The Significance of Yunel Escobar

The Boston Red Sox traded ex-Blue Jay Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies the other day. You may be asking yourself, “Why? Who’s gonna play shortstop for them in 2012?” and you wouldn’t be alone. Unless you believe that the team is making a won’t-take-no-for-an-answer push to re-acquire Hanley Ramirez, the move doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense for the Sox for 2012.

The players equipped to defensively handle the shortstop position are quite often poorly equipped to hit at the major-league level. Those whose bats stand out at the position often get moved elsewhere on the diamond (see Rodriguez, Alex and Cabrera, Miguel). Scutaro adequately did the job in the field and at the plate – and even though he’s clearly on the back end of his career and coming off some injuries, he’s still better than most. It’s a tough position to fill, so trading a capable shortstop and not getting one in return has the potential to be a blow to a major league roster.

Mike Aviles and Nick Punto are useful-enough big leaguers, but there’s a reason Boston is looking ahead to a platoon arrangement for the two of them: because neither of them are good enough to do the job for 140+ games on their own. Frankly, it’s a situation Jays fans know pretty well.

There was a bona fide decade of darkness in Toronto at the shortstop position until Alex Anthopoulos swung the deal sending Tim Collins, Tyler Pastornicky and, most significantly, Alex Gonzalez to the Braves for Yunel Escobar (oh, and Jo Jo Reyes too, but never mind that).

Gonzalez was really just the latest in a revolving door of marginal big league talent that had cycled through the position since the turn of the century. Setting aside our beloved John McDonald (and forgetting, as so many do, about how dismal with the bat he really is, as his career .275 OBP illustrates), the rogues’ gallery included:

Scrappygritty David Eckstein;
Prospect bust Russ Adams;
Chris “Hey, Remember Chris Gomez?” Gomez;
Chris Woodward;
A 37-year-old Mike Bordick; and
A couple partial seasons from Felipe Lopez before he was shipped out of town.

(Funny thing: Felipe Lopez was traded in part because there was a perception of middle infield depth in the system at the time. Worked out real nice in the subsequent years, dontcha think?)

Before all that, we were treated to the Other, More Handsome Alex Gonzalez, and a season of really fun craziness from Tony Batista.

In 2009 and 2010, the team basically fell ass-backwards into some above-average contributions from Scutaro and Gonzalez, but neither was a long-term fix at the position.

That never came until Gonzalez was flipped for Yunel Escobar. And since there’s Sweet Fuck All else going on in the baseball world in the depths of January, I’m going to sing his praises a little bit.

I think we take for granted just how important an addition to this team Escobar has been. In the mighty American League East, you can make a compelling case that he’s the best every-day shortstop in the division (matched up against weaker platoons in Boston and Tampa, a declining Derek Jeter, and a more one-dimensional J.J. Hardy, on whom Escobar has 40 points of career OBP at the same age).

Escobar can be penciled in at the top of the lineup card for the foreseeable future, getting on base at a respectable clip, and playing solid defensive at a premium defensive position. That, as a lot of other teams know and the Jays experienced for far too long, is worth a whole lot in the major leagues.

When the Jays do take that next step into the post-season and greater glories (as I think they will), I’m convinced we’ll look back at the Escobar acquisition as a turning point. For those of us who believe that the team is making clear, significant strides to building an organization that can reach the Holy Grail of “sustained success”, Yunel Escobar is Exhibit A.

Farewell, Scrappy Doo

For as much shit as we piled on top of David Eckstein this year, we're glad to see him make his way to a contender. And wouldn't you know, the gritty gamer managed to drive in the game-winning RBI last night for the D-Backs. Good on him.

Our antipathy towards Eckstein had little to do with his offensive performance and everything to do with the fact that he was keeping John McDonald on the bench following his breathtaking 2007 season in the field. We wanted to see more of that magic, and Eckstein was an impediment to our happiness. That's all.

Besides which, doesn't it seem right that Little X should be in a pennant race and wearing a red cap?

We need BJ

Another shaky (terrifying) ninth, another save for BJ Ryan.

I've been meaning to post about BJ Ryan for a while now, but with all the trade deadline-Travis Snider-we're still in this thing-now we're out of it drama of the past few months, never got around to it.

