The Rosin Bag: Attrition

1. Dustin McGowan
2. Shaun Marcum
3. Jesse Litsch
4. Ricky Romero

If you were the GM of an expansion team, wouldn't you be feeling pretty good about your team if those were your first four starters in the rotation? I bet you would be. The Jays would be happy to have them too, if they weren't all on the disabled list. You can also add B.J. Ryan to that list, but we'll notch that one up as addition by subtraction. My blood pressure thanks you, "tight trapezius muscle". I can just see the meeting in JP's office now:

Ricciardi: Robert Victor, are you SURE you're not injured? Like, pretty please?

Ryan: No JP, like I told you, I feel fine. I'm just sucking like a rented mule right now.

The Cito: I don't know B.J., or whatever your real name is. It looks to me like you have a tight trapezius muscle...

Ryan: Come again?

Ricciardi: Yeah B.J., like Cito said. A tight trapezoid is not something you want to mess with.

Ryan: (looking worried) Well, ummm, how would I know I have that?

The Cito: (reassuring nod and reaches out to squeeze B.J.'s forearm) You just leave that up to us, son.

All joking aside, didn't you feel 100x better seeing Scott Downs coming out of the pen for the save last night? No drama, no anxious moments, just 1-2-3 game over. As it should be. Also nice to see Rios start swinging the bat and actually getting on base. Welcome to the party, Alex. My buddy Big Turk and I were discussing his struggles the other night, and it's like being the parent of an underachieving teenager: you want to smack him because he doesn't seem to care that his grades are in the shitter. Of course we have to remind ourselves that Alex has never been one to exhibit much emotion, whether he's hitting .320 or .230.

Five series wins to start the season. They're now 12 wins away from the 14 I called for out of this 20-games-in 20-days stretch. Tonight the Jays begin a weekend series against the Chicago White Sox, who currently occupy first place in the Central with an 8-7 record. Brian Tallet gets his second start, facing off against Gavin Floyd. Could you give us another solid six innings Brian? Thanks.