Morrow fans 10 as Jays reach halfway point on high note
The first half of the major-league schedule ended in upbeat fashion for the Jays on Wednesday at the Rogers Centre, as they defeated the surprising Pirates — a team that has not finished above .500 since Barry Bonds’ final season in the Steel City in 1992 when they lost in the NLCS to the Braves, who went on to face the Jays in the Fall Classic.
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At the halfway point this year, the Jays have hammered 92 homers. A year ago, they led the majors with 257 round-trippers. But the Jays have a higher batting average and a higher walk total than a year ago, so that substantial drop in the long ball — if projected over a full season — would result in just 23 fewer runs. Not a huge difference.
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As far as pitching is concerned, the Jays are on pace to win five fewer games, but with a slightly lower team ERA than a year ago. The Jays have been struggling in close games, with a 21-24 record in contests decided by two runs or less.
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“I think my fastball command has been my biggest thing,” Morrow said of his resurgence. “The two-seamer has really come around for me. It’s been good, a change of speed from my four-seam, get a little movement, get some ground balls. I didn’t throw too many other things than fastball, slider today, but I had the velocity, two-seam, four-seam and I had the slider to both sides of the plate.”
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An inning later, rookie Eric Thames, batting second in the order even against the left-hander Paul Maholm, sliced a deep drive to left centre field that barely cleared the wall for his first major-league home run, tying the game. The lefty-swinging right fielder sprinted around the bases.
“I kind of did a little inner fist-pump,” Thames explained. “I’m glad it tied the score and got Brandon back in the game. I’ve been taught to play the game hard and run hard all the time. Maybe when I’m a veteran, I’ll hit a ball and watch it and trot, but as of now, I’ll keep running.”
Blue Jays mid-year report card
As for the individual players within each category, they are graded on performance against expectations – GT> for greater than, LT< for less than and WYS= for What You See is What You Get.
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Ricky ROMERO ... GT> Was expected to take over from Shaun Marcum as ace of the rotation. Marcum had taken over from Roy Halladay. If anything Romero has done a better job than Marcum in his first year as the No. 1 guy. He may have helped J.P. Arencibia more than Arencibia has helped him.
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Brandon MORROW ... LT< Was supposed to be his star-making year after 2010 was his breakout year. Morrow gets this grade because of great expectations. He still has the potential and the electric stuff to be a legitimate 1-2 starter and his last several starts have been good, but we’re still waiting.
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Marc RZEPCZYNSKI ... GT> Not an easy task to replace Scott Downs in one spring, training especially when you were originally trying to win a starting role. Zep has done it. Caveat headed into second half is the number of appearances for a guy whose biggest worry has always been innings.
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Jason FRASOR ... WYS= Is the ultimate organization man. His first year with the Jays is coincidentally his finest in terms of saves. Since then, he has spent eight years as the guy to come in any inning and save your bacon rather than your game. We know his role, so no surprises.
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DESIGNATED HITTER ... F
The designated hitter was designed to bring more offence to AL clubs, but for the most part in the first half it was tough to find anyone to consistently bring a strong bat to the Jays’ role. The lack of offence from the DH put the Jays at a hige disadvantage in most games against contenders. Story could change in the second half with Encarnacion showing signs of taking the job and running with it.
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BENCH ... D
First of all, the Jays’ decision to carry seven and sometimes eight relievers seriously handicapped the bench. With only three bench guys other than as second catcher, there were no specialist in power, speed and average to enter late in games and make an impact. The Jays short bench often seemed redundant with a mix of McCoy, McDonald, Nix, Rivera, Bautista and others.
COACHES ... A
The Jays staff of instructors get the only A in the first half. Not a “yes-man” to be found and this group may be the best teaching staff in Jays history. Don Wakamatsu with catchers, Brian Butterfield with infielders and base runners, Tory Lovullo with outfielders and base stealers, Bruce Walton with pitchers and head cases, Pat Hentgen with relievers and preparation, Dwayne Murphy with hitting approach and attitude and Luis Rivera with infielders and clubhouse diversity. Great staff.
MANAGER ... C+
The skipper is still a rookie and will continually be learning all the way through the season. Most times he is quick to recognize his mistakes even though reluctant to admit them publicly. Has learned early to rely on his coaching staff for many things. His first career ejection in Tampa was embarassing for the first time and his double-switch screwup in St. Louis as well. Seen better. Seen worse. May rely a little too much on matchups when sample sizes are minimal. Will improve because he works hard.
