Roy Halladay off DL to open Blue Jays, Rays series in Toronto
Roy Halladay off DL to open Blue Jays, Rays series in Toronto
Interleague play is done as MLB returns to normal this week. First up for the Blue Jays are the Tampa Bay Rays in a key AL East series at Toronto to open lucky Week 13 of the season.
The Doc has given himself a clean bill of health.
Roy Halladay will make his first trip to the mound in 17 days when he takes to the hill at the Rogers Centre tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays ace was forced from his outing on June 12 with a strained groin, and after a few sessions last week, including a 50+ pitch tune-up on Friday, the best pitcher in the major leagues is set to resume yet another All-Star season.
Halladay (10-4, 2.53) will make his return against AL East rivals Tampa Bay and Jeff Niemann (10-4, 4.23) in the first meeting between the two division foes this season. When interleague play started two weeks ago, both the Rays and Jays sat tied in the ALE with 34-31 records. Tampa Bay went 8-4 since then against their NL opposition (Rockies, Mets, Phillies and Marlins), and come in winners of their last five. Toronto was 7-5 in the same stretch (Phillies twice, Nationals and Reds), and come in having dropped three of their last four contests.
The Rays are 4-0 in Niemann's last four starts, providing plenty of run support for the Houston native with Tampa averaging 10 runs per game in those outings. This is his first career start against Toronto. Kevin Millar is the only Blue Jays hitter to have faced him before, going 2-for-5 against the righthander when Millar was with the Orioles in 2008.
Halladay has held Tampa hitters to a .256 overall batting average and .672 OPS. Carl Crawford and BJ Upton area a combined .299 (26-87, 2 HR) vs. the big righthander.
This is his first start vs. Tampa this year. Halladay went 2-3 vs. the Rays in 2008 (1-1 at the Rogers Centre) with a 4.11 ERA, almost a run-&-a-half higher than his season mark of 2.77. The Jays are 6-2 with Halladay on the hill in Toronto this season.
There has been no word on Halladay being on a pitch limit tonight in his first appearance back from the DL. The guy's a workhorse, pure and simple, and has averaged about 108 tosses per start this season, not counting the game in June 12 with he left with the groin injury. That pitch count includes three complete games, one of them a 133-pitch effort on June 2.
One interesting stat on Halladay is the Jays have lost all three games he failed to pick up a decision this season. The reverse is true for Niemann as Tampa has won all four of the starts he ended up with a no-decision this year. If this one is left to the bullpens to decide, I give the Rays the edge in that department.
Toronto opened at -167 at 5Dimes (Tampa +157) with a total of 8½. Being the cheap old bastard that I am, I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on Halladay in this one, especially given the way the Rays are playing and the fact Niemann has been pitching on a 'lucky day in their rotation. Instead, given that we have the No. 1 scoring offense in the AL (Tampa, 5.64 rpg) and the No. 5 (Toronto, 5.07 rpg), I'm going to make a small play on the Over in this one.
The series price has the Jays listed as -140 favorites at The Greek. I like them at home and with their ace in Game 1, but I don't think they have a -140 edge for the three-game set. The Rays will follow Niemann with two more righthanders, Matt Garza (7-8. 3.61) and James Shields (8-7, 3.41). Countering for the Blue Jays in Games 2 and 3 of the series are righthander Scott Richmond (8-4, 3.68) and lefty Ricky Romero (6-4, 3.20). The series finale on Wednesday is a 1:07 matinee at the Rogers Centre.
Interleague play is done as MLB returns to normal this week. First up for the Blue Jays are the Tampa Bay Rays in a key AL East series at Toronto to open lucky Week 13 of the season.
The Doc has given himself a clean bill of health.
Roy Halladay will make his first trip to the mound in 17 days when he takes to the hill at the Rogers Centre tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays ace was forced from his outing on June 12 with a strained groin, and after a few sessions last week, including a 50+ pitch tune-up on Friday, the best pitcher in the major leagues is set to resume yet another All-Star season.
Halladay (10-4, 2.53) will make his return against AL East rivals Tampa Bay and Jeff Niemann (10-4, 4.23) in the first meeting between the two division foes this season. When interleague play started two weeks ago, both the Rays and Jays sat tied in the ALE with 34-31 records. Tampa Bay went 8-4 since then against their NL opposition (Rockies, Mets, Phillies and Marlins), and come in winners of their last five. Toronto was 7-5 in the same stretch (Phillies twice, Nationals and Reds), and come in having dropped three of their last four contests.
The Rays are 4-0 in Niemann's last four starts, providing plenty of run support for the Houston native with Tampa averaging 10 runs per game in those outings. This is his first career start against Toronto. Kevin Millar is the only Blue Jays hitter to have faced him before, going 2-for-5 against the righthander when Millar was with the Orioles in 2008.
Halladay has held Tampa hitters to a .256 overall batting average and .672 OPS. Carl Crawford and BJ Upton area a combined .299 (26-87, 2 HR) vs. the big righthander.
This is his first start vs. Tampa this year. Halladay went 2-3 vs. the Rays in 2008 (1-1 at the Rogers Centre) with a 4.11 ERA, almost a run-&-a-half higher than his season mark of 2.77. The Jays are 6-2 with Halladay on the hill in Toronto this season.
There has been no word on Halladay being on a pitch limit tonight in his first appearance back from the DL. The guy's a workhorse, pure and simple, and has averaged about 108 tosses per start this season, not counting the game in June 12 with he left with the groin injury. That pitch count includes three complete games, one of them a 133-pitch effort on June 2.
One interesting stat on Halladay is the Jays have lost all three games he failed to pick up a decision this season. The reverse is true for Niemann as Tampa has won all four of the starts he ended up with a no-decision this year. If this one is left to the bullpens to decide, I give the Rays the edge in that department.
Toronto opened at -167 at 5Dimes (Tampa +157) with a total of 8½. Being the cheap old bastard that I am, I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on Halladay in this one, especially given the way the Rays are playing and the fact Niemann has been pitching on a 'lucky day in their rotation. Instead, given that we have the No. 1 scoring offense in the AL (Tampa, 5.64 rpg) and the No. 5 (Toronto, 5.07 rpg), I'm going to make a small play on the Over in this one.
The series price has the Jays listed as -140 favorites at The Greek. I like them at home and with their ace in Game 1, but I don't think they have a -140 edge for the three-game set. The Rays will follow Niemann with two more righthanders, Matt Garza (7-8. 3.61) and James Shields (8-7, 3.41). Countering for the Blue Jays in Games 2 and 3 of the series are righthander Scott Richmond (8-4, 3.68) and lefty Ricky Romero (6-4, 3.20). The series finale on Wednesday is a 1:07 matinee at the Rogers Centre.