Jinxed Jays

The unhittable Casey Janssen and Jeremy Accardo are unhittable no more.

Oops, my bad.

I jinxed Janssen and Accardo. The two Blue Jays relievers who have been lights out this year were torched by the Twinkies on Saturday night, a mere 24 hours after I said I was simply waiting for their bubble to burst.

Tomo Ohka pitched a hell of a ball game for the Jays on Saturday night, and it came at an opportune time because his job is on the line. Roy Halladay's going to take the mound on Thursday night, so it's either Ohka or young'un Jesse Litsch who's going to be voted off the island.

Ohka handed the ball off to the dynamic duo of Janssen and Accardo with a 7-2 lead in the 8th inning. Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth and it was a tie game, seven a piece. Janssen gave up two runs, while Accardo gave up three in blowing the save. Accardo's shutout streak lasted a remarkable 21 innings.

The Jays picked up their bullpen though, for once, and managed to win the game in extra innings. God knows it would have been an excruciatingly tough loss to rebound from.

I've got to give props to Janssen, Accardo, and Scott Downs for their work this season. Pitching was obviously a concern coming into this season for Toronto, but these guys have carried the bullpen on their back, especially in the absence of BJ Ryan. It was only a matter of time until they got hit, but they've been a pleasure to watch. They are one of the few bright spots on this team.

The Twins took two out of three from the Jays on the weekend, and now the Yankees are in Toronto for a big three game set. A.J. Burnett put together another quality start Sunday afternoon, going eight innings and only giving up three hits. He took the loss, however, and saw his record go to 5-4. It was the 22nd time this season that the Jays scored three runs or less. That's simply not going to get the job done, fellas.

Two months of the 2007 season are pretty much in the books now, and they've been a rough two months to say the least. Baseball is a shadow of life, as in things don't always go the way they're planned. The Boston Red Sox are running away with the AL East division, and any talk of the playoffs could be over pretty soon. Reality is starting to set in, and it's bleak right now. The Jays need to put together a winning streak, and fast.

The Jays were supposed to have one of the more potent lineups in the American League this season. Yet here we are, 49 games in, and Alex Rios is leading the team in home runs, runs batted in and runs scored. Rios is great and only getting better, but he's not supposed to be the main man offensively on this team just yet. Wells, Glaus, Thomas and Overbay, I'm looking at you guys.

The Jays have a team batting average of .256, good for only 10th in the American League. Toronto was supposed to out slug most of their opponents, to make up for their lack of quality pitching. The Jays offense is comparable with the Kansas City Royals offense right now. That should be a crime.

Pitching wins championships. It's getting more and more evident every season. The Blue Jays own a team ERA of 4.44. The Red Sox, who have an 11.5 game cushion in the AL East, boast a team ERA of 3.64.

Pitching, my friends. The Red Sox have it. The Blue Jays don't.

Sundin or Alfredsson?

Now that the Ottawa Senators are on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals - wow, that actually hurts just writing it - an interesting question comes to mind.

Mats Sundin or Daniel Alfredsson. Who would you rather have as your captain?

The Senators, led by Alfredsson, are off to the place no Maple Leafs team has travelled in the modern era of the NHL. Sundin and the Leafs have never made it out of the third round of the grind known as the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Alfredsson has been a man possessed the last few weeks. He's playing, undoubtedly, the best hockey of his career and has been the driving the bus for his team. He's finally playing like a captain, something he'd never really done in the playoffs before. I thought it was fitting that Alffy was the man to score the game winner in overtime of game five to knock out the Sabres. It was Alffy who was burned by Jason Pominville, one year ago, in overtime of game five when Buffalo sent the Senators home. Justin Timberlake was right, the clever entertainer that he is. What goes around, goes around, goes around comes all the way back around.

Alfredsson is the first European captain of a team in the Stanley Cup Finals. Funny, I always believed Mats Sundin would hold that distinction. Alas, it has yet to be for Sundin and Toronto's beloved, but clearly cursed, hockey team. Will Alfredsson become the first European captain to win the Stanley Cup?

