Toronto Blue Jays

TORONTO (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles are bashing home runs at an impressive rate right now. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Toronto Blue Jays News

Recently our pal Jay Floyd of PhoulBallz.com chatted with New Hampshire Fisher Cats hurler Tyson Brummett. Claimed off waiver by the Blue Jays from the Phillies organization last off-season, the 28-year-old was a veteran addition to the system, but hasn't had much luck this season. Through 10 outings with the Double-A Fisher Cats, Brummett has a 0-3 record with a 5.59 ERA. Here are some highlights from Jay's interview with Tyson... On the differences between the Toronto and Philadelphia organizations- There's always a lot of differences. I was in that organization for a long time. I grew up with a lot of those guys, you know, roommates and people like that, coming up through the ranks. This is my first time in a different organization, obviously there are new people, new faces. At the end of the day, it's still baseball. You've gotta go out there and perform and do all those fun things on the field. On pitching against the Phils' Double-A team in Reading and putting forth his best effort of the season, with six shut out innings- I mean it's always...you get up to face your old organization. I know there's guys that jump around and have played for three or four different organizations. I think there's that kind of connection there. They know you and you know them and things like that, but you always want to go out and put on a show for the team that you used to be with and obviously the team that you're with against your old team. Kind of like giving a message like, "Hey, I can still help a team win." On who has been the biggest help to him with the Blue Jays- I mean, honestly, there's a lot of veteran guys both here, in Double-A and at Triple-A. I think I probably learned the most, it was my first big league (spring training) this year, I had a lot of guys that I played with and Northwoods League and collegiate leagues. Once you've played this game and you move around, it's hard to not run into somebody you've played and vice versa. It's just really good communication over here. Lots of friends. They went out this year and picked up a lot of veteran guys, so it's a lot of guys that have been all over the place, so you feel like you have an instant connection with them, 'cause they're kind of in the same boat you are. I think overall it's pretty welcoming. To read the full interview with Tyson, including details on his time playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, click here.

Orioles 10, Blue Jays 6 Well, I said before the game that I wasn’t confident in Sean Nolin succeeding in his first start above Double-A, and sadly, I was correct. I’m not taking pride in this, as I was cautiously optimistic I’d be wrong and Nolin’s K:BB ratio and plus curveball could carry over to the majors, but some pitches caught too much of the plate and the Orioles weren’t wont to let those go by unpunished. And so it was that Nolin managed to get just four outs, surrendering six runs on seven hits and a walk without striking out a single batter. Perhaps most disappointing was that he managed just a single swing and miss in his 35 pitches, 22 of which went for strikes. His release point was exceptionally consistent, which I guess bodes well for the future potential of his multiple-pitch repertoire, as he should keep batters guessing what’s coming (unless there’s another tip off). The issue was more that he had some "control" but not "command," a kind of Joe Blanton-itis where the strikes he threw caught too much of the plate This is especially true in the final pitch of at bats, although it’s really tough to fault him for that J.J. Hardy home run, which he golfed out of the park. Nolin didn’t show much, but it’s not like Ramon Ortiz made a claim for that rotation spot in his relief stint, giving up three runs in two and two-thirds. He also gave up two tasty dingers, which is kind of his thing. Nolin might get another chance on Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves if Josh Johnson isn’t ready to go. Johnson, by the way, is starting at Triple-A Buffalo on Saturday, so the Jays would need to shuffle the rotation to fit Johnson back in when he’s next ready to go. Furthering the relief effort were low-leverage specialists Brad Lincoln and Esmil Rogers, who combined to throw five decent innings giving up just a run. Rogers, in fact, has now thrown 7.1 straight shutout innings, work that’s come against the Giants, Yankees, Rays and Orioles. He has a 5:1 K:BB in that time, too. He could be turning a corner against some decent bats, but it could be influenced by the low leverage he’s been allowed to work under. Oh, and then there’s the Brett Lawrie thing. Lawrie was tossed in the third inning for tossing his gear aside and somewhat in the direction of the umpire. It seemed, and still seems, a ridiculous overreacting from Dan Bellino. Yes, Lawrie has a reputation and had argued earlier calls, but replays show he said nothing and just tossed his gear. There was no need for him to be kicked out, let alone to toss John Gibbons for arguing in his player’s stead. There are arguments for kicking him out, I guess, but you'd have trouble convincing me this was justified. This probably wouldn’t have made a four-run difference, especially with Lawrie’s current sub-Mendoza hitting (though he did hit a homer in the second). The Jays’ line-up hit well, smacking 17 hits off of Chris Tillman and company, but couldn’t string enough together to come back. The Jays stranded nine runners, lost one on the basepaths (when Emilio Bonifacio was caught stealing to end what had, to that point, been a solid rally) and hit into a pair of double plays. It’s good to see the bats swinging, though, and everyone but J.P. Arencibia managed to reach base at least once. And boy, Jose Bautista is in the zone. There has been a lot of talk of late as to whether "being in the zone" exists for hitters, but Bautista is certainly doing his best to prove that it does. He had three more hits tonight, making him 9-for-15 in his last four games with two bombs and four walks mixed in there. Yeah, he’s hot. Adam Lind also chipped in three hits, including his fourth homer of the year. Lind looks like a different hitter so far this year, and while I’m still withholding judgment on whether the new patient approac

