Angels 3 Jays 1
The only good thing about today's game was Ricky Romero. 8 innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 6 K, only the one run earned. 12 ground outs, 5 fly outs. A great start that deserved better. He has been terrific so far this year.
Unfortunately we aren't hitting at all. 4 hits and no walks on the day. 2 of the hits were by Adam Lind, one a homer in the 9th to breakup the shut out. Fred Lewis and Jose Bautista each had a double but that was it for offense. Lewis also had a steal of third to go with his double. He might be fun to watch. Vernon Wells and Travis Snider each had a couple of hard hit balls right at someone but other than that there weren't even many hard hit balls. .
Right now we have 3 guys hitting well; Gonzalez, Lind and Wells. Everyone else? Overbay is at .080, Bautista .191 (2 strikeouts to go with the double today), John Buck .184, Travis Snider .108, John McDonald .154, Randy Ruiz .154 and Mike McCoy .238