Overbay SnakeBites Jays in Pirates' Series Win.

There's nothing more I hate than watching ex-Jays players succeed for the wrong reasons in their bittersweet return.

That was certainly the case last night as Lyle Overbay walked into the game with a spectacular .230-ish batting average and promptly reached third base on a pop up that Jose Bautista, Yunel Escobar and Corey Patterson all couldn't make the play on.

Overbay was credited with a double for what was clearly an error and saw his average climb back over .230.

The Pirates have one of the worst offensive teams I have ever seen and somehow they are above .500 in the National League Central because of their pitching.

The return of Brett Cecil deserved better than allowing Lyle Overbay to snakebite his old team.

Evan Longoria Saves Reporter's Life

That's Six Straight Wins For The Blue Jays

Really good to see Aaron Hill coming around.

Ginger Litsch faces Porcello tonight.

Detroit's got a good rotation, guys.

Steal one and come back home for a hell of a matchup at the Dome Wednesday Night.

Romero vs. Hellickson. 

Tampa's in town soon enough! 

John McDonald Has Been Clutch In 2011.

Here's a salute. 

Courtesy of CTV Toronto 

"Instincts serve McDonald Well At Third Base" - Jordan Schelling. 

McDonald's Walkoff 11th Inning Homerun

Courtesy of The Canadian Press

This is A Blue Jays Moving Month We Like To Call May #bluejays

Alex Anthopolous calls it at the beginning of the season by saying that the Jays would have a sub-par rotation and a really strong bullpen.

That's certainly been the case- the bullpen ranks #1 in the American League, and the starters? Below average of course.

A 20-20 start with Jose Bautista on a tear, you can't say enough about 16 homeruns by May 15th, 13 in 21 games, and Barry Bonds like numbers without the steroids.

A quarter of the way through the season, and the Jays are just in the thick of it, riding a five-game win streak, Bautista chasing down Roger Maris it seems like for the legitimate single-season homerun record.

It's a dream, really.

With New York featuring the likes of Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, you can only wonder how soon the wheels will fall off some more after a ridiculous offensive April.

Who could have predicted that Tampa Bay would emerge from a disastrous start to lead the division forty games in?

I honestly thought trading Garza was like the Jays trading Marcum- they really lost something in their starting rotation.

We've got Detroit who spanked us with a no-no last weekend, it's time to enact revenge and take that back home Wednesday night and show Tampa that they're not the only ones who can play hardball.

That's all there's to it, for this is a moving month we like to call May.

Who's going to help Jose Bautista As The Season Looks As If It Might Be Over Before It Really Begins?

You couldn't be more disappointed by back-to-back weekend losses on home soil for the Toronto Blue Jays in what seemed to be two winnable games against the Rays this weekend.

The unfortunate injuries to Hill and Nix during the homestand put a rather weak offense on display against David Price and Big Game James Shields.

It just seemed like no other player other than Jose Bautista was able to step up to the Rays' challenge. Bautista reached base in 12 of 14 plate appearances, and now boasts a .359 average with 7 homeruns, 10 RBIs and 19 walks in just 18 games.

Romero's Sunday start was reminiscent of an early April one in Seattle- where one pitch got away and cleared the fences amounting to the difference in the game, for the Jays couldn't find a way to cross the plate against Shields.

Saturday was no different in the return of Brandon Morrow. One pitch defined the outcome when the game was turned over to the bullpen and in the hands of Villaneuva.

Ben Zobrist did all the damage with both homeruns and Tampa just seemed to cruise to victory after that, despite a ninth inning meltdown by David Price on Saturday- perhaps Maddon left him out there just a bit too long.

I guess you couldn't blame the Jays, and the struggling Travis Snider though who was horribly robbed by a diving Sam Fulo in the 7th inning Saturday Afternoon in what looked like it had extra bases written all over it.

I just wonder if Mike McCoy is really the answer as a bench player- he might take a mighty swing but the ball never goes anywhere.

But that's baseball I guess, a game of inches and especially today when batter after batter kept hitting it down in the hot corner, but only to be scooped up at third base and either dramatically thrown out or the rockets caught off the bat of Jose Bautista or our favourite, John McDonald.

In this 9-12 start, the Jays just have to weather the storm now, as the schedule doesn't do them any favours in the coming week and a half as they embark on yet another three-city road trip, the second such in the early going of this 2011 campaign, battered by offensive injuries and a rotation that will be possibly 3/5ths demoted if Jo Jo Reyes continues to deliver on the side of just mediocre.


One also looks at the paltry batting averages put up by Snider, Riveria and Patterson and wonders if these guys really should be bonafide major leaguers for Snider still hasn't proven he's worthy, Riveria's bat is beginning to wake up but now he's just getting unlucky, and Patterson despite his speed has bounced around the Majors for years and years.

With all that in mind, you sort of just think as the Jays head to Texas, New York and Tampa if the team might find itself in a gaping hole they won't be able to get out of for the rest of the season.

Unless of course John Farrell and everyone else finds a way to shockingly weather the storm.

