J.P.... meet Mats.. we actually like him!

I was searching the internet for a good picture of J.P. Ricciardi to adorn with devil horns for my Yahoo Fantasy Team's Avatar. With a team name of "Somebody KILL J.P." it's quite obvious how I feel about our lame duck G.M. It took me a few minutes to figure out who the "Jays" player was in this photo until I noticed the caption.

Here's an interesting article by SI.com's Joe Posnanski that shares a similar sentiment on Ricciardi. I think I found the perfect photo.

Don't look now but Gus is putting it all back together..

Are you STILL a Chacin man??

After a terrible showing with Dunedin in the Florida State League in 2008 (1-7, 7.88 ERA) Chacin was allowed to walk by the Jays.

After a sniff from the Washington Nationals, Chacin latched on with the defending champion Phillies and is back in top form in AAA. On the season, Gus is a combined 8-3 with a 3.17 ERA (1-0 in 1 AA start). He's also been hot of late, going 5-0 in his last 10 starts with a 3.02 ERA.

Unfortunately for Chacin with the additions of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, there are no openings in the Phillies Major League rotation. However, if Chacin can wrap up the season on a solid note, 2009 may just be the bounce back season he needed to resurrect what once seemed to be a promising career.

'Ricky the Rookie' continues R.O.Y. chase against Angels

Ricky Romero will toe the rubber for the Jays this afternoon in the rubber match of a three-game set with the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim). The enigmatic lefty has been a stalwart in the Jays makeshift rotation this year, posting a season line of 10-5 with a 3.95 ERA and 97/50 K/BB ratio over 125.1 IP in 20 starts.

These numbers appear strikingly similar to a young Tampa Bay hurler who is also in the running for the 2009 American League R.O.Y., Jeff Niemann:

11-5 with a 3.71 ERA and 86/44 K/BB ratio over 133.1 IP in 23 games (22 of those starts).

However, it's even more interesting to compare Romero's overall stats to a one of the players he's helped replace in the Jays rotation. Former Jay and current Yankee, Allan James Burnett:

10-7 with a 4.08 ERA and 141/77 K/BB ratio over 158.2 IP in 25 starts.

Comparing all three, Niemann appears to have the slight edge with an extra win and a slightly lower ERA, but all three pitchers have very similar K/BB ratios, roughly 2-to-1.

Consider that Burnett signed a whopping 5-year, $82.5 million deal with the Evil Empire after opting out of his Jays' pact after the first 3 years. Romero on the other hand is making an estimated $400,000 this year for the Jays.

Sounds like a bargain to me. The Jays biggest surprise this season goes for win #11 today against the Angels at 1pm.

I also love Johnny Mac, BUT...

Perhaps there is a better way to use his roster spot????

McDonald is making just his 4 start of the season for the Jays today. He's playing 2B today, while Aaron Hill is being utilized as the DH with left-hander Andy Pettitte on the mound for the Yanks.

Prior to today's game, McDonald has seen just 26 AB over hi 28 appearances, which have ranged from late-inning defensive replacements to pinch-running, to meaningless mop-up at bats.

Watching the resurgence of the stolen base across baseball this season, and in particular the speed utilized by the division-rival Tampa Bay Rays, it makes me wonder.. despite McDonald's defensive ability, wouldn't the Jays be better off with another bat of the bench (how bout a lefty) or a player with some speed to burn who could actually steal a base in a pinch-running situation (remember Dave Roberts for the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS)?

A quick glance down to AAA-Las Vegas shows there's only one player stealing any bases, Buck Coats who leads the team with 22. No other player on the team has more than 4 stolen bases. Coats is a lefty, and is hitting .321/.378/.440 down in Vegas which is a pretty nice line. The only problem here appears to be that Coats is an OF and removing McDonald from the roster would leave the Jays with just five regular infielders (Rolen, Scutaro, Hill, Overbay and Millar). Jose Bautista can play some infield as well, but mainly at 3B (he has only 5 career games at 2B), leaving just Scutaro and Hill with any experience in the middle of the infield.

Evidently, an infielder will be needed if McDonald is to be replaced and there are no solutions in AAA. Down in AA-New Hampshire, the only infielder with any steals is 2B Brad Emaus, who really climbed the Jays' organizational ladder both last season and in Spring Training. With the exception of an ugly .128/.202/.181 line across 94 June AB's, Emaus has continued to develop in AA this year after spending all of 2008 with A-Dunedin. Emaus is too far from the bigs, and doesn't possess enough speed to make it worth stunting his development with a call to the Jays' where he would be used mainly as a pinch runner.

