Wednesday -- Rays 6, Jays 2: Fifteen runs in six games vs. the teams with the third-worst and worst staff earned-run averages in the American League. Charlie Comiskey once had a hitting coach executed by firing squad for a lot less.*There's really not much "yes, but..." after losing two out of three to a cellar-dwelling team which didn't even throw its top two starters, Scott Kazmir and James Shields. The real kicker is that the first thing some a-hole from Ajax will want to talk about on the post-game show is Josh Towers. Last anyone checked, Towers isn't in the batting order.
The plan here is still to take a few weeks off and catch a couple games this weekend -- and hey, Texas has the second-worst staff ERA. It can't get any worse, can it?
(Need more? Check out The Tao.)
Tuesday -- Jays 2, Rays 0: The kid, Opie Litsch, had the "atom ball" working (pronounce atom the way Rainier Wolfcastle did in that Simpsons episode) as he beat his hometown team. The Jays outfielders earned it, especially Vernon Wells with a web gem catch in dead centre.
There's really very little else to say about barely beating a bad team. Hey, Aaron Hill hit leadoff. Has anyone on this team not hit leadoff yet? There are only 56 games left.
Incidentally, for anyone needing a rhyme or reason to the Jays picking up Mark Redman, he beat them with eight good innings when he was Kansas City's all-star rep last season. He also got the win. vs. the Jays the previous time he faced them, although that was way back in '04. Redman changes leagues every year, whether he needs to or not.
Monday -- Rays 5, Jays 4 (11 innings): It's so dire that tweaking Eagles lyrics is a fallback: "I gotta peaceful, easy feeling, 'cause I know you'll let me down." Talk about a triptych of terrible baseball, although it hardly came as a shock.
Section 1: Leave the game out there for the taking(2-for-11 with runners in scoring position) so a last-place team, albeit one with some dangerous hitters, can erase a late-inning lead.
Section 2: After Josh Wilson, who was waived by a bad National League team recently, gets a game-tying hit (it happens), blow two scoring opportunities in extra innings vs. the majors' worst bullpen.
Section 3: Carl Crawford, the Jays killer, wins it for the Rays with a walk-off homer after he was hurting so bad he couldn't start the game. Have to hand it to the team that's a sure thing for 100 losses again: They just wanted it more. Let Brian Wolfe start a second inning in a tie game instead of Brandon League or the forsaken Jason Frasor, let him fall behind 3-and-1 to a hitter who had a MRI on his wrist before the game, and this is what happens.
It's all reruns with John Gibbons (pictured) as field manager by this point, although he offered something fresh by pulling the chute when the Jays were ahead 4-2 in the eighth inning.
The timing of the ejection and the degree of indignation was odd. Gibbons didn't leave the dugout after a blown call vs. Troy Glaus in Boston 2 1/2 weeks ago. This time, he got tossed over a ball call on a checked swing that made the count 2-and-1 vs. Rays leadoff man Akinori Iwamura, who ended up fouling out to the catcher on the very next pitch.
The Jays might have still lost. Gibbons doesn't hit or pitch. However, it was embarrassing to watch that. The manager having an I've-had-it moment when the team is still ahead enables a fan -- and worse, the haters -- say everything he or she wants to say about a team. One can flourish miserably in seeing outcomes such as tonight's coming.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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10 comments:
Ok Naete, your " don't go counting on a sweep " comment was prescient ( sic? ).
Who takes the blame for this one? Jansenn & Accardo? An offense ( or lack thereof ) that scores 4 runs in 11 innings? Glaus, Wells and Thomas were awful at the plate. Gotta think that Stairs will be in the lineup tomorrow.
How about that revamped D Rays pen? None of Wheeler, Balfour or Dohmann were there until very recently.
Really, really tough loss. Tough year to be a Jays fan.
The spirit of the kingdom emanates from the king... the manager seems to have taken this team on a trip to negative town.
The poor situational hitting is a big part of it, but good managers find a way to steer the team through and have their guys win tight games. Earl Weaver one year in the '70s had an Orioles team that was like 9th in a 12-team league in run scoring, but won the division (and Jim Palmer had an off-year). His guys might not have agreed with everything he did, and sure there were times where they probably wanted to get him alone in a tight space with a bat, but they believed in him.
Ultimately, Gibbons getting tossed when the team is up 4-2 is what's hard to get past. It's like he said, "I've had it" and wanted out of the game. No one gets tossed from a game, usually you earn it.
If Wilson's 4 hopper ( or 3, whatever ) up the middle is caught by Accardo or if he had hit it 5 feet to the left and MacDonald gets the last out we ( Jays fans ) are a whole lot more optimistic this AM. But they blew it and we're pissed.
I find your comment about having Wolfe on the mound in an extra inning tie game interesting. If Gibbons / Arnsberg have no faith in Frasor should they send him out ( does he have options remaining? if no, would anyone claim him? ). As for League, he still has great movement but I wonder if they think he's still too erratic to pitch with the game on the line.
Are Jansenn's numbers catching up to him? He doesn't strike guys out but he walks very few as well. There is a school of stat heads who think that ERA is BS. That it is the "peripheral numbers", that are the true indicators of effectiveness. Do you follow the debate about babip? ( Batting average on balls in play ).
Anyway, time to go camping, gotta pick up John Helyar's " Lords of the Realm " on the way outta town.
Janssen's numbers are starting to catch up, yeah. He got very lucky early on in the season. He's still a solid guy comparatively, however.
Must agree on the idiocy of Brian Wolfe with the game on the line. Wolfe's only on the major league roster so that JP can pretend he got something useful for his salary non-dumps.
Earl Weaver had terrific teams almost every year of his career. He wasn't beset by catastrophic injury. I'm not buying into this idea that Gibbons has a magical wand he can wave to make the players play better. Last year, Vernon Wells played terrifically under John Gibbons. This year, zip. Did John Gibbons change? I strongly doubt it. The lack of production is down to underachieving players.
But what a dumb way to get thrown out of a game - I'll agree with you there. Maybe he wanted to beat the traffic.
There was a nice camera angle at the last at bat of the 10th that showed Crawford frustrated he missed his chance to hit. Now, I have way to substantiate this, but my first thought was that he was going to lead the next inning with a homer. Bases loaded, 1 out, and they get nothing against arguably one of the worst bull pens in baseball (AAA and Japan included).
Crippled wrist and it sill clears out to centre!
Sheesh.
What is even more frustrating is the way they started the 1st, it looked like BP until Vernon broke his bat.
Not a terribly analytical comment, but the Jays always have problems with the lowly D-Rays. Always.
4-6 this year — four wins for the Tampans in its last at-bat... and the Jays are 38-39 all-time at The Trop.
Who knows why?
You can't explain things like a Jays reliever throwing three straight balls to an injured outfielder. It's beyond logic.
And funny once again how the smart money is wrong in game 2 here. Litsch, Downs, and Accardo combine on a shutout that is harder to come by than it looks. Edwin Jackson again mystifies the unjustifiably vaunted Jays lineup.
Weird.
On the Tuesday report - firstly, well spotted that the proper pronounciation should be "at them ball".
As for their latest pickup, I'll be angered if you don't constantly refer to him as "All-Star Mark Redman" in every reference with all-star in boldface.
Are his good days against the Jays surprising, though? Ever since spoiling the 1985 run, it seems to me the Jays haven't so much struggled against the Royals as failed to crush them when they should - Runelvys Hernandez complete game shutout ring a bell?
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