Results tagged ‘ Lyle Overbay ’
‘Graphing the Jays’ power
During last night’s 11th inning win over the Tigers, the Jays got home runs from Jose Bautista (who else?) and Adam Lind. Right now, there are eight guys on the team who’ve hit at least 10 home runs this season, and two guys stuck at eight. This team has a real shot at getting 10 guys with double digits in home runs, which is amazing.
Here’s how I’ve done in getting autographs of these guys:
1. Jose Bautista (42): I sent to him during Spring Training, and haven’t received anything back yet. Here’s hoping!
2. Vernon Wells (23): Doesn’t sign TTM, as I found out back in the summer of 2006 when I first started this hobby. But I have a handful of certified auto’d cards of him.
3. Aaron Hill (19): I have four cards signed TTM from him. Two back in 2006 and two in 2008. I’ve got another couple out to him now, and hope to get them back this fall.
4. Adam Lind (18): Doesn’t sign TTM, but before he made it to the Bigs, I loaded up with a dozen or so of his certified autograph cards.
5. Alex Gonzalez (17): No longer with the team. I don’t have anything of his.
6. Lyle Overbay (16): After a horrendous start to the season, Overbay has been one of the club’s best hitters. I’ve got him three times over the years — once on a ball, once on a Topps card and this year on an 08 Ginter card.
7. John Buck (14): I don’t have anything of his.
8. Edwin Encarnacion (13): In addition to being unable to hit, he’s also unable to sign. He hasn’t responded to two TTM requests in the last two years.
9. Fred Lewis (8): I finally found a card of his (a rookie card, when he was with SF) and sent it off a couple weeks ago. He’s shown to be a good signer to other collectors, so I hope I get it back. He’s become one of my favourite Jays this season, and also one of the most exciting to watch.
10. Travis Snider (8): Snider goes through stages in which he signs, then goes a stretch without signing. I have one of his certified autos, but sent to him TTM a few weeks back on a Topps rookie card.
Mailday
I’m not exactly sure where the time has gone, but man, has it flown! I’ve neglected this blog for just short of a month, which is ridiculous. Things are back on track now, and let’s kick off the month of June a little early with a handful of things I’ve recently received in the mail:
From left to right:
Cubs pitcher Rich Hill signed this card for me care of the stadium in 32 days. Why Rich Hill, you ask? Well, I’d sent him his 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter card (similar to those you see beside him here) but I guess he liked it a little too much and decided to keep it for himself. This happens from time to time, which is another good affirmation that when you’re a TTM autograph seeker, the first rule is to never send anything you wouldn’t want to part with. I’m glad he sent this card back, and I might try him again on my Ginter card.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer signed his 2008 Allen & Ginter RC care of the stadium in 40 days. He also personalized it “To Mac” which is the start of my last name. Personalized cards are always cool, even if the athlete in question has appeared to give you a nickname. This is a key card for my TTM collection because I’m trying to obtain as many signed ’08 Ginters as possible.
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay signed this card care of the stadium in 50 days. Lyle is an awesome signer TTM, and I’m glad to see him starting to work his way out of that awful slump he endured early in the season. This is the fourth time Lyle has signed for me in five years, and it’s another addition to the Ginter collection.
Royals 4, Blue Jays 3
The Blue Jays failed to sweep their home series against Kansas City yesterday, with a 4-3 loss in 10 innings. After trailing until the eighth inning, the Jays tied the score at three to push for extras. But Scott Downs gave up a two-out, solo home run to Royals third baseman Alex Gordon in the 10th and the Jays failed to equal things in the home half of the inning. All in all, it was a sub-.500 homestand, but not bad considering the absence of Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion.
Hill will rejoin the club tomorrow in Tampa, while Encarnacion and Brian Tallet were added to the 15 day DL yesterday, retroactive back to the day after their last games.
The Good:
Fred Lewis: The speedy fielder had perhaps his best game as a Jay, with a hit, and RBI, a steal and a run scored.
Alex Gonzalez: After cooling off a bit, the shortstop swung a hot bat again in the loss, hitting his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning (a two-run shot).