Alfredsson has turned it up a notch in the playoffs this time around. He's played solid two-way hockey, while racking up 10 goals and seven assists. Four of those goals have been game winners. The Sens have won 12 games in the second season, so Alffy's won a third of them for his team. That's clutch. He's even added a physical element to his game, something he certainly hasn't been known for before.

Statistically during the regular season over their respective careers, Sundin holds a slight edge over Alfredsson when it comes to points-per-game. Sundin has averaged 1.01 points a game over his career, while Alffy comes in at 0.97. Advantage Sundin.

Sundin is also the better playoff performer, averaging 0.89 points a game in 83 career playoff games. Alfredsson has played 94 career playoff games and averages 0.80 points-per-game. Advantage Sundin, again.

I'm not sure one solid playoff run, on a very talented and deep Ottawa Senators team, vaults Alfredsson past Sundin. Alfredsson is playing on a line with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza right now, two all-world superstars. Mats Sundin goes to bed at night dreaming of playing with guys of that calibre. Other than the Alexander Mogilny days in Toronto, I'd say Alfredsson has always played with more talented players beside him.

All I know is that this city is full of Mats Sundin haters. The haters are saying Sundin shouldn't be resigned. That he's overpaid, and not worthy of the "C". I'll vouch with the overpaid part, but don't believe for a second that he isn't a superb captain and player. The Leafs need him, straight up.

The fact that Alfredsson is now playing for the most beautiful piece of hardware I have ever seen in my life, the Stanley Cup, is not going to help Sundin's cause, especially when he's on the verge of signing a new two-year contract with the Leafs.

Clearly, I'm no Sundin hater. I love the man. I'm going to give Alfredsson his props on his playoff performance right now, but I'll take Mats Sundin as my captain any day of the week over Alffy.
I'd love to know what you think.

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Jesse Litsch, welcome back down to earth.

The Jays lost another close one tonight as youngster Litsch made his third start in the big leagues, against a tough Minnesota Twins lineup.

After his phenomenal start about ten days ago, Litsch has struggled in his last two outings. He's allowed to struggle, though. The kid is up from AA ball, after all, and he's only 22. It's not an easy transition, Casey Janssen can attest to that. Litsch gave up three runs and eight hits in only four and a third innings tonight. He's done a good job filling in, but it's time to get back on the bus and head down to Syracuse. Harry Halladay - I think I'm going to refer to him as Harry for the rest of the season - could return as early as May 31st, and Litsch will benefit from some time in Triple-A. It looks like he's got a bright future.

My main man Scott Downs took the loss tonight. He made a costly error in the bottom of the seventh when he couldn't handle Justin Morneau's nibbler. It was only the sixth run he's given up all year.

I've got to admit that I'm just waiting for the Jays' lights-out bullpen trio's bubble to burst. The trio of Accardo, Janssen and Downs. Downs looks like he's ready to pop, as he's given up three runs in his last two outings. Accardo is still going strong on his scoreless innings streak, and I'm still not sure how Casey Janssen is doing what he's doing.

Janssen hasn't been overpowering. He's given up 21 hits in 24 plus innings, while striking out ten. Yet he's only given up two runs. Those stats show that he's not getting fazed when runners get aboard. That's a great quality for a pitcher to have. Duh. Hard to believe Janssen was also pitching for New Hampshire in Double-A just a year ago.

This way of thinking - waiting for the bubble to burst - is the way I function. All negativity, all the time! Instead of enjoying the success of the Jays bullpen, I'm waiting for it all to come crashing down.

Peculiar decision by John Gibbons to let Scott Downs pitch to Torii Hunter tonight, with two outs and runners on the corners in a tie ball game. Hunter has been eating up left-handed pitching all year, and Jason Frasor was ready in the bullpen. This is what I mean when I say that John Gibbons makes some stupid decisions. Play the numbers. Bring in Frasor. Downs has been great, but you've got to respect Hunter's bat. Downs' first pitch was poked into right field, 4-3 Twins, and it turned out to be the winning run. Good call.

