Board logo

subject: Interesting Weekend For Blue Jays [print this page]


While the Toronto Blue Jays may sit 10 games behind the Yankees, and fourth place in the AL East, their season must be considered a success. The loss of Roy Halladay was thought to doom the Blue Jays to near the bottom of the MLB. A potent offense, and young pitching had kept them in the race up until late. While they may be out of it, this weekends games against the Tampa Bay Rays just show another sign of success that may be ahead for the Blue Jays.

Toronto won the series opener Friday by a score of 2-1 behind another strong performance from Ricky Romero. However, the real fun began after that. Saturdays game was a slugfest, with the Blue Jays winning by a score of 17-11. It was another debut in the long line of elite prospects this season, that should have Jays fans frothing at the mouth. Catching prospect J.P Arencibia made his major league debut, and he made it in a big way. The first pitch he seen in Major League Baseball was crushed out for a home run. The second pitch, a double. The third, a single. The fourth, yet another homer. He finished an impressive 4-5 with the 2 home runs, and a triple away from the cycle. The power and production should not surprise. Arencibia was tearing up triple A,with 34 homers and over a .300 average. The performance made him the first player in the modern era with four hits and two home runs in his MLB debut. The Blue Jays hit eight home runs in the game, the most by any MLB team in nearly six seasons. A tough task to top, no?

Brendan Morrow, starting pitcher, did so the next day. Morrow mowed through Tampa Bay hitters, racking up 17 strikeouts, and only allowing one walk for the games first eight and two-thirds innings. His no hit bid, unfortunately, was ended by a two out in the ninth single by Tampa Bays Evan Longoria. The performance, devoid of no hitter or not, may have been the best in the MLB this season. That says a lot in a season with three perfect games and numerous other no hitters. According to Bill James Game Score, he is only the fourth pitcher to score a perfect 100, and the first since Randy Johnsons perfect game in 2004. The Game Score is a metric summary of how effective a pitchers performance is, and it is a one number value. Morrow mixed his off speed stuff with a nasty fastball, en route to nearly delivering Tampa Bay their third no hitter this season. While Morrow could not close the deal, his pitching performance today will be talked about among the years best, and according to James system, is tops for the season.

by: Uncle Rico




welcome to loan (http://www.yloan.com/) Powered by Discuz! 5.5.0