Claudio Vargas started for the Bisons and he gave up six runs. Marcus Stroman started for New Hampshire and he gave up six hits and two runs in four innings. Neither of them appear to be ready to step in for the Jays, but what do I know? Scott Copeland had the best start of the night but the bullpen blew his lead. Dustin McGowan pitched two thirds of an inning, with better results than the last time. John Stilson pitched two shutout innings.The Bisons lost, having never lead, the Fisher Cats were suspended in the fourth inning, while Dunedin blew a two run lead in the ninth. Indianapolis?6? Buffalo 5Claudio Vargas had only given up two runs through five innings but he was tapped for four more in the sixth. Dustin McGowan relieved Vargas with the bases loaded and the first hitter singled scoring a run. A ground out scored another. McGowan threw 10 pitches, eight strikes and was done, perhaps because of the cold weather. John Stilson pitched two shutout innings and for some reason Dave Bush pitched the ninth.Andy LaRoche doubled in a run as part of the two run fourth. Trailing 6-2 the Bisons scored three in the eighth. One scored on a bases loaded walk and pinch hitter Josh Thole singled in two more. The Bisons had only six hits.?New Britain?2? New Hampshire 3 - suspended due to rain in 4th inningMarcus Stroman gave up six hits in 4 innings before the rains came. The lead-off hitter of the game doubled and with two outs there were three straight ground ball singles, two of the infield variety. He also gave up a home run in the fourth. Stroman threw 66 pitches before it rained.The Fisher Cats only hit in 3 innings and their three runs were not due to big hitting. They scored two runs in the first inning with just one hit and another in the third on a ground out. The game will be completed on Saturday.?Dunedin?3? Tampa 4Dunedin took a 3-1 lead to the ninth inning. But closer Blake McFarland gave up a 3 run home run to lose the game. Scott Copeland pitched six innings of one run ball and John Anderson pitched two perfect innings.Andy Burns drove in the first run with a sac fly, and he drove in the second run with a single. Nick Baligod singled in the third run. The Jays had only five hits.?Lansing - scheduled day off?Three Stars#3 - Josh Thole#2 - Andy Burns#1 - Scott Copeland?Boxes?

You've gone to the driving range before. But have you ever gone to the driving range the way Toronto Blue Jays sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion recently went to the driving range?In this newest video offering from the MLB Fan Cave, the two ball-crushing Blue Jays visited Chelsea Piers driving range in New York City, with their bats at their side. And they did some driving all right — walloping baseballs while people next to them sliced at golf balls. They were knocking balls 400-plus feet off underhand tosses. Then they tried to play a game of accuracy, seeing who could be first to hit a golf cart. Watch the video to see who won Read more Edwin Encarnacion news

Sean Nolin takes the hill for the Jays tonight, making his Major League debut and hoping to fare a little better than Kevin Gausman, who made his far-more-heralded debut for the Orioles in last night’s Jays win. It’s… uh… yeah, another win would be nice. Scuttlebutt Earlier today, to make room on the roster for Nolin, the Jays– rather than D’ing Ramon Ortiz FA– placed Darren Oliver on the 15-day DL with shoulder soreness, and moved J.A. Happ and his injured knee to the 60-day DL (meaning the earliest he can return is July 7th). Oliver’s stint is retroactive to his last appearance, which was back on May 19th. Speaking of Happ, Chris Toman tweets that John Gibbons says the left-hander’s head is fine, but that he’s waiting on a brace for his knee, which has kept him from being able to throw since the incident in Tampa. Mike Wilner tweets that Nolin will wear number 35 tonight. Tim Micallef throwing out the first pitch. Nice! Jose Reyes running? Jose Reyes running. Fuck yes. No, seriously, junior hockey? TV: Sportsnet One And now the lineups, by way of the live box score at theScore.com. And for those of you who’ll be out and about, be sure to follow all the action on your phone with theScore app… Toronto Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera (S) RF Jose Bautista (R) 1B Edwin Encarnacion (R) DH Adam Lind (L) C J.P. Arencibia (R) 3B Brett Lawrie (R) CF Colby Rasmus (L) 2B Emilio Bonifacio (S) SS Munenori Kawasaki (L) Sean Nolin LHP Baltimore Orioles RF Nick Markakis (L) 3B Manny Machado (R) SS J.J. Hardy (R) CF Adam Jones (R) 1B Chris Davis (L) C Matt Wieters (S) DH Danny Valencia (R) LF Steve Pearce (R) 2B Yamaico Navarro (R) Chris Tillman RHP

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays moved pitcher J.A. Happ to the 60-day disabled list Friday as the left-hander recovers from injuries after being hit in the head by a line drive earlier in this month.Happ suffered a skull fracture and a sprained right knee when he fell to the ground in pain after being struck behind the left ear by a liner off the bat of Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings on May 7. Happ left the field on the stretcher and spent the night in hospital. Read more Desmond Jennings news