Perhaps a trade outside the organization for a disgruntled or little used middle infielder with speed? Later tonight I'll take a look at some potential options. Stay tuned.

Oh ya, and Johnny Mac took Andy Pettitte deep for his 1st HR of the year today. One might almost think his ears were tingling as I wrote this. Good for you Mac.

Congratulations Ricky Romero..

on setting a new Blue Jays' rookie record for 24 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, surpassing Mark Eichorn's previous record.

Roberto Alomar: Second to One???

Move over Robbie, Aaron Hill is in the house.

Romero does more than just beat the Nats

Making his fourth start since returning from the disabled list and just the ninth of his career, Ricky Romero did a whole lot more for the Blue Jays than just bringing home the "W" Sunday afternoon. Romero tossed seven solid innings, limiting the Washington Nationals to just two runs while striking out six. He had to battle through trouble in the first few frames, and ended up throwing a career high 118 pitches. It was an important start for the young lefty for a couple of different reasons. Despite an 8-inning gem from Scott Richmond and 7 innings from both Romero and Cecil in each of their starts, three of the first five games of the Jays' road trip went to extra innings. The Jays bullpen was forced to pick up the slack, logging a total of 18.2 innings over the five games. A beleagured group Saturday night, the Jays were forced to turn the ball over to Scott Richmond for the 11th and 12th innings, just three days after he threw 107 pitches in his best performance of the year vs. the Philles.

All Hands On Deck!!!

The Toronto Blue Jays have emptied the proverbial cupboard in AAA-Las Vegas by promoting both LHP Brad Mills and LHP Brett Cecil to fill the gapping holes in their rotation. RHP Jeremy Accardo was also summoned by the team to replace Scott Downs in the bullpen.

In case you've been living under a rock, the Jays added RHP Roy Halladay, Casey Janssen and LHP Scott Downs to the DL yesterday with various injuries.

Brad Mills makes his major league debut today vs. Joe Blanton and the Phillies.

Fearless Prediction for Mills: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 3 K (no decision) as I expect the Jays bats to come through and complete the sweep of the defending World Series champs.

2009 First-Year Player Draft Rundown

1st (20th) overall - RHP Chad Jenkins
37th overall - LHP James Paxton

Hallady will be the AL starter for the allstar game

That's right you heard it.

HALLADAY'S CAREER NIGHT LIFTS JAYS OVER HALOS

The Doctor was certainly in tonight!

Outside of a 4-run debacle in the 7th, Halladay pitched a gem to lead the Jays to a 6-4 win on Tuesday night. Along the way he piled up a career-high 14 K's in his second complete game of the season to improve his record to 9-1 on the season.

The Jays offense pounded out 9 hits and 6 runs on Angels' starter Joe Saunders over his 5.1 IP. After the bullpen blew a disasterous 5 run lead in Halladay's last start vs. Baltimore, Cito Gaston wasn't taking any chances tonight and let the Doctor go the distance, throwing a total of 133 pitches, 88 for strikes.

Next up: Casey Janssen (1-1, 4.15) takes the hill for the Jays' in the second of a three game set. The Angels will counter with Jered Weaver (4-2, 2.36 ERA) who is off to an impressive start to the 2009 season. The Jays will have their work cut out for them as Weaver has posted a 4-1 record against the Jays in 5 career starts.

"Desperate...

but not hopeless. The clock strikes midnight..."

Shhh...do you hear that?? That's the collective sound of thousands of fair-weather fans jumping off the Blue Jays bandwagon. Let's remember folks, Cito said it himself in spring training. 2009 is meant to be a bridge of sorts to 2010, when the rotation should be fully intact and all the young players will have an extra year of development under their belts.


Do you know your enemy? Do you know your enemy??


Much like Green Day's newest release, the 2009 Toronto Blue Jays are desperate, BUT not hopeless.

The TSN Curse

Well Mr. Balsillie, we've "made it seven" in our own way.

Here's the funny part: Ever since TSN.ca posted their comparison between the 1992 and 1993 Jays and a bunch of other articles about the Jays championship years priar to the start of their "key" series with Boston earlier in the week, the Jays have not won a game.



