesn’t seem like the best option for Stroman, if you ask me. But what the hell do I know?
Negotiations with Chase DeJong, Davidi tweets, are “moving in the right direction,” according to Anthopoulos.
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
B. Lawrie 3B
C. Rasmus CF
J. Bautista RF
E. Encarnacion 1B
K. Johnson 2B
Y. Escobar SS
R. Davis LF
J. Arencibia C
R. Romero P
Miami Marlins
J. Reyes SS
H. Ramirez 3B
G. Stanton RF
J. Ruggiano CF
O. Infante 2B
A. Kearns LF
G. Sanchez 1B
J. Buck C
A. Sanchez P
Image via Mike Ehrmann/Getty.
The Marlins have a -60 run differential. Second worst in the NL, only to San Diego, the city discovered by Germans in 1903. Miami has a pythag record of 28-41. They are not good.
I’ll be happy if the Jays aren’t swept.
Ha, well said.
got your wish!!!
Squish the Fish… sweep
This stadium looks make believe.
Thanks Colby
love the lead off triple, makes me so happy.
Not very encouraging news on the Stroman front. I know he might have less leverage next year but won’t the jays lose that pick and the slot money for good if he doesn’t sign? Looking like a big of chicken.
Game of chicken opps
Jays would get the next pick next year, lose his slot amount for this years pool, so no loss at all for the Jays, its just like trading him for next years pick.
Jays are posturing to make sure they have enough cash to sign DeJong and Kelogg.
From what i understand, they will not get their pick back if Stroman doesn’t sign. This is because they used their comp pick from Beede on Stroman.
“Jays would get the next pick next year, lose his slot amount for this years pool, so no loss at all for the Jays, its just like trading him for next years pick.”
Stroman was picked with Beede’s comp pick.
That one’s not protected, correct? They wouldn’t get that one back is my understanding.
I thought because it was the pick from 2011 they had to sign or lose it for good. I understood thats how it worked for the other picks for the first three rounds as you said.
Not encouraging news on the mcGowan front…Jerry and Allan lamenting he may never pitch again
Welcome to “news about Dustin McGowan”
Yes, someone said he was done as soon as his foot sidelined him….hmmmm, who was that?
Let’s not pretend you had any sort of insight on that.
Feet =/= Shoulder.
It was’t me, it was that guy who runs this joint
I thought a someone like nurse Karen wuold make the prognosis, but alas, she is into pschology
Psycko-theropy
psychiatry
Not too many comments tonight.
People must be watching the NHL draft instead.
its friday night, traditionally a bad tv night ratings wise.
its not on regular tv again.fuckoff rogers.im not watching another fucking game ever
Lol Buck must have been jonesing to get back and drool all over Brett. Wouldn’t surprise me if TAbby and Buck have matching 13 tats on the old butt cheek
Nice start by the Jays, good baserunning, timely hits.
It makes me wish that the Jays didn’t play in a hitter’s park. Maybe they wouldn’t be trying to swing for the fences every at-bat.
Yeah, lets be the first AL team in 50 years to reintroduce the 450′ CF fence. Imagine the triples with our up and comming speedsters. Triples are way more exiting than home runs.
You’ve got a friend in Lance Berkman:
“It’s huge … the biggest ballpark in the game,” Berkman said. “If they don’t move the fences in after this year, I’ll be surprised. I’ll go with two years with the over/under on that.”
“People have tried this big ballpark deal and it never works,” Berkman said. “Detroit moved the fences in. (The) New York (Mets) moved the fences in. There’s a reason why it’s 330-375-400. That’s a fair baseball game. You try to get too outrageous, you end up with something that I think will be detrimental to their ballclub.”
What a crock…he says nothing other than sighting his personal preference. 330-375-400, why is this a fair game? What is outrageous? How is a larger park detrimental? Not all of us want to see a homerun derby every night. I like watch wippets running the bases, I enjoy watching the Centre Filder thow to the relay man, to the cut-off man, to third base on a close play. Big stadiums provide more excitment even though scoring drops a little.
Ok… a few things.
1. This ballpark is just the tackiest and most awful of awful things I have ever seen. Who the fuck decided to make everything green? Its just….soooo awful.
2. The Marlins 3rd jerseys arent that bad actually.
3. The Miami play by play guys have just been lathering up the Jays. Its like they couldnt give a fuck about the marlins its hilarious.
