Michael Holloway's Baseball Blogs: April 2012

April 2012

May 2012

June 2012

July 2012

August 2012

September 2012

October 2012

Comparing 2011 to 2012

Boston @ Toronto
Game 3 of 3
Final: in nine, 1-3

Jays win series.

Rajai Davis was the offensive player of the game today - in this pitchers duel.

Davis got on twice in 2 AB's in this game - plating both times. By putting Davis in the 9 spot, John Farrell has added the speed game into the line-up. Davis is dangerous on the base paths.

Clutch hitting from lead-off hitter Yunel Escobar twice today:

In the 3rd Escobar belted a sac-fly that plated Davis (the winning run) - occurring right after the Davis's triple that plated Thames.

In the 8th, he smacks a long BH to right-centre that plates Davis (on via a BB, stole second) - for the insurance run.

Boston            AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Ellsbury, CF      3  0 1 1   1  1  0
Pedroia, 2B       3  0 0 0   1  1  2
Gonzalez, Ad, 1B  4  0 0 0   0  0  4
Youkilis, 3B      4  0 0 0   0  1  2
Ortiz, DH         4  0 0 0   0  0  2
McDonald, D, RF   3  0 0 0   0  1  0
Ross, C, LF       3  0 1 0   0  1  0
Aviles, SS        3  1 1 0   0  0  0
Shoppach, C       3  0 0 0   0  1  2

Boston            AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Totals            30 1 3 1   2  6  12

Boston Pitching   IP  H  R  ER BB SO HR ERA
Lester(L, 0-1)    8.0 3  3  3  2  6  0  2.40
Totals            8.0 3  3  3  2  6  0  6.40


Toronto           AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Escobar, Y, SS    3  0 1 2   0  0  0
Johnson, K, 2B    3  0 0 0   1  0  1
Bautista, RF      3  0 0 0   0  1  1
Encarnacion, 1B   3  0 0 0   0  1  0
Francisco, B, DH  3  0 0 0   0  0  0
Lawrie, 3B        3  0 0 0   0  0  0
Thames, E, LF     3  1 1 0   0  1  0
 Rasmus, CF       0  0 0 0   0  0  0
Arencibia, C      3  0 0 0   0  2  1
Davis, R, CF-LF   2  2 1 1   1  1  0

                  AB R H RBI BB SO LOB
Totals            26 3 3 3   2  6  3

Toronto           IP  H  R  ER BB SO HR ERA
Romero, R(W, 1-0) 8.1 3  1  1  2  5  0  3.38
Santos(S, 1)      0.2 0  0  0  0  1  0  12.00
Totals            9.0 3  1  1  2  6  0  2.57

The dangerous number nine hitter. Another thing for the defence of opposing teams to worry about. It might be interesting to watch as this part of the order undress the league's more defensively challenged teams.

Bobby Valentine made no sustituions - whole day off for the starting catcher I see.

I loved the way the Jay's are playing shift defence. Lawrie is an extremely versatile infielder. He's Farrell's starter-with-a-bench. Over the series the Jays played him shallow centre field, a long short stop's throw (deep in the hole) away from 1B. Then in straight away shallow right - again, a long SS throw from 1B.

Romero had ace tools and command today. Lester was very good too.

Jays batted better than Boston in the second and third game.

Next Baltimore visits, Friday.

Stats via mlb - http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_04_11_bosmlb_tormlb_1&mode=box

mh

2012 Toronto Blue Jays television schedule in monthly calendar lay out: high-lighting games available on basic cable at $38.04 /month; and those only available through the premium priced VIP Package at $72.04/month.

So we may compare - I did a similar article to this one last year - on the number of Blue Jay games Rogers was placing in expensive cable packages:

Friday, April 1, 2011
Rogers to show a lot of Blue Jays Baseball - but not "all"
http://baseball---blog.blogspot.ca/2011/04/rogers-to-show-lot-of-blue-jays.html

My comparison of the two schedule is below these seven, monthly calendars.

All games in blue are available on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West, Pacific.

