Peyton Manning: A Team Player

I'm not a Peyton Manning fan.

But, here's my take on the way he handled himself when rookie coach Jim Caldwell took him out of the game.

According to the AP, Manning was quoted as saying: "It was the plan, the organizational philosophy that we were going with, and, as players, we support that."

He was SOOOO unlike that Minnesota QB.

Baseball, Football: Random Thoughts

So, the Philadelphia Phillies finally acquired Toronto ace Roy Halladay in a complicated four-team trade in mid-December, sending their ace Cliff Lee to Seattle in the process.

A few things about this deal (and the teams and characters in general):

* Division titles and pennants are not won in the off-season. Many are ready to hand the NL East to the Phillies for the third straight year, but... Remember when the Mets, coming off an NLCS loss in 2006 and September meltdown in 2007, acquired two-time AL Cy Young winner Johan Santana?

Everyone wanted to give the division to Santana--and the lefty did his job (16-7, 2.53) in 2008--but the Mets missed the postseason.

Roy Halladay might lead the Phillies in wins in 2010, but it's too early to simply give the NL East to Philadelphia.

* This makes yet another Toronto player who wants to leave his team. Who cares if he took out an ad in the Star to thank his fans? Other athletes have done the same thing before; it's just PR.

And didn't he announce when the trade was made that he wanted to be a Phillie?

Just for karma, let's hope the Phillies crumble in 2010. Athletes who are under contract and then say publicly they want to be traded.... well, let's hope for karma.

* Bob McCown and others keep insisting the Blue Jays have never played a meaningful September game since 1993. No wonder David Wells chastised the Toronto media in his autobiography.

Back in 2000, the Jays had a shot and were in first place in June. They were still in wild-card contention late in September. And gee, didn't Roy Halladay have a 10.64 ERA that year? With Wells and his 20-8 season and Frank Castillo contributing, it was Halladay and Chris Carpenter who were horrible.

Had Halladay pitched well, then who knows, the Blue Jays might have been in the postseason in 2000.

So, who cares about the 2003 Cy Young and other wins? It was in 2000 that he choked.

* Some fans just don't get it. They look at wins and losses, and use that to decide who's better or worse.

Some bloggers see Cliff Lee being "better" than Halladay in 2004, 2005, and 2008.

Lee went 14-8 with a 5.43 ERA in 2004. He was 18-5, 3.79 in 2005. He then won the Cy Young in 2008 with a 22-3 mark and a 2.54 ERA.

Halladay: 8-8, 4.20 in 2004. Then, he was 12-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 2005. He lost out the Cy Young in 2008 by going 20-11 with a 2.78 ERA.

Yes, clearly Lee beat out Halladay in 2008.

But 2004-05?

Sorry, I don't think so.

* Blue Jays will be awful for a while, so why bother showing up for games? Seeing they've traded Halladay, that means they've basically given up on the 2010 season.

And Rogers, a big corporation, has decided not to spend money to compete in the AL East with the Yankees and Red Sox.

Some Toronto fans think they can trust this team again because a Canadian general manager has taken over.

What a joke. Who cares about the nationality of the GM?

And what about their lame-duck managerial situation? Cito Gaston, whom the players revolted against before the end of the season, will be back for one more season in 2010, before moving into an advisory position with the team.

Why bring him back as manager? He's proven before he can't succeed with a young team (his '92-93 championship teams were veteran squads), he can't handle a pitching staff (1991) that doesn't have superstar arms, and now the players seem to have issues with him.

This will be a long year in Toronto.

**************
Funny how a long season can have so many so-called winners.

In the NFL in 2007--the year the Patriots went 16-0--the Dallas Cowboys were supposed to be untouchable in the NFC.

Yet they were bounced by the Giants in their first playoff game.

Last year, the Giants were supposed to be untouchable in the NFC.

And they suffered the same fate in their first playoff game, at the hands of the Eagles.

What about the 2009 season?

* Chicago got Jay Cutler, and was supposed to contend in the NFC North. Wrong.

* When Mark Sanchez and the Jets were 3-0, and the Giants were also unbeaten, New York fans were dreaming about the possibility of a New York-New York Super Bowl. Uhm, no.

Even Rex Ryan was proclaiming his Jets were for real after they knocked off the Patriots in Week Two. Now, with two weeks left and his Jets 7-7, he was publicly saying they're not a playoff team (despite the fact they still had a mathematical shot at it).

* When the Giants started out 5-0, everyone was saying there were untouchable. Then they lost four straight and everyone wrote them off.

This team though, reminds me of the Super Bowl-winning team that knocked off the 18-0 Patriots.

* When the Patriots blew out the Titans 59-0 to put Tennessee at 0-6, everyone was saying Tom Brady was back and New England was untouchable. Then when the Pats lost to the unbeaten Colts and Saints, everyone wrote them off.

I should say that the Patriots, now 9-5, will win the division, and remember when they won their first Super Bowl against the Rams? They were a five-loss team back then too.

* Denver was 6-0, and then everyone thought head coach Josh McDaniels was a genius for dumping Cutler. Hmm. A 2-6 slide later, and people were chastising him for trash talking with players from opposing teams on the sidelines.

* When the defending champion Steelers were 6-2 after five straight wins, people were saying they were going to repeat.

Well, they then lost five straight, including losses against lowly Oakland, K.C., and Cleveland. Then last week, Mike Tomlin decided to go for an on-side kick with the Steelers ahead by two. It worked out and they won it on a last-second TD, but what does that say about his lack of trust in his defense?

Well, they're 7-7 now, and it doesn't look good.

* The Vikings were 10-1 and were supposed to be a Super Bowl team. Now, two losses in their last three and possible turmoil between the coach and QB... Well, we'll see.

* Now the new flavors are the Eagles and Chargers, the two hottest teams in each conference other than the 14-0 Colts.

* Oh, and the Ravens too. Baltimore is supposed to be a tough team, a contender, despite its 8-6 record (after starting out 3-0). But, the Ravens will be playing in Pittsburgh, a team they've had lots of trouble with.

We shall see.

But I still say it's too early to count out the Patriots. They almost beat the Colts and fell juuuust short on that 4th-and-2 call.

Why the Vazquez-to-New-York trade makes no sense

The AP has reported that the Yankees have re-acquired right-handed pitcher Javier Vazquez, who spent the 2009 season with the Braves.

This makes no sense at all.

Find out why I think so here.

Tale of Two Athletes: Brodeur and Favre

The comments made by two star athletes in two different sports over the weekend were notable--and a sharp contrast--but surprisingly, not much was made in the media of the one that actually was part of the winning team.

On Saturday night in Atlanta, the New Jersey Devils fell behind 3-1 before the end of the first period, with goaltender Martin Brodeur giving up three goals on only six shots. Devils coach Jacques Lemaire pulled Brodeur after the period, and inserted backup Yann Danis to start the second stanza.

The Devils, who had outshot the Thrashers 24-6 in the opening period, didn't quit after their No. 1 goalie was pulled. New Jersey rallied--scoring four straight goals over the final 40 minutes--and pulled out a 5-4 victory.

Was Brodeur upset about getting the quick hook?

As reported by the Associated Press, Brodeur didn't even beg Lemaire to put him back out on the ice. "No, no, no. We needed a kick in the butt. It's all about winning, with me or without me" (AP, Devils lift Brodeur after period, still win 5-4, Dec. 19, 2009).

The star goalie also acknowledged his coach's right in removing him from the game. "After three goals on six shots, we had to do something."

As Lemaire put it, "We changed goalies to make a difference...it was a good opportunity to put Danis in and rest [Brodeur]."

And the Devils did come back despite having their top player on the bench.

Now, Brodeur's unselfishness didn't really get much press.

Still, it was certainly refreshing to know that an elite athlete was putting his team ahead of his own ego.

But on Sunday night, that wasn't the case in Carolina, when another star wasn't having a stellar game. The difference was this player refused to get pulled.

Brett Favre, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, was involved in what he called a "heated exchange" in the second half with head coach Brad Childress.

With Minnesota leading the 5-8 Panthers by a score of 7-6 in the third quarter, Childress reportedly thought about removing Favre from the game because his QB was "taking a beating" (AP, Childress considered benching Favre to protect him, Dec. 21, 2009).

Favre had already gotten sacked four times and been hit several other times during the game.

The quarterback, however, strongly objected and lobbed to remain in the contest, and ultimately did.

Alas, the Vikings' defense allowed three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and the Panthers came out on top, 26-7.

Favre threw for 224 yards and was 17-for-27 with no touchdowns. He had one interception, which came in the Vikings' final possession of the contest, when the game was already out of reach.

As he put it, "Brad wanted to go in a different direction. And I wanted to stay in the game. It's not 70-6, but we were up 7-6. I said I'm staying in the game. I'm playing. ... No way being up 7-6 and getting banged around a little bit would I consider coming out" (AP, Favre, Childress argue, Panthers beat Vikings 26-7, Dec. 20, 2009).

For Minnesota, the loss on Sunday night was its second in three games. The Vikings are now 11-3 following a 10-1 start.

Of course, concerns over Favre's health isn't unwarranted. Last season with the Jets, Favre led his team to a 9-3 start and had people talking Super Bowl--until he started throwing interceptions and the Jets missed the playoffs by dropping four of their final five games.

Naturally, it was within Childress's right to want to keep his QB fresh. Childress, after all, is the head coach. Not Favre.

And the Philadelphia Eagles (10-4), who have the tie-breaker over Minnesota, are now suddenly right behind the Vikings, sitting only one game back for the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

Childress supposedly wanted Favre to get enough rest for their final two games so that they can clinch the No. 2 seed and get a first-round bye in the playoffs.

But Favre wouldn't have any of it.

Now, was it okay for Favre to demand to remain in the game?

Sure, his team was ahead--thanks only to a missed point-after by the Panthers; otherwise it would have been 7-7--but it wasn't as though Favre was lighting it up against the Carolina defense.

Both Brodeur and Favre, of course, will end up in the Hall of Fame after their playing careers are over. Both are regarded as the best at their respective positions. Both have won championships and own numerous records.

In fact, Brodeur, the winningest goalie in NHL history, had just set the league record for goalies the previous night by playing in his 1,030th regular-season contest. And he didn't argue about getting pulled on Saturday. All he talked about was the importance of the team winning the game.

On the other hand, Favre, who owns the NFL records for QB victories and career touchdowns, argued with his coach on Sunday night and kept talking about "I.... I... I..." after the game.

What a difference between the two.

