Halladay vs. Stieb: It's Getting Closer
Published June 7, 2009 @ 19:49 in Toronto Blue Jays

Just last September, I called Dave Stieb the greatest starting pitcher in Toronto Blue Jays history. I have Roy Halladay at number two on that list. It's now nine months later and the order remains the same, but the gap is closing.

The Jays beat Kansas City 4-0 today at the ballpark formerly known as Skydome. Roy Halladay became MLB's first 10-game winner, throwing the 12th shutout and 43rd complete game of his career. He threw 97 pitches for his 11th complete game since 2000 in which he has thrown fewer than 100 pitches. Halladay has thrown more than seven innings in all 13 starts this season. In the divisional era, he is tied with Curt Schilling for the third-best streak in the majors.

There are no typos up there. 97 pitches, 10th win of the season, back-to-back complete games... this throw back is on a mission to become the best starter in Blue Jays history.

At this rate, I'll be making the call before Labour Day.

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Alex Rios: Swears Outside ROM, Deserves a Little Slack
Published June 7, 2009 @ 10:49 in Toronto Blue Jays

On Friday night, during my own ball game, I got a tweet from Vegas Geoff.

Alex Rios swears at a fan. Just for you, @TorontoMike http://bit.ly/8AMYd

I watched the video that night, actually felt bad for Alex Rios, and tweeted the following:

@Vegasgeoff If I had 5 strikeouts, I'd swear at my own mother.

I didn't even blog about it, because I'd just defend Alex Rios and nobody wants to see a multi-million dollar athlete defended when he's swearing around young fans. He really should have showed some restraint, but he's slumping. He's slumping really good, and he had five strike-outs that day. As a guy who loves playing ball and plays about three times a week, I meant what I tweeted to VegasGeoff. If I had five strikeouts in a game, I'd swear at that guy outside the ROM as well. Whether it was a rec league softball game or a pro game for which I was a paid a mountain of money.

Mike Kic, a member of my comp division softball team, wrote me this morning asking why I haven't posted the video. Kic thinks Rios is a classless bum. I say Rios doesn't have to sign every ball handed to him outside a charity event and his response to the heckling wasn't drenched in Halladay-like class, but doesn't warrant a communal lashing by guys like us. I'm almost happy to see he gives a damn that the fans are demanding more.

We expect more from Rios and he expects more from himself. He's apologized for his tirade and that's good enough for me. What do you guys think about Alex Rios' profane tirade outside the ROM?

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Ask Toronto Mike - Who Did John Gibbons Fight?
Published May 28, 2009 @ 13:23 in Toronto Blue Jays

Every once in a while, I get asked a question via the form at TorontoMike.com/contact.html. Here's a question I just received.

Who was the third baseman that nearly came to blow with John Gibbons a few seasons ago and where is he now?

Ah yes, John Gibbons, super scrapper. I remember two physical fights between Gibbons and his players.

The first altercation, and the one I believe you're referring to, was between Gibbons and Shea Hillenbrand after the infielder wrote on the clubhouse bulletin board "This is a sinking ship." Hillenbrand last played in the majors back in 2007 while with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He last played pro ball for the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League in 2008.

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Catch the Taste with Roberto Alomar
Published May 23, 2009 @ 12:09 in Toronto Blue Jays

YouTube user Retrontario frequently uploads fantastic retro-Toronto-centric gems. These clips never fail to bring back a ton of memories for me, so I feature them from time to time.

Fear not, Jays fans. We'll come out of this funk. And just to make sure we do, here's Robbie Alomar's 1994 cult classic ad for McCain's Punch.

Catch the taste!

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Doc Gets New Interns
Published May 22, 2009 @ 19:07 in Toronto Blue Jays

There's a problem when it's Roy and four guys you don't know. The bubble is always at risk of bursting. Following a three game sweep by the Red Sox in Boston, reinforcements are here from Cybertron.

Brett Cecil and Bobby Ray were sent down to Las Vegas (I'll never get used to saying that) to make room for Casey Janssen and Ricky Romero. Janssen posted a combined ERA of 0.76 in five starts between Class A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire and Romero was off to a 2-0 start, with a 1.71 ERA, before getting hurt.

Doc has a couple of new interns. Speaking of Roy Halladay, he gets the start tonight in Atlanta. He's 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA in four starts on the road this year. We'll call this Guaranteed Win Night.

I'll bet Halladay gets a complete game shutout while batting 1.000.

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TSN2 and Rogers: You Knew This Was Coming
Published May 16, 2009 @ 17:18 in Television, Toronto Blue Jays

Just last night I was checking in on the Blue Jays television coverage when I saw next week's Boston Red Sox games were to be broadcast on TSN2, a station not currently carried by Rogers Cable. That prompted me to write this tweet:

Speaking of not watching the Jays on TV, I'll bet the farm we Rogers customers suddenly get TSN2 next Tuesday.

There was no way the Rogers-owned Toronto Blue Jays would have key divisional games broadcast on TSN2, a station Rogers customers don't get. Last October I wrote about the 25 Toronto Raptors games we Rogers customers were going to miss. Missing Jays games would have been absolutely humiliating for Rogers, so you knew an agreement between TSN and Rogers was imminent.

This from Fadoo.ca:

A person familiar with the discussions told fadoo that an announcement of the agreement should be expected this weekend, likely on Sunday. No specifics of the deal were revealed, however it is believed that, as a result of the agreement, Rogers Cable customers with the VIP package will begin receiving TSN2 almost immediately and automatically.

