The Man North Of Steeles

As last night's game crept closer to completion, the phrase "here we go again" could be heard from the little tiny men who operate the machinery of my body from the headquarters in my brain.

A stellar pitching performance from Shaun Marcum combined with anemic hitting from Blue Jays hitters had me sweating, cursing and shaking my head with a ferocity usually reserved for love making. In fact, I hate to admit it, but a part of me hoped that the Jays would blow it so that their continued struggles at the plate wouldn't be overlooked by yet another victory on the shoulders of starting pitching.

Then, Scott Rolen and the eighth inning happened. Five runs crossed the plate, and it seemed to confirm that this game was going to be used by the universe to let us know that everything is back to normal with the world. Ray Hinske went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, the Tampa Bay bullpen (Ray Dohman, Ray Miller and Ray Hammel) was shitty and the Toronto Blue Jays used BOTH hitting and pitching to secure the win over the Rays.

Speaking of pitching, Marcum has been nothing short of dominant so far this season. Mike Wilner mentions on his blog something that John Gibbons said during Spring Training that seems especially apt: Shaun Marcum can overpower hitters without overpowering them.

This oxymoron is eerily accurate because the way that Marcum makes opposing hitters look foolish is normally reserved for power pitchers that blow their pitches past the guy in the batter's box at 95+ mph. Instead, Marcum relies on mixing up his speeds more than a wedding present blender. His changeup is so good, that if I was an opposing hitter I'd question if all the balls being used in the game had the same mass.

Marcum improved his record to 4-2, and now leads Jays starters in ERA (2.59), strikeouts (44) and wins.