2013 Toronto Blue Jays!!
 

So, I now have OOTP 14 and you know what that means...

New Dynasty!

I am going to be starting with the 2013 Blue Jays.

Normally, the first thing I would do is make a bunch of changes, but I really like this team so I am going to start with (almost) the same roster that the real team did. The only exception is that I am not a fan of the 8 man bullpen so instead of Brett Cecil I have Andy LaRoche.

Here goes...

The preseason predictions are a little more... negative than the real life ones were.

It has the Jays going 78-84 and finishing 4th in the division. It also has the Red Sox winning.

The predictions are whack.

It DOES have Jose Bautista as the best hitter in the AL with R.A. Dickey being the 3rd best pitcher (behind Verlander and Sabathia)

This means the owner would be happy with .500 ball... also very unlikely, but I will take it.

Some pre-season business..

Carney Lansford is now our hitting coach at Bluefield.

We also signed two minor league catchers to fill out our system: Cole Armstrong & Jean Luc Blaquiere.

April 2nd, 2013

The Toronto Blue Jays kicked off their opener in style... destroying the Cleveland Indians 12-1!

R.A. Dickey pitched all 9, striking out 10 while giving up 6 hits and no walks.

First homerun of the season: J.P. Arencibia
Second homerun of the season: Jose Bautista
Third homerun of the season: J.P. Arencibia
Fourth homerun of the season: Jose Bautista

They are tied with 4 RBI each.

WP - R.A. Dickey (1-0)
LP - Zach McAllister (0-1)

Record - 1-0

TRACKING ACHIEVEMENTS (Number of times and when the first one was). I will update whenever I get a notification (which I think only happens when you get a new one.)


SILVER

Drive 'em In - Jesus Montero got 9 RBI vs the Dodgers, July 23rd, 2013
Slugger - Jesus Montero hit 3 HRs vs Dodgers, July 23rd, 2013
Hit Machine - Melky Cabrera got 5 hits vs Baltimore, July 13th, 2013
Slugfest - July 3rd, 2013 - Scored 21 runs vs Detroit

BRONZE

Batter of the Month - Jesus Montero - July 2013
Trade for an All-Star (1) - July 31st, 2013 - Ian Kinsler
Putting Up Zeros (1) - June 26th, 2013 - Justin Germano shuts out Tampa Bay Rays
Slugger (13) - May 14th, 2013 - Tyler Moore his 2 HRs vs San Francisco
Slugfest (3) - May 4th, 2013 - 15 runs scored in win vs Seattle
Batting Around (37) - April 2nd, 2013, 5th inning vs Cleveland
Drive'em In (7) - April 3rd, 2013, Edwin Encarnacion got 5 RBI vs Cleveland
Team Effort (6) - April 3rd, 2013, 6th inning, scored 6 runs vs Cleveland
Hit Machine (9) - April 5th, 2013, Mark DeRosa goes 4 for 4 vs Red Sox
3 Strikes (5) - April 6th, 2013, J.A. Happ strikes out 10 Red Sox hitters
Walk Off (1) - April 7th, 2013, 9th inning Melky Cabrera 2 run homer vs Boston Red Sox
Crossing the Plate (5) - April 22nd, 2013 - Maicer Izturis scores 4 times vs Orioles

I'm going to leave this here but...


The game crashed and I hadn't saved it yet.

There goes by 12-1 opening day.

This makes me want to delete the league and start over.

I won't though.


Instead of a 12-1 win, it was a 10-7 loss in extra innings... due to that bloody warm-up rule that I don't use but forgot to change before I started my game.

AND Colby Rasmus got hurt.

WP - Vinnie Pestano (1-0)
LP - Casey Janssen (0-1)

Record - 0-1

That was OOTP's way of saying "Ha ha, just kidding"

April 3rd, 2013

Lesson today: never count out those Blue Jay hitters!

After the 4th inning Cleveland led 8-1. After the top of the 6th it was 11-1.

In the bottom of the 10th, Jose Bautista hit a walk-off triple, scoring Melky Cabrera to cement the win for the Jays 14-13.

The biggest wallop of the game was Edwin Encarnacion's grand slam, but Adam Lind also got his first and Bautista got his second.

WP - Sergio Santos (1-1)
LP - Bryan Shaw (0-1)

Record - 1-1

April 4th, 2013

Adam Lind made the most out of his single hit as it was a bases loaded jack - his second homer of the season as GRAND SLAM! J.P. Arencibia also got his first of the year.

Solid pitching by Brandon Morrow, Darren Oliver and Casey Janssen.

Bad news for Cleveland as Justin Masterson had to leave the mound with an injury in the 5th.

WP - Brandon Morrow (1-0)
Save - Casey Janssen (1)
LP - Matt Albers (0-1)

Record - 2-1

Good news today is that Colby Rasmus' sore knee is looking to not be too bad. He will miss the next 5 days but won't have to go on the DL.

April 5th, 2013

Score one for the old guy as Mark Buehrle goes all 9 in a 4-1 win over the Red Sox. He gave up only 5 hits while striking out 5 and walking one.

Also, a big day for the subs as Mark DeRosa went 4 for 4 with 2 RBI and Henry Blanco went 3 for 4 with one RBI.

However, Andy LaRoche had to leave the game after being hit by a Felix Doubront fastball. We await diagnosis.

WP - Mark Beuhrle (1-0)
LP - Felix Doubront (0-1)

Record - 3-1

Uh-oh... Justin Verlander tore his UCL and is expected to be out for 8-9 months.

Horrible news for the Tigers.

April 6th, 2013

J.A. Happ, Steve Delabar and Aaron Loup combined to strike out 14 Red Sox batters.

Unfortunately, while they were doing so, Boston managed to get 7 runs including a grand slam by Mike Carp off Delabar.

WP - John Lackey (1-0)
LP - J.A. Happ (0-1)

Record - 3-2

It turns out Andy LaRoche only suffered a dislocated finger. He will be out another 5 days.

The Jays will continue to play short two players on the bench.

April 7th, 2013

Fans who didn't leave Rogers Center during the Red Sox blow out were sure rewarded!

With the Blue Jays down 11-0 going into the bottom of the 8th it sure seemed like Edwin Encarnacion's grand slam was only minor comfort... but it set the stage for the 9th when the Jays would go on a tear including homeruns by Jose Bautista, Henry Blanco and a walk-off game winner by Melky Cabrera as Toronto won 12-11.

WP - Jeremy Jeffress (1-0)
LP - Joel Hanrahan (0-1)

Record - 4-2

The Blue Jays are 9th in the weekly power rankings. (4th in the AL.)

Players of the week: Lonnie Chisenhall, Cleveland & Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh

Steve Delabar was sent down to Buffalo and Mickey Storey was called up.

April 9th, 2013

Doug Fister was masterful in his handling of the Blue Jays today while Prince Fielder did his job, firing two balls over the outfield wall as the Tigers downed the Blue Jays 5-2.

WP - Doug Fister (2-0)
Save - Octavio Dotel (2)
LP - Josh Johnson (0-1)

Record - 4-3

April 10th, 2013

This game was all about the pitching. Brandon Morrow pitched well but when some control issues put him in danger, Jeremy Jeffress came in to strike out a couple and get out of the bind. Casey Janssen finished things off with a 3 up, 3 down 9th and preserve the 2-1 win over the Tigers.

Maicer Izturis went deep for the first time this season.

WP - Brandon Morrow (2-0)
Save - Casey Janssen (2)
LP - Max Scherzer (0-2)

Record - 5-3