GENERAL MANAGER ... B-
Alex Anthopoulos’ off-season was better than his in-season has been. Once the 2011 blueprint for the organization was set in terms of building towards a contender, then AA should have stuck with the plan. With the recent promotion of Brett Cecil and with the commitment to going younger in the outfield and at third base when Brett Lawrie is healthy again, with Encarnacion being seen more as a fulltime DH again and with the signing of Escobar to an extansion, AA has re-found his groove. The fact of “getting lost” all started with the decision to make EE the starter at third base and continued when they slow-played Lawrie’s promotion, even though they all admitted he was ready for majors. The second half mark will begin with the Jays’ trade deadline moves in a month.
The Globe and Mail
Eric Thames first homer helps Jays
Brandon Morrow looks like he’s finally in the same sort of power groove he fell into last year when he went 10-7 in his first full season as a starter, confounding the Pirates over seven innings where he struck out 10 batters, matching his season high.
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“I think this year starts to mirror what he did a year ago,” Farrell said about Morrow. “It was eight or nine or 10 starts before he got on his run, which right now he seems to be in the same type of groove.
“Power pitchers sometimes take a little bit longer than others to really hit their stride. He’s really hit it.”
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With the score now knotted at 1-1, it set the stage for Davis to add in his two-cents worth, leading off the seventh with a double to right-centre that went all the way to the wall.
Davis also doubled in the fifth, snapping an 0-for-12 hitting slump.
“It was good to see Rajai square up a couple of baseballs,” Farrell said. “Hopefully this jump starts him a little bit.”
After his second double, Davis scored the winning run when Yunel Escobar doubled to left-centre.
Halladay finally gets his homecoming
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Group of 20 ego trip trashed a perfect summer weekend in Toronto last year and also delayed Roy Halladay’s return to Rogers Centre.
Halladay, who was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies from the Toronto Blue Jays for prospects before the start of the 2010 season, is scheduled to pitch next weekend against the Jays. A series between the teams last season was moved out of Toronto because of the G20 meeting to Philadelphia, where then-Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston gave Halladay a ring and pendant in a private meeting the day after Halladay pitched against his old team for the first time.
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The villain in Halladay’s departure is still, in their mind, former general manager J.P. Ricciardi. But there is nonetheless a fine line that ought to be walked for an organization that has had difficulty in the past moving out of the Flashback Fridays stage.
Blue Jays lineup the definition of in flux
Keeping a spot warm for Brett Lawrie, you say? Odd, but Jose Bautista sure didn’t sound on Tuesday like somebody planning on staying at third base until August or however long it takes for Lawrie to be healthy enough to pick up his ascension to the major leagues.
But who knows these days when it comes to the surprise-a-second Toronto Blue Jays? Now Travis Snider’s a centre-fielder at Triple-A Las Vegas and it’s not out of the question that’s where he’ll be when he gets back to the majors, so it’s apparent that general manager Alex Anthopoulos has moved beyond the evaluative stage of this roster and is making some serious plans ahead of the July 31 trade deadline. Could Aaron Hill be packaged with a prospect in the hope that maybe somebody in baseball thinks they can re-invent the wheel? Could Yunel Escobar move to third? What about Lawrie – when he recovers from his non-displaced fracture of his left hand – at second base? There is videotape of him at second as a Milwaukee Brewers prospect that is far from ugly. It’s why the baseball gods invented Instructional League, no?
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Anyhow, on the day that the first team to give up on Bautista, the Pittsburgh Pirates, paid an interleague visit to the Rogers Centre, Bautista sat in the dugout and smiled when he was asked if his multi-year contract made it easier to move to third base from his preferred right-field position, compared to being in his free-agent year.
“If I was on a one-year deal, it would be as if I did not have the choice,” said Bautista, who with the final day of all-star fan balloting on Thursday has extended his overall lead among major-leaguers, with over 5.2 million votes. “Out of respect, I have five-year deal and they have tagged me as a sort of leader, which is why they gave me the choice and let me voice my opinion.
