You would think batting practice was over an hour before the game unless you saw a game that Josh Towers pitched. In that case the batting practice continues after the game has started. Towers is 4-5 this season with a 5.07 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP so far. It’s amazing that he has won 4 games when you consider that he has allowed 81 hits and 11 homers in only 71 innings this season. Towers has only walked 11 batters and that helps him survive despite getting hit hard….and often.

Tomo Ohka has been pitching batting practice so far for the Jays. In 8 starts, he is 2-4 with a 5.52 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP so far this season. In 45.2 innings, he has allowed 50 hits, 10 homers and he’s walked 19 batters while only whiffing 16. If Ohka keeps pitching like this he will wind up in the Jays bullpen.

Jason Frasor got the first chance to replace B.J. Ryan as the closer and he blew it. Frasor is 1-1 with 2 saves, a 5.65 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP so far this season. In 15 games, Frasor has thrown 14.1 innings and he has allowed 11 hits, walked 9 batters and whiffed 13. Frasor seemed to be putting to much pressure on himself as it appeared that he was trying to whiff everyone and that led to all of the walks. He could get another chance to close at some point in the season if he gets back to pitching like he can.

The Blue Jays brought up Dustin McGowan up from the minors to replace the injured Gustavo Chacin in the starting rotation. They are hoping that he’s learned how to pitch in the minors as the Blue Jays have compared him to a young Roy Halladay as he has really good stuff. But, in his first start of the season he pitched only 5 innings and he allowed 5 earned runs on 6 hits and 5 walks, and that won’t get it done.

A.J. Burnett was been pretty bad so far this season. In 3 starts, he’s 1-1 with a 7.07 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He has thrown 14 innings and he’s allowed 15 hits, 11 earned runs, has hit 3 batters and walked 8. As you can tell he’s been pretty wild so far and that’s because he’s trying to strike everyone out instead of letting his defense help him. Burnett has a Cy Young Award arm, he just needs his head to catch up to his arm strength.