Say hello to Blow Jay Frasor

Last year it was Blow Jay Ryan. This year, because Ryan is no longer on the team, a new Toronto pitcher has surfaced to steal his moniker. Say hello to Blow Jay Frasor. After a scintillating season in '09, he was supposed to be phenomenal this year as the teams closer, or set up man, or at least in some useful role. The problem is, Blow Jay Frasor has been completely useless thus far in 2010.

In 10 appearances in April, Frasor is sporting a hideous 9.35 ERA, blown two saves, ruined potential come backs with melt downs (most recently allowing 4 to score in the 8th Sunday with the team down 2 runs) and has only pitched one clean inning. In the remaining 9 outings, he has surrendered at least one base runner, making it impossible to feel confident in his ability with the game on the line. So what happened? Last campaign he had a sparking 2.50 ERA with 11 saves. This year, not so much. He can't seem to deal with expectation very well, so essentially he is as shell shocked as this guy when he comes in to pitch.

Frasor has also lost velocity on his fast ball, which pitching coach Bruce Walton has pointed to as a reason for his poor production. Though he's been pathetic, there is no way Blow Jay Frasor is this bad. My guess? He's nursing some kind of injury that will either put him on a DL stint, or we'll find out after the season that he played through the pain but was hampered all along.

Molina says no way Jose

Blue Jays backup catcher Jose Molina turned in a virtuoso performance Sunday against the Rays, setting a franchise record by throwing out 4 would be base stealer's. Basically he threw out 4 more runners than Gregg Zaun ever did in his entire tenure with the Blue Jays. Molina saved the bacon of starter Brandon Morrow, who issued 6 base on balls by nabbing the speed merchants on the base paths. It's not as if he threw out sieves like Zaun or Bengie Molina trying to steal; Molina got the best of the great Carl Crawford twice, and B.J. Upton and Sean Rodriguez once.

There has been some debate over whether or not Molina should be the every day catcher instead of incumbent John Buck. Buck has more offense, but not as good defense (throwing out just 2 base runners in 12 attempts), and Molina has great defense (7 caught stealing, just 1 base stealer), but horrid offense with a .211 average and just 2 RBI on the season. The problem with Buck, however, is that he hasn't fared much better in the batters box, hitting just .163 with 1 HR and 6 RBI, leading to the debate.

Despite their early tear at the dish, the Jays have too many holes in the batting order to consistently put up a lot of runs so they can use all the the offense they can get. Buck should come around and hit for decent power, while we know Molina likely won't. But if the team knows it won't score many runs anyway, it could be prudent to try to prevent runs with the defensively minded Molina. It's like the chicken or the egg theory. What do you think? Should John Buck or Jose Molina be the Jays starting catcher?

Low attendance at Jays games embarrassing

To those so called Blue Jays "fans", and apparently there aren't all that many of you, not making it out to the park to watch a decent ball club should bring a great deal of shame to you. The fact Toronto has set not one, but two all time low attendance figures in the past week is a complete an utter embarrassment to the city, the organization, and mostly, the supposed supporters of the club.

If the Blue Jays started out the season like the horrifically pathetic Baltimore Orioles (who sport MLB's worst record at 2-13), then I could understand why so many people would shy away from purchasing tickets this early in the year. However, the Jays have gotten off to a solid start, especially in light of expectations at an all time low. Toronto's 9-6 record would put them in at least a tie for first place in every division in baseball but one (except for their ultra competitive American League East) In the first game of the 3 game set against the Royals, Rogers Centre got just 10,314 fans out to the game, setting a new benchmark for attendance futility. I know it's only the Royals, but come on!

I'm sick of so many fair weathered "fans" of sports only liking a team when they are winning. I can't stand it. Whomever you like, you should support them through thick and thin. One of the lame excuses for the low attendance bandied about is the fact that the Jays just "need to produce a winner" and then people will start going to games. Fair point, but how come no one came out when they were 27-14 last year? And as I mentioned earlier, it's not like they are the Orioles. What would constitute "producing a winner" to finally gets fans to show up? A 15-0 record after 15 games? That kind of expectation is totally unrealistic for even the greatest of teams.

For the record, I have gone to the first two games against Kansas City, and will make it out to the matinee tomorrow for the series finale against the lowly Royals. Why? Because I'm a loyal and die hard fan no matter how good or bad the team is. I just wish there were more of you out there.