Legend
game day
radio only

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
1	2	3	4	5 @ Cleveland 3 p.m.	6	7 @ Cleveland 1 p.m.
8 @ Cleveland 1 p.m.	9 vs Boston 7 p.m.	10 vs Boston 7 p.m.	11 vs Boston 12:30 p.m.	12	13 vs Orioles 7 p.m.	14 vs Orioles 4 p.m.
15 vs Orioles 1 p.m.	16	17 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	18 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	19 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	20 @ Kansas City 8 p.m.	21 @ Kansas City 7 p.m.
22 @ Kansas City 2 p.m.	23 @ Kansas City 8 p.m.	24 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	25 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	26 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	27 vs Seattle 7 p.m.	28 vs Seattle 4 p.m.
29 vs Seattle 1 p.m.	30 vs Texas 7 p.m.

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
		1 vs Texas 7 p.m.	2 vs Texas 7 p.m.	3 @ Angels 10 p.m.	4 @ Angels 10 p.m.	5 @ Angels 9 p.m.
6 @ Angels 3 p.m.	7	8 @ Oakland 10 p.m.	9 @ Oakland 3:30 p.m.	10 @ Minnesota 8 p.m.	11 @ Minnesota 8 p.m.	12 @ Minnesota 7 p.m.
13 @ Minnesota 2 p.m.	14 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	15 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	16 vs Yankees 7 p.m.	17 vs Yankees 7 p.m.	18 vs NY Mets 7 p.m.	19 vs NY Mets 1 p.m.
20 vs NY Mets 1 p.m.	21 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	22 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	23 @ Tampa Bay 1 p.m.	24	25 @ Texas 8 p.m.	26 @ Texas 3 p.m.
27 @ Texas 3 p.m.	28 vs Baltimore 7 p.m.	29 vs Baltimore 7 p.m.	30 vs Baltimore 7 p.m.	31

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
					1 vs Boston 7 p.m.	2 vs Boston 1 p.m.
3 vs Boston 1 p.m.	4	5 @ White Sox 8 p.m.	6 @ White Sox 8 p.m.	7 @ White Sox 8 p.m.	8 @ Atlanta 7:30 p.m.	9 @ Atlanta 4 p.m.
10 @ Atlanta 1:30 p.m.	11 vs Washington 7 p.m.	12 vs Washington 7 p.m.	13 vs Washington 12:30 p.m.	14	15 vs Phillies 7 p.m.	16 vs Phillies 1 p.m.
17 vs Phillies 1 p.m.	18 @ Milwaukee 8 p.m.	19 @ Milwaukee 8 p.m.	20 @ Milwaukee 2 p.m.	21	22 @ Miami 7 p.m.	23 @ Miami 1 p.m.
24 @ Miami 1 p.m.	25 @ Boston 7 p.m.	26 @ Boston 7 p.m.	27 @ Boston 1:30 p.m.	28 vs Angels 7 p.m.	29 vs Angels 7 p.m.	30 vs Angels 1 p.m.

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
1 vs Angels 3 p.m.	2 vs Kansas City 7 p.m.	3 vs Kansas City 7 p.m.	4 vs Kansas City 7 p.m.	5 vs Kansas City 7 p.m.	6 @ White Sox 8 p.m.	7 @ White Sox 4 p.m.
8 @ White Sox 2 p.m.	9 All Star Break	10 All Star Break	11 All Star Break	12 All Star Break	13 vs Cleveland 7 p.m.	14 vs Cleveland 1 p.m.
15 vs Cleveland 1 p.m.	16 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	17 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	18 @ Yankees 1 p.m.	19	20 @ Boston 7 p.m.	21 @ Boston 7 p.m.
22 @ Boston 1:30 p.m.	23	24 vs Oakland 7 p.m.	25 vs Oakland 7 p.m.	26 vs Oakland 12:30 p.m.	27 vs Detroit 7 p.m.	28 vs Detroit 1 p.m.
29 vs Detroit 1 p.m.	30 @ Seattle 10 p.m.	31 @ Seattle 10 p.m.

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
			1 @ Seattle 10 p.m.	2 @ Oakland 10 p.m.	3 @ Oakland 10 p.m.	4 @ Oakland 4 p.m.
5 @ Oakland 4 p.m.	6	7 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	8 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	9 @ Tampa Bay 1 p.m.	10 vs Yankees 7 p.m.	11 vs Yankees 1 p.m.
12 vs Yankees 1 p.m.	13 vs White Sox 7 p.m.	14 vs White Sox 7 p.m.	15 vs White Sox 7 p.m.	16 vs White Sox 7 p.m.	17 vs Texas 7 p.m.	18 vs Texas 1 p.m.
19 vs Texas 1 p.m.	20	21 @ Detroit 7 p.m.	22 @ Detroit 7 p.m.	23 @ Detroit 1 p.m.	24 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	25 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.
26 @ Baltimore 1:30 p.m.	27 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	28 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	29 @ Yankees 1 p.m.	30 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	31 vs Tampa Bay 7 p.m.

