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.
Downs undergoes surgery on toe
Labels: Injury , Scott Downs
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.
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.
Labels: C.C. Sabathia , Cliff Lee , Felix Hernandez , Game Scores , Mark Buehrle , Matt Cain , Roy Halladay , Scott Richmond , Tim Lincecum