Aaron Hill busts out of slump

It was only a matter of time that Jays 2nd basemen Aaron Hill broke out of his nasty funk at the plate. He changed his fortunes quickly Sunday against the Royals, belting a big 2 run blast off Kyle Davies to end a 0 for 25 skid at the dish.

The day off that Cito Gaston granted Hill Saturday seemed to work wonders. Hill's recent poor stretch didn't seem to have any lingering effects of poor mechanics. It was just a brutal slump that happens from time to time. In fact, DH Adam Lind went through one two weeks ago too, then busted out of it in a big way, tying a club record with 8 consecutive hits.

In order to make his first all star appearance, Hill will need to go back to tearing the cover off the ball like he did prior to the slump. He's currently locked into a tight competition with Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler and Robinson Cano to make the squad for 2nd basemen.

I fully expect him to revert back to his swinging a hot stick. Whether that's good enough to make the mid summer classic remains to be seen.

Blue Jays prospect Mills has game to remember

Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Brad Mills nearly cracked the big club out of spring training as a member of the starting rotation. The club opted to send the lefty down to AAA Las Vegas for more seasoning, and he has been somewhat lost in the shuffle with a number of young arms performing well in Toronto. After his brilliant performance Sunday for the Las Vegas 51's, he might just be forcing himself back on the teams radar.

Mills struck out 11 Tacoma batters in 7 innings of work en route to his first win of the campaign. 11 punch outs, and just 4 hits surrendered! The fact he hasn't won to this point might scare the organization off, however, the fact is Mills has been a hard luck loser, getting little run support in his starts. His record now stands at 1-7, with an ERA of 4.22, with that number being skewed by his last two starts (where he gave up 6 earned runs in both outings)

The 24 year old has the makings of a future solid middle of the rotation starter. With more performances like the one he had today, Mills might find himself getting his feet wet at the big league level before the end of the season.

Overbay riding high

Despite the fact I posted Thursday about how Lyle Overbay failed when we needed him most in the series finale against the Angels (slow reaction on a double play ball which led to the winning run, and struck out in the 9th) there is one thing that can't be denied; Overbay is raking.

The Jays fist basemen hit a rocket solo blast off Windows Restaurant against the Royals Sunday, going 2 for 3 on the day. In his current 13 game hitting streak, he has gone 19 for 42 for an astounding .452 average! In that span, Overbay has 2 home runs, 12 RBI, and 8 doubles to raise his average from .248 to .302

Overbay has produced quite well this year for a guy platooning with Kevin Millar at 1st base, especially for a guy hitting 7th in the order. He now has 7 home runs and 31 RBI, so it'll be interesting to see if Manager Cito Gaston will play him against left handed pitching rather than leaving him on the bench in favour of Millar.

With the way Overbay has mashed the ball lately, he might be getting his wish to be an every day player again.