Random thought - it's hard to believe JP Ricciardi has been around for seven seasons, and John Gibbons for four, already. Wow. Time flies when you're finishing in third!

Tomo Ohka takes the mound for the Jays tomorrow. It's almost official, he sucks. If he loses tomorrow, it will be official. I'm off Ohka, huge.

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I just saw Maggie the Monkey pick the Senators to win it all on Sportscentre. I'm not sure how Maggie's done with her picks this year, but I hope she's wrong. As much as I want a Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup, I would much rather it have been Calgary or Edmonton in the last few years. Not Ottawa. I can take them making it to the finals, but winning it is going to be a bit much for me to swallow. The fact that Alfredsson is the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe isn't sitting too well either.

It's true, I wanted the Sens to beat the Sabres. Ottawa's never beaten the Leafs in the playoffs, while Buffalo has. There's my justification. And a part of me likes to laugh at the inability of Buffalo's pro sports teams to get the job done. Buffalo is a city of losers, and I wanted that losing to continue. They did and I'm happy, but that's all now. Come on Ducks. Do the Flying V. Do whatever it takes, but don't let the Senators win it all.

Karma should be on the side of the Ducks. Scott Niedermayer didn't even come within a foot of the Western Conference Championship trophy. Half of the Ducks were already gone to the dressing room during the presentation. That's the way it should be done. Nobody cares about that trophy, nobody wants to touch it, and nobody wants to take a picture with it. That is not the trophy one plays for. Niedermayer did the right thing. If you want to win the Stanley Cup, it's known that you don't touch the Conference Championship trophy. As absurd as this tradition has become, I absolutely love it. There's no other trophy like the Stanley Cup and it's aura results in ridiculous superstitions like this.

Alfredsson, Wade Redden and the Senators, however, were all over the Eastern Conference Championship trophy. Redden even skated around with it! That's a no-no. It will cost the Senators, dearly.

Ducks in seven. Book it.

Rock Bottom, Already?

Do you hear that sound? Listen carefully. It's the sound of bodies hitting the ground, jumping off the Blue Jays bandwagon. And fast.

The Toronto Blue Jays limped out of April with a 13-12 record. Not exactly a blazing start out the gate, but considering all the injuries they had to deal with in the first month of the season, it was a good month. The Jays knew what they had to do - simply tread water, and play .500 baseball until the healthy bodies of Reed Johnson, Troy Glaus, BJ Ryan, Gustavo Chacin, Brandon League and Gregg Zaun returned.

Well, we're 10 days into May, only Troy Glaus is back, and the Jays still have 13 wins. It's been a nightmare-ish couple of weeks. The Jays are mired in an eight game losing streak, which included a franchise record-tying six game winless road trip. Even Doc Halladay, the streak-stopper himself, was lit up by the Texas Rangers.

Going into tonight's finale of three game set with Boston at the Rogers Centre, the Jays are an astounding 9.5 games out of first place, behind those damn Red Sox. Nine and a half games, already, and we're not even half way through May. Oh mylanta. Somebody pass me the Tums.

The pitching staff, which somehow managed to keep it's ERA below 4.00 in April, has imploded. The starting pitching is terrible, and the bullpen is even worse. The loss of BJ Ryan has proved to be a huge one, as we all knew it would be. Josh Towers has been moved to the bullpen and Victor Zambrano has been hit and hit hard in his first two starts.

After last night's 9-3 spankage at the hands of Dice-K, I thought the Jays hit rock bottom. Things couldn't possibly get worse, I told myself.

Oh, but they have. I think it might be time to bring out the salami and cheese, Chuck Swirsky style, because this season might be over, mama.

News broke a couple of hours ago that BJ Ryan has had successful Tommy John surgery. See ya next year, BJ. He's done for the season.

No one can blame BJ. This is the first time he's gone on the DL in his nine year career. That's remarkable for a guy who throws as hard as he does.

