Jays Beat Up On Yankees

The Toronto Blue Jays were embarrassed 2 nights ago. They got their revenge on A-Rod for May 30th, but it was bittersweet as New York won 9-2. But yesterday, they were ready to go.

What seemed like a big pitching matchup was everything but. 12-5 Roy Halladay was facing 13-5 Chien-Ming Wang. Toronto got to New York early as the Blue Jays scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. But Robinson Cano quickly cut that lead down to 1 in the top of the 2nd when he hit a 2-run blast to right field. The Toronto really got the bats going. Without any home runs, Toronto scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 3rd with a couple of doubles. From then on the Jays just kept pounding New York. They scored 6 more runs by the end of the game and won easily 15-4.

This game was not just good for Toronto because they won big against New York, but because of the players that produced. Frank Thomas continued his hot streak with 3 RBI, and Vernon Wells had 4 RBI. Matt Stairs had 2 doubles and 3 runs scored. It was a great all-around effort. "Guys really wanted to keep on them," Jays ace Roy Halladay said. "That's probably residue from yesterday. Nobody wanted to let down. They wanted to keep going, keep hitting, keep scoring, and I think that was the biggest difference from yesterday."

With A-Rod sitting out, the Jays could just focus on baseball. "I've been around hockey too long and too many hockey fights to know that the next day it's over with," Stairs said. "It's the same in baseball. ... It's done, hopefully. We can get on with playing baseball. We made our statement and they made their statement."

The Jays will now start a 4-game set against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Crazy Eights

The Toronto Blue Jays continued a rather good tend at home today at the Rogers Centre.

Coming into today, the Jays lead the majors in winning percentage at home with a 27-10 record (.730). Toronto had won 7 straight games coming into todays game with Texas and looked to get a sweep.

The game started out like the previous 2 in the series, and Texas scored a run off starter Dustin McGowan in the 1st. And just like the previous 2 games, the Jays bounced back tying up the game with a Frank Thomas single with Matt Stairs on 3rd. Then, after 3 1/2 scoreless innings, Matt Stairs doubled in Ray Olmedo, a call-up that got the start today. Then the Jays really opened things up 2 innings later, as Stairs and Wells both picked up a RBI to give the Jays a 4-1 lead. McGowan would shut down the Rangers for another inning, and Jeremy Accardo got his 20th save of the year as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers 4-1.

The game was dominated by 2 people - an up and coming super-star in Dustin McGowan, and an old, Canadian boy celebrating his 1,500th game in Matt Stairs. McGowan was up to his old tricks looking un-hittable at times, and Stairs hit 3 doubles that cashed in 2 runs and scored a run himself.

"He's a good professional hitter. If you give him a pitch in the zone when he's ahead in the count, you're actually not expecting to get the ball back. He got me in a couple of big situations that I'd love to go back and do over again." -- Rangers starter Brandon McCarthy on Stairs.

McGowan seemed to blow away former teammate in Frank Catalanotto, who left for the Rangers just last season. "He's finally put it all together," Catalanotto added. "We always knew he had the stuff but now he's putting it together, mentally too, and being able to execute."

Toronto will now try to extend their home winning streak of 8 games to 9 against the New York Yankees tomorrow with another young star on the mound, Jesse Litsch.

Lets Go Streaking

The Toronto Blue Jays have been defined by 2 things this year. Their injuries and the 9-game losing streak in May. For the entire year the Jays have been trying to make up for that 9-game losing streak. And now, the Jays are going on another streak, and this time, it's the good kind.

One of the MLB's best young pitchers in Dustin McGowan took the hill for the Jays yesterday against the Minnesota Twins trying to get the Jays 4th straight win, which would tie a season high for them this season. McGowan was also trying to get the Jays back to the .500 level.

After 2 1/2 scoreless innings, John McDonald drove home Aaron Hill with a safety squeeze to give the Jays the 1-run lead. Next inning, the Hays would score again as Vernon Wells blasted his 1st home run since July 6th into the bullpen to increase the Jays lead by 2.

While the bats were driving in runs, McGowan was silencing the Minnesota bats as he pitched scoreless inning after scoreless inning. Toronto would get some insurance runs in the 7th and 8th, and McGowan would go 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball. The Jays bullpen then did their job to seal a 7-0 blow out win for the Jays.

This was the Jays 3rd shutout win in the last 4 games. The main reason for this are the starters. The 3 starters who pitched in the shutout games each went 7 or more innings. Gregg Zaun was quick to compliment McGowan's performance, as Zaun caught for him yesterday. "I can see his confidence building with every start, good or bid," Zaun said of McGowan, who has won three of his past four starts.

