A.J. Burnett’s agent Darek Braunecker, has released a statement that his client has filled out all the paperwork and will be opting out of his contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Burnett was to make $24 million dollars over the next two years with the Blue Jays but instead chose to opt out and play the free agent game.

Burnett, posted an 18-10 record with a 4.07 ERA for Toronto this season and established career highs with 34 starts and 221 1/3 innings pitched. He’s expected to be seeking a four- or five-year deal for at least $16 million annually on the open market.

Too bad the Blue Jays didn’t trade his butt during the season when he wanted to be traded. Atleast they would have got something in return during the season.

Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays scored three additional runs and defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-1.  They played the game early this morning and then will play the originally scheduled game shortly after the first one is over.  It was nice to see the Jays come out and score runs right away and put the game out of reach.

Marco Scutaro, Lyle Overbay, and John McDonald all had one rbi each in the game.  The other two runs that the Jays scored were unearned.

A.J. Burnett was awarded the win after he threw five innings on Wednesday night.  Burnett is now 11-9 with a 4.73 era.  Jesse Carlson, Shawn Camp, and Scott Downs all pitched in relief for the Jays and all did a good job.

We will be back with an update after the afternoon game is over.  Go Jays!

The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Baltimore Orioles in a high scoring game on Wednesday night by the score of 9-8.  Both teams had high scoring innings as the Jays had a seven run inning and the Orioles had a six run inning.  It was nice to see the Blue Jays come out on top of this one.

David Eckstein and Alex Rios both had two rbi to lead the team at the plate.  Vernon Wells, Scott Rolen, Greg Zaun, and John McDonald all had one rbi as well.  It was a balanced offense as there was scoring up and down the entire lineup in the game.  Great job by the offense to score so many runs.

On to the pitcher staff where A.J. Burnett gave up seven hits and seven runs in only in only 5 1/3 innings.  It seemed either Burnett was striking out batters or giving up hits.  Burnett finished with seven strike outs as he pitched good enough to get the win and improve his record to 9-8.

B.J. Ryan gave up a solo home run in the 9th inning to Nick Markakis but held off the Orioles to notch his 17th save of the season.  Jesse Carlson tossed 1 2/3 innings and gave up three hits but zero runs.  Scott Downs tossed one inning of relief without giving up a hit or a run as well.

Good win for the Blue Jays and now they will go for the sweep on Thursday.  Blue Jays Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays jumped all over the Cincinnati Reds as they scored 11 runs in the first two innings of the game as they beat the Reds 14-1.  Talk about knocking out your opponent right then the game starts!  Great way of putting a lot of pressure on the Reds early in the game, and as you can tell the Reds weren’t able to respond at all.

Scott Rolen hit a three run home run in the first inning and Greg Zaun had a two run homer in the inning as well.  Matt Stairs had the first rbi for the team when he had a rbi sac fly before the two home runs were hit.  In the second inning the Blue Jays scored five more runs.  Alex Rios connected for a solo home run, Rolen then hit a rbi double, Adam Lind singled in a run, Joe Inglett then had a rbi ground out for the final rbi in the inning.  The Blue Jays still weren’t done at the plate however as they pushed across single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

A.J. Burnett pitched great as he tossed the first eight innings of the game.  Burnett only gave up four hits and one run.  Great job by Burnett as he improved his record 7-7 on the season.  Brian Tallet finished things up in the ninth inning and did not allow a hit.

Now we will have to see if the hot hitting carries over to the game on Wednesday.  Hopefully it does!

Blue Jays Blog

Once again the Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Milwaukee Brewers.  On Thursday afternoon it was a 8-7 game that set the Blue Jays back.  The Blue Jays were swept in the three game series as they were outplayed every game.  I will give the team some credit as they did score six runs in the top of the ninth inning but a loss is a loss in the end.

A.J. Burnett fell to 6-7 on the season after only pitching five innings and giving up eight hits and eight runs.  Burnett had a problem as he gave up four walks and two home runs in the game.  He really should have known to keep the ball down against the hot hitting Brewers.

Brian Tallet and B.J. Ryan were able to hold the Brewers at eight runs as they pitched the final three innings without letting the Brewers score.  Good job by those two relievers.  To bad Burnett but the team in such a big hole to begin with.