That's right, 7 straight losses. The road trip started with three straight losses in Boston, followed by the first three interleague games of the year in Atlanta (rematch from the 1992 World Series) and now the first of a three game set in Baltimore. The Jays turn the ball to LHP Ricky Romero tonight, who's making his return from a month on the DL with a strained oblique. Prior to his injury, Romero was 2-0 in 3 starts with a 1.71 ERA and a 13/4 K/BB ratio. His last start vs. Oakland was a 7 inning, 4 hit, no run performance with 6 K's and only 2 walks.

If Romero is back to full form tonight, the Jays have a good chance to snap a nasty losing skid vs. Baltimore rookie Jason Berken, who is making his major league debut tonight.

After watching 7 straight ugly, painful losses I'm quite happy that my ball hockey game tonight is forcing me to miss the game. Perhaps if I don't watch... they'll actually win one for a change.

Cito REALLY blew it tonight!!!

I can't believe the way the Blue Jays ended up losing tonight's game. Scott Rolen leads off the top of the 8th inning of a 0-0 game with a double, just Toronto's third hit of the game. Lyle Overbay comes to the plate with a simple task, to move Rolen over to third ANYWAY HE CAN. Forget putting down a bunt (WHY??), but let's allow Overbay to swing away in hopes that he can pull a ball to the right side of the infield to advance the runner, or perhaps even find a hole for a base hit. However, Overbay pulls a grounder to the 1st base side of the mound, only to be snagged by Kenshin Kawakami who looked Rolen back to the bag before throwing Overbay out at first. Rod Barajas is forced to swing away with the pitcher Roy Halladay waiting in the on-deck circle. Barajas proceeds to fly out to right, certainly deep enough that it would have scored Rolen from third. Instead the 3B was pinned again at second, leaving Cito Gaston with a decision. Roy Halladay had completed 7 innings, throwing 95 pitches, 63 for strikes, but was lifted from the game for pinch-hitter Joe Inglett. In his first at-bat of the season after being recalled from AAA-Las Vegas earlier in the day, Inglett promptly strikes out looking.

Not only did the Jays fail to score the leadoff runner from second base in a scoreless ballgame, but they also lost their starter to an ice cold pinch hitter in a two-out situation and would consequently give up the only run in the bottom of the 8th, and again fail to drive in a runner from 2nd (this time with 1-out) in the 9th.

The irony lays in the way the Atlanta Braves scored their lone run of the game, in the bottom half of the 8th. Jesse Carlson came out of the pen for the Jays, and the Braves replied by pinch-hitting Matt Diaz for Kawakami. Diaz hits a ground rule double, and is successfully pushed over to third on Yunel Escobar's grounder to first. Casey Kotchman, like Barajas, lifted a fly ball (this time to left), deep enough to score Diaz from 3rd with the would-be winning run.

Is Lyle Overbay physically unable to put down a bunt?? Perhaps Kevin Millar, Jose Bautista, or even good old Johnny Mac could lay one down. Now perhaps you're thinking, then who do the Jays send out to play 1B? Either Millar or Bautista are capable of playing the position, albeit are no gold glove candidates. However, the importance of moving Scott Rolen over to 3rd base with less than 2 outs definitely warranted a pinch-hitter if Cito felt Overbay was unable to put down a bunt.

The Jays' offence has been sputtering as of late, ever since sweeping a 4 game set from the White Sox at the Rogers Centre. Roy Halladay pitched a gem tonight, and a 1-run lead likely would have been more than enough for the Doc. Provided he avoided major trouble, he could have pitched the rest of the game and finished somewhere in the neighbourhood of 120-125 pitches, certainly high but definitely capable for a workhorse like Halladay.

Instead, Overbay and consequently Barajas' futility forced Gaston to lift Halladay from the game for a pinch-hitter in hopes of cashing in the first run of the game against Kawakami, who turned in a strong performance for the Braves. The "rookie" tossed 8 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 3 hits while striking out 7. Mike Gonzalez gave up a 1-out double to Aaron Hill in the 9th but managed to strand him at second after consecutive groundouts by Alex Rios and Vernon Wells.

Adam Lind is due, but hell so are Rios and Wells.

I really hope Derek Lowe feels the wrath tomorrow night, or this might turn into a real funk for the Jays. Here's also hoping that Casey Janssen can be effective early and give his offense a chance to get out in front.

'Till next time.

Time to shuffle the deck!!

Less than 24 hours after being swept away by the Red Sox, the Blue Jays have made a flurry of roster moves. Optioned to AAA-Las Vegas were promising young sluggar Travis Snider, and rotation fill ins, LHP Brett Cecil and RHP Ricky Ray.


