It was back on October 3rd that I wrote the last Game Threat of the 2012 season. Brandon Morrow pitched– the above photo is from that season finale– and I had this advice to offer the small slice of a giant, disillusioned fan base I am able to speak to:
Yes, stuff this memory in your pockets and keep it for those nasty cold mid-January, sun-setting-at-five-o’clock, brown slush and rock salt-covered days when you’re dying for pitchers and catchers to report and willing to do anything–anything– to contort your mind into forgetting just how awful these last few weeks have been and how relieved we now are that it’s over. Y’know, just on the off chance that it gets better.
Will it? We’re about to spend several months adrift at sea, aching to find out.
But first, the Minnesota Twins.
Today the opponent is different, but the stakes are about the same as they were when 2012 went out with a thunderously pointless whimper, it’s Morrow taking the hill again. More importantly, we hit big on that off chance of things getting better. Rather than months adrift, it’s been months of giddiness, surging to a fever pitch that will break today at 1 PM ET, and slowly wash away as the prospects and org guys wearing jersey numbers higher than last year’s win total take over the game, and we collectively realize that this damn tediousness still has six weeks to go before anything but the injuries actually counts.
Baseball-ish!
Scuttlebutt
Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun revisits the ten burning questions he posed two weeks ago, assessing how the Jays have been answering them so far. He also tells us, among other things, that the Tigers will be trotting out a number of their best players today, as a reward for the fans who’ve come down to Lakeland to watch them host the Jays in their spring debut.
John Lott of the National Post talks to Luis Rivera, who is looking forward to the start of live games, which will allow him to sharpen his third base coaching skills, as he takes over for Brian Butterfield.
Gregor Chisholm of BlueJays.com also talks about Rivera in a notebook post that additionally touches on Adam Lind, and the careful monitoring of his progress against left-handed pitching by whatever poor fucking soul has to watch all of Adam Lind’s flailing against left-handed pitching before the team finally calls it a day on that experiment.
In a different piece, Gregor tells us about the one-two punch at the top of the Jays’ lineup.
Shi Davidi of Sportsnet looks at Brandon Morrow, who like new teammate Josh Johnson, is learning to become a pitcher, rather than just a fireballer. Morrow’s damn awesome.
Baseball America notes that the Jays have made a couple of minor league signings, which totaZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
If you’re into welling up with rage and/or fear, in his Ten Stray Thoughts On A Friday post at Getting Blanked, Parkes says he’s still worried about Jose Bautista’s wonky wrist, and points to David Ortiz, who avoided tendon sheath surgery in 2008, which it appears to have taken him a while to recover from. Papi’s 2008 was his worst in a Red Sox uniform… until his 2009, which was even more terrible. His 2010 was subpar by his standards, too. But colour me unconvinced that this correlation implies causation, seeing as Ortiz put up a .277/.385/.529 line over more than two months after he returned from the disabled list immediately following the injury.
Lastly, for your between inning viewing pleasure, Jonah Keri of Grantland notices that MLB has taken the shackles off some of the games most beloved video clips– previously unavailable online– and pulls out a bunch of gems for us to watch. Though not Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura, for some reason. And Ben Lindbergh goes even deeper into the vault at Baseball Prospectus.
TV: Sportsnet
And now the lineups…
Toronto Blue Jays
E. Bonifacio SS
M. Izturis 2B
B. Lawrie 3B
A. Lind 1B
J. Arencibia DH
J. Thole C
M. Sierra RF
A. Gose CF
R. Nanita LF
B. Morrow RHP
Detroit Tigers
A. Jackson CF
T. Hunter RF
M. Cabrera 3B
P. Fielder 1B
V. Martinez DH
A. Dirks LF
J. Peralta SS
A. Avila C
O. Infante 2B
A. Sanchez RHP
I don’t care if it’s spring training; Adam Lind shouldn’t even hit clean-up in a video game. They need to do the right thing and bat the fucker 10th.
I think he should go to jail.
