Baseball 2008

We're 20 games into the season and I'm just starting to get a feel for this team. My goal is to provide some objective analysis of the Jays for the 2008 season. Living in Toronto I am exposed to the Jays more then any other team. Hopefully this will allow me to handicap the team and make some cash along the way.

I should preface this by saying that I'm not a huge Blue Jays fan, just the hometown team. This should be able to give me some objectivity and prevent this from becoming a homer thread. I've always felt that the members of the board could benefit a lot from having people in every major city. There is a lot of information that they are exposed to that the rest of us are not. The flip side is that approach can often become a homer thread. I'll do my part to help out.

April 23rd Pick

Toronto/Tampa Bay under 8.5 +105 @ pinnacle

Analysis:

The ace of the Jays staff gets the ball against the Rays. Despite the 2-2 record, Doc Halladay has been dominant in the early season. In his four starts he has gone 7, 8, 9 and 9 innings and has a very low Whip 1.12. You can pencil in a great effort every five days from this workhorse.

The back end of the Jays staff is very strong with Accardo and Ryan sharing the closer duties.

Pitching has not been the problem in 2008. The Jays offence has struggled to put up runs. Shannon Stewart is battling a groin injury, Rolen has not played, Eckstein has struggled and Frank Thomas is no longer with the club. The hitting woes continue for the near future.

The Jays are up against TB and young Righty Jason Hammel. Hammel has been decent in his three starts giving the Rays 6+ strong innings.

Look for a low scoring pitchers duel at the Trop.

Previous Play:

April 23rd Pick - Toronto/Tampa Bay under 8.5 +105 @ pinnacle
Risking 1 unit to win 1.05 - win

YTD 1-0 +1.05 units

April 24th Pick - Toronto ML +112 @ Pinnacle
Risking 1 unit to win 1.12

Analysis:

Dustin McGowan gets the nod for the Jays tonight against young Rays righty Andrew Sonnanstine. McGowan has been a good to very good starter for the Jays in April. He has turned in 4 decent starts, averaging 6 innings and 100+ pitches per start. McGowan is a control pitcher, gets a lot of ground ball outs and has a good walk to strikeout ratio. He has only allowed 9 runs over 24 innings but has suffered from the Jays lack of run support.

The Jays offence has sputtered as of late. Matt Stairs parked a couple on Wednesday night and looks to take the DH roll and run. The guy is a professional hitter and should provide a much better spark then the departed Frank Thomas.

Alex Rios should be back in the line-up Thursday night after missing a couple due to an illness.

Halladay threw a complete game in the Wednesday loss. This allowed the bully a much needed rest. Look for Mcgowan to turn in 6 strong innings and turn the ball over to the bullpen (a strength of the Jays early on) to finish it off.

Jays get out of Tampa with a win

Previous Play:

April 24th Pick - Toronto ML +112 @ Pinnacle
Risking 1 unit to win 1.12

YTD 1-1 +.05 units

April 25th Pick - Toronto/KC under 8 -114 @ Pinnacle
Risking 1.14 unit to win 1

Analysis

The Jays bats continue to struggle to put up runs. AJ Burnett goes for the Jays and continues to be the great enigma. At times he has dominant stuff and looks like the guy they had in mind when they gave him the huge contract. Other times he looks like an overpaid bust.

Which Burnett shows tonight? Who cares. The real question is when will they Jays big bats show up and score some runs....the answer is not tonight.

Low scoring affair with the Bullpen get a lot of work in the second half of the game.

Previous Play:

April 25th Pick - Toronto/KC under 8 -114 @ Pinnacle
Risking 1.14 unit to win 1 - loss

YTD 1-2 -1.09 units

April 27th Pick - Toronto/KC over 9 +105 @ Pinnacle
Risking 1 unit to win 1.05

Analysis

The Jays continue to struggle and have now lost 6 in a row and 8 of 10. Expectations were much higher for this club with the playoffs a definite possibility. Manager John Gibbons might be on the way out as he is clearly not getting the most out of this team.

For the first time all season the year is completely healthy. Scott Rolen has returned to line-up, as has closer BJ Ryan and Shannon Stewart. This is the team that was put together to make that playoff run, now its up to the players to make it happen.

Jesse Litsch gets the start against the Royals. Litsch was decent during his rookie season in 07. You could pencil him in for 6 strong innings and more often then not gave the Jays a chance to win games. This year he has struggled, not getting past the 6th inning and does not seem to have the same control.

He is facing the Royals Gil Meche who comes in with a 1-3 record, 8.00 era and is coming off a blowout against the Tribe.

Look for the bats to feast on these medicore pitchers and send both teams to the bullpen early. Should be a high scoring affair in KC

GL
Cash-em

Thanks Cash-em, still tying to get a handle on this team. A lot of talent that is just not producing. They definitely dont want to go to Boston on a 7 game losing streak.