Downs undergoes surgery on toe

After reinjuring his toe during the ninth inning of the Jays game on Saturday, Blue Jays closer Scott "Snake Face" Downs was placed on the DL. Downs flew back to Toronto on Sunday to have his big toe—often dubbed the "Captain of the Toes" or "the one who went to the market"—by team podiatrist Dr. Glenn Copeland. Copeland acknowledged that Downs had injured ligaments in the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint of the toe. "This is a typical injury which usually results from a hyperflexion mechanism; the toe is bent too far upward," Copeland explained. "For a pitcher with this type of injury" he continued, "there might be slight discomfort when pushing off the mound."

Downs will undergo a procedure similar to Tommy John surgery whereby the ligaments in the toe will be replaced with tendons taken from elsewhere in his body. Much like Tommy John surgery, it will take Downs 10-12 months to recover and he shouldn't be expected to regain 100% power in his foot until sometime after.

When asked if the surgery was necessary, Copeland responded by saying "Absolutely not. His toe is sore. We told him to play through it as the soreness would last a few days at most. Scott refused to even pickup a baseball until 'his boo-boo toe wasn't bwoken.' That's exactly how he said it," Copeland stated in a mocking tone. "This is ridiculous. Arsnberg pretty much forced me to do it. He asked me if it was possible to do Tommy John surgery on a toe. I thought about it for a minute and jokingly responded by telling him that it was technically possible. His face lit up and that was that; the decision was made."

It's expected that Jason Frasor will take over closing duties with Brandon League filling in when Frasor is not available. The Jays might also experiment with the newly acquired Josh Roenicke who has experience closing in college ball and in the minor leagues.

Game Scores Update: August 3, 2009

It's time for this week's GSc update. Jays pitching this week was below average:


AGSc Chg GS Starts Week Avg
Roy Halladay 61.55 -0.66 20 1 49.00
Marc Rzepczynski 55.60 -0.90 5 1 52.00
Ricky Romero 53.76 -0.84 17 2 47.50
Scott Richmond 52.79 -2.21 14 1 24.00
Brett Cecil 48.82 +0.22 11 1 51.00
Robert Ray 48.50 +0.00 4 0
Brian Tallet 47.56 +0.00 18 0
David Purcey 41.00 +0.00 5 0
Jesse Litch 37.00 +0.00 2 0
Brad Mills 25.00 +0.00 2 0

All five starters underperformed. Most notable was Richmond. On Friday, he made his first start since returning to the majors from a stint on the DL. In that game in Oakland, he only went 3+ innings and had to be replaced by Tallet after giving up 6 runs (4 earned) on 19 batters faced. Doc Halladay also had an uncharacteristic start where he gave up 11 hits over 7 innings.

For notables in the majors the GSc looks this:

Pos Chg
AGSc Chg GS Starts Week Avg
1 +0 Dan Haren 66.00 -0.75 21 1 51.00
2 +0 Tim Lincecum 65.73 +1.53 22 2 81.00
3 +1 Chris Carpenter 62.59 +0.12 17 2 63.50
4 +1 Roy Halladay 61.55 -0.66 20 1 49.00
5 -2 Zack Greinke 61.45 -1.70 22 2 44.50
6 +2 Matt Cain 61.24 +1.09 21 1 83.00
7 +0 Javier Vazquez 60.52 +0.12 21 1 63.00
8 -2 Felix Hernandez 59.59 -2.21 22 2 37.50
9 +1 Justin Verlander 59.32 +0.22 22 1 64.00
10 +1 Yovani Gallardo 59.14 +0.29 21 1 65.00
11 -2 Josh Johnson 58.71 -0.74 21 1 44.00
12 +0 Adam Wainwright 58.09 +0.56 23 2 64.00
13 +0 Wandy Rodriguez 57.82 +0.32 22 2 61.00
14 +0 Josh Becket 57.81 +0.55 21 2 63.00
15 +2 Johan Santana 57.33 +0.93 21 1 76.00
16 -1 Jake Peavy 56.69 +0.00 13 0
17 +7 Cliff Lee 56.39 +1.03 23 1 79.00
18 +1 Matt Garza 55.81 -0.24 21 1 51.00
19 +7 Joel Pineiro 55.45 +0.82 20 1 71.00
20 -4 Jair Jurrjens 55.43 -1.09 23 2 44.00
21 +2 Roy Oswalt 55.36 -0.02 22 1 55.00
22 -4 Jered Weaver 55.32 -0.88 22 2 46.50
23 +2 Chad Billingsley 55.04 -0.15 23 2 53.50
24 -3 Jon Lester 54.67 -0.83 21 1 38.00
25 +4 Carlos Zambrano 54.15 +0.26 20 2 56.50
26 +1 Kevin Millwood 53.95 +0.00 21 0
27 -5 CC Sabathia 53.91 -1.56 23 2 37.50
28 +0 A.J. Burnett 53.14 -0.75 21 2 46.00
29 +1 Jason Marquis 53.14 +0.14 21 2 54.50
30 -10 Mark Buehrle 53.00 -2.55 22 2 27.50
31 +0 Ryan Dempster 51.37 -0.40 19 2 48.00
32 +0 Doug Davis 51.27 +0.08 22 1 53.00
33 +0 Dallas Braden 50.41 -0.59 22 1 38.00
34 +0 Barry Zito 50.05 +0.30 22 2 53.00
35 +1 Tim Wakefield 49.53 +0.00 17 0
36 -1 Nick Blackburn 49.05 -0.55 21 1 38.00
37 +0 Derek Lowe 48.83 +0.05 23 1 50.00
38 +0 Bronson Arroyo 48.14 -0.02 21 2 48.00
39 +0 Kevin Slowey 47.63 +0.00 16 0


The Aces...

Tim Lincecum had two very good starts last week. On July 27th he pitched a complete game gem against the Pirates. He allowed no earned runs on 4 hits, struck out 15, and earned a GSc of 87 (his second highest of the season). He followed that great outing with a GSc of 75 on August 1st against the Philadelphia. In that outing he pitched 8 shutout innings, struck out 8 and only gave up one walk.

Matt Cain—in his only start of the week—earned a 3 hit complete game shutout against the Pirates on July 29th (the Pirates seem to be padding pitcher stats for opposing teams); he earned a GSc of 83 in that effort.

Cliff Lee—in his first start with the Phillies—pitched a complete game one run affair against the Giants. He gave up only 4 hits, had 6Ks and 2BB.

The Bums...

Mark Buehrle—the week after going el perfecto—recorded game scores of 45 and 10 in his two starts of the week. In the latter outing against the Yankees, Buehrle gave up 7 earned runs and 12 hits in 4.1 innings. Buehrle's terrible week drops him 10 spots in the rankings and he lost 2.55 overall points on his season average.

King Felix Hernandez had a terrible start against the Jays on July 27th; he stayed in for 5.2 innings where he gave up 11 hits, and 7 earned runs. He earned a GSc of 20 in that outing. Hernandez dropped below 60.0 for the season.

Sabathia had a bad outing against the Rays (GSc 33) and a bad outing against the White Sox (GSc 42). Over 12.2 innings and 57 batters, he gave up 10 earned runs, 19 hits and 3 home runs.