Jays Notes vs. Rays: Farrell to miss O's series

For the third game in a row Jays' manager John Farrell stayed away from the Rogers Centre battling a bout of pneumonia that struck him late in a game last Thursday.

 

“He's still feeling a little shaky so we made the decision that he will not be with us for the Baltimore series," bench coach and acting manager Don Wakamatsu said. "We'll evaluate him and see when he'll be able to return at that point, once we're on the road. He came in today thinking he was going to try and manage and he was still weak."

The prognosis on Farrell's return has been day-to-day, but his recovery rate has been unpredictable.

“Just to be safe, this is not something you want to play around with obviously," Wakamatsu emphasized. "Just make sure to get him back on his feet. With pneumonia you just don't know. He felt good enough today to come in and get things checked out. We just want to be safe. I think it was the discussion with Alex more than anything. I'm sure Alex talked to the doctors. Alex was the one that made the call."

TALE OF THREE PITCHERS

Injured closer Jon Rauch threw a bullpen session on Sunday and was scheduled for a simulated game at Camden Yards in Baltimore on Tuesday.

“A simulated game possibly on Tuesday and maybe do some fielding practice and look at Thursday to activate him if everything goes well, the acting manager explained."

Thursday is September 1 when major-league rosters can be expanded to 40.

Injured righthander Carlos Villanueva is currently rehabbing at A-Dunedin and is expected to have a couple of more outings before being activated with the Jays.

"He threw 15 pitches on Sunday," Wakamtasu said. "Everything went well. He's scheduled to start again on Wednesday in Lakeland. We don't know yet whether it's going to be one or two innings. We're astill trying to build him up."

Meanwhile, lefty Brian Tallet who had been traded to the Jays while on the disabled list with the Cardinals, has been activated and is un uniform to replace lefthander Wil Ledezma who was designated for assignment after allowing six runs in the ninth inning on Sunday. The unusual and eccentric Tallet had suffered a strain of the intercostal muscle while sneezing. 

  

 

Comments

[Peter O'Donnell]

In tonight's game in Baltimore it was ironic to see the umpires go the replay room to check on the fan interference call that resulted in a ground rule double for Escobar. That happened just one inning after a blown call at first cost Henderson Alvarez a chance at a no-hitter. The television reply clearly showed Lind tagging the runner before his foot hit the bag at first. When will baseball decide to use the tools already at their disposal to get those important calls right? It's not the first time this season that an umpire cost a pitcher a no-hitter. At least that umpire had the courage to admit his mistake and apologize the next day. Let's see if this umpire faces up to his mistake. Oh, by the way, why wasn't there any mention of this on the broadcast or in the game summary article? Has MLB said something to scare commentators off of pointing out these obvious screw-ups?