Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell is seeking the right comination to battle Tampa left-handers in Tuesday's game at Tropicana Field. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren CalabreseDarren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
It will be interesting to see the lineup for Tuesday's opener of a three-game series with Tampa Bay.
The Blue Jays will face their third tough left-hander in a row, David Price.
Travis Snider who was so hot when he returned to the Blue Jays on July 4 after a stint with Class AAA Las Vegas, was not in the lineup Saturday or Sunday against left-handed starters Derek Holland and C.J. Wilson.
Will the 23-year-old left-handed hitter be in the lineup against Price?
In the last two games, manager John Farrell has gone with right-handed hitting speedster Rajai Davis in left field, where Snider usually plays, with left-handed hitting Colby Rasmus in center and left-handed hitting rookie Eric Thames in right.
Farrell also used right-handed hitting catcher J.P. Arencibia as designated hitter on Sunday.
"I don't think we're at the point of saying Travis is solely a platoon guy," Farrell said. "This isn't a matter of limiting Travis to right-handers only."
Snider has cooled off since he started so well. In his first 13 games back with Toronto, he batted .357 (20-for-56) with two home runs and 17 RBI. He had a .356 on-base percentage and a .981 OPS.
After a five-RBI night against Seattle on July 20, he has cooled off. In his last eight games, he is batting .161 (5-for-31), with an OPS of .355. He has no walks and 13 strikeouts.
In the 21 games since his recall, he has walked once and struck out 30 times. He is batting .289 with a .760 OPS.
It gets grim when he faces left-handed pitching. For the season, he is batting .125 (5-for-40) against left-handers, with one home run and six RBI.
Snider has a .122 on-base percentage and a .322 OPS. Against right-handers he is batting .269 (36-for-134) with two home runs and 24 RBI. He has a .327 on-base percentage and a .744 OPS.
Thames, 24, is batting .285 with five home runs and 22 RBI in the first 44 games of his major-league career, all this season. He has a .326 on-base percentage and an OPS of .811.
He is batting .212 (7-for-33) against left-handers, with two home runs and six RBI, and an on-base percentage of .250 and an OPS of .765. Against righties, he is hitting .303 (40-for-132) with three home runs, 16 RBI, a .345 on-base percentage and an .822 OPS.
Thus Thames played the past two games and Snider sat.
"The numbers bear it out, and he's put up good at-bats against left-handers," Farrell said. "He's stayed in on some balls and driven some balls the other way.
"He's been in a good run, a productive run, and I just feel that right now he's a little bit more equipped to handle a tough lefty and we're in the process of finding out about him as well."
NOTES, QUOTES
--1B Adam Lind was expected to sit out Sunday's 7-3 victory over Texas, as manager John Farrell had said as much on Saturday. But SS Yunel Escobar also sat on Sunday and Farrell did not mention that possibility the day before. Farrell said it had nothing to do with the shortstop's lack of hustle running out a ground ball on Saturday in the sixth. Escobar was ejected for complaining about the call at first, feeling the throw had taken the first baseman's foot off the bag. But if Escobar had run hard it might have been a moot point. "It's a scheduled day off," Farrell said. The manager did say Escobar's tendency to jog to first was being noticed. "That is in the process of being addressed," he said. "But (Sunday's) day off is not reflective of that."
--SS Yunel Escobar batted .362 in July with a ,462 on-base percentage a .905 OPS and 10 RBI in 21 games. He was selected as the Honda Blue Jays player of July by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He is batting .305 for the season with nine home runs, 39 RBI, a .383 on-base percentage and an .823 OPS.
--DH/1B/3B Edwin Encarnacion is batting .366 (26-for-71) with three home runs, eight doubles and 10 RBI in 19 games since July 7. He has an on-base percentage of .444 in those games and an OPS of 1.050.
--3B/RF Jose Bautista leads the majors with 31 home runs but has not gone deep in his last 14 games. It is the first time he has gone more than 13 consecutive games without a home run since July 28-Sept. 5, 2009, a period of 77 at-bats over 24 games.
--1B Adam Lind is in an 0-for-15 drought and finished the six-game homestand at 2-for-20 with one home run. In 25 games in July, he batted .210 with three home runs and 10 RBI, with an on-base percentage of .265 and an OPS of .580. By contrast, in 25 games in June he hit .311 with nine home runs, 22 RBI, an on-base percentage of .385 and an OPS of 1.029.
BY THE NUMBERS
15 -- At-bats without a hit for CF Colby Rasmus when he singled in the third inning of Sunday's 7-3 victory over Texas. He was hitless in his first 13 at-bats with the Blue Jays, and the other two were with the Cardinals, who traded him to Toronto last Wednesday. Rasmus hit a two-run double in the fourth.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"Well, I didn't think I was going to be traded." -- RHP Brandon Morrow, on whether there was a sense of relief that Sunday's non-waiver trade deadline passed without another Blue Jay deal. Morrow struck out a season-best 11 over seven innings in beating the Rangers on Sunday.
ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
--LHP Brian Tallet (strained right intercostal muscle) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 4. He was injured while sneezing.
--RHP Dustin McGowan (right shoulder surgery in June 2010) went on the 60-day disabled list March 12. He began a rehab assignment with Class A Dunedin on July 2. He has not pitched in the majors since 2008 because of shoulder surgery.
--LHP Jesse Carlson (strained left shoulder) went on the 60-day disabled list March 29. He underwent season-ending rotator cuff surgery May 26.
ROTATION:
LHP Ricky Romero
RHP Brandon Morrow
RHP Carlos Villanueva
LHP Brett Cecil
LHP Brad Mills
BULLPEN:
RHP Frank Francisco (closer)
RHP Jon Rauch
RHP Shawn Camp
RHP Casey Janssen
LHP Wil Ledezma
RHP Jesse Litsch
LHP Trever Miller
CATCHERS:
J.P. Arencibia
Jose Molina
INFIELDERS:
1B Adam Lind
2B Aaron Hill
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Jose Bautista
DH Edwin Encarnacion
INF John McDonald
INF/OF Mark Teahen
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Travis Snider
CF Colby Rasmus
RF Eric Thames
OF Rajai Davis