It seems like management doesn't care enough that the season is about to go south.

After all, it was coined a rebuilding year, I guess.

But can we really give up hope if it's only April and no one's run away with the division as it seems like every team is mired in about a .500 or so start?

John McDonald Walks Off In the 11th!

 From an amazing Father's Day homerun to six John McDonald homeruns last year from the defensive wizard we know as the Prime Minister of Defence, Mac gave another one for the ages tonight.

Here's the WALKOFF, courtesy of MLB.com

In his storied career as a Jay I don't think Mac's ever had a bigger hit and I've never seen a crowd go so crazy at Rogers Centre until I stare into the potrait of Carter's infamous homerun in '93.

If the 2011 season hadn't seen so many comebacks already, Friday night was no exception. I was proud to see the walkoff double from my sixth row seats Tuesday Night against the Yankees, was stunned when the oft-injured Colon shut down the Jays Wednesday night and couldn't have been more thrilled to see Johnny Mac put up a walkoff two-run homerun in the bottom of the eleventh inning!

This was a game where the Jays kept clawing back into it, and Jose Bautista had a monster game, 3-for-3, doubling, tripling, walking twice and hitting his fifth homerun of the season!

A perfect performance by Bautista was also followed up by seven strong innings from Jo Jo Reyes, who Gregg Zaun said recaptured his Spring Training magic as the game went along.

On a side note, I talked to Zaun over Twitter earlier, and he's releasing a clothing line called Zauntourage! I'd say it might be time to line up the beer-guzzling ball team of summer to sport some of that wear. I'll let you know what this guy who hit 50 homeruns in 28 games on my team last year thinks!

And yet, the Jays are still under .500 despite eight comeback wins.

We've already seen the demotion of Cecil and Litsch just nineteen games in.

The return of Morrow nears though....the same Brandon Morrow that shut down the Tampa Bay Rays last year in the fourth greatest pitching performance in the modern era of baseball with a one-hit seventeen strikeout performance that will go down with the ages.

And most of all, I'd like to apologize for not blogging lately- it's been a hell of a ride through the smartphone and tablet world lately and I write for some big names...but here's where it all started.

And make sure you catch Drunk Jays Fans' show where Andrew Stoeten continues to make an ass out of himself.

Maybe the more he makes an ass out of himself, the more the Jays will produce late inning magic!

Seems to be working, anyways.

Jays Face Felix Hernandez!

As nobody's been posting this season on the blog really since Escobar walked off and we all went fucking crazy!

The Jays had steamrolled to a 5-2 start under a Jayson Nix clutch homerun.

But we know how quickly that winning mark could be completely erased tonight as 2010's Cy Young Award Winner Felix Hernandez takes the mound for the Seattle Mariners.

This comes after a tough 14-inning loss on Saturday Night followed by whiffing at the plate 15 times courtesy of Weaver in a 3-1 loss in which Jo-Jo Reyes turned in eight great innings.

Have you noticed how much the Jays defense sucks this year?

I count....many unearned runs.

Shape up, or ship out.

That's what my daddy used to say.

It doesn't matter if Felix Hernandez is on the mound.

Jays Walkoff in Extras, Escobar's Two-Run Shot....

Rajai Davis set up the eventual game winning blast by Yunel Escobar off former rival reliever Grant Balfour who couldn't get a heater past him as Escobar drove it over the wall in right field into the A's bullpen where Balfour had emerged from. 

Escobar's two-run shot ended a game that saw the Jays fall into an early 5-0 hole dug by Jo Jo Reyes. 

The Jays managed to battle back for four runs in the sixth inning, sparked by a Rajai Davis double. 

Adam Lind was also 2-3 in the 7-6 effort that took ten innings to play. 

Jose Bautista will not play in the Oakland Series due to a newborn child, and the Blue Jays must rely on old incumbents like Adam Lind and Aaron Hill to pick up the slack as the combination of Riveria and Encarncnion have struggled in the early going. 

The Jays could have been 4-0 in this 3-1 start, but they failed to bring down Minnesota's bullpen Sunday afternoon in a game that the Jays had several chances to get closer and send the game to extra innings. 

The Jays bullpen has now allowed just two runs in 15 innings of work. 

The Offensive Recap of a 13-3 Opening Night Spanking Over The Twins

In his debut with the Blue Jays, Raiji Davis made a great first impression, legging out an infield single, nearly getting picked off but somehow sliding back in safely, and then partnering with Yunel Escobar in a double-steal that set up four first inning runs for the Blue Jays.

Jose Bautista and Adam Lind went back-to-back in the fifth inning, and J.P. Arencibia hit two homeruns and had a triple, while driving in five runs. 

Edwin Encarncion hit the ball hard all night long but was limited to one line-drive single. Aaron Hill doubled after two of his option years were declined, and Snider managed to finally get his first hit of the season after reaching base on an error and two walks in his first three appearences to the plate. 


Newcomer Juan Riveria was denied a hit, but did walk. 


On a related note, John McDonald turned a beautiful double play late in the game that sealed any chance the Twins had of making a late comeback!