I think he needs to die of gonorhea and rot in hell
what?…..too far?
ok…too far.
So far by my account, the coverage of a meaningless spring training game consists of:
Ginger Campbell
Jack Morris
Zaun Hemmingway
Katherine Humpries ?? wtf?
Shi Davidi
Barry Davis
Dirk Hayhurst.
Where’s Sam Cosentino?
It’s like we’re suddenly the Yankees with this coverage, and it’s great. Now dump hockey central for baseball central and you’ll have one happy Little Looper
Forgot about Buck and Tabby.
So officially one reporter/comentator per position. Seems right.
Does anyone know when the MLB.tv PS3 app is going to update for 2013?
The iPhone one is ready for 2013, so it would have to be soon. Though… I’m sure there are better people to answer this than me.
last year it didn’t update until after spring training iirc.
I had the same question. It turns out last years app wasn’t released until March 29th. This is disappointing considering they advertise the fact that you can watch preseason games but not the end of the world since it still works on the cpu. What I really want to know is whether or not they will be providing WBC coverage for a nominal cost. If anyone knows how online WBC coverage will work please let me know.
Gonna see some Nanita today, nice.
Really? You are stoked to see Nanita??
I’m awalys interested to watch players I’ve never seen before
Gregg Zaun looks horrible. He looks like he gained 30 pounds. His suit doesn’t button properly.
The rich announcers from TO must be back on TV from college. Tubby, unfortunately manish, and super stuck up are all on Sportsnet today.
Well played.
slow clap deere
was thinking thay too. and Morris looks like Kevin Nash.
Great… he’ll no sell Jerry’s calls.
Guys, went on a date last night and it was awesome. When we woke up this morning I was talking about how cool john gibbons is.
I’m watching the game alone with eggo waffles (maple syrup obv). Happy spring!
Did you get your willy wet?
Yup!
If she can talk about baseball, she is a keeper. My gal and I talk about baseball constantly. Only thing is she likes the Red Sox. But it makes for interesting bedtime chat.
Even sox fans need love, you’re doing the Lord’s work.
+1
Classy…
Atta boy Kylez! How much did she cost?
Still got money for beer today!
mmm, beerlicious
Has anyone else loaded a pistol after listening to Morris for 5 mins?
Is Katherine Humphries part of the broadcast crew now? Wasn’t she on City TV?
There used be another lady on the roadcast crew. Didn’t she have a baby?
Here we are about to watch the new look Jays for the first time and all you can do is bitch about Morris. I don’t get it.
Oh I’m jacked dude but he’s horrible…
Oh Lord, Jack Morris…
Interesting JPA calling Thole “R.A’s personal catcher”. Guess JPA understands he’s not getting that gig. Now he can focus on catching normal pitchers properly instead of worrying about catching a floater.
bummed that reyes isn’t playing…was really hoping to get our first glimpse today.
Hayhurst I love you but give Peyton manning his haircut back.
Is there anyway we could persuade those fucking assholes to make their content available to people in canada who do not subscribe to cable television and have a non rogers phone service provider. What the hell is the point of blacking out jays games on mlb.tv I can assure you it is not going to make me drive 22 hours to Toronto to buy tickets to a blue jays game. Someone should tell them that Canada is actually very big and it can’t really be considered an in market game for those of us outside GTA. Seriously I would even pay money to see them unlike tv or movies but there is no option available aside from having a sweaty possible sex predator rogers cable installer into my home and then pay for a bunch of shitty channels. For now I guess I will have to get my information from the djf comment section. How else would I get updated on the douchy things Greg zaun is saying
Just proxy your MLB.tv, mang.
The point is to make you subscribe to cable and get Sportsnet as part of your package.
Thats exactly the reason though, so you do sign up for cable.
Where’s cabrera
“Bone-Knee-Fa-See-Oh” Buck
At least En-CAR-na-shown isn’t playing.
replace morris with hayhurst already!
We all agree.