"I think the biggest difference for Dustin is knowing he's going to get the ball every fifth day. He doesn't have to go home and sweat and worry and look over his shoulder and thinking `are (manager John Gibbons) and (general manager) J.P. (Ricciardi) going to give up on me today and ship me back to the bullpen or even worse, to (triple-A) Syracuse. He doesn't have to worry about that right now. We're going to run him out there every fifth day and let him develop and continue to grow as a player and he's sure starting to respond."

Toronto's Jesse Litsch will try to get a sweep for the Jays when he takes the mound for them this afternoon.

Accardo Blows It in 9th

Yankees Stadium can be overwhelming for some. With all the it's history and the great fans, it tough to concentrate. Jeremy Accardo found that out last night the hard way.

After both teams scored runs in the 1st, it turned into a pitching duel between Roy Halladay and Andy Pettitte. The 2 pitchers both threw 6 scoreless innings after the shaky 1st, but then they each got pulled. So in the top of the 8th, Kyle Farnsworth came in for the Yanks.

He struggled giving up a single to Howie Clark, and then later letting him get to 2nd. Aaron Hill then drove him in to give the Jays the lead going into the final innings of the game. Scott Downs shut out the Yankees in the 8th, and Brian Bruney did the same to the Jays in the top of 9th.

So it was up to Jeremy Accardo to get the save and the win for the Jays. Miguel Cairo got to 2nd as a pinch-runner for Andy Phillips, but was thrown out by Alex Rios when he went home after a Melky Cabrera single. But the Jays weren't out of it yet, as on the at-bat, Cabrera went all the way to 3rd off a steal. Then the unthinkable happened. The craziest thing that could happen in the MLB happened. Accardo balked in the tying run! He stepped off the mound during his windup, and balked. But he then got the 2nd and 3rd out to send it to extras.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Casey Janssen gave up a hit to the gap to Robinson Cano with a runner on 2nd. This ended up with the Yankees winning 3-2.

After the game, all of the talk was about Accardo's balk. ''I caught a cleat and was going to step off. Dumbest thing I've ever done,'' Accardo said. ''I kind of let things get out of hand. I gave up the leadoff single and I started pressing. ''It's a mental mistake. You can't get beat by those. If you're going to get beat, get beat by the hitter,'' he added.

''I've seen some crazy stuff. I can't remember seeing that,'' Halladay said. ''It can be a tough place to play, and things like that happen from time to time.''

The Yankees have turned it on the past few games, and are looking like they might give the Red Sox a run for their money. ''We just seem to be playing with something in mind right now,'' manager Joe Torre said. ''I think we're at a point now, because good things have happened when we've come after people, that when we lose a game like this it's going to be a surprise.''

Lost in the excitment of the end of the game was the pitching performances. Both Andy Pettitte and Roy Halladay put together amazing 7 inning starts giving up just a run each. Halladay gave up one run and five hits. He struck out six and walked three.

''It's nice to win a close game, that's for sure,'' Pettitte said. ''I knew it was going to be a tough game. Roy was throwing as good as I've ever seen him.''

Pettitte fanned a season-best seven over seven innings, allowing seven hits and three walks. It was the left-hander's sixth no-decision when allowing no more than two earned runs. 'To me, Andy made it all possible, because the only way you're going to have a chance against Halladay is to match him and he certainly did that,'' Torre said.

The Jays will try to win the next 2 games of this series to salvage a split.

Lights Out Litsch

With the Toronto Blue Jays finally healthy, they faced the Boston Red Sox yesterday in the last of 4 games in that series. With 35km/h winds going, it was a pitching duel out of all things.

The Jays drew 1st blood in this game, as Aaron Hill and Royce Clayton both drove in a run to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. Then after 3 scoreless innings, the Sox got a unearned run off Litsch. Alex Rios made an error in the outfield that let the eventual run get on base. The inning could of gone much worse, but Rios made up for his mistake by throwing David Ortiz out at home plate.

From then on it was a pitching duel. The Jays relievers did the job against the Sox big hitters and didn't give up another run. The Sox pitchers were also lights out, so the final score was 2-1.

This is the type of game that the Jays need more of. Games they shouldn't of won, but they win anyway. Those are the type of wins that good teams have. "That's the way the game works," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "You go out there and look at the way the flag was blowing today, you never would've expected it to be 2-1. He was great."

The wind also played a big part in the game. The outfield seemed to have the biggest trouble. With the Blue Jays leading, 2-0, in the sixth, Red Sox second baseman Alex Cora drilled an offering from Litsch (2-3) into center field. Wells turned and sprinted after the ball, but his jump was delayed just enough to allow it to fall over his outstretched glove for a leadoff double.

