A guy named Smith

Wish I had the Blue Jays' all-time record against pitchers making their major-league debuts. Have no idea at the moment, but it can't be good. Used to be a fair Pro-line bet (when I was still an idiot).

Jays run into one of these tonight in Oakland left-hander Greg Smith, who got the call when Justin Duschscherer went on the DL. It'll be the first starting left-hander the Jays have faced this season. They also get another tomorrow in Dana Eveland, who, like Smith, was one of the six guys the A's got off the Diamondbacks for Dan Haren.

Jays were 26-17 against starting left-handers a year ago -- 57-62 against starting, you know, right-handers. That's not all, either.

Against righties in 2007, Jays hit a composite .248 (29th ranked), slugged .400 (25th), had a .315 on-base percentage (29th) and a .715 OPS (27th). Against lefties, they led the majors batting .296 and were second in each of the other three -- .484 slugging, .365 on-base and .848 OPS.   

allan ryan