SB Nation User Blog: hugo

We Had Some Massive Nights - Game Thread, Jays at Mariners

hugo — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:51:14 -0000

I don't know where all these Hold Steady references keep coming from? Something about summer, I guess.

Doc Halladay once again proved why he is one of my favourite all-time players. He just threw and threw and threw, carving up Seattle to the tune of a masterful 4-hit shutout. The Jays provided just enough offense, with the 4 infielders (Scoot, Eckstein, Scott Rolen, and Lyle Overbay) contributing while the rest of the lineup mostly taking the night off.

Tonight, the Jays continue to try to scratch back to .500, with Jesse Litsch taking the mound against Ryan Rowland-Smith, who sounds like he should be captaining Yale University's Crew Team rather than pitching baseball. Litsch was great the last time out and is still sporting a nice record and ERA - not many Ks, but up from last season, and he is keeping his walks much lower which has helped him.

Let's go Jays!

Roy Halladay Will Have His Revenge on Seattle - Game 84, Jays at Mariners

hugo — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:49:39 -0000

The Jays, victorious in two straight NL series (though once again one of the only AL teams that doesn't clean up in interleague), take their show on the road to Seattle. the team that beat them a few weeks back in a series by scoring only 6 runs.

Tonight, Doc Halladay pitches for the Jays against knuckler R.A. Dickey. I know Doc didn't pitch against the M's in the last series, but the Nirvana reference was too perfect and who knows if I'll remember to use it later, considering that tomorrow is the first day of my monthlong trial. Being a lawyer - not so fun right now.

Well, I'm hoping to watch the game today, a bit of calm before the storm, but we'll see how that works out. Let's go Jays!

Georgia Hard - Atlanta at Toronto

hugo — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:11:54 -0000

Hey all, sorry I missed the game thread yesterday afternoon. My trial starts in 1 day and things are just ridiculous. Enjoy your sunday, and let's go Jays! I look forward to many more Jays games when things quiet down. Also, SB Nation is looking for someone to take over for me for the forseeable future. Let me know if anyone is interested or has someone else in mind, and I will pass it along.

So Long, So High - Game 81, Braves at Jays

hugo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:51:56 -0000

The Jays won a series!

Avalanche or Roadblock? - Game 80, Reds at Jays

hugo — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:37:15 -0000

Tough one yesterday. Doc wasn't Doc, Wolfe took the loss, and let's not ever discuss how the game ended again.

On the plus side, Inglett is hitting great and Adam Lind went yard once again.

Tonight, Jesse Litsch, who has been knocked around lately, looks to get back on track against the exciting young hurler Edinson Volquez.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch the game as I am flying out to the Volunteer state for a last minute meeting with a few witnesses. Let's go Jays!

This Strange Plan is Random at Best: Game 79, Reds at Jays

hugo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:27:27 -0000

So maybe hitting coaches do matter? The Jays continued their offensive onslaught yesterday, pounding the Reds and Bronson Arroyo and winning 14-1 behind a great team effort and a solid start by A.J. Burnett.

Of course, they have a tougher task today, as the fact is that Bronson Arroyo is not very good. Today they have to contend with a better pitcher in Aaron Harang, whose awful 3-10 record is weirdly out of sync with his respectable if a little high 4.33 ERA, 1.34 Whip, and especially his quite excellent 91/23 K/BB ratio over his 106 innings.

Although it's essentially meaningless, the Jays still have the slimmest hope of ending the first half of the season at .500, if they win their next four games. The first step toward doing that will be helmed by Roy Halladay, who left his last start after being hit on the temple by a line drive. It looked very scary, but apparently Doc hasn't had any bad effects and is healthy. Doc has been fantastic this season and is way better than his 8-6 record. If they Jays keep hitting like they have the last 2 games, and Doc continues to pitch as well as he has, it won't take long for his record to improve.

Something Tells Me This is the Start of Something Good - Game Thread, Reds at Jays

hugo — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:50:09 -0000

Day 2 of the Adam Lind Era. Perhaps a winning streak? Who can say

In other news, the Jays and fans breathed a sigh of relief when reading about Shaun Marcum's visit with Dr. James Andrews . Marcum should be back around mid-July.

A.J. v. Arroyo. Let's go Jays!

Hopeless Bleak Despair - Game Thread, Jays at Pirates

hugo — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:57:31 -0000

Well, it was only a matter of time. McGowan against Snell, if anyone still cares. Also, as Torgen reports, Mench out, League in. Mench needed to go weeks ago, but oh well.

After Changes Upon Changes We Are More Or Less the Same - Game thread, Jays at Pirates

hugo — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 22:21:53 -0000

Want proof that the manager and coaching staff don't matter? Last night was certainly exhibit a to that effect, though there is a lot more that remains to be proven. The Jays' offense sputtered against lefty Zach Duke, and stranded Doc Halladay despite a 7 inning, 7 K, no run performance. The Pirates won in the 12th and the first day of the Cito Gaston regime came to an unhappy end.

Will tonight be different? Jesse Litsch hopes for a bit more run support than Doc got. He faces off against another lefty, Paul Malholm. Litsch is still having an effective season, but hasn't been great as of late. Let's see how he does against Pittsburgh, and more importantly, whether the bats will ever snap out of this.

Today's title comes from the famous and rare version of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" containing an extra verse. They played it at their famous Central Park concert in 1981. I was there (I'm told), all of 1 year old. Let's go Jays!

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss - Game thread, Jays at Pirates

hugo — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:40:25 -0000

Well, that was drastic. As some have already picked up on in the comments, the Jays cleaned house today, firing John Gibbons, Marty Pevey, Gary Denbo, and Ernie Whitt and replacing them with Cito Gaston, Nick Levya, Gene Tenance, and Dwayne Murphy at Manager, 3rd base coach, hitting coach, and first-base coach, respectively.

Obviously, exchanging Gibbons for Gaston is the biggest move - Cito lead our heroes to two consecutive world series in 1992 and 1993, but hasn't managed in the majors since 1997. As a Newcastle United fan, this move has quite a lot of similarity to Newcastle's canning of Big Sam Allardyce this season and replacing him with Toon legend Kevin Keegan.

I never minded Gibbons, and who knows how the coaches were at their jobs (except for Pevey, who looked lost), but clearly the results were not there. Butterfield and Arnsberg keep their jobs.

Anyway, the Jays play Pittsburgh tonight, and it will be interesting to see how the team responds. They always seemed to like Gibbons pretty well, despite his well-publicized bouts with a few players he seems easy to get along with.

Roy Halladay pitches against Zach Duke tonight. I wish I could watch the game, but I'll be at a pal's birthday party. Happy Birthday, Ben!!!