Interview with Bill Ranford

I had the opportunity to speak with two-time Stanley Cup winner Bill Ranford earlier this week, as part of the research I'm doing for my next book project (or one of them anyway).

The 1990 Conn Smythe Trophy winner was gracious enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to do the interview.

Click here to take a look at some of the highlights of the discussion.

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?

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...

A bad loss to the Phillies

The Blue Jays lost 5-4 on Sunday to the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, allowing the struggling world champions to leave town with a rare series victory.

Brian Tallet (5-5) was staked to a 4-1 lead--on two home runs by Aaron Hill (now with 19) and a two-run shot by Jose Bautista--but couldn't hold it.

Meanwhile, the ancient Jamie Moyer (6-6) settled down after the early home runs and managed to pick up the win for the Phillies.

Chan Ho Park pitched two perfect innings against the Blue Jays, who must have felt happy once the Korean reliever was removed from the game.

In the eighth, the Blue Jays loaded the bases against Ryan Madson, but Russ Adams, pinch-hitting for Bautista, popped out to shallow left to end the threat.

In the ninth, the Jays put the first two men on base against Brad Lidge--who came in with a 7.86 ERA--but Hill fouled out for the first out. Pinch runner John McDonald was caught stealing for the second out, and Vernon Wells grounded out to short to end the game.

Lidge, who was making his second apperance since coming off the DL, got save No. 14 in 20 opportunities. Last season, Lidge was perfect in save chances during the entire season and postseason as the Phils wont he World Series.

The Blue Jays were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

On a positive note for the Jays, Hill now has a career-high 19 dingers, breaking the team record for home runs by a second sacker. Hill had hit 17 in 2007, which tied Roberto Alomar's record set in 1993.

Tallet threw 110 pitches, giving the Jays six innings of work. He gave up eight hits, six walks, and struck out six.

The good news is that on Monday, Roy Halladay (10-1, 2.53) will return from his groin injury to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener of their big three-game set at Rogers Centre. Tampa Bay jumped ahead of Toronto in the standings with its Sunday win against Florida.

Scott Richmond and Ricky Romero will also start for the Jays in the Tampa series, with Romero getting the Canada Day assignment. Then following an off-day, it will be off to Yankee Stadium for another big four-game series against New York.

Tallet pitches Jays back into Wild Card lead

Tallet does it again.

Brian Tallet pitched a three-hitter with seven strikeouts in six innings, and the Blue Jays welcomed the Reds to Rogers Centre by beating them 7-5.

Tallet walked only one batter, leaving after the sixth with the score 6-0.

Cincinnati plated four runs after loading the bases off two relievers in the seventh, but couldn't come all the way back.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the Yankees were blanked 4-0 by Tommy (not Glavine) Hanson. Chien-Ming Wang fell to 0-6. Beautiful!

A-Rod is now batting .207 for the Yankees.

The Jays (39-33) and Yanks (38-32) are now tied for the wild card lead. Both are five back of Boston for top spot in the AL East.

Jays can't score in Washington

So, the Blue Jays have had a weird road trip thus far.

First, a three-game sweep in Philadelphia against the NL East-leading and defending WS champion Phillies.

Now, the Jays can't beat the worst team in baseball--by far--in Washington. The Nationals were 18-46 going into the series, and have been terrible this season.

But after a pair of extra-inning wins over Toronto, you just have to wonder if the Nats' pitching is that good, or the Jays' hitting that bad.

Brian Tallet pitched well--again--on Friday night, giving up just a run in five innings (before being pinch-hit for in the sixth). Brett Cecil did the job on Saturday, giving up three runs in seven innings.

And yet the Jays lost 2-1 in 11 innings Friday, and followed that up with a 5-3 defeat in 12 on Saturday.

It was Adam Dunn with his bases-loaded single in the first game, sticking it to the Jays (remember how the GM, J.P., dissed Dunn last season, when the Nats slugger was still in Cincinnati?). Then in this latest loss, it was Willie Harris' two-run "walk-off" bomb off Scott Richmond, normally a starter coming on in relief to save the bullpen.

On a night when the Yankees lost 2-1 in Florida (and the Angels losing at the moment to the Dodgers in the Weaver-Weaver brother pitching matchup), the Jays could have gained ground in the Wild Card race by beating the majors' worst team.

But they just couldn't do it.

Jays sweep Phils, one game back in Wild Card

Well, despite all their injuries, the Blue Jays swept the Phillies in Philadelphia on Thursday.

This time, it was thanks to ex-Phil Rod Barajas, whose pinch-hit homer leading off the ninth gave Toronto an 8-7 win.

Brad Mills, making his ML debut, lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs. Cito Gaston was forced to use seven relievers in this one.

Despite blowing the save in the eighth inning, Jason Frasor got the win (now 5-0) by getting the final out before Barajas' heroics.

B.J. Ryan got one out in the ninth before Jeremy Accardo retired the final two Phillies for his first save.

Accardo was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas to take the spot of closer Scott Down (DL). Mills, a lefty who was 1-8 with a 4.48 ERA in Triple-A, was called up to take Casey Janssen's spot.

Amazingly, the NL East-leading Phillies are only 2-10-1 in home series this year (with both series wins against the awful Nationals) and are 13-19 at Citizens Bank Park. On the other hand, they are an ML-best 23-9 on the road.

Speaking of the lowly Nats, they stunned the Yankees again at new Yankee Stadium, winning 3-0.

Someone named Craig Stammen (0-2, 5.86 in 5 career starts--all this year) pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings for Washington for his first ML win--at the Yankees' expense.

New York (37-29) has lost six of nine.

With the Yankees' loss, the Blue Jays (37-31) and idle Angels (35-29 and who have won six in a row) are 1 game back in the Wild Card standings. Tampa Bay, which has now lost two straight following a six-game winning streak, is now three back.

The Jays are in third place in the East standings, four back of the Red Sox.

For now, Toronto remains in the race, but for how much longer?

With ace Roy Halladay (10-1, 2.53) on the DL, and with Mills being the FOURTH starting pitcher this season to make his ML debut for the Jays, the team is in big trouble.

Their top five projected starters--Halladay, Janssen, Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan, and Jesse Litsch--are all on the DL.

The ironic part about all this?

A.J. Burnett, the guy that was supposedly the brittle one, is healthy and injury-free! Burnett, who was part of the Jays' 2008 rotation, isn't doing that well in the Bronx in '09, but at least he's managed to stay off the DL. For now anyways.

The Jays now start a three-game series in Washington against the hapless Nationals (an MLB-worst 18-46), a team that just took two of three in New York against the Yanks. (They could have won all three, if not for a blown lead in the late innings in the first game.)

If the Jays don't sweep this weekend series, you can call them officially dead. You've simply got to win games you're supposed to win, if you want to stay in the race.

Jays win again but lose Halladay and Downs to DL

Well, the Blue Jays won their second straight game in Philadelphia on Wednesday, and coupled with the Yankees' 3-2 loss against Washington (!!), are only two games back in the Wild Card standings.

The only thing though, is that Tampa Bay and the Angels are now in the mix too, having put together six-game winning streaks.

But the real bad news came when it was announced Roy Halladay (10-1 this season) and closer Scott Downs will be placed on the DL on Thursday.

Before Wednesday's game, starter Casey Janssen (2-3, 6.23) was placed on the DL also.

That means the Blue Jays have their projected top five starters--Halladay, Janssen, Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum, and Jesse Litsch--on the disabled list.

Say good night to the Jays' season.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, how about that Chien-Ming Wang? He's now 0-5 this season, and it seems like every time he's on the mound, the Yankees find a way to lose.

Perhaps they should trot him out every day.

Also with the Yankees, it is unfortunate to hear about what happened to ex-Bomber Mel Hall earlier today. 45 years is a long time.

* * * * *

I guess I was wrong about Scott Richmond.

He hasn't slumped at all. In fact, he fanned 11--a career-high--as Toronto beat Philadelphia 7-1 on Wednesday. This came after the Jays rallied in the ninth inning one night earlier and stunned the first-place Phils 8-3 in 10.

Ricky Romero started Tuesday's game and did all right, though he struck out three times in three at-bats, stranding eight baserunners. If you remember, for interleague games, the Jays lose the DH in NL ballparks, thus pitchers have to bat in such contests away from Rogers Centre.

But that's not the worst thing to have happened Tuesday.

Downs' injury came when he strained his big left toe while swinging at a pitch during the Jays' five-run 10th inning. Yikes. And to make things worse, Downs' at-bat came AFTER Toronto had gotten the five runs (and he made the final out of the inning with his groundout), so that means Cito Gaston could have pinch-hit for him and brought in another reliever to pitch in the bottom of the inning.

Toronto left the bases loaded in the sixth, eighth, and ninth innings, but still recovered with those five runs in the 10th.

I would guess Cito would much rather have lost the Tuesday game than to lose Scott Downs.

Halladay beats Royals

It was vintage Roy Halladay on Sunday afternoon against the Kansas City Royals.

While Halladay was doing the pitching, Lyle Overbay and Aaron Hill were doing the slugging for the Blue Jays.

After Vernon Wells' sacrifice fly in the first inning gave Halladay a 1-0 lead, Overbay doubled the advantage with a solo homer in the second.

Hill, who sat out Saturday afternoon's contest, was back in the lineup. He added a two-run bomb in the third, ending an 0-for-25 slump in the process.

That was plenty enough for Halladay (10-1), who went the distance on a seven-hitter, becoming the first 10-game winner in baseball. He fanned six and didn't allow a walk.

While Halladay was virtually untouchable, he did run into trouble in the seventh, allowing three singles to load the bases. The Doc, however, promptly got a strikeout and groundout to first base to end the threat.

Royals starter Kyle Davies (2-6) also went the distance, giving up nine hits in his eight innings of work.

On the out-of-town scoreboard, the Yankees are trailing the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in the seventh, while Boston is losing to Texas 5-3 in the sixth.

The Jays began the day in third place behind the Red Sox and Yankees, three games out in the AL East. They trailed New York in the Wild Card standings by 2 1/2 games heading into Sunday's action.

Richmond & Jays lose to Royals

No, it wasn't the seventh game of the 1985 ALCS, but the results were the same.

The Kansas City Royals, thanks to a three-run triple, turned the tide Saturday afternoon, pulling out a 6-2 win at Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays had staked Scott Richmond to a 2-0 lead on Raul Chavez's two-run homer--his first dinger of the year--in the third inning.

However, after looking good for the first few innings, Richmond ran into trouble in the fifth, when the Royals scored five runs.

