While Lawrie certainly lost his cool and failed to control his emotions, it’s hard to fault him for getting frustrated. By drawing a one-out walk, he would have represented the tying run and been in a position to steal his way into scoring position in a close game against a division rival. Add in that the Rays scored four unanswered runs to erase a rare 3-0 Jays lead on David Price, and it’s easy to see why Lawrie was so amped up in what was a winnable game.

Miller’s calls, however, certainly didn’t help matters, and after repeatedly watching Lawrie’s at-bat, it appeared to be the fourth pitch that actually started everything.

Catching Rays closer Fernando Rodney was former Jays catcher Jose Molina, one of the best pitch framers in the league. In the first pitch of the at-bat, Molina set up outside and tried to briefly frame Rodney’s 82 mph changeup, but it was called a ball by Miller. Then, after a wild throw outside and a foul ball made the count 2-1, the next pitch was critical.

Rodney fired a 95 mph fastball that caught the outside corner of the plate, but it was low. Molina managed to stick his glove, though, and bring the pitch, pictured below, up to Lawrie’s knees, and the offering could very well have been called a strike.

Instead, Miller called it ball three, and while this is pure speculation on my part, he could have recognized that he missed the call on that pitch and decided to make up for it on the next one, providing it was anywhere near the strike zone.

As you can see in these two pictures, though, the pitch was well outside the zone and even made its way over the left batter’s box, so it’s no surprise that Lawrie proceeded to walk down to first base and assume that he had just drawn a walk — something that umpires can’t stand. Stopping dead in his tracks after hearing the strike call, Lawrie walked back to the plate, and although neither Lawrie or Miller said anything to each other, Lawrie stared him down before resuming the at-bat, which Miller probably wasn’t impressed with.

But as Sportsnet’s Mike Wilner pointed out after the game, Miller let his emotions get in the way of making the right call on the final pitch of the at-bat.

“It’s an umpire’s job to call balls and strikes, safe and out and to maintain control of the game.  It’s not an umpire’s job to insinuate himself into said game by enacting personal vendettas when he feels slighted, and that’s what Miller did,” Wilner wrote.

The image below — where the ball is above the logo on Lawrie’s jersey and almost eye level with Molina — says it all:

In addition to blowing such an obvious call, I was somewhat surprised at how fast Miller threw Lawrie out of the game. It took just a couple of words after turning around for Lawrie to get tossed, which only set him off even further, leading him to throw his helmet on the ground and unintentionally hit Miller with it. In what was a necessary move, Farrell ran out to restrain his third baseman and give Miller a piece of his own mind before getting tossed himself, a display that I thought was important on Farrell’s part and, at the very least, should bring him closer to his players in the clubhouse.

While it’s easy to understand why Lawrie reacted to Miller’s calls, how he reacted after the fact was unacceptable and is almost guaranteed to result in a suspension. My first thought was that he’d receive five games, but considering Roberto Alomar received five games for his incident in 1996 and Yadier Molina received five games for physically brushing home plate umpire Rob Drake last season, Brett Lawrie could receive less, but seven to ten games could also be a possibility.

- JM

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After Jose Molina signed with the Rays last week, it became clear that the Jays were going to have to acquire a new back up catcher through free agency or a trade. (more…)

If someone had told Jays fans that the Jays would be sitting 2 games under .500 at the All-Star break, I think most would have agreed that it was likely where they expected the Jays to be this season. I did expect them to be a bit further ahead, but as usual, unforeseen circumstances have a way of making changes happen – such as 15 blown saves during the first half of the season! The Jays are 11 games back of the Red Sox, 10 games back of the Yankees and the Wild Card, and are 5 games behind the Rays who are holding on despite many personnel losses last off-season. The Jays also headed into the All-Star break with as close to an opening day roster as they’ve had the majority of the season, have won 3 in a row and 5 of their last 10, and actually have a better record on the road (25-25) than they do at home (19-22) – something I have no answer for.

