Jose Reyes Was Key to Blue Jays Success

By Guest
Updated: April 16, 2013

José Bautista (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the Toronto Blue Jays lost Jose Reyes until at least the All-Star break this weekend, a lot of other things were lost as well. The Jays were attempting to recreate what the Miami Marlins started last offseason when they signed every available free agent. Most, if not everyone believed it would work and we all know how it ended. In the middle of last season, the Dodgers began their attempt at buying a Championship when they traded for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford, and added Zack Greinke this offseason. Well, Greinke is out for sometime as well and the Dodgers are not any better than they were prior to the trade. Without Jose Reyes, the Blue Jays lineup is not the same. Not that they were smacking the ball around this season, but on paper, they were scary. Now Emilio Bonifacio is leading off and Munenori Kawasaki is playing short. Brett Lawrie better return with a vengeance and soon!

Toronto did take 2 of 3 from the Kansas City Royals at Kaufman Stadium, but their next 17 games are against the White Sox, Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox. They might be 5-7 now, but they could easily be 12-17 or worse when April is over.

R.A. Dickey allowed just 1 run over 6.1 innings in his first quality start as a member of the Blue Jays. He beat James Shields who pitched a complete game while picking up the L. J.A. Happ pitched another nice game improving to 2-0 in two starts lasting 10.1 innings. He did give up 4 earned to the Royals but he threw 41 pitches in the 1st inning allowing 3 runs and fixed some issues along the way. Brandon Morrow recovered from an awful start at Detroit to go 6 innings against the Royals allowing just 2 earned. The Jay Birds will need above average pitching for the foreseeable future in order to stay competitive in a SOLID American League East.

Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista each homered this weekend, and that is a great sign. They will need to get hot as well to give their starters some run support.

John Buck and the New York Mets handled the Minnesota Twins this weekend, setting records. Buck became the first player in MLB history to drive in 19 runs in his first 10 games with a new team. he did so after blasting a grand slam in the series opener. Matt Harvey then no-hit the Twins through 7 innings before Justin Morneau homered with 2 outs and 2 strikes.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Harvey is the first pitcher in modern major league history (since 1900) to win each of his first three starts of a season, with at least 25 strikeouts and six or fewer hits allowed over those three games. – MetsBlog

Buck hit a home run in 4 straight games before going 0-4 on Saturday. Yesterdays game was cancelled.

Daniel Murphy picked up 6 hits and 5 RBI in the two game set while scoring 3 times. David Wright added 5 RBI with a double, triple and 2 singles. With 3 hits on Saturday, Justin Turner is now 7 for 12 in his 3 spot starts with 2 doubles.

Bobby Parnell picked up a save in his first save attempt of the season.

Jake Peavy looked like 2007 Jake Peavy, striking out 11 Indians over 7 innings. The Chicago White Sox lost 2 of 3 in Cleveland. Addison Reed earned his 4th save.

In the series opener, Justin Masterson improved to 3-0 with a complete game shutout striking out 7. The Indians won 1-0 on a walk off single by Nick Swisher. Swisher added a double, home run 2 more RBI and scored 3 times this weekend.

The Indians tacked on 8 runs as Chris Sale lasted just 4.1 innings. Mark Reynolds hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs.

Michael Bourn went 3 for 4 with a home run on Sunday, but need stitches in hand and will miss the series opener with the Red Sox on Tuesday and possibly more.

After taking 2 of 3 from the Houston Astros, the Los Angeles Angels improved their record to 4-8, the same record as the Astros. After being shut out in the series opener by Bud Norris, the Angels managed 9 runs over the final two games. Josh Hamilton (homers in back to back games) and Mike Trout each hit their first home runs of the season.

C.J. Wilson picked up his 1st win of the season and Ernesto Frieri earned his second save.

The Detroit Tigers took 2 of 3 from the Athletics in Oakland and beat up on young studs Brett Anderson & Jarrod Parker. It was veteran Bartolo Colon who held the Tigers offense to just 3 runs over 7 innings. They scored 15 runs over 9 innings from Anderson and Parker.

Tigers leadoff hitter, Austin Jackson, scored 4 times while driving in 4 runs himself adding a double and a homer. Right behind him, Torri Hunter added 4 XBH (2 2b,3b, HR) scoring 3 times while Prince Fielder added 7 hits, 4 XBH (2 2b, 2 HR) 3 walks, driving in 5 runners and scoring 4 times. Jhonny Peralta also homered and drove in 4 runs.

The Seattle Mariners split a four game series with the Texas Rangers as Felix Hernandez got beat up for 10 hits over 6.2 innings in the series opener. Hisashi Iwakuma beat Yu Darvish improving to 2-0 and owns a 2.18 ERA with a 0.48 WHIP over 20 innings! Tom Wilhelmsen picked up saves number 4 and 5 while Joe Nathan earned his 4th save.

No team scored more than 4 runs in a game as they each scored 11 runs. Franklin Gutierrez and Ian Kinsler each hit their 4th home runs of the season. Raul Ibanez and A.J. Pierzynski each hit their 2nd home run of the season.

The New York Yankees took 2 of 3 from the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx as Hiroki Kuroda pitched a complete game shutout on Sunday Night Baseball. The Orioles scored just 7 runs all weekend but they scored 5 of them off Phil Hughes in just 3 innings. Francisco Cerelli played a little second base this weekend. C.C. Sabathia had another great start going 8 strong before Mariano Rivera picked up his 2nd save.