Snider was hitting .242 with 3 HR and 12 RBI in 99 AB's over 32 games, primarily in the outfield. With interleague play beginning tonight in Atlanta, and covering most of June, Snider was set to lose a lot of playing time in NL parks as regular DH Adam Lind will be shifted to LF to keep his bat in the heart of the Jays' lineup. The timing could not be better for the Jays as Snider had been scuffling of late hitting at just a .216/.237/.243 clip in May. The move will allow Snider to play everyday in AAA and refine his game after being exposed by major league pitching. One of the biggest things Snider has to work on, like most hitters is his plate patience and pitch recognition as he was often the victim of nasty breaking pitches, swinging at balls nowhere near the plate. It will also allow Snider to play every day again after spending the first month and a half of the season riding the pine vs. lefties.

If all goes well in the minors I wouldn't be surprised to see the young outfielder resurface sometime in late June as the Jays last visit to a National League park is a three game set at Nationals Park in Washington from June 19th-21st. In the meantime, I'd expect 1B Kevin Millar to receive the majority of at bats when the DH is required, although Jose Bautista might garner the extra start or two as well.

Cecil had been very impressive in his short stint with the Jays until his start Wednesday night at Fenway when he served up 5 (yes FIVE!!) home runs to the Red Sox. His ERA over his first three starts was a flashy 1.80 but skyrocketed to 4.38 after allowing 8 ER over just 4.2 innings @ the Red Sox. Cecil also surrendered 2 home runs in his previous start vs. the White Sox so the Jays brass probably felt it was best for the organization's top pitching prospect to go back down to AAA to continue to develop.

Ray, called up to plug a hole in the rotation in early May experienced some success in his 4 starts in the bigs, the best being his 8 shutout innings against the White Sox in which he allowed just 3 hits. His other 3 starts were not as pretty however as he allowed at least 3 ER in each of them. Ray likely would have been sent down earlier if the Jays had any better rotation options but now with some pitchers coming off the DL, Ray head to Las Vegas where he will get his first taste of AAA action after being called up straight from AA earlier in the month.

To replace these players on the roster, Toronto recalled IF Joe Inglett, LHP Ricky Romero and RHP Casey Janssen.

Inglett performed admirably for the Jays last season filling in for the injured Aaron Hill but with both him and SS Marco Scutaro playing so well, Inglett will have a tough time finding AB's. He hit .297/.355/.407 in 344 AB in 2008, his first full season with the Jays.

Romero, the 6th overall pick in the 2005 draft, pitched very well in his first 3 Major League starts after making the team out of spring training. After posting a 2-0 record and 1.71 ERA over his first 21 IP, Romero hit the disabled list with a strained oblique, suffered while sneezing. Luckily for the Jays, their rotation fill ins have performed quite well in Romero's absence and it will be interesting to see if he can pick up where he left off when he returns to the hill Tuesday night in Baltimore.

Janssen missed all of the 2008 season after after undergoing shoulder surgery in spring training last year. He made his big league debut back in 2006, appearing in 19 games (17 of which were starts) and compiling a 6-10 record with a 5.07 ERA. It wasn't until he was moved to the bullpen for the 2007 season that Janssen really thrived. Upon earning a late inning set up role, he posted a 2.35 ERA over 72.2 IP and racked up 6 saves and 24 holds.

Janssen was lights out during his minor league rehab stint posting a microscopic 0.76 ERA over 23.2 IP between Class A-Dunedin and AA-New Hampshire. He will bring a nice veteran presence to the Jays rotation, something much needed with only ace Roy Halladay having made more than 15 career starts. Although it appears to be Richmond's turn in the order, it has been reported by both Rotoworld.com and on the the Blue Jay's website that Janssen is set to follow the Doc in the 2nd of a 3 game set in Atlanta this weekend.

The Jays rotation now appears to be set up as follows: RHP Roy Halladay, RHP Casey Janssen, LHP Brian Tallet, RHP Scott Richmond, LHP Ricky Romero.

You know things aren't going well when...

Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the 5th, Red Sox SS Julio Lugo hit a routine grounder to short and appeared to be thrown out at 1st base by Jays' SS Marco Scutaro. The 1B umpire ruled that Jays' 1B Kevin Millar was pulled of the base and that Lugo was safe. The replay CLEARLY showed that yes Millar was pulled off the bag by the throw, but that he was able to get his foot back on the bag in time to record the out, NOT TO MENTION that Lugo CLEARLY did not even touch 1st base at all.

