Appreciating Raul Chavez

If you think, for one god-damned minute, that I'm going to discuss the weekend sweep in Fenway, then boy, do you have another thing coming. Re-live the misery? No thanks.

Instead, I'm here to appreciate Raul Chavez. That's right - Raul Chavez.

In many ways, Chavy is the ideal backup catcher. Terrific defensively (though feel free to prove me wrong with defensive metrics), he seems to develop a good rapport with pitchers and knows how to handle a staff. Never one to flash a menacing bat, he won't exactly provide a boost to the offense (.620-something OPS), but he won't embarrass himself either. I mean, we're talking about a reserve catcher here - whaddya want, Mike Piazza?

But let's cut to the chase. I like the guy. He's fun to watch behind the plate, with his demonstrative style and penchant for snap throws (fuck you, Dustin Pedroia). He's like Tony Pena Sr. used to be without the "LOOK AT ME BACK HERE, EVERYBODY!" swagger. And let's face it, the 2009 Blue Jays are short a few ticks in the "fun to watch" column this year.

With both incumbent starter Rod Barajas and Chavez coming up on free agency, it's doubtful that both (or either?) will be back. Barajas has said he'd like to sign a multi-year deal somewhere, which would seem to preclude him from attracting a deal from the Jays. In a perfect world, once uber-prospect (to us, anyway) JP Arencibia would be ready to step behind the plate for 130 games next season (he's not), with Chavez as his caddy.

Arencibia's delayed development might have thrown a wrench into those plans, but I still think the Jays would be wise to bring Chavez back for another go-around with the club. I, for one, would appreciate it. I'm sure that Chavez the baseball lifer would too.

On potential September callups
Word is there will be "no surprises" from the Jays camp when rosters expand on September 1:

"I think most of the guys we'll bring up, you've seen before -- not a lot of secrets," Ricciardi said. "I don't think we're going to be bringing up anybody that's new to the big leagues. I think just guys to help us get through the month with some extra players."

Hey, terrific! Let's just recall the same old same old who've helped propel the team to such great heights this season, shall we? David Purcey! Bill Murphy! Mighty Joe Inglett! Forget bringing up guys we haven't seen like Brian Dopirak and Fabio Castro, who might actually have a future with the club. That wouldn't be any fun, would it?

Look, I understand the limitations with the 40-man roster, etc...but a quick scan of the 40 is all it takes to see where there's room (cough Bill Murphy Brian Wolfe Michael Barrett Kevin Millar cough) to clear.

One would think that expanded rosters would be the perfect opportunity to clear out the minors and see what the team might have for next year....even in - no, especially in - a season when "playing out the cycle" has become the battle cry. But I suppose not for our 2009 Blue Jays.

Really, nothing about this season surprises me anymore.

Oh, boy

What to say about this one? Not much, evidently. The picture above says it all. It stunk.

A frisky ninth made the outcome appear much more respectable to the Jays than their performance warranted, and in the end....another one run loss. Stop me if you've heard this before (because you have).

On top of the on-field misery, our friends at Rogers Sportsnet treated us to the full "Sweet Caroline" treatment by the Fenway faithful during tonight's broadcast. Gee, parent company of the Blue Jays, thanks for that. I swear, if Campbell broke out into song, the odds of hari-kari were at least 50-50. Although a duet with Rance might almost have been worth it. You know, for the comedy.

(As an aside, I'd love to shit on "the nation" here, but it's hard to completely dump on a fanbase that sells out the building for 81 dates a year (plus playoffs - fuck), and has a good time while doing it. I could, but it would probably come across as petty jealousy....and that would probably be the proper read.)

The positives? Um, Adam Lind extended his hit streak to ten (!) games with a double? Cito's favorite reliever Jesse Carlson made dreamboat (barf!) Ellsbury look silly on an 0-2 breaking ball (small victories!)?

I don't know. I got nothin'. Give me something to work with here, Jays.

Tomorrow is another day.

I guess.

The stage was set

Top of the ninth.....Jays down one.....bases loaded.....two outs.....the world's biggest jackass on the hill for the Sox.....the Future steps to the plate for the Jays.....the Green Monster taunts - no, beckons - his opposite field power.....aaaaand the kid goes down swinging.