The jerseys and the stadium itself are fucking atrocious.
Kind of sad how the opposing pitchers are owning hitting so well against jays pitchers lol
Stupid phone scratch owning
well at least the END of interleague play is nigh,
think the Larry O’Brien or any Heat players show up at a game this weekend??
Its just so funny listening to the play by play guys talking about the Jays and Canada. Theyre talking only about the Jays but they really dont seem to know anything. Ive never come across American play by play guys that werent complete tire pumping homers when it came to the team they were working for.
The walk RBI feels a lot better when it happens for us
No shit.
You can smile, baby girl
Personally, I actually love watching games played at this park (on TV).
It’s so weird. Each different camera angle you’re like ‘what the fuck?’
Nice AB’s by jose and EE so nice to see it wasn’t us giving up the walks
I find this stat ridiculous:
RT @kevinglewsports: Congrats to Ricky Romero on single, but he has a long way to go to reach Fergie Jenkins territory. Fergie had 6 homers and a .478 SLG in ’71
Fuck Buck.
I’d love to know the ERA Romero has this year following innings where the Jays score 3 or more runs.
Here we go! Get the bullpen warming up ASAP.
Anyone else think this is just an awkward game to watch. Dunno why but everything about this game is just weird.
The 6-1 lead is weird, but I’m kind of enjoying it.
Why did Alvarez get skipped by a day and fax the sox, he would’ve had a better chance against the fish, no?
but he gives us a better chance against the Sox than Chavez would, I would think.
That is pretty fucking retarded. Why not have Alvarez pitch in this huge park since he’s been giving up so many fucking home runs?
he’s a ground ball pitcher by nature, and if the ground balls find holes in this huge fucking park, they become doubles, not singles.
Maybe they are working on something. I always thought / heard that sinker ballers did better on less rest compared to more. When they are “too’ rested they tend to overthow and lose the sink. Personally i think that’s been one of his problems of late, he seems to be trying to throw too hard.
maybe he’s been dipping into Lawrie’s Red Bulls and is getting too dimed up for games.
one of the more important takeaways from tonight: Anibal Sanchez, rumoured to be on the block, may not be a great option against AL East lineups… at least from the 3.1 inning sample we saw tonight lol.
Andy Pettitte getting smacked around by the Muts tonight – ain’t it a shame
I was thinking the same thing
Yeah I think he mis-remembered how to pitch!
Man it seems ricky has to have a really rough inning every game this year.
Ricky looks pretty fat. Nice k’s to end the inning though
ok they need to bring body painting to the Rogers Center.. and the pool with the babes in it…oh ya and nice ball game going on Ricky is doing decent and Canadian Chuck Norris is ripping a new one through the ball.
Yeah i saw that brief glimpse of the body painting very nice.
okay but that’s a bit weird don’t you think? for a ball park?
They’re both crying out for help, Nurse Karen. May I suggest a good spanking?
don’t tell me you’ve been reading 50 shades of grey!
Turn Windows restaurant into a giant swimming pool!
I saw that with the pool girls.
Is that supposed to be an adult only facility at a baseball park?
Jeff Loria should have done those attractions when he owned the Expos:))
I have to visit this tacky park when I go to Miami.
Man they ate trying to kill my boy EE this year.
I thought Cletus was your boy?
What can i say i get around.
hope you’re getting a percentage
Nice base hit KJ.
I hope the offense doesn’t shit the bed tomorrow and we have Cecil pitch ok tomorrow.
You enjoy this lead tonight worry about tomorrow later.
Can we wrap up some of this luck and save it for tomorrow?
Don’t worry, you’re pitching tonight!
Does anyone find it scary that we all know Lawrie was struggling at the plate, yet he was still hitting .280 with a league average .330 OBP? For a 22-year old, and that being considered struggling, it just boggles the mind. BOGGLES!
ya, no doubt he has a bright future, as long as he learns from his mistakes and learns to ease up in games like this. 11-2 in the 6th…time to relax a bit
But not too much please. (And it’s 11-4 now, pre- Coco time.)
It was the power numbers that were bothering people it was a very empty .280. Since going to the lead off spot his power numbers look like those from his first month of 2011 or much closer to them.
It’s still just absolutely ridiculous though. It’s not just the power numbers, but the BB% is lighter than what we should be seeing too.