Mark Teahen hit a two-run home run off Richmond, before the right-hander allowed a double and walk, as the Royals threatened to take the lead with two outs.

Richmond ran the count to 3-0 on David DeJesus and then walked him two pitches later, loading the bases for Willie Bloomquist.

Why didn't manager Cito Gaston pull Richmond right there? Yes, he'd pitched four scoreless innings leading to the fifth. But he'd also given up two runs in the fifth and had loaded the bases, having walked the last two batters in a row.

Instead, Gaston left his starter in the game, and Bloomquist--who was hitting well against the Blue Jays, as color commentator Rance Mulliniks had said in the pre-game--delivered a drive to deep center to clear the bases.

Kansas City 5, Toronto 2.

Then, Gaston came out to take the ball from Richmond, one batter too late. Reliever Shawn Camp, who replaced Richmond, went on to pitch 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

This was an absolutely winnable game for the Blue Jays. Had Cito removed the starter one or two batters earlier, who knows, the game might have been different.

Still down by three in the seventh, Chavez came up, with two on and two out. But the catcher--not a long-ball threat by any means--grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Royals added a run in the eighth, and won it 6-2.

Alex Rios left two more runners on base, and went 0-for-3 with a walk. This after that disastrous 0-for-5, five-strikeout showing on Thursday afternoon.

The 3-4-5 hitters--Rios, Vernon Wells, and Adam Lind--combined to go 0-for-10.

The walk that Rios got came in the ninth inning, when he, Wells, and Lind were up, with the Jays down by four runs.

However, Wells promptly hit into a double play, and Lind ended the contest with a fly to right.

With the first-place Yankees also losing on Saturday afternoon, a victory over the Royals--who had lost eight straight--would have helped in the standings.

But chalk up yet another loss, in a very winnable game.

The good news is ace Roy Halladay (9-1, 2.77) will be back on the mound Sunday afternoon, as the Jays look to win the series.

Red Sox back in first place

Boston beat the Mets 12-5 on Sunday, while the Blue Jays lost 10-2 in Atlanta and the Yankees fell 4-3 to the Phillies in 11 innings.

This means the Red Sox (26-18) are back in first place, by a half-game ahead of the Blue Jays (27-20). New York (25-19) is one game behind Boston.

The Blue Jays have lost six straight, following back-to-back sweeps in Boston and Atlanta. They still lead the Wild Card though, by a half-game ahead of the Yanks.

Blue Jays slumping, Yankees winning

The Blue Jays begin Sunday still in first place despite their five-game losing streak, only because second-place Boston has been struggling too.

Meanwhile, the Yankees have been on a tear, and have now tied the Red Sox for second place in the East.

Standings before Sunday's action: Toronto 27-19 (--), Yankees 25-18 (1/2 GB), Boston 25-18 (1/2 GB), Tampa Bay 23-22 (3 1/2 GB).

* Saturday: another one of those walk-off wins for the Yanks, who shocked the World Champion Phillies at new Yankee Stadium. Phils led 4-2, but closer Brad Lidge--who was perfect in save situations last year--couldn't nail it down. A-Rod hit a two-run HR off Lidge in the ninth, and then Melky Cabrera won it with his third walk-off hit of the season. Out of the Yanks' last eight wins (in nine games), half have been of the come-from-behind, walk-off variety, including three straight last weekend against the Twins. And now New York is just a half-game back in the East.

* Jays:
1) Friday, Toronto lost 1-0 in Atlanta, even though Roy Halladay pitched seven shutout innings. The only run scored in the eighth on a sacrifice fly, but the Jays had Aaron Hill on third base with two outs in the ninth inning. He was left stranded.

Actually, it was a promising ninth inning as the Jays had their 1-2-3 batters coming up against closer Mike Gonzalez, who had blown two of his previous three save opportunities. With one out, Hill doubled. Alex Rios, however, grounded out to Gonzalez, with Hill taking third. Vernon Wells then grounded out for the final out.

In the eighth, the Jays also wasted Scott Rolen's leadoff double with the game still scoreless. Joe Inglett, who was just called up earlier in the day (while Travis Snider was sent down to Las Vegas), struck out as a pinch-hitter for Halladay to end the threat.

2) Saturday, Toronto lost 4-3 in Atlanta. Pitcher Derek Lowe singled in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Braves the lead. Kelly Johnson homered off B.J. Ryan in the seventh inning. 4-2 Braves. The Jays finally scored a run off Gonzalez in the ninth, and then loaded the bases with one out. Rafael Soriano replaced Gonzalez, and struck out Kevin Millar and induced a flyout off the bat of Marco Scutaro for the final out.

Scutaro, the leadoff man in both games, was the goat here. He made the final out on Saturday with the bases loaded and was only 1-for-5 (though his lone hit was a two-run double in the third that gave Toronto a 2-0 lead). On Friday, Scutaro was 0-for-4 and flied out for the first out in the ninth, before Hill doubled.

Two blown wins for Toronto against the Atlanta, and the Jays suddenly have forgotten how to hit. Meanwhile, the Yankees continue to win.

On Sunday, a close 2-2 game was broken open in the seventh, when the Braves scored 7 runs. (The score is now 9-2 Atlanta in the eighth.) The difference? Atlanta loaded the bases with one out, and scored seven runs.

In the top of the seventh, the Jays loaded the bases with one out, and Adam Lind struck out and Jose Bautista flied out. Whoa.

Right now in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium, Brad Lidge is on again for the Phils trying to nail down a 3-2 win. Oops - I spoke too soon, Melky Cabrera has just singled in the tying run! Fourth blown save for Lidge!

If the Yanks win, the Jays will be in second place. If the Red Sox win, the Jays will also fall too. In Boston, the Sox have taken a 6-5 lead to let Tim Wakefield off the hook (Boston was behind 5-3 earlier).

Boston 2, Toronto 1

The Toronto Blue Jays' first big test of the season came Tuesday at Fenway Park, where they took on the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series.

Brian Tallet did the job, but the Jays still lost, 2-1.

Tallet gave up only four hits in his six innings of work, but his two runs allowed was enough to make him a loser to Tim Wakefield (8 IP, 5H 2BB, 3K).

First baseman Jeff Bailey--who?--knocked in the first run with an RBI single to center in the second inning. Catcher George Kottaras--??--delivered a sacrifice fly in the same inning to put Toronto down 2-0.

Baily (.182) and Kottaras (.143) were the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the Boston lineup.

Kevin Millar, the DH for the Blue Jays while Travis Snider got the night off, homered off Wakefield in the fifth for Toronto's lone run.

Meanwhile, more bad news for Toronto: the New York Yankees used a seven-run seventh inning to turn a close ballgame into a rout, and are now up 9-1 against the visiting Orioles, with the game currently in the eighth inning.

The Tampa Bay Rays are locked in a 0-0 tie with the Athletics, with action now in the ninth inning.

If the Yankees overtake the Blue Jays...

If the Yankees overtake the Blue Jays this season, all you need to do is look at this weekend's games.

Yes, the Jays won four straight at home against the White Sox. But so did the Yanks against the Minnesota Twins. And in all four games, the Yankees rallied to win, including the first three in the late innings and in their final at-bats.

Look at three of those wins for New York right there... if the Yanks win the Wild Card over Toronto by three games or fewer, look at those three games the Twins blew right there.

For now, Toronto is in first place, 3 1/2 games ahead of idle Boston, with a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway starting Tuesday.

The good news is that if the Jays (27-14) lose all three in Boston (22-16), they will still leave town in first place. The Yanks (21-17) are 4 1/2 games back, followed by the Rays (20-20) at 6 1/2 games back.

The Orioles, 16-22 and 9 1/2 out, are pretty much done in the AL East.

Blue Jays continuing to win

How about those Toronto Blue Jays?

With the Seattle Mariners slumping (5-11 so far in May pending Monday night's outcome against the Angels) and no longer in first place, the Blue Jays have surely supplanted the M's as the team of choise out on the West Coast.

The Blue Jays were at it again this weekend, ... (read more)

Saturday baseball action

Yup. I pointed out Alex Rodriguez's silly batting average on here.

And then he hit the game-ending, two-run home run to give the Yankees a 6-4, 11-inning win.

I should have kept my mouth shut.

* * * * *
And the Mets' defense is at it again.

So far, in the Santana-Johnson matchup in San Francisco, it is a 3-3 tie going into the fifth inning.

Remember, if Randy Johnson wins today, it will be No. 299, and he will go for No. 300 against Seattle--the team he starred for in the 1990s--in his next outing.

The Mets jumped out to a 3-0, first-inning lead, something that's a surprise for Johan, as he'd had a lack of run support this season.

But, the defense is again the culprit.

There were two outs in the third, but Fred Lewis reached base on second baseman Luis Castillo's throwing error. The next batter dobuled, giving the Giants their first run.

Unearned run off Santana.

In the fourth, with one on and nobody out, Randy Winn reached on third baseman David Wright's error, putting runners on second and third. Santana struck the next batter out (which woul d have been out No. 2), but Aaron Rowand singled both runners home. Tie game, 3-3.

One more unearned run off Santana.

So, the score is 3-3, but it should have been 3-1 Mets because of those unearned runs.

* * * * *
Well, as I type this, Randy Johnson is having a tough time in the fifth and will not win No. 299.

David Wright atoned for his earlier error with a big two-run double off The Big Unit, giving the Mets a 6-3 lead. (Carlos Beltran had just doubled in the go-ahead run moments earlier.)

On FOX, the announcers were saying this was the first time in Johnson's career that he had allowed four straight hits to start the ballgame. Well, deja vu, as he'd just allowed four straight hits to start the fifth, the last being Wright's two-bagger.

Johnson has been lifted in favour of Justin Miller.

11 hits off Johnson in 4+ innings. Yikes.

Ray and Blue Jays win

Rookie Robert Ray pitched a heck of a game for the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon.

But after eight innings, he was behind, 1-0, to the visiting Chicago White Sox.

The Blue Jays had outhit the White Sox 8-3, but hadn't been able to cross the plate against starter Bartolo Colon and a pair of relievers.

The Jays' best chance came in the seventh inning, when they had two on and two out for Aaron Hill. The second baseman, however, struck out by swinging on a low 3-2 pitch to end the inning and finish off an 0-for-4 day.

But the Jays rewarded Ray for his fine pitching in the eighth.

Vernon Wells singled and stole second, before Adam Lind was somehow able to hit a low pitch from Scott Linebrink, the White Sox's fourth pitcher of the day, into right field for a double for the tying run.