Elation in Fenway. Emptiness for Blue Jay fans. An all too familiar refrain.

The intrepid (and soon to be proud papa) Jordan Bastian tweets that the Jays are 16-23 in one run games, which is awful, but seriously - doesn't it feel a whole lot worse than that?

Wait, let me answer - yes. Yes it does. Actually, it feels like a recurring nightmare, where the build up may vary slightly, but ultimately leads to the same gory finale. You might even say the outcome has become anti-climactic.

Blue Jay fever 2009 - catch it! No, literally, I think I've come down with something as a result. The team is making me ill. It feels like a virus.

But you know friends, I'm not here to bag on the team. Not intentionally, anyway. I vaguely recall making an oath that I would do my best to remain positive, which leads us to a new theme as we march toward the close of the season....

It's still baseball, damnit!
Lighthouse doing his thing.

Barajas stepping up to the plate, looking for one pitch, and absolutely crushing it.

These are things I love. The Jays may be slowly (but surely) crushing our souls....but it's still baseball, damnit.

Oh, and I would never advocate intentional injury....
....but a well placed baseball between Youk's numbers tomorrow would be completely justified. Or, you know, maybe Rookie Romero aims a few feet lower and lets Pedroia know he's there. Just sayin'.

Friday Rock Out: Buffalo Tom - "Tangerine"

"Just a little haiku to say how much I like you." Indeed.

By the time you read this, we will be gone.

On vacation, that is, just for a couple of days.

In the interim, we leave you in the capable hands of the Ack, who may have already posted something this morning, if he could have been bothered. But even if he wasn't...who could blame him these days?

(You can also follow him over on the Twitter by clicking on the link up on the right of this page. Or right here: @TheAck.)

Here's to an enjoyable final weekend of August for all of you and yours. See you in September.

Wild walk off madness!

We managed to miss almost all of last night's game because we were caught in a dinner party where we were helping a couple choose songs for their wedding playlist.

(We're not sharing the contents of said playlist, lest we undo any sense of cool that we may have nurtured through a season of Friday Rock Outs. But in our defense, let us say that when Mrs. Tao decides that there should be Pussycat Dolls, there's gonna be Pussycat Dolls. And there's only so much that you can fight it.)

Nevertheless, we managed to tune in for all of the good stuff in the ninth. And what a wild ninth it was. Pinch hit Rodness! Scoots taking second on a fly ball! Walks! Belief in Vernon! Millar, who we still hate, walking the bases full! Randy Ruiz, teed up for the walkoff hit! Wild pitch! Scoots! Ballgame!

It's a good thing that we have the off day to recover from a single inning of offense that was more interesting than much of the month of August.

Some other random thoughts on the bottom of the ninth
A win is a win, so you probably shouldn't be upset that it wasn't choreographed to your heart's particular delights. But having said that, we would have enjoyed seeing a walkoff walk, if only so that there could be shrimp for the masses.

We also would have loved to see Ruiz get a hit and be the hero, but we'll have to content ourselves with the notion that J.P. Howell, even with two strikes, wanted to keep his pitch as far out of the Bronx Basher's wheelhouse as possible.

No love for Millar
We're not sure how we would have felt about "You're such a disease, Kevin" Millar getting the walkoff hit last night. Sure, we want the win, but we don't want to have any kind feelings towards Millar ever again.

One night this week, we fired up our MLB 2K8 and set it up so that we could heave pitches at head of "Kyle Morgan" (Millar's alias in the game because of his scabby activity.) It was cathartic.

Walkoff joy is fleeting
Was it just us, or did the enthusiasm over last night's walkoff win vanish before the cameras were turned away? By the time that the Jays reached the dugout, the faces were nearly as stoic as what you would have expected on the losing team.

A season of missed opportunities and unproductive roster spots

It's fine to have a longer view of what is good for the ballclub and all, but really: Travis Snider and Randy Ruiz should have spent more time on the Blue Jays than they did. And while their contributions might not be worth a dozen games in the standings, the fact that the Jays were willing to maintain two or three or four dead slots on their 25-man roster all season drives us to distraction.

It makes us want to start making ritualistic sacrifices.