Alex Rios had a rbi single in the eighth inning that scored Lyle Overbay for the Blue Jays first run of the game.  And then in the ninth inning it was Overbay going deep for a two run home run before Joe Inglett hit a grand slam to score four more runs.  The Blue Jays were still down one run however and ended up losing by that one run.

Blue Jays Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays held on to beat the Los Angeles Angels by the score of 4-3 on Thursday night.  The Blue Jays out hit the Angeles ten hits to seven in the game and had the only home run which proved to be the game winner.

Lyle Overybay hit a solo home run off of Ervin Santana in the sixth inning to give the Blue Jays the 4-3 lead.  Overbay came up huge with a big hit which the Blue Jays haven’t been getting lately.  Overbay was just one of the Blue Jays players to record one rbi in the game.  Brad Wilkerson, Rod Barajas, and Joe Inglett all had one rbi as well.

A.J. Burnett got his fifth win of the season as he tossed six innings in the game.  Burnett allowed six hits and three runs in the game.  Pretty good outing for Burnett as he improvs to 4-3 on the season.

Jesse Carlson, Scott Downs, and B.J. Ryan all pitched one scoreless inning of relief after Burnett was taken out of the game.  Ryan picked up his 10th save of the season in the game as well.

Blue Jays Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians split their double header today.  Both games were by the score of 3-0 as well.

In the first game each team only had five hits as it was a pitchers duel between Fausto Carmona and A.J. Burnett.  Burnett didn’t get any run support and took the loss as he pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs.

In the second game however, it was the Blue Jays coming out on top with a 3-0 victory.  It took ten innings to get the job done as once again it was a pitching duel.  Starting pitcher Shaun Marcum threw eight innings and only allowed two hits as he got the no decision.  B.J. Ryan pitched a scoreless inning of relief to pick up the win and then Scott Downs pitched the final three outs to pick up his fourth save of the season.

The Blue Jays pushed across three runs in the top of the tenth inning after going scoreless for the first ninth innings of the game.  Shannon Stewart hit a sac fly and then Aaron Hill had a two rbi single to push the lead to 3-0.

Blue Jays Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays lost a disappointing game to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night by the score of 5-4.

A.J. Burnett tossed six inning and allowed nine hits and five runs to pick up the losss.  Burnett is now 3-3 on the season.  Brian Tallet and Shawn Camp threw the final three innings of the game and pitched well.

Lyle Overbay led the Blue Jays at the plate with two RBI.  Scott Rolen and David Eckstein had the other two RBI for the Blue Jays.  They just didn’t come up with that big hit to tie or take the lead in the game when they needed it.

Blue Jays Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays got the better of the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night with a nice 3-0 victory for the Blue Jays.  The Blue Jays scored one run in the third, fifth, and seventh innings.

A.J. Burnett gave up three hits in 7.2 innings.  A good performance by Burnett as he struckout five batters.  He did walk five but made sure that they did not come around to score.  Jesse Carlson got the final out in the eighth inning after Burnett was pulled out of the game.  B.J. Ryan picked up the save which was his of the season.

Scott Rolen got the Blue Jays on the board with a RBI single in the third inning.  Vernon Wells then had a sac fly to center field in the fifth inning.  In the seventh inning, Alex Rios went deep and hit a solo home run to make the score 3-0.

It was a really big win for the Blue Jays as they improved to 12-17 on the season.

Even without the presence of Frank Thomas the Toronto Blue Jays were able to defeat the Detroit Tigers in Toronto on Sunday by the score of 5-3.  With Frank Thomas getting angry for being taken out of the lineup a day early, Toronto released him leaving them short one big hitter for the game against the Tigers.  But even without Frank, the Blue Jays were able to hold their own and come out on top. 

David Eckstein had 3 RBIs with one being from his home run in the fourth inning and Alex Rios got on the board with an RBI as well giving him 12 for the year.

A.J. Burnett came out and opened for the Blue Jays pitching five innings and giving up four hits.  Jeremy Accardo was brought it to close out the game and got his fourth save of the season. 

The Blue Jays and Tigers will play once again on Monday as the Tigers try to even the series.

Blue Jays Blog