Mop Up Duty Mop Up Duty A Baseball Blog dedicated to answering the questions rarely asked. Main topics include fantasy baseball, sabermatics, forgotten leagues & players, expansion, bios, etc. Updated almost everyday! 
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Yesterday?s Jays effort and other thoughts
2009-05-01 17:54:00 Yesterday’s DP Six double plays. Yikes. The double plays really hurt the ballclub last season, so this could be the beginning of a very dangerous trend. Surprisingly Alex Rios didn’t contribute to the DP count. On the bright side scoring six runs in a game where twelve of your teams out come via six plays is ... More About: Thoughts , Yesterday , Jays
Send Purcey to the Bullpen
2009-04-28 23:51:00 After last nights performance its becoming abundantly clear that David Purcey doesn?t belong in the Jays rotation. At least currently. Rather than sending him down (as I called for last week) I think both parties (Jays + Purcey) would benefit from a demotion to mop-up duty in the bullpen. Why do I say this? Two ... More About: Toronto Blue Jays , Send , Bullpen
Roger Clemens Clean After All?
2009-04-28 14:20:00 Roger Clemens Clean After All? Maybe not “steroids clean”. But he is definitely “Zestfully clean”. The YouTube video below shows Clemens in 1987 doing a spot for Zest. He also shows off some serious singing chops. Unless he is lypsyncing…. it wouldn’t be like Clemens to cheat, would it? Oh well, at any rate, with his baseball ... More About: Karaoke , Roger Clemens , Toronto Blue Jays
10 Reasons To Start Watching The Blue Jays
2009-04-27 13:40:00 10 Reasons To Start Watching The Blue Jays Blog To has compiled a pretty great list on the 10 Reaons to Start Watching The Blue Jays. Highlights include: 6. Who’s That on the Mound? It doesn’t seem to matter… The Jays have possibly the most unbelievable pitching staff in the majors. Fans have seen the last couple years that our ... More About: Jennifer Aniston , Commentary
What he said
2009-04-25 17:43:00 What he said Yankees vs Red Sox Riveria blew another save vs the Red Sox last night (12th blown save vs Boston in his career) when Jason Bay cranked a two-run homer in the ninth to tie things up. The Red Sox went on to win the game in 11 via a Youk HR. Boston has now ... More About: Boston Red Sox , Blog , Live , Toronto Blue Jays
Liveblogging: Red Sox/Yankees Renew Rivalry
2009-04-24 21:04:00 Liveblogging: Red Sox/Yankees Renew Rivalry “This is one of the greatest rivalries in sports. It’s great for baseball and it will always be great for baseball. If anything, the energy that comes from the fans being into it locks you in.” - Mark Texeira Temperatures should be well into the mid 20s in Boston this weekend, so ... More About: Boston Red Sox , Playoffs , Mark Teixeira , David Ortiz
Strictly Business - Jays call up Burres & Bullington
2009-04-24 20:16:00 Strictly Business - Jays call up Burres & Bullington Reporters that actually cover the Jays on a daily basis (Bastian for example) got this one wrong. And why did they? Because they are too close to the source. They get Cito’s input (which really doesn’t mean anything when it comes to transactions), which they buy into. ... More About: Transactions , Call
Great Kelly Gruber Interview
2009-04-24 13:41:00 Great Kelly Gruber Interview My favourite Blue Jay by far - Kelly Gruber - was in town a week ago today for the Flashback Friday gimmick. Gruber, a father of 4, took 2 of his sons (Kyle,14 & Kolton, 12 - absent was Kody, 18) on the field with him to bask in the glow of the Toronto Blue ... More About: Great
Bad Luck for Jays as Romero Lands on DL
2009-04-23 23:27:00 A tough break for the Jays just came across the news wire, standout starter Rickey Romero has just landed on the 15 day DL with a strained muscle in his right side. Although I haven’t seen regarding his replacement as of yet I wouldn’t be surprised to see former major league Wade Miller get the call. ... More About: Toronto Blue Jays , Luck
Live Game Notes April 22nd - Jays 8 Rangers 7
2009-04-23 17:32:00 Live Game Notes - Jays 8 Rangers 7 Today we have live game notes from one of our founding writers, Early. A baseball history expert, you can check out his archives of historical articles spanning from the 1900’s to the present day by clicking here. Onto the live game notes. Cito said after the game they are ... More About: April , Live
Why Marco Scutaro?s Stats Don?t Add Up
2009-04-22 22:16:00 Why Marco Scutaro’s Stats Don’t Add Up John Hale over at the highly recommended Mockingbird today asked the question whether Marco Scutaro is for real? In his post he showcased an ESPN Insider stat that listed Marco #2 in the MLB in the stat of well-hit pct of swings. He then went on to question Marco’s BABIP ... More About: Sabermetrics
10 Observations from Last Nights Jay Game
2009-04-22 16:53:00 10 Observations from Last Nights Jay Game I scored some last minute tickets and hurried my way down to the RC last night. Here are 10 notes I made last night. 1. Travis Snider has good footwork This impressed me. It was a fairly routine play, a ball hit down into the LF corner. Snider went in, pulled ...