From the outset, we'll confess that what we're about to do is unfair. But at this point in a season that has gone off the rails, over the embankment, down the cliff and into the ravine, we need an outlet.

And our primary whipping boy, above any others, is Kevin Millar.

Millar didn't do much to deserve this ignoble fate, but on the other hand, he didn't do much to keep himself on the big league roster either. And yet, here he is: Still on the team, as we reach the cusp of September. Skulking around the clubhouse, sporting his .678 OPS, enjoying the final days of a marginally productive major league career.

Ruiz, who was left to rot in Las Vegas all season because no one believed in him or his PCL-inflated numbers, has managed four homers in 50 ABs. Millar has eeked out six in 198 ABs. Six, which is also the number of homers that Travis Snider has managed in 124 ABs.

Sure, you can argue that maybe the Jays' brain trust wanted to let Snider recover from his back injury in the minors and work his way back gradually. And that they didn't have enough of a sample to give up on Millar, or Johnny Mac, or Joe Inglett in favour of a potentially productive bat in Ruiz.

If José Bautista were the lone supersub at the end of the bench, that would be one thing. The fact that this team played with him as the first man off the bench all season is just depressing.

Should the Blue Jays want to keep the faith with their loyal following (such as it is), and at least appear ready to compete and field a team that can hang, they can't have their 25th man be a relatively slow-footed designated pinch runner with 27 career steals. Nor can they have their 24th man be a washed up personality who can't hit righties or lefties and plays one eminently fillable position.

The Jays have 25 spots on their active roster. They should use them a little more wisely.

What worries us most about Doc

We've seen and heard a lot of people tracing Roy Halladay's recent swoon to the plethora of trade talks that surrounding him through July. We have a bit of a different theory, which disturbs us even more.

Earlier this season, we were getting prepared to write yet another love letter to Doc, and his amazing performance in the season's first half. To glean some additional information on Doc's excellence, we wandered over to Fangraphs. And to be honest, setting us loose in Fangraphs is a bit like sending a blind man into a strip club: We're not really sure what's in front of us, but it's definitely fun to feel our way around.

One thing that really stood out for us in that initial visit (and we've only referred to it vaguely around here) is the percentage of cut fastballs that Halladay throws. For the season, Halladay is unleashing his cutter on 42.9% of his pitches, which ranks third behind the Royals' Brian Bannister (53%) and the D-Backs' Doug Davis (46.6%). After those three, there's a drop off of more than 10% to Scott Feldman (31.4%).

The reason that most pitchers steer clear of throwing cutters (or throwing them too often) is because of the wear and tear that the pitch puts on the arm. And while we recognize the Doc is a cyborg from another dimension, it still made us worry when we saw just how many times he was going to that well. Halladay's arm has never been cut on (to our knowledge), and seeing that number in the Fangraphs charts scared us a bit. So much so that we didn't dare even give voice to the concerns in this forum.

But with the number of hits Halladay has given up lately (even the bloops and bleeders that victimized Roy last night), we thought we'd go back and revisit those numbers. And while we're not sure that they necessarily indicate that anything is wrong, they did make us raise an eyebrow.

In the month of July, Halladay began going to the cutter well a little more often, throwing them 47% of the time. But for the month of August, Doc has scaled way back on the pitch, throwing it 34.5% of the time, while relying more on his fastball (39.7%).

We're not sure if there is a reason why he's backed off of the cutter as the season has gone on, but we hope like hell that it has nothing to do with any discomfort that he might be feeling in throwing it. Because there's a whole other level of misery that lies just beyond the horizon if that is the case.

A One-Sentence Post On...The Greatest Blue Jays Late Season Callup of All Time

Even PCL-inflated stats hating Drew has to agree: Randy Ruiz if the Greatest Blue Jays Late Season Callup of All Time...GBLSCOAT!!!1

The Pasty White Hope gives us reasons to believe

More than this weekend's series win against a very good Angels squad, we were brought out of our prolonged funk by watching the play of Travis Snider throughout the series.

Given how quickly Snider ascended through the Jays' system, it is easy to forget that he'll be just 22 years old on Opening Day next year. But when you observe the manner in which he is maturing at the plate by leaps and bound, it's hard not to get excited about his potential over the next six seasons.

