Saturday, July 4, 2009

No. 7 hitter getting it done so far on 4th of July

Through six innings at new Yankee Stadium, the No. 7 hitter has been getting it done.

Alex Rios, now batting seventh (with Vernon Wells hitting sixth), is 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs, and Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays have a 5-3 lead over the Yankees through six.

With Toronto down 1-0 in the second, Lyle Overbay walked and Wells hit a ground-rule double that got into the right-field stands. Rios then took Chien-Ming Wang's pitch to centre, just past the pitcher, and the Jays had a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth, with the Jays down 3-2, Adam Lind hit a two-run homer off Wang, and then Rios added an RBI single with two on and two out off David Robertson.

Where was this offense from Rios all season long?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Media wants Vernon and Alex out

For a while now, the Toronto print and radio media--or at least some of them--want to see the Blue Jays sit Vernon Wells and Alex Rios.

The Blue Jays, even with the 5-0 win over Tampa Bay on Canada Day, have been slumping, and in danger of falling out of the Wild Card race (with their four-game series at Yankee Stadium coming up).

While the pitching has been good despite all the injuries to the starting rotation, it hasn't been enough.

They have been getting contributions from Scott Rolen, Lyle Overbay, and Adam Lind. The top two hitters in the lineup, Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill, have been getting on base.

And ironically, it's the two biggest bats (and contracts) in the Jays lineup that have not delivered.

What if both Wells and Rios could still hit? They'd be leading the Wild Card race for sure. On Wednesday, Wells was held out of the starting lineup (though he did make an appearance as a defensive replacement in centre field late in the game), and Rios did nothing as the No. 7 batter.

Big series coming up against the Wild Card-leading Yankees, who have won seven straight...