Tagged: Bronson Arroyo

No sweep to be had in Cincy, Yunel gets extended

Carlos Villanueva pitched arguably his best game today since becoming a starter yet ended up with his first loss of the year. Go figure.

The Jays’ bats just couldn’t figure out Bronson Arroyo today who has had an otherwise rough year. A lot was made about how poorly he’s pitched against Toronto in his career but as I mentioned before there has been a lot of turn over since he last faced them.

 

While the sweep would have been nice, and was certainly obtainable, winning the series on the road isn’t too shabby. The Jays will now face their first good National League team of the year heading to Atlanta for a rematch of the ’92 series. Could be a rough one.

Hopefully the strong pitching keeps up because they’ll certainly going to need it. After the Braves they head to St. Louis to take on the Cards. That’s six games against two really good pitching staffs.

 

Before the game the Jays announced they’ve extended Yunel Escobar for two more years at 5 million a piece, with two option years. Cynics will say Yunel has shown a pattern of being lazy and unmotivated, at least during his Atlanta years. With 10 million coming his way no matter what, what incentive does he have to put the extra work in? I on the other hand think it’s a good deal for both sides. If he starts to struggle he can still be traded and even if the Jays ate half the contract, in baseball dollars 5 mil is not a lot. If he continues to hit and play the defense he has, it’ll be a VERY good deal. Plus ever since he arrived in Toronto almost a year ago now he’s been nothing but a model citizen.

In the long run I see both sides being happy.  

The ‘other’ Jose homers to lead the Jays

As mentioned before in this blog, Jose Molina is quietly putting together a great year at the plate, albeit in limited action.

In just 23 games he’s hitting .304 with two homers and he’s even stolen two bases without getting caught. Tonight he was a major factor in leading the Jays to a series win with a double and a homer. Not bad for a back up. 

Behind the plate he was just as, if not even more important, guiding Brandon Morrow through 6 2/3 shut out innings and even nailed Brandon Phillips trying to swipe a bag.

Nice to see Morrow post a solid outing, hopefully he’s turning a corner. He’s not alone on the mound as the entire Jays staff turned in with a nice week, averaging just 2.2 runs allowed over their past five games, giving them a 4-1 record. Quite a turn around from last weekend that saw the Red Sox just absolutely man handle the pitching staff with 35 runs in three games. Ying and Yang if you will. 

The Jays will now look to the super sub Carlos Villanueva to pitch them to a sweep against the struggling Bronson Arroyo. As mentioned on tonight’s telecast the Jays have owned Arroyo in the past two meetings, but they haven’t faced in a couple of years now. I wouldn’t read too much into it, but it’s better than having struggled against the guy. 

Brewers beat the Red Sox but the Cubs beat the Yanks and the Rays look ready to beat the Fish. Man what happened to Florida? I know Josh Johnson is hurt but did they ever fall back to earth in a hurry. A loss tonight would be nine in a row and they now sit dead last in the division. So much for a little momentum to build on heading into the new stadium.