digiblader

And he'll be out of the game. He's at 96 pitches already.

Another walk for Rasmus. Good work there.. we may get to the Rays awful bullpen in the 8th.

Indians, O's and Red Sox don't agree--they were shut down by Hellickson recently as well. That Royals start was an outlier. Let's save the runs for Matt Moore--he's been awful in June, due to poor command.

Good news for the Jays--Orioles are losing 3-2 to the Indians. So we may still be 3 back, even if we lose.

Those pitches were flat--and I mean flat. No wonder the Rays hit them out. Luckily, Rogers has rebound to limit the damage to the 3 runs. Good thing those HRs were solo shots and not multi-run HRs.

Wow, look at how empty the Trop is! https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/349294539074334720/photo/1

Give it a rest already. I know I was wrong to trust CERA. Perhaps I overanalyze too much.. I'm a bit of a sabermetrics guy.

Yes. If you want good catchers, go to St. Louis(Yadier Molina), Pittsburgh(Russell Martin) or KC(Salvador Perez).

If you're wondering on Kelly Johnson, his numbers have fallen off--.123 in June. Like the Yankees hitters, he's regressed back to the mean. Other June Numbers in averages: James Loney: .244 Yunel Escobar .253 Longoria .293 Scott .220 Zobrist .321 Joyce .247 Jennings .256 Fuld .182 Lobaton .275

Sorry--It was difficult trying to do research and write this posting. But still--look at the numbers. The numbers with the pitchers and catchers seem to be similar.

Rays lineup out--no Jennings. Joyce lf, Zobrist 2b, Scott DH, longoria 3b, loney 1b, Myers rf, Fuld cf,* lobaton c,* Escobar ss,* Hellickson RHP Jays #BlueJays lineup: Cabrera LF, Bautista RF, Encarnacion DH, Lind 1B, Rasmus CF, Arencibia C, Izturis 3B, Bonifacio 2B, Kawasaki SS Rogers P

Actually, Texas is the best team. Oakland's struggled recently with offense and pitching.

True--but Wieters has declined defensively since 2011.

Wow, Ianetta sucks! When is MS going to give Conger the everyday job?? Ditto for Carlos Santana..explains why we're seeing a lot of Yan Gomes. And Boston's really going to miss David Ross.. look at the team's performance since his concussions.

Thought I'd evaluate catchers in the AL East, considering how tight the division is, to see who is the best in the division defensively and offensively. Red Sox Jarrod Saltalamacchia-- 0.0 dWAR, 1.3 oWAR David Ross 0.4 dWAR, 0.2 oWAR (DL--concussion) Ryan Lavarnway 0.0 dWAR, 0.1 oWAR Good thing for Salty's bat--they're not paying him for his glove. David Ross's injury really hurts--it leaves them with two below average defensive catchers. Lavarnway's sample size is too small to determine. Salty ranks as one of the worst catchers in baseball defensively.. a tick below Arencibia. It should also be noted that most of the pitching last year for Boston that stunk was mostly Salty's fault. YANKEES Chris Stewart (0.3 dWAR, 0.1 oWAR) Cervelli (0.7 oWAR, 0.2 dWAR) Austin Romine (0.1 dWAR--don't ask about his offense) Well, at least Yanks catchers can defend well--probably explains why their pitching has kept the team competitive. ORIOLES Matt Wieters 0.4 oWAR, -0.2dWAR Teagarden (0.1 dWAR, -0.3 oWAR) If Wieters is supposed to be a great catcher, why does he stink so much defensively this season? He's been far from a Gold Glover this year. Doesn't help that his pitching staff is 2nd worst in the AL, next to Houston. RAYS Jose Molina -0.2dWAR, 0.5 oWAR Jose Lobaton 0.8 oWAR, 0.2 dWAR Molina's losing a step--but Lobaton is doing well this season so far. BLUE JAYS JP Arencibia 0.7 oWAR, 0.1 dWAR Thole (0.1 dWAR) Blanco(DFA'd, only played when Dickey pitched, 0.0dWAR) For defense in 2013--the best catchers are(as of present) Yankees(0.6dWAR), Jays(0.1dWAR), Red Sox(0.4 with Ross, +-0.0dWAR without), Rays (0.0dWAR) Orioles(-0.1 dWAR). If you're wondering how certain pitching staffs have done so well or so awful--look at their catchers. It usually matches up quite well--in order of ERA: Yanks (4th), Red Sox(7th--still hard to call with Ross out), Jays (8th), Rays(12th), Orioles (14th)

Let me retry this. Looking at dWAR, Arencibia still has a 0.1 dWAR--that's still better than Wieters(-0.2) and Salty(0.0). Good defensive catchers don't grow on trees. Not everyone can be Russell Martin or Yadier Molina, or even Salvador Perez(0.9). Chris Stewart has a 0.3 dWAR, Jose Lobaton of the Rays has a 0.2 dWAR(explains why he's seeing more playing time.)

And yet Arte Moreno is still as clueless as ever.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/angels/2013/06/23/arte-moreno-angels-josh-hamilton-mike-scioscia-jerry-dipoto/2450849/ And he prefers the free-spending Dodgers over the bankrupt version--at least the bankrupt version had a decent record. The free-spending ones are getting killed..they have one of the worst records in the NL, just like their AL counterparts.

Jays/Rays probables: Rogers(3.14 ERA) vs. Hellickson(5.50 ERA) Buehrle vs. Moore Dickey vs. Carmona/Hernandez/whatever he's called now Considering the struggles of the Rays starters and bullpen, the Jays have a good chance.

Well.. that's not easy to find. Not everyone can be Joe Mauer, AJ Pierzynski, Buster Posey, etc.

And his trade value is nil because of his poor defense and blocking skills, according to scouts. He's basically a DH/1B playing catcher, just like Mike Napoli was.

Hey, it could be worse--Boston hasn't had a decent catcher since Varitek retired. Salty has never had decent dWAR numbers as a starter. (JPA has been positive every year on dWAR since he was appointed the starter in 2011.)

FYI, the projected lineup for the Jays/Red Sox series is: Lester Webster Doubront Dempster Pretty ugly.. all potentially winnable games because all those Sox starters in that series have ERAs north of 4.00 and WHIPs of 1.30 or more(or in Webster's case, a 11.25 ERA and a 2.08 WHIP) And a series vs. the hot-hitting Rockies isn't terribly good news for Boston--Lackey and Dempster are going to need good stuff or it could get ugly. Our Jays could be within distance of 1st by next weekend, pending what happens this week. Also, Boston's lineup's about to get a lot weaker--Shane Victorino could be DL bound(back), and Nava is struggling due to a thumb injury. FYI--remember how many blown saves we had with John Farrell managing the bullpen? He's doing it again in Boston--13/24 in save opportunities, just ahead of Cleveland. Toronto is 19/27(low due to early struggles and a lot of blowouts), Tampa is 17/27, Yankees is #1 at 28/31(gotta love Mo!), Baltimore is 28/43(bullpen outside of Jim Johnson has been erratic)

Why did we give Towers a 2-year deal again?

Game finally starts in St. Louis..Texas can put us ahead of the Yankees(if we beat the Rays) if they clobber the Yankees in their series this week. It won't be as much of a problem--Oakland's struggling badly with a difficult schedule due with the Reds and Cardinals, along with the Royals, Pirates and Red Sox(and an easy Cubs series in between)

You know any better measurements for pitchers to determine how good or bad they are?