Jays lose to Rangers

Rangers 8 Blue Jays 1

That one wasn't fun. I know we (and everyone else) have beaten into the ground the stupidity of the lineup today, but I just have to have one more run at it. John McDonald is a late scratch, so you would think that would mean Travis Snider would get into the game. But no, Jarrett Hoffpauir plays. What is the point of that? He isn't going to be part of the team after this year. Mike McCoy plays LF? Just like earlier in the season with Johnny Mac, there is no way McCoy should play in a corner outfield spot. I like him as a utility guy. He can play all the infield spots and play a couple of innings in the OF in an emergency, but having him play LF and Snider sit is just dumb. 

Anyway, the game. It wasn't good. We got 5 hits, 2 of them from Jose Molina who got us on the scoreboard with a solo homer. McCoy was 0 for 3 with 2 k. Hoffpauir was 0 for 2 with a k. Vernon Wells took two walks. Adam Lind (the only good part about the lineup was Lind playing first) was 0 for 4 with 4 k. Even Jose Bautista wasn't good, 0 for 4. He looked like he was pressing and was clearly frustrated. He should relax, we know he'll get on another hot streak soon.

Marc Rzepczynski, pitching on short rest, didn't look good. He wasn't awful, he had 9 ground outs to 3 fly outs and had a couple of double plays turned behind him. He gave up a home run to start the game and another run off a walk and 2 singles in the first. There was another run 5th, that was helped along by a Jose Molina throwing error. He wasn't terrible, but had a hard time hitting his spots at times. 

Brian Tallet gave up an unearned run in the 6th. Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless 7th. Josh Roenicke gave up a run in his inning. David Purcey had a rough 9th, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs, including a 2 run homer.

The infield made a couple of nice double plays. Molina tried to throw a base stealer out from his knees and threw it into center instead. Molina has such a good arm, I don't know why he tried the throw from his knees, he's been catching enough guys stealing the normal way. Yunel Escobar made a terrible throw on the back end of a double play, almost getting Brian Tallet run over trying to make the play at first.

Lind looked decent enough, to me, at first base again. He did make a good throw to Yunel to get the first out of that should-have-been double play that Escobar threw away. I'm not Scott Carson but I didn't see much wrong with his play.

The loss was such a team effort that no one got to the Suckage numbers, though Hoffpauir (-.097) and McCoy (-.091) were close enough to get the honor. No Jay of the Day, Molina had the best number, .042, but that doesn't take his error into account. 

Tomorrow Canadian Shawn Hill gets his first start for the Jays. Gotta cheer for him. Colby Lewis 9-12, 3.96 starts for the Rangers. But I'm going to miss it. My middle boy turns 18, so being in Alberta, we are taking him out to the bar tomorrow. Then, next week, I'm taking him to Boston to see three games in Fenway Park. I hope the Jays win all three.