Monday, July 31, 2017

no. 106 2017: Blue Jays (49-56) at White Sox (40-62)



Monday 31 July 2017
8:10 PM EDT / Guaranteed Rate Field
Marco Estrada (RHP 4-7, 5.43 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 122 Ks)
v. James Shields (RHP 2-3, 5.86 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 38 Ks)

Trade Deadline Chat


A place to talk about deadline trades.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

no. 105 2017: Angels (51-54) at Blue Jays (48-56)


Sunday 30 July 2017
1:07PM PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Jesse Chavez (LHP 5-10, 5.35 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 86 Ks)
v. Cesar Valdez (RHP 1-0, 4.97 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 18 Ks)

Saturday, July 29, 2017

no. 104 2017: Angels (50-54) at Blue Jays (48-55)



Saturday 29 July 2017
1:07PM PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Yusmerio Petit (RHP 2-0, 2.70 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 59 Ks)
v. Fransisco Liriano (LHP 6-5, 5.99 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 70 Ks)

Friday, July 28, 2017

no. 103 2017: Angels (49-54) at Blue Jays (48-54)


Friday 28 July 2017
7:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Parker Bridwell (RHP 4-1, 3.09 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 30 Ks)
v. JA Happ (LHP 3-7, 4.13 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 65 Ks)

Thursday, July 27, 2017

no. 102 2017: Athletics (44-57) at Blue Jays (47-54)



Thursday 27 July 2017
12:37 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Sean Manaea (LHP 8-5 3.82 ERA 1.25 WHIP 103Ks)
v. Marcus Stroman (RHP 9-5 2.98 ERA 1.26 WHIP 105Ks)

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

no. 101 2017: Athletics (44-56) at Blue Jays (46-54)



Wednesday 26 July 2017
7:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Paul Blackburn (RHP 1-1 2.88 ERA  1.16 WHIP 9Ks)
v. Marco Estrada (RHP 4-7 5.52 ERA 1.49 WHIP 118Ks)


This is your game thread: "There's no place like Dome" Edition.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

no. 100 2017: Athletics (44-55) at Blue Jays (45-54)


Tuesday 25 July 2017
7:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Sonny Gray (LHP 6-4, 3.66 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 85 Ks)
v. Cesar Valdez (RHP 0-0, 6.05 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 14 Ks)

Rumor Round-Up



With a week left to the trade deadline, I figured I'd do a couple link dumps and tweet posting. (Apologies to Tom - filling in a post for the site).

Monday, July 24, 2017

no. 99 2017: Athletics (44-54) at Blue Jays (44-54)



Monday 24 July 2017
7:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Chris Smith (RHP 0-0, 2.77 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 8 Ks)
. Fransisco Liriano (LHP 5-5, 6.15 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 65 Ks)

Gratitude Challenge


After what just transpired, I want to change the energy in this place. So I'm issuing a challenge:

Name 5 good things in your life right now.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

no.98 2017: Blue Jays (44-53) at Clevelands (50-45)

Sunday 23 July 2017
1:10 PM EDT / Progressive Field
JA Happ (LHP 3-6, 3.55 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 62 Ks)
v. Corey Kluber (RHP 7-3, 2.86 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 135 Ks)

Saturday, July 22, 2017

no.97 2017: Blue Jays (44-52) at Clevelands (49-45)

Saturday 22 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Progressive Field
Marcus Stroman (RHP 9-5, 3.10 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 98 Ks)
v. Danny Salazar (RHP 3-5, 5.40 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 77 Ks)

Friday, July 21, 2017

no.96 2017: Blue Jays (44-51) at Clevelands (48-45)

Friday 21 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Progressive Field
Marco Estrada (RHP 4-6, 5.33 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 115 Ks) 
v. Trevor Bauer (RHP 7-8, 5.59 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 105 Ks)

Thursday, July 20, 2017

no. 95 2017: Blue Jays (43-51) at Red Sox (54-42)



Thursday 20 July 2017
1:35 PM EDT / Fenway Park Pinball Machine
Francisco Liriano (LHP 5-5, 6.04 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 64 Ks)
v. Doug Fister (RHP 0-3, 6.75 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 15 Ks)

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

no. 94 2017: Blue Jays (43-50) at Red Sox (53-42)



Wednesday 19 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Fenway Park Pinball Machine
Aaron Sanchez (RHP 1-2, 3.94 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 22 Ks)
v. Drew Pomeranz (LHP 9-4, 3.75 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 105 Ks)

Hump Day Amateur Morning/Afternoon Entertainment

 Today is not your usual Hump-Day post.

