JAYS-RAYS: GNATS GET TO KAZMIR

Sunday: Jays 6, Rays 3: Hard in, hard out: It's not the first time that a pitcher had blow-'em-away stuff and ended up with an L next to his name in the boxscore: The Rays' Scott Kazmir (pictured) went through the entire Jays batting order once without needing his fielders to make a play: Eight strikeouts with a Vernon Wells solo homer on a two-strike slider.

On Sept. 15, 1969, another hard-throwing lefty, the Steve Carlton, struck out a record 19 batters and lost 4-3 to the Mets since Ron Swoboda tagged him for a pair of two-run homers. Similarly, Randy Johnson had a game in '96 or '97 where he fanned 19 guys and lost 4-1.

Kazmir was throwing that well for a few innings. In the fifth, though, the gnats at the bottom of the order who know better than to even try to pull a good fastball, Royce Clayton and Johnny McDonald, got two-out hits, setting up Reed Johnson's go-ahead three-run homer.

All in all, a pretty satisfying win. Roy Halladay won with his 'B' stuff and Casey Janssen, who picked up the save, continued to be a revelation as a reliever. Repeat: It's early yet.

McDonald was the man today -- he started a sweet 5-4-3 double play to get the Jays off the field in the Rays fourth. You wouldn't want him playing every day for a long stretch, but the Jays are going to have to use him for late-inning defence at third, especially if Troy Glaus has physical problems.

Saturday: Jays 8, Rays 5: In the words of Shannen Doherty's character in Mallrats, "I go to sleep unsatisfied." Frank Thomas' grand slam -- which was somewhat expected since he'd homered off Casey Fossum three times in 11 previous meetings -- staked the Jays to a big lead, then the bullpen had to pick up an ineffective Tomo Ohka. Give him time, it's his first start. Leadoff man Reed Johnson was 3-for-5 after having a game-tying hit in Friday's loss -- and they say there's no such thing as momentum in baseball.

Friday: Rays 6, Jays 5: With B.J. Ryan blowing the save and Rays rookie B.J. Upton beating out an infield hit to drive in the winning run, Friday was a truly a night where the best headlines could not be written.

Positives for the Jays:

• A decent enough start for Gustavo Chacin (his game score was 50, which is the exact definition of "decent enough") over six innings, although he gave up three of the Rays' four homers. The other, of course, was the game-tying dinger Ryan gave up to Delmon Young (pictured).
• The bottom-of-the-order hitters starting a two-out, three-run rally in the seventh.
• Reed Johnson dropping a single into right-centre to tie it 3-3 in that inning.
• Casey Janssen and Jason Frasor locking it up in middle relief... before, well, you know, B.J. blew it.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.