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Game 1 - Fri 7:07pm ET
Kazmir vs Hendricks

Game 2 - Sat 1:07 pm ET
Chavez vs Dickey

Game 3 - Sun 1:07 pm ET
Pomeranz vs Happ

I actually kind of like Oakland. Please win regardless.

It looks like Hendriks is pitching tomorrow and Dickey has been pushed back until Saturday. No explanation as to why.

Kazmir has been a new man this season. Going to be a tough one against him.

Everyone is stoked and we're all talking playoffs. This has disaster series written all over it. Please 2014 Jays, be different.


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Randle McMurphy wrote:It looks like Hendriks is pitching tomorrow and Dickey has been pushed back until Saturday. No explanation as to why.

What are his splits on Saturdays?!

That's too bad though, because that would lineup Dickey to pitch game 1 vs KC instead of game 3 against Tampa next week.

Santoki wrote:Everyone is stoked and we're all talking playoffs. This has disaster series written all over it. Please 2014 Jays, be different.


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It's only May. Still way too early for things like a statement/disaster series (although if you string 3 awful ones in a row like they did in May 2009, then you might have some issues).

Something notable about Oakland is that they have a +99 run differential right now, which is more than double the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the league in that regard (Colorado and Detroit). They're really good.

BigLeagueChew wrote:

Randle McMurphy wrote:It looks like Hendriks is pitching tomorrow and Dickey has been pushed back until Saturday. No explanation as to why.

What are his splits on Saturdays?!

That's too bad though, because that would lineup Dickey to pitch game 1 vs KC instead of game 3 against Tampa next week.

Apparently they did it to split up Buehrle and Dickey so that Tampa (and other teams) wouldn't see two soft tossers in a row. Although with Dickey being a KB pitcher, I don't get why they even would bother. Is seeing Buehrle's 83 MPH FB the day before going to make it somehow easier to hit Dickey's knuckler if its on?

WE WANT TO SEE MORE OF THIS BABYYYY!!!

GO JAYS GO!!

Randle McMurphy wrote:Apparently they did it to split up Buehrle and Dickey so that Tampa (and other teams) wouldn't see two soft tossers in a row. Although with Dickey being a KB pitcher, I don't get why they even would bother. Is seeing Buehrle's 83 MPH FB the day before going to make it somehow easier to hit Dickey's knuckler if its on?

i can't see it having much of an effect on anything . There was talk Dickey makes players around him better statistically , if you follow him in the rotation or from the pen. I really have no idea how to figure that out. If its true fine, but it wouldn't suck having our 2 most reliable pitchers throwing back to back.

I would assume part of the reason is also to split up Hendriks and Happ. Those two are not guaranteed to give the team many innings (in Happ's case, he will only give 5-6 when he's actually on), so slotting Dickey in between has the potential to save the bullpen a bit in a worst case scenario.

2 of 3 would be nice

It was the fangraphs article called the Dickey effect that I was reading. So having Happ after Dickey is supposed to decrease Happ's FIP by %18 at most.

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-r-a-dickey-effect-2013-edition/

I'd be happy with one win against these guys.

Santoki wrote:Everyone is stoked and we're all talking playoffs. This has disaster series written all over it. Please 2014 Jays, be different.

before the road trip it was "this is the type of road trip that typically decimates us" and now it's "this has disaster series written all over it"? you just waiting to get one of these generalized, sensationalized statements right so you can toot your own horn? oakland is the best team in the league, they may sweep though i think that's unlikely. so unless you're prophesying that one or more of our key players will suffer a season-ending injury, whilst getting swept and brutally outscored, sending the team into an unrecoverable tailspin, then nothing about this series signifies an impending "disaster". even if we do get swept, the season is still not even close to being over, and we can still definitely talk playoffs as we'll still be a couple games back at the absolute worst. i get the cynicism from being a long-time jays fan, but let's not overstate what a series loss to the best team in the league in may would mean

I think just giving Dickey another day off may be a factor, too. It can't hurt at his age. But maybe the organization also wants to see what it has in Hendriks ASAP before making serious decisions about the rotation going forward.

s e n s i wrote:

Santoki wrote:Everyone is stoked and we're all talking playoffs. This has disaster series written all over it. Please 2014 Jays, be different.

before the road trip it was "this is the type of road trip that typically decimates us" and now it's "this has disaster series written all over it"? you just waiting to get one of these generalized, sensationalized statements right so you can toot your own horn? oakland is the best team in the league, they may sweep though i think that's unlikely. so unless you're prophesying that one or more of our key players will suffer a season-ending injury, whilst getting swept and brutally outscored, sending the team into an unrecoverable tailspin, then nothing about this series signifies an impending "disaster". even if we do get swept, the season is still not even close to being over, and we can still definitely talk playoffs as we'll still be a couple games back at the absolute worst. i get the cynicism from being a long-time jays fan, but let's not overstate what a series loss to the best team in the league in may would mean

Sensi, shhh, this is something I'm trying - don't jinx it. Remember statement game guy last year during the 11-game streak? This is my "2014, be different" theme. It worked for the road trip, so let's keep it going.

Interesting that the Jays have been a pretty good road team at 16-11 and the A's home record is a modest 12-10.

OAK's on a great run.

This series will be tough.

As others have mentioned, winning 1 of 3 against these guys would be a pretty good outcome, especially without Buehrle and Hutch on the mound. Oakland is just a way better team.

Still, a series win here would be pretty **** exciting.