"Wolverine" up to the task??

Brian Tallet has a chance to help the '09 Jays make a statement tonight when he faces off against the Yankees "other" prized free agent acquisition in hefty lefty C.C. Sabathia. The Jays put the boots to former teammate A.J. Burnett on Tuesday night before dropping last night's contest 8-2.


Tallet will have to be on his game tonight to give the Jays a fighting chance against Sabathia, one of the top pitchers in the league over the last 5 years. In 5 starts this season, Tallet has surrendered 15 ER in 29 IP but 10 of those runs came in a rout in Kansas City. In his other 4 starts (OAK, @CHW, CLE, @OAK) Tallet has posted a 1.80 ERA over 25 IP with a 2-0 record and an 18/9 K/BB ratio.

Just like last nights starter (Canadian Scott Richmond), Tallet will face his toughest opponent thus far when he faces the Yankees tonight. Richmond, previously 4-1, was absolutely rocked by the Yankees last night. He surrendered 5 ER on 7 hits and 2 walks while retiring just 5 hitters before exiting in the second inning. That left 7.1 innings for the Blue Jays bullpen, and forced Cito Gaston to use RHP Brian Wolfe (2 IP and 32 pitches), LHP Bill Murphy (2 IP and 42 pitches), RHP Brandon League (1 IP and 17 pitches), RHP Jason Frasor (1 IP and 14 pitches) and RHP Shawn Camp (1 IP and ONLY 7 pitches). Luckily for the Jays, all 5 relievers were fairly efficient with their pitch counts and Ace Roy Halladay pitched a complete gam the night before, leaving the bullpen fairly rested for tonight's series finale.

If all goes well for Tallet, the bullpen won't need to do much work. In each of his last two starts, Tallet has thrown 7 strong innings, and both were quality starts. But this is the Yankees, not the lowly A's or Indians, and they've got one of the best pitchers in baseball on the hill. C.C. Sabathia, by far the biggest free agent (both in size and notoriety) during the offseason, is just 2-3 through his first 7 starts but has posted respectable numbers with a 3.94 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, pretty close to his career numbers. His K's are down a bit and his ERA a bit high, but in 10 career starts vs. the Jays (all while pitching for the Indians), Sabathia is 7-3 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, while Jays hitters have hit just .215 against him.

No matter the superhero nickname, it appears as if Tallet is truly overmatched tonight, but if there's one thing we've learned thus far.. it's too never count these Jays out.

Tonight's Prediction: Yankees 6 - Jays 3

Note: Jays 2B Aaron Hill, who left Wednesday's game after fouling a ball off his left shin, is expected to play Thursday.