MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Blue Jays Never Get Tired of Disappointing

After yet another stellar start, you guessed it, the Blue Jays blew a very winnable game and prove once again that being a loyal fan of theirs’ is a complete waste of time.

Jesse Litsch pitched seven innings of 5-hit ball and picked up the no decision. I will give credit where it is due, the Jays offense did come through with some clutch hits in the 9th including Vernon Wells’ 5th home run of the season.

The real stomach punch came in the bottom of the tenth when the Jays had a fantastic chance to steal the game when Alex Rios led of the inning with a triple. The Jays proceeded to load up the bases on walks before the Rays struck out the side. Forget clutch hitting, the heart of the Blue Jays lineup could not even lift a ball to the outfield to win the game.

Of course, after a squandered opportunity to pick up a series win, The Blue Jays seventh pitcher of the evening, Shawn Camp proceeded to allow not only a go-ahead sacrifice fly to Carl Crawford but a truly heartbreaking grand slam to Dioner Navarro.

It is becoming quite safe to say that the Blue Jays really dropped the ball on the Reed Johnson release/Shannon Stewart promotion. Stewart has not worked out for the Jays at all, and really only maintains his place in the lineup due to Adam Lind’s inability to produce in the big leagues. Stewart went 0-6 tonight with 3 K’s and has seen his average dip to .229, which, along with his OBP is significantly lower than his career average. There could be a spot on the roster for Stew, but realistically, he should not be starting on a big league team any longer.

Another flaw of this Blue Jays team that was glaringly absent during the Reed Johnson era is passion. This team shows no sense of urgency and routinely looks disinterested, which are probably two of the last descriptions that come to mind when thinking of Reed.

The Blue Jays starting staff can continue to pitch like the best in the league (which it most likely will with Roy Halladay slated to throw tomorrow) but until the offense starts to produce up to its potential, or at least show a pulse, it will be a tremendously difficult climb out of the cellar for the Blue Birds.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 11:15 pm and is filed under AJ Burnett, Roy Halladay, Gregg Zaun, Shawn Camp, John Gibbons, Matt Stairs, Marco Scutaro, Jesse Litsch, Jeremy Accardo, Carl Crawford, Dioner Navarro, Vernon Wells, Scott Rolen, Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill, Reed Johnson, Adam Lind, Shannon Stewart, Alex Rios, Uncategorized. 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.