This past Spring, I was lucky enough to con Brian Jeroloman into spending a couple of minutes after a game to chat a bit about training, about (then) new manager John Farrell, and about his hopes for the year.

Brian did get his wish; he was called up to Toronto last Tuesday August 22, in a puzzling move that has fans and analysts scratching their heads. Jeroloman makes the third catcher on the Jays’ active roster. According to John Lott’s report for the National Post, GM Anthopoulos said that Jeroloman would “rarely play”.

So. Why, with infield depth initially reduce by the departures of Hill and McDonald, would the Jays want 3 catchers?

My first thought was that either JP Arencibia or Jose Molina are in line to be traded. As much as I love Jose Molina, he would be a fine addition to a team looking towards the post-season. Perhaps the Giants?

Another option… would Travis d’Arnaud get the call up to Vegas? D’Arnaud, the Jays’ likely catcher of the future, has been heating up the eastern seaboard with a season .315 batting average and the honor of being chosen as a mid-season All Star.

But as time passes from the date of the callup, with no moves being made, the situation gets curiouser and curiouser.

Why bring up Jeroloman to have him sit in the bullpen? There’s been very little coverage in any media over the move, likely because of Anthopoulos’ comments that Jeroloman wouldn’t see much playing time, if any. It’s the kind of news that’s non-news… except that it doesn’t make sense.

Why waste space on the 25 man roster?

I enjoyed speaking with Brian in Spring Training. He’s a genuinely nice guy who seems to enjoy what he does. I only wish I’d had more than five minutes to come up with some better questions!

Next time!

It’s now been months since the surprise deal that sent Vernon Wells to the Angels in the first move of Anthopoulous’ chess game to contention. The team had faced their old Center Fielder before; at the beginning of April in Anaheim. But last night was Wells’ first return back to his home turf.

Vernon was the face of the franchise for 10 years. Whether or not the contractual move to Anaheim was something fans have fully accepted, one thing was clear when he left; although he’d embrace his new team, Vernon didn’t want to go anywhere.

Within seconds of Wells’ stepping up to the plate for his first at-bat at the top of the 2nd, most of the 24,000+ crowd had risen to their feet, applauding the veteran Blue Jay.

In an interview with the Canadian Press after the game, Vernon described the moment as being understandably emotional.

“I just tried to hold back the emotion in that moment,” he said. “I didn’t think there would be much but there was and I just tried to enjoy it an obviously not be a crybaby at home plate. It’s just a moment I’ll never forget.”

Hold it back? I’m not sure if he did. Vernon Wells seemed to harness that emotion to smash Brandon Morrow’s first pitch out of the park. In the same moment? The cheers turned to boos.

Wells’ solo home run in the 2nd gave the Angels an early 1-0 lead, one they extended with 3 more runs in the 3rd. The final score was 5-1; the Jays only on the board with Eric Thames’ 6th major league home run in the 9th.

The game was a collection of errors and missteps for the Jays. The Angels scored 5 on only 4 hits. 3 Jays errors helped them out. So did Morrow’s lack of control.

Morrow, a pitcher known for his high strikeout totals, only struck out 3 in 7 innings, making this performance by far his lowest strikeout rate of the season. He walked 4.

It’s easy to point to Morrow to find what went wrong. Certainly, the more batters who reach base, the more runs will probably come in to score.

The errors didn’t help either. Over the past 2 games, the Jays have racked up a whopping 5 defensive errors.

After the game, Manager John Farrell criticized this, saying that defense is something the team needs more control over, and that the clumps of errors are “glaring”.

But the Jays offense also made a right mess of the 3rd inning at the plate. Jose Molina (my Molina!) hit an outstanding double to Center Field. For some reason, he kept going around second. Molina is many wonderful things, but he’s no speed demon. It was unclear to me whether he got the green light to run, or just misjudged Wells’ accuracy. He was tagged out at third.

Following that play, Brett Lawrie took a walk to first. And was soon after caught stealing second.

Had both stayed on for Escobar’s 1-out at bat, the team may have been able to get some runs early in the game, and build some positive momentum.

Oh well.

The Jays are back at .500, and are now 14.5 games out of first place. More importantly, they’ve slipped to 5 games back of 3rd place Tampa.

Today’s game should be a tough pitching duel as Ricky Romero faces Jered Weaver. With an ERA of 1.78, Weaver leads the AL starters. Romero, with 2.96, ranks 8th.

Jose Molina

Last night’s match in Cincinnati featured the most unlikely of heros. That is, unless you’re a huge Jose Molina fan like me.

The catcher continued his career year, going 2 for 3 with a walk, a run, and an RBI.

One of those hits was a double.

The other hit – and the run – was a home run.

Taking a look at Molina’s career batting stats, this kind of performance is exactly in line with his previous games. In 23 games, he has 24 hits, 2 stolen bases and 7 RBIs. And now, 2 home runs. It may not sound like a lot, but with a current average of .304, Molina’s doing a ton to contribute to the team’s offense.

He’s also well on his way to a career-best season.

Molina is currently breaking his own records for:

• Walk rate: Jose is up to 11% for the season. His previous best? 9.5% his rookie season (10 games) with the Cubs in 1999. He’s clearly seeing the ball better, waiting for the right pitch, and therefore, drawing almost double the walks over last season.
• Average: Jose’s .304 average is miles better than his previous best, .271 in 2002 with the Angels.
• BABIP: .373 is nearly .040 higher than 2004′s .338. Getting on base leads to a greater chance of runs for the team.

The Jays need all the help they can get in terms of run support. I’m happy to see how Jose Molina is continuing to contribute. He’s only locked up with the Jays through the end of this season. Personally, I’m hoping they decide to keep him on board for another year at least.

When the lineups were announced yesterday afternoon, many were shocked that catcher Jose Molina would be DHing instead of Eric Thames. Looking at the stats, though, the decision made sense.

Molina has had the most hits off of Buehrle; going 8 for 20 lifetime. Molina’s also killing left handed pitchers this year. He’s batting .571 against lefties for a total AVG of .310. Not too shabby.

The decision worked. Jose Molina got on base 3 times out of 4, including 2 singles and reaching on a White Sox error.

Technically, the winning run for the Jays came off of Yunel Escobar’s increasingly hot bat in the bottom of the 7th. Escobar hit a long double that brought Jayson Nix around to score from first base.

Molina, though, can be credited for the important insurance run.

» Continue reading “Now I’ve REALLY Seen Everything! Molina Double Steal FTW!”