“I tried to be as much of a team leader as I can. If this is how they see us getting the best nine players in the field, I’ll do it. I still feel strongly that my best position is in right field, not only because I play the best there but it’s where I help the team the most. There are ways of me staying in right field and still getting the same nine bats in the lineup.”
Bautista said somewhat candidly that after five days of ground balls at a position he manned 45 times last season and has played 385 times during his career, the only reason he was starting at third on this particular day was because Edwin Encarnacion had back soreness.
Toronto Sun
Jays steal one from Pirates
Farrell was up to his eyeballs in alligators in a one-run ballgame when Brett Cecil arrived back in the Blue Jay dugout, ending his exile to Las Vegas.
“When he walked into the dugout (Tuesday night), we were in the eighth inning just after a lineout and a double play, and he walked up to me and said ‘Hey, how-ya doin, skip?’ and I was like, well, ‘I’ll get to you in a minute.’ It wasn’t the most opportune time, but he was happy to be here, I knew that.”
“There were a few other things going on at the time, so I apologized to him (Wednesday) if I was a little short with him but I did see a relieved look on his face, one that said he was excited to be back here.”
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Nobody is quite certain why his heater had less pop but Cecil thinks it was due to his off-season program which he started a little earlier last winter. By the time he got to Dunedin, he may have been suffering from a tired arm.
“I started my routine a little earlier in the off-season,” said Cecil. “I’m still young and still trying to figure out the best routine for me to get ready for a season. Starting too early is probably not a good way.
“I think my arm was just a little overworked.”
In the spring and early in the season, Cecil’s fastball was topping out at 85-86 mph, just three or four mph faster than his change and curve. Now with a fastball at 90-92, he gets seven to 10 mph of separation between the fastball and off-speed pitches.
Jays' Davis has 'game-changing ability'
Rajai Davis got the start in centre field Wednesday despite a horrible June offensively. In the last 28 days, Davis was 9-for-70 (.129) with a microscopic OPS of .339.
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“We’re stressing with him to stay with a simplified plan but he’s been in a rough patch, there’s no denying it,” said manager John Farrell before the game. “We’ve got to find ways to build some confidence for him, more so than is currently there. More than anything, we’ve got to quiet his mind and get him to trust his ability.”
Davis inability to get on base has muted the effect of his considerable speed on the base paths. Davis stole 50 bases last year with Oakland and was expected to steal even more this year as Toronto’s leadoff man but his anemic bat has limited him to just 18 thefts as a Jay.
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Farrell’s son Jeremy, a Pittsburgh farmhand, was named Wednesday to the Eastern League mid-season All-Star team. Farrell is hitting .285 with 17 doubles, five home runs and 33 RBI in his first Double A season with the Altoona Curve.
Jays' Top 10 minor-league prospects
With three months of the minor-league season completed, who are the Blue Jays top prospects?
We asked scouts for opinions of prospects at Vegas, New Hampshire, Dunedin and Lansing. The rankings and their comments:
1. Third baseman Brett Lawrie, 21, Vegas.
“What a shame he got hurt, they were going to call him when they were in Baltimore (June 3) and two days before he gets plunked on his hand. The hand and the wrist are awful injuries for hitters. I saw him hit one so far it went over the fence and into the Vegas darkness. I’m not sure it ever came down. He’ll pull the ball down the left-field line, drive one into the right-field corner or hit one out to centre.”
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3. Centre fielder Anthony Gose, 20, N.H.
“Some say he’s like Brett Butler, who slapped base hits and stole for Cleveland. For me he’s closer to another Devon White when it comes to having pop. His arm is better than Jesse Barfield’s, as good as Ellis Valentine. He’s been working with (coach) Rich Miller and you can see an improvement cutting down on caught stealings.”
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5. Right fielder Moises Sierra, 22, N.H.
“He has a chance to be real good, maybe better than anyone except Lawrie. He has a plus arm, an eight, as high as the scale goes. He’ll be better than Raul Mondesi, might drive in as many runs as George Bell. Big time power.”
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10. First baseman Mike McDade, 22, N.H.
“He’s the best first baseman and that includes Adam Lind. McDade can’t run but has quick feet. He’s gonna be like Prince Fielder. McDade can dunk a basketball like Cecil Fielder. Led the Arizona Fall League and now among the Eastern League leaders in hitting.”
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