Jays v Angels Series Preview.

Series Preview Jays v Angels. Friday July 4, 2008.

Good news was that Jays didn’t lose last night, and they also picked up half a game on Yankees, but then again they were not playing. Jays fans desperately need some humour to keep them going through this very bad patch. However if Seattle was supposed to be an easy series against the worst team in the League, then Jays are back in the fire playing the division leaders Angels. Jays will be lucky to get away from here with one win so don’t think series win here.

Jays are now 41-45 and on the road 19-26. And have lost nine of their last eleven on the road. Angels on the other hand are 51-34, Seventeen games above 500 and playing .600 ball which is what Jays have to do from now in if they want to be in the running. Jays get some break !!! Angels have a worse home record than on the road: 24-19 at home. 27-15 on the road.

Jays send Burnett out tonight and with AJ anything can happen and usually does. 8-7 record with .474 ERA. Angels have Weaver 7-8, 4.30 ERA. Burnett has won his last two starts and has pitched well in both previous starts against the Angels this season. Nine hits five runs and 14 strikeouts in 14 innings.

Reports are that Jays are shopping Burnett around to teams that need pitching and scouts from both Philliies and Orioles have been following him. I would hate to see him go to Orioles or any team in this division. The word is that Jays want an everyday shortstop in return.

These teams have played six times this season Angelas winning four of them. Four of the games have been one run affairs and Amngels have won three of those.
Weaver’s last outing ended in a one run no hitter loss to the Dodgers. His last game against Jays was May 30 when he gave up six runs and 10 hits in four innings of a 10-4 defeat.
Franky Rodriguez has 34 saves. That is a tie with Braves Smoltz for record before All-Star break, but with a week to go odds are he will smash that record. Jays had better keep him out of the game.

Number one problem for Jays is their offence that has scored two or fewer runs in three of their last four games. On Wednesday they went 0-5 with runners in scoring position. AND worse still when they do get on base, they have hit into league leading 97 double plays.

But when we look at Jays stats. Team leading Alex Rios with .277 average. OUCH. Matt Stairs is leading HR with eight, Wells team leading 37 RBIs at this stage three months into the season is awful. Angels are not much better with Guerrero leading the team with only 44RBIs. Alex has the edge in stolen bases 16 compared to 14 for Figgins for the Angels . Problem is that Cito apparently is not big proponent of stealing, the well has dried up in the last two weeks. Too bad as it might help reduce those double plays.

Million dollar question re what difference has Cito and staff made to this team. Looking at both the record on paper and watching the team I really don’t think there has been much if any difference.
The majority of the team is underachieving in terms of hitting. The only exceptions that I see are Scutaro, Inglett, Lind and Rolen.
Maybe case can be made for Lind enjoying Cito’s style and encouragement but for the others, Inglett has been in Syracuse and was also hitting well before Cito arrived. Rolen has already said that his hitting was starting to come around with the help of Denbo and feeling more comfortable the very day of the big coaching changes.

The dunces of the team right now are definitely number three, four and five. Rios, Wells and Stairs. Two of them Rios and Wells have not produced for a VERY long time. Wells last season had an excuse with shoulder injury but Jays have not seen him consistently swing for more than two years. With Rios his descent began after the All-Star game last year when he did very well in the HR contest. Since that time he has been a bust. It is NO coincidence that this week A-Rod said he would not participate in that contest and mess up his swing. Last season before the All-Star break Alex was HOT with something like 17-18 HRs. Season before he had great first half and then had that streph infection which effectively shut his production down for the rest of the season.

Vernon what is his problem ? His surgery was successful or was it ? He is still hitting .311 since surgery but not for power. Whatever the reasons for Alex and Vernon it is painful to watch them both swinging away on two strike counts. Every scout in the country along with every Jays fan knows that the pitcher is going to throw that third strike pitch down and away until both of them stop swinging at it.
Stairs is 38 and are we asking to much from him? Was last season his swansong ? Has he slowed his swing too much? On the other hand he is a very streaky hitter and has shown a couple of steaks so far this season, can we get a few more?

What they are saying:
On Burnett trade: an unidentified American League general manager, "They're offering Burnett to any team that needs pitching." Cito on reaching .500 by All-Star break: "If we don't get to .500, we'll just keep chugging along. Hopefully we can pick it up down in Anaheim."
Cito again : "The second half brings something different for everyone. We'll see what happens from now."

Oh Cito,Chug along!I love intensity, especially from a Manager.

I have said it before on this blog, Joe Maddon had the Rays ready Day of Spring training. That double steal first inning of the first spring training game told me that the Rays would be different this season and I get no satisfaction seeing that come true. Maddon had that team hustling, intense and hungry from Day 1.