Linebrink then bounced the next pitch, which got away from catcher A.J. Pierzynski, sending Lind to third.

Jose Bautista promptly hit the next Linebrink offering to left field, scoring Lind and giving Toronto the lead.

Scott Downs retired the White Sox 1-2-3 in the ninth inning for his fourth save in four chances.

Though B.J. Ryan has returned from his stint on the DL, the Jays have announced Downs will be the closer for now.

For Ray, who was making his third career start, it was his first victory in the majors.

Ray gave up just one unearned run in eight innings, striking out three and walking one. He gave up only three hits.

The lone walk Ray surrendered was to the very first batter of the game, and Chicago capitalized.

Scott Podsednik walked to lead off the ballgame, went to second on a groundout, stole third base, and came around to score on Jays catcher Raul Chavez's throwing error.

For seven innings, that lead held up for Chicago.

* * * * * *
On Friday night, the Blue Jays had beaten the White Sox 8-3 in the opener of their four-game series, but surely it wasn't a great night.

Sure, the Boston Red Sox lost in Seattle, blowing a 4-0 lead. As I'd said earlier, enough of Jon Lester being a hero coming back from cancer and throwing a no-no and pitching in the 2007 World Series-clinching game.

Lester plain sucks. Staked to a 4-0 lead, he allowed a run in the fifth and four in the sixth. Boston lost 5-4.

And oh, he allowed Ichiro Suzuki to hit two home runs. Ichiro's homer in the fifth put the Mariners on the scoreboard, and his two-run bomb turned a 4-3 deficit to a 5-4 lead.

Meanwhile, Boston DH David Ortiz was benched. Ortiz was out of the lineup after his embarrassing showing in Anaheim the day before, going 0-for-7 with 12 LOBs in their extra-inning loss.

12 men left on base! That tied a Red Sox record.

Ortiz still doesn't have a home run this season.

Okay, that was the good news for Toronto.

The bad news?

The other two East rivals won. Worse, they rallied big time to get the job done.

Now, it's only May, but still, all games count. If you think Toronto will have to battle with Tampa Bay and the Yankees for the wild card (assuming the Red Sox will eventually take over the AL East lead), you'll want the Rays and Yanks to lose as much as possible. And nobody thinks the wild card will come out of the Central or West.

In Tampa, the Cleveland Indians led 7-0. The Rays, however, scored in each of the final four innings, and won it 8-7 on B.J. Upton's walk-off homer.

When will these Indians learn you can't just build a big lead and then sit on it? The day before, the Tribe jumped out to a 9-0 lead before "hanging on" to beat the Rays 11-7.

Meanwhile, at new Yankee Stadium, the Minnesota Twins jumped out to a 4-1 lead with 9 outs to go, before the home team rallied.

Twins closer Joe Nathan allowed a run in the ninth before getting two outs. But the Yankees loaded the bases, and Melky Cabrera's single ended the game. 5-4 Yankees.

Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, in his first game at the new ballpark, went 0-for-1 with four walks.

Would have been good to see both Tampa and New York lose, since they were both on the ropes. But oh well, you could say the same about Boston--the Red Sox had the big lead.

* * * * * *
Speaking of A-Rod, he sure made a big splash when he returned from the DL last week, homering on the first pitch against the Orioles.

However, through the first eight innings of Saturday's tilt with the Twins (still in progress), A-Rod has been struggling.

Rodriguez has gone 0-for-3 so far in the game, and is hitting .120.

.120!

And it's not even October yet.

Who knows, as soon as I say this, he'll probably go on a tear.

Standings at the end of play Tuesday (May 12)

AL East
1. Toronto 23-12, .657, --, 3W
2. Boston 21-12, .636, 1.0, 2W
3. Yankees 15-16, .469, 6.5, 1L
4. Tampa 15-19, .441, 7.5, 2L
5. Baltimore 14-19, .424, 8.0, 1W

How bad are the Indians?

How bad are the Cleveland Indians?

Last year's Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee, is 1-5 this season despite a 3.45 ERA. In his last four outings, all losses by the Indians, Lee is 0-3 with a 1.74 ERA (4 BB, 19 K, 31 IP, 6 R). Ouch.

Cleveland has scored the fourth-most runs in the AL. However, in those four Lee games mentioned above, they were shut out twice and scored one run in each of the other two.

The Tribe's team ERA is the second-worst in the entire major leagues, at 5.77 (which is just better than the worst team in this category, the Yankees, with their 5.79).

Interestingly, Carl Pavano, the bust that all Yankees fans hate, leads the Indians with 3 wins despite his ugly ERA. Pavano is 3-3 with a 6.45 ERA. Cleveland lost his first four starts, but has won his last three. In those last three games, the Indians gave Pavano six, nine, and nine runs.

I guess Pavano has been lucky to get the run support that Lee has been lacking. Surprising that he didn't get the ball the night Cleveland won 22-4 at new Yankee Stadium earlier this season.

Yeah - that 22-4 game!

That might be the Tribe's lone highlight of the 2009 season.

Cleveland is dead last in the AL, 12-22. That surpasses only the hapless Washington Nationals (10-21) in the NL.

Blue Jays beat Yankees in opener

What a night!

The Toronto Blue Jays welcomed the New York Yankees to the Rogers Centre on Tuesday night for a three-game series, and won 5-1.

Roy Halladay won his seventh game, beating ex-Jay A.J. Burnett, who had yet another mediocre outing for the Yankees.

Halladay (7-1) pitched a complete-game five-hitter with no walks and five strikeouts, improving to 16-5 with a 2.77 ERA in 33 career games against New York.

Scott Rolen paced the offense, collecting three hits and three RBIs.

Burnett, who pitched for the Jays from 2006-2008, was booed by the Rogers Centre crowd of 43,737, along with Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Burnett had gone 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA and an AL-leading 231 K's last season, before opting out of the final two years of his contract to sign with the Yanks, who inked him to a five-year, $82.5-million contract.

Burnett was tagged for all five runs in 7 2/3 innings. He walked four and fanned three.

Meanwhile, Halladay was truly dominant, retiring 17 straight batters at one point.

The game was scoreless for the first three innings before the Jays struck against Burnett. Alex Rios doubled to lead off the fourth, before Vernon Wells and Adam Lind walked.

Bases loaded, none out.

Rolen's double to left scored Rios and Wells, giving the Jays a 2-0 lead. Rod Barajas added a sac fly to give Halladay a three-run cushion.

Aaron Hill homered off Burnett to lead off the eighth, and Rolen added an RBI single later in the inning.

This was the first real "test" for the Blue Jays this season, as they were facing the beasts from the AL East for the first time. Toronto went 3-0 against the Baltimore Orioles earlier this month, but hadn't played the trio of New York, Boston, and Tampa Bay--the three favourites in the division--yet.

Well, for now, the Jays have the upper hand. Toronto is the best team in the majors right now, owning a 23-12 record, one game up on Boston (21-12) in the division.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (22-12), who had been the top team in baseball, lost again on Tuesday, when ex-Dodger Chan Ho Park won his first game for the Phillies, 5-3 in Philadelphia.

L.A. has gone 1-4 since slugger Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games by MLB for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs last Thursday.

In the meantime, the Jays keep winning, and have a three-game streak going. Will it continue?

* * * * *

Speaking of Yankees-Jays, what about Roger Clemens?

Clemens went on ESPN Radio on Tuesday morning to refute the new book out written by four New York writers about his alleged steroid use.

Of course, Clemens continues to deny he has ever taken any steroids, and again stated that ex-teammate Andy Pettitte "misremembers" when the lefty claimed The Rocket told him he'd used HGH before.

Why is everyone in the public mocking Clemens for using the word "misremembers"?

It is actually a real word, something that apparently many people don't realize.

Monday Night in Sports

* The Capitals finally won a playoff OT game against the Penguins! The Caps finally beat the Pens in a playoff game when they had to!

Washington forced a seventh game with Pittsburgh--which will be held in the Verizon Center on Wednesday--by winning 5-4 in OT.

The Caps led 4-3 in the third period, only to see Sidney Crosby score his 10th goal of the playoffs at 15:42, stunning the visitors.

Pittsburgh, who has already won two OT games in this series, looked to knock the Caps out of the postseason--again.

But Dave Steckel's goal 6:22 into the extra period extended the series to seventh game showdown.

* The Blackhawks beat the Canucks in Game Six of their Western Conference Semi-Finals, by a score of 7-5!

Vancouver had a lead in all six games, but it's Chicago moving on.

The Canucks' defense was horrible, and captain Roberto Luongo allowed seven goals on 30 shots. This after proclaiming (ie. Luongo) after their Game Five loss that they should have won the previous two games at the United Center (they went 1-1) and were going to in the sixth game.

Well, they can go play golf now.

* If Randy Johnson of the Giants can beat Johan Santana of the Mets in his next start, it will be The Big Unit's 299th career win. Significance? That means he'll go for win # 300 in Seattle next.

Chances are he won't be able to do it... Santana is off to a terrific start.

But knowing baseball, knowing how sometimes things are aligned in this universe, knowing how Santana has had tough luck this year (see below)... who knows? Maybe it might happen.

Somehow I don't think it will.

* Santana was pulled with the score 1-1 between the Mets and Braves in the seventh inning, after he'd put a runner on base.

Then a single and flyout happened to make it two outs in the inning.

Alas, Brian McCann reached on an error by SS Jose Reyes, loading the bases.

The next batter singled to score two runs, with the go-ahead run charged to Santana.

The Mets lost 8-3.

That go-ahead run was unearned thanks to the two-out error. But the first run he allowed was also unearned, thanks to David Wright's error in the first inning.

Thus, Santana allowed ZERO earned runs and still lost.

He had already lost earlier in the year in Florida, 2-1, with both runs charged to him unearned.

So, it was the second time that he's allowed ZERO earned runs and still lost.

He has also won a pair of 1-0 games this year (both times he pitched seven innings).

Santana's stats: 4-2 record, 0.78 ERA.

His mound opponent on Monday, Derek Lowe: 5-1, 3.80.

* Speaking of pitchers with a lot of wins and a high ERA: On Monday, the Reds beat the D-Backs 13-5 in Arizona.

The winning pitcher, Bronson Arroyo, gave up 10 hits and five runs in seven innings. He is now 5-2 with a 7.02 ERA.

In his two losses this season, Arroyo gave up nine runs in each outing.

Cecil shuts down A's

I was one of the cynics when the Toronto Blue Jays called up Brett Cecil from Triple-A Las Vegas.

But two starts in, Cecil has looked really good.

