Jays fly into Twin Cities

Jesse Litsch will get the ball tonight against Kevin Slowey and the Minnesota Twins. The Jays need to feel good about themselves after a very impressive first week of the season. As strong as the hitting has been, the pitching has been a bit of a concern. All the starters have performed adequately so far, giving the team a chance to win every game, but walks have been a big issue. Jays pitchers are allowing way too many men to reach base via the free pass, and its costing the team plenty of runs against. What has been an even bigger concern has been the performance of the bullpen. Other then Scott Downs, nobody in the bullpen seems to be in control of their pitches and this could prove to be a major downfall of the team. With young starting pitchers, Cito Gaston will have to rely on his bullpen to string together outs late in ballgames, but if the pen doesn't perform then the team could be in serious trouble. Brandon League has been having a gruesome time locating his fastball and his velocity is down from last year. League's fastball usually ranges anywhere from 97-100mph, but so far this year i haven't seen him exceed 96mph. I sure hope he gets back on track, because he is unhittable when he is locating that overpowering fastball. Jesse Carlson doesn't seem to be himself out there either, as he is falling way behind on counts and putting men on base because of that. Tallet and Camp have both looked shaky also, and im not even going to get into BJ Ryan. As much as the Jays must be thrilled with their start, the pitching appears that it may be an issue in the long run.

Look Ahead:

Litsch hopes to rebound against the Twins after getting hammered in his first start. Jesse dominated Twin's hitting last season and Toronto won all 9 games against Minnesota last year.

Prediction:

This is a tough call since both pitchers are very similar in statistics last season, but I'm going to give it to Slowey and the Twins. The Jay's bullpen must be tired out from yesterday, and the odds of Litsch reaching the 7th inning tonight is unlikely. One thing i would like to point out though is that Travis Snider is poised to have a great game if he starts. It's just a hunch.

Record: 2-0

Cheers!