Rogers has shown some keen business sense here, allowing their own customers to view their own baseball team. Now that's synergy.

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World Series, Here We Come - The Kokomo Beach Band
Published May 16, 2009 @ 15:59 in Blue Jays Songs, Toronto Blue Jays

Take a moment to soak in the current MLB standings. Yes, it's early, and you don't win anything in May, but it's been 16 damn years so I'm going to savour this. Guys named Robby Ray are pitching gems and reinforcements are on the way. It's happening, folks.

In honour of this premature jubilation, here's "World Series, Here We Come" by The Kokomo Beach Band, now a great deal more than just wishful thinking.

Other awesome Blue Jays audio from Toronto Mike:

• Tom Cheek's Greatest Hits
• OK Blue Jays (Let's Play Ball!) - Keith Hampshire w/ The Bat Boys
• We Got The Blue Jays (R.B.I. Single Version) - Home Run
• Help Us Mookie - The Kokomo Beach Band
• The Blue Jays Rap - The Variety Club Rap Gang
• The Ballad of Tom Henke - Section 15 Orchestra
• Sunny Jays - Fred Patterson & the 102 Crew
• Jays to the Top - Humble Howard
• Doin' It Right (On the Jays Side Of Town) - Jake Edwards & the Q-Jays
• Come On, Let's Go (All The Way Blue Jays) - The CJCL All-Stars
• Shaker's Rap - Lloyd Moseby
• Do It Again, Blue Jays! - Tom Cheek & Jerry Howarth
• Blue Jays All The Way - Humble Howard
• Blue Jays Bop - CHUM FM Cheerleaders
• Hang On Blue Jays - Paul Husiak

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Following the Jays on Twitter, Tweeting TFC Tonight
Published May 13, 2009 @ 09:15 in Toronto Blue Jays, Twitter

I was playing a double header last night, which meant I was at the ballpark from about 7pm until 11pm. That meant I missed the entire Jays game, a game I was highly anticipating. Thank goodness for Twitter.

A few people I was following were at the game, and every so often between innings of my game I'd check in to get a flavour of the game. @steffwilkinson gave me awesome updates, telling me the score, what the crowd was chanting and what signs were being held by the Blue Jay faithful.

I didn't watch the game or listen to an inning of the action, but I didn't miss out on Roy Halladay's gem and the Jays first big win against a supposed AL East contender. This is precisely what I like about Twitter. It's the pulse of a city, a nation and a planet in real-time.

Speaking of tweeting at Toronto sporting events, Elvis is taking me to the Toronto FC match tonight. He's warned me against tweeting at BMO Field, but I'm going to do it anyway. If it's good enough for the Mayor, it's good enough for me.

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Roy Halladay: He Deserves More Credit
Published May 12, 2009 @ 13:27 in Toronto Blue Jays

I have a man crush on Roy Halladay. Yeah, I'd have a bromance with him. Every once in a while I get overwhelmed by this crush and I write about Roy. Here's one such example from last summer.

Tonight, Roy Halladay is on the mound as we face A. J. Burnett and the big bad Yankees. I'll miss the game, playing a couple of games of my own, but I'll be there in spirit. I'd love to see Halladay school A.J. once more.

I like to think we know what we have here in Toronto with Roy Halladay. He still deserves more local credit for what he's done and what he is, and I know he deserves a whole lot more credit in the rest of the majors. Imagine if Roy played for the pinstripes.

Here's a great entry about Roy from the Stat of the Day blog. It came across my RSS reader yesterday and I had to share it. Go Jays Go!

Roy Halladay doesn’t get half the credit he deserves as one of the best active pitchers.

Among active pitchers, he’s got the 3rd-best career winning percentage, behind just Johan Santana and the (sort of still active) Pedro Martinez.

He’s one of just 8 active pitchers with multiple 20-win seasons, or 6 such pitchers if you dont’ count Tom Glavine or Pedro.

And get this: he ranks only 28th among active pitchers in games started, and yet ranks 6th in shutouts, 6th in complete games, and 15th in wins.

What hurts Halladay (no pun intended) are his injuries and playing for a lower-profile Canadian team. The Blue Jays haven’t made the post-season since 1993, well before Halladay’s time, and he’s made more than 21 starts in a season only 6 times in 12 seasons, although he’s made more than 30 each of the last 3 full years.

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Your Starting Third Baseman...
Published May 12, 2009 @ 12:12 in Raging Storm, Toronto Blue Jays

I've got a double header tonight with Raging Storm, my comp division slo-pitch team. This year, I'm just play ball for Storm. Engell is wearing the Cito hat, and he's got me starting at third base tonight.

I grew up in love with playing shortstop. The SS is the quarterback of the infield and, in my opinion, the sexiest position in baseball. I played SS for Storm until I gracefully moved to 1B. Kids with better range and stronger arms should play SS, not old farts like me.

I have never played an inning at 3B, except for maybe a few in the beer league when someone else demanded a turn at SS. I'm excited about fielding some sharp grounders, I'm just worried about my arm.

In honour of my first game at 3B, here are the starting third basemen in Toronto Blue Jays history.

• Roy Howell (1977-80)
• Danny Ainge (1981)
• Garth Iorg (1982)
• Rance Mulliniks (1983-86)
• Kelly Gruber (1987-92)
• Ed Sprague (1993-98)
• Tony Fernández (1999)
• Tony Batista (2000-01)
• Eric Hinske (2002-04)
• Corey Koskie (2005)
• Troy Glaus (2006-07)
• Scott Rolen (2008–present)

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