On Sunday afternoon, the rookie left-hander shut down the Oakland A's to pick up his first big-league win, and the Blue Jays won, 5-0.

Cecil gave up just five hits in his eight scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out six.

Alex Rios homered for the Blue Jays, and had 3 RBIs. Rios' third homer, a solo blast in the third inning, gave the Jays a 1-0 lead, before his sacrifice fly in the fifth upped the advantage to 2-0.

Toronto had a shot to blow the game wide open in the fifth, but Oakland starter Dallas Braden struck out both Vernon Wells and Adam Lind with runners on second and third to end the threat.

Rios added a ninth-inning RBI single to cap off the scoring, giving the Jays a 5-0 edge.

The A's Jason Giambi, who hit two homers the day before, is stuck at 399 career homers. Giambi went 0-for-4 on Sunday.

Braden, who was 3-3 with an impressive 2.50 ERA going in, again didn't receive any run support against the Blue Jays.

This was the second time Braden has suffered a shutout loss to the Blue Jays, and the third time overall. Braden was the losing pitcher in Ricky Romero's 1-0 gem on April 19th at Rogers Centre, and the A's starter also lost 3-0 in Anaheim in his first start of the year.

But the story on Sunday afternoon was definitely Cecil, who helped the Jays win yet another series. Toronto has dropped just one series thus far in 2009, when it dropped three of four in Kansas City at the end of April.

The question now is: when injured pitchers Casey Janssen and Romero come back, what will the Jays do with Cecil?

Send the 22-year-old lefty back to the minors, or keep him in the rotation?

Or do you send Brian Tallet, who has pitched so well in his last two starts, back to the bullpen?

Surely, it's a good 'problem' for the Blue Jays to have.

For now, they are 22-12, tops in the American League. The second-place Boston Red Sox are 1 1/2 games back, pending their outcome against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday night.

Boston and Tampa Bay will play at Fenway Park in the Sunday Night Baseball game.

Looking ahead to the Yankee-Blue Jays series...

Out in Oakland, the Blue Jays have a 5-0 lead in the ninth inning, and will beat the A's two out of three in this weekend series.

Toronto's biggest test now comes starting Tuesday at Rogers Centre.

The Yankees will be in town.

And what a pitching matchup in the first game: ex-Jay A.J. Burnett against Roy Halladay on Tuesday night.

A.J. is undefeated, going 2-0, but he has a 5.26 ERA overall and is winless in his last four starts. Halladay is 6-1 with a 3.29 ERA.

On Wednesday, Andy Pettitte opposes Scott Richmond, before the series wraps up on Thursday with CC Sabathia against Brian Tallet.

Pettitte will probably beat the Blue Jays on Wednesday, but wouldn't it be great to see Tallet outpitch CC on Thursday?

Tallet, an ex-teammate of CC's in Cleveland, has had two great starts in a row. First, that six-inning no-no against the Tribe, and then that one-hit gem through six innings on Saturday in Oakland.

Meanwhile, CC has a 2-3 record with a 3.94 ERA. Yes, Sabathia had a complete-game four-hit shutout in his last outing, but has been inconsistent all year.

It'd be great if Tallet could somehow beat the $161-million man. (Sabathia inked a seven-year, $161-mil contract with the Yanks five months earlier.)

Big test for the Jays; we'll see how they fare against the Bombers...

Yankees win, thanks to Trembley

The Blue Jays are winning 3-0 in the sixth inning, behind Brett Cecil, out in Oakland.

But the game I want to talk about now is the Yankees-Orioles contest.

Now, if New York comes back to win the AL East or claim the wild card (the Yankees began the day 14-16, 5 1/2 games behind the AL's best team, the Blue Jays, in the East standings), you'll have to look at this one on Sunday afternoon.

You can blame Orioles manager Dave Trembley for handing the victory to the Yankees.

34-year-old Japanese rookie Koji Uehara got the start for Baltimore, and was cruising along after giving up a first-inning home run to Mark Teixeira.

Aubrey Huff's three-run bomb gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead, and Uehara pitched five scoreless innings after the Teixeira home run.

The rookie pitcher retired the Yanks on seven pitches in the sixth inning, getting Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui (the No. 3, 4, and 5 hitters) in a 1-2-3 inning.

So, what does Trembley do?

The Baltimore manager sent in lefty Jamie Walker to start the seventh. Walker gave up a home run to make it 3-2, but also retired two batters.

Trembley then decided to bring in righty Jim Johnson to face right-handed batter Francisco Cervelli, the Yankees' third-string catcher who had only 12 major-league at-bats (and an .083 batting average) going into the game.

So, the O's manager wanted a righty-righty matchup, even though Walker had already gotten two outs in the inning, and there were two outs and none on. Talk about over-managing!

The Yankees made Trembley pay immediately.

Cervelli beat out an infield hit. Derek Jeter does likewise.

Johnny Damon, 0-for-3 on the day, simply redeems himself by belting a three-run shot, giving New York a 5-3 lead.

Damon had hit into a double play and struck out twice against Uehara. Was Damon happy the rookie pitcher was gone from the game?

“He had me guessing and chasing all day long,” Damon told the AP of Uehara. “I wasn’t too happy with that” (The Associated Press, May 10, 2009).

The Yanks won the game, 5-3, but look at Orioles manager Dave Trembley for this one.

Look at him pulling Uehara despite the rookie's great outing through six innings. Look at him pulling Walker with none on and two outs.

And it's not like Trembley doesn't know about his bullpen's struggles. An interesting stat courtesy the AP:

In 2009, Baltimore has outscored the opposition 79-59 in the first three innings. However, the Orioles have been outscored 57-35 after the sixth inning.

Thanks Dave, for giving this one to New York.

Both Boston and New York got bombed

Well, the Red Sox scored 12 runs the other night against the Cleveland Indians... in one inning, before an out was recorded.

On Saturday, it was Boston's turn to take a beating, losing 14-5 at home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

And enough about Jon Lester being a feel-good story with his comeback from cancer and pitching a no-no in 2008.

He sucks.

Lester has already suffered his fourth subpar outing this season. That's out of only seven starts. Yup, four terrible outings in seven appearances.

And it's not like all those bad starts came at Fenway. He was shelled in his first start of 2009, giving up five runs in five innings against Tampa Bay at Fenway. He was bombed in Oakland (which happens to have a pitcher's park) for six runs in six innings in the next game. He was rocked in Cleveland for five runs in six innings on April 29th.

And now Saturday's stinker against the Rays, when he was pounded for eight runs in 4 1/3 innings. His ERA is 6.31.

Enough about how Lester is a hero. He sucks. And he's shown he can't beat the Rays--at least this season anyways.

* * * * *
The Yankees also suffered a blow-out loss, getting pounded 12-5 in Baltimore.

Alex Rodriguez, who belted a three-run bomb on Friday in his first game coming off the hip surgery, was a non-factor on Saturday.

A-Rod went 0-for-3 with a walk, and the Yankees' Phil Hughes came back down to earth.

Hughes gave up only two hits in six scoreless innings in his season debut on April 28 in Detroit, when he took over for Chien-Ming Wang (who's on the DL).

Then he got rocked against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in his next start.

Now in his third start, he just didn't have it. The Orioles pounded Hughes for eight hits and eight runs, and the Yankees couldn't overcome that early deficit.

Hughes was actually in trouble in the first inning, but escaped unscaved.

He gave up a double and walk in the inning, but Melvin Mora popped out to end the threat.

Hughes was not so fortunate in the second. By the time Mora flied out to left in his next at-bat, the Orioles had already plated seven runs.

Brian Tallet does it again

How about that Brian Tallet?

In his last start, Tallet pitched six shutout innings against his former team, the Cleveland Indians, before the Blue Jays blew the lead in the ninth inning and lost in extras.

The Jays followed with two straight wins, before dropping the last two, 6-1 in Anaheim and 5-3 in Oakland.

Saturday afternoon in Oakland, Tallet's turn came up again in the rotation. Could he deliver the way he did against the Indians, or was he going to have an off-game like two starts earlier (when he gave up ten runs in Kansas City)?

Were the Blue Jays going to lose their third straight?

After all, Boston has been winning a lot, with Jason Bay carrying the BoSox offensively. Alex Rodriguez just came off the disabled list on Friday and homered on his first pitch of 2009, helping the New York Yankees to a 4-0 win in Baltimore.

Thus, it was essential for Toronto to keep winning, if the Jays wanted to remain in first place in the East (they were tied with Boston going into Saturday's action) and maintain their 3 1/2-game lead in the wild card race.

But it was up to Tallet.

And boy, did he ever do the job against the Athletics.

This time, Tallet allowed only one hit in the first six innings, and by then, the Jays already had a 4-0 lead, having scored single runs in the first three innings and in the fifth.

Jason Giambi homered off Tallet leading off the seventh, but the lefty bounced back and retired Matt Holliday, Jack Cust, and Ryan Sweeney to finish off the inning.

Tallet allowed just two hits in his seven innings of work, retiring 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. He walked two and fanned a career-high seven.

The Jays took a 6-1 lead into the ninth, but Scott Downs struggled in the final inning, allowing the A's to score three runs on five hits to make it a nailbiter.

Downs, however, got rookie catcher Landon Powell to foul out with the bases loaded to end the contest, and the Jays won, 6-4.

Lyle Overbay hit a home run and had three RBIs for Toronto. His solo blast in the second inning gave the Jays a 2-0 lead, and he added a sac fly in the fifth and key insurance RBI double in the eighth.

Powell, who went 0-for-4, was playing in just his eighth game in the majors. His throwing error in the fifth inning on a steal attempt was huge, as it led to the Jays' fourth run.

With one out in the fifth, Jose Bautista singled and stole second. Powell's error allowed Bautista to reach third, and Overbay's fly to deep left centre cashed in Bautista.

Giambi homered off Downs in the ninth inning for his second of the game, and 399th of his career.

Holliday's fourth-inning single was the only other hit Tallet allowed.

According to manager Cito Gaston, Tallet will remain in the starting rotation as long as he continues pitching well.

Toronto has yet to lose three straight this season, and can win yet another series when the Jays and A's hook up for the finale on Sunday afternoon.

Brett Cecil (0-0, 1.50), who will make his second career appearance in the majors, will start on Sunday for Toronto. Dallas Braden (3-3, 2.50) goes for the A's.

A perfect day?

If you like the Toronto Blue Jays, then Saturday was probably a perfect day.

1) The Jays, the AL's best team, won in Oakland to end a two-game losing streak.

