A little T.S. Eliot (from the Wasteland) nicely expresses some serious frustration about yesterday's game, which was a pretty frustrating loss. But let's just hope that April is not the cruelest month for our azure-tinged heroes. A.J. Burnett was ineffective, surrendering 10 hits and 2 walks over 4 2/3 innings, while striking out only 1. Jeff Blair, not A.J.'s biggest fan, takes the lanky righty to task in today's Globe and Mail . The Jays had a chance to win as their offense did a fine job against Oakland pitching, capped by a game-tying Frank Thomas home run in the 8th. Unfortunately, Jeremy Accardo surrendered a RBI triple to Ryan Sweeney in the 9th, putting the A's ahead for good. Aaron Hill and Vernon Wells also homered for the Jays in a losing effort. It was inevitable that the quality (in the general sense) efforts from our starting pitchers thusfar would eventually be broken up by a bad outing, so it's just good to see the team hitting, and off former Jay cajun sensation Chad Gaudin at that.
I won't be around for tonight's game, as I'm going to the Nationals-Marlins game at brand new Nationals Park. I'm pretty excited about that, but it necessitates another early game thread. Dustin McGowan will make his second start for the Jays, while southpaw Greg Smith throws for the A's. Smith was acquired as part of the Dan Haren trade this past offseason and will be making his first career start tonight, with both Harden and Justin Duchscherer (one of the truly difficult names to spell in sports) out hurt.
Let's go Jays!