Hayhurst must not have wanted the gig. Probably to concentrate on writing or something. Otherwise, I have no idea why he’s not.
He did. Rogers wanted someone with experience. And WS rings.
Well, I think Dirk should have been the hire, but since he wasn’t I’m willing to give Jack a chance. I don’t want to see anybody fail, so I hope he’s good and adds some entertaining and enjoyable insight.
I’m not betting on it though, and my guess is Dirk will be in the booth next year. Unless he pisses someone off which is just as likely.
Nice catch young fella!
Made that look easy…
easy-ish
Does the whole team play tomorrow? Reyes, Cabrera, EE, Bautista, Rasmus?
That got out in a hurry…
That’s it. This team just isn’t ready.
I was going to comment when our lead off hitter took the first pitch of the year for a strike. Bad sign.
I decided not to say anything then, to give them a chance, but this HR is the last straw.
I’m turning this game off.
Bring on 2014!
well iut must be baseball season if it’s all over is back again!
Wondered when you’d swing by.
Wall scraper
I’m always surprised when they don’t hook Prince up to oxygen after he finishes rounding the bases.
meh
Josh thole see-ya-bingo comin right up
Listening on the radio. Tuned in a little late. After a few minutes I said “Is this Jack Morris?? He’s a lot more insightful/less retarded than I geared myself up for!”
Nope. Hayhurst.
Morrow is such a bust. Cut this bum already!!1!
I thought that I’d give Buck and Tabby a try before going to the pain of Morris…right off the top, crack insight into Victor Martinez and RBI’s followed up with a clutch hitter discussion…painful….
Sure as hell is nice to see some baseball again though…
Yeah, that hurt my head too
One at bat each, and I’ve decided I’d rather they option Arencibia, and have Thole and Blanco as the catchers.
I know DJF nation dislikes JPA, but IMO he will end his career as the best catcher the Jays have had. I don’t care about average (as long as above 240) but his power is great for this lineup.
I care more about his defense. Has to improve big time in that area.
Plus love the fact he embraces Toronto like no other player I’ve ever seen. Sure, a lot of it might be for camera time, but he’s a cool ambassador for the city and you can tell he likes playing here. In an interview with a Miami reporter, when asked if he thought he was getting traded to his hometown, I’m sure the reporter was expecting him to say it would be cool going to Miami (like Morneau). Instead JPA said “I wasn’t worried. I knew I wasn’t going anywhere,” Worried about leaving the Jays for your hometown? Never thought I’d hear a player say that about playing in Toronto
Oh Boy
lol baserunning
Anyone have a livestream for those not in Canada?
Try first row sports dot eu under baseballl.
Doesn’t work.
Yeah I can’t find anyfhing. I would even listen to fan 590 on my iPhone but it doesn’t work.
I’m using it right now. If you don’t get it at the start of the game it might not show up. Also, you have to download and install the player. It does work.
This is why i dont like watching spring games that much, everybody fucking overreacts way too much
Morrow said he was going to throw as if there was no batter, working on that curve and change-up, learning how to “pitch”…
As long as he didn’t strain anything, I’m happy.
ugh…they seriously need to do a 101 on base running.
Paging ‘Rock’ Raines
This is what spring training is for and it’s perfect the first run of the season was cancelled by two bad baserunners. Should have an impact for lesson learned.
Even this has to stick in Lind’s mind for the season to run full speed through home.
Guy’s been in the league longer than he deserves and still doesn’t get it.
LOLO amazing baserunning so far.
That said, Peralta ACTUALLY looks like he’s in the best shape of his life. He must be 30 lbs lighter than last year.
Moises Scouting Report
Baserunning: 10
Arm: 80
Smile: 80
IQ: 80
LOL, Kylez in a jovial mood today!!!!
Last night must have been really good
I’m feelin ok. Haha.
I know he’s doing a daily radio show, and other stuff… but seriously why didn’t they hire Hayhurst to replace Ashby?
Listening to him now, and he’s very good. At least so far.
