Buck and Gonzalez Power Jays Over White Sox

*I’d like to apologize for the lack of posts on this site over the last week, but it has been a crazy week where I barely had time to think, so thanks for sticking with me and I hope it will be the only slow week of the season for Jays Journal.

I did have the chance to catch the last 7 innings of last night’s game however, and enjoyed every bit of it!

The Jays now have a 6-pack of wins strung together and are rolling on all counts. Few players are now struggling in the lineup or in the rotation, and it seems like every time some are struggling, others pull their games up to cover the deficiency. Shaun Marcum had yet another quality start and is really impressive overall. For someone to come out of a serious injury as he has and to perform at an exemplary level is really stunning. He pitched to contact the entire game and had enough movement on all his pitches to keep White Sox hitters off balance.

John Buck is really settling in nicely with the Jays and has been a very important piece to some key wins. From all accounts that I have gathered, he and Jose Molina are getting a ton of credit for the performance of Jays starters this season, so his importance on this team seems to be vital to Jays success. We’d like to thank KC management for letting him walk! Buck added 2 HRs to his repertoire in this game, giving him 7 on the year and his second multiple HR game of the year.

Another member of the bottom of the lineup, Travis Snider (.235) is really heating up now that he has settled down and stopped trying to get extra bases every time he gets an AB. Snider had 3 hits in the game, and has hit .412 with 2 HRs in his last 10 games.  More encouraging is the fact that he’s only struck out 5 times in his last 34 ABs (14%), which is a huge improvement to the season as a whole of 21 SO in 94 AB (22%). He’s made the proper adjustments and his confidence has to be at an all time high since he made his MLB debut.

Yes, Kevin Gregg did blow the save by giving up a HR in the 9th to AJ Pierzynski, but he still got out of the inning without giving the White Sox the win and was bailed out by a clutch 3-run HR by Alex Gonzalez in the 12th inning. Who knew that Alex Gonzalez would be part of the MLB leaders in HRs? If he keeps hitting the way he is all year long, the Jays may have had the best FA signing of the off season when they acquired him. Let me put it this way: Matt Holliday, who signed a 7-year $120 million contract with the Cardinals, has 4 HRs, 8 doubles, 11 RBIs, 2 SBs, and 19 runs on the year, while Alex Gonzalez signed for $2.75 million has 9 HRs, 12 doubles, 25 RBIs, 1 SB, and 19 runs  on the year. It really makes you wonder if the Cards got robbed and signed the wrong player when they brought Holliday backs. Even Ty Wiggington has had a better season than Matt Holliday so far, what does that tell you?

The Jays send Brett Cecil (1-2, 2.61) to the mound today to face Jake Peavy (1-2, 6.31) as the Jays try to make it 7 in a row. The Jays are now 2.5 games ahead of Boston, and only 3.5 games behind New York and very much in the wild card race at this point. When you consider how dominant Tamp Bay has been and realize that the Jays are only 5 games behind them, it makes obvious the fact that the Jays are 10 times more talented than most people gave them credit for.