ST: Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Rays (April 17 - 19)

TR50 · Post #1 » by **TR50** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:24 pm

Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Rays
Tuesday April 17th-19th

(5-4)

VS

(5-5)

Game 1: Ricky Romero vs Jeff Niemann

vs

Game 2: Brandon Morrow vs David Price

vs

Game 3: Henderson Alvarez vs Jeremy Hellickson

vs

Kapono · Post #2 » by **Kapono** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:54 pm

Rays usually own us. And David Price always rapes the Jays line up.

Would be nice to win the series.

Wo1verine · Post #3 » by **Wo1verine** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:58 pm

Kapono wrote:Rays usually own us. And David Price always rapes the Jays line up.

Would be nice to win the series.

Pretty much this.

LLJ · Post #4 » by **LLJ** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:39 pm

Rays are 4-5? Wow. They had a worse weekend than we did. They'll be hungry. Let's hope Morrow conjures up some of that 2010 magic against the Rays when we face Price.

Yeezus_ · Post #5 » by **Yeezus_** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:01 pm

Morrow vs Price should be good

baulderdash77 · Post #6 » by **baulderdash77** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:04 pm

As is the case of all home series- we are looking to take 2 of 3. Price is historically tough on our lineup. Game 1 is certainly winnable for us. So it's going to come down to the bullpen & game 3 again for the series.

We have to win some home series against the Rays if we're going to talk playoff contention.

illy · Post #7 » by **illy** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:01 pm

everytime we face price i think we have a shot at winning because in most cases the jays know his stuff and are prepared, but that isnt the case.

JoeyBats · Post #8 » by **JoeyBats** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:40 pm

Kapono wrote:Rays usually own us. And David Price always rapes the Jays line up.

Would be nice to win the series.

Randle McMurphy · Post #9 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Sun Apr 15, 2012 11:59 pm

The Rays lineup is better than usual this year...they've brought Pena back (who is locked in right now) and Luke Scott mashes right-handed pitching. And with 5 good starting pitchers, they're really tough. If the Yankees don't win the East, I think it will be them.

Post #10 » by **tsherkin** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:10 am

I'll enjoy this series one way or the other; I want us to win, but I do really enjoy watching Tampa play, especially their pitchers.

Post #11 » by **spykelee** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:33 am

tsherkin wrote:I'll enjoy this series one way or the other; I want us to win, but I do really enjoy watching Tampa play, especially their pitchers.

And there manager.

Relentless88 · Post #12 » by **Relentless88** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:49 am

Randle McMurphy wrote:The Rays lineup is better than usual this year...they've brought Pena back (who is locked in right now) and Luke Scott mashes right-handed pitching. And with 5 good starting pitchers, they're really tough. If the Yankees don't win the East, I think it will be them.

The Jays should have signed Pena. He has 2 HRs off LHP already!

Lateral Quicks · Post #13 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:53 am

Randle McMurphy wrote:The Rays lineup is better than usual this year...they've brought Pena back (who is locked in right now) and Luke Scott mashes right-handed pitching. And with 5 good starting pitchers, they're really tough. If the Yankees don't win the East, I think it will be them.

As much as I like their rotation, I think it's overrated and not without risk.

1. Matt Moore - has been anointed as the second coming but in reality has three career major league starts, one of which (today) he got roughed up.

2. Jeremy Hellickson - one full season in the major leagues, with a bad K/BB ratio and a Cecil-esque K/IP ratio. So far this year (small sample size of course) he's walked two more than he's struck out.

3. James Shields - has a career .261 BAA and is very susceptible to the long-ball. He's one year removed from a season with 200 IP and a BAA of .294 and a WHIP of 1.46.

Price and Niemann have great track records and are excellent for their respective spots in the rotation (#2 and #5).

If their pitching holds up all year like many expect they'll be in the hunt. If it doesn't they'll be a .500 team. You could make a similar argument for the Jays, except our offense is arguably better.

I like our chances for winning this series with our top 3 starters going and the Rays in a rut. Even Price has had a rough start.

Post #14 » by **Schad** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 4:45 am

We'll lose two of three for a very simple reason: we are the Toronto Slumpbusters, and losing to teams that are experiencing losing streaks is what we do. Going to go with this: we'll drop the opener, win the second convincingly, and give away a two-run lead in the latter stages of the third game to drop the series.

RapsFanInVA · Post #15 » by **RapsFanInVA** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:19 am

Schadenfreude wrote:We'll lose two of three for a very simple reason: we are the Toronto Slumpbusters, and losing to teams that are experiencing losing streaks is what we do. Going to go with this: we'll drop the opener, win the second convincingly, and give away a two-run lead in the latter stages of the third game to drop the series.

We'll win the first convincingly to give us false hope, then lose the second one to Price because I'm pretty sure he owns us. Though our spirits are down, Alvarez will pitch an amazing game giving us a two run lead going into the 8th. Blowdero will give up a run on a groundball to first because he's too fat to cover first and pulls a hammy. We escape the inning up by one, but Santos gives up a 2 run blast to Pena because the baseball gods refuse to let Alvarez get a win. Chaos ensues on this board.

Strav · Post #16 » by **Strav** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 12:51 pm

We win all three to make up for losing the Baltimore series.

RapsFanInVA · Post #17 » by **RapsFanInVA** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:40 pm

Strav wrote:We win all three to make up for losing the Baltimore series.

Get that optimistic garbage out of here!

Raps in 4 · Post #18 » by **Raps in 4** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:54 pm

We're definitely going to lose this series. TB is simply a better team.

wazabifuzz · Post #19 » by **wazabifuzz** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:05 pm

These 3 games are going to be tough. Rays are always a tough team to play against, but it'll be a good measuring stick to how good this pitching/bullpen staff is vs the Rays.

g_greg · Post #20 » by **g_greg** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 6:47 pm

UssjTrunks wrote:We're definitely going to lose this series. TB is simply a better team.

Why write off our chances before a game has been played? Let's get it, boys!!