The Roundup

Nice win yesterday, if accomplished by means of good ball-playing rather than scrappiness. J-Mac sat on the bench despite torrid numbers off of Yankees starter Mike Mussina and a pretty solid track record in Yankee Stadium, but perhaps tonight's your night, little guy (too bad we could've used you more yesterday). But that's cool, too; David Eckstein is helping out in his own way by selflessly helping fill the team quota for grounded into doubleplays.

Oh, and can we jettison the LAA Angels approach to base stealing now, please? It was funny on Tuesday, but we can't send Scutaro every time he reaches first. Can we?

Speaking of whom, Marco "Polo" Scutaro is going in for X-rays today after being being hit in the left hand in the 8th by Ross Ohlendorf. He stayed in the game after the beaning and played defense in the ninth, so no one is dropping the I-bomb quite yet. Matt Stairs, however, is possibly on his way to the DL; Sandler at the Post says he's ready to play tonight or he's injured, no more mucking about.

Dustin "Mr. Burns" McGowan is apparently good to go for tonight after battling flu-like symptoms (code for a really horrorshow dump) that confined him to the team hotel last night. I wouldn't have minded seeing him flipped with Shaun Marcum so folks like me could see him live at tomorrow's home opener, but still, good news is good news.

(Why do I do the nickname thing? Even I find it annoying. Must stop. Now.)

You might think that we look like a bunch of silly dicks for suggesting that V-Dub gets dropped from the cleanup hole to 5th or 6th after what was a pretty impressive night at the dish (3 for 4 with a homer). Not so fast. Wilner notes that V-Dub was pull happy to the extreme, more disappointing since he had made progress in using the entire field in spring training. It's hard to argue with a homer and a couple more hits for good measure , but we stand by our earlier position that he is not the best option hitting fourth against righties over a full season.

This is another point Wilner made on JaysTalk last night that bears repeating (plagarizing) in full:

... [Re:] the fact that David Eckstein made the last outs of the 9th and came back out for defense in the bottom of the inning. Had John McDonald been sent into the game there, to help protect a three-run lead, he wouldn’t have had to bat until the 11th or 12th had the Yankees come back to tie. The only reason not to use McDonald there (unless he’s sick or hurt and we haven’t been told) is to not insult Eckstein, or to not make Eckstein think the Jays lack confidence in his glove. That’s a losing game to play. Eckstein is a big boy, and he knows full well that McDonald is one of the best defensive shortstops in the game. I don’t think he’d be hurt by being replaced for defense late in close games - though even if he would be, I don’t care - everyone understands that the win is the most important thing. And if the win is the most important thing, John McDonald must play shortstop late in close games in which the Blue Jays lead.

Indeed.

For his part, Blair doesn't think you win too many more games over the Yankees making as many mistakes as the Jays did last night. Fair enough.

Before leaving last night's game behind, I note that we here have long been fans of tall, weird-looking lefty Brian Tallet, who was absolutely brilliant. I almost want to dig deep and spend the $10 to sponsor his page over at baseball-reference.com, but then my conscious tells me that I could better use that money on one extra overpriced Rogers Centre beer this weekend. Sorry, Tallet, it was a popularity contest you could never hope to win.

Interesting but not shocking tidbit: speaking to Bastian in regards to McG potentially being bumped, JP says the club will likely look first look internally (Tallet, Randy David Wells) for spot starters when injuries arise, and then to Purcey, Romero and Cecil (in that order). That's pretty much what we figured; Purcey's really got nothing but himself standing in the way of a big league gig at some point this summer.

McGowan-Hughes tonight at 7:05 on TSN in a battle of future aces. Rack up some Antibalas, Tribe Called Quest and the Roots, pour a vodka tonic, then sit back and enjoy.

-- Johnny Was