In particular, Snider's new-found willingness to take close pitches and to lay off breaking balls thrown on the inside part of the plate will help him immeasurably going forward. While he's still going to be a hitter who will strike out a lot, his willingness to take a walk and to work the count makes us think that he'll end up more along the lines of a patient, high average and high OBP hitter like Lance Berkman, and less like am all-or-nothing wailer like Mike Jacobs.

In his six games since the recall, Snider is posting a 1.121 OPS (.455 OBP, .667 SLG) with two homers, five runs scored and four walks.

And amazingly enough, Snider's managed to escape from the very bottom of the order on a couple of occasions, which gives us a vague sense of hope that Cito Gaston isn't going to stifle his development in the way that he did other significant prospects towards the end of his last tenure in Toronto.

The RR Cool Jay RoY Chase
Ricky Romero had a nice solid outing on Sunday, dropping his ERA to 3.91 for the season. At present, he's posting an identical 11-5 record to fellow Rookie of the Year candidate Jeff Niemann of the Rays, while Niemann has the edge in ERA (3.71) and WHIP (1.30).

In the past month, Romero's walk rate has gone up significantly, pushing his WHIP to 1.40. For RickRo to go over the top of Niemann, he'll need to keep his walks down while hoping for a few disaster starts from his counterpart.

And conveniently enough, the Jays face Niemann and the Rays tonight. If this Blue Jays team has any self-respect, they'll light up the Rays' tall righthander and help their teammate's RoY candidacy that much more.

Quick-hitter: Feeling Blue (Jays)

It occurred to me that Blue Jay fans probably aren't interested in logging in to the ToS and reading my bullshit commentary filled with doom and gloom, weekend in, weekend out, for the next few months. You can get that same depression from watching the games (heyyyyooooo!).

So here's my vow to you - I'm going to save the hand wringing for the offseason, and let the 2009 (shit) chips fall where they may. Focus on the positives - the remarkable seasons of Aaron Hill and Young Adam Lind, potentially our last few glimpses of Roy Halladay greatness, the maturation of Travis Snider......etc.

Because it's still baseball, damnit.

Winning ugly - no, hideous

And so it goes for our Toronto Blue Jays, in that even the wins feel like losses. The saying goes that " a win is a win", but what should have been an uneventful ninth turned into a near debacle that would have left even the most diehard of fans shaking their heads. And probably a little nauseous.

In what's becoming a disturbing trend (or is it a new reality?), the Blue Jays bullpen follies continued to torment us in very nearly handing back a 5-1 lead, choking on three Angel runs and leaving the tying run stranded in scoring position. Bad relief pitching I can handle (well, not really, but bear with me here), bad bullpen management I cannot.

About the only positive thing I can say about Cito's use of the pen in the ninth is that he retrieved the ball from Brandon League after three batters. How he hands the ball to Casey Janssen (with de-facto closer Jason Frasor available), who had been getting knocked around by opposing batters to the tune of a .340 clip, is another entirely.

Well, it does make sense to some degree. It makes perfect sense if the team has already shifted into "let's find out what we have for next year" mode. And really, it should come as no surprise that this is where we find ourselves. The writing has been on the wall for weeks.

Travis Snider is going to play every day. Randy Ruiz is getting a shot to stick. The young starters are showcasing their stuff in a late-season audition for the 2010 rotation. And I guess the bullpen needs to sort itself out also. So this is where we are. All of us. Following a team that seems less concerned about winning the remaining games on the schedule than with sorting matters out for 2010.

Among other notes on puppy dogs and ice cream, I wrote this in the comments section today:

"It is funny, though, how many of us - even the great optimists among us - have finally reached the tipping point."

It seems that sentiment is now being shared by Cito and J.P. We're only left to wonder just how far up the Blue Jays food chain the feeling permeates.

Friday Rock Out - OutKast's "B.O.B."

In honour of its being named the best song of the decade by Pitchfork, we over up this incomparable blast of musical adrenaline to get all of you faithful Blue Jays fans off your back and on your feet.

Uno, dos, tres, it's on: It's the weekend. Have at it.