But in the same breath, so far tonight lawrie has upped his OBP from .335 to .344, his slugging from .419 to .433, and his wOBA from .323 to .334, and still may have 2 AB in the game to further boost his peripherals to more Lawrie-esque numbers.
Buck even called Escobar’s fly out to RF a little looper. He is silly.
I just hope hockey is over soon
+1 zillion
you cant get low enough on your knees to get hockey tickets, eh?
in your dreams my friend
worst comment ever
@ the 9:25 comment keren – not you
I enjoy the DJF site, but occassionally the commentary goes beyond the juvinille, the rediculous and the flat out unbelievable, and it enters into the rude and vulgar. The 9:25 comment is disturbing to me, and is something that a sniveling coward, hiding behind the cloak of anonimity, would write. Don’t know why that comment wasn’t removed
That wasn’t the first time, I’ll ignore it next time.
Thanks
@ 9:25 comment.
Go fuck your self you little pencil dicked weasel.
hmmmm….
Romero is just brutal tonight
I may rub a few people the wrong way, but Romero has been brutal all season, even if you’re trolling in a tongue-in-cheek manner.
Not trolling. I didn’t watch his last few starts but I don’t remember him being this bad.
Ahh. Sorry for misjudging your comment, but yes, Romero is kinda very shitty.
He sure ain’t sharp, but at least he gives you 6 -7 innings and doesn’t shit the bed like what DaBBBek and others have been doing
This ball park is unbelievable. Scoreboards with rotating fish, body painting, hot chicks, a swimming pool, hideous sea creature race, and so much more! This place has everything except a baseball team!
They’ve even got side show Guillen!
Jose Jose OK Jose
Did that homer by Bautista actually go as far as Game Day suggests?
Big park.
That’s what I thought. Game Day suggested it was nearly off the fackin’ map lol.
Woot u go Jose!
So… this should probably push Romero up to ten runs of support per nine innings.
But only in the years he needs it.
Dear gawd, this Stadium and the Dolphins of Faggator tower is why it is still so empty.
Do you think Pujols took a look at this place and said “Fuck that, Im not dealing with this for 10 years.” Also imagine the disassembling of this team will happen before 3 years is up.
Nice call by Stoeten in the game threat about the 12 runs for the Jays
I seent it.
The Blue Jays are currently 2.5 games out of the playoffs. After everything that’s gone on, that’s just nuts. So much parity in the AL this year.
Games like this are fun, makes it seem like there is not a care in the world
Colby has rocketed up the positional rankings, not long ago he was like 25th among all CFers in wOBA, now 11th
Bretzky is tied for 13th among 3B with Pedro Alvarez (I know, right?!?)
Jose was down around 20s a month ago I think for RF, now tied for 5th with, WTF??, Trevor Pouffe??? (and just 1 thousandlth behind Stanton for 4th)
EE is 3rd for 1B (Votto way ahead, and Konerko ahead by .040 points), KJ is 10th for 2B (A HIll is 2nd FFS), JPA 16th, Escobar is 20th among SSs,
and what is up with the Tri-Cities team in the Northwest League (Jerry Seinfeld voice). Their name is The Dust Devils – no joke, The Dust Devils!!!
Vancouver just played them and I marvel at the brains behind this moniker – because Dirt Devils was already trademarked????
http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2012_06_20_triasx_vanasx_1
Ricky “just knows how to win”
and last thought: 17 year-old Roberto Osuna made his pro debut with Bluefield toniight, 3 innings, 4 Ks, 1 H, 0 runs
SEVENTEEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAVA_8bjdl8&feature=relmfu
Yeah I saw that. Pretty impressive group they got there. Not sure what Smoral’s status is with his health but I’d love to see him there with Norris.
Impressive game tonight! We are luckey to have Lawrie and he’s hitting an impressive .293. If Brett was an American, playing for the another team, I think the bloggers here would like him more. The kid is AWESOME, and he will be a WS MVP for us one day soon!
ok, really this is my last thought, based on the last caller to Blue Jays talk tonight, the Infamous Peter from St. Catharines, and the question about grass at RC and Mike Wilner saying it is because of the “multipurpose nature of the facility” that blocks grass.
So, really how many events are we talking about. Rogers Centre website shows 2 Sesame Street Live shows in April, 3 more in May and 1 cricket match in May (grass would have been better for that event), June has 1 Argos pre-season game and 1 Roger Waters concert (he fucked up the grass at Wrigley last week), 2 Argos games in July and the big TFC vs Liverpool game where they are bringing in grass, August has 2 Argos games and a Springsteen concert, and September has 2 Argos games.
