| Batter | WPA | aLI | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3B – Lawrie | 0.170 | 0.68 | |||
| CF – Rasmus | 0.008 | 0.50 | |||
| DH – Encarnacion | 0.105 | 0.45 | |||
| SS – Escobar | -0.050 | 0.45 | |||
| 1B – Lind | -0.051 | 0.48 | |||
| C – Arencibia | -0.018 | 0.33 | Pitcher | WPA | aLI |
| 2B – Johnson | -0.009 | 0.26 | SP – Morrow | 0.337 | 0.89 |
| RF – Sierra | -0.052 | 0.46 | RP – Lincoln | 0.013 | 0.16 |
| LF – Gose | 0.046 | 0.35 | RP – Oliver | 0.003 | 0.17 |
Bests / Worsts of the game after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »
For the first time since the day after he wore a homophobic slur written on his eye black, Yunel Escobar returns to the field at Rogers Centre, starting at short, as usual, for the Jays tonight, and batting cleanup, as a constant reminder that fuck this season.
The big question of the day, I guess, is how he’ll be received by Jays fans when he takes the field and makes his first appearance at the plate. The Jays didn’t take batting practice today, so there wasn’t a chance for any reporters to hound Escobar with questions about how he thinks he’ll be received, which is probably for the best, given that all we can do is wait and see– and especially because it turns out that the team met with Patrick Burke of You Can Play this afternoon, and Escobar specifically met for 45 minutes with Burke and openly gay NCAA track athlete Jose Estevez, according to a tweet from Shi Davidi.
“He understands whatever comes his way is part of process,” said Alex Anthopoulos according to another Davidi tweet. “He made a terrible mistake and is going to have to be accountable.”
Asked about it yesterday, John Farrell was evasive about whether Escobar would even play today, as John Lott outlines in the National Post. Also in the piece, Lott refers to an online petition that has been circulating, urging the Jays to make a video condemning homophobia in sports, and urging them to make a LGBT-positive video, in much the way that the San Francisco Giants tackled the issue last year with an issue for the It Gets Better Project.
The Jays and Escobar sound like they are, at least, taking steps in the right direction. At the very least they know enough to try to say the right things. Now we just have to see if they continue to follow-through in the coming months and years, as they should, regardless of whether Escobar remains with the team or not. They need to make emphatically clear that they’re inclusive of all of Toronto’s many communities, and that appears to be starting tonight in earnest.
Scuttlebutt
In the form of a team release, the Jays announce the winners of their 2012 R. Howard Webster Awards, which go to the most valuable players at each of the clubs minor league affiliates, and this year include Adeiny Hechavarria, Justin Nicolino, and Javier Avendano.
Lastly (or… y’know… secondly), for your between inning viewing pleasure, here’s today’s edition of Getting Blanked. (Audio here). (Subscribe on iTunes for audio and video).
TV: Sportsnet One, TVA
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
E. Encarnacion DH
Y. Escobar SS
A. Lind 1B
J. Arencibia C
K. Johnson 2B
M. Sierra RF
A. Gose LF
B. Morrow RHP
New York Yankees
D. Jeter SS
I. Suzuki RF
A. Rodriguez DH
R. Cano 2B
N. Swisher 1B
C. Granderson CF
R. Martin C
R. Ibanez LF
J. Nix 3B
I. Nova RHP
| Batter | WPA | aLI | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3B – Lawrie | -0.049 | 0.89 | |||
| CF – Rasmus | -0.023 | 0.44 | |||
| LF – McCoy | -0.025 | 1.31 | |||
| DH – Encarnacion | 0.043 | 0.44 | |||
| 1B – Lind | 0.029 | 0.95 | Pitcher | WPA | aLI |
| RF – Sierra | 0.077 | 1.01 | SP – Laffey | -0.332 | 1.35 |
| 2B – Johnson | 0.038 | 0.84 | RP – Lincoln | -0.151 | 0.70 |
| C – Arencibia | -0.053 | 0.55 | RP – Cecil | -0.042 | 0.28 |
| SS – Hechavarria | -0.008 | 0.56 | RP – Frasor | 0.003 | 0.05 |
| LF – Gose | -0.016 | 0.79 | RP – Carreno | 0.008 | 0.09 |
Bests / Worsts of the game after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »
Game Threat. Game Threat, Game Threat, Game Threat.