Toronto is 21-12, which trails only the Manny-less L.A. Dodgers (22-10).

2) Brian Tallet again does the job, and has pitched well in four of five starts.

3) The Yankees (14-16) gave up eight runs in the second inning in Baltimore in A-Rod's second game of the season. New York is closer to last place (ie. where Baltimore resides) than to top spot, only 1 1/2 games ahead of the Orioles (13-18), following its 12-5 loss.

4) Boston lost 14-5 to Tampa Bay at Fenway, and is now in second place, one game behind Toronto. The Red Sox are 19-12. Even the Rays, who won the AL East last season, are struggling. Tampa Bay is 15-17, tied with the Yankees in the standings.

5) Roy Halladay's main rival in the AL Cy Young race, KC's Zack Greinke, finally lost a game. Greinke gave up only one run in a complete-game four-hitter, but fell 1-0 in Anaheim. Greinke didn't walk a batter, and gave up just a third-inning sac fly.

Greinke is now 6-1 with a 0.51 ERA.

His mound opponent on Saturday, Joe Saunders, is 5-1 with a 2.66 ERA following his complete-game five-hitter.

Halladay, meanwhile, is 6-1 with a 3.29 ERA.

******

The Vancouver Canucks lost at home to the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2, in Game Five of their Western Conference Semi-Finals.

Chicago now leads the series 3-2, and can wrap things up at the United Center in Game Six.

Vancouver was only three minutes away from taking a 3-1 series lead on Thursday in Game Four, but gave up the tying goal late in the third period before losing in OT.

Fortunately, the tables have now turned, and Chicago looks to move on.

Beautiful!

* * * * *

And how about the Pittsburgh Penguins? It's now shades of '92, '95, and '96.

Pittsburgh dropped its first two to the Washington Capitals, and was destined to fall 0-3 in the third contest.

But the Pens won the third game in OT, rallied to win the fourth, and now won again on Saturday, beating the Caps 3-2 in OT.

Seems like every time the Pens and Caps meet in playoff OT, it doesn't matter who the cast of characters are, the Pens always prevail.

Dodgers 0-2 without Manny

The L.A. Dodgers were 13-0 at home when they beat the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night. The 10-3 win meant the Dodgers broke the modern MLB record for a home winning streak to start a season.

Then came the 50-game suspension of Manny Ramirez on Thursday.

L.A. lost 11-9 on Thursday night (despite jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning), and made it 0-2 without Manny, when the Dodgers dropped a 3-1 decision to the rival San Francisco Giants.

San Fran is now 4 1/2 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West.

Both losses on Thursday and Friday were at Dodger Stadium.

Jim Kelley on the Fan 590 made an interesting point on Friday afternoon: a team that has a player caught using a banned substance should forfeit the games they won with the player in the lineup. If players know they are responsible for costing their teams victories, then they might not use any substances. Good point.

That means the Dodgers would be, oh, say 0-30 right now. :-)


What's up with Yahoo! Sports?

Tonight on the site, it had the Dodgers beating the Giants 4-1 on the front page of their MLB section. (If you clicked on the link, it was a recap of the ANGELS beating the Royals 4-1.)

Also tonight, on the NHL section's front page, it had "Canes-Bruins series tied 2-2" even though the series was now 3-1 for Carolina.

Last Saturday, the Yahoo! NHL section showed a final score of the Hawks-Canucks game as 5-3 Chicago. (It was actually 6-3.)

A couple weeks before that, the site had St. Louis leading Vancouver 1-0 at the end of two periods. (The score was 0-0 at that point and the Blues ended up losing 3-0.) That one was odd. I was watching the game and had Yahoo! Sports on the Internet too--there wasn't even any puck that was close to being in the Canucks net (ie. it wasn't like the Blues scored and it was under video replay or anything. The Blues never came close to scoring!)

This Yahoo! Sports site has to get its act together. Not good enough.

Thoughts on Manny

So, the big news story of Thursday wasn't Brett Favre, after all.

Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress was reportedly going to have a face-to-face meeting with the retired QB on Thursday about a possible comeback, but then Childress was seen at the Vikings team facility instead of being in Mississippi.

Then it was reported that Favre hadn't changed his mind about his retirement....

Well, all that took a backseat to the shocker of the day: Manny Ramirez and his 50-game drug suspension. Steroids.

On Wednesday, life was good in L.A.

The Dodgers were 21-8 and had the best record in the majors, had won seven straight and just set a modern-day major league record with its 13-0 start at Dodger Stadium, following a 10-3 triumph over the Washington Nationals.

The way they were going, maybe they weren't going to lose a home game all year.

Ramirez (.348, 6 HR, 20 RBIs) was a big part of their success, and not just on the field. He was bringing fans to the ballpark, Dodger merchandise sales were up, and everything was good in La-La land.

The 50-game suspension would cost Manny $8 million in salary.

Now, will the Dodgers continue winning?

On Thursday night, they certainly looked like they were going to go 14-0, when they came out and scored six runs in the first inning against the Nationals.

The score was 6-0 going into the sixth, before the Nats came all the way back. Washington got four runs in the next two innings, and then stunned L.A. with a six-run eighth for a 10-6 lead.

The Dodgers finally woke up in the eighth and ninth innings, but fell 11-9.

Juan Pierre took Manny's spot in left field, though he hit in the No. 9 spot (something Joe Torre has been doing recently whenever he's inserted Pierre into the lineup). Pierre was 2-for-4 and is batting .371, but was only 1-for-2 in steals and left three runners on base.

Obviously, the Manny-less era didn't start out well, but considering the division they're in, they're still in a good position.

L.A. started the day 6 1/2 games up on the San Francisco Giants, the biggest lead of any of the divisional leaders in the majors.

But ah, the Giants go into Dodger Stadium on Friday for a three-game weekend series. Will the divisional lead shrink by the time San Fran leaves town?

And oh, the Yankees just got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in a two-game series at new Yankee Stadium. The Rays actually hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning off Mariano Rivera, of all people, to break a 6-6 tie. Yawn.

The Yanks though, were getting Alex Rodriguez (who admitted to steroid use in February after SI outed him) back on Friday, at last. A-Rod has missed the entire season so far but has just finished his stint in extended spring training... but yawn.

Boston scored 12 runs before making the first out in the sixth inning, tying a major-league record, and this happening without Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Jacoby Ellsbury in the lineup. Yawn.

The underachieving Mets swept the defending WS champion Phillies (albeit in just a two-game series). New York, with four straight wins, is now a half-game back of Philadelphia, losers of two straight. The Phils' Jamie Moyer was going for his 250th win (but of course he didn't get it). Yawn, yawn, yawn.

The White Sox's Mark Buehrle took a perfect game into the seventh. The Arizona Diamondbacks fired manager Bob Melvin. Lots of things happened on Thursday.

But nothing compared to the Manny news that broke early Thursday.

Jinxing Doc?

Well, right after I posted about the Jays' 13-0 lead on Wednesday night, the Angels broke the shutout in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Damn.

Actually, I am surprised Halladay is still pitching. Why is he still out there with a 13-run lead?

Blue Jays dominating in Anaheim

The Blue Jays are on the West Coast for the first time this season, starting a two-game series in Anaheim Wednesday night before moving on to Oakland for a three-game set this weekend.

So, as the Jays game was going on, the other AL East games had already been decided.

Boy, ex-Jay A.J. Burnett sure is lucky. But not his Yankees.

Sure, Burnett is still undefeated, at 2-0. But he hasn't won since April 14th. In fact, those two wins came in his first two starts of the year.

He avoided a loss in the Carl Pavano game, where ex-Yankee Pavano outpitched him at new Yankee Stadium. He avoided a loss at Fenway, where he gave up eight runs to blow a 6-0 lead.

On Wednesday night, A.J. was lucky again. He gave up three runs in six innings--sure, that's a 'quality start', but when you sign that big contract to pitch in New York, you're expected to do more than that--and left with the score 3-0 Tampa Bay.

Alas, Mark Teixeira's two-out, three-run double in the last of the eighth inning tied the score, and A.J. escaped with a no-decision. By the way, Teixeira was hitting just .198 going into the game. Yikes.

Oh well, the Yankees lost in the 10th inning. (Though New York nearly came back; Johnny Damon made it to third base with one out in the 10th, but Teixeira--hehe--flied out for the second out, and Hideki Matsui did likewise to end the ballgame.)

Meanwhile, in Boston, the Cleveland Indians continued to hit, beating the Red Sox 9-2. The Tribe, who trailed 2-0 in the second inning, ended Boston's nine-game home winning streak.

And oh, Pavano was the one who gave the Tribe six strong innings in this one.

The Indians scored 19 runs in two games at Rogers Centre on Monday and Tuesday, and kept hitting when they got to Fenway.

So, both New York and Boston lost--at home.

And the Blue Jays, meanwhile, are winning at this moment, out on the West Coast.

But is it really a surprise on Wednesday night?

After all, the Jays' Roy Halladay got the ball out in Anaheim, and the score in the eighth inning was 13-0!

Through seven innings, Halladay had given up just three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Angels rookie Anthony Ortega--hey, the Jays aren't the only one with rookies in their starting rotation!!--was bombed in his third ML start, and was gone in the second inning with the score 4-0. (Two more runners Ortega put on base scored after he departed, so he was charged with six runs in total.)

Through eight innings, Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, and Aaron Hill had homered for the Blue Jays. All three players had 3 RBIs (with Overbay and Wells hitting three-run homers).

Toronto will be 20-10 by the time the game is done, best in the American League.

Blue Jays proving me wrong

The Toronto Blue Jays have proven my weekend rant wrong.

They did quite well, actually, with the two rookie pitchers starting on Saturday and Tuesday.

The Jays went 2-0 in those two contests, and are finding ways to win.

Robert Ray did okay on Saturday against the Orioles, pitching four-hit ball in 5 2/3 innings (with four walks and allowing three runs) in his ML debut. It ultimately turned out to be the Aaron Hill show, as the second baseman atoned for his 10th-inning error (which led to Baltimore's go-ahead run) with a game-tying homer and 11th inning game-winning single.

It was Brett Cecil's turn to make his debut on Tuesday night against Cleveland, and he certainly did the job. Cecil allowed only two runs--one earned--in six innings, striking out six with no walks. (He did, however, hit three batters.) Still, Cecil was behind the entire game until the Jays scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead.

The Indians, however, took the lead after Jays manager Cito Gaston took Cecil out of the game. The Tribe scored four runs to jump out in front, 6-3.

