Well that sucked

Fucks sakes, right?  Can't you win a game Jojo? God.

If you read yesterday's post, you'll see that I'm joking here.  Jojo actually worked his mojo last night, scattering 4 hits and 1 run over 6 innings, in a start that many, myself included, believed to be Jojo's last with this team if it wasn't a good one.  The way this team has worked so far, he probably gets cut tomorrow, but still.  I mean, I know I was kidding there, but let's be honest; this dude has gotten a lot of fucking chances to perform, and not just in this organization either.  Atlanta gave him plenty of chances without being at all effective, in the National league, no less.

I guess it's the occasional flash of not-suck that he shows every 4th appearance that makes AA want to keep this guy around without losing him for nothing.  The fact that he's the original David Purcey (Lefty, low-to-mid 90's fastball, some potential if he ever finds control) is what leads me to believe that in the (soon-to-be-not) hypothetical situation in which Reyes being removed from the big league club, exposing him to the league's other 29 teams (there's a dick-joke in there somewhere), would lead to his not clearing waivers.  And frankly, why should he?  He's actually effective against lefty batters.  I mean Oakland took Purcey.  And it's not like it would be a big risk to anybody, at a $440k price tag.  If he only had to face lefties then he probably wouldn't get the shit kicked out of him so often.

Come to think of it, you know what team could use another lefty in the bullpen?  THE TORONTO FUCKING BLUEJAYS.  If you're so worried about losing him for nothing, put him in a situation where he can actually succeed.  Put him in the bullpen, let someone else (Villanueva, Cecil*) start.  If Jojo continues to suck, then cut him; if he can't get lefties out then he's not worth a fuck and you know what you have.  If his only utility is to come in against 1 LHB so Octavio Dotel doesn't, I'm happy.

In any case, Jose Bautista is out for the series with neck spasms.  So he lied to us.  Probably could have used him last night.  I mean, yeah, the Jays led in to the bottom of the 9th, but 2 runs against Tampa isn't really going to win you many games.  Would have been cool to pick up the win last night, but again, in case anyone forgot, this team isn't going anywhere this year, so I'm not all that worried.  I'd rather Rauch wouldn't blow saves since that's just the kind of thing that is going to hurt his type-B free agency, but heh.  Long season.

If I had my way, assuming I knew the Jays were going to lose this game (which, to be fair, once I heard that Bautista was out of the lineup and that Reyes was starting...), Jojo would just give up 5 runs over 4 innings like he will next start and we can all just move along from this damn experiment, but I suppose this one is going to be extended.

And I thought BJ was the bad Upton?  What's up with the homerun man?  BJ Upton walked off against Toronto, AGAIN.  That's the third time he's done that against Toronto in his career, so naturally, they dumped a bunch of pudding on him in the clubhouse.

And Adam Lind stealing?  Ugh.  Stop it.  He's slow.  And if that was a hit and run and Juan Rivera missed the sign, so help me.

I'll be honest-- not only was that game boring the bejehovah out of me, Caddyshack was also on tv, making it pretty easy to switch between the two.  I dunno, maybe it was just some illogical hunch that made me not want to watch (note- I saw the end of the game), but it may have also been my very rational distaste for Jojo Reyes as a starting pitcher, combined with my also very rational distaste of having Jose Bautista not in the lineup, or some kind of combination of those three.

Whatever, I'm fucking over it.  Know why?  Brandon Morrow pitches tonight at 6:40ET for Toronto.  He's up against Jeff Niemann.  I like Brandon.  And I don't like Jojo.  Jojo was the best Jay last night, but fuck that guy.  So you know what I'm doing?  BAM, Brandon Morrow gets last night's Zaun Head.  Don't like it?  Complain.  It's my fucking blog, don't tell me what I can't do.

By the way: you know who would be good to have in the lineup?  Travis Snider. That way we wouldn't have to trudge out that waste of breath Juan Rivera in to the outfield, or that other waste of breath Corey Patterson.  Apparently Snider was 7 for his first 7 at bats in AAA, before cooling off and making an out.  Last night he went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.  Hey Travis!  You're supposed to be working on the swing.

Brett Cecil, also in the minors, tweeted the following last night:

When u work so hard to get something so right and ur on the edge of madness n it finally comes together in one instant...feels so damn good!

And then did not follow it up with anything.  Not sure if he was just stating a fact, or if that meant that he had a good outing last night.  Still searching, but I'll figure it out and update this later.

According to John Lott of the National Post, Aaron Hill is scheduled to resume pop-ups on Monday.  That's about it for that story.

Around the league:  Francisco Liriano walked 6 White Sox last night, striking out just 2...  and I guess he threw a no-hitter too.  Lirianono's no-no delayed his being jettisoned from the Twins rotation for at least another couple starts.  Nice offense Chicago.

Fangraphs wonders what is wrong with Vernon Wells.  Before reading this article, my prediction was that the answer would be "he sucks".  I wasn't completely wrong, but they like to use these fancy things like "evidence".

*drudge siren* Conspiracy theory *drudge siren*-- The Red Sox won last night, and have now beaten both of the Angel's aces.  Not a coincidence is that John Lester pretty much stopped throwing strikes after the 4th inning (according to someone on the internet who actually watched the game).  Pitch f/x!

This graph is from the catcher's perspective, so Lester pretty much got every marginally close call on pitches outside to RHB's/ inside to LHB's.  On the other hand, Dan Haren, who doesn't have the luxury of a mid-90's fastball, and thus, needs to focus on keeping the ball down in the zone, didn't really have the luxury of throwing to that really wide strike zone.  He got squeezed worse than Lester on low strikes.  Whatever, I just don't like Boston.

Ethier Watch!  Andre extended his hitstreak to 29 games last night in the Dodgers' loss.

Some sad news: Twins pitcher Paul Bargas has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Best of luck to him.

This coach has some serious potty mouth.  Obvious NSFW.

The dog got in to the garbage this morning.  He's gone 3 hours already without shitting on the floor, but it's gotta be coming soon.

Lineups when they're available, but I'll warn you now: it won't be pretty... there's going to be a Molina.

*- At this point, something I've got in my mind is that they were going to cut him when Morrow came back, until the Cecil demotion happened.  Maybe they're just waiting for Cecil to come back so they don't have to worry about filling the roster spot.