Shaun Marcum: He’s still looking for that elusive first win, but in seven innings of work, was strong with six hits allowed and only three runs against, while fanning six batters and only walking one.
The Bad:
Lyle Overbay: Went 0-for-4 again, with three strikeouts.
Vernon Wells: See Overbay’s line.
Buck Watch: N/A. This one wasn’t on TV, so I caught a wonderful radio broadcast by Jerry Howarth and Alan Ashby. You can’t beat baseball on the radio!
Blue Jays 4, Royals 3
The Blue Jays picked up their second straight win over Kansas City last night, improving to 9-6 on the season. Dana Eveland didn’t get his third win of the young campaign, but pitched pretty well. Shawn Camp, who came on in relief and pitched 1.2 innings, got his first win of the season, while Kevin Gregg earned his fourth save.
The Good:
Vernon Wells: Toronto’s slugger continues to swing a hot bat. He hit his seventh home run of the season last night in only Toronto’s 15th game. How many games last season did it take him to get to seven? 73.
Lyle Overbay: He’ll take a 1-for-3 night with a double any day. Slowly, it looks like Overbay’s climbing out of his slump.
The Bad:
Mike McCoy: The fill-in second baseman went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, and is perhaps feeling the heat of Aaron Hill, who may return on Friday against the Rays.
Buck Watch: Muted again, but he’ll get a shot to impress today, when I should be able to watch most of the afternoon game.
Watchability: Two-and-a-half baseballs out of five. Outside of Wells’ three hits, Toronto had just five others, and it was a slow-paced game that the Jays were fortunate to win.
Back on track
It was nice to see Brandon Morrow finally get that elusive first win as a Blue Jay — and enjoy his finest performance of the season. Morrow was roughed up in each of his two first starts, but last night, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and got good run support to beat Kansas City 8-1. Morrow gave up just three hits over seven innings and fanned eight.
The Good:
Brandon Morrow: Lowered his ERA nearly five points to 7.31 with a great outing; now has 16 Ks in as many innings.
Lyle Overbay: Finally! The Jays first baseman had his best game of the season, going 2-for-2 with two walks. He also had a double and didn’t strike out after five straight games with at least one whiff.
Mike McCoy: I love his speed! Though McCoy won’t see much action when Aaron Hill returns, the speedy 2B had two steals to give him three in as many games.
Jose Bautista: After a mini slump, the versatile infielder drove in five runs, thanks to a pair of dingers. He also left five runners on base, but we’ll ignore that.
The Bad:
Jose Molina: Went hitless again; now hitless in three of four games this season. But the veteran did a good job calling the game for his young starter.
Buck Watch: Buck was on mute again in my house.
Watchability: It’s always bittersweet when the Jays win without support from their big guns. (Wells and Lind went a combined 1-for-8 with no RBI and three Ks) but it was nice to see runs come from elsewhere in the lineup. Three baseballs out of five.
The offence returns
What another great pitching performance by Dana Eveland, who moves to 2-0 on the season. The Blue Jays were powered by three runs in the third and three again in the fourth to beat Chicago 7-3 and win the series. Eveland gave up just three hits and two earned runs over six innings of work.
It was nice to see Travis Snider hit his first home run of the season, and let’s hope he’s out of his early slump. You had to love the way he tossed his bat after launching that blast; it’s nice to see someone still appear to have some confidence after struggling early. It’s also encouraging to see Alex Gonzalez continue to swing a hot bat. He banged four hits and drove in three.
Yesterday, I wrote about my concerns about the bottom five batters in the order. They didn’t exactly prove me wrong, either. The bottom five had four combined hits in 18 plate appearances. Much of that futility was led by the still-struggling Lyle Overbay, who went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. And his lone non-strikeout was a groundball that should’ve resulted in a double play, if not for a hard slide by Vernon Wells. Overbay is a veteran and will get through this, but Cito Gaston sure has to be nervous. Overbay’s now hitting .077: Three hits and 11 Ks.