I'm not exactly sure what the deal is behind Ryan's elbow injury, and whether the Jays knew it was this serious all along. JP Ricciardi came out and said that Ryan's apparent back injury in spring training was a lie, and that it was his elbow all along. The Jays placed Ryan on the disabled list on April 15th and said a couple of days later that there were no tears in his elbow, and that he didn't need Tommy John surgery. So what's the freakin' deal?

If the Jays didn't hit rock bottom last night, they sure as hell did this afternoon.

This team's in big trouble.

I was optimistic that the Jays would be able to compete this year. I'm not sure what I was smoking when I wrote a post about Tomo Ohka being a more than decent replacement for Ted Lilly. I really believed that Ohka, Victor Zambrano and John Thomson could do the job. This blog was also used to display my confidence in Jason Frasor and his ability to close out games for the injured BJ Ryan. Well, Frasor stinks. He's managed to lose the closer's job in only three weeks. The Jays don't have a closer right now. Manager John Gibbons said so himself.

Ohka's been pretty brutal, Zambrano's been even worse, and Thomson is still injured and pitching in AA ball.

Ted Lilly, on the other hand, has a 2.78 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP over in Chicago with the Cubs. Poor Lilly. Poor Blue Jays. Janet Jackson was right, you really don't know what you've got til it's gone. I miss ya, Ted.

The one thing about Lilly that made him so special was his ability to pitch, and pitch well, against the Evil Empires - the Yankees and Red Sox. Lilly had some of his best games against Boston during his tenure with the Jays. His competitive edge is sorely missed.

Even Gil Meche, the other pitcher the Jays offered a boat load of money to, is ripping it in Kansas City. Meche has a 2.15 ERA and two of his three wins came against the Red Sox and Angels, both first place teams.

JP Ricciardi also announced today that Zambrano is headed to the DL and Shaun Marcum is going to start in his place. Clearly the Jays have run out of patience with Josh Towers. He's going to be coming out of the 'pen for the rest of the season and he's looked just as crappy in the bullpen as he did as a starter. He leaves way too many pitches over the plate and has given up a team-high eight home runs in only 31 innings pitched. This will definitely be Towers' last season in a Jays uniform. At least there's something to look forward to.

Frankly, I'm getting pretty tired of JP Ricciardi's nonsense. The fact that he lied about Ryan's injury is just ridiculous. It shows a complete lack of respect to all the fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. Ricciardi clearly thinks he's untouchable and doesn't have any sense of accountability. The only good decision he's made recently was calling up Dustin McGowan, and giving him a spot in the rotation for the rest of the year. It's make or break time for McGowan, and the Jays have nothing to lose now anyways.

Personally, I don't think Marcum should be joining the rotation either. Casey Janssen has been lights out from the bullpen and I think he should be given a shot. Marcum, although he throws hard and racks up the K's, also has a tendency to leave balls out over the plate which lead to home runs. I guess the Jays' rationale is that Janssen has been so good out of the bullpen that they don't want to mess up what he has going right now.

I've always been a staunch JP Ricciardi supporter, but the first six weeks of this season are causing me to question everything I've ever known. This is the seventh year of JP's infamous "Seven Year Plan" and the post-season looks as far away as ever. The only good prospect to come out of the system since JP arrived is Aaron Hill. Russ Adams is struggling in Triple-A, and is clearly no longer in the Jays long term plans. That's a big drop for a guy who was pegged to be Toronto's shortstop of the future.

JP, smarten up man. Make a trade. Fire somebody. Gibbons, I'm looking at you. I know the manager can only be held accountable for so much, but this losing streak needs to stop. The attitude just isn't right in the Jays clubhouse right now, but it's still early. A move by JP could stop the bleeding and save the season. This is a good ball club, with a formidable line-up, but they are clearly not playing to their potential.

The injuries aren't helping. Why? Why does this have to happen to every Toronto sports team? Maybe I was crazy to think the Jays could actually make the playoffs, or maybe the Jays marketing strategy really works, because coming into this season, I really did believe.