Rightly or wrongly, Blue Jays fans have come to associate college draft prospects with the much maligned J.P. Ricciardi era. In Ricciardi's eight plus years as General Manager in Toronto, the team selected only 3 high school players in the first 5 rounds of the Rule 4 draft: Travis Snider (2006), Kevin Ahrens & Justin Jackson (2007). The J.P. Ricciardi era became known for it's lack of impact players, and high-floor/low-upside prospects, and critics often pointed to this as the reason for the team's overall lack of success at the big league level. When Alex Anthopoulous took over the GM mantle for Ricciardi in 2010, he didn't completely abandon the philosophy of drafting college players, but employed a more integrated approach. In fact their first round pick that year was Georgia Tech right-hander Deck McGuire who draft experts at the time considered a "safe pick" that could move quickly up a team's system but with the modest ceiling of a number 3 starter. The Jays drafted 3 other college prospects in the first 5 rounds that year (RHP: Asher Wojciechowski, OF: Marcus Knecht, RHP: Sam Dyson). With the exception of Wojo, whose renaissance in the Houston Astro's organization has been a pleasant surprise, none of those players has given any indication that they're going to amount to very much. Now it's unfair to say that we have developed a stigma against college players as the result of those past failures, never throw out the baby with the bath water as the say. But it is curious that the Blue Jays have only selected 5 college players in the first 5 rounds of the draft since 2010: pitcher, John Stilson (2011); pitchers, Marcus Stroman, Tucker Donahue, and Brad Delatte (2012); third baseman, Eric Phillips (2012). Donahue, Delatte and Phillips, it should be noted were not really considered prospects at all, signing as fourth, fifth, and sixth round picks respectively for a total of 15,000 (part of a draft strategy to save money for later rounds). It is important to view or recent draft history without a jaundiced anti-Ricciardi, anti-Moneyball stance. The J.P. Ricciardi run Jays, for all the criticism, managed to draft and develop second baseman Aaron Hill (one of our best players while he was here), right-handed starter Shaun Marcum, lefy reliever Brett Cecil, and lights-out closer Casey Jannsen, all college players. Meanwhile, the college players taken in 2010, weren't all bad. One of Toronto's better prospects; lefty pitcher Sean Nolin, was taken in the 7th round of that draft, and is expected to make his major league debut for the Blue Jays tonight against the Orioles, only 3 years removed from his draft date. In addition, 2011 third-rounder John Stilson looks like a very promising late inning reliever with power stuff and is already in AAA, while 2012 pick Marcus Stroman is quickly establishing himself as of the top 3 prospects in the organization, and is poised to make an impact on the big league roster at some point this season. When one really thinks about it, the team's problems during those previous drafts did not come as a result of choosing college players over high school players, but simply because they chose the wrong college players. Deck McGuire over Chris Sale (2010) Russ Adams over Nick Swisher (2002) Ricky Romero over Troy Tulowitzki (2005) David Cooper over Isaac Davis (2008) In contrast, the Jays selected high school players at spots over the last 2 years, where a college prospect may have turned out to be the best player: Jacob Anderson over Jackie Bradley (2011) Joe Musgrove over Bradley Miller (2011) Looking back to 2012 I really wanted the Jays to draft Virginia shortstop Stephen Bruno with one of our later picks. He was one of my draft sleepers. The Cubs selected him in the 7th round, while the Jays were creating bonus pool space using our 4th, 5th, and 6th round picks on Tucker Donahue, Brad Delatte, and Eric Phillips. At this point Bruno looks like a promisin

Jose Reyes, via his twitter, is out of any aid equipment for his ankle and is seen here visibly running at about 75% strength. (Very excited to say the least as well) via gifsforum.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=33I8Kg1CiO4 Today is May 24th, based on his personality he'll want to be out there sooner than later, but realistically if all goes well we may see Jose at the end of June, early July in a few games. What do you guys think? Are we in a rush right now to get him back in place of Kawasaki, or are we so in love for #WriteInKawasaki that we'd rather Jose come back later than sooner? Jose Reyes, via his twitter, is out of any aid equipment for his ankle and is seen here visibly running at about 75% strength. (Very excited to say the least as well) via gifsforum.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=33I8Kg1CiO4 Today is May 24th, based on his personality he'll want to be out there sooner than later, but realistically if all goes well we may see Jose at the end of June, early July in a few games. What do you guys think? Are we in a rush right now to get him back in place of Kawasaki, or are we so in love for #WriteInKawasaki that we'd rather Jose come back later than sooner? Poll When will Jose Reyes come off the DL? Before July 1st Before All Star Break After All Star Break 4 votes | Results

Although progress is being made, J.A. Happ has yet to throw off the mound after taking a ball to his head against the Rays two weeks ago.The lefty's issues stem from his sprained right knee as a result of the fall that came afterwards, while his head injuries are nearly fully healed.    Happ hopes to throw off the mound in the next day or so, but doctors won't let him do so without a brace, which is something that he is awaiting the arrival of, according to ESPN's Kelly Naqi.    So far in his rehab, Happ has begun playing catch. According to club representatives there's no timetable for his return to a mound.