Liveblogging Tonight?s Blue Jays/Rangers Game
2009-04-21 23:25:00 Liveblogging Tonight’s Blue Jays /Rangers Game Tonight my good friend Roy (pictured on the right - some say there is a resemblance but I don’t see it) will be starting for the TBJ vs. the Texas Rangers and I have the pleasure of blogging it live for our compadres over at The Score. My counterpart Kman will ... More About: Commentary , Blog
The #1 thing I Hate about Alex Rios
2009-04-21 16:51:00 Cast aside the .207 average. I also don’t care if his career year might have been back in 2007. Sucking in the three hole? Well, it happens. But the #1 thing that really pisses me off about Alex Rios is the number of times that he’ll ground into double plays! In the off-season I wrote an ... More About: Hate , Alex Rios , Thing
Randy Ruiz Profile
2009-04-20 13:37:00 Randy Ruiz Profile In early January of this year, Kman commented on the Jays’ decision to sign journeyman minor leaguer Randy Ruiz: The Blue Jays recently signed longtime minor league Randy Ruiz to a contract. In my opinion, this is the best FA signing by the Jays this offseason. While the over-the-hill Matt Clement is expected for ... More About: Randy
Should the Jays send Purcey down to AAA?
2009-04-18 16:04:00 How did my prediction for last night hold up? (For those that missed it the gist is this: When Purcey can’t control his fastball he ups his percentage of sliders thrown. When at the park or watching on TV if you’re seeing a large number of sliders assume that his command of the fastball jut ... More About: Toronto Blue Jays , Send , Jays
Key to tonight?s David Purcey Start
2009-04-17 23:53:00 Key to tonight’s David Purcey Start Super quick post for anyone headed out to the ballpark or settling in-front of the ‘box’ for tonight’s Jays game. In his last appearance David Purcey threw 38.8% sliders. He had one of the oddest starts in history, as he struck out 10 but walked 6 in less than 5 IP. ... More About: Tonight , Toronto Blue Jays , Sabermetrics
LiveBlog tonight for TheScore
2009-04-17 21:45:00 Just a quick reminder that I’ll (Matthias) be pounding the keyboard over at TheScore’s Live blog website for tonight’s tilt between the Brewers & the Mets. I’m really looking forward to this one as I love watching the Brewers play there exciting brand of baseball. I’ve also yet to see game footage of the Mets new ... More About: Blog , Tonight
2009 Jays vs 2008 AL Standings
2009-04-17 18:20:00 2009 Jays vs 2008 AL Standings After last nights destruction (I can’t think of any of word) of the Twins the Jays upped their record to 8 - 3. How does this record compare vs the AL 11ish games in last season? The list date is April 12th of last season, which is comparable in games ... More About: Season
Las Vegas 51s Finally Win One!
2009-04-16 19:12:00 Las Vegas 51’s Finally Win One! Randy Ruiz is a SUPERSTAR. Forget Travis Snider or Adam Lind (well, not really) but Randy Ruiz is off to a torrid start for the Las Vegas 51s. The dude’s OPS is 1.310. 1.310!! In 6 games Randy is hitting .435 with 2 HR, 10 RBI and 20 TB. Ruiz ... More About: Las Vegas
Tommy Hanson Watch
2009-04-15 18:37:00 Tommy Hanson Watch Tommy Hanson, the Braves? 22-year-old pitching phenom could bring his blazing fastballs in a flash from AAA to the big club with the possibility of Tom Glavine’s retirement in the not-too-distant future. We’ve spoken about Hanson a few times on MopUpDuty before, profiling him here and tracking his progress in the Arizona Fall League ... More About: Tommy
Mike Johnson Released
2009-04-15 17:22:00 Mike Johnson Released Former Montreal Expos’ RHP Mike Johnson from Sherwood Park, Alta. was released by SK Wyverns in South Korea yesterday. Johnson started for Team Canada against Team USA in the WBC and left a pseudo-hero despite trailing 4-3. Johnson was released by Wyverns after facing only nine hitters. I witnessed Mike Johnson’s start in person and was not impressed by his stuff. Though he was crafty and full of guile, his fastball topped out at 85mph rarely and was as straight as an arrow. I believe he was able to stay in the game due to the surprise factor of the Americans not having seen him before and the fact that it was early on and the hitters’ timing was not yet where it needed to be. Mike went an incredible 20-2 in Taiwan last year, earning the league’s MVP award. That kind of record is impressive in any league and Mike brings MLB experience to the table. He pitched just twice this year for the SK Wyverns, both appearances coming in long ... More About: Mike
About Last Night
2009-04-15 16:18:00 About Last Night First things first. Thanks to everyone that attended last nights liveblog over at TheScore. I had a great time. Extra thanks to the many commenters throughout the game. Romero now the Jays #3 I may have to change my stance on Ricky Romero. You see, I’ve been pretty hard on him for a few years and especially since he was touted for a rotation spot in the off-season. My line of reasoning was “what has he done to earn a spot?” He did plenty last night. If I can take only one thing away from his start last night it’s that he’s a battler. Ricky was behind early in the count roughly half of the time last night, yet he didn’t surrender a walk. And he really manned up in the bottom of the 6th. With the bases loaded and none out Romero was able to get a much needed strikeout (his first of the night) and they force Crede into hitting a comebacker to the mound that resulted in a double play. Romero’s GB to Flyball ratio wasn’t ...