Today's game gave me the push needed, though. See, I've been quietly disagreeing with those who say the contract was a mistake and the Jays should look to move him in the offseason. I understand the logic and distaste for the size and length of the deal - but after this season, there are only 2 years left, and to dump him at this point would be to signal a rebuild. And I'm not ready to do that (you know, since I call the shots and all).

Contract notwithstanding, BJ's primed for a monster year next season. Just think about it - he's 24 for 27 (65 for 74 as a Blue Jay) in save opportunities this season in his first year after Tommy John. His velocity is almost all the way back - touching 90 on the gun - and he's finding his slider again. His control and command aren't quite there yet, but when they are (next season), look the fuck out. Fist pumps galore, my friends.

Of course, you need to put a winning team on the field in order to see those fist pumps, and BJ Ryan needs to be a big part of that. Now, I know the team had success with Acorn Accardo closing games last season in BJ's absence. But do you want to roll the dice with Brandon League closing next year?

Maybe I'm old school, but I'm of the mindset that a team needs a legit stopper in the bullpen. BJ Ryan allows Scott Downs to be Scott Downs (8th inning guy), Brandon League can be Brandon League (7th inning guy), Jesse Carlson can do what Jesse Carlson does (loogy plus), and Jason Frasor remains Jason Frasor (umm.....). You take the guy paid to be the stopper out of that equation, and you know what you have? Chaos. Let's not fuck around with a successful formula.

Saying goodbye to Exxxstein?

Nothing official as of this writing, but looks like the end of the line for another player on my trade deadline photo collage.

David Eckstein appears to be on the way out after what can only be described as a disappointing stint as a Blue Jay.

Through no real fault of his own, Exxx never really won the hearts of the fans (or Cito) after signing on with the Jays last offseason. Really, in hindsight, the one year deal should have been a pretty big tip-off this wasn't meant to be, but little Davey came in and did pretty much exactly what he should have been expected to do.

He's another guy whose taken his lumps on the Blue Jay blogosphere, but he'll land on his feet and sign a decent deal somewhere next season - and hey, looks like he'll play out the season on a contender, and potentially further add to his "World Series MVP" legacy.

You stay classy, David Eckstein.

Matt Stairs walks between the raindrops

It seems as though this is a post that we've been ready to write for months now, but every time we're about to commit our thoughts to the blog, Matt Stairs hits a game-changing homer, and we feel like a chump for having thought it.

But really, there's no one on the Jays roster who has escaped criticism more than the man from Tay Creek, N.B.. We're sure that it doesn't hurt his cause that he's a good, hockey-lovin' Canadian boy who has heart and grit and is a leader in the locker room (as if any of us would know that), but Stairs' production as a DH/Corner outfielder has been subpar all year.

For the month of July, Stairs is hitting .121, with a .521 OPS, one homer and three RsBI in 11 games while striking out in 15 of his 40 plate appearances. That just ain't no good.

For a good chunk of the season, it was hard to call Stairs out because he was actually leading the team in homers. But given a bit more time in this season and a bit more perspective, it's hard to tip your cap to the man for being the best of an outrageously feeble bunch.

Stairs is roughly on pace for about 16 homers and 50-odd RsBI for the season. No matter how much we love the guy, those are just not the sort of numbers that you can carry in your lineup for any extended amount of time, especially from a guy who is hitting somewhere in the middle of the lineup.

Telling sad tales about the feeble offense
Stairs might be struggling this month, but check out the OPS for a few of the Jays this month if you really want to ruin your day:

Gregg Zaun: .386
Rod Barajas: .451
Brad Wilkerson: .484
Scott Rolen: .573
David Eckstein: .560

The Beej feels shame once again

Three things that absolutely killed us at about 5:04 Eastern time yesterday:

1) Knowing that with Johnny Mac (or even Scutaro) patrolling short, that the game would have been over yesterday with A-Rod's slow bouncer. Maybe Rolen was a distraction, but that was a ball that Major League short stop should get. Sorry Scrappy Doo, but you're back on the shit list.

2) Listening to Jamie Campbell absolutely lose his shit AGAIN when the other team wins in a walk off against the Jays. Do you think Hawk Harrelson would squeal like a little girl at a Jonas Brothers concert if the Yanks had beaten the White Sox? Sure, there's a balance between being a nauseating homer and an absolute objective observer, but Campbell should recognize the fact that he's conveying the games events to a few hundred thousand BLUE JAYS FANS, who aren't going to get all sopping wet about the Yankees magic and mystique, blah blah blah. It's like he felt he had to shout over top of Michael Kay in the press box.

