April 27 Blue Jays 7 - Red Sox 1

As I was writing my last post about Saturday's game, the Blue Jays were playing in this one.  Dickey looked great, the bats were firing, and the bullpen looked back to form.  Being the superstitious weirdo I am (I once watched a game on the can for good luck) I actually considered waiting until the Tuesday game against KC to write this one.  With it actually being a great game though, how could I wait!  Here's yesterday's breakdown:

Blue Jays 7  Red Sox 1

Click here for explanation of LI WPA and WE

Raise of my Jack filled boot: Steve Delabar (30.9%).  Lindy, take note on what a powerful beard looks like there bud.

My boot in yer arse: Jose Reyes (-8%)

Lineup Contribution: 8.6%

Pitching Contribution: 41.4%

Highest Leverage AB:  Jonathan Diaz lays down a sacrifice (or gives up an out, or whatever....) in the third inning with no one out and moves Josh Thole to second base.  (1.58)

Highest Leverage Opponent AB:  David Ross flies out to end the seventh inning stranding runners on second and third.  At this point, the Sox were only down by one.  (3.92)

Average LI: 0.87

Highest Impact AB:  The Melk Man delivers in the third with a double to score Thole (11.5%)

Highest Impact Pitch:  After a great quality start for RA, he starts to struggle and gives up a double to Xander Bogaerts that moves Will Middlebrooks to 3B (16.2%)

 

Average WE: 0.70

	pLI	WPA
Jose Reyes	0.79	-0.08
Melky Cabrera	0.68	0.09
Jose Bautista	0.55	-0.05
Edwin Encarnacion	0.68	0.02
Juan Francisco	0.41	-0.03
Brett Lawrie	0.57	0.17
Josh Thole	0.59	0.02
Jonathan Diaz	0.71	-0.03
Moises Sierra	0.67	-0.02
		0.09
RA Dickey	1.05	0.10
Steve Delabar	1.87	0.31
Esmil Rogers	0.04	0.00
		0.41

Quick notes:

SP Lines:

Dickey:  6.1 IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 6K

Lester:  7 IP, 5H, 4ER, 0BB, 7K

Dickey finally looked back to form again, at one point even retiring ten in a row.  That coupled with the fact that the right call was made to give him the hook as soon as he started struggling made for an excellent outing.  Dickey didn’t walk a single batter for the first time ever as a Blue Jay.   

DICKEY FACE!!!!!

 

The relievers that came in (Delabar and Rogers) also did not issue a walk.  Amazing what can happen when you’re not issuing free passes.

Dickey bobble head also brought in a crowd to watch this one, with a paid attendance of 45,260 (sellout).

It’s been absolutely wonderful not having to worry about our catcher position this year.  Navarro has been an incredible upgrade over JPA for sure, but also, Josh Thole has been an excellent improvement on himself.  Thole is batting .550 after yesterday’s game (11/20) and hasn’t allowed a single passed ball this year.

Speaking of improving on themselves, how about Melky!  He is currently tied with the franchise record for hits in March/April with 39.  The record is shared with Hillenbrand ('05) & Shannon Stewart ('01).

Well now isn’t that just the perfect lead in for our mainstay comment…..  Bautista and Melky continue to roll leading the league in walks and hits, respectively.  Joey Bats is the only player in the MLB to reach safely in every game this season.

Bautista made us sweat in this game going 0-3 and then hitting a grounder up the middle.  The ball was bobbled and initially scored an error, but later changed to an infield hit making it 25 straight games to reach safely.  That means the streak survives!   Only 4 more to go for the team record 29 Joey Bats! #josewatch

As pointed out to me by @cjhurst12  the Jays became the first team ever to have 6 Dominican born players in the starting lineup, ESPN story hyper linked.

Joey Bats requested the line-up card after the game and had The six Dominican players in today's lineup sign the card.  Bautista plans to send it to the Dominican Baseball Museum.

Jays are now back to .500 (5-5) in the best uni's in the league, the blues. 

The Jays broke their 4 game losing streak (12-13) and will roll into KC tomorrow at 6:10 MST.  Dusty Chops will take the mound, insulin pump loaded (6.88) to take on KC’s MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT of the off season, Justin Vargas (1.54).

