Well, some of us rolled into Capitol City with sweeps in our eyes, but the Jays dropped the first two in extra innings and avoided the sweep today with a fairly convincing victory.
On the Mound:
Ricky Romero started and he was fine. He struck out 6 and walked three over his 7 innings, giving up two runs to which some shaky fielding by Aaron Hill made a contribution. That said, Romero got himself into trouble at times and was helped out by some timely pitches and some great defense, so he can hardly complain. It wasn't his best start of the season, but it was certainly adequate.
At the Plate:
Marco Scutaro had another great day from the leadoff spot with three hits. Lyle Overbay crushed a home run into the second deck of rightfield. Vernon Wells had another encouraging day at the plate with an RBI double and a walk on which he later scored. The Jays bounced out to a quick lead in the first with singles by Scoot, Scott Rolen, Alex Rios, and Lyle Overbay and walks by Vernon Wells and Adam Lind. Lind walked thrice in the game, actually. The Jays added some insurance runs that seemed unnecessary at the time but turned out to be quite timely (more on that later). Russ Adams made his first major-league appearance of 2009 (since 2007, I believe) and singled sharply to centre.
From the Pen:
Jeremy Accardo entered in relief of Romero in the 8th but had to exit after just one batter with what Jordan Bastian called a dehydration-caused cramp. Weird he should be dehydrated after a day of sitting in the pen, it wasn't particularly hot or sunny (at least, by DC standards) today. Anyway, it was just a cramp in his calf and that doesn't sound too bad at all. Maybe the flight from Vegas and instant action has tired him out. Brandon League finished the 8th and looked sharp, but Cito wasn't about to send him out there in the 9th after what's happened to him in successive inning outings (and because the Jays tacked on some insurance runs). Instead, Jesse Carlson entered with a 7-run lead and 3 outs to get and immediately ran into trouble, yielding 4 very sharp hits and 2 runs. Jason Frasor had to be summoned from the pen to get the final out, but he got it.
Jays 9, Nats 4
All in all, a rough series, in which the Jays easily could have swept. The flipside of that is that they were very much in all three games. A 4-2 road trip is certainly nothing to sneeze at, is it? Bring on Cincy!
Jays of the Day: Overbay, Rios, Romero.