Massive offensive explosion!

Ten hits! Five runs! Put 'em on the boooooooooard...yes! Jays win!

It's just one win, and we're not going to ascribe any more meaning to it than it deserves. But it was a relief to see the Jays actually hit the ball solidly into the outfield with runners on base last night. Notably, Shannon Stewart actually looked a little more comfortable at the plate last night, even if his fourth inning RBI double was a bit of a gift from former teammate Mike Cuddyer.

Gibbons Watch returns
It's been a while since we made use of the Gibbons Watch tag on the blog, but seeing as how we are convinced like everyone else that he's about to get the can tied to him any day now, every decision he makes is going to be examined under a microscope.

Like last night's decision to pull Jesse Litsch after 70 pitches. We kinda get the rationale, given that the Twins big bats were coming up and the Jays have oodles of lefties in their pen now. Still, it seemed like the move of a manager who is coaching to save his job (hello, Carlos Tosca!). Last night's moves worked more or less...well...Jesse Carlson giving up a triple probably wasn't the anticipated result, but they got the win anyhow. But if Gibby continues to be this aggressive in his management style and it doesn't work, he's going to get pilloried.

Then again, he probably would anyway.

A dream of .500 ball

Not so long ago, we figured that the Jays would end up at about 83 wins for the season. A disappointment, but still, above .500, which is respectable on some level.

Last night's 4-1 loss to the Yanks (the Jays' fifth straight defeat) drops the Jays below .500. With a schedule packed with Yanks, BoSox and the Mighty Mighty Devil Rays, we're finding it hard to believe that this team ends the season on the right side of the even level.

Gibbons Watch (It's Back!)
Way back in a Jays Nest roundtable, we linked the likelihood of John Gibbons sticking around to the team's win total: "We’d tie this to their Jays’ final record: if they win 83 or fewer games, he’s gone."

As recently as last week, we figured that Gibby was back for sure. Now, with the team in a tailspin, we're wondering if Mickey Brantley might have some company at the dole office.

Update: We note (h/t to Neate) that J.P. said on Jays Talk last night that Gibby will be back...but if this team ends up at or below .500, it seems difficult to imagine that those above the GM in the decision-making process would allow that to happen.

"I've got my reasons.... You don't need to know everything."

Thus spake John Gibbons, describing the rationale that went into nailing Alex Rios to the bench, and pinch hitting John McDonald for Jason Phillips late in Sunday's game.

The Sun's Mike Rutsey has the full rundown of wit and wisdom of Gibby.

(Wouldn't it be so much more efficient for Gibby to walk into the media briefing, tell everyone there to go fuck themselves, and walk out?)

Gibby's lineup madness

Once again, Jays Manager-for-the-Moment John Gibbons decided to jerk around with the team's lineup today.

We get that some days, you want to give a guy a day off, especially late in the season. What we can't understand for the life of us is Gibby's insistence on rotating players into the lineup from what is really a pretty weak bench.

At a time when the Jays are struggling to score runs, why sit Alex Rios? He's first on the team in homers, second in RsBI, second in slugging and fourth in OPS. He's a central cog in an offense that has sputtered, and has hit well (2 HRs and a 1.037 OPS) over the past week.

Moreover, his OPS versus righthanders is fifty points higher than Matt Stairs, so don't even try to run that jive past us.

And we'll get on this soapbox again: it is 37 games into the season, and Aaron Hill has hit in six different spots in the order. Alex Rios has hit in five different spots, as has Overbay. Even Wells and Glaus have hit in three different spots in the order.

It's this sort of willy-nilly jerking around with the lineup that makes us wish that someone would bring back Cito.

Hang the JG, hang the JG, hang the JG

As noted in the comments yesterday, friend of the blog The Great Lakes Knuckleballer has had enough of a certain mumblin', fumblin' Texan, and has launched the Fire Gibbons blog (firegibbons.blogspot.com).

The Tao abides.