Bautista explodes for career night

Jose Bautista this year has been largely a disappointment. He was expected to fill the role as the teams lead off hitter, but could barely make contact and swung at way too many pitches to be effective. With the acquisition of Fred Lewis, Bautista was moved down in the order, to middling results. That is, until he went off last night against Kansas City, matching career highs in home runs and RBI's in one contest.

Bautista mashed 2 home runs, accounting for 5 of the 8 runs for the Jays on the evening. When I say mashed, I mean mashed, because both were total no doubters to left. It makes you wonder why Bautista doesn't swing the bat better on a consistent basis. Will he be able to build off this impressive performance, or was it a one off? He did crush 6 dingers in his final 8 games last year, so it's not as if he doesn't have the ability to do it more often.

It's only a matter of time before Bautista's home runs are on par in terms of significance as this one in Jays history. OK, maybe not.

Morrow provides glimpse of greatness

Brandon Morrow set aside his first two poor outings as a Blue Jay to provide a glimpse as to why the team was so high on him when they traded for his services in the off season, showcasing the reason he was the 5th overall pick in the 2006 draft.

Morrow rendered the Royals bats hitless through the first 5 1/3 innings last night, mixing his pitches well to strike out 8 on the evening. After opening up the 6th inning with a walk and a ground out, Yuniesky Betancourt singled to break up the no hit bid, signalling the end of another Jays pitchers pursuit of history this year. David DeJesus followed with an RBI single which could have started a complete meltdown by Morrow, who has been susceptible to the big inning this year. However, the 25 year showed great resolve, calmly sitting down the next two hitters to end the threat.

Morrow had struggled considerably in his first two starts, giving up 3 runs in the opening frame in Baltimore before surrendering five in the contest, then getting lit up for 7 earned runs in 4 innings against Chicago. There were some people already calling for his head, suggesting he should be lifted from the rotation. That is absolutely the wrong course of action. Part of the reason he didn't work out in Seattle was because he was yo-yoed between being a starter and a reliever, which crushes a young pitchers confidence. The Jays should keep Morrow as a starter and be prepared to take the lumps that go along with it, because while he'll have his rough games, he'll fashion some good outings also which hopefully will become more commonplace as the year progresses.

Overbay is over the hill

I don't know who is worse at producing quality work; Lyle Overbay, or me. At least I have an excuse because I'm still fighting a nasty sickness, but what's Overbay's reason for sucking? This guy simply just doesn't seem to care about being a decent major league baseball player any more. He used to at least have good defense to fall back on, but his gaffe today coupled with his already horrendous batting average is the final straw for me. To be honest, I'm surprised the straw had not already been broken long ago.

Even though Ricky Romero fashioned another amazing performance with only 1 run allowed through 8, the Jays were down 1-0 heading into the 9th. That's when Overbay decided to destroy any hope Toronto had of coming back. With a runner on 2nd, Overbay allowed a Kendry Morales grounder to go right through the wickets, allowing an insurance run to score. That botched play was the difference in the contest because Morales also later came in to count. Had Overbay not had the big time gaffe, Adam Lind's solo shot in the bottom of the 9th would've knotted the game at 1. Thanks Overbay.

The mostly sure handed Overbay is accustomed to being known for his pathetic bat, not his poor defensive exploits. One day after snapping an 0 for 18 slump, he went 0 for 3, dropping his average to .080. He's not even averaging one hit in ten at bats! Are you freaking kidding me? This guy is a joke. Cito Gaston's loyalty knows no bounds, which is commendable to a point, but it's time to give Randy Ruiz more action at the expense of the paltry Overbay.

In fact, it's pretty obvious John Olerud would be a better first baseman than Lyle Overbay right now.

Dominant Ricky Romero flirts with no hitter

Simply put, Ricky Romero is one bad ass dude. Last night against Chicago he took a no hitter into the 8th inning, until Alex Rios ended it with a 2 run home run. Simply put, Romero fashioned his best performance of his young career. He's such a phenomenal competitor, he was visibly upset when his night was done because he allowed one hit. That's a guy I'd want on my team any day. Take a gander at these stats from Romero against the ChiSox:

-Romero had two K's in each of his first 6 frames
-No Chicago batter hit a ball out of the infield until the 7th inning.
-Final stat line reads 8.0 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 12 K

He's so damn good he very well might succeed Roy Halladay as the next Blue Jays pitcher to claim the Cy Young award. His curve ball and changeup makes hitters look like it's amateur hour. It's amazing to think that a little over a year ago many short sighted pundits declared Romero to be a complete bust. More fool them.