Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Blair: Shuffling the deck

Manager John Gibbons has revamped his lineup for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Royals in an attempt to inject some life into a

club that is 4-for-42 (.095) with runners in scoring position on this road trip and has hit .212 with eight extra-base hits through the first five

games of the nine game road swing.
Alex Rios has been put into the leadoff spot and Lyle Overbay moved up to second, with Aaron Hill sixth. Gibbons has thought about doing

this for a while, but wanted to wait until both Scott Rolen and Adam Lind were in the fold.
Gibbons also said Sunday that he had an early-morning telephone conversation with general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who is at home in

Worcester, Mass. "It was our usual conversation," Gibbons said, adding that his job status was not discussed.
How bad have the Blue Jays been with runners in scoring position? Historically bad. According to Rogers Sportsnet's stats guru Scott

Carson, the Blue Jays .217 average with runners in scoring  position through the first 25 games this year is the second-worst in club history.

The 1998 Blue Jays hit just .213 RISP (like this year's edition of the team, they had a 10-15 record,) while the 1997 Blue Jays hit .228 in

that situation, followed by the 2004 team (.231) and the 1981 club (.235.)
THE LINEUPS
Blue Jays
Alex Rios, RF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Scott Rolen, 3B
Matt Stairs, DH
Vernon Wells, CF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Adam Lind, LF
Rod Barajas, C
John McDonald SS
P: Jesse Litsch
Royals
David DeJesus, CF
Alberto Callaspo, 2B
Alex Gordon, 3B
Jose Guillen, LF
Mark Teahen, RF
Billy Butler, DH
Miguel Olivo, C
Ross Gload, 1B
Tony Pena, SS
P: Gil Meche

Start the Conversation, Leave a Comment

This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?

You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!

Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.

close

Alert us about this comment

Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.

Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.

Back to Globe on Baseball

Globe on Baseball

Jeff Blair has been writing about baseball since 1989 and has been covering baseball for The Globe and Mail since joining the paper in 1997. This is where he will present news, views and analysis about baseball, focusing mostly (although not exclusively) on the Toronto Blue Jays. Robert MacLeod, a Globe and Mail reporter for close to 30 years, is turning his attention to coverage of the Toronto Blue Jays and Major League Baseball after eight years following the trials and tribulations of the Toronto Raptors.

Blogroll

Latest Blog Posts

TIFF 2008 
Calling all amateur paparazzi
Silver-Powers 
I hear Oily likes 50
Spector Vision 
Media bias, or not
Andrew Steele 
Jacky, get your gun
Hot and Not 
Hot: Captain Jim Adams
Blogolitics 
Then And Now: David Emerson
Adam Radwanski 
Army of one
Globe on Baseball 
MacLeod: Can It Last?
Driving it Home 
The party is over
On the hustings 
Who is your master?

Back to top