Toronto Blue Jays Blogs

Big news from the Big Unit: 46-year-old Randy Johnson announced his retirement, concluding his career with a record of 303-166, a 3.29 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.  His five Cy Young Awards – one with the Mariners and four in a row with the Diamondbacks – rank him behind only Roger Clemens, and his 4,875 career strikeouts are second only to Nolan Ryan.  He was a 10-time All-Star, starting the Midsummer Classic four times – twice for each league. Johnson made history in 2004 when he became the oldest player – at 40 – to throw a perfect game.

Continue reading "The Big Unit hangs ‘em up"

The Oakland As recently got a John Hancock from Former Red Sox brawler Coco Crisp, for a modest 1 -year, 4 and a half million dollar contract. With this latest Billy Beane brain storm the A's should give its fans one of, if not the best defensive out fields in baseball, if thats how it will play out. As the normal with the A's, they leave the winter meetings with questions all over the diamond. But the outfield, with the signing of crisp and deals for others are the most muddled. Crisp could join Rajai Davis and Ryan Sweeney to form that crew.

Continue reading "Another Defensive Outfielder for Oakland"

Oh man, it’s been a bit too long and I’d like to apologize, first and foremost, to my legion of loyal readers. Who still checks in on occasion? Rogers? You still out there? Bark twice if you’re in Milwaukee!  Slim Bob? Herman? Dalton? Petey? Reginald? David Lefort from the Boston Globe? Fat chance of that… bastard…  Am I writing to myself here? Hello?

Continue reading "Checking In... And Talking Sox Shortstop Situation"

Cliff Lee was meant to pitch for the Phillies.  How else do you explain his ridiculous string of starts since joining the team last month?  In five games, Lee has a 5-0 record, a 0.75 WHIP, and a 0.68 E.R.A.  In 40 innings, he has struck out 39 batters and walked just six, surrendered a grand total of zero home runs, and looked like a true ace while averaging eight innings per start.  As if he weren’t contributing enough already, Lee is hitting .313, which, if it were over enough at-bats to qualify, would lead the team.  The southpaw has truly made the most of his time in the City of Brotherly Love.

Continue reading "Cliff Lee: Philly Fave"

The MLB trade deadline came and went without the biggest name on the market being moved. Often times Mid-July festers numerous rumors within the Majors. The largest topic of discussion this year was Toronto ace Roy Halladay. Other notable players moved (most of them left Cleveland), but Halladay stayed.

Continue reading "Championship: Make It Happen"

I was filled with all sorts of emotions when I got a text a couple of hours ago saying that the Sox had offered Buchholz, Bowden, and Westmoreland for Roy Halladay.  Now rotoworld.com is saying that’s not the case.  For those of you that don’t know, rotoworld.com gives minute by minute updates on sports rumors and updates.  I was all ready to blog about this trade when I read the latest posting saying that this trade offer never happened.  What I want to know is how a rumor like that got started without having any validity to it…then again we’re in the world of sports, so I guess this happens.  I dunno though, I’m not ruling out any trade ideas yet.

Continue reading "Believe in the Sox, but not the Halladay rumors?"

I know, I know.  We’re all grieving over the way our boys have been playing.  I hope everyone’s been keeping the faith though.  Sure, it’s a cold streak.  But they’ll be back.  I know it.

Continue reading "This Week in Baseball – Notes"

But I haven’t wrote in awhile and I’m bored, so I figured why the hell not? Today is that 20% chance the Indians have at winning one out of every five games they play. That means Cliff Lee is on the hill. Tonight he opposes Blue Jays rookie lefthander Brett Cecil. I’m not sure what the Indians record is right now, but I can assure you I’m doing them a service by not mentioning it.

Continue reading "I really don’t even like this team anymore…"

Clay Buchholz Would get his First Start of the Year- and it would be a good one.