2017 is a tumultuous season full of the odd highs and more cringey lows.

Injuries, under performances, more injuries, and more disappointments.

Plenty of us doubt the playoffs are coming this season and a blow up might occur as soon as August 2017 begins.

Whatever happens, just know that we had much fun with most of the crew that still stuck with our roster since 2015.

If I want to reveal my true identity to you all as "Earl Stroman's (Direction) (Muscle part)", I might as well do it with a Jays-related "BANG".

It was July 5th and I had a couple of sips (yes, I am shitty drinker) of alcohol to kill off my self-consciousness to make an ass of myself at Stouffville's Wolf Creek Golf.

My good friend did the honours to do this video of my feelings for this team's year and my appreciation of the good run we had with them:


*Disclaimer: I am not a professional actor and I did this in one take.  Don't blame me for not keeping a straight face*

Let's ride with these guys till the arrival of Vlad Jr., Bo Bichette, and ANY CAPABLE LF (aka the Teacher's position of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts). 

I trust the Shatkins regime right now (I'm still coughing crow feathers that Smoak became a GOD DAMN ALL-STAR!).   I am confident we can become a more consistent team with less holes in 2018.  Hopefully Sage Tulo and Elder Dosh can lead the new nest of chicks from the nest in 2019!

**If we some how qualify for the Wild Card in October 2017, I'll have to make a grander video than this one being shown.**

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

no. 93 2017: Blue Jays (43-49) at Red Sox (52-42)



Tuesday 18 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Fenway Park Pinball Machine
JA Happ (LHP 3-6, 3.54 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 60 Ks)
v. Brian Johnson (RHP 2-0, 4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 17 Ks)

Monday, July 17, 2017

no. 92 2017: Blue Jays (42-49) at Red Sox (52-41)



Monday 17 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Fenway Park Pinball Machine
Marcus Stroman (RHP 9-5, 3.28 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 93 Ks)
v. Eduardo Rodriguez (RHP 4-2, 3.54 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 65 Ks)

Get to Know: Roemon Fields

Speed to burn and hitting a ton in Buffalo. September call-up option? Trade bait? Career AAAA player?

You've probably heard the Roemon Fields story by now. After going undrafted in 2013, he gave up the baseball dream and took a job delivering mail and selling over-priced hats at Lids in a mall near Seattle. A man's gotta earn a paycheque somehow. Respect.

Then an old coach got him a tryout in Vancouver in the Northwest League, and 3 seasons later he's hitting .317 in Buffalo and knocking on the door. Well, perhaps the September call-up door.

The book on Fields prior to this season was he has speed to burn (48 and 46 steals in the past two years!), takes great routes in CF, is an overall incredible athlete, but he needs work at the plate. Well seems he figured something out in Buffalo. Maybe our old friend Devon White, hitting coach and TBJ Legend, has had something to do with the improvement.

So where does Field sit among OF prospects for the Jays? Sexier options abound, like Anthony Alford and Dwight Smith, Jr., for example. And let's not forget poor Dalton Pompey either.  He's healthy again and should see some time in Toronto any day now. Superman (KP) isn't going anywhere, and Pearce and Carrera are serviceable (Pearce may become trade bait soon). Even the 22MM Cuban defector Lourdes Gurriel, while struggling, presents a hefty commitment from the Jays. Talk about crowded! Fields would be more than hard-pressed to see any MLB time this year.

So why write a post of Roemon Fields? I love a good comeback story. I love speed. And if he ever amounts to something I get to say Atodaso. I fuckin' Atodaso.



Sunday, July 16, 2017

no. 91 2017: Blue Jays (42-47) at Tigers (39-49)

Sunday 16 July 2017
1:10 PM PM EDT / Comerica Park
Marco Estrada (RHP 4-6, 5.17 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 110 Ks)
v. Anibal Sanchez (RHP 1-0, 5.89 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 44 Ks)

Saturday, July 15, 2017

no. 90 2017: Blue Jays (42-47) at Tigers (39-49)

Saturday 15 July 2017
6:10 PM PM EDT / Comerica Park
Francisco Liriano (LHP 5-4, 5.56 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 62 Ks)
v. Michael Fulmer (RHP 9-6, 3.19 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 84 Ks)

Friday, July 14, 2017

no. 89 2017: Blue Jays (41-47) at Tigers (39-48)


Friday 14 July 2017
7:10 PM EDT / Comerica Park
Aaron Sanchez (RHP 0-2 4.85 ERA 1.62 WHIP 18Ks)
v. Justin Verlander (RHP 5-6 4.73 ERA 1.52 WHIP 98Ks)


This is your game thread: "New Start" Edition.