LiveBloggin Tonight’s Jays Game
2009-04-14 20:41:00 LiveBloggin Tonight’s Jays Game Tonight I’ll be blogging the Toronto Blue Jays vs Minnesota Twins game over at TheScore.com. This will be Ricky Romero’s local television debut start. We’ve done four of these so far and they’re getting progressively better. If you’re watching the game at home or out and about come check out the liveblog and participate. Hope to see you tonight at 8pm! LiveBlog Link http://liveblogs.thescore.com/Event/MLB_- _Blue_Jays_vs_Twins © Kman for Mop Up Duty | Baseball News Sabermetric | Baseball History Bio, 2009. | Permalink | | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: 2009 season, Live Game Notes, LiveBlog, thescore, toronto blue jays $25+ of Free Baseball Media Files
Quick MiL Update
2009-04-14 17:12:00 Quick MiL Update With last Sunday’s snow-out, I didn’t want to leave you hanging as to what is going on with the Area 51’s. Last AAA update I spoke about Randy Ruiz: Randy Ruiz got the start at DH and raked, going 3/5 with a double, RBI and run scored. I expect to see him continue to put up those types of numbers this season. Ruiz followed that performance up by going 3/4 with a HR, double, 4RBI and 2 runs scored on Monday. Keep an eye on him. Brett Cecil got the start and didn’t set the world on fire - though, keep in mind this is the PCL. He went 4IP giving up 2 runs, walking 2 and striking out 1. His ERA on the season is 4.50. TJ Beam and Brian Wolfe finished it off by giving up a couple runs each. The most telling stat was that Las Vegas made 6 errors in this ballgame. Where’s Brian Butterfield when you need him? Vegas loses again, 8-7. The 51’s are now 0-4 on the season. Brian Burres gets the start today at 6:35pm MT. © Cal... More About: Quick
Jason Frasor was the Best Jays Pitcher in 2008 at?
2009-04-14 06:15:00 Jason Frasor was the Best Jays Pitcher in 2008 at… The flavor of the week appears to be Jason Frasor. Usually only mentioned in Jays jokes, Frasor was the best Jays pitcher in 08 at… Inherited runners scored percentage (IR) An IR is when a pitcher comes into a game and there are already runners on base. Does ... More About: Sabermetrics , Jason
O-Dog hits for the Cycle
2009-04-14 01:36:00 O-Dog hits for the Cycle Tonight I tuned in just as Orlando Hudson hit his cycle making triple off of the San Fran Giants. Believe it or not this is the first cycle ever hit by a Dodger at Dodger Stadium. And it only took the O-Dog six innings! I can’t recall ever hearing of a ... More About: Hits
Vegas baby, Vegas!
2009-04-13 12:55:00 Vegas baby, Vegas! While the big club has been cutting a swath through the Tigers and the Indians, what has been happening down with the baby Jays in Las Vegas? Before I get into the nitty gritty, I just want to preface this post by saying that there are some things to take into account with the ... More About: Baby , Vegas
Adam Lind vs Pre-Season Prediction Models
2009-04-12 17:33:00 Adam Lind vs Pre-Season Prediction Models Is it stat time yet? Right now Lind’s flyball to HR percentage is 50%! Last season it was 11%. He’s hit 27% linedrives so far. His wOBA is .571 & his BABIP is .474! So what does any of this prove? Pretty much nothing at this point. I’d like to go ... More About: Toronto Blue Jays , Adam
Breaking Down Ricky Romero?s Debut with Pitch F/X
More articles from this author:2009-04-10 01:54:00 Ricky Romero ’s Debut - Pitch F/X Let’s take a look at Ricky Romero’s strong MLB debut performance this afternoon vs the Detroit Tigers. For those that missed the game (which is most of us due to no local TV) lets quickly recap. Over the course of six innings former first round pick (6th overall) Ricky Romero ... More About: Breaking , Ricky 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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