Former Jays Managers - Their Not-So-Brilliant Careers

We were thinking about Gibby's post-Jays career this morning...even though he hasn't officially been fired, we kinda figure that it is only a matter of time.

And we got to thinking about the other Jays managers over the past two decades, and how none of them since Jimy Williams have resurfaced as a manager at the MLB level. To wit:

Cito Gaston - Four pennants and two World Series with the Jays, and the best that he's managed since getting the heave-ho 10 years ago is a hitting coach position back with the Jays.

Tim Johnson - Whatever you might think of his tendency towards prevarication, he managed the Jays to their best record since the World Series years. After several years managing in Mexico, he is currently the manager of the Lincoln Saltdogs of the American Association.

Jim Fregosi - The gravel-voiced Fregosi was turfed after two above .500 seasons at the helm. He was cantankerous, abrasive, and certainly not the cuddly fan-friendly type that some might hope. Since getting canned, Fregosi has held front office positions in the Braves system, and was mentioned as a possible candidate for the Phillies job that eventually went to Grady Little.

Buck Martinez - Martinez came to the job as a media-friendly fan favorite, as much for his years of work behind the mic on Jays broadcasts as for his work behind the plate for the team in the 80's. He finished his year and a half as the Jays' skipper 10 games under .500, and his only managing work since was his rather inauspicious work with Team USA at the WBC.

Carlos Tosca - Managed the team to a 191-191 record in his (sort-of) three seasons at the Jays' helm. Currently the bench coach for the Florida Marlins.

A fundamental question for the Jays at this point in the season is this: would any other team - and moreover, any other team with aspirations towards contending - hire John Gibbons as their manager?

Do you not WANT to win, Gibby?

Well, that's a tough one to lose.

But why, oh why, would John Gibbons wait to bring in Brian Tallet in the ninth when the Jays had two outs and a lefty coming to the plate? It seems to us that Tallet versus Wilkerson would have been a much stronger matchup.

We get that Frasor is the putative capital-C "closer"...except that everybody know that he's really just the temp. The save is really a stupid stat, and managing your bullpen to make sure that the guy with the big scarlet C on his chest gets that stat shows that Gibby isn't particularly interested in the team stat that really counts: Wins.

What a roller-coaster of a game...Lind continues to rake, making us forget all about what-his-name who started the season in left, Thomas awakens from his slumber, and all seems well at the plate.

Again...wouldn't Justin Speier have looked good in the ninth? (Not to pick old scabs...)

Tomorrow, it's Tomo Ohka (1-2, 6.23), vs. RHP Brandon McCarthy (1-3, 9.00).

"I just want to get as many lefty bats in there as possible"

This is John Gibbons' reason for keeping Vernon Wells (Vernon Effing Wells!) on the bench.

Doesn't this seem just a little too frickin' random?

If you're gonna spend $95 million on player salaries, shouldn't you have someone marshaling those troops with something more than old wives tales and homespun remedies as his guide?

(And then, as I'm writing this, V-Dub comes in and drives in two runs. As if to prove my point.)

The Gibbons Watch is on. In full effect.

Gibbons Watch

Last Thursday night I sat in my favourite armchair to watch the Jays take on the Tigers. I was looking for some redemption for Ohka after his last start. But that was a hardly a realistic expectation given the team fielded that night. Reed Johnson was out on the DL so he was "replaced" by the beer league steals leader Matt Stairs (he is a good hitter though). That was a big enough blow to their chances but Gibby decided to make it worse by putting backup catcher (and personal project) Jason Phillips on first in place of Overbay. Granted, the lefty/lefty issue was some justification for the move, but Phillips is not a good enough hitter to justify losing the defence at First. Phillips bobbled a couple of key plays in what was the sloppiest Jays game that I have seen in some time. Ohka deserved better backing in his first start at home.

More moves like that and the only job Gibby will find himself in at the ballpark is mopping up spilled beer.