The Happy Recap
Hey folks, sorry to miss last night. I have been really sick and I am a horrible patient. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
The game last night was a great one. Shaun Marcum pitched fantastically, scattering 7 hits (6 singles and 1 double by Tony Abreu) over his 6 2/3 innings. Marcum struck out 3 and walked no one, giving up no runs. He got into a bit of trouble in the 7th with 2 out - Juan Pierre singled and Derek Lowe also reached on a infield single (a real dribbler) - and Gibbons did not hesitate to summon Downs, who beat Rafael Furcal, getting him to dribble to 3rd as well, but Furcal reached when he beat out the throw from Troy Glaus. With the bases loaded, though, Downs induced another grounder from Tony Abreu to end the threat. Casey Janssen completed the game with a 2 inning save, though I'm not sure whether using Janssen rather than Accardo had more to do with resting Accardo's arm or decreased trust after the two successive bad outings.
The Jays continued to have trouble at the plate, managing only 4 hits and no walks against Derek Lowe and allowing Lowe to breeze through the entire 9 innings using only 98 pitches. Vernon Wells continued to struggle. But Matt Stairs, whose HR tied it in the 9th in Friday's game, was again a difference maker, going deep in the 6th inning for the game's only run.
Marcum has been excellent as a starter, yielding only 9 runs in 34 2/3 innings while starting, for a nifty 2.34 ERA. 3 of those runs came in his injury-shortened outing last week. And Marcum has done it the right way, with 28 Ks and only 12 BB's (again, 3 in his injury shortened start). Between he and McGowan, this is a fun rotation to watch now even after Doc and AJ.