Here’s a quick review and thoughts of each position player’s output, of the roster used just before the break, in the first half of the season: (more…)

Although the Jays did suffer their 15th blown save of the season after Jon Rauch allowed the Indians to tie this game in the 9th inning, their fearless leader came through with 2 big knocks that solidified his pre-All-Star record at a solid 31 HRs, just 8 short of what Barry Bonds accomplished when he set the MLB HR record. To put it into today’s language, not only does he have the same number of HRs as Joey Votto and Mike Stanton combined, but he is also doing it with a much better line .332/.468/.702. In short, Jose Bautista is having an MVP caliber season. (more…)

Just over the half way point of the season, it is a great time to take a look at how our individual Blue Jays have faired. Today I will examine the stat: Wins above replacement player (war).

(more…)

In far more exciting news than Lyle Overbay’s recent comments to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (where the writer actually takes a shot at Rogers Centre attendance if you read the article) , Brett Cecil makes his return to the big league mound tonight looking to give the Jays the series win, and here’s to hoping he pitches like we all know he can.

Also, how amazing is Jose Molina? The guy is hitting .301/.381/.441 in 93 at-bats this season and not only did he pick-off Garrett Jones in a heads-up play last night, but look at how he blocked the plate when Bautista threw home in the fifth, forcing Neil Walker to completely change direction.

Moving on…to the links!

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Here are some of the prominent, and not so prominent, notes of things happening within the Jays franchise and its affiliates:

Zach Stewart Shines in Debut (more…)

Having said that, there are plenty of other reasons to not worry about the performance of Jays hitters thus far. Here are the top 10 I could come up with this morning:

• 1 – It’s spring training for crying out loud!! This is by far the biggest reason to not panic and it really shouldn’t need to be said at all. Players are all working out the kinks and working on getting their swings going. Everyone knows that the pitching is usually ahead of the hitting in the spring, so this lack of runs shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
• 2 – The Jays lineup is currently missing a player that is expected to knock in 20-30 HRs in 2011 to go along with a ton of doubles in Aaron Hill. His presence in the lineup will make it much tougher to navigate through and he’s someone that the current lineup definitely misses immensely. (more…)

Even some of the leaders who were added last season by Anthopoulos, such as John Buck and Alex Gonzalez, have come and gone. So, many people in the industry rightfully question how much leadership remains in Toronto and question whether or not there’s enough of it on board. I say that the latter question is non-sense, and that there’s plenty of leadership remaining with the club for the 2011 season.

Some of the players that can be expected to take on a bigger leadership role with the Jays in 2011 are predictable, and others are not. What bodes well for the Jays is that those who do take on that role will likely do so because they want to, and also because they can do so with the respect of the remainder of the team.

Here are my candidates to become the likely leaders of the club in 2011: (more…)

image courtesy of www.hardballtalk.nbcsports.com

We’ve barely had a chance to digest the Vernon Wells  trade to the Angels and one of the major returns from that deal, 1B/C/DH Mike Napoli, has been dealtas he will join his old AL West rivals in the Texas Rangers. He’ll try to make sure that they beat his old squad, one that he made no qualms about having issues with due to playing time, and will surely do well in their already potent lineup. The Jays, in return for Napoli, will get 31 year old RHP reliever Frank Francisco and an undisclosed amount of cash (reportedly less than $1 million).

I have to admit that I was surprised by this deal when I first heard of it. However, after digesting it a little, I see some of the positives that this creates for the Jays. I was still a huge fan of Napoli’s versus LHP and thought he would complement Adam Lind very well at 1B as a result. Still, his trade value was most likely the highest it will be this off season as most people seem to believe his numbers of 2010 may level off and/or go down in 2011 and beyond. He wasn’t a viable option behind the plate for the Jays who want to see what J. P. Arencibiacan do there along with Jose Molina, and Edwin Encarnacion should provide enough power in sharing time with Lind at 1B and DH. (more…)