Dustin Parkes

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 tonight thanks to four solo home runs hit by Edwin Encarnacion, Rajai Davis, Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus off of opposing starter Jason Hammel.

Following the game, Hammel had this to say:

I don’t think you can take swings like that, not knowing they’re coming. There’s rumours and things like that, I don’t know. I can’t speak on that but they were taking very, very strong hacks on breaking stuff. It’s something I’ve never seen before.

Hmm. Is Hammel referring to the mysterious man in white story that ESPN: The Magazine reported on last year? You remember. The story that accused the Jays of going to elaborately laughable lengths to steal signs.

Well, his not quite accusations might have a bit more bite if, you know, it was actually his breaking pitches that the Blue Jays were bashing over the fence at Rogers Centre. All four of the solo home runs tonight were hit off of Hammel’s fastballs.

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I’m pretty sure that the Toronto Blue Jays official Twitter feed retweeting the above message was more of a mistake, rather than an attempt at mimicking L.A Kings style irreverent social media practices.

And in that sense, it’s kind of nice of the account runner to show solidarity with a team that was absolutely dominated this weekend by the Texas Rangers. Form and function for the win.

However, wouldn’t it be refreshing if this wasn’t a rarity, and the social media experts in the Blue Jays front office adopted the #JerkBall approach of the actual team? I mean, it worked didn’t it? Did anyone else have any idea before this tweet that the June 17th game against the Philadelphia Phillies would include replica batting helmets being given away?

Thanks to @SeanShaughnessy for the tip.

The Toronto Blue Jays have promoted right handed relievers Chad Beck and Jesse Chavez from Triple A Las Vegas, and optioned utility player Yan Gomes and right handed reliever Ryota Igarashi after the team used six members of the bullpen in yesterday’s extra innings loss to the Texas Rangers, and three to cover six plus innings the night before.

Because Chavez isn’t a current member of the 40 man roster, it’s expected that Igarashi will be designated for assignment to make room for him.

Beck, who had a brief audition with the big league club last year, has put up mediocre numbers in more than 20 innings at Triple A this year, outside of his low ERA. He throws a mid nineties fastball, a low nineties cutter, a mid eighties slider and an occasional mid eighties change up.

Chavez, who has bounced around several organizations since coming up through the Rangers system, has started ten games in Las Vegas, putting up a very impressive K:BB ratio of five, thanks to a 23.8% strike out rate and a 4.8% walk rate. Despite starting in the Minors, it’s expected that he’ll have a relief role during his stint in the Majors. He throws a low nineties fastball, a high eighties slider and a change up that’s only four miles per hour slower than his fastball.

It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to see both lambs used today against the Texas Rangers. Best of luck with that, fellas.