But the Jays aren't the best-hitting team in the majors for nothing. They battered the Indians' bullpen for seven runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Adam Lind's two-out, three-run homer giving Toronto a 9-6 lead. Scott Rolen followed suit with a home run of his own.

The Jays won, 10-6.

So, the Blue Jays are doing quite well, thank you, despite having two rookies make their debuts in a span of four days.

And oh, talk about irony: Brian Wolfe, the third pitcher the Jays called up Friday along with Ray and Cecil, actually picked up the win in relief on Tuesday night.

And oh yeah, the Blue Jays' Scott Richmond also proved me wrong. Richmond picked up his fourth win of the season on Sunday, finishing off the three-game sweep over Baltimore. Though Richmond made his debut last season, he is still considered a rookie in 2009. The Jays, by the way, are 5-0 in his five starts this season.

Of course, Ricky Romero was the other starting pitcher (along with Ray and Cecil) to make his big-league debut this year. He was 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA before going on the disabled list on April 20th.

If ace Roy Halladay can continue to dominate the way he's been going the last few years, if Brian Tallet can follow up with his no-hitter (well, not really a no-no but he did shut down the Indians for six innings on Monday), the Blue Jays could actually do pretty well. Especially if they continue to hit.

Toronto leads the major leagues in runs scored (176) and batting average (.295).

And just wait till Romero comes back. Then Jesse Litsch. And Shaun Marcum.

It could be an exciting year indeed.

Jays lose in 12 innings despite Tallet's performance

If you missed Monday night's Indians-Blue Jays contest, boy, you really missed out on a great game.

And unfortunately, there were only 15,295 at Rogers Centre to witness it.

First, Brian Tallet's six no-hit innings. Then, a heart-breaking rally by Cleveland to break up the no-no and put the Blue Jays behind, 3-2.

Vernon Wells' clutch, two-out, two-run single to give Tallet a shot for the win.

A couple of incredible ninth-inning rallies. The Indians were one strike away from defeat--and Tallet one strike away from the victory--but they came back with three big runs.

Down by two, the Jays also refused to go quietly. Toronto was one strike away from losing, but Jose Bautista saved the Jays with a two-run single off Kerry Wood to send the game into extra innings.

As manager Cito Gaston told the Canadian Press: "Baseball is always an interesting game because you never know how the ending is going to come out... You go from a guy pitching a no-hitter, to a one-hitter, to a tie ball game, to one out to win a game, they had one out to win the game, then you go extra innings and they end up coming out ahead."

Well said.

Just an entertaining game, to be sure.

The Tribe got three runs in the 12th to take a 9-6 lead, only to see the Blue Jays rally again. Toronto got a run to make it 9-7, and Aaron Hill--Saturday's extra-inning hero (he hit a home run and then delivered a game-winning single the next inning)--came up with two men on and two out.

Great stuff.

Of course, Hill struck out swinging to end it, but still, what an awesome game.

And how about Tallet's honest response following the game?

"Absolutely," Tallet said when asked by reporters if he knew he had the no-hitter going. "Everybody knows that. There's what, 15-16,000 people in the stands? I'm sure every single person knew I was throwing a no-hitter. You hate to lose it, you'd love to throw one, but that's not the goal. The goal is to win the ball game and we just didn't do it tonight" (Canadian Press, May 4, 2009).

Most of the time, you hear guys saying they didn't know they had a no-hitter going and didn't know what the crowd was buzzing about, and so on. (Didn't Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays say that on Sunday about not knowing he had six steals against Boston?)

So many things happened in the game--the two blown leads in the ninth innings. The two-out hits to deliver big runs. Brian Tallet.

I guess the only thing missing was someone swiping six bags.

Shame on all those who missed it.

Brian Tallet's rebound

You can't help but feel bad for Blue Jays lefty Brian Tallet.

He was rocked for three homers and 10 runs in just four innings in his last start, in that 11-3 debacle in Kansas City last Wednesday.

Perhaps he had fallen back to earth after two pretty solid starts in a row after being inserted into the rotation.

But boy, did Tallet ever have a bounce-back on Monday night:

Six no-hit innings against the Cleveland Indians.

Amazing stuff.

It would have been great to see him finish the gem off, but obviously it would have been highly improbable given the fact he has never pitched deep into ballgames in the big leagues as a starter.

Ultimately, he lost the no-no and the 2-0 lead in the seventh, when the Indians scored three runs.

Vernon Well's two-run single in the bottom half, however, gave Toronto a 4-3 lead, putting Tallet in line for the victory.

Alas, it didn't turn out to be Tallet's night, as Brandon League coughed up the advantage with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth.

One strike away.

But League--trying for an unusual two-inning save--just couldn't nail it down. (League was closing because Scott Downs had pitched in three straight games and wasn't available.)

Thus, no no-hitter and no victory for Brian Tallet.

But he certainly redeemed himself and did his job.

By the way, wouldn't it have been great though, had Tallet made history by getting the no-no? There were ONLY 15,295 at Rogers Centre, this despite the fact the Blue Jays are in first place and were coming off a three-game sweep at home against the Baltimore Orioles.

And no hockey in Toronto anymore, with the Maple Leafs' season done months ago.

No excuse that only 15,000-plus were on hand for the contest.

Had Tallet indeed gotten the no-no, I'm sure many in T.O. would have been kicking themselves for not being there to witness a piece of history. (Not only that, the game turned out to be a thriller, one that the Jays ultimately lost in 12 innings.)

After all, as far as I can remember, Dave Stewart has been the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter at SkyDome/Rogers Centre, and that was 19 years ago.

Back in 2007, when Dustin McGowan almost had his no-no against Colorado and Frank Thomas was looking for his 500th homer, there were two times more fans in the stands on that Sunday afternoon: 33,910.

Anyways, way to go, Brian Tallet. I would say I've become a fan. I would hope that the 15,000-odd people that showed up feel the same way.

Greinke now 6-0 with yet another shutout

Kansas City's Zack Greinke is now 6-0, after a complete-game shutout over the Chicago White Sox, 3-0, on Monday night.

Greinke struck out 10, the third time in four starts that he has allowed zero earned runs and fanned 10 in a nine-inning complete-game effort.

His ERA is 0.40.

In fact, the Blue Jays have been the only team so far to have solved the right-hander.

In his last start, last Wednesday against Toronto, Greinke gave up two runs in seven innings in an 11-3 win--the only time this season he has allowed any earned runs.

Amazing.

Last year, it was Cliff Lee who was having the microscopic ERA--0.67 in his first seven starts--as the Tribe hurler went on to a 22-3 season.

Back then, it was Lee who captured the Cy Young Award over the Jays' Roy Halladay.

This year, could it be Greinke's magical season that thwarts Halladay's bid for the pitching award?

Halladay is 5-1 with a 3.68 ERA thus far, but has been widely acknowledged as the AL's best pitcher.

Yet these last two seasons, someone else comes through and has a breakout season (while never really having done it before).

Too bad.

Well, we'll see if Greinke can continue this great pitching.

Blackhawks beat Canucks 6-3 to even Western Conference Semi-Finals 1-1

The Chicago Blackhawks rallied from a 2-0 deficit and defeated the Canucks 6-3 in Vancouver on Saturday night, evening their Western Conference Semi-Finals at a game apiece.

The Blackhawks are quickly becoming the "Comeback Kids" in this year's playoffs, seemingly being able to come back from all these deficits.

Remember Chicago rallying to steal the first two games of the Calgary series in the previous round, and Thursday night's opener against Vancouver, when the Hawks rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the third?

But this time, Vancouver started counting their chickens when the score was 2-0 in the first period on Saturday night. Or at least, the Canucks' radio broadcasting team did.

After Alex Edler scored the Canucks' second goal on a 5-on-3 man advantage, radio colour commentator Tom Larscheid started celebrating--and basically proclaiming a victory for Vancouver.

He started saying nonsense about Hawks coach Joel Quenneville having to pull goalie Nikolai Khabibulin soon because the Canucks have his number and how Vancouver has gotten into the Bulin Wall's head.

Well, well, well... I wonder who's gotten into whose head by the end of the night.

The Blackhawks exploded against Canucks captain Roberto Luongo, beating him FIVE times in the second half of the contest to take a 5-2 lead.

Vancouver scored a late goal to make it a two-goal deficit before the Hawks clinched it with an empty-netter.

Chicago has already ended Calgary's season... The Blackhawks might as well do that to Vancouver--Canada's last hope for the Stanley Cup this spring--too.

Hill goes from goat to hero; Jays win in 11th

How about that Aaron Hill?

How about those Toronto Blue Jays?

The Blue Jays won again on Saturday, clinching their seventh series win in eight tries in 2009, rallying for an improbable 5-4 win over the visiting Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings.

Hill's RBI single in the last of the 11th drove in Rod Barajas with the winning run, as the Blue Jays improved to 17-9.

It was Hill's error that led to Baltimore's go-ahead run in the top of the 10th.

Nick Markakis, who went 0-for-4, reached base on Hill's error, moved to second on a single and went to third on a flyout. He then scored on an RBI groundout, giving the O's a 4-3 lead.

It seemed as though the Orioles were going to snap their four-game losing streak. And what a tough way it would have been to lose the ball game.

But instead, Hill led off the bottom half of the 10th with a home run off Baltimore closer George Sherrill, tying the game at 4-4.

Jason Fraser (4-0) pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the 11th, before the Blue Jays won it in the bottom half.

Barajas led off the Jays' 11th with a single, went to second on a sacrifice, and came around to score the game-winner on Hill's single.

What an eventful last couple of innings for Hill, who had gone 0-for-4 before his sixth homer in the 10th.

Adam Jones homered with one out in the first inning to give Baltimore a 1-0 lead, before the Blue Jays struck for three runs in the second.

Aubrey Huff's two-run double tied things up in the third inning for the O's.

Then the pitching took over for the next six innings, as neither team scored again until Hill's miscue led to the O's fourth run.

Robert Ray pitched well for the Blue Jays in his first big-league start, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed four hits and four walks, and struck out two.

Ray, who was called up the day before, took over David Purcey's spot in the Jays' rotation.

Meanwhile, the Orioles' Brad Bergesen allowed three runs in six hits in six innings in his third major-league start.

Ray to start on Saturday against the O's

On Saturday, Robert Ray will make his big-league debut against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre.

The right-handed Ray takes lefty David Purcey's spot in the rotation. Purcey (0-2, 7.01 ERA) was sent down to Triple-A on Friday.