3) Of all the Yankees to do it, why did it have to be that wretched douchebag Giambi?

As per usual, Jon Hale at the Mockingbird sums up that last pitch about as well as anyone could. It was a mistake pitch, although we wonder if the Jays shouldn't be backing off on Beej (and Jesse Carlson for that matter) just a bit. We're not sure what the speed was on that meatball, but it seemed to float in there at a snail's pace.

Gargh!

Are we learning to love Scrappy Doo?

A funny and disturbing thing has been happening to us lately. We're going a bit soft on David Eckstein. Maybe it's the fact that John McDonald is hurt and therefore the scrappy gritty full-of-heart gamer isn't stealing playing time that we think rightfully belongs to the defensive whiz. But god help us, Ecks is growing on us. It almost feels like he's a Blue Jay at this point.

Mind you, we're not a big fan of him launching throws way wide of first as he did on Sunday versus the Angels, but now that Little X is hitting lower in the order and we don't have to think of him as the "prototypical lead off hitter" as some small ball proponents were suggesting earlier in the year, we can appreciate his ability to put the bat on the ball and extend at bats long enough to get a good pitch to hit just over the infielders' heads.

Speaking of small ball...
Against our better judgment, we're also big Brad Wilkerson fans in this corner. But watching him get thrown out at third last night just before Scrappy Doo dropped single into right sent us into a blind rage. We don't care how good a jump he got, Tabby and Ginger...you just don't need to take third on that play.

Don't hurry back Scrappy Doo

Take your time. Your grittiness is not needed at the moment. Not when Marco Scutaro is driving in four two-out RsBI in a 7-1 win over the Royals.

We'll confess that we were only able to smuggle highlight footage into the battlefield, but as long as that footage features lots of Blue Jays runs, we feel confident in stating one thing about the team's performance:

PLAYOFFS!!!!

Also, Aaron Hill is so defensively awesome that it makes us completely forget that other second baseman that the Jays used to have that was good with the glove.

You can't keep Hector Luna down

We were reasonably sure that we'd never write these words again, but Hector Luna has been called up to the Jays from Syracuse for the weekend's series. So the Jorge Velandia Era may be over almost as quickly as it started.

Luna takes the place of Friday's emergency starter David Purcey, who is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to return to AAA where he can get the fuck away from Jayson Werth and pitch to minor league calibre hitters again. God speed.

(And incidentally, the fact that Jesse Litsch had to come mop up after Purcey kinda defeats the purpose of having brought him up in the first place...but we're sure it will all be fine in the end. Right?)

Scrappy Doo Eckstein will come off the DL and be back with the team on Thursday, so Luna's stay will be brief.

How Greene is my middle infield?
Speaking of infielders, we've been letting Jeff Blair's notion of Khalil Greene coming to the Jays stew in our noggin for a few days now, and we're now convinced that this would be the Single Greatest Player Personnel Move in the History of the Blue Jays. (Okay, that might be hyperbole, but we like to get the strongest opinion possible out there first, if only to stake out the territory for ourselves.)

Don't be deceived by the appearances. Sure, Greene pretty much sucks ass this year. We're not even clear how it is possible to have a sub .600 OPS, but he's managed to pull it off. Nevertheless, he managed 27 homers and 97 RsBI last year, playing half of his games in the cavernous neverland that is PetCo Park. Even if for the season Greene regresses back to his mean (15 homers in each of his last three years), he'll still be a far more productive hitter than Scrappy Doo. Moreover, he is a better defender than Eckstein, and he tends to heat up in July and August.

If the Pads are looking to hold a yard sale, then we sincerely hope that J.P. will be like our crazy aunt: get there at the crack of dawn carrying only a change purse and the negotiating skills of a third-world dictator.

The Tao's Interleague Intern in Philly
Having received many generous offers from readers this week willing to act as interns after our plaintive call for help, we took up one particular reader on his offer to send us missives from his road trip to Philly this weekend. The first reports back from the field were filed at about 4 am, and speak to the level of depraved individual to which our blog proudly appeals:

"went to a titty bar, byob, and full nude, saw not a single jays fan, but it was cold and rainy and we got our asses kicked. didn't wear my jays gear, because not sure if the titty bar would allow hats and jerseys.....

pussy good here, philies fans not so much. Got my 93 hat to show off and a modern hat too. fuck them mother fuckers, 1993 was a glorious year. JOE CARTER

will report later when I actually go to a game tomorrow........"