The long, slow, miserable march towards mediocrity

If you can dig way back into your memories, you may remember that on May 19, the Blue Jays sat atop the AL East by three and a half games. At lot has happened in the intervening three months, and not much of it has been all that pleasing to watch.

Since then, the Jays have gone 28-49. That's 21 games below .500. And just for the sake of reference, the hapless Washington Nationals over the same period of time have gone 31-51.

Let that roll around in your head for just a moment: The Jays are one game worse than the Nats over the past three months.

In the early part of the season, the Jays were knocking the seams off the ball, with a team OPS of .821 (.358 OBP, .463 SLG). In those halcyon days of Spring, the pitching staff put up a 3.58 ERA, with a WHIP around 1.25.

But as the season wore on, injuries piled up, and the magic of Cito and his new/retro staff began to wear off, it all went pear-shaped. The pitchers posted an ERA of 4.43 from May 19 on, and the offense sputtered, mustering only a .734 OPS (.316 OBP, .418 SLG).

It's depressing to look at that drop off, and to see that the preponderance of evidence suggests that this team is not close to regaining their footing in the AL East and reawakening dreams of pennant races. Moreover, what all of those numbers can't quite convey is just what a gong show the past few months have been, bookended by two three-game sweeps at the hands of the Red Sox.

(And really, doesn't Bret Cecil's brain cramp last night pretty much encapsulate, in one surreal moment, what the past few months have been like?)

It's important that we not lose sight of the good things that this team has going for it, and the bright spots that we can forsee on next year's roster and beyond. We'll be there throughout the off-season with our pom-poms, leading the cheers.

But it is equally important that we not overlook what an absolute shit-show the majority of this season has been, and that we not allow ourselves to get so comfortable that we give some of those responsible for it a free pass and a second chance to shitty up the next season or two.

Fire Cito. Fire J.P.. Let's move on.

Coquettish pictures of indie sweethearts

Well...hellllo Zooey.

How you doing, Jenny?

Seriously, we tried all afternoon to think of the one thing that was going to make all of you Blue Jays fans happy about your lot in life. We know that we've been a serious downer lately, and we're trying to find something that will make your spirits rise. This is pretty much the best that we could come up with.

And then we saw Cito's lineup for tonight, which features a 3-4-5 of Dougie Wells, Rod Barajas and Kevin Millar.

That, my friends, is almost more than we can take. Of course, now that we've said that, those three righties will tee off on lefty Jon Lester. Believe us when we say: We'd love to be proven wrong, and we'd absolutely love to be giving credit to Cito's for his razor sharp instincts later tonight.

Are you depressed? Do you need help? There are liveblogs for that sort of thing.
Drew from Ghostrunners is hosting the kvetch party over at the Score. We've been skulking around the liveblogs over there a little more often, and they're a good time. (Especially after a couple of vodka tonics.) We'll try to stop in tonight.

We're beginning to grow apart from Doc

It's about a decade or so in the rearview mirror now, but the memory of the two weeks that we spent living with our our ex after we'd broken up is still pretty vivid. Palpable, even.

We spent those two weeks just trying to get along well enough to make things tolerable, understanding that at some point, we'd go our separate ways, and that this misery would subside (and be replaced with a completely different misery).

In some ways, that's how we've started to feel about Roy Halladay.

We understand that this might seem cheap and convenient to bring this up on the morning after Halladay's worst start in a year. But after weeks of emotional turmoil, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and now waiting even longer for it to finally drop (In the winter? Next July? After 2010?), we're left with this oddly detached feeling whenever we watch Halladay. It used to be that every Doc start was a Festival of Awesome, and a Celebration of This Precious Moment With the Greatest Pitcher Alive. And now, we just feel a bit numb.

We should probably shake it off and savour the moments that we have left with Doc, because it's gonna hurt like hell when he finally leaves. But it is the knowledge that the hurt is coming that makes us wish that we didn't have to bide our time and wait for it.

Speaking of waiting...
We had the iPod on shuffle this morning, and a Bruce Cockburn tune popped up. There are a couple of lines in that song that we figured Blue Jay fans could relate to right about now.

Somewhere out there is a place that's cool
Where peace and balance are the rule
Working toward a future like some kind of mystic jewel
And waiting for a miracle