MVN - Most Valuable Network

Jays Look To Regroup After Tough Two Game Set

Blue Jay Nation must be pretty nauseous after a pair of losses at the hands of the Texas Rangers in Toronto can be filed under “heartbreaker,” and “why do we even bother anymore?”

On Wednesday, the Jays “rallied” back from three runs down in the 8th to eventually force extra innings. They capitalized on an errant Ben Broussard throw that could have resulted in an inning ending double play, but instead ended up in left field as two Jays crossed the plate. The game ended up lasting 14 innings as the Jays used a franchise record 9 pitchers. One of whom was AJ Burnett, the man unfortunate enough to pick up the loss on a curveball that dipped through Gregg Zaun’s legs. As AJ said himself, “It was just one of those days.”

The real story of the game (and the series) was the Blue Jays putrid offense which in game 1 was a combined 1-15 with runners in scoring position with the core of the lineup disappointing us time and time again with chances to end the game.

A bright spot in the game was little used reliever Jesse Carlson who kept the Jays in the ballgame for a few more innings, at one point striking out three straight with the bases loaded, making Burnett’s performance look even worse by comparison.

Game 2 showed us why managers go bald as Roy Halladay took to the mound and with only tired arms in the bullpen, he was being counted on to pitch deep into the game. The Doc pitched a complete game 4-1 loss. Toronto’s lineup did everything they could to give no help whatsoever to their ace an essentially proved the point that Halladay has uttered ad nauseum, that the Jays lack the sense of urgency necessary to win close games. This team just does not play well with the game on the line.

In last night’s game, they went 2-21 with runners in scoring position and their only run came on a little “excuse me” single by David Eckstein that he had to leg out to plate Gregg Zaun.

After the first few series of this season, Jays fans must have thought that the days of frustration and an inability to pick up a clutch hit were long gone. The middle of Toronto’s lineup was getting timely hits, Frank Thomas, now the proud owner of a .179 batting average, was not off to his usual slow start and the pitching was phenomenal. Nowadays, Toronto’s pitching is the only constant, and the Jays are lucky to compete with their inconsistent lineup. The middle of the lineup NEEDS to step up and get some clutch hits or this team will continue to be mired in mediocrity.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Matt Stairs, BJ Ryan, Jeremy Accardo, Jesse Litsch, Brian Tallet, Rod Barajas, AJ Burnett, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Scott Rolen, Aaron Hill, Alex Rios, Gregg Zaun, Adam Lind, Frank Thomas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.