The Whole Sad Story
The Jays started red-hot, but the rain in the bottom of the first inning sure cooled them down and they wound up losing an ugly one 12-4 .
Alexis Rios lead off the game with his 5th HR of the season, and Glaus and Hill added back-to-back HR's to give AJ Burnett a nifty 3-0 lead. When the Indians came to bat and the rain started falling, I was afraid that the game would be called.
We should have been so lucky. AJ had no control yesterday. He made it through 5 innings, throwing only 69 of 115 pitches for strikes. AJ walked four and surrendered 8 hits and 7 runs, 5 driven in by Jhonny Peralta. AJ now has 26 K's to 21 BB. As good as he looked last time out against the Yankees, if he keeps walking 4-5 a game, as he has in 4 out of 6 starts (not to mention one 3 BB day), he is not going to be consistent at all.
Still, when Burnett left, the score was only 7-3. However, Brian Tallet did nothing to keep the Jays close, giving up 2 in his one inning, and following a nice scoreless inning by Accardo in which he struck out the side, Jason Frasor gave up a who-cares 3-run HR in the 8th to make the blowout official. The Jays did nothing for the rest of the game as Indians starter CC Sabathia really settled down, the Jays managing only 1 walk and 3 hits from the 2nd inning on.
Waxing/Waning Gibbons :
Gibbons was waning last night as I liked neither his starting lineup card nor his bullpen management. Why leave Overbay out of the lineup? He hits lefties as well or better than Phillips (who has shown very little this season except a propensity for singles that is unlikely to continue) and is much better on defense. Was Lyle hurt?
Also, nothing against Tallet, but a 4-run deficit in the 6th is no time to throw in the towel. The game was still winnable at the time, especially with the Indians bullpen not being the best.
Clayton Watch:
Royce went 1-4 with a single. His OPS (.697) dipped below .700, and I would not be surprised to never see it come back.
Jays of the Day
Well, Glaus hit a sweet HR, and was the only Jay with 2 hits, so we'll go with him. Accardo deserves honorable mention for the best-pitched inning of the night.