Hindsight is 20-20, of course, but I'm starting to wonder if signing Vernon Wells long term was the right decision after all. That money, all $127 million of it, could have brought some solid pitching to the Jays, and that is clearly what's lacking from this team. Alex Rios, at this point of the season, has more home runs and rbi's than Wells. If Wells is making $127 million, and we all know he is, he's got to be the best player on this team, hands down. I could have swore I saw him go easy on a fly ball the other night, and let it drop. It was a ball I've become accustomed to seeing Vernon Wells and his Gold Glove always get to, or at least try to catch. If Wells isn't playing as hard as he should be, the Blue Jays' problems go deeper than even I can imagine.

Here's my to-do list for you, JP, and listen up, because you're really starting to get on my nerves:

1) Make Jeremy Accardo the closer. He's been fantastic this year, and considering greatness is always expected of Roy Halladay, he's probably been the biggest surprise on the team.

2) Make a trade. Fire somebody. Do something. Don't just sit back and watch the season slip away.

3) Slap AJ Burnett for me. $55 million for this crap? Come on.

4) Stop the lying.

5) Screw Marcum and put Janssen in the starting rotation.

The Jays play in the toughest division in baseball, and everyone's got to deal with injuries. On that note though, it's amazing how healthy the Red Sox have been this year, while the Jays and Yankees have seen guys go down at an alarming rate. It looks like the Wildcard winner is going to come from the Central division, so that means the Jays have to beat the Yanks and BoSox, who've already got quite the head start. It's an uphill battle, that's for damn sure. I'm talking uphill like Mount Everest. Lord help us.

I get the feeling however, that patience is quickly starting to wear thin in this city. Nobody wants to hear about how the Jays play in the toughest division in baseball anymore. The Jays now have a payroll that almost equals $100 million. We're playing with the big boys now. When JP came to Toronto in 2000 it was all about moneyball and retooling the farm. Now he's got Ted Rogers' deep pockets at his disposal, the team still stinks, and the farm isn't producing. So what gives? Mediocrity has been the norm for the last 14 years, and we won't stand for it much longer!

Although JP is signed through to the 2010 season, it really might be time for him to go. Lying to the press and the fans is clearly a sign of a guy who's getting a little too comfortable. It looks like JP Ricciardi might have overstayed his welcome here in Toronto.

As I finish this up, the Jays are down 8-0 to Red Sox in the 4th inning. Halladay, rocked again. Unbelievable. The losing streak will most certainly hit nine games, their longest since 2002.

Blue Jays Baseball, You Gotta Believe.

Yeah, right...

O(h)K(a), Blue Jays!

First things first - I've got to shoutout another one of my faithful international readers (if you're counting, this is number two...of two), Karan Raina, repping the great city of New York. He's been waiting for his Sports And The City shoutout. He and a few of my other buddies went down to the NHL All-Star festivities in Dallas earlier this week. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, and missed a chance to schmooze with the Magnificent One Mario Lemieux (pictured), Evgeni Malkin, Carlton the Bear and Gary Bettman. Karan and the boys had a private box for the Skills Competition and seats 10 rows behind the glass for the All-Star game. Ridiculous.

The boys also ran into a Mr. John Ferguson Jr., who guaranteed a Leafs' playoff birth. Ferguson clearly must have been drunk. I'd have a drinking problem if I were him.

Now let's get down to blogging business. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of the Toronto Blue Jays to our great, and insanely cold, city.

Tomo Ohka, welcome to the T Dot.

JP Ricciardi and the Jays announced Wednesday that Ohka has signed a one year deal with the club, at $1.5 million. The deal could be worth as much as $3 million, with incentives based on the number of starts Ohka makes.

But I don't care about the money.

I think this is a really good signing by JP, even though it was met with no fanfare. There was no big press conference, no pictures; nothing. Only a press release.

Talk about a hit to Ohka's pride eh? I guess in baseball terms, he pretty much is a nobody. But at the end of the day, he's less of a nobody than that weasel Josh Towers, and that's why I'm excited. The more arms JP adds to the starting rotation, the more likely it is that Josh Towers will spend the season in Triple A, where he belongs. It's all about addition by subtraction, my friends. No Josh Towers improves this baseball club.