Oh well, just one of those games.. or series, depends how you look at it.

Bring on the Braves!!!

Ray Day!!

The Blue Jays will send young righty Robert Ray to the hill tonight when they complete their three game series with the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It is a crucial game for the team, not just to avoid their first three game losing streak of the season, but to prove to themselves that even without their best starters, that they have a legitimate chance to battle the Red Sox and Yankees for the AL East Division crown.

Thus far this season the Blue Jays have only faced each of their long-time rivals once, dropping two of three to the Yankees at Rogers Centre earlier in the month, and thus far losing the first two of a three game set at Fenway. Unfortunately for the Jays, ace pitcher Roy Halladay was not scheduled to pitch in this series, and unless the team does some rotation juggling, he is set to pitch the final game of a three game set vs. the Orioles at Camden Yards (May 27) and will miss the Red Sox again during their three game visit to the Rogers Centre (May 29-31).

Unless Ricky Romero, Jesse Litsch or Casey Janssen are able to make it back to the big leagues from injury before the completion of that second series with the Red Sox, the Jays will be forced to continue pinning their hopes on their young arms. If no adjustments are made, the probable pitchers for that series are Scott Richmond, Brian Tallet and Brett Cecil.

Back to tonight's series finale, the Jays will try to take one from the Red Sox who will send LHP Jon Lester to the hill. The Jays have fared well against LHP this year thanks to solid contributions from platoon players Kevin Millar and Jose Bautista. Millar, although seeing the majority of his AB's vs. lefties, is actually hitting at a higher clip vs. righties (.277/.333) although it's important to keep in mind it's a very small sample size with only 71 combined AB's on the season. Overbay, however hit just .215 with zero HR in 149 AB vs. lefties in '08, so any production Millar can provide is an added bonus for the '09 Jays. 3B/LF Jose Baustista, who has regularly replaced young OF Travis Snider in the lineup vs. lefties this year has hit at a .316/.395/.474 clip vs. southpaws and will certainly be in tonight's lineup.

The lone lefty expected to be in tonight's lineup is DH Adam Lind who is 1-4 in his career vs. Lester. Expect to see the regular lefty lineup of: Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen, Millar, Barajas, Bautista.

Lester is 1-2 in 5 career starts vs. the Jays with a 3.94 ERA and .212 BAA, however he has struggled in three of his last four starts.

Tonight's Prediction: Expect to see the Jay's bats come to life and if Robert Ray can provide a quality start, or an effort close enough the Jays should be able to pull it out. Jays 7 - Red Sox 5 and off to Atlanta to unleash the Doc on the Braves.

"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.

JOSE BAUTISTA JUST GOT HOSED!!!

That 3-2 pitch from Sean Gallagher was DEFINITELY Ball #4.

Thanks for nothing Paul Nauert (home plate umpire)

Oh well, Thanks Mr. Gallagher for plunking Alex Rios and opening the first inning flood gates, only for them to be slammed shut by the ump.

Weekly Preview: April 13th - 19th

Opponents: 4 @ Minnesota, 3 vs. Oakland

After a strong start in the opening week of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays play their next four games at the Metrodome in Minnesota before returning home to host Oakland for three at the Rogers Centre. The four game set in Minnesota will be the Jays last ever trip to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome as the Twins are set to move to their new home, Target Field, for Opening Day 2010.

The Jays swept the Twins in a three game set at the Metrodome last year, from May 13th-15th. Strong perfromances from right-handers Jesse Litsch, Roy Halladay, and Dustin McGowan gave the slumping offence a chance to put away the Twins in three closely decided games. In fact, Toronto relievers earned a save in each of the three wins. B.J. Ryan recorded saves in the first and third games. If it hadn't been for pitching in the last game of the previous Cleveland series (which ended with a double header), Ryan may have been called upon to close out all three games vs. the Tribe. However, Scott Downs was brought on to nail down the save for Roy Halladay in the second game.

Jesse Litsch will again open the series for the Jays as he takes on Twins right-hander Kevin Slowey. He will be followed by rookies Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond, before the final game of the series is a showdown of aces with Roy Halladay scheduled to pitch against Francisco Liriano.