Go forth and do us proud, young taoist.

What a Mench!

Hey now!

Not only have the Jays made it official by acquiring Brad Wilkerson, but they've also gone out and traded a sack full of mountie quarters to the Texas Rangers for Kevin Mench and his gigantic fucking cranium. (Which, as we pointed out before, couldn't have come from excessive intake of Lik-a-Maid. Swedish Berries, maybe.)

DFA'ed to make room for the two new dudes? Sergio Santos (we barely knew ye) and Gus Chacin. The Machine is dead. Long live the Machine.

Incidentally, it was Mench who hammered a comebacker off Roy Halladay's leg a couple of years back in Texas, so Doc should at least be allowed to get one good lick in on Heavy Kevy before his first game. Towel whipping, bag tag, indian burn, purple nurple...whatever the weapon of choice, Mench should prepare himself for the worst.

Now the question is: where in hell do you find the lineup spots for Stewart, Mench, Wilkerson, and Matt Stairs? And what happens when Scrappy Doo and the PMoD are back in the house in 15 days?

Moreover, What's Edgardo Alfonzo up to these days?

O Cruel Fate!

We were in transit from the gym to the Tao's heavily-fortified Fortress of Solitude when we heard that Scrappy Doo was taken out of the lineup due to some nebulous injury which hampered his grittitude.

So we thought to ourselves: "Isn't this a great opportunity for Johnny Mac to steal the job away from the little blonde moppet?" And certainly, when McDonald stroked a solid base hit, we had this great notion that this would be a turning point in his season.

Alas, it was only too true.

There's nothing quite as sickening as seeing a look of panicked pain like the one on McDonald's face after he caught a cleat on the Rogers Centre turf in the sixth. That look pretty much foretold of a long stay on the DL. Groan.

As Wilner said to open the JaysTalk, welcome to the Jorge Velandia era.

The word from the Jays' PR shop (via Wilner) isthat they are waiting for the swelling to go down, and having been there before ourselves, we're guessing that means ligament damage. Ouch.

Thou shalt not lust after other teams' shortstops
Not that we think that we have this sort of power, but we'd been thinking all day about Rafael Furcal. Thinking about how he might be available for the right price at some point this season. Or about how he might be available to the highest bidder next year.

We thought longingly about his .448 OBP and his 1.045 OPS, and the fact that if anyone is this mythical "prototypical lead-off hitter" that people talk about endlessly, it is him. (Eckstein and Reed Johnson couldn't hold his jock in this respect.) Furcal is a plus fielder to boot, and would be an upgrade over Scrappy Doo if nothing else.

But wait! Are we being punished by God for our covetousness? Have the heavens rained down calamities on our middle infielders because we yearned lustily for the middle infielders of others? Cripes...Guess this means it's back to the self-flagellation for the rest of the night.

If anyone is having second thoughts about Eric Hinske after watching him hit that bomb...
Remember that if the Jays hadn't sent him packing, and if he didn't realize that he was at the very end of his career rope, then he'd be here in Toronto as a fat, cheese-eating dead weight with a stupid goatee and a stupid flattop taking up more than his share of the bench. And he probably wouldn't have taken the, er, "necessary steps" to get himself game ready for this year. (And for Tampa fans: there's still plenty of time for him to discover all of the fine waffle houses that Florida has to offer.)

Some gems have jagged edges

Yeah, it's May, but we were perched on the edge of the chesterfield in the nervous ninth inning of tonight's 1-0 win over the ChiSox. Rocking back and forth, uttering curse words of encouragement to B.J. Ryan...you would have sworn that tonight's game meant something.

In the end, the Jays win, sweep the series, win their fifth in a row and remain undefeated in May. How's that for meaningful wins?

A few random thoughts below.

The greatest McGowan since Shane
Maybe the lambchops were holding Dustin McGowan back early in the season, because in two starts since razing them, he's been ridiculously awesome. In tonight's 7.1 innings of four-hit, six strikeout, shutout ball, McGowan looked calm and in control the whole way. He was never in trouble, but even when runners reached base, he looked cool as ice on the mound. And maybe that was all a big heap of cliché, but we felt like McGowan was fully in control the entire time, in spite of the Jays lack of run support.