Ash by left to do the Astro broadcasts. Jack Morris was hired to replace him and Hayhurst does occasional games and some analysis.
@tonyrage Oh yeah, I know. I’m saying I think they should have hired Hayhurst to be the colour man instead of Morris.
Oh. Sorry, I misread you.
I was gonna mock you all for complaining about tabby/morris…. But it truly is annoying.
Baserunning retardedness? Sounds familiar. It would be a treat to watch Gibbons lose his shit in the first ST game.
30 seconds of Morris, and I already hate him
If Morris and Tabby are our only complaints this year…
Oi, Morris, learn how to pronounce the fecking players’ names before you start your new job. Lawrie rhymes with ‘sorry’ not ‘Tao-ey’.
ban its all over
Disagree.He adds some levity to the people who take it too seriously.
the guy talking about people who over react is over reacting to an obvious joke?
MLB The Show 13 Overall Team Rating
1. Detroit Tigers
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Los Angeles Angels
5. Toronto Blue Jays
6. Texas Rangers
7. Washington Nationals
8. Atlanta Braves
9. Cincinnati Reds
10. Philadelphia Phillies
11. New York Yankees
12. Los Angeles Dodgers
13. Colorado Rockies
14. Chicago White Sox
15. Arizona Diamondbacks
16. Tampa Bay Rays
17. San Francisco Giants
18. Oakland Athletics
19. Kansas City Royals
20. Milwaukee Brewers
21. Baltimore Orioles
22. Pittsburgh Pirates
23. Seattle Mariners
24. Cleveland Indians
25. San Diego Padres
26. Minnesota Twins
27. Chicago Cubs
28. New York Mets
29. Miami Marlins
30. Houston Astros
Team Batting
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Texas Rangers
6. Toronto Blue Jays
7. Cincinnati Reds
8. St. Louis Cardinals
9. Washington Nationals
10. Los Angeles Dodgers
11. New York Yankees
12. Atlanta Braves
13. Philadelphia Phillies
14. Milwaukee Brewers
15. Baltimore Orioles
16. Arizona Diamondbacks
17. Chicago White Sox
18. Kansas City Royals
19. Oakland Athletics
20. Pittsburgh Pirates
21. Cleveland Indians
22. San Francisco Giants
23. Seattle Mariners
24. Tampa Bay Rays
25. Miami Marlins
26. New York Mets
27. San Diego Padres
28. Minnesota Twins
29. Chicago Cubs
30. Houston Astros
Team Pitching
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Washington Nationals
3. Atlanta Braves
4. St. Louis Cardinals
5. Tampa Bay Rays
6. New York Yankees
7. Toronto Blue Jays
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
9. San Francisco Giants
10. Boston Red Sox
11. Cincinnati Reds
12. Texas Rangers
13. Detroit Tigers
14. Los Angeles Angels
15. Arizona Diamondbacks
16. Oakland Athletics
17. Chicago White Sox
18. Kansas City Royals
19. San Diego Padres
20. Seattle Mariners
21. Cleveland Indians
22. Pittsburgh Pirates
23. Colorado Rockies
24. Milwaukee Brewers
25. Baltimore Orioles
26. Chicago Cubs
27. Minnesota Twins
28. New York Mets
29. Houston Astros
30. Miami Marlins
Team Defense
1. New York Yankees
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Los Angeles Angels
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Cincinnati Reds
6. Philadelphia Phillies
7. Atlanta Braves
8. Chicago Cubs
9. Baltimore Orioles
10. San Francisco Giants
11. Texas Rangers
12. Washington Nationals
13. Colorado Rockies
14. St. Louis Cardinals
15. Boston Red Sox
16. Kansas City Royals
17. Arizona Diamondbacks
18. San Diego Padres
19. Detroit Tigers
20. Houston Astros
21. Pittsburgh Pirates
22. Cleveland Indians
23. Seattle Mariners
24. Oakland Athletics
25. Miami Marlins
26. Toronto Blue Jays
27. Minnesota Twins
28. Milwaukee Brewers
29. Chicago White Sox
30. New York Mets
They seem flawed, they would be current as of Jan 24th and take AAA and AA into account
Also most on the site say Jays fans are ridiculous because they have been shit for 20 years and made a few decent trades…they are about what the Marlins were last year..
