The Jays will try this new-look lineup in Texas for a three-game set.
Fri., August 16 8:05 p.m. R. Halladay (14-5, 2.66) vs. K. Rogers (12-6, 3.56)
Sat., August 17 8:05 p.m. S. Parris (5-3, 4.72) vs. R. Bell (4-3, 6.15)
Sun., August 18 8:05 p.m. TBA vs. A. Myette (1-4, 9.76)
This season against the Rangers: 1-5 Last season against the Rangers: 6-3 Lifetime against the Rangers: 149-142
Who are these guys? As mentioned, the Toronto lineup has been hurting recently. As a stop-gap measure, general manager J. P. Ricciardi has called up Pedro Swann, Mike Smith, Justin Miller and Brad Lesher to fill in some holes.
Swann was one of Syracuse's top hitters when he received the call. The 31-year-old outfielder was hitting .279 with 13 homers and 54 RBI.
In four starts with the Jays, Smith went 0-3 with an 8.82 ERA, but he's thrived in the minors since his demotion, looking unstoppable at times in putting up a 3-2 record with a 1.61 ERA.
Miller also thrived when he was sent down. The 24-year-old right-hander received little offensive support from his teammates but that didn't matter, as his performance down in Syracuse was good enough to warrant a call back up to the big leagues. He was 1-2 with a 1.48 ERA in six games.
Brad Lesher has perhaps the biggest job of the recent call-ups. With Delgado on the sidelines, with tightness in his lower back, Lesher has been saddled with the duty of replacing the former all-star first baseman.
In his third call-up of the season, the 31-year-old Lesher hasn't exactly served as an adequate replacement at the plate, going hitless in seven at-bats this month with the Jays. Overall this season, he has taken 23 bats this season in the big leagues, managing just two singles. He was hitting .258 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in the minors.
Back on the disabled list – again Manager Carlos Tosca has to be thinking if he'll ever get Carpenter in his rotation for an extended period of time. After six relatively painless innings on Tuesday against Oakland, Carpenter experienced looseness on his shoulder. He was moved to the disabled list on Thursday to recover from his injury. This is the right-hander's third trip to the DL this season. Back in April, he was forced to the sidelines with shoulder tendi nitis. He rushed to recover and made only one start before he was forced to rest again. He returned on June 22 and gave the struggling rotation some much-needed depth.
Fantasy pickup Orlando Hudson looks like he never wants to return to Syracuse again. The hot-hitting second baseman has looked pretty good at the plate in the month of August, hitting .333 (18-for-54). The talkative 24-year-old has shown a little lack of discipline on offence, however, drawing just one walk in that span.
