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.