BlueBirdBro

What I wouldn't give for a downtown batting cage...

By the time we get to Estrada in the rotation, hopefully we'd have already won Price, Stroman and Dickey's starts. In that case Navarro is ok I guess...

Rain out tonight likely. 95% chance of rain around 9pm with intermittent thunderstorms after 4:45pm

What a letdown after two solid outs

Can we stop with the BABIP is not sustainable argument for the rest of this season with Cola? We've been saying that for months.

After the All-Star stuff, how can they not?

<3 Stro

This conversation would be way more heated if Gibbons didn't have such a short leash on him last night, which I am very thankful for. If anything we know his patience is pretty low with him now.

Houston Disastros

Was it his throwing shoulder or non-throwing shoulder

As if a guy like Gibby with his pro level lean game needs your awards

Huston Street just blew a save in SPECTACULAR fashion

Well, he's 29, I guess we can expect him to rake at first like every late 20's guy that joins us for brief stints.

Just as long as it's not right now

It's from the Toronto Sun but still some nice Tulo and Stroman comments: NEW YORK - Outside the skies above Yankee stadium were opening up. Inside the visiting clubhouse so, too, was Troy Tulowitzki, who still marvels at his good fortune to land in this place, at this time, with these Blue Jays teammates. “The thing that comes to me is that there are some people in this game who don’t come to the yard every day to win a game,” said Tulowitzki. “They come for personal reasons. That’s not how it is here. “In this case, I think it’s neat to see everybody come to the field for that one reason and that’s to win a game that day. That’s how it should be but that’s not how it always is. Some guys have different things on their minds. But right now, right here, I can tell you everybody’s coming to the park with one thing in mind. That’s to win a game. That’s a culture I hope we keep here because you start to realize late in your career how unique it really is.” The Blue Jays showed up Thursday hoping to win a ball game against the Yankees but didn’t get that chance. The game was postponed some two hours before the scheduled first pitch because of a forecast that called for relentless rain showers all evening. That game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday. Even though he was blindsided by the trade that took him out of Colorado after 10 years and set him down in Canada, some five weeks later Tulowitzki sees nothing but positives. That’s good because he’s under contract for five more years. “It’s neat,” he said. “Now I see how big a market it is in Canada and that’s something to be a part of. You know they have the money to spend so with the years remaining on my contract I’m looking forward to coming to the field every day to play with some of the elite players in the game. That’s hopefully what you want: A chance to win year in and year out.” Tulowitzki has not come close to his career numbers as a hitter in the Blue Jays lineup. That eats at him but he’s thankful not to be the centrepiece of a lineup brimming with professional hitters, just another link in the chain. “It’s been impressive to me to be in a lineup that is so deep,” he said. “I was hitting leadoff for a bit and now it’s been fifth. It’s so much fun to watch guys prepare. They’re professionals and they know what they’re doing up at the plate. “For right now, I’m not swinging the bat the way I know I am capable of but it really doesn’t matter. We still win games. If I were to do this in other places, Colorado at times, you would lose games because of it. Not with this lineup.” He’s still amazed at the changes GM Alex Anthopoulos was able to make at the trade deadline. “It shows they wanted to win right now,” said Tulowitzki. “I know when I came over, there was some talk that we might get David Price and I’m like ‘Wow!’ These guys are all in, really trying to win. That gave our locker room the sense they (management) were prepared to go for it and the team started playing better because of it.” Now the Blue Jays are at a point where, with 24 games left in the season, they could make life easier for themselves by winning this series against their chief rivals who sit 11/2 games behind them in the American League East standings. As a result, there is a tendency to put too much emphasis on what happens in The Bronx this weekend. “I don’t think it’s do-or-die for either team,” said Tulowitzki. “We’re so close. Obviously it’s an important series. If I said otherwise, I’d be lying. At the same time, I don’t think it’s do-or-die. There are 20 games left after this series. Trust me, I played on a team when we were 10 out with 15 to go and still made up the ground. So it’s definitely not do-or-die.” Tulowitzki was referring to the 2007 Rockies, who won 14 of their final 15 games, including a 163rd game playoff victory over San Diego to snatch the NL wild card. They then ran the table in the NL playoffs, beating Philadelphia three straight and Arizona in four straight before losing the World Series to Boston. Those were heady times and so are things in the Blue Jays world right now, but Tulowitzki cautions against putting too much emphasis on any individual game. “You try to simplify it as much as you can,” he said. “You realize it is a baseball game and you try to have fun with it. You put in the preparation you hope will pay off, plus all the off-season work that you did. Then you let it fall where it falls. Hopefully you’re on the right end. If not, you can look yourself in the mirror and say you did everything you possibly could to win a game. You shouldn’t really make the game bigger than it is.” STROMAN'S EMOTIONS RUNNING HIGH Now that he’s here, sitting in the dugout at Yankee Stadium, assigned to pitch Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Yankees, all of Marcus Stroman’s hard work this summer is coming home to roost. “It’s everything you dream about,” said Stroman, who grew up on Long Island. “You want to be playing in playoff baseball. You want to be playing in October. The group of guys we have on this team is unbelievable, the different personalities and how everyone meshes together is so special. I wanted to be a part of that. That was what was in the back of my mind every time I was in class, every time I was in the weight room: Get back with my brothers. “I still wake up every day and I honestly believe I’m dreaming, just to be playing with this level of talent that’s on my team. It’s everybody I watched growing up .... Tulowitzki, Price, Bautista. I used to be in the cage pretending to be Tulo. I wanted to throw the back-door cutter, just like Price. Then you meet them and they’re as humble and as down-to-earth even though they’ve had so much success. That’s the most special thing about them, is how easily approachable they are, how they want to talk to you and help you get better. It’s a set up for a perfect clubhouse.” Stroman’s last outing Monday in Pawtucket raised some eyebrows. The Red Sox triple-A team beat him up over three innings, nicking him for eight hits and four runs. Stroman dismisses those results, preferring to concentrate on the physical part of his outing and he was thrilled to come out of it “feeling great.” “No one puts more pressure on me than myself,” he said. “I expect to go out there and win. I am ready. My arm feels great, my body feels great. “I’m in a good place mentally. It’s going to be hard to contain (the enthusiasm). It’s going to be hard to deal with the emotions. It’s New York, it’s a pennant race, it’s where I’m from. It’s a matter of controlling it and not letting it get the best of you.” Manager John Gibbons is willing to give Stroman his head, with no restrictions other than getting knocked around by the Yankees. “We’ll see what he does,” said Gibbons. “We’ll let him run as long as he’s pitching well.”

Like how Owens was supposed to be crushed by us? Paper match ups don't mean s*** unless we're talking about Tillman

9 quality starts in 27 starts is enough said. Or something like that

Yeah charity sucks doesn't it

If I were an un-biased betting man, Boston on paper. Hutch is going to get lit. The bias me says FYSMC Kelly.

Dumb. Hurting the team when you're basically giving up an extra base on any ball hit to CF

I sacrifice a Yankee fan.

just FILTHY

He may have always been a robot. I've never watched a Rockies game in the past so I can't be sure, but are people just expecting him to be a brand new person without seeing who he was with Colorado?

5 aces. Look out guys. 20m for this guy the next 4 seasons. Insane.

Can't wait to see his next start, not like this is a small distraction