 This being the first game since returning from the all-star break the Sox looked to stay in command in the East.  Not knowing if Beckett and Wake would pitch in the all-star game(which they didn't and I personally thought they really should have got Wake in the game)so they made this move. The Sox brought up Clay Buchholz (7-2 in minors this year) for this one start knowing no matter how good he did, he would be sent back to the minors after the game. This did not matter to Clay Buchholz, he came out gunning, he threw 103 pitches, only allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run and had 3 strikeouts--Nasty!!  He went into the 6th and was relieved by Bard who ended the inning and looked great also. Makes you think should we keep Clay up here and sit Smoltz, what does Sox Nation think??? Log in and let me know!!!

Continue reading "Buchholz Gets First Win"

The Boston Red Sox announced on Sunday that Clay Buchholz will be returning to Boston to start Friday night’s game against the Toronot Blue Jays. 

Buchholz has been waiting a while for this call, and who can blame him?  The twenty five-year old has pitched phenomenal in Pawtucket, posting a 7-2 record with a 2.36 era.  On May 25th, he nearly threw a perfect game, but had it broken up in the 9th with a hit.  He finished the game recording a complete game shut-out.  Who wouldn’t want out of Triple-A with a season like that?    

Continue reading "Buchholz is Back"

I already knew that the Red Sox were in first, and that the Yanks were in second.  I also knew that whenever I looked at the standings, Toronto was not far behind New York.  What I didn’t know was that Tampa Bay is currently only a game behind Toronto. 

Continue reading "Take a Look at the Standings"

These 5 deals need to be done by July 31st.

With the Nate McLouth trade still fresh on our minds, what other deals appear to be necessary, if not imminent? Atlanta was able to fill perhaps the single biggest hole of any team, in its lack of outfield production. Here are the five trades that need to be made sooner than later.

Continue reading "5 Trades that Need to Happen in Major ..."

Did anyone else get the chills last night as Ortiz’s shot just cleared the center field fence in the fifth?  I sure did.  I kept smiling for the rest of the inning (which was hard not to with all the homers) and even laughed out loud as I realized the team was giving Papi the cold shoulder when he came back to the dugout.  And Red Sox Nation topped it off by giving him one of the loudest ovations of the season, to which Papi answered with a curtain call.  What a great moment at Fenway Park. 

Continue reading "Papi Power - What a Game!"

Last night Brad Penny started for the Sox against Toronto looking great, going 6.2 innings, 9 hits allowed, 2 earned runs and 2 strikeouts, getting his 4th win of the season making him 4-1. Sweet!!!  The bats came alive with Varitek hitting 2 home runs, Bay "watch"(continues his MVP season) 2-3 hit another homer, Lowell 2-4 hit a bomb and the biggest hit of the night which Boston has desperately needed and been waiting for was David "Big Papi" Ortiz's first homer of the year!

Continue reading "Red Sox Another Game Closer to First Place"

Seriously, I got into my car at 9:45pm last night expecting to catch the end of the Sox game as I got out of rehearsal.  But instead I hear John Rish, and he’s not giving the game highlights – he’s giving the out of town scores.  My first thought was maybe one of the pitchers threw a no hitter (I would have been frustrated to find out that I had missed another one).  But that wasn’t the case. 

Continue reading "Well That was a Fast One"

It has been a long hiatus, but I make my valiant return to the blog world. Now I could delve into the juicy topics of steroids, the NBA playoffs, Cuban vs. Mama Martin, the TO reality show, the first place Blue Jays or any number of riveting and engaging topics. But today is about ME! My return to the blog waves of sports minutia. You need me on this wall, you want me on this wall! But unlike a Facebook relationship, I'd be lying if I said blogging on this site wasn't better for me than it is for you. So, coming soon will be an invigorating piece of copy that will rattle your brain with mind boggling awesomness that not only makes you debate around the water cooler, but actually makes you drink the whole damn jug due to dehydration by virtue of sports confrontation and rants. That is my thank you for reading once again.

Continue reading "The Moneyball is Back on Blog!"

Okay, so what do the Boston Red Sox, the LA Dodgers, and the Toronto Blue Jays have in common? Right now these three teams have the biggest leads in the division with the Red Sox trailing Toronto by o

Continue reading "The Red Sox, the Blue Jays, and the ..."