Hmmmm…
Game Threeeeeeeaat. Ahhh…. yeah.
Nope.
Scuttlebutt
As you can see below, Edwin Encarnacion is back in the lineup tonight– at DH.
From a series of tweets by John Lott:
Farrell says he will sit down with Escobar tomorrow in Tampa on his return from suspension; topic unspecified. But Farrell said he has sat down Escobar on previous occasions to talk about “baseball things.” Asked whether hogging pop-ups all over the infield was a discussion topic, JF replied: “baseball things.”
Gold!
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
E. Encarnacion DH
A. Lind 1B
M. Sierra RF
K. Johnson 2B
J. Arencibia C
A. Hechavarria SS
A. Gose LF
A. Laffey LHP
New York Yankees
D. Jeter SS
N. Swisher RF
R. Cano 2BB
A. Rodriguez DH
R. Martin C
C. Granderson CF
C. McGehee 1B
I. Suzuki LF
J. Nix 3B
P. Hughes RHP
BatterWPAaLI PH / C – Arencibia-0.0120.45
| RF – Davis | -0.221 | 2.16 | |||
| CF – Rasmus | -0.090 | 1.02 | |||
| 3B – Lawrie | 0.051 | 0.90 | |||
| 1B – Lind | 0.003 | 1.26 | |||
| C – Mathis | 0.095 | 2.84 | |||
| PH / 2B – Johnson | 0.095 | 2.84 | |||
| DH – Sierra | -0.080 | 1.54 | |||
| 2B/1B – Vizquel | 0.245 | 1.62 | Pitcher | WPA | aLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SS – Hechavarria | -0.144 | 1.81 | SP – Alvarez | -0.100 | 0.51 |
| LF – Gose | -0.144 | 1.81 | RP – Oliver | -0.058 | 0.46 |
Bests / Worsts of the game after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »
Seriously, two game threats in a day? Especially after this afternoon’s severely nondescript ballgame? Ugh. But hey, good on Omar Vizquel for passing Babe Ruth on the all-time hit list. No, really. Around here we haven’t been so easy on Omar this year, but you know what? He’s only ever done what’s been asked of him, and no matter what the context, having as many hits as the most iconic ballplayer in history is a hell of an achievement, and one which only the smallest handful of people could ever even dream of.
Scuttlebutt
I’m still too busy writing one large, sweeping, (hopefully) final piece on the Escobar stuff, so I can’t be arsed to check if there’s any real scuttlebutt at this hour. However, 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
R. Davis RF
C. Rasmus CF
B. Lawrie 3B
A. Lind DH
J. Arencibia C
K. Johnson 2B
Y. Gomes 1B
A. Hechavarria SS
A. Gose LF
R. Romero LHP
New York Yankees
D. Jeter SS
N. Swisher RF
R. Cano DH
A. Rodriguez 3B
C. Granderson CF
J. Nix 2B
C. McGehee 1B
I. Suzuki LF
C. Stewart C
D. Phelps RHP
Two Game Threats in a day? I’m not sure how badly I want to full-on do that, especially with so much still to take care of in the wake of yesterday’s Escobar stuff, and a follow-up unpacking of Drew’s interview with Alex Anthopoulos, plus whatever wrenches get thrown in my direction along the way. So… here’s all you get. For now.
Aaaand one piece of scuttlebutt, because Shi Davidi pretty much nailed it in his piece on Escobar at Sportsnet.
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
R. Davis RF
C. Rasmus CF
B. Lawrie 3B
A. Lind 1B
J. Mathis C
M. Sierra DH
O. Vizquel 2B
A. Hechavarria SS
A. Gose LF
H. Alvarez RHP
New York Yankees
I. Suzuki LF
N. Swisher 1B
R. Cano 2B
A. Rodriguez DH
C. Granderson CF
R. Martin C
E. Chavez 3B
R. Ibanez RF
E. Nunez SS
A. Pettitte LHP
