The Roundup Jr

There were a lot of negatives in last nights game, but I want to talk about the positive first. I think a lot of people missed it - Curtis Thigpen looked terrific behind the plate. I don't know if he's ever caught Marcum before, but he did a phenomenal job of game calling for Marcum. Yeah, Marcum's a pretty dominant pitcher, who threw a hell of a game, but Thigpen still did a great job behind the plate. He framed a lot of pitches that were outside the zone according to the Seattle pitch tracker for strikes. He blocked the plate extremely well, and he showed off a very nice arm on the double play failed bunt. I know it's one game, but I was very impressed with Thigpen.

He was clearly overmatched against Felix, but pretty much everybody in the majors is going to feel that way. I'll give a ton of credit to Felix for absolutely pwning young Thigpen with those filthy, filthy 2 seem fastballs. The fact that Thigpen hasn't started a game in 10-15 days also played a part in his rusty swing, but as far as I could tell I thought he did a terrific job as the catcher. I'm not quite sure why the Jays are so hesitant to use him as a C going forward, but I think he'd be a solid option.

As I discussed last night with eyebleaf, the Jays are a team that lacks in the fundamental abilities. This team doesn't need a new manager, it needs a little league coach! While some would blame last nights game on Ryan, and you'd have good reason too, I think last nights game was lost by the one and only Vernon Wells. He's been doing real well since he came back so I'm not too pissed off at him (especially after praising him so much in my last post), but it's the simple things that Wells and the rest of the offense aren't doing.

For example, the 6th innings - Eck & Inglett on, one out. All he needs is to put the ball into the OF, and boom, sac fly. A run scores, the Jays can move a runner up to third with 2 out, so that a base hit can score the third run (or a passed ball). Fundamental baseball at it's best. But he didn't do that, so instead of the game being 2-1, and theoretically 2-2 heading into the 10th, the Jays lost. If the Jays are going to lose this year, it won't be because of their inability to hit with RISP. It'll be the fact that the Jays simply cannot do the fundamental things in baseball that win you ballgames.

Couple of notes on the M's - how does McClaren (SP?) still have a job? What kind of retard bunts with Raul Ibanez? This is on a level of Dusty Baker trying to bunt with Adam Dunn kind of bad. How was he not fired mid-game for this?

And is anybody else pissed off about Miguel Cairo showing up the Jays? I get it, he's happy he laid down a bunt in the first game, and that he scored in the third, but he's acting like he was about to win the World Series every time he did something right. You're a 75 OPS+ utility player, Cairo. Get over yourself. I was actually more pissed about Cairo's little claps and jumping for joy than I was about losing.

Elsewhere:

Jays caught a bit of a break heading into their series with the Cubs, as LF Alfonso Soriano is going to be out of commission for a while. According to the report:

"Star leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano could miss six weeks with a broken bone in his left hand after he was hit by a pitch from Atlanta’s Jeff Bennett on Wednesday night."

The Cubs have a bit of OF depth, and I figure the Cubs could use Pie or Murton in his absence.

Ken Griffey's #600 HR ball is causing a lot of legal issues. Sorry bud, but in my book you get an E1, and you've lost possession of the ball. Or you could call it Fan Interference.

HGH wasn't the only thing Andy Pettitte learned how to do from Roger Clemens. Apparently he won't let the Yankees know if he's pitching next year or not till after the season. I can't wait to hear more stories about this all year. But I guess they have to talk about something else when Joba isn't pitching.

Big Papi has decided to change his name to Big Daddy, as David Ortiz was sworn in as a US citizen.

Looks like Elijah Dukes is starting to get back to his old ways. No, it's nothing criminal, he just had a 'heated argument' with Manny Acta. It seems pretty meaningless now, but that kid is a ticking time bomb. And at age 24, with a 207/324/322 batting line, teams are going to start being less likely to give him a second chance.

I'm not gonna be here from Friday through the weekend, so unless Will does the Roundup Lite this'll probably be the last one till Monday. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Twitchy.