However, if you look a little deeper into the Ohka signing, it could work out extremely well, especially considering Ohka's salary.

In losing Ted Lilly, the Jays lost about 180 innings. JP's main focus is to eat up those innings, hence the signings of John Thomson and Ohka. These guys are penciled in as the fourth and fifth starters - basically the back end of the rotation. It's Doc Halladay, AJ Burnett, Gustavo Chacin, Ohka, and Thomson. Ohka could even be spotted in the three spot, because Chacin is just a five inning wonder. He throws the most pitches, it's ridiculous. Through 5 innings he'll be up around 100 pitches. It's tough on the bullpen.

Anyways, the point that I'm taking so long to make is that Ohka's numbers are astonishingly similar to Ted Lilly's - yes the same Ted Lilly whom JP offered $10 million a season to stay in Toronto.

Both guys are going to be 31 in the 2007 season, and here are their career stats:

Ted Lilly

Career Starts: 160

Innings Pitched: 936

ERA: 4.60

Overall Record: 59-58

Tomo Ohka

Career Starts: 162
Innings Pitched: 943

ERA: 4.04

Overall Record: 48-58

Ohka has pitched more innings, albeit only by a few, but his ERA is significantly lower than Lilly's. They've both lost 58 games, and Lilly's got more wins because he's played on a Jays team that has had a great offense. Ohka spent a couple of seasons with Montreal, and some time with Washington and Milwaukee - not exactly offensive juggernauts. He's just never been blessed enough to play on a team that actually gives him some run support - until now. This guy could easily win 15 games like Lilly did last year.

Ohka's agent even said that when Ohka and Milwaukee went to arbitration last year, he compared Ohka's stats to Lilly's in the actual hearing.

Of course, with any investment, there is some risk. Ohka spent significant time on the DL last season. He needs to stay healthy in order to payoff. A brilliant statement, I know. But Lilly spent his fair share of time on the DL in the last two years as well. With any pitcher there is significant risk. It's the nature of the beast.

But wouldn't you rather invest $3 million, rather than $10 million, on an arm that might give you the same results? I would. Props out to JP Ricciardi.

Remember, I believe in JP.

"O(h)K(a) Blue Jays, Let's Play Ball!"

Sing it. Loud and proud.

I'm looking forward to baseball season - can you tell?

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Random Musings:

- Huge shoutout to ALL-STAR STARTER Chris Bosh. He's most deserving of that title and it's good to see that people are starting to recognize him. Maybe playing basketball in Toronto isn't so bad, eh? The Raptors really needed Bosh to repair the tarnished image of basketball in Canada that Vince Carter left behind. Rob Babcock didn't help much either. But alas, the past is the past. Bosh and Colangelo have righted the ship.

- The Leafs dominated Montreal once again, and have points in every game against the Habs this season. If only the Leafs could play Montreal all the time. Pavel Kubina had 2 goals and 1 assist, and it looks like he's finally healthy and confident. It took way too long for this guy to get going. I credit Kaberle. As soon as Kubina started playing wit Kabby, he's been much better.

- Back to the NBA All-Star starting line-up. How the HELL did Steve Nash not get voted in? That's absurd. He's going to win his third straight MVP, and solidify his legacy as one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game. Kid Canada, baby.

- Great point by Toronto Star writer Dave Perkins about pessimism being in the eye of the beholder. Both the Leafs and Raptors are around .500 (winning percentages). The Leafs and their fans are up in arms at their state, while the Raptors are beaming about not being so pathetic anymore. Perkins is dead-on in saying that both teams are in similar situations as to their performance, but that for the Leafs the glass is half empty, while for the Raps it's half full. So true.

- Rumour has it the Colorado Rockies might trade Todd Helton to the Boston Red Sox. That is horrendous news for Jays fans, if it's true. Woe is I - such is life in the American League East.

I think that's it.

Goodnight, Toronto...