Not that that matters at all, but Red Sox st 3rd best team in baseball is hilarious
Those ratings are so absurd I can’t be bothered to counter them. Hilarious.
Jays defence 26??? Good grief.
Did anyone notice the girl wrench the thrown bat out of the old guys hands? Wonder what she wants with JPA’s bat?
sorry for the long post, delete it if you want
Never apologize!
She wants your posts longer
The sky is falling.
lolmvp
Not enough chemistry between Izturis and Gose…
Never understood not calling for the ball. They teach that from the lowest levels of t-ball.
Here’s a first. I just switched to the TV to hear the ‘better’ commentary provided by Buck and Tabby.
+1
The radio is broken.
Gonna have to run some speaker wire from the AVR to the backyard this spring …
Esmil Rogers. We can thank Farrell for him. He might be a good one in the bullpen.
Suck it Farrell!!!
sneaky 7th inning man
fuck farrell
Farrell trade to Boston = Aviles + Red Sox having to shell money for Drew.
Aviles = Esmil Rogers.
All of the above = suck it Farrell.
Posted this on Twitter, thought I’d ask here too. Who’s drawing more hate right now in Toronto sports: Andrea Bargnani or Adam Lind? I’m leaning towards Bargnani because he’s as useful as me on a basketball court, but there’s some similarities. I think fans haven’t given either of them any room to show they can improve, or even be useful.
You don’t think 7 years is enough time to show improvement?
Fans having a hate on for JPA I don’t get.
Lind and Bargs deserve it.
They don’t seem to want to improve. Bargs has no defence and last night got 0 points and 0 boards in 13 minutes.
Lind is beyond dumb. He used to brag he doesn’t work out.
They deserve our wrath, not because they suck, but because they show no interest in trying to improve.
AH how as people who have been hiding all offseason sudenly show up
They don’t call it the off-season for nothing.
I just wish Bargnani would try improving his commercial.
“Primo pasta and sauce.” Brutal
or i cant rebound
Hey at least Bargs did a better commercial than Hedo.
Lind got 2 more hits than Bargs got points last night. Sad.
Ends the debate. Bargs is more hated.
I’m hoping Jays are so good that nobody cares if Lind sucks.
Little Looper sums it up perfectly.
Bargnani is clearly playing like someone who doesnt wanna be there. And getting booed by yer own fans prolly wont help change things.
Lind will have the same amount of hate! No even more hate than Bargnani by end of May
The man from Muncie, Indiana is on fire.
Now that’s how you wear socks!
I’m a bit behind watching this on PVR, but hilarious that Zaun’s appearance coincided when they were blaring YMCA.
Hit the gym Zaun Hemmingway!
Gregg “Orson Welles” Zaun
Clap Clap for the slam!
EVEN IF I’VE NEVER HEARD OF YOU AND ITS EXHIBITION I ALWAYS GET HYPED FOR A GRAND SALAMI !!!!
Ok, saw on Twitter there was a Grand Slam so I’m back. I’ll give this team a shot. They better hold this lead until October or I’m outta here
Mid-season form my man.
oh shit we got mo Vaughn
Can we please get this close up over the shoulder bullpen warmup camera during the regular season? I could watch that shit all day.
Welp, looks like the MLB part of the game is over. AAA game in progress.
Lurving the mlb.tv subscription already. If there’s something I miss here in the Netherlands its bazeball
We all lurve bazeball.
Honk if you love honkbal!
“I love the new hats. You got the Toronto Mapleleaf on the front, you got the bird on the back – I gotta get me one of those!”
- Jack Morris
Can’t fault the team employee for hawking the merchandise.