Halladay is 7-0 lifetime in 9 career starts vs. the Twins, with a sparkling 2.92 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. At the Metrodome, the numbers aren't as gaudy but the Doc is still 3-0 in 5 starts while posting a 4.46 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. Jesse Litsch has also been dominant against the Twins over his brief career, posting a 3-0 record in 4 career starts with a 2.08 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. At the Metrodome, Litsch is also slightly more human with a 1-0 record in 2 starts and a 4.50 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.

"Ace" Scott Baker will be making his season debut for the Twins in the third game of the series after opening the season on the disabled list. Baker is a tough matchup for Canadian righty Scott Richmond and Romero gets to face Glen Perkins, coming off a solid start to open the season.

2B Aaron Hill and SS Marco Scutaro were the key table setters throughout the first week of the season but both have struggled in their careers at the Metrodome. Hill is hitting .226/.268/.245 with 2 RBI in 53 AB, while Scutaro has posted a .235/.235/.255 line with zero walks and just 4 runs over 51 AB. Coming into the series red-hot, hopefully Toronto's double play tandem will post better numbers at the top of the lineup throughout this series.

Expect the Jays to at least split this four game set in Minnesota with their best chances for wins coming in the first and fourth games. However, with the way their offence has been purring, the Jays could have the chance to win each game in this series. It will be interesting to see what young left-hander Ricky Romero can do for an encore after his strong 6 inning season debut against the Tigers.

Back at home for a three game set against the Oakland A's, it will likely be David Purcey, Litsch and Romero starting the three game set. Oakland's rotation is full of unproven youngsters, led by Dana Eveland's 36 career starts. With the Jays set to counter with their three youngest starters, it will be an interesting showdown of young talent between the teams. The A's visited Toronto twice last season, but faced two much different Toronto ballclubs. Their first road trip of the season was in Toronto from April 8th-10th and they swept a three-game set from the Jays. The Jays were struggling early on in the year, and after John Gibbons was fired as Manager in June and replaced by Cito Gaston the Jays were a much improved team the second half of the season. The A's returned to Toronto from August 4th-7th and were promptly swept in that four-game series.

Because the A's rotation is so inexperienced, there isn't much statistical data we can use to predict how the Jays offence will fare. It's likely that the A's will use Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden and Dana Eveland in the series in Toronto as they have an off day before coming to town, likely prompting them to skip 5th starter Josh Outman's next turn in the rotation.

Cahill is coming off a very strong second start to the season (and second of his career), where he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in. Unfortunately Cahill, one of baseball's top pitching prospects, was the tough luck loser as he was outduelled by Seattle's Erik Bedard in a 1-0 final.

The Jays fared well against another young pitching prospect in Detroit's Rick Porcello during opening series in Toronto. It takes hitters time to adjust to a pitcher they haven't faced before, so if Cahill has his control early, don't be surprised to see Toronto's lineup struggle the first time through. Cahill has thrown 103 and 97 pitches, respectively in his two starts thus far, showing that he has the ability to work deep into games. Control might be his issue, as he issued 8 walks over his first two starts. If the Jays hitters can remain patient and make Cahill work, they'll get a look at his variety of pitches and should be able to do some damage the second and third times through the lineup.

Of the three projected starters for the series, only Dana Eveland pitched at the Rogers Centre last year. He has two career starts versus the Jays, a gem early in the season on April 10th and he silenced the struggling Jays over six-plus innings, surrendering just three hits and three walks, while striking out six Jays. Seeing Eveland later in the year in Oakland, the Jays put the beat on the young pitcher as he allowed 11 hits and 7 ER over 4.1 IP in an eventual 12-0 Toronto victory. Rod Barajas played a big role in that victory, and combined to hit 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI against Eveland last season.

When facing Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano or either of the A's two lefties in Braden and Eveland, don't be surprised to see Lyle Overbay and/or Travis Snider sit while some of the right-handed reserves get starts. As Braden and Eveland pitch back-to-back, it would be surprising to see Cito Gaston bench Snider for two straight games again. Expect him start against one of the two, likely Braden in the second game of the series. Again, the Jays have the ability to win each of these three matchups and anything less than a series victory has to be considered a disappointment. Look for the Jays to be puzzled by Cahill and Braden early in the games, but expect the offence to improve the second time through the order.

Prediction for the week: Roy Halladay improves to 3-0 with a win over Francisco Liriano and the Twins and the Jays finish with at least 4 wins in 7 games. That might not sound impressive, but it would be enough to win a playoff series wouldn't it??