Well, it's never a good matchup when you've got your 9th or 10th best starter facing the other team's ace, and it didn't work out so well for our heroes today.
We hated the idea of Brian Burres starting today's game, and it turned out to be for good reason. Burres was bad, giving up 7 hits and 4 walks over 4 1/3 innings. He generally looked like he lacked the stuff to get major-league hitters out and knew it, so he was afraid to pitch inside or challenge good hitters. It was a poor performance and not one, in my opinion, that justifies another major-leagues start. He did manage to make it to the 5th inning just having given up 2 runs, but his luck ran out that inning and things went south.
The White Sox scored 6 runs that inning, 4 of them coming on a grand slam by Alexei Ramirez off Shawn Camp, who had the unenviable task of coming in with the bases loaded and trying to minimize the damage. Brandon League and Brian Bullington pitched scoreless innings at least.
Offensively, the Jays managed two runs in the 2nd inning of Sox starter Mark Buerhle but that was it. Marco Scutaro had a decent day at the plate with a single, a walk, and a sacrifice fly, as did Jose Bautista (rbi single, walk), Aaron Hill, and Kevin Millar. But the Jays managed no extra base hits. No Jays of the Day today, though Burres takes home the Towers and Camp the Batista.
The Jays will put their series win streak (as well as their non-consecutive loss streak) on the line tomorrow afternoon. Roy Halladay will pitch for the Jays, while Jose Contreras will hurl for the Pale Hose.
In other bad and potentially really bad news, Jesse Litsch, who was ahead of schedule, had pain throwing last night and will be examined by he-who-must-not-be-named on Monday. The Jays are saying that it's precautionary only, but keep your fingers crossed.