For the second time in recent months, Toronto has been accused of stealing the opposition's signs.
In August 2011, ESPN The Magazine published an article alleging that a mysterious fan seated in center field was apparently alerting Jays hitters as to what pitch to expect.
In this latest instance, the whistle-blower was Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel, after losing to the Jays 4-1 on Wednesday. Hammel mentioned to reporters that he found Toronto's anticipation of his breaking balls strange — almost as if the Jays batters knew the junk was coming.
"When you're locating your fastball, you're going to give up some home runs there, but the swings they were taking on he breaking stuff, it was pretty amazing to me," said Hammel. "I don't think you can take swings like that not knowing they’re coming. I don't know. That's all I can say."
Hammel currently holds a 6-2 record and a 3.06 ERA –- impressive stats for any major league pitcher — but not so impressive considering Hammel had a 2.78 ERA entering Wednesday.