This is a GD myth about RC being a multipurpose facility the Jays HAVE TO SHARE with all these other lucrative events. In six months, there are 2 big concerts and those 5 Elmo shows, other than that EVERY OTHER EVENT IS BETTER ON GRASS – get on it and learn hydroponics, I know a lot of people who grow quality green indoors.
The numbers on that would be interesting. Would having grass there for a full baseball season be worth more in attendance, concessions and possibly a better chance to attract more players compared to the few additional events they hold there? Also I’d be curious if they just couldn’t install it in February or March and remove it in October. They’ve done it for soccer games before. If they did that they could still use the stadium for events in the winter months.
this article says it cost $130,000 per sodding back in 2000, so even if it has to be done a few times during the year, is that not worth it to attract free agents, appease players and bring in more fans.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/news/2000/02/06/enron_grass/
To me, I’d say so. Of course the good little accounting peons at Rogers would love to see your juicy profit laden ROI first.
I think the big one is the NFL contract, and that the quality of turf for those games has to be contractually guaranteed until that annoying series is done in 2015.
night_manimal are you really serious or are you a true druck jays fan and completly hammered all the time. i doubt many more fans would go because its real grass and as for players yes you may get the odd guy. but frick buddy the cost to do what you suggest would be stupid
Yes you’re probably right the grass by itself might not be the key factor for attendance but if it attracts better players, say the Betlran types, then that’s going to hopefully lead to a better record because you’re getting the players you want
. A team that can win deep into the season is going to attract more fans. More fans = more concessions and other revenue streams. A winning team will also get you better TV numbers.
5,000 more fans per game x 81 home dates = 405,000 per year.
At an average ticket price of say $27 (Forbes #) then that’s $10.935 million right there before concessions which at a measly $5 per fan is worth another $2 million.
Add in whatever else there is from the TV side of things and maybe you’ve got $15 million or so.
So that’s why I said I’ve love to see the numbers.
Well, natural grass might not necessarily bump attendance, but I do think general stadium improvements (grass in particular) would create some good will with the fans.
I was thinking more along the lines of getting better players to come first and foremost. Everything else would be gravy.
The cost of resodding is only the maintenance cost. The initial capital investment in creating the drainage, irrigation and everything else required to do so has been estimated between 15 and 20 million. Takes a lot of extra hot dog sales to ameliorate that, even at RC ripoff pricing.
True but that is a capital cost that they could work their accounting magic on and most likely spread over a few years.
Anyway it’s just silly talk for the most part i am sure they ran all the numbers on it and if it could be done they would have.
Paul,you have a lot of maintenance costs beyound resodding…you need equipment to cut the grass, people to cut, utility costs go up significantly with water, and electricity (cause you have to open the roof a lot more for sunlight), you need a resident expert in turf, consultant fees….fuck it never ends
Dandelions. Those fucking dandelions.
Seriously, its not just the initial capital costs that is preventing Rogers from installing real grass. It has more to do with the fact that the Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose facility. Argos, car shows, religious conventions, rock concerts, truck rallies, etc.
Geez, that TFC/Liverpool event is set for July 21st – the Jays start a 6 game homestand 3 nights later – would it be outrageous to try and keep that grass around for an extra week after the soccer game and let the Jays try the grass field, or is it better to try it during a couple of exhibition games in late March/early April??
Happened to catch florida fs broadcast of the game. The Canadian boner got to their broadcasting booth hot and bothered right from the get go, and rest of the way was some lovefest with Lawrie show.
Otherwise they were quite nice, no homerism whatsoever without coming up with ominous stats as to jinx the team, and laid back except when one of the duo went silent for an extended time after the Jays started to run away with the scoring. It was quite a different atmosphere there perhaps owing to heavy Cuban / Latino population, even coming through TV presentation somehow.
The Marlins seem to have some problems with starting pitching, and their stars Stanton and Ramirez are currently not performing to expectations. Maybe the Jays can steal one more game in the series, and given their very aggressive approach on offense, they will get some good results.
Jays like the big yard
That stadium is more like a circus sideshow. An aquarium, body painting and fucking strippers on site? And that fucking homerun monstosity? That’s not baseball…