Land of the Leaf

Um, I’m going to be honest and say I had planned on skipping tonight’s Jays’ game altogether in favour of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Luckily, for me, Halladay’s dominance of the Angels’ lineup was apparent from the first pitch.  This is what multiple computers and a TV are for, nights like this.

Halladay did his best A.J. Burnett impression (although gave up only one walk instead of like seven) by striking out a career high 14 batters on the evening, including the side in the ninth.  Complete game, a few hits surrendered, earned runs and all, fuck it… Halladay is the best there is.  First to nine wins.   Jays 6 Angels 4

Has anyone seen Vernon Wells’ power or general ability lately?  No?  I didn’t think so.

If you’re a complete fantasy baseball nerd (and I am), then it’s likely you’ve been caught by the Matt Wieters hype-machine.  There’s little argument that Wieters doesn’t warrant all of the attention he had leading up to his Major League debut, the kid is going to be a stud.

He looked alright in the Orioles’ weekend tilt with Detroit, but the best is yet to come.  Regardless of however many late night man-boners that Wieters can inspire among fanboys, Baltimore’s general manager Andy MacPhail will always be the biggest dick in the room.

From Bastian:

Earlier this week, Andy MacPhail, Baltimore’s president of baseball operations, cited Snider’s situation when asked if Wieters was expected to remain with the Orioles for the rest of the year.

“We think Wieters is ready,” MacPhail was quoted as saying in the Toronto Sun. “We don’t want to be like Toronto with Snider and return the player to the Minors.”

Oh you’d never want to be like Toronto.  Ahem, Gregg Zaun.  You’d never want to round out your pitching staff with a shitty left arm like Mark Hendrickson, oh no, not Andy MacPhail.

Nervousness has got me shaking like Parliament Street meth-whore on a dozen cups of Jet Fuel.  Friday night home games usually mean emphatic powdery blue victories.  Not this Friday though, this one is much, much different. It’s that goddamn knuckleball of Tim Wakefield, and those fucking Mass Holes.

Here’s me trying to be positive:

I want to think that this is the series that Vernon Wells uses to establish himself this season.  Surely a nine game road losing streak is enough to inspire Vernon to come to the plate with a plan and give us some of that 2003 shit.  Meaningful hits, that’s all Vernon.  We’re not asking for too much, but keep stealing bags.

Janssen gets the ball tonight, Scott Richmond goes to the pen.  I’m okay with that, I’ll tell you why.  Casey Janssen needs to start, but he could come out flaccid and we’ll need a serviceable arm ready for long relief.  That’s what Scott Richmond is, a serviceable arm.  He’s not a fucking superstar, but neither is Janssen.

See, I’m having trouble being positive.  I’m scared shitless.  Only the encouraging words of Scott Rolen can snap me out of this forced introversion of pessimism.

I’ve searched high and low for a battle song to head into this series with.  I give you the musical equivalent of a Wakefield knuckleball: Pavement covering Creedence Clearwater Revival.  Go Jays!

Roy Halladay can stop the bleeding, but he needs some support.

Vernon Wells needs to hit the ball today, and I’m not talking about off of his ankles or shins.

I still believe in Alex Rios, just not as much as I used to.

Left handed Rich Hill coudn’t hold down a job a year ago, the Jays are loaded with right handed power hitters.  They should crush him.

Losing is unacceptable today, eight in a row is enough.

TOR: Halladay (8-1, 2.52 ERA)

BAL: Hill (1-0, 3.18 ERA)

Game Time 1:35 PM ET

The good people at Baseball Prospectus had a decent chat with Adam Lind.  Lind talked about his start to the season, approach at the plate, and a few other notables.  Worth checking out for sure.

Lind apparently was a big Andre Dawson fan growing up… schweet, me too.  Our beloved DH also enjoys cooking, who knew?