"The weird thing was, Coco Crisp hit me a ball the inning before the same height as Cora's," said Wells, referring to an inning-ending catch he made in the fifth. "Cora's took off and Coco's stayed there. It's good to get out of here. It was totally unpredictable."

Another incident was when Alex Rios seemed to be tracking the ball, but then had to dive for it and ended up losing it. "We were both going that way and I took a look at him," Wells explained. "I saw him kind of go up with his glove. So, I was like, 'OK, he has it.' I went to back him up, and all of a sudden he's diving for it. It's one of those things. In this park, you never know what's going to happen."

The Jays will now play the Yankees today. Toronto will try to cut down Boston's lead in the division, which is the greatest on a 2nd place team in the MLB.

The Big Hurt Hits Big Number 500

Today, the Toronto Blue Jays were facing the Minnesota Twins in the last game of a 4-game set. Although it was just 1 game in a 162 game season, it was certainly very special.

Frank Thomas, who has been one of the best hitters in the MLB for the past decade and some had 499 home runs going into today. It didn't take long for him to get 500. The 1st inning started out with with 2 men getting on with 1 out. Then, Thomas stepped up to the plate and blasted a ball to left field. As he did for his last 499 homers, he went around the infield with his head down, thinking about what he had just done.

The rest of the game did not go so well as the Twins clawed their way back into the game and really opened it up with a 4-run inning in the 5th. The final score was 8-5.

After the game, not only Thomas was happy, but the fan who caught the ball. "I lost it in the roof as it was coming down," Eisenlohr said. He said he traded the souvenir ball for an autographed ball, bat and jersey.

Eisenlohr was one of many fans who gave Thomas a standing ovation in Minnesota today. Thomas now becomes only the 21st player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs. Now, he has a new goal. Yo move up the all-time home run list. He is only 13 homers away from being 16th on the all-time list.

Congrats on Number 500 Frank Thomas

Stairs Leads Jays To Victory

Yesterday, Matt Stairs contributed greatly to the Toronto Blue Jays game against the Minnesota Twins.

After Roy Halladay gave up a run in the 2nd, the Jays scored 3 runs in the 3rd off homers from Rios and Wells. After a bunch of 2 run innings by each club, the game was tied at 5 going into the 8th. In the inning, Matt Stairs launched a homer to right field to give the Jays a 2-run lead. They added one more in the inning. Minnesota wouldn't come back from that as the Jays took this one 8-5.

The Jays offence is finally looking up, as they have the most home runs in the American League since May 18th. Vernon Wells is finally getting hot as he homered for the 3rd time in 4 games. Matt Stairs also contributed with the eventual game winning home run, and has been very consistent.

"When I signed here, I expected to maybe get 200 at-bats. You hate playing due to injuries. Trust me, I'd love to see Overbay and Reed Johnson playing out there everyday," Stairs said. "But it's nice to have a veteran who's been around, and I've been in that situation for the last three years with Kansas City and guys getting injured."

Roy Halladay struggled in his start against the Twins, but still picked up the win.

"Sometimes, during the game, it's frustrating and it's tough, but those are always the more satisfying games after the fact. It's a grind, you kept yourself in it," Halladay said. "To me that's satisfying to be able to get a win with all that stuff going on. It's a good feeling. Sometimes, those tougher ones are more gratifying."

The Jays will try to make the win streak 5 today. They will try to keep the momentum going, as they are one of the hottest teams in the MLB

Dazzling Dustin

The most difficult thing to do in baseball is a no-hitter. It takes extreme skill, and a whole lot of luck. Today, there was a lot of talent on the mound, and a lot of luck.

Dustin McGowan was 3-3 going into today and looked to get a win and a sweep for the Jays. After 2 shutout innings by both teams, the Jays scored 4 runs through the 3rd and 4th. One of those runs was of Frank Thomas, who homered for the 2nd straight game. The homer was Thomas' 499th of his career.

For the rest of the game, McGowan shut down the Rockies for almost all the game. He had a no-no going into the 9th. But the 1st hitter of the 9th singled up the middle to stop the no-hitter. McGowan had to settle for his 1st complete game of his career and a 1-hitter.

It was a night of almost's. Frank Thomas almost had number 500, and McGowan almost had a no-no. "That would have been priceless, 500 and a no-no," McGowan said.

The excitement of the no-hitter still makes the game a tiny disappointment. ''It's disappointing but you have to give (Baker) credit, he put a good swing on the ball,'' said McGowan, who admitted to being both nervous and excited on the mound. ''I was trying to keep my composure and not try to overthrow the ball. Just do what I was doing the whole game.''

