April 20, 2009

Ricky Romero is indeed so fine ...

Oakland's Jack Cust thinks so too.

"He's got a bright future. He reminds of (Johan) Santana a little bit, his body and his mannerisms, the way he throws. Santana's got those broad shoulders like he's got. 

"He's similar, he's got a similar arm slot, similar delivery. He's going to be good."

He already is, Mr. Cust. Damn good.

Romero's 2-0. The proud owner of a 1.71 ERA, and bonerific 1.10 WHIP. He's thrown as many innings and allowed as many hits as one Roy Halladay: 21, and 19. Exquisite company. If spots two through five behind Doc were up for grabs in the Toronto Blue Jays' rotation, it's safe to say LL Cool Rick'Ro has grabbed number two. With authority. And I am loving every minute of it.

The bats fell silent over the weekend. But it was the pitchers' time to shine. Shout out to Brian Tallet; what a spot start on Saturday afternoon. The team couldn't have possibly asked for more. And Scott Downs. What's left to say about Downs that hasn't been said before? He is unreal. Another three and a third innings of relief over the weekend, and nary a run allowed; not even a hit. So far this season, in 7.2 innings of work, Downs has allowed two hits, zero walks, zero runs, and struck out twelve. Don't you ever change, Snakeface.

David Purcey, no shout out for you. Stop. Walking. Batters. His 13 walks (in only 15.1 innings) are more than Halladay (3), Romero (4), and Scott Richmond (5) have combined to throw. They're unacceptable. And I'm sure The Cito and Th'Arnsberg (The Arnsberg) won't stand for them much longer.

The Blue Jays are 10-4, winners of their first four series. And that's what it's all about: winning each and every series. Everyone is doing their part. From Halladay, to Romero, to Aaron Hill, to Marco Scutaro, to Travis Snider, to Adam Lind, to Shawn Camp, to ... well, everyone except Alex Rios and Purcey, really.

What was that? Speak up, J.P. Ricciardi haters. I'm having a difficult time hearing you.

Toronto is the best team in the American League; the only team in the Junior Circuit sporting double digits in wins. I must admit, the view from up here is pretty fantastic. I could get used to it. And the Jays' first game against an AL East opponent is still 11 games away. Pile up the wins, boys. You're going to need them come September.

A much-deserved day off for the local nine, today. Read Jeff Blair's article. He won't admit it, but I think he's beginning to believe. 

Playoffs!!!!1

Pennant, too, of course. They go hand in hand.

17 comments:

furcifer said...

Pennant? I'm starting to believe

Pension Plan Puppets said...

WOOOO-HOOOOO! ROMERO IS ON PACE FOR 30 WINS!

THE JAYS ARE GOING TO WIN OVER 100 GAMES!

PLAYOFFS!!!!1

What was that? Speak up, J.P. Ricciardi haters. I'm having a difficult time hearing you.Does 14 games of good play erase 7 years of mediocre to terrible play?

Just keeping you grounded ;)

kushnir said...

just going to throw this out there...

Arron "better then dustin" hill > Dustin "mvp" pedroia

The Ack said...

yes, Yes, and YES.

P!

Lee(tch) said...

95 is the magical number.
This team is really starting to believe in each other even though it's very early in the season.
I think this year we'll be buyers come trade deadline. That just tickles me in all the right places. Wonder what A.J.'s thinking these days. Someone forgot to tell him about the new Yankee stadium being the "Coors Field" of the east. 20 home runs in four games? Insane. Gonna be fun to watch when our boys head to NY for a series.

Ian Hunter said...

A young Johan Santana? Holy shit - that is quite the compliment from an opposing team member. Ricky is sicky.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Nathan: Hop aboard. There's plenty of room.

PPP: I would vehemently argue that not all seven years of the Ricciardi era can be painted with the "terrible play" brush. But I appreciate your efforts to keep me grounded. Lord knows I need the help.

Kush: You know what bro, that would be the sweetest shit ever, if Hill puts up better numbers than Pedroia, and wins the MVP. It would rank just behind the Jays finishing higher in the standings than the Red Sox, and going to the playoffs!!!!1, of course.

The Ack: It's a beautiful time to be a Jays fan. I'm heading to the game tomorrow. Doc!!!!1

Lee(tch): 95? Easy. We're on pace for 100+. And I think you're right, if we're in this bad boy come trade deadline time, we might just be buyers. And I think we're all anxiously awaiting the Yankees/Jays series. Mid May, my friend ...

Ian: Yeah, I was taken aback by Cust's comments as well. And you're right: Ricky is sicky.

The best part about all of this is that it's the kids, the ones J.P. Ricciardi drafted, that are leading the charge.

Anonymous said...

because i know you love carl pavano:

http://deadspin.com/5216238/the-dislike-for-carl-pavano-was-closed+captioned-for-the-hearing-impaired

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Thanks Anon. That was kind of awesome.

Johnny G said...

As much as people rag on JP for putting together a mediocre team, I think they have mostly been exciting to watch over the past few years. I had stopped watching baseball for the longest time and it wasn't until 4 years ago when JP had picked up AJ, Glaus, BJ and Lyle that a friend was going on about the Jays and got me hooked again.


Plus that led me to find DJF's which lead me here, which eventually led me over to PPP, where I won a Clark bobblehead. So hey things worked out!

The Ack said...

re: "What I keep telling myself" section you got goin' on there.....that's fucking bigtime, baby.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Johnny: I'd agree, while we haven't gotten the results we'd like, the team has been exciting to watch the last few years. And, you're right man, things did work out pretty well. The Toronto sports blogosphere is pretty crazy.

The Ack: There have been a lot of great Blue Jays related sayings so far this young season, but that one's tops. "I believe in Scott Rolen." Fuck. Yes. He's playing great. And don't look now, but Overbay is batting .294 with 9 RsBI, and an impressive .973 OPS. Maybe the platoon Cito has him on is helping him find his swing consistently. The Cito Effect. Personified. Pennant.

looshV said...

I still don't like JP, I feel he spent a lot of years dickin' around with free agency. I understand his intent was good but I did not agree with a lot of those knee-jerk trades and/or signings. We are finally filling the rank and file with home grown stuff and I'm FINALLY gettin' fuckin' HIGH over here! It's the best smoke that's been in the Big Smoke for a while know. Enjoy it while it lasts, GO JAYS!

woodpeck said...

every morning we wake up in first place is a good morning!

furcifer said...

So Romero's gone on the DL retroactive to the day this post was made.

Can you say jinx?

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

I'm sorry, furcifer ... please forgive me.

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