Bro…the Toronto maple leaf?
Just re-read that. Wow.
Lol wow for sure…I heard that in the shower…fell to the floor of the bathtub in the fetal position and started sobbing
I have a 7 run bulge
Not a fan of those hats. Maybe if the red Toronto Maple leaf (lol) was smaller it could work. Or if they had the blue hat with the white front centre with the red leaf, like our flag. As they are, they seem kind of dorky. Otherwise, they have the best uniforms and logo in the game.
Went to Loblaws this morning and 4 random and seperate people were wearing those hats. Gotta love the city (country) being pumped, even though I can’t get my hands on opening day tickets!
Love that Jays are more popular than Mariners in BC..
Tabler and Buck have mentioned “rbi’s” at least 50 times already…
Want somebody to count how many times they say SEEZIN this SEEZIN
Got to listen to Jerry and Jack for a few innings in the car. I’m still not sure about his skills as an analyst, there were some rocky moments, but I liked his banter with Jerry. Sounded kind of folksy in a weird way. Had a great line after that kid hit the grand slam that made me laugh: “He should retire right now, go on the public speaking circuit, and talk about crap for the rest of his life.” So we’ll see through the rest of the spring I guess, but I didn’t think he was that brutal to listen to.
I could hit better then Lind But I think he might be a better pitcher then me
OH FUCK!
Mike McCoy wth?
Langerhans
Was right under it…
That looked fucking nasty.
THANK GOD!!!!
The Argos should sign Ryan Langerhans to play tight end.
Meanwhile, in other news, Travis d’Arnaud not in Mets lineup in any capacity. Mets will be babying him in spring training due to knee injury?
Reminds me of the beginning of “Baseketball” when they combine sports, and the outfielder gets destroyed by the football player.
Mccoy collided with number 17. That looks bad.
If that was Rasmus & Bautista I would have freaked out.
Feel bad for Mccoy. He’s now walking .
Buck called John Gibbons John Farrell.
He freaked out about making the mistake, which was a funny reaction.
It’s wasn’t just a “pardon me, meant Gibbons” correction.
It was “I just called a good man the name of Judas” freak out about an innocent mistake reaction.
Suck it Farrell!
Gotta get me a Gibby muumuu.
Jack Murphy looks like a smaller version of The Eck
A trade occurred!
You mean this?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/02/blue-jays-acquire-michael-schwimer-from-phillies.html#disqus_thread
Gotta love Ruben.
AA has got to scratch that itch – probably jonesing without a trade in the last 2 months. Just making sure he hasn’t lost his phone touch.
Tweet from Schwimmer a few weeks ago:
https://twitter.com/mschwimer/status/300646748064477184
yesterday was awesome. @JesseLitsch put on the single best charity event I have ever been to. Well done Jesse
8:45 AM – Feb 10, 2013
plan the parade
Blue Jays starting to get that basketball team together: Schwimer (6’8″), Josh Johnson (6’7″) and Delabar (6’5″) front court is imposing.
AA =’s Ultra Ninja in two sports…with one payroll!!!
Schwimmer is depth right?
yeah he’s got options…
I perceive the baserunning is approaching midseason forum. We’ll continue to work on that, day by day, as things go along and hopefully we can maintain our stick-to-it-iveness in that regard.
Well I tell ya what this dang ol’ teams gonna do somethin speshul this season gottta line up & pitchin & baserunning outta the ole yingyang yesseree bob got the coaches show wit Jerry & all the chew you can chaw & dang whuts better’n free chew?
Watched it on PVR.
Favorite nugget from Buck and Tabby today….on why Mottola is a good hitting coach:
Buck: “He understands hitting”
Tabby: “You have to”
Of all the shit they say…
That’s gotta be the best.
Nice work getting some strange last night. I got shutout.
…wernt you the young feller who cunnant find the g-spot last season??…mebbe that’s why ya’ll got yerself ‘shutout’ & such…..heee-hawww!!!
Hahyurst is ok