After a J.D. Drew-like stint on the disabled list of blog writing, I, like baseball, have returned. For real this time. Let me begin by expressing my sincerest apologies to my readers whom I promised a return to the spotlight weeks ago only to vanish like a ninja once again. Thanks as always for your support and readership. Without getting too mushy-gushy, welcome to the first of a seven-part series previewing each division, day by day, leading up to an all encompassing culmination piece on opening night next Sunday.

Continue reading "The Sports Don Returns with His 2009 ..."

The first domino - and a hefty domino it was - in the free-agent pitching puzzle fell this morning, with the announcement that C.C Sabathia took a seven-year offer from the Yankees. And with it came news that the Red Sox, apparently, are "very much involved" in discussions with former Marlin and Blue Jay hurler A. J. Burnett.

Continue reading "Burnett to Boston? Thanks, but no thanks"

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

Continue reading "Inbound link contest winner announced!"

Okay, before you start hurling your overpriced Rogers Center beers at me, let me explain myself.  If you are a Toronto Blue Jays fan then this year has no doubt caused much frustration, disappointment, and possibly even anger for you.  15 years of what seems to be institutionalized mediocrity will do that to any sports fan.  Whenever a team disappoints like this the blame has to be placed on someone, and usually the fall guy is either the manager or the General Manager, and in this case it’s both.

Continue reading "SHOCKING BREAKING NEWS!: Ricciardi ..."

I was nine years old when we first went out to see the Blue Jays. Dad took us all out to see our first game at the Ex, and we were excited to see our first game and didn’t care how cold it was. Games in April and May were not too pleasant in Toronto before the Dome was build, and the cold, unforgiving steel bleachers of old Exhibition Stadium were enough to num your bum before the fifth inning was over. I don't remember too much about that game, but a only a few small details.

Continue reading "Greetings fellow Blue Bird Fans!"

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

Continue reading "Inbound link contest - Win $100!"

 The country's favorite rivalry of all sports is entering Game 4 tonight, with the Red Sox having taken 2 of the 3 first games in Yankee Stadium. What used to be national news is a mere afterthought at the moment, and the question is why?

Continue reading "Yanks-Sox Rivalry...Just missing something."

Apropos of yesterday’s blog about what a last-place team should be doing, let’s look at the Toronto Blue Jays, in a similar situation as the Mariners, if not nearly as dire. In last place in one of baseball’s toughest divisions, the 38-43 Jays canned manager John Gibbons on June 20, replacing him with veteran Cito Gaston.

Continue reading "The New Jays"

Much exuberant ink has been spilled over Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple play in yesterday's Indians-Blue Jays game, only the fourteenth in MLB history. That rarity makes it memorable, but I'm not sure there's a ton of athleticism involved--the Unassisted Triple Play (or UTP for short) is more luck of circumstance than anything.

Continue reading "The Not-So-Unassisted Triple Play"

I've been a Yankees fan since the early nineties, pre-Showalter, pre-Torre, pre-post-seventies-World-Series-victories days, and it seems to me they're as vulnerable as they've ever been. I like Girardi, I like the New Steinbrenner regime that doesn't look to scour out every single prospect for the possibility of Winning Right Now--but I think they are (dare I say?) approaching those dreaded Rebuilding Years.

Continue reading "Rebuilding the Yankees--A Good Thing?"

Let me see if I have this right:  Barry Bonds learns early on as the skilled but spoiled brat son of a superstar that he can pretty much make his own rules.  He follows this path through high school and college to the extent that when his college coach tosses him from the team, then reconsiders, his teammates vote to

Continue reading "Bye-bye Barry Bonds"

It's the ninth inning of a scoreless game between the Red Sox and Blue Jays. Roy Halladay and Jon Lester had both pitched brilliantly, holding the other team scoreless through eight innings. Papelbon came on to help Lester, but with the shay back end of the Toronto pen--closer B.J. Ryan coming off TJ surgery, setup man Jeremy Accardo with an ERA over 8--the game was Halladay's to win or lose.  Three times already, he'd gone the distance, but had lost two of those games when Toronto failed to muster enough offense to give him the win. Would this time be the charm?