Ray, a 25-year-old, was a combined 13-9 with a 3.61 ERA and 132 K’s in 167 innings pitching in Class A and Double-A ball in 2008.

Not really impressive stats. So, he’s actually going to help the Blue Jays at the big-league level?

The Jays' modest one-game winning streak will likely be snapped on Saturday.

Halladay gets fifth win

Roy Halladay picked up his fifth win, pitching eight innings to lead the Blue Jays to an 8-4 win over Baltimore at Rogers Centre on Friday night in the opener of their three-game weekend series.

Ex-Oriole Kevin Millar had three RBIs for the Blue Jays, while Aaron Hill and Rod Barajas both went 3-for-5. Adam Lind homered for Toronto.

As for the demotion of David Purcey (along with Brian Burres), check out my comments here. Don't really want to double-post.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox, who got demolished by Tampa Bay 13-0 on Thursday, lost yet again in Tampa on Friday, losing 6-2.

The Red Sox's loss, coupled with the Blue Jays' win on Friday, means the Jays are now back in sole possession of first place in the East. Toronto is 16-9, followed by Boston at 14-9.

Can Richmond keep it up?

As many Canadian baseball fans might know, B.C.'s Scott Richmond is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA for the Blue Jays.

Well, will that good success last?

Probably not.

There are scores of pitchers who do well in their first sniff of the big leagues, but then once the hitters figure them out, it's pretty much downhill from there.

Besides, before last season, Richmond was just a journeyman pitcher in the independent leagues.

Every time I see a pitcher with a good record early on in his career, I think about Chris Michalak, a lefty who pitched for the Blue Jays in 2001.

Remember Michalak?

He made his ML debut with Arizona in 1998. He was then bounced around to other teams. Finally, he was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000.

(When you get released by those awful D-Rays from those years, you must be really bad!)

Michalak started the 2001 season with the Blue Jays.

He beat the Yankees TWICE in his first three starts with Toronto (and the first three starts of his big league career). He was 3-0 with a 1.62 ERA in those first three outings.

Then 3-7 with a 5.13 the rest of the way before being claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.

We'll see how Scott Richmond fares in the month of May and onwards.

Griffey not hitting his weight

Has anyone checked out Junior's stats lately?

So, Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting only .196, and he's batting third in the Mariners' lineup.

How come there's no scrutiny against Griffey?

Yes, the M's are in first place by 2 1/2 games, but you just have to wonder if Griffey is really done.

And he has a job while Barry Bonds (who attended Monday's Dodgers-Giants game in 'Frisco) doesn't?

Richmond helps Jays win; Toronto back in first place

So, it was another Canadian who came up big in the AL East race.

On Monday, Jason Bay (from Trail, B.C.) of the Red Sox hit a game-winning three-run homer in the ninth inning, giving Boston a 3-1 victory and a share of first place in the East. It was Boston's 11th straight win. (Bay could have been a hero again on Tuesday night, but more on that later...)

On Tuesday, it was Scott Richmond (from North Vancouver, B.C.) of the Blue Jays' turn. The right-handed starting pitcher improved to 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA this season, and the Jays won in Kansas City, 8-1.

Couple with Boston's 9-8 loss in Cleveland on Tuesday, the Blue Jays (15-7) regain sole possession of top spot in the division. The Red Sox (13-7) are a game back.

Blue Jays fans must have been wondering if Boston would ever lose again, as the Red Sox looked unbeatable in their 11-0 run. The Sox were finding new ways to win, including hitting game-tying homers in the ninth inning (which Bay did last Friday off the Yankees' Mariano Rivera) and overcoming 6-0 deficits (which they did on Saturday against New York). They were getting great pitching and clutch hitting. It seemed they just knew how to win.

Well, one thing to note: The last time the Red Sox won 11 straight was back in 2006, when Boston went 12-0 that June. Ironically, the Sox didn't even make the postseason that year, finishing in third place in the East, a game behind Toronto.

Hey, it's still April, and 11-game winning streaks don't necessarily mean the teams involved would be crowned champions at the end.

As for Tuesday's game, in addition to Richmond's pitching, the offense came through again. Vernon Wells went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs, while Aaron Hill was 3-for-4 with 2 ribbies.

Toronto jumped out to a 5-0 lead with a four-run fourth inning against Royals starter Gil Meche, who gave up seven hits and five walks. Meche was KO'ed that same inning due to lower back stiffness.

Richmond gave up five hits over seven innings. He walked three and struck out five.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the Red Sox blew 5-1 and 7-3 leads, before losing in the last of the ninth. The winning run came home on an error.

Bay went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 walks for the Red Sox. The only time he made out was in the first inning, when he fanned with runners on first and third. After that, Bay got on base every time he stepped up to the plate.

In fact, with the score tied 8-8, Bay led off the Red Sox's half of the ninth with a single and made it all the way to third with one out. He, however, was left stranded there.

Monday's Baseball Action

The Yankees dropped their fourth straight, 4-2 in Detroit, as CC Sabathia couldn't stop New York from losing.

Sabathia pitched his first complete-game for the Yankees (albeit an eight-inning CG because the home-town Tigers didn't need to bat in the ninth), allowing six hits and striking out seven. He also gave up a home run, a two-run shot to Magglio Ordonez.

According to the Associated Press, Sabathia said his outing was “definitely” his best of the year and manager Joe Girardi agreed.

Interesting.. that even when their so-called ace pitches his best, they still lose. Hmm.

Wonder what the Daily News and the Post think about that?

Sabathia's ERA is now 4.73.

I guess at least that's way better than Chien-Ming Wang's.


The Florida Marlins lost again, this time 7-1 to the Mets in New York. The Marlins, who started 11-1 this season, have now lost seven straight.

They blew a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia on Friday by allowing seven ninth-inning runs to lose 7-3, and lost another ninth-inning lead on Saturday to the Phillies before losing 6-4 in extras.

On Sunday, it was a 13-2 defeat to the Phillies, with nine runs coming in the seventh and eighth innings.

Then in the loss to the Mets, Florida gave up six big runs in the very first inning, and that was pretty much the ballgame.

The one consolation? I suppose giving up just one run from the second inning onwards must be a positive sign.


Speaking of the Phillies, they rallied past the Washington Nationals 13-11 with six runs in the bottom of the eighth, capped off by Raul Ibanez's grand slam. Ryan Howard had hit a grand slam earlier in the contest.

It's only April, but it must be a good sign for the defending champs that they could come back in the late innings to win ballgames.

When Washington took a 6-2 lead in the fifth, the Phils immediately tied it in the bottom of the inning on Howard's grand slam. The Nats regained the lead 7-6, only to see the Phillies tie it in the bottom half of their inning.

Then when Nick Johnson and Adam Dunn slammed two-run bombs in the eighth, the Nats looked to be in control, up 11-7. But the Phils just refused to die.

Speaking of Dunn, wonder if he regrets signing with the Nationals, who at 4-14, are the worst team in the majors.


Now on to the best team in the AL. No, it's no longer the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost 7-1 in Kansas City.

It's now the Boston Red Sox, who have won 11 straight to move into a first-place tie in the East. Boston (13-6) is percentage points ahead of Toronto (14-7) atop the division.

And what can you say about Jason Bay? Yet another ninth-inning blast, this time a three-run homer, as the Red Sox won 3-1 in Cleveland. (Bay had homered off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning on Friday night to tie the Yankees before the Red Sox evenutally won it.)

The contest featured quite a pitching duel, with the BoSox's Tim Wakefield and the Tribe's Cliff Lee both pitching scoreless ball. Wakefield gave up only one hit in seven innings, while Lee gave up five hits in eight innings to go with five strikeouts.

The Indians could at least take solace in the fact it was Lee's best start of the season.

Blue Jays win sixth straight series

The Toronto Blue Jays, expectedly, lost on Saturday night to the White Sox in Chicago, getting blown out 10-2.

Brian Burres kept the Blue Jays in it until the fifth, when he loaded the bases and gave up an RBI single to Paul Konerko, breaking a 2-2 tie.

Shawn Camp then relieved Burres and gave up another RBI hit before Alexei Ramirez clubbed a grand slam to put the Jays behind 8-2. (Amazingly, that was Ramirez's fifth grand slam already, and he's only in his second season. He became the second-fastest ever in MLB history to reach five bases-loaded jacks.)

That Saturday loss was a write-off, especially since Burres' stats at Triple-A Las Vegas weren't that great (see my post from Friday), and the lefty's ERA in Baltimore the last two seasons were 5.95 and 6.04. Yikes.

That, coupled with the fact the White Sox had Mark Buehrle going, made the result somewhat predictable. Buehrle went six innings and gave up only two runs, and is now 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA.

On Sunday, however, the Blue Jays had a great shot at winning their sixth straight series, especially with Roy Halladay going to the hill against Jose Contreras (1-6 in his last 11 appearances dating back to 2008).

Contreras struggled in the first inning on Sunday, giving up a two-out, two-run double to Adam Lind.

The White Sox got a run off Doc in their half of the first, cutting the score to 2-1, but the Jays were at it again in the second inning. Contreras, however, escaped a two-on, two-out threat when Aaron Hill flied out to end the frame.

Konerko then doubled home two runs in the third, to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead, before the Jays tied it on an RBI groundout in the fourth.

Contreras then remarkably settled down, retiring 11 of the final 12 batters he faced before Chicago skipper Ozzie Guillen sent in reliever Scott Linebrink to start the eighth, with the score still 3-3.

Vernon Wells promptly greeted Linebrink with a double. Lind walked. Scott Rolen then delivered what turned out to be the game-winning hit with an RBI single to send home Wells.

With Halladay having thrown seven solid innings and now with the lead, manager Cito Gaston decided to go to the bullpen. Jason Fraser and Jesse Carlson pitched the eighth, before Scott Downs nailed down his second save of the season to give Halladay his fourth win and the Blue Jays their sixth straight series victory.

Halladay allowed eight hits and fanned six in his seven innings of work.

With the win, the Jays are now 14-6, and are 1 1/2 games up on the Red Sox, who have won nine straight and play New York on Sunday night.

The Blue Jays now head to Kansas City for a four-game series starting on Monday, where they'll run into former manager John Gibbons (now a bench coach for the Royals) and the early AL Cy Young candidate in Zack Greinke (4-0, 0.00 ERA).

Greinke, who saw his 38-inning scoreless streak end--dating back to 2008--in his last start (on an unearned run), will face the Jays in the Wednesday game (against Brian Tallet).

Will the Jays make it seven series in a row in KC? (Or at least manage a tie?)