The Jays lack of offense is troubling...

FreeLunch11 · Post #1 » by **FreeLunch11** » Fri Jun 1, 2007 4:14 am

They only mustered 2 hits tonight. It's hard to imagine being 2 hit and still winning. But I've seen a quite a few games this season where the Jays can only put up 2 or 3 runs.

The batting lineup is very potent. Rios, Wells, Overbay, Glaus, Thomas, Hill, Stairs can all hit very well. Why are the Jays having so much trouble putting runs on the board?

youreachiteach · Post #2 » by **youreachiteach** » Fri Jun 1, 2007 5:32 am

FreeLunch11 wrote:They only mustered 2 hits tonight. It's hard to imagine being 2 hit and still winning. But I've seen a quite a few games this season where the Jays can only put up 2 or 3 runs.

The batting lineup is very potent. Rios, Wells, Overbay, Glaus, Thomas, Hill, Stairs can all hit very well. Why are the Jays having so much trouble putting runs on the board?

Mainly,because they have too many hitters out of position.

It is painfully obvious that

1) Rios is not a leadof hitter, he's a three or a five--maybe even a two.
2.) The Jays have too many number 5 hitters and not enough speed
3.) The lack of true leadoff 1 and 2 hurts the team's ability to have a big inning and bat around--and when they do have a big inning, it makes it hard to capitalize even more.
4.) The bottom of the lineup is so sh*t it's a freebee for the opposition pitcher every 2 to 3 innings. This also carries with it the pleasant benefit of putting too much pressure on the guys THAT CAN ACTUALLY hit, and forces them into being pull hitters.
5.) We don't have enough left handed hitting.

I think that about covers it.

asif9t9 · Post #3 » by **asif9t9** » Fri Jun 1, 2007 11:46 am

If I was to make an excuse, it would be that we need Reed at the top, getting on base and getting the pitcher out of rhythm for the next few guys.

But honestly, I see no excuse. These guys need to start hitting. I agree Rios should not be our leadoff hitter. Stick Hill there. Then Rios Vernon, Glaus, whatever. I blame Vernon, Thomas and Lyle for not showing up this year.

rsx806 · Post #4 » by **rsx806** » Fri Jun 1, 2007 4:43 pm

The problem has to be the lineup. Our hitters are not bad, Gibbons needs to be creative and find the right combination. Too many LOBs and solo HR, that is a strong indicator your lineup combo is not right.

SoundProofBooth · Post #5 » by **SoundProofBooth** » Sun Jun 3, 2007 7:02 am

The lineup card has been mismanaged by a very marginal manager.

Hill
Overbay
Rios
Thomas
Vernon
Glaus
Lind
pick'em

1) Reed isn't a leadoff hitter, we all love him but last year was an abberation

2) Hill is probably the most suitable candidate for the leadoff slot we have. He takes a reasonable amount of pitches/AB, runs well, & gets on base at a decent clip.

3) Rios needs to be considered this teams most important stick from here on out, and placed in the 3 hole for perpetuity, Vernon needs to go back to being a high SLG% hacker facing pitchers when there are men on base more often than not and he's going to see fastballs.

4) This lineup will come around, there are 6 fulltime sticks that should finish the season with an .800 OPS or better(Hill, Rios, Thomas, Wells, Glaus,Overbay) and a few part time sticks that have the ability to do it if used right ( Stairs, Reed )

Raptor_Guy · Post #6 » by **Raptor_Guy** » Sun Jun 3, 2007 6:22 pm

I said it before the season started, J.P. built a Texas Rangers type lineup, all slugging but no fundamentals,speed ect.

We have a bunch of guys that don't care much for average right now, and just swing for the fences every AB (Wells,Glaus,Thomas) therefore the Jays never get big innings. A team like the Red Sox just hit doubles and singles and eventually get a big blast, the Jays aren't willing to hit the doubles and singles to make a big innings happen.

And ya, the 8 and 9 hitters are basicly automatic outs.

heemer · Post #7 » by **heemer** » Mon Jun 4, 2007 9:18 pm

Well without Reed Johnson we loose our legit leadoff man. Although Rios has been a monster, having Reed up front allows Rios to slide further down and adds to the power and RBI potential of the middle lineup. Zaun is a much better hitter than Phillips and given that he's a switch hitter improves matchups in our favor.

With Wells not hitting at all, much less for power (he should be around .300, HRs or not) and Glaus bouncing in and out of the lineup we dont have much in the way of a scary lineup.

with such players as Fasano, Clark, Phillips, Clayton, Johnny Mac, even Lind, seeing significant at-bats there are alot of fairly easy outs in there. I dont think theres any question that if the jays were completely healthy theyd be scoring a ton of runs.