Toronto Blue Jays out to show fast start no fluke
Toronto Blue Jays out to show fast start no fluke
Vernon Wells and the Blue Jays are about as hot as any team going right now with an AL-best 18-9 record, a major league high 159 runs scored on the season and having won their last three series. Eleven of those 18 wins have come vs. the AL Central, and they'll have a chance to add to that number over the next two days at home in the Rogers Centre when they host Grady Sizemore and the Cleveland Indians.
There will be no rest for major league teams at all this week as the slate hits a unique seven day period. Every team will play a pair of quickie two-game series Monday through Thursday before heading into the standard three game sets next weekend. The only reason I can think of for Bud Selig & Co. to do this is simply to further skew what is a willy-nilly schedule overall.
Ah, but I am not here to talk about that as the good news is there is a full, 15-game schedule each of the next seven days in the bigs meaning plenty of viewing and betting opportunities. The absence of off days also keeps rotations from being altered by managers for the most part, lending to a little more consistency on planning ahead as far as matchups that could be profitable. Some rainouts and rain delays from this past weekend, however, have already shifted some rotations so make sure and keep an eye on that.
The two-game series that caught my eye to open the week is the Cleveland Indians, passports in hand, traveling into Canada to meet the Toronto Blue Jays. Now there are some bigger rivalries going on to open the week, beginning with the Red Sox making their first visit to new Yankee Stadium. And there are some better pitching matchups on Monday than Fausto Carmona, on the mound for the Tribe, and Brian Tallet who takes the Rogers Centre mound for the first pitch at 7:07 p.m. (ET). Tuesday's Game 2 is an early one with a 12:37 p.m. start time.
But this series is intriguing to me because it involves two teams doing exactly the opposite of what most people thought they would perform this season. Toronto (18-9, +8.05 units) was picked to run a distant fourth to the Big 3 in the AL East. Instead they are leading the division through the first four weeks of the campaign.
A consensus pick to battle for the AL Central title this year, Cleveland (9-16, -8.15) begins the week dead last in the division. This series could be our first sign of whether either team's current ways are for real.
It's also interesting to note that Carmona's 6.28 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher scheduled to pitch in this series. The Indians are 1-4 in his five outings, including dropping his last start which was Carmona's best effort of season, 6.2 IP, 2 ER in a 6-5 loss to the Red Sox. Marco Scutaro has seen him the most of anyone in this Blue Jays lineup, rapping out six hits, all singles, in 14 AB against the righthander. The rest of the batters that could face Carmona on Monday are a combined 8-for-41 (.195) with no home runs.
He shut the Jays out in Cleveland on May 12, 2008, in his most recent start against Toronto. His only start at the Rogers Centre came in July 2007 when he worked 5.1 innings and allowed three runs in a 9-4 win for the Tribe. Those are the only two occasions that he has pitched against the Blue Jays in his short career so far.
After beginning the season in the bullpen for Toronto, the lefthanded Tallet (2-1, 6.45 ERA) has made three starts. In his first two assignments, he worked a combined 11 innings against the A's and on the road against the White Sox, allowing just one earned run and eight hits. But his most recent start was an absolute stinker when he was tagged for 10 earned runs and three homers in four innings at the Royals in an 11-3 KC win.
A former Indian having spent parts of the 2002-03 and 2005 seasons with Cleveland, he has never made a start against the Tribe. In fact, this will be just the 10th major league start of his career. He has faced them in relief over the years, with Victor Martinez having the most success facing Tallet with two hits, including a homer, in four at bats.
Anthony Reyes (3-1, 7.58 ERA) has struggled for the most part this year, yet the Indians have found a way to win three of his four starts. His last outing (Apr 28) saw him yanked in the third inning at home vs. Boston, with Reyes charged with seven earnies. The Tribe managed to come back and win that one, 9-8. He has seen the Blue Jays once already this season, in his 2009 debut on April 12, with Reyes working six innings and being charged with four runs in Cleveland's 6-4 win.
He made one start at the Rogers Centre in Aug 2008, and came away the winner in a 5-2 Cleveland triumph. Reyes scattered seven hits and a walk over 6.1 frames, allowing just a single run to cross the plate. That game marked his Indians debut after a trade from St. Louis, and is his only history versus Toronto though Reyes has faced some of the hitters in their lineup when they were with various clubs. Overall, the Jays hitters who might come to the plate to face the righthander are 13-for-63 (.206) with the only long balls off him belonging to Michael Barrett (on the DL with shoulder injury) and Vernon Wells, with Wells' blast coming when the two faced each other on April 12 this season.
Making his major league debut in this one as Toronto's starter is lefthander Brett Cecil. He was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas last Friday when the Blue Jays shuffled the pitching deck and swapped a trio of arms (David Purcey, Brian Burres and Bryan Bullington) for Cecil, Robert Ray and Brian Wolfe. Cecil was a sandwich pick between Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2007 draft, and had a record of 0-3 in four starts for Las Vegas this year with an 8.31 ERA.
Cecil pitched on three different levels in the minors a year ago, compiling an 8-5 record in 28 starts, and striking out 129 in 118.2 innings. He was used primarily as a closer in his college days at Maryland, and has a big league fastball and slider. That 8.31 ERA he brings in from Las Vegas has a lot to do with Cashman Field in Sin City having a reputation as a hitters park.
Weather obviously won't be an issue indoors at Rogers Centre for this one. The Blue Jays were going off around -115 to Cleveland's +105 for Game 1, with the total set at 10 (Over +110, Under -120).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers is their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com.