1st Half Awards and All-Stars for the National League


1st Half Awards:

Hey there. I'm back again, ready to take you up to the game thread at 6:00 pm. Yes, there's a Blue Jays game tonight folks. In Motown. According to MLB dot com's probable pitchers thingy, it's supposed to be Aaron Sanchez vs Justin Verlander. Sounds like a great matchup. Hopefully Aaron's troubles are behind him. Anywho, I won't steal anymore thunder from the game thread. Just nice to see Blue Jays' baseball back again after four days off. I'm gonna skip the pre-amble this time. Did enough of that in yesterday's post, which you can probably still scroll down to and check out if you need pre-amble. We'll start with my 10 first half NL MVP selections after the jump.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Third annual pop-schlock vid-off


While the first two vid-off's happened the day after the all star game, due to bad planning on my part I won't be available that day. So this year it's on Thursday. There's still no baseball and ya'll are getting itchy.

The background for this event can be found in last year's post. Basically, it's to see who can top each other with the cheesiest vid or song. The 80s seem to be a good place to start for us old fogeys. The young un's can go with contemporary.

So I want to start us out with Ghostbusters. It's surprisingly hard to find since the vid is blocked for Canada, probably because of all the unpaid SAG actors in it. Go to this link. See if you can guess all the people appearing. You can read about the making of the vid here, where there's a partial list.



A reminder that the best way to navigate the thread is to click next to your name and select Hide Media. You'll still be able to click on any vid you'd like to watch and it won't slow it down to a halt.

1st Half Awards and All-Stars for the American League




1st Half Awards: 

Greetings fellow JITHers. Long time, no post. I've been around, just not posting (since November 28th, 2016? Egads!) in the formal sense. Sorry about that mk, but I just didn't have much to say. However I'm back for now with a look at first half awards and all-stars for the American League today, and later in the week I'll do the same for the National League. Gotta cover off the darkest days/nights of the baseball calendar with something I suppose, so please accept this humble offering.

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

So what's going on?



Traditionally the All-Star break is a time for JITHers to get to know each other better. So I thought today would be a good time to talk about what's going on with your life.

If you weren't around last night, I recommend checking out early on in the comments for doublem sharing his health scare last Friday.

Me? I'm off to see some fringe shows later. I've been seeing shows thanks to free tickets coming my way from my friends having shows and shows wanting to get some word of mouth going. I've been writing reviews of them. It's been nice writing about something else besides baseball. I'm also trying to find the time to get my professional speaking career underway. Between the situation with my mom and the time I'm needing to spend here, it's a challenge.

I'm currently avoiding sugar as much as possible. That means no alcohol! My body has been showing signs of insulin resistance, which is the first stage of type 2 diabetes. Both my parents are diabetic and I don't want to end up popping pills and taking shots like them. Also staying away from wheat and processed meat as much as possible. I'm doing pretty well with that.


So what's going on with you?

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Monday, July 10, 2017

2017 Home Run Derby



You all know you love it! Here's the place to talk about it.

It's hard

Photo: Aziz Acharki

It's hard to care about a team that looks so ugly at the plate.
It's hard to care about a team who's pitching looks so good until it implodes spectacularly.
Its hard to care about a team that is old and slow.
It's hard to care about a team that makes so many defensive mistakes.
It's hard to care when you remember so vividly how great this team used to be, when all of the above were strengths, not weaknesses.
It's hard to care about a team that keeps getting blown out.
It's hard to hang out in the places you did when things were going so well.
And it's hard to think of things to write when it's hard to care.

Yet here we are.