Even tough it was almost a no-no, it was still a great pitching performance. "That was the best pitched game I've seen in a long time." -- Rockies manager Clint Hurdl

Thomas, Stairs Lead Jays Past Rockies

Yesterday, the Jays were looking to get a win against the Colorado Rockies.

It did not take long for the excitement to begin. In the bottom of the 1st, Matt Stairs homered to left field to give the Jays the lead. Then, with a man on, Frank Thomas hit his 498th home run of his career to give the Jays a 3 run lead. But the next 3 innings saw Colorado score 1 run each inning, which meant it was a tie game.

Skip to the bottom of the 6th when the game was tied at 6, the Jays got something going. They scored 2 runs in the 6th, 1 in the 7th and 2 in the 9th. The Rockies however did nothing, so the Jays took this one 11-6.

It was a good day to be 39 at the ball park today, as Matt Stairs and Frank Thomas had amazing days. Stairs tied a career high with 4 hits, and Thomas was perfect on the day going 4-4.

The Jays' bats are finally starting to heat up. They have 32 hits and 20 runs in just 2 games against the Rockies, and are averaging 9 runs over their last 4 games. "You look at the last two or three days and we've really been swinging the bats," Gibbons said. "That's been big. It gives you a little breathing room. That doesn't make it easy, but that's good to see. We've got to have that, but it's not going to be like that every night. It's good to see some guys get on a little roll."

A great sign for the Jays in this game was Thomas. He had a slow start with Oakland last year, and this was about the time when he started heating up. Matt Stairs has also been a good sign, as he has been the Jays most consistent hitter throughout the season so far. "It's good to have that type of guy sitting around on your bench who can swing like that," Thomas said. "Matt, the last couple years, hasn't been getting that many opportunities. The way we've been swinging the bats all year, he's found his way into he lineup and he's stayed. He's a dangerous hitter."

"I don't know where we'd be without him," Toronto manager John Gibbons said about Stairs. "[He's] been unbelievable this year. And you see Frank is starting to get going. A lot of things are going to happen when he's swinging the bat."

Towers Takes to the Hill

A few days ago, Josh Towers received a spot in the Blue Jays pitching rotation, and now, he will pitch against the San Francisco Giants.

This is the perfect team for the Jays to be facing, as the Giants have been starving for runs lately. They have been shutout for the past 2 games, and look to get a run tonight. San Fran has also lost 3 straight and are last in their division.

But it will take more than a run for the Jays to be stopped. Their bats have been hot of late with role players such as Matt Stairs stepping it up. On Sunday Troy Glaus had three hits, including a pair of solo homers and scored three runs.

Towers, who has never faced the Giants, was 1-3 with a 4.70 ERA in four starts to begin 2007 before making six relief appearances. He is 2-3 on the season with a 5.15 ERA and earned the win in his last outing on Tuesday with a two-inning relief stint versus the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. "I liked the reliever role a lot," said Towers, who is slated to start on Monday in the opener of a three-game Inter league set with the Giants. "I fell in love with it for some reason. I think it's the preparation of being ready every day. But starting is a big job, and it's a lot of fun, too."

Jays Shutout Dodgers, Break Losing Streak

The Jays were very optimistic coming into the season. But a long string of injuries have delayed those many players seasons. But when 1 door closes, 1 opens. The Jays young players have stepped it up this season, and Shawn Marcum is one of those young guys.

He was pitching yesterday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He nneded to pitch good, as the Jays have had offensive troubles of late. On Saturday, though, it didn't matter. The lone run that Toronto's missing offense provided for Marcum -- Matt Stairs' sixth-inning home run -- was all the young pitcher needed to work with in a 1-0 win over Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium. The right-hander spun another gem for the Jays, and walked away with a hard-fought victory after outdueling Dodgers starter Derek Lowe.

Despite the win. John Gibbons talked about his teams lack of offence. "I'm frustrated, we're all frustrated," said Toronto manager John Gibbons, referring to the low offensive output of late. "But we can hit. In reality, when they pitch good against you, just like we did against them, that shuts down offenses. That's just a fact."

Matt Stairs also talked about the lack of run support for the pitchers. "Our pitching has been doing an outstanding job the last month," Stairs said. "We've been going through some rough times, and our offense hasn't really been stepping up to the plate -- no pun intended. I think we've been getting that one big hit, though. We've been getting clutch hits."

He also talked about the difficulty of hitting off Derek Lowe, the pitcher for Los Angeles. "Whenever Derek takes the mound, you hope to God he makes a mistake. He's been like that his whole career," Stairs said. "I was very fortunate he threw me a first-pitch slider for a ball and came back with a sinker that stayed up in the zone a little bit."