Shannon Stewart does not run like a girl
Didja see Shannon Stewart beat out that throw in the eighth? Or leg out the triple in the sixth? Didja? Because if you did, could you do us a solid and shut the fuck up about Reed Johnson for at least one day? Thanks!

Things we never thought we'd say
John Gibbons managed an excellent game tonight. Seriously. The lineup made great sense, with Scrappy Doo hitting ninth, where he belongs. Moreover, Gibby smartly brought in John McDonald in the ninth (FINALLY!), even if the Prime Minister of Defense didn't need to make a play.

The Mainstream Media is awesome!
For all of the bitching and moaning that we've done week about the media, mad props go to the crew at Sportsnet for catching the ninth inning conversation between home plate umpire Ron Kulpa and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. The Southsiders' pitching coach Don Cooper began chirping about B.J. Ryan's delivery, calling for a balk on every pitch after Paul Konerko's walk. Kulpa eventually took off his mask, looked into the dugout and declared "He's stopping." That Sportnet not only had a mic open but also had a close up of Kulpa on the ready added immensely to the drama.

Speaking of media, welcome to a whole new era
The Drunk Jays Fans are on the air, in podcast form. Their inaugural episode was recorded this weekend, and is sitting on the Score's website for your listening pleasure. The first week's guests included JaysTalk's Mike Wilner, former in-game hostess Jill Clark (mrroawr!) and a certain Blue Jays blogger, who liked to use the words "ummm" and "y'know" a lot, and stopped in mid-sentence to sigh a lot. Not that we're obsessing.

Let's turn the page on April

And with tonight's tremendously entertaining, brutally heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the BoSox, that's a wrap for the first month of the season.

11-17.

Good riddance to April.

Random thoughts on tonight uniquely spirit-crushing loss

• Dustin McGowan, sans lambchops (not porkchops, as Jamie Campbell called them), looked brilliant on the mound tonight, and deserved better. (Hmm...where'd we hear that before?)
• Speaking of Campbell, dude has to get over his mancrush on all things to do with Boston. We know he's a ginger and his people are there in Boston, but please, JC, stop gushing over every play, every tradition, every Neil Diamond singalong, every douchebag in the stands...just stop.
  
• Johnny Mac's margin of error is very slim, so a gaffe on the bases like tonight's is going to stand out for a while.
• You've got to feel for Vernon Wells, who made one great throw and one good throw that hit the mound in the ninth. Redemption is such a fleeting thing.
• Quien es mas macho? Scott Rolen (four doubles and one homer in five games) es mas macho. Muy macho!
• One image we're totally fucking tired of seeing: Kevin Youkilis and his gigantic cranium and his stupid goatee dancing around the infield in celebration. There's a roll of loonies and our gently used copy of the August 2001 copy of Playboy (featuring Belinda Carlisle!) to the first Jays pitcher who plants one in his ear.
  
• Another futile plea for sanity from JaysTalk callers: Reed Johnson was not going to go into the stands to bring back that Big Papi homer, and Rios didn't have a shot at it unless he ran full speed into the stands (and even then...)
• Speaking of JaysTalk callers: We're weeping for the state of the English language. We missed the first few minutes, but was there some sort of announcement that tonight was Malapropism Night, and we just weren't in on the joke?
  
• It's not even May yet, but listening to J.P. Ricciardi on Wednesdays with J.P. is already pretty classic. The GM was wound pretty tight tonight, especially when giving his unequivocal assurance that the Jays would not in any situation sign Barry Bonds. It sounds to us like he's sick of answering the question.
  
• Did you see that kid in the stands that got the David Eckstein foul ball in kisser? Yeesh. It was only a fleeting shot of an anguished bloody face that showed up on TV, but that was some serious nightmare fuel.

Double your misery

It's not just that they Jays are displaying an historic ineptitude in hitting with runners in scoring position this season. They're also wiping themselves out of innings by hitting into more double plays than any other team so far this season.

Worse still, it is the guys in the middle of the lineup that are doing most of the work producing outs for the other team rather than runs for their own. Vernon "Whipping Boy" Wells and Lyle Overbay have both ground into five twin killings apiece, while Shannon Stewart, Matt Stairs and Scrappy-Doo Eckstein have each grounded into four.