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
						1 vs Tampa Bay 1 p.m.
2 vs Tampa Bay 1 p.m.	3 vs Baltimore 1 p.m.	4 vs Baltimore 7 p.m.	5 vs Baltimore 7 p.m.	6	7 @ Boston 7 p.m.	8 @ Boston 7 p.m.
9 @ Boston 1:30 p.m.	10	11 vs Seattle 7 p.m.	12 vs Seattle 7 p.m.	13 vs Seattle 7 p.m.	14 vs Boston 7 p.m.	15 vs Boston 1 p.m.
16 vs Boston 1 p.m.	17 .	18 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	19 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	20 @ Yankees 7 p.m.	21 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.	22 @ Tampa Bay 7 p.m.
23 @ Tampa Bay 1:30 p.m.	24 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	25 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	26 @ Baltimore 7 p.m.	27 vs Yankees 7 p.m.	28 vs Yankees 7 p.m.	29 vs Yankees 1 p.m.
30 vs Yankees 1 p.m.

1 vs
Minnesota
7 p.m.

2 vs
Minnesota
7 p.m.

3 vs
Minnesota
7 p.m.

The worst month for Sportsnet ONE black-outs last year was May - where for 10 days (19-29) no Blue Jay games were on basic cable except two Saturday afternoon matinee's.

This year Rogers has eased our pain in May. Once again Rogers has programming conflicts, the worst of which happen May 14 to 27. 13 Blue Jays games are scheduled, 7 are blacked-out behind the Sportsnet ONE 'pay-wall' - but thankfully - the 6 available on basic cable are evenly interspersed through-out this period.

Rogers schedulers didn't do so well in July, August and September.

In late July a full week of Blue Jays games are pay-walled. From July 27 through to the 2nd of August, 7 games are scheduled - all 7 are only available on Sportsnet ONE. In early August 'other commitments' (Rogers Cup Tennis August 4-12) pay-walls 5 of 8 Blue Jays' games.

All in all over his period from July 27 through to the 12th of August, 16 Blue Jays' games are scheduled - 4(!) are on basic cable.

Last year in the month of September, Rogers had 5 games behind the premium wall. This year 9 games of the pennant race are behind the wall. The number of games on Sportsnet ONE remains the same - 35 - but the September pay-walls, specifically, appear to be Rogers floating trial balloons during the pennant race to see how many customers will be willing to buy the "VIP Package" (at more than double the price of basic cable), in order to see the most exciting baseball of the regular season.

A number of late season Blue Jays games on the VIP Package black out list include 6 of 13 games between Boston and the Jays, and the Yankees and the Jays, games - that if the Blue Jays are in contention - will be pivotal to whether or not they make the Post Season.

Television companies don't make their year long broadcast schedules available to the public - so what the 'scheduling conflicts' are that Rogers has divined so as to shunt more and more Blue Jays up to the premium package, is unknown for now. We'll see when we get there.

But it doesn't make much difference - if people who love baseball are willing to pay the double the price of basic cable for a month of pennant baseball - then the end of the sport as the popular institution it has been for over a hundred years, is near.

Soon, like opera and classical music, - the elites, the snobs, the society folks will be the only mentors of the diamond artisans.

Price List of Rogers TV Channels and Packages:
(Prices, and package contents quoted above are those published by Rogers Communications Inc. at the link, on the day this article was published.)
https://www.rogers.com/web/link/ptvBrowsePackagesFlowBegin?forwardTo=landing&cm_mmc_o=mH4j7BBTkwCjCKbTbfzk%2520ae%2520mbfw%25201bELlCjCmbfw%2520kbEL%2520S%2520C%2520VzgLzTwl%2520%2526%2520VybgbETCjCmbfw%2520kbEL%2520S%2520C%2520VzgLzTwl%2520%2526%2520VybgbET&gclid=CMW6w4GLoa8CFcHJKgodenewcA

All calendar dates, times and channel info:
Rogers Communications Inc. - Press Release - Mar 27, 2012:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/pressroom/2012/03/27/blue_jays_2012_broadcast_schedule/

mh