And here starts the downturn...

[Foster]

TORONTO - With the Toronto Blue Jays needing to get on a serious hot streak to have any chance of reaching the playoffs, general manager J.P. Ricciardi felt he had no choice but to option struggling starter Shaun Marcum (8-6, 3.60 ERA) to triple-A Syracuse.

To take Marcum's place in the rotation, the Jays have called up right-hander John Parrish (1-0, 4.05 ERA with four starts with Toronto this season) from Syracuse. Parrish will make at least one start with the Jays - Thursday on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays - before the club decides what to do with its rotation the rest of the season

Well I understand that he has been off since his return from the DL, it sure does make things a lot harder in the chase in the WC, and east. A strong pitching lineup into the end of the season would sure be a great thing to have at the moment.

[Halladay_is_God]

Jays will have to bank on Litsch to cover for Marcum now

Purcey will get more of an opportunity which is good and I like Parrish in the rotation

[love_that_reefer]

Jays are kicking ass today is all I know.

[Foster]

Jays will have to bank on Litsch to cover for Marcum now

He did it today and I hope, and think he can keep it up. Go Jays Go.

P.S. I realized I just misspelled "Downturn"

[Halladay_is_God]

Vernon Wells took over the team lead in HR (with 12 now) after today's 2 HR game, Wells has missed action twice this season, missing over 50 games

[love_that_reefer]

Rios and Wells getting hot at the same time must be nice. Now if Overbay can hit like he has in the past, Jays could win these tough series.

[Halladay_is_God]

funny you should say that reefer, Overbay has been hitting better as of late

[Foster]

funny you should say that reefer, Overbay has been hitting better as of late

He was on a torrid pace earlier in the season where he was seeing, and hitting everything it seemed like. And I agree, he looks to be getting back into that form. Notice the big HR in lastnight's game, and just generally getting back into the swing of things.

Now lets see if others in the lineup step up to bat with the same mustard now in these crucial games.

[Halladay_is_God]

the new heart of the order is hitting
Rios, Wells, and Lind

Inglett and Scutaro have been great as 1 and 2 hitters

Stairs Barajas has their hot and cold streaks, and they been cold for a while now

McDonald is McDonald, you take any hit as a plus

[Foster]

Speaking of 1-2, I take it you are okay with the tandem of Scutaro and Inglett?

I have, cause they seem to get on base all the time now, and thats what you want in a 1-2, right? lol Starting out on the right foot seems to be doing wonders for the rest of the lineup nowadays.

[Halladay_is_God]

yeah I love Inglett and Scutaro as the 1-2 hitters, especially Inglett as lead-off, he just does everything right, might not have a lot of speed or power but he gets the job done as well as anyone, Scutaro been better than I thought he would be, its great to see someone actually doing that this season

it just sucks that it took a Aaron Hill concussion to get Inglett playing