And just for good measure, Frank Thomas ground into three while he was still here.

It's one thing to get guys on base - the Jays are still posting a respectable .342 OBP, fourth in the AL - but seriously, and for fuck's sake, they've gotta stop with this, or we might just go batty.

Eckstein just dropped down a sac bunt

Fourth inning, none out and Scutaro on second, Little X drops down the sac bunt to move Scoots to third.

Any chance that you small-ball loving jackasses might pour yourselves a nice steaming cup of shut the fuck up, at least for a few nights?

Much obliged.

Please re-embark on the bandwagon in an orderly manner

Thoughts on last night's 8-5 win over the stumbly Rangers:

You know it's a trend when Gregg Zaun steals home: It wasn't your Mondesi-Hill variety straight steal of home for Zaun, but kudos to the veteran for taking advantage of the poor judgement and worse throw by his Texas counterpart, Gerald Laird. Incredibly, with the four bags swiped last night, the Blue Jays lead the Major Leagues in stolen bases with 13, while they have been caught four times. Credit goes to the Jays' coaching staff for forcing the issue with other teams on the basepaths while still being smart about when and how they send runners this year.

Please give it up for your AL RsBI Leader, Vernon Wells: So where are all of those voices questioning Wells' lucrative extension now? With two more driven in last night in his hometown, Vernon shares the league lead with Rays Carlos Pena (who's huge performance last year may not be as much of a mirage as we thought.)

News from the Pink/Round/Efficient File: It is easy to forget that Jesse Litsch just turned 23 last month. Nothing about him seems overwhelming, but you can't argue with his performance. He won his second game of the season last night, striking out five (versus two walks), and made a great play on a Josh Hamilton screamer back through the box in the first.

Good luck, Buck: Our favorite new Blue Jay Buck Coats got the start in left field last night, only to be given the bum's rush down to Syracuse following the game. Not that this is a reason for his demotion, by Coats goofed up defensively last night by allowing David Eckstein to call him off a play that the diminutive scrappy gamer grittily dropped. The Jays recalled Joe Inglett, who is off to a torrid start to the season (1.121 OPS, 17 total bases in 8 games), but who will be hard-pressed to find playing with amongst Little X, Scutaro, and McDonald. We liked how the Jays used Coats as a late inning defensive replacement for Matt Stairs and Shannon Stewart, and we're not sure that we like the idea of either of them patrolling the outfield in a close game.

Finding new favorites: It's hard for us not to like Jesse Carlson. Any relief pitcher with a goofy delivery hits us in our soft spot. Our first favorite baseball player was Kent Tekulve, and all these years later, we can't have a catch with our buddies without tossing at least one with our Mark Eichorn delivery. (Which usually bounces up to their feet, but we weren't making any claims to our athletic prowess.) Carlson pitched on back-to-back nights, and has held down the fort nicely (no runs, no hits, 2 Ks in 2 innings), unlike...

John Gibbons' mancrush, Brian Wolfe: Wolfe made his fifth appearance of the season, and gave up a home run to Josh Hamilton that may still be traveling through Oklahoma at this point.

Eckstein and Scutaro show value early and often

John McDonald represents most of us --- low key, underrated, flawed but ready to show that we are good at something if only given half a chance. After last season, the empathetic amongst us felt good (ie. validated) about JP Riccardi rewarding Johnny Mac with some real money. Not me. I don't want someone like me playing shortstop for the Jays. I want a guy who excels at all facets of the game and wants to win on every play and every at bat. McDonald is an excellent defender but, apart from a brief stretch of horseshoe up the anus offensive surge last year, is a liability at the plate (career .240 avg and --- ugh --- .279 obp).

After a week of play, it's clear that the Jays have a couple of new guys who, although they lack the superior genes of Derek Jeter, have the ability to play both ends of an inning:

David Eckstein - He doesn't flash the leather like McDonald, but he's no slouch at short. Offensively Eckstein is a creative and effective player. Other than yesterday, I can't remember ever seeing a player dash to first base on ball four. Eckstein has only one mode --- intense --- which puts pressure on opponents on every play. A career .286 hitter (.351 obp), Eckstein turned it up a notch last year and hit .306. Anything close to that will help keep the Jays competitive.

