The April Afternoon of Jo-Jo, and Other Observations

Ok, we've probably worn out this meme before it even really caught on, so from here on out, we'll try to find a more nuanced and mature way to express our mancrush for the Jays' peripheral sixth starter.

(Also, our affections are beginning to float over towards tonight's pink, round, efficient and gingerbearded starter. And there's only so much room for mancrushes in our cold, cold heart.)

After some early inning scuffles and a handful of deep counts, Jo-Jo gutted through a much needed seven-inning, quality-start-worthy performance to keep the bullpen rested. It didn't always look pretty, but we give our hero full marks for working through his delivery and eventually getting the ball down in the zone as he should have from the start. And had the Jays not been utterly flummoxed by Jered Weaver's nasty stuff, maybe he walks away with a meaningless win to look pretty in his top line stats.

We won't bore you too much more with Jo-Jo, except to say that he's pitched better than a certain goggled, squinting starter who still has options. So think of that what you will.

Briefly...

It shouldn't surprise that Rajai Davis might be on the shelf, as he's limped away from a number of plays so far since returning from his ankle ouchy...

You're already mad enough at umpire Bob Davidson. So we needn't say much more. Though Dustin has a nice rev-you-up-all-over-again piece on him over at Getting Blanked. He's a curious character in Jays history...

Travis Snider's been pretty great in the field so far this year, even playing a couple of innings of credible CF for the injured Davis. As for Saturday night's brutal gaffe that led to the winning run, we'll chalk it up to fatigue and focus on the vast improvements that he's shown in his footwork so far...

José Bautista is pressing, having only eeked out a couple of excuse-me singles in the Angels series. He seems to get legitimately upset after each failed at bat, but we hope that he chills out and relaxes and finds that swing again...

Finally, the outstanding Mariner blog Lookout Landing has a breakdown of the upcoming series, replete with smart words and bar graphs. Go ahead and read it, but don't go getting any ideas about what your hometown blogs should be doing in terms of prep work...

Angel Hernandez wasn't enjoying Kevin Gregg's tasty nibbles

So...that's what Cubs fans were on about all season. Funny, because having been off the continent during Gregg's previous meltdown, we were still in the midst of our jarheaded love-in with the Jays closer.

So maybe that's why we're so eager to make excuses right about now. Like how it struck us that maybe home plate ump Angel Hernandez was making good to the Rays after refusing to call time to Carlos Pena and tossing Joe Maddon, and maybe his strike zone got a little cramped.

When we threw that notion out on Twitter following the game, intrepid reporter Ian at The Blue Jay Hunter undertook the task to get the Pitch FX data, and boy-howdee did he ever get the data. So if you'd like to pause for a moment and go read his most excellent analysis, have at 'er.

Not satisfied to wait until this morning, though, we actually got off our butt and looked up the pitches to Jaso, Zobrist and Navarro ourselves. On Gameday, which is admittedly totally unreliable, we found our suspicions confirmed. Conspiracy!

Then, this morning on Brooks Baseball, we found that the more reliable system seemed to confirm that Hernandez just made some very good close calls, although the fourth and fifth pitches to Zobrist were really close. And if it's a sunny Sunday Get-Away-Day, either Zobrist or Jaso is punched out and the Jays are high-fiving their way back to the clubhouse, another game closer to the peak of the AL East. Believe that.

The truth is that Gregg played a pretty dangerous game for a pitcher with men on base by trying to pick the corners throw pitches away from hitters. Gregg has some decent tailing motion on his fastball, and getting them in on the hitters hands or over the plate might have been rewarded with a ground ball or two, and a save/win.

For now, we hold our breath, and hope that this is more of a blip than a trend, and that Gregg heeds the words that Pappy Walton offered on his trip to the mound last night: "No problem."

Phil Cuzzi is still a douchebag

Phil Cuzzi is at it again. The douchebag umpire, who gets off on calling ball and strikes like Ronnie Milsap after a six-week bender, tossed Ozzie Guillen after blowing a call on a high strike in the third inning of yesterday's game between the White Sox and the Twins.

It was Cuzzi, you may remember, who gave Roy Halladay the heave-ho for hitting Rocco Baldelli with a pitch in his second-to-last start of the season in 2003, at a time when there were significant implications for Doc's Cy Young aspirations and a number of Blue Jays team records on the line.

He also put himself front and center in the 2005 NLCS when he tossed Jim Edmonds for asking where a called strike was.

Cuzzi likes to present himself as a story of faith, family and determination, as evidenced by the fact that he was shit-canned by the league in 1993, but managed to sneak in the back door to the Majors again in 1999 when a slew of the umpires resigned as part of Richie Phillips' ill-advised labour negotiation tactics.

We can't wait to see Cuzzi umpire a Jays game this season.

Sour Grapes: Demuth put the Squeeze on Carmona

This might sound like sour grapes, but we spent a good part of Saturday cursing Dana Demuth's microscopic strike zone, and how he was squeezing the Indians Fausto Carmona. Cheers to the Mockingbird's Jon Hale for dialing up MLB's pitch FX system to confirm as much.

Not that it matters now.