MVN - Most Valuable Network

In Rod We Trust! Barajas Has Big Series Against Former Club

For most of the season, Rod Barajas has been a bit of an afterthought. Wishful thinkers used to over-exaggerate his talents because they are so sick of Gregg Zaun (count me as one of them). This was until Barajas showed very little pop at the plate and proved to be no better of an option behind the dish than Zauner. But all of the Zaun-haters, got a great deal of ammo this weekend when Rod Barajas responded to the boos in Philly in a big way.

Barajas knocked two homers in game 2, including one grand slam and was a big part of the Jays 2-1 series victory over the Phillies. Finally, we now have someone to call for next time Gregg Zaun drops a strike that hit him in the glove.

Barajas came up with four hits in his seven at-bats in the series and his average climbed from .237 to .273 over the weekend. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Barajas has earned the starting spot at least for the next few games but John Gibbons is anything but conventional or wise; so we can be sure to see far more Gregg Zaun than anyone would be comfortable with.

Let’s be honest, Zaun only remains on this team because of the 2-year deal he signed after JP Ricciardi failed to sign Barajas two summers ago. Now, they have their guy and he brings far more to the table than Zaun does. Would it make too much sense to use Zaun as a defensive replacement like the Jays did this afternoon? JP seems to be enamored with Zaun’s OBP (a whopping .339 to Barajas’ .333) but with Vernon Wells out and Alex Rios in a Frank Thomas-sized funk, the Jays are in no position to be denying themselves offense. The time for more Barajas is now.

The Jays have been able to find offense when its needed and Barajas is not the only guy to awaken from his coma. Lyle Overbay ended his power slump and jacked a 3-run pinch hit (game tying!) homer in game 3 while they have gotten timely hits from Aaron Hill, Marco Scutaro and even Shannon Stewart.

The Jays have won 6 of their last 7 and are starting to become somewhat reliable and non-frustrating. If they can only hang around until Wells returns, this team could become a legitimate contender, no kidding. The Jays have a day off tomorrow but will face a true test on Tuesday when they start a 3-game set against the Angels. Hopefully we will get some idea of how the Jays stack up against one of the best teams in the AL.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 12:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.