Marco Scutaro - From what I've seen so far, Scutaro will give McDonald a serious run for highlight reel grabs this year. Combine that with the fact that his career obp percentage is 40 points higher than McDonald's and that he's stolen 3 bases already, the glove has been slapped and the competition for premier Jays utility guy is on. Tao's mancrush Jeff Blair even suggests that he may be a better offensive option than either David Eckstein or John McDonald. We'll see about that.

McDonald gets his first start of the season today a bigger underdog than he's been as a Jay.

UPDATE: McDonald turned in several dazzling plays, almost put Vernon Wells out of commission, walked once and struck out three times. Eckstein watched the game from the bench...with intensity.

In Yankee Stadium, it can go all wrong so quickly

Various and sundry ponderings on Game #3:

Cold hands aren't soft hands: Alan Ashby went on at length on the radiocast last night about the poor fielding by the Jays (especially by Aaron Hill), and how the cold temperatures might be contributing to their inability to field the ball cleanly. We're not sure if that explains Scott Downs' Riverdance routine fielding Johnny Damon's sacrifice bunt eighth, which would lead to the Yankees scoring the winning run. But we're hopeful that someone shovels some coal in the furnace at the Rogers Centre and gets those hands warm, toasty and reliable in time for this weekend's series against the Red Sox.

David Eckstein is grittily and scrapily trying to make us love him: Little X, who Blair notes will have his work cut out for him in winning over the Blue Jays faithful, got the engine of the Love Train started with a 2-for-4 night with a run scored and one driven in. Which is good and all, but we'll still be among those at the former SkyDome hooting and cheering for John McDonald when he's introduced as part of the starting lineup tonight.

Frank Thomas shouldn't SHOULD be losing his shit over that: We'd need for Jon Hale to rev up the Pitch F/Xulator 3500 to confirm it, but it looked to us like the three borderline pitches that Thomas took in his at bat last night were all strikes, so he shouldn't be breathing fire from his nostrils because home plate ump Bill Miller finally got the call right. (UPDATE: Scratch that: Hale is already on it, and he shows that called third strike as being almost half a foot inside. Yikes.)

Powder Blues! Tonight!: Shaun Marcum cinches up the retro gear and squares off against aging knuckler Tim Wakefield. Wakefield's always pitched well against the Jays (15-10 lifetime, 3.86 ERA and 3-2 in 2007 with a 3.86). Last April, he pitched a gem in April under the dome, although to be fair, Jason Phillips was hitting seventh that day, which says something about the state of the team's lineup at that point.

Bring on the Massholes!: We're totally ready to rumble this weekend. Which is why it's good that we read the Drunk Jays Fans' Guide to Home Openers, specifically the bit about avoiding physical confrontation. We wouldn't want to descend to the level of your typical Red Sox fan, although we're secretly hoping that there are a few of them that get rowdy and obnoxious, if only because we'd like to catch it on video and share it with y'all.

Chalk one up for the the good guys

Random thoughts on Game #2:

That butterflies-in-the-belly feeling is back: After a seemingly endless off-season and six weeks of fake games, it's easy to forget how intensely enveloped you can get in the final outs of a ballgame. Last night's nervous ninth was a treat to watch, with Jeremy Accardo pitching out of a two-on, none-out jam by striking out A-Rod and inducing pop ups out of Giambi and Cano. The strikeout was particularly satisfying, not only because it was A-Rod (who posed and pranced like a Miss Fitness America pageant contestant after his homer earlier in the game) , but also because of how well Accardo worked at setting him up before finishing him off with heat that painted the outside corner.

A.J. looked wicked awesome, but...: Did anyone else get a nauseous feeling when A.J. Burnett came up lame after misfielding a ball and firing it off Derek Jeter into right field? From the looks of the replay, it's possible that he might have twisted himself a bit awkwardly, but come on! Does that really necessitate a visit from the trainer and extra warm up pitches to make sure that his knee wasn't too hurty to go on? Why do we get this gnawing feeling that last night wasn't the last time this season that we see A.J. pull this hobbling, walking wounded routine?

Speaking of that play: Sure, you can give Rios grief about his baserunning brain fart in the first inning of Tuesday's game. But last night, he was El Hombre Gigante when he backed up first base, snagged A.J.'s errant throw and fired the ball to second to get Jeter by a couple of steps. It's as if he wanted to rationalize the creative direction of that Young-Alex-tossing-pebbles-at- the-15th- floor-window commercial. Hola Alex!

