OT: The Toronto Blue Jays
- Thread starter PlayerToBeNamedLater
- Start date
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
cahnnel 399 but it 's over now
zeke
Well-known member
gotta love that.
impressive 1st career win for Ricky against a tough lineup. He only had one bad inning and he recovered nicely after that.
The lineup is showing it's good depth with us getting production from all slots (aside from our supposedly best guys Rios and Wells), and with the new young guys doing the heavy lifting again (Hill, Lind, Snider).
Nice start to the year for sure.
impressive 1st career win for Ricky against a tough lineup. He only had one bad inning and he recovered nicely after that.
The lineup is showing it's good depth with us getting production from all slots (aside from our supposedly best guys Rios and Wells), and with the new young guys doing the heavy lifting again (Hill, Lind, Snider).
Nice start to the year for sure.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
I'm trying to temper my excitement so as to not fall into the yearly trap of thinking this will be the year we re-emerge, but I'm not having much luck with that.
zeke
Well-known member
Boston's on the way down.
They've lost the dominant fear-inducing 3/4 combo of Ramirez and Ortiz.
they were very lucky last year to have crazy good way-better-than-they've-ever-been-before years from Lester and DiceK.
Tampa's also do for a fallback after last year's golden dream season.
The yanks just aren't that good, especially without ARod.
Plenty of opportunity here.
They've lost the dominant fear-inducing 3/4 combo of Ramirez and Ortiz.
they were very lucky last year to have crazy good way-better-than-they've-ever-been-before years from Lester and DiceK.
Tampa's also do for a fallback after last year's golden dream season.
The yanks just aren't that good, especially without ARod.
Plenty of opportunity here.
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
Cito should get a lifetime contract.
I have no problem with the rest of the statement, but to be fair it was only DiceK's second season in the majors. By all accounts the guy has been a beast everywhere he was before that. I have a feeling that he's going to put up an impressive career.
Leafer4Life
New member
Woo Hoo, 3 of 4 from the tigers. Nice work, jays! 
arty:
arty:
zeke
Well-known member
Honestly he reminds me of former Jay Miguel Batista.
Great stuff with a ton of pitches in his arsenal, but always nibbling and always walking guys and barely able to go more than 5 innings in any start.
It's pretty crazy that he managed to pile up the wins and ERA he did last year considering how many guys he let on base, and how rarely he was able to get even into the 6th inning out there.
I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see him go back to his first year numbers - tons of strikeouts, of course, but unimpressive other numbers.
and oh yeah, he got lambasted today.
mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
I have to agree that there are some holes in the Yanks and Sox lineups that could be troublesome.
At the same time, I don't agree with these sorts of sentiments:
-A couple of 2nd year pitchers, one with a proven track record of success, the other a pitcher long touted as having very, very good potential. What Dice K and Lester did last season wasn't a fluke and isn't unlikely to be replicated. I could see Dice K posting a slightly worse ERA but that stat runs in peaks and valleys (see: Halladay, Roy). He'll float around the 3ish mark because he's a good pitcher.
And the same thing might be the case with Lester. Maybe last year was a fluke and he'll never perform at that level again, but it wasn't like what he did last year was earth shattering or unexpected. He was expected to develop into a good pitcher and he posted good numbers.
Same wiht Tampa, why are they due for a dropoff? They had an oustanding season last year and actually have more room for growth rather than decline given that 1) they have Price in the minor, who might be their best pitcher right now. 2) Longoria will presumably be with the team for the full season. 3) Their most established hitter, Crawford, had an injury plagued and substandard season last year. After three straight seasons of about .300/.340/.460/.800 he batted .272/.319/.400/.719. 4) Kazmir, their best and most established starter, is healthy this year.
Actually, I see little reason to believe that the Rays will fall off at all, and it looks like they have quite a bit of room for growht. The only question marks are Sonnanstein and Niemann, but then, these were first round picks and are backed up by Price. The pen is also improved as they should get almost a full season out of Bradford, and added the very effective Shouse.
with that said, with Rodriguez out, the Yankees lineup really isn't so impressive. Meanwhile, Boston misses Manny way, way, way more than they will ever admit. There is also a very good chance that Youkilis and Pedroia see theri numbers decline from last year, when they both had surprisingly good power numbers.
At the same time, I don't agree with these sorts of sentiments:
-A couple of 2nd year pitchers, one with a proven track record of success, the other a pitcher long touted as having very, very good potential. What Dice K and Lester did last season wasn't a fluke and isn't unlikely to be replicated. I could see Dice K posting a slightly worse ERA but that stat runs in peaks and valleys (see: Halladay, Roy). He'll float around the 3ish mark because he's a good pitcher.
And the same thing might be the case with Lester. Maybe last year was a fluke and he'll never perform at that level again, but it wasn't like what he did last year was earth shattering or unexpected. He was expected to develop into a good pitcher and he posted good numbers.
Same wiht Tampa, why are they due for a dropoff? They had an oustanding season last year and actually have more room for growth rather than decline given that 1) they have Price in the minor, who might be their best pitcher right now. 2) Longoria will presumably be with the team for the full season. 3) Their most established hitter, Crawford, had an injury plagued and substandard season last year. After three straight seasons of about .300/.340/.460/.800 he batted .272/.319/.400/.719. 4) Kazmir, their best and most established starter, is healthy this year.
Actually, I see little reason to believe that the Rays will fall off at all, and it looks like they have quite a bit of room for growht. The only question marks are Sonnanstein and Niemann, but then, these were first round picks and are backed up by Price. The pen is also improved as they should get almost a full season out of Bradford, and added the very effective Shouse.
with that said, with Rodriguez out, the Yankees lineup really isn't so impressive. Meanwhile, Boston misses Manny way, way, way more than they will ever admit. There is also a very good chance that Youkilis and Pedroia see theri numbers decline from last year, when they both had surprisingly good power numbers.
mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
As for Matsuzaka's walk rates last year--they skyrocketed from his rookie year. I agree, he nibbles the corners, but batters have a really difficult time making contact off of him, and he wasn't a chronic walker in his first season. Last year looks like it could very much be an outlier in that regard.