Jays Nest

Jays lose again

By KP Wee | June 21st, 2008

Things were supposed to be different for the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

They had so many things going for them.

Cito Gaston, the skipper who guided the Jays to back-to-back World Series championships in 1992-93, was back.

Their ace, Roy Halladay, was on the mound–the perfect man to try and stop a five-game losing streak. Halladay, after all, has 41 wins in 58 decisions since a Toronto loss dating back to 2003.

Their opponents, the Pittsburgh Pirates, had just endured their worst three-game set since 1950, having been outscored 37-15 by the Chicago White Sox.

The Pirates, 1-5 against AL foes this year, were on the verge to become the fist club to lose 100 games in interleague play, entering with a 58-99 mark.

But once again, the Blue Jays found a way to lose.

This time, it was a 1-0, 12-inning affair, as Zach Duke and three relievers combined on an eight-hitter.

It was Toronto’s 19th one-run loss this season, tied with Atlanta for tops in baseball.

The Jays, now 35-40 and losers of six straight, find themselves trailing first-place Boston by 10 1/2 games in the AL East. Toronto is chasing five teams for the wild card.

If Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi is looking to salvage the season, a trade for a big bat must be made–soon.

Instead, Ricciardi made news earlier this week by calling out the Reds’ Adam Dunn on The Fan 590 in response to a fan’s inquiry about the Cincinnati leftfielder being a possible trade acquisition.

Ricciardi openly stated the Jays were not interested in a player such as Dunn, and went on to criticize the Reds veteran and question his passion for the game.

Why? Why would a big-league GM do such a thing?

Whatever Ricciardi’s motivation for his comments about Dunn was, this has certainly left a black mark on the Blue Jays.

If Ricciardi were to go the trade route to try and make a run for the postseason in 2008, would any marquee names out there be willing to report to Toronto?

If the Jays aren’t looking to improve their offense, something that many think they should be doing or should have done a long time ago, I have to ask why not?

For now, the Jays will stick with the lineup they’ve got in an attempt to get back on track.

Jesse Litsch (7-3, 3.70), winless in three starts this month, will try to end that losing streak on Saturday.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 1:18 am and is filed under 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.