Was that Livan Hernandez?

Kevin Slowey was utterly ineffective, at best, last night. His performance reminded me very much of Livan Hernandez last year--he allowed 13 (!) hits in just 5 1/3 innings, and also walked one to go along with just two strikeouts. He also gave up five runs, which makes his box score look eerily similar to one I'd expect from Hernandez. Of course, Slowey will certainly not be as bad as Hernandez, but after two lousy starts I'm concerned that he won't match my expectations, which I would describe as lofty. I took him in both of my fantasy leagues, so I've got three reasons to be rooting for him to turn it around.

The offense was pretty good, although it (or, more accurately, Delmon Young) failed to come through in some key situations. I actually like Young and think he should be given a chance, but it's hard for me to keep that stance with the way he's been playing so far this year. Despite already hitting a home run, he currently holds a .158 average and .474 OPS. Most disconcerting, though, is that he has 7 strikeous and zero walks in 19 plate appearances. I really am rooting for Young, but his slow start, especially with no improvement in his deficient areas from last year, worries me.

Now, that got me sidetracked. Today, specifically, Young came up twice with no outs and a runner in scoring position. In the fourth inning, with Brian Buscher on third, he struck out. In the eighth inning, with Brendan Harris on second, he struck out. In both cases, the next two batters also didn't get the job done (in fact only one even put the ball in play), but Young has to execute in those situations; simply poking the ball somewhere will at least make the infielder think and maybe make a mistake, and with a drawn-in infield it could easily result in a hit.

All in all, the Blue Jays amassed 19 hits in their victory, which is actually more than the Rays had in their 15-5 victory over the Yankees. You'll see periodic notes about the Yankees throughout the season due to my dislike of them. In this case, it's about someone who drafted Chien-Ming Wang in one of my fantasy leagues and bragged about him being the best sleeper of the draft. His ERA is now 28.93.