April 26 Red Sox 7 Blue Jays 6

I have now discovered the difficulty that there is going to be in doing a Friday night game.  Go figure a night game to day game gives limited time.  I still want to try to cover every game, but that Friday night game was depressing enough to sit through once let alone break down.  Quick summary, Buehrle sucked for the first time in his pursuit to be the first Blue Jays pitcher ever to win in each of his first 5 starts.  As far as LI and WPA, because of the early damage, no Jays AB had any real impact (Highest LI was 1.54 and highest PA was 11.3).  Having said that, despite an ugly game yesterday (WHO WALKS 8!!!!) there are at least some interesting points, and the Jays made it exciting.  So here folks, is yesterdays breakdown:


Blue Jays 6  Red Sox 7

Raise of my Jack filled boot: Dioner (Dinner) Navarro (20.5%)

My boot in yer arse: I'll give you one guess....  Chad Jenkins -47.6%  Welcome to the show kid.

Lineup Contribution: -9.2%

Pitching Contribution: -40.8%

Highest Leverage AB:  Bottom of the 9th.  2 Out.  Runners on 1st and 2nd.  Here comes Edwin.  I'm white knuckling my Caeser.  Edwin flies out on a hard hit to centre to end the game  (6.73)

Highest Leverage Opponent AB:  Chad Jenkins comes in to face AJ Pierz with the bases loaded and the Jays up 3-1.  (3.17)

Highest Impact AB:  Edwins fly out to end the game knocked the Jays probability down -17.6% to zero.

Highest Impact Pitch:  Chad Jenkins second pitch in the major Leagues turns into a Pierz blast and increases the Sox probability a whopping 35.7%.  More salami....  Would really like to use this for us soon.....

                           pLI WPA
Jose Reyes           1.33 0.041
Melky Cabrera           1.89     -0.118
Jose Bautista           1.06 0.188
Edwin Encarnacion   4.72 -0.054
Juan Francisco          1.29 -0.092
Brett Lawrie          1.76 0.026
Colby Rasmus           1.98   -0.105
Dioneer Navarro  1.28 0.205
Ryan Goins          0.80 -0.008
Jonathan Diaz          3.91 -0.119
Moises Sierra          0.80 -0.059
                                -0.092

Brandon Morrow 1.30   -0.017
Chad Jenkins          0.72 -0.476
Brett Cecil          0.22 0.013
Steve Delabar          0.11 0.009
Aaron Loup          0.33 0.044
Sergio Santos          0.25 0.019
                               -0.408

Quick notes:
SP Lines:

Morrow:  2.2IP 0H 4ER  8BB 1K.

Buchholz: 7IP 6H 3ER 3BB 3K (That second H is still weird to me)

Morrow was off again (obviously) and wasn't getting much help being squeezed by the ump.  It turned into a no hit, 4 run appearance.

Both our boys with diabetes have been struggling mighty hard to start the season.  Maybe we should enlist a new assistant coach (he did win a pennant with the New York Knights)....

Worth noting that the highest leverage opponent AB was the 9th highest leverage AB in the game.
Finger pointing at a person who isn't even playing the game is ridiculous to me.  However, when you substitute in a pitcher who has yet to throw a pitch this season at the Major League level at the highest leverage opponent AB, some fingers are going to get pointed in your direction.  I love Gibby, but some decisions this year have me watching him a little more closely.

How about Juan Francisco by the way.  That guy has some mad pop with back to back MOONSHOTS.  Take your time with your back there pubeface....  I mean all the best Lindy :)

I hope I can leave this bad boy in all season.....  Bautista and Melky continue to roll leading the league in walks and hits, respectively.  Joey Bats is the only player in the MLB to reach safely in every game this season.

Bautista’s on base streak is still rolling at 24 games to start the season.  5 more to go for the team record Joey Bats! #josewatch

The 9 spot is a point of contention yet again, when Diaz was forced to attempt to lay down a bunt to try to stay out of a double play to turn over the line-up.  I dream of Drew.

Jays are now below .500 (4-5) in the best uni's in the league, the beauty blues.  Personally, I let the team down again while wearing no uni, and fell to an ugly 1-5.

The Jays who are now sitting 2 games below .500 (11-13) are currently closing out the series against the Sox and trying to break a 4 game slide as I write this up.  Dickey is on the mound against Lester.  Here's hoping to avoid the sweep.

