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!

Jason Phillips. Mad Masher.

When that goggle-eyed bastard Jason Phillips went deep, we knew we were in for an interesting night.

A.J.'s line (6.2 innings, 4 earned, 6 hits, 8Ks, 2 BBs) in tonight's 6-4 win over Baltimore probably flatters him, as he came close to unraveling in the fifth. But we'll give the Jays' Interim Ace credit for getting his stuff together and pulling through an efficient sixth, and passing the game over to the suddenly steady bullpen.

Baltimore's revamped and high-priced bullpen will offer an interesting contrast to the Jays' make-shift band of brigands in this series. From the 7th inning on, the Jays pitching staff ranks second in ERA (3.02), while Baltimore sports a 5.25 ERA in the late innings.

And this is fun: Jeremy Accardo still hasn't given up a run. (And Shea Hillenbrand? One home run, 13 RsBI and a .534 OPS.)

Ohka throws cheese

What a lovely way to enjoy the first outdoor home game of the season.

A timely, outstanding outing for Ohka this afternoon. Given how deeply they had gone into their pen over the weekend, the 7 IP, 5 hit, 1 earnie outing was exactly what the Jays needed to help reset themselves.

Ohka had lots of movement on his pitches, and got ahead of the Rangers more often than not. He still walked 3 versus 2 Ks, but really, why would we want to whinge?

We'll even let Gibby's starting Matt Stairs a pass, especially since Rios cranked his fourth dinger of the season as soon as he came into the game.

By the way, does anyone know a stats service where we can find the number of inherited runs allowed? We ask because seeing everyone marvel at Scott Downs and his 0.00 ERA makes us suspicious. We've only been able to find the leaderboard on Stats Inc. Oh, and your AL leader in this category, having stranded all 12 runners he has inherited? Justin Speier. Just sayin'.

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).

You take the good, you take the bad, you take 'em both and there you have...

Well, that makes for an interesting day.

The Good: Getting name-checked by Deadspin (Thanks, Will!), Doc going 7 1/3 strong, the Big Hurt finally hitting something with a bat, and Rios and Wells continuing to hit for extra bases.
The Bad: Marcum and Frasor spitting the bit, another SkyDome/Rogers Centre Manny Mash, the Jays being held to three runs by Edward James Olomos Julian Tavarez (WTF!), Adam Lind stranding three runners and Aaron Hill stranding four, slipping into a third place tie with the Orioles.

If nothing else, I learned a new word today: Massholes!

Jays 2, Sox 1

General Thoughts on the Jays' 2-1 win:

• Dice-K's 4th inning meltdown was ugly, in a Rick Ankiel sort of way. If only the Jays had someone a little more fearsome than Jason Smith come up with the bases loaded. (Although to be fair to Smith, he has 3 RBIs in 20 ABs, one less than Thomas has in 47 ABs.)
• The Jays pitching looked fantastic tonight, with Gus Gus (6.2, 6H, 3Ks 0 BBs, 1 ER) looking as sharp as he has in a while, and Janssen and Frasor continue to look strong.
• Vernon was probably out at first, but we'll take it.
• Is it too early to be excited about the fact that the Jays leapfrogged the BoSox into first place with a win tonight?
  
• Danny Heatley can start scoring any time now. (Sorry, that was the other game we were trying to watch simultaneously).

Game 2 tomorrow - Wakefield (1-1, 1.38) v. Ohka (0-1, 7.84).

Now if you'll excuse us, all this Dice-K talk has us craving a gyro.