Angels 9, Blue Jays 7: The Angels Are Sort of Good Now, The Blue Jays Less So

pretty much yeah

No, Brett Cecil did not pitch well, and yes, Jose Bautista dinged his twenty-sixth dinger of the year last night, but what I would like to talk to you about here however briefly is how there was totally this little pigeon that made its way from the first baseline to the third baseline in the fifth inning, and as it approached the pitcher's mound and time had to be called, the crowd went nuts for it, and Jerry Howarth called it all like it was the most exciting thing to have happened during a baseball game in weeks, which maybe it was. Baseball is awesome.


KS

Blue Jays 6, Phillies 2: Brooms, and Yet Doom Still Probably

brett cecil is like "I totally don't remember us having uniforms this cool"

I am not one to look a giftsweep in the mouth and so thank you very much for this, you Phillies of Philadelphia, and I will also thank Colby Rasmus for the dinger and Brett Cecil for his first start of the season and everything. But man, we are so boned right now. Cecil's 87 MPH fastball and pretty iffy curve are unlikely to do to AL East teams what they did to the Phillies (no diss), and who even knows who even knows who will be starting by the end of the week. But hey, big crowds this weekend and a nifty little sweep, so chin up I guess.


KS

Blue Jays 7, Pirates 2: A BASEBALL GAME

Yusssssssssss

I had known for some time that Grapefruit League action, such as it is, was scheduled to begin for these Toronto Blue Jays on this the third day of the third month in the year of our lord 2012, but somehow this managed to sneak up on me all the same. Fortunately, the thoughtful folks at MLB.com went ahead and signed me up for another year of GameDay Audio without me even having to ask! Can you believe it? So I am all set! As is my favourite douchebag in all the world Brett Lawrie, who hit two two-run doubles today, so he remains on pace to be literally the greatest hitter in the history of professional baseball (I will overlook today's error). Nine pitchers took the hill for the Blue Jays, which only ever happens in the first week of spring training games or I guess in the All-Star Game, too, sometimes, and the not-as-fat-as-previously Brett Cecil got the start but not the all-important win, which instead went to Kyle Drabek, who pitched a scoreless inning and struck a guy out so it's like :) SMOKE but also he walked a guy so it is also like :( and so on the whole is like :/ which is the probably the best case scenario for Kyle Drabek this season.


I would also like to call your attention to Eric Thames, who homered today, and who I fully support in the battle for the everyday spot in left field because he not only reads but totally gets Beowulf and also sketches out plans for his facial hair but most importantly he is not Travis Snider. If one is a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays one is supposed to be of the opinion that Snider has been jerked around between the majors and triple-A to such an extent that his confidence lies in ruins and he is a broken man and probably this is mostly Cito's fault, or something, but on the whole he is a dude who has looked less like a dude than a butt, if I may be frank, and I am sure we all agree that the proper place for butts is on the bench. Anyway, go Eric Thames: you are skilled, maybe, and I exhort you. 

moustaches for all imo

I'm listening to the replay of the radio broadcast right now man and Alan Ashby and Jerry Howarth are cold killin' it on day one like I mean killin' it and I just heard a couple of little girls singsong something about raffle tickets and I don't care that it is the grossest day ever outside as the wind howls around my creaky old house because baseball is here and not in the abstract way where there are dudes who sometimes play baseball jogging in uniforms and stretching somewhere but in the very real sense that games are being played and I am listening to them which at the end of the day is what this is all about is it not my friends? 


KS

Rays 5, Blue Jays 2: How About No More Brett Cecil Ever?

Unsurprising.

Four runs in three-and-a-third: not cool, Brett Cecil. With pretty much the same peripherals as last season, Cecil wraps up the season with a 4-11 record, rather than last year's 15-7. Was he lucky last year, or unlucky this season? Or is he, on the whole, kind of a butt and best disregarded entirely? Increasingly, that is my position. Next year, give me a rotation of Romero, Alvarez, Morrow, a revitalized and smoke-throwing Kyle Drabek and, what the heck, Yu Darvish. That is what I am after.


Oh hey, have I mentioned that Ben Zobrist hit an inside-the-park home run yesterday after Jose Bautista slammed into the wall and stayed down for the count? I hadn't? Forgive me; it was a remarkable thing that I should have told you about immediately.


Let me say in conclusion that now that the Blue Jays are finished with the Rays, I wish the Rays every success in unseating the slumping Red Sox, who are in the process of blowing a massive lead in the wild card race in truly spectacular fashion. Even last week, when the Blue Jays were beating up on the Angels, it occurred to me that I would actually totally prefer to see the Angels in the playoffs over the Sox, and yet because they chose to oppose the Blue Jays, I could not but wish them nightly thrashings. But now, an Angels-Rays one-game playoff with the Red Sox all sad at home seems to me the sweetest of conclusions to this fine 2011 season.


Anyway. On to Chicago for one last hurrah. Let us do this.


KS

Angels 10, Blue Jays 6: Neither Brett Cecil Nor Kyle Drabek Fooled Anyone Last Night

zoinks

The Blue Jays' four late, meaningless runs should not obscure the fact that this one got out of hand early, and stayed very much out of hand throughout. Brett Cecil didn't get past the third, and Kyle Drabek managed to be even worse in his two innings of work. That is fitting and just, I guess: an enormous part of the problem with the Blue Jays' awful rotation this year has been that Cecil and Drabek were not just worse than expected, but in fact totally worse than anyone could have possibly expected. Ever. They were brutal. And the worst. Both last night, and all year. So there you go.


Particularly grievous: Erik Aybar stole home. I hated that.


KS