Sunday, July 9, 2017

no. 88 2017: Astros (59-29) at Blue Jays (41-46)


Sunday 9 July 2017
1:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Brad Peacock (RHP 6-1, 2.91 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 80 Ks)
v. JA Happ (LHP 3-5, 3.47 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 57 Ks)

Saturday, July 8, 2017

no. 87 2017: Astros (59-28) at Blue Jays (40-46)


Saturday 8 July 2017
1:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Mike Fiers (RHP 5-3, 3.80 ERA,1.31 WHIP, 81 Ks)
v. Marcus Stroman (RHP 8-5, 3.42 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 87 Ks)

Glass Half Full




I'm saying there's a chance. Fivethirtyeight.com pegs it at exactly 9% to make the playoffs.

I know our Jays are still 6 games below .500 and 5GB on a Wild Card spot, but Josh Donaldson is going to start playing like Josh Donaldson. Tulo will start hitting with RISP. Martin, Morales and Bautista are all capable of much more. And hey, our backup catcher, while decidedly not as easy on the eyes, can actually hit! (Poor Maile slashed .111/.111/.185).

And then there's the pitching. Estrada has been terrible of late. He's better than that. Liriano, as seen on Thursday night, is capable of keeping his team in it. Biagini should go back to the pen. Stroman, Sanchez and Happ will continue providing quality starts. And we have the best closer in baseball.

Now all we need is a 10 game win streak in July. That's all.

We still have a chance. It's too early to give up. Hang on for one more day.






Friday, July 7, 2017

no. 86 2017: Astros (58-28) at Blue Jays (40-45)


Friday 7 July 2017
7:07PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Charlie Morton (RHP 5-3, 4.06 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 65 Ks)
v. Aaron Sanchez (RHP 0-1, 3.33 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 18 Ks)

We beat the best team in the AL!


Let's celebrate.


Thursday, July 6, 2017

no. 85 2017: Astros (58-27) at Blue Jays (39-45)


Thursday 6 July 2017
7:07PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Lance McCullers, Jr. (RHP 7-1, 2.69 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 103 Ks)
v. Francisco Liriano (LHP 4-4, 5.66 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 58 Ks)

Walking is fun!


Walking in runs is fun when you're the team that gets to score! It wasn't shrimp but let's invoke the spirit of the dead (Walkoff Walk) and feast on the traditional video.


Hands up all who called for a series win at YS?

So now we face the AL-leading Astros. The odds say that they will crush the souls of the Jays. But again, it's baseball!

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

no. 84 2017: Blue Jays (38-45) at Yankees (44-38)




Wednesday 5 July 2017
1:05 PM EDT / Yankee Stadium
Marco Estrada (RHP 4-6, 4.86 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 105 Ks)
v. Michael Pineda (RHP 8-4, 4.05 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 91 Ks)

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

no. 83 2017: Blue Jays (37-45) at Yankees (44-37)



Tuesday 4 July 2017
1:05 PM EDT / Yankee Stadium
JA Happ (LHP 2-5 3.71 ERA 51K)
v. CC Sabathia (LHP 7-2 3.46 ERA 62K)

State of the Franchise



Against my better judgement, in an early season moment of weakness, I suggested that I could contribute an article to the site.  Those of you who know me will realize that I shouldn't be doing this, as I have already sworn off all Jays related activities, including watching or listening to games, following along on Gameday, or even so much as checking in for scores.  However, I made a commitment, which I will now reluctantly keep.

Monday, July 3, 2017

no. 82 2017: Blue Jays (37-44) at Yankees (43-37)



Monday 3 July 2017
7:05 PM EDT / Yankee Stadium
Marcus Stroman (RHP 8-4, 3.41 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 84 Ks) v.
Masahiro Tanaka (RHP 6-7, 5.56 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 90 Ks)

Monday Poetry


Express your feelings about another poetry post, or about the disastrous home stand, or the upcoming games in YS, in poetic form.


*Note - your poem can be freestyle. It doesn't have to rhyme. Have fun playing with sentence shapes.

Sunday, July 2, 2017

no. 81 2017: Red Sox (46-35) at Blue Jays (37-43)



Sunday 2 July 2017
1:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Drew Pomeranz (LHP 7-4, 3.81 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 89 Ks)
v. Joe Biagini (RHP 2-7, 4.50 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 56 Ks)

Saturday, July 1, 2017

no. 80 2017: Red Sox (45-35) at Blue Jays (37-42)


Saturday 1 July 2017
1:07 PM EDT / Rogers Centre Skydome
Chris Sale (LHP 10-3, 2.77 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 155 Ks)
v. Francisco Liriano (LHP  4-3, 5.46 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 54 Ks)