Preview Tampa Toronto series

Tuesday May 6, 2008. Toronto v Tampa Bay Rays.

Interesting series starting tonight. Jays will be out to extend that win streak to six and for revenge on the Rays coming in off sweep by Boston.

Burnett v Sonnanstine again. Sonnanstine first Ray to win four games in April. Won game against Toronto twelve days ago in Tampa.

However Toronto is a different team from twelve days ago. Lots of confidence right now. Hitting coming around although still not smoking apart from Stairs. Rios, Wells, and Stewart have improved and the pitching has been incredible. Rolen is also now in lineup although last two games have not been great for him.

Overbay, Hill, Zaun and Eckstein however have slumped. Eckstein now batting ninth and also being pulled in late innings for Johnny Mac defensively which is what most fans and this blog have been advocating for weeks. Eckstein has had two major errors which have lead to runs and losses.The Jays should not be relying on Mac’s bat anyway and he can save runs if not scoring them.

Last night Stewart had three of the seven Toronto hits, we know the bats will break out and the time is now. Toronto has not had a six-game streak in almost four years.

Tampa is going the other way after eight of nine streak they lost last three in Boston. BUT a very dangerous team with speed on the bases. Keep them off AJ tonight.

Sonnanstine (4-1, 4.42 ERA) is 3-0 over his last three starts with a1.57 ERA.

A.J. Burnett, who shut out the Red Sox 3-0 the last time out and is, like the rest of the staff, feeding off all that success around him.He's also 6-2 with a 2.95 ERA in 13 career starts against Tampa.

Closer Troy Percival has allowed only three baserunners and no runners in first ten appearances.
B.J. Upton is just back off disabled list

On Monday, Toronto pitchers held Chicago to four hits and swept the four-game series. In the four games Chicago had only five runs and 15 hits.

Over their last nine games, the Toronto pitching staff has posted an ERA of 1.03.

Over that same period, the starting rotation has posted an ERA of 1.32 while averaging 7 1/3 innings pitched.

I think every Toronto fan is also waiting to see BJ Ryan next outing and effect of last night. Not just the length of the inning but whether or not this balk issue is getting to him.

What they said: Maddon on Sonnanstine: "Everyone wants to look at his velocity (routinely 86-88 mph) and it's not as great as everybody else's. But he makes pitches, and he pitches with conviction with his fastball, and there's something to be said for that."
Evan Longoria, the rookie phenom. 5-for-29 with 11 strikeouts in his last 11 games, "I feel like I'm swinging the bat the same, just not getting the results. "I've got to start putting the ball in play more. I feel like I'm striking out too much (11 times in the eight games). But that will all come. I'm not worried about it."
Maddon on Pena and his lack of homerun offence: "No concerns at all,"He'll hit his home runs. He'll put a nice streak together pretty soon."
Gibbons on starting pitching success: "It's more than you can ask for and expect. They (the starters) feed off each other."
McGowan on streak "I'm just trying to pick it up where the other guys left off. I don't want to be the one that messes up this good string of home starts for us."
Gibbons on Lind re return to Syracuse: "It's way too early for any of that. We're just trying to throw the best team out there to give us a chance to win that day."

Gibbons on using Ryan back to back days: "Dr. Timothy Kremchek thinks it's OK. But we'll watch it." (This was before the almost 30 plus pitches last night)
Gibbons on replacing Eckstein with Johnny Mac: "It's something we'll probably do (on a regular basis)," "McDonald may be the best defensive shortstop in the game. He can take away runs. It's the right thing to do. When you've got a player like you try and maximize everything you've got."
Paul Godfrey on John Gibbon’s job. "I make judgments when I need to make judgments and I don't need to make that one right now. The fact is, I've got confidence in everybody that's in the position that they're in."