The rubber match of this series goes today at 4:10pm.

Ohka Out, Towers In

The era of Ohka is over.... even though it was only for 2 months. Yesterday, the Toronto Blue Jays put Toma Ohka for assignment and will now hand the ball to Josh Towers in his place.

Ohka this year is 2-5 with his latest loss coming to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Towers though isn't without his fair share of troubles. After getting close to or above 10 wins in his 1st 3 years with the Blue Jays, Towers crumbled in 2006. He went 2-10 with an ERA close to 9! This year he had a chance to impress the Blue Jays staff, as he was part of the pitching rotation on opening day. But he went 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA, so the Jays replaced him with Victor Zambrano.

Ohka, Zambrano and John Thomson were all part of the off-season singings that J.P Riccardi (Blue Jays GM_"I don't feel any added pressure," Towers shrugged of the Jays' history of having little patience for even one bad outing. "I feel I pitched well out of the bullpen. That's why if they have a short leash or we don't score any runs, or whatever the (crap) was that went on in the past, it's irrelevant, because I can relieve now. I can just go out and pitch

"I don't feel any added pressure," Towers shrugged of the Jays' history of having little patience for even one bad outing. "I feel I pitched well out of the bullpen. That's why if they have a short leash or we don't score any runs, or whatever the (crap) was that went on in the past, it's irrelevant, because I can relieve now. I can just go out and pitch."

Ohka, Zambrano and John Thomson were all off-season signings for pitching that J.P Riccardi's (Blue Jays GM) signed. Those pitchers haven't worked out so well as the 3's combined record is 2-7 in 18 games (12 starts), with a 6.62 ERA.

Now, let's see if Towers can put up some wins.

Where There's a Hill, There's a Way

The Jays and Yankees were hooking up Tuesday for game 2 of their series.

Before the game, the Yankees took their game day practice. Because of their bad play in games this year, they work on just the fundamentals. Their was nothing fundamental about the game.

In the home-half of the 1st, Alex Rios a lead-off single and went to 2nd off an error. He then went to 3rd off a steal. Vernon Wells then drove him in to give the Jays the 1-run lead. For the next few innings, it was a pitchers duel between Shawn Marcum and Andy Pettitte. The next 5 innings went scoreless. But after Shaun Marcum was pulled, Scott Downs came in in the 7th. The 1st batter he faced hit a homer off of him. It was then tied 1-1. But in the bottom half of the 7th, Aaron Hill was on 3rd. As Pettitte winded up, Hill sprinted home. He was called safe and the Jays had the lead. But after the Yankees tied it up again in the 8th, Alex Rios hit a sacrifice fly to the outfield that brought home the eventual winning run. The final score was 3-2.

After the game, all the talk was about Aaron Hill's steal of home. "We mentioned that if a situation came up, a guy on third, obviously [Pettitte] has his back to us," Hill said. "It was just the right place at the right time, I guess. [Butterfield] told me, 'If we get to a 1-1 count, we're going to go ahead and try it.' I started to get a little nervous and then I was like, 'All right, let's go.' Luckily, it worked out."

''I definitely felt my heart beating,'' Hill said of his approach once the play was put on. ''I've never done it before and I didn't know what was going to happen. I just pictured the umpire calling me safe to hopefully give me a little better boost.''

Pettitte also talked about what he could of done to stop the steal. ''I didn't think you could lose an American League ballgame like that,'' said Pettitte. ''To be out of the stretch, what can you say? It was embarrassing.''

The Yankees have been in a free-fall all season and it isn't stopping. They are tied with Tampa for last in the division, and have virtually no pitching.

“It’s tough to keep it positive, to tell you the truth,” Posada said. “You try to focus on things that are meaningful, like good pitching by Andy tonight. You continue to think ahead. But it’s really tough right now.”

“We haven’t been able to string together hits,” Derek Jeter said. “We get one guy on, and that’s about it.”

“There’s a mountain to climb,” Manager Joe Torre said. “Everybody feels it. I’d like to be able to come in tomorrow and think of something that’s going to all of a sudden lighten the load. That’s my job.”

The Jays will look for a sweep on Wednesday.

5 Straight

The Toronto Blue Jays still need to find a rhythm, a comfort zone in this 2007 season. It was evident that they still hadn't found it yesterday.

With Roy Halladay on the mound against a 0-4 pitcher, he gave up 9 runs in 5 innings to let the Rangers win 11-4.

Toronto is now under .500 and needs to get on a streak.