Grounding into double plays isn't cool: As Jeff Blair notes, David Eckstein has yet to hit the ball out of the infield, and hit into two double plays last night. Yeah, it's too early to hit the panic button and start campaigning for the Prime Minister of Defense, but Little X gets no points from this corner for hustling down the line when he's erasing scoring opportunities in nearly every at bat.

Gareth Wheeler can rest easy...there's a "glimmer of hope" for V-Dub: We get the fact that the host of SunTV's the Grill Room wants to elicit some sort of discussion. But starting off the discussion with Mike Wilner, the Drunk Jays Fans' Stoeten and some random Sun writer by asking them "Is there a glimmer of hope for Vernon Wells?" exactly one game into the season was a little much. It was even funnier to see this conversation after the game, in which Wells went 3-for-4 with a homer, 2 RsBI and two runs scored. Is it just us, or does Gareth have all of the feral nervous energy of a ferret backed into a corner? Kudos go out to Stoeten for locking down the gig, and for resisting the impulse to reach across the table and shake some sense into the host, who trotted out just about every tired Toronto hockey-centric media cliché about the Jays and especially J.P..

Up next: 7:05 @ Yankee Stadium: The Great Yankee Hype Machine's Player of the Moment Phillip Hughes takes the mound versus Dustin McGowan, supposing that his flu-like symptoms have subsided. Otherwise, we're probably looking at Marcum, with Lambchops getting the nod in the home opener.

HOME OPENER TOMORROW!!: Fuck yeah!

Sloppy grit doesn't equal wins

A few random thoughts on Game 1:

There's your running game for ya: Given all of the criticism the Jays received last year for not being the 1985 Cardinals, it's worth noting that the three bags that they swiped and the one runner that Zaunie cut down (Derek Jeter, no less) didn't automatically add up to a W. It's only one game, but the Jays' inability to cash in the runners that they put in scoring position with timely and effective hitting remains a problem. You have to feel for Marco Scutaro, who hit a laser the other way at a drawn in Jason Giambi, who miraculously came up with the grab.

Aaron Hill is frickin' wicked: Hill made Melky Cabrera work in centre field last night, and might have had three doubles instead of one if Johnny Damon were patrolling that position. Dude is dialed in, and we're guessing that he's hitting regularly in the two, five or six spot in the lineup by the end of the month. (And by the way, one of those Melky catches was a Jim Edmonds fake-hustle special, where he dove after the ball was in his glove. Poncey bastrich.)

Doc is an intense, angry man: Roy Halladay pitched last night as though it were Game 1 of the World Series. When things go wrong for Doc, we usually get the sense that he's swearing at himself on the mound. Last night, though, he glared in at home plate umpire Gary Darling (who was ridiculously awful), swore at the bogus dimensions of Yankee Stadium (314 feet my ass), and generally looked as though he was about to scale the outside of the Empire State Building and swat away at fighter planes.

David Eckstein can make poor decisions with scrappy heart: Little X didn't win us over with his dopey decision to try for the most arduous route to a double play rather than just tagging out Giambi and keeping the double play in order. He did make a nice play up the middle earlier, for whatever that's worth.

Up next: A.J. versus Mike Mussina, who we still hate from the 1993 All Star Game when he got up in the bullpen to embarass Cito Gaston. Yeah, we can carry a grudge for 15 years.

David Eckstein is a March Masher

We're no fans of scrappy, gritty, slap-hitting middle infielders. Unless they can hit the long ball, like Mighty Masher David Eckstein.

Little X hit a monumental towering shot deep into left* for a grand slam in this afternoon's fake game versus the Pirates. (*Or at least that's what we've read into Cathal Kelly's description on his liveblog of the game.)

This might be a little optimistic and premature, but based on today's performance we're predicting 30 homers for Eckstein this season.

Also, Dusty Lambchops is getting roughed up a bit, but we're not going to read to much into it. After all, it is just Spring Training.

Blairsy turns that frown upside down
In his mailbag today, Jeff Blair acknowledges the critical role our little blog post played in making him reflect upon his crusty ways, and in helping him to go forth with positivity and enthusiasm in all of his future pursuits. Like Oprah might say, we're changing the world and changing lives, one beat writer at a time. (You're next, Elliot!)