Continue reading "Roy Halladay's Heartbreak"

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/04/toronto_blue_jays_release_fran.

This comes the day after Thomas vented his anger at being removed from the lineup.

The Toronto Blue Jays released slumping designated hitter Frank Thomas Sunday, cutting the 19-year veteran loose one day after he was angry for being taken out of the lineup.

Continue reading "Toronto Blue Jays release Frank Thomas"

Well, let's try this again. I tried to post this morning and the whole thing disappeared into the land of server errors, a less than happy way to start the day.

Yesterday the Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland indians 3 -0, snapping an eight game losing stral against the Indians that dated back to last season. Nick Blackburn pitched 7 and 2/3's shutout innings for his first win of the season. It was a stellar performance that should cement his place in the starting rotation.

Continue reading "Twins End Cleveland's Streak"

Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

Remember what I said in my last post about not getting too excited that the Boston Red Sox opened the season with a 3-1 winning series against the Oakland As? Well, they demonstrated why, over the weekend in Toronto, where they dropped all three games, essentialy limping home for the home opener on Tuesday.

Continue reading "The Boston Red Sox; faltering in ..."

This is how Phillies' fans felt watching Terry Francona manage their team into oblivion during his disastrous four-year run in Philadelphia.
Francona authored yet another masterpiece on Sunday, sealing Boston's sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays and sending the Red Sox home from their three-week, 16,000-mile odyssey in a mini-slump after a 7-4 defeat.

Continue reading "Francona fails Sox in Toronto"

           If you’re a baseball fan (any team), you know better than to get excited about the results of any single series of games. If you’ve been a Boston Red Sox fan for longer than (say) 10 years, you know better than to get excited about almost anything until (say) mid-September (and even then. . ).

Continue reading "Don't get too excited. . .but the ..."

Here is part six of my preview of the 2008 season for Major League Baseball. This time I’ll look at the key questions for each team in the American League East.

Baltimore Orioles

Is Adam Jones ready to be a star?

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: American Leauge East"

The American League East has been a two horse race for as long as I can remember but I think this year it becomes three-team battle.  The Toronto Blue Jays are as talented as most teams in the league and if they can stay healthy they can definitely contend.  The Rays and Orioles will again bring up the rear of this division but the top should be a fun and wild ride all year long, beginning with the Yankees-Blue Jays to open the season next week.

Continue reading "Part VI: AL East"

           It’s hard to assess the true nature of the events that transpired prior to the start of yesterday’s pre-season game against the Toronto Blue Jays, because we weren’t there. What we heard was that prior to the game, Boston Red Sox players voted unanimously not to play the game or board a plane to Japan for scheduled exhibition games against Japanese teams and two regular season games against the Oakland A’s, unless the team’s coaches were compensated for the trip.

Continue reading "An attack of the 'warm and fuzzies' ..."

For the past decade the order of finish in the American League East has practically been predetermined from day one. The Red Sox and Yankees would battle for first place, Toronto Blue Jays would finish in the middle of the pack, the Orioles would be afterthoughts and the only question with Tampa Bay was whether they would lose more than 100 games or not. This seasons looks like it could be entirely different and the division is experiencing more depth than it has since the mid 1990's when Boston, New York and Baltimore were all contenders.

Continue reading "American League East is a Beast of a Division"

Forget about a bunch of uninformed Congressmen. Andy Pettitte faced the real heat on Monday when he sat in front of the assembled media for his first press conference of the spring.
His questioners weren't a bunch of people who are blissfully ignorant to the drug culture that has forever tainted Major League Baseball, sweeping up Pettitte and several of his New York Yankees' teammates and landing some of them, most notably his friend and mentor, Roger Clemens, in serious jeopardy of a stretch in federal prison. The New York media does its homework every day, consuming themselves with digging up every nugget that they can find about the Yankees, and they grilled the star lefthander for almost 60 minutes. Pettitte's revelations about his use of human growth hormone are about as tasty a morsel as they could ask for in the lazy days of spring training, and the intrigue involving Pettitte's impending divorce from Clemens over a third party named Brian McNamee is too rich to ignore.

Continue reading "Pettitte sings for his pennance"