AL Feast Week 4: Sellout Streak Edition (14/04/2013)

The end of a (sellout) era.

Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Here at Jays Journal we like to keep you up to date with breaking news, statistical analysis and opinion pieces on the players, staff and front office of the Toronto Blue Jays. But in the sports world the steps your opponents take on their team have an effect on your team, for better or for worse. That’s why we bring you a weekly feature where we look back on what took place among the other 4 AL East teams and deconstruct it to show you what it means for the Blue Jays. It’s the AL Feast: Week 4!

Boston Red Sox

-After 820 straight games of selling out home games, the Red Sox did not reach peak capacity last Wednesday, Yahoo reports. They sold only 30,862 out of a possible 37,493 tickets; possibly a sign of things to come for a team that’s been such a powerhouse in the 21st century.
–Tim Wakefield will be returning to the Red Sox organization as a Special Assignment Instructor, according to NESN. In addition to a position that’s name is similar to something you’d hear in a James Bond film, he’ll be heading up the Red Sox Foundation as honorary chairman, gearing towards helping the Boston community.

Baltimore Orioles

–Randy Buchman of Birds Watcher writes about how Manny Machado has been thrown out into the pool hitting second in the batting order, and how it’s up to him to either sink of swim. It’s a high pressure spot in the batting order for such a young player (he’s only 20 years old), so we’ll have to see how that turns out in the long run.
-The Orioles have pushed back their celebration of Earl Weaver‘s life to 6PM on Sunday April 20, the Baltimore Sun reports. Speakers at the event will include Hall of Famers Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson, as well as current Orioles skipper Buck Showalter.

Tampa Bay Rays

–David Price might be on the move, according to Rant Sports. And after saying he “will not take a pay cut any time soon”, I think its in the Rays’ best interest if they get a trade done. For a club that must rely on smart contract management, they already have a lot of their money tied up in Evan Longoria until 2022.
-Evan Longoria will be getting more at bats hitting third in the Rays lineup, Tampa Bay Times reports. He’ll be hitting in front of Ben Zobrist, with the team looking to get Longoria better looking pitches he can take deep. Kind of bordering on “lineup protection” territory, but if anyone knows how to utilize a lineup its Joe Maddon.

New York Yankees

-The Yankees performed a triple play in Friday’s win, as reported by the Huffington Post. It was MLB’s first 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play in history, which spoke more to Baltimore’s terrible baserunning than Yankees’ defense.
-“Do the Yankees really have to re-sign Phil Hughes?” the Pinstriped Bible ponders. For a team that, for the longest time, looked at other organizations as farm systems, they certainly don’t need to.

Weekly AL East Standings (Overall Standings)

(Standings subject to change after Orioles/Yankees 8:05 game tonight)

New York 3-1 (5-5)

Boston 3-2 (7-4)

Baltimore 3-2 (6-5)

Toronto 3-3 (5-7)

Tampa Bay 1-4 (4-7)