Blue Jays Update Aug 8th 2009

August 7th Game Complete

Baltimore Orioles 7 (W 46-63)
Toronto Blue Jays 5 (L 51-57)

Jason Berken (W, 2-9)
Ricky Romero (L, 10-5)
Jim Johnson (SV, 3)


Game Notes:

Friday night was the beginning of a weekend celebration for Blue Jays fans as the Back2Back Reunion of the 1992 & 1993 World Series championship teams were celebrated at the Rogers Centre.

The celebration began with the honouring of the alumni and a great start to the Toronto Blue Jays & Balitmore Orioles contest for the Jays.

It ended however in disappointment, as the likes of Joe Carter, Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and others watched as the Blue Jays lost yet another game 7-5, after jumping out to an early lead.

The largest audience reactions for the former players went to Carter, Molitor, & Winfield, along with Roberto Alomar, Devon White and former and current head coach Cito Gaston.

Toronto starting pitcher Ricky Romero was the losing pitcher in this game.

Romero had a no hitter into the 5th inning, that was broken up by Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora.

Everything went wrong for Romero and the Jays after that, as Romero allowed four runs in the sixth inning, before being pulled out of the game.

Jays reliever Brandon League also had a terrible night allowing three runs in the eighth and receiving quite a number of boos from the fans in attendance.

League's poor performance allowed Baltimore to pull out to a 7-3 lead.

The Jays would score two runs in the eighth, but it wasn't enough as Baltimore walked away with this game.

Aaron Hill, 2-5, 1 double, 1RBI
Vernon Wells, 2-4, 1HR, 2RBI, 2 runs scored
Alex Rios, 1-3, 1HR, 2RBI, 1 run scored

Aubrey Huff, 2-5, 1RBI, 1 run scored
Matt Weiters, 2-3, 1 double, 1RBI, 1 run scored, 1BB

Final starting pitching lines for the game:

Ricky Romero - 6IP, 5H, 4R, 4ER, 2BB, 3K
Jason Berken - 6IP, 5H, 3R, 3ER, 2BB, 6K

August 8th Game Complete

Toronto Blue Jays 3 (W 52-57)
Baltimore Orioles 2 (L 46-64)

Final in 10 innings.

Jason Frasor (W, 6-2)
Danys Baez (L, 4-6)

Game Notes:

The Blue Jays finally closed out a game on Saturday afternoon, as the Jays accomplished a walk off win for the first time since early May.

Adam Lind hit a clutch tenth inning double to win the game for the Jays, to snap a three game losing streak.

Blue Jays reliever Brain Tallet filled in admirably for an injured Brett Cecil pitching five innings, giving up four hits, walking one and striking out four.

Alex Rios, 1-3, 1HR, 2RBI, 1 run scored, 1BB
Adam Lind, 1-5, 1 double, 1RBI

Nick Markakis, 2-5, 1 double,

Final starting pitching lines for the game:

Brett Cecil - 4.1IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 2K
Chris Tillman - 6.2IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K

Blue Jays News:

Blue Jays outfielder Alex Rios has been claimed on waivers by an unknown team.

The Blue Jays can let the claiming team have Rios and the over $60 million remaining on his contract, or they can pull him back from waivers and keep him. Another option would be to work out a trade with the team that claimed him.

The Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, and Chicago White Sox are all possible suitors for Rios.

Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston threw out the first pitch of the game to former Blue Jays catcher and 1992 World Series Most Valuable Player Pat Borders on Friday night.

In Saturday afternoon's game, both Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts and Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil left the game with injuries.

Roberts left the game with a left shin contussion and Cecil left the game with left knee inflammation after making a diving shovel pass attempt to get baserunner Robert Andino in the fifth.

Other Baseball News:

The Baltimore Orioles have traded catcher Gregg Zaun to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash considerations and promoted C Chad Moeller from Triple-A Norfolk.

The Minnesota Twins have acquired right handed pitcher Carl Pavano from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named.

The Oakland Athletics have released former American League Most Valuable Player Jason Giambi. Giambi was hitting .193, with 11HR, and 40RBI in 269AB.

John Smoltz has been designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox. Boston has 10 days to trade or release him.

This could mean the end of John Smoltz's storied pitching career.

Josh Hamilton, a recovering drug and alcohol addict, who made a comeback to the Major Leagues and had an amazing season last season with the Texas Rangers spoke to the media yesterday about photos that surfaced in the media, of Hamilton cavorting with several scantily clad women in a bar last January.

Hamilton had this to say:

"I always knew there would be a chance it would come out,"

"I believe I got to the point where if you have alcohol in your system, your inhibitions go out the window.

The details don't matter — what kind of drink it was. It just put me in a bad situation."

You can read the article here: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9910700/Rangers-slugger-Hamilton-admits-alcohol-relapse

Finally, Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz addressed the media for the first time yesterday about his name being listed on the 2003 Performance Enhancing Drugs list, as a steroid user.

Ortiz claimed over the counter supplements and vitamins were the cause of the positive test.

Watch the entire interview with Ortiz here: http://msn.foxsports.com/video/MLB?vid=683a475b-356f-4caf-bdd3-a118c6abbc3a