Vernon Wells and the Blue Jays are about as hot as any team going right now with an AL-best 18-9 record, a major league high 159 runs scored on the season and having won their last three series. Eleven of those 18 wins have come vs. the AL Central, and they'll have a chance to add to that number over the next two days at home in the Rogers Centre when they host Grady Sizemore and the Cleveland Indians.
There will be no rest for major league teams at all this week as the slate hits a unique seven day period. Every team will play a pair of quickie two-game series Monday through Thursday before heading into the standard three game sets next weekend. The only reason I can think of for Bud Selig & Co. to do this is simply to further skew what is a willy-nilly schedule overall.
Ah, but I am not here to talk about that as the good news is there is a full, 15-game schedule each of the next seven days in the bigs meaning plenty of viewing and betting opportunities. The absence of off days also keeps rotations from being altered by managers for the most part, lending to a little more consistency on planning ahead as far as matchups that could be profitable. Some rainouts and rain delays from this past weekend, however, have already shifted some rotations so make sure and keep an eye on that.
The two-game series that caught my eye to open the week is the Cleveland Indians, passports in hand, traveling into Canada to meet the Toronto Blue Jays. Now there are some bigger rivalries going on to open the week, beginning with the Red Sox making their first visit to new Yankee Stadium. And there are some better pitching matchups on Monday than Fausto Carmona, on the mound for the Tribe, and Brian Tallet who takes the Rogers Centre mound for the first pitch at 7:07 p.m. (ET). Tuesday's Game 2 is an early one with a 12:37 p.m. start time.
But this series is intriguing to me because it involves two teams doing exactly the opposite of what most people thought they would perform this season. Toronto (18-9, +8.05 units) was picked to run a distant fourth to the Big 3 in the AL East. Instead they are leading the division through the first four weeks of the campaign.
A consensus pick to battle for the AL Central title this year, Cleveland (9-16, -8.15) begins the week dead last in the division. This series could be our first sign of whether either team's current ways are for real.
It's also interesting to note that Carmona's 6.28 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher scheduled to pitch in this series. The Indians are 1-4 in his five outings, including dropping his last start which was Carmona's best effort of season, 6.2 IP, 2 ER in a 6-5 loss to the Red Sox. Marco Scutaro has seen him the most of anyone in this Blue Jays lineup, rapping out six hits, all singles, in 14 AB against the righthander. The rest of the batters that could face Carmona on Monday are a combined 8-for-41 (.195) with no home runs.
He shut the Jays out in Cleveland on May 12, 2008, in his most recent start against Toronto. His only start at the Rogers Centre came in July 2007 when he worked 5.1 innings and allowed three runs in a 9-4 win for the Tribe. Those are the only two occasions that he has pitched against the Blue Jays in his short career so far.
After beginning the season in the bullpen for Toronto, the lefthanded Tallet (2-1, 6.45 ERA) has made three starts. In his first two assignments, he worked a combined 11 innings against the A's and on the road against the White Sox, allowing just one earned run and eight hits. But his most recent start was an absolute stinker when he was tagged for 10 earned runs and three homers in four innings at the Royals in an 11-3 KC win.
A former Indian having spent parts of the 2002-03 and 2005 seasons with Cleveland, he has never made a start against the Tribe. In fact, this will be just the 10th major league start of his career. He has faced them in relief over the years, with Victor Martinez having the most success facing Tallet with two hits, including a homer, in four at bats.
Anthony Reyes (3-1, 7.58 ERA) has struggled for the most part this year, yet the Indians have found a way to win three of his four starts. His last outing (Apr 28) saw him yanked in the third inning at home vs. Boston, with Reyes charged with seven earnies. The Tribe managed to come back and win that one, 9-8. He has seen the Blue Jays once already this season, in his 2009 debut on April 12, with Reyes working six innings and being charged with four runs in Cleveland's 6-4 win.
He made one start at the Rogers Centre in Aug 2008, and came away the winner in a 5-2 Cleveland triumph. Reyes scattered seven hits and a walk over 6.1 frames, allowing just a single run to cross the plate. That game marked his Indians debut after a trade from St. Louis, and is his only history versus Toronto though Reyes has faced some of the hitters in their lineup when they were with various clubs. Overall, the Jays hitters who might come to the plate to face the righthander are 13-for-63 (.206) with the only long balls off him belonging to Michael Barrett (on the DL with shoulder injury) and Vernon Wells, with Wells' blast coming when the two faced each other on April 12 this season.
Making his major league debut in this one as Toronto's starter is lefthander Brett Cecil. He was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas last Friday when the Blue Jays shuffled the pitching deck and swapped a trio of arms (David Purcey, Brian Burres and Bryan Bullington) for Cecil, Robert Ray and Brian Wolfe. Cecil was a sandwich pick between Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2007 draft, and had a record of 0-3 in four starts for Las Vegas this year with an 8.31 ERA.
Cecil pitched on three different levels in the minors a year ago, compiling an 8-5 record in 28 starts, and striking out 129 in 118.2 innings. He was used primarily as a closer in his college days at Maryland, and has a big league fastball and slider. That 8.31 ERA he brings in from Las Vegas has a lot to do with Cashman Field in Sin City having a reputation as a hitters park.
Weather obviously won't be an issue indoors at Rogers Centre for this one. The Blue Jays were going off around -115 to Cleveland's +105 for Game 1, with the total set at 10 (Over +110, Under -120).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers is their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com.