April 24 Orioles 11 - Blue Jays 4

Well that one was just no fun to watch.  I really had a good feeling about one, and was loving watching Hutch cruise through the hard hitting Orioles lineup and was really hopeful for a series win.  It’s amazing how much can change in one stinkin inning in this sport, especially against a guy with a 0.00 ERA.  It’s too bad that the series win had to turn into an old fashioned…. Well….

Blue Jays 4  Orioles 11

Raise of my Jack filled boot: Huuuuuuuuuutch!  This boy can pitch, our second best starter through 22 games for sure. (15.1%)

My boot in yer arse: Brett the Specs…. -52.5%  A shocker to me, and a 76.1% swing from his appearance in game 1

Honorable mention to Colby Rasmus (12.1%)  (If that swing was a lady, she'd be a dime, what do you think Billy Bob?)

Lineup Contribution: -0.3%

 

Pitching Contribution: -49.7%

Highest Leverage AB: Brett Lawrie strikes out swinging (1.25)

Highest Leverage Opponent AB: Chris Davis singles in the top of the seventh to bring in Lough and Markakis (4.76)

Highest Impact AB:  Colby hits a no doubt about it DANGER (like a dinger, but country) in the 2nd (14.9%)  Clint approved.

Highest Impact Pitch:  The Chris Davis knock took advantage of the highest leverage situation, creating the highest impact pitch. (-23.0%)

	pLI	WPA
Jose Reyes	0.41	-0.042
Melky Cabrera	0.50	0.019
Jose Bautista	0.63	-0.060
Edwin Encarnacion	0.47	-0.037
Juan Francisco	0.55	0.023
Brett Lawrie	0.49	-0.047
Colby Rasmus	0.53	0.121
Dioneer Navarro	0.57	0.065
Ryan Goins	0.50	-0.025
Jonathan Diaz	0.05	-0.002
Moises Sierra	0.39	-0.020
		-0.003
Drew Hutchison	1.03	0.151
Neil Wagner	1.49	-0.034
Brett Cecil	3.13	-0.525
Esmail Rogers	0.22	-0.090
Todd Redmond	0.00	0.000
		-0.497

Quick notes:

SP Lines:

Hutch:  6IP 6H 2ER  1BB 9K.

Norris: 6IP 5H 3ER 1BB 4K

Coming into the game Hutch had pitched 13 scoreless innings in a row against the Orioles.  He continued to pitch well against the division rivals allowing only 2ER, and notching a quality start.  He also struck out nine, giving him a team leading 33 on the season.  Anyone else turned on by his change up last night?

This was just the 10^th time in 22 games that a Blue Jays starter has completed 6 innings.  The Blue Jays sit at 26^th in innings pitched from their starters.  

The question then, is the bullpen overworked?  The bullpen that was once a huge strength is now turning into an area of concern as they have allowed 22ER and 24BB in 23 2/3 innings over the past 7 games, and accounted for a disgraceful -64% WPA last night.

The intentional walk to Nelson Cruz was a debatable call for sure, especially with the power hitting Chris Davis on deck.  In walking Cruz the Jays decreased their WPA by almost 2%.  Chris Davis followed up with a seeing eye base hit to score Lough and Markakis.

Ok, now I just have to leave this one in for luck, and it also still stands true: Bautista and Melky continue to roll leading the league in walks and hits, respectively.  Joey Bats is the only player in the MLB to reach safely in every game this season.

Bautista’s on base streak is now at a whopping 22 games to start the season.  The team record is 29, so Jose is well on his way #josewatch

The 9 spot continued to be a black hole in the line-up and accounted for -53% WPA over the series with Baltimore.

Reyes also failed to put up a positive WPA in the series.  Here’s to hoping for a turn around against the Red Sox.

Jays are now below .500 (3-4) in the suddenly less appealing whites, while personally, my throw back black put up its first loss of the season and now sits at 3-1.

The Jays who are now sitting at .500 (11-11) open up a series against the Red Sox tonight with new found Staff Ace Mark Buehrle (0.64 ERA) against Jake Peavy (3.33) at 5:07 MST.  Happy Fuck Farrell  Friday (#FFF) everyone!