Buck Watch: Buck’s call as Adam Lind hits a ball on a one hop over the outfield fence, resulting in a ground rule double: “A ground rule double by Aaron Hill!” Hill, of course, hasn’t played in more than week due to injury and is currently on the 15-day DL.
An old-fashioned drubbing
That was painful to watch, wasn’t it?
The Jays are smarting today after taking a 11-1 throttling from the Chi Sox, but they’ll hope to get back on track when Dana Eveland goes to the mound tonight in the series’ rubber match. This was one of those games that’s just ugly from the start. Toronto starter Brandon Morrow struggled for the second straight time in 2010, giving up seven earned runs in just four innings of work. Middle reliever Merkin Valdez didn’t fare much better, walking two batters and allowing three earned runs of his own in just an inning of work. Chalk it up to a rough game, and move onto tonight.
The Good:
Randy Ruiz: The slugger looked good last night in his first start of the season. I mean, no Jays player really stood out for a good reason, but Ruiz had a single, a stolen base and scored a run — a pretty good line considering Toronto batters were held to just two hits.
The Bad:
Brandon Morrow: The young pitcher needs to shake off this outing, and focus on his next start. And he probably shouldn’t look at his stats page too carefully, either; his ERA is 12.00.
Lyle Overbay: Shaving the Hulk Hogan ‘stache appears to have done nothing for the first baseman’s luck. He went 0-for-4 again last night to drop his average to .088. Maybe parking him on the bench and letting Ruiz start at first for a game or two would be a good idea.
Buck Watch: Buck got no airtime in my house last night; another game on mute.
Watchability: Ugh. Giving this game one baseball out of five is generous.
5-1!
What another bunch of late-game heroics for the Blue Jays. After a bit of a snoozer for the first seven innings, the Toronto offence finally woke up just in time. A monster eighth, including home runs by Alex Gonzalez and Jose Bautista, paved the way to a Toronto comeback against Baltimore. Toronto edged the O’s 5-2 after trailing until the eighth inning. In the ninth, Edwin Encarnacion added an insurance home run to help out the cause.
The Good:
Alex Gonzalez: Two home runs for a guy the Jays picked up to help out defensively is a real asset. Gonzalez now has four home runs through six games.
Casey Janssen: Six games into the season, Janssen has three wins. Talk about pitching well, but also being in the right place at the right time.
The Bad:
Lyle Overbay: Toronto’s 1B went 0-4 to drop his season average to .087, yikes.
John Buck: Had an 0-for day as well.
Numbers Game: The number of Toronto’s stolen bases through six games: 1. Alex Gonzalez has the lone Blue Jays steal.
Buck Watch: No Buck today! Sam Cosentino did play-by-play today for the first time that I’ve heard, at least. He filled in admirably. There were times he didn’t appear comfortable, but being alongside longtime colour man Pat Tabler must’ve helped. Either way, I’d take Cosentino over Buck, but I expect Buck’ll be back before long.
Watchability: I’ll admit I was flipping back and forth between this one and the Masters for the first handful of innings, but the late game heroics were awesome. The eighth inning was great, and helps this game early three and a half balls out of five.
Jays need to steal win tonight
You knew it was bound to happen: the slump.
Well, I can hardly call it that, but now that the Jays have dropped a pair to Boston, things aren’t as rosy as they were three days ago. Then, Toronto had swept four straight over Chicago and were sitting pretty atop the AL East standings. They still are, but it’s little closer now. With one game against the BoSox left, the Jays are just 1.5 games up, and tonight’s contest will be a big one.
With Jon Lester on the bump for Boston tonight, going against Toronto’s Robert 
Ray, the Sox appear to have the edge. But Lester is just 2-4 and has looked rough at times this season. Ray, meanwhile, has been satisfactory. The big factor will be how Toronto’s bats respond tonight. The Blue Jays offence has scored just four runs in the first two games against Boston, and needs to explode tonight in the rubber match.
Will they? You bet. This is far too talented an offence to stay quiet for three games straight.
I’m predicting Lyle Overbay will have a monster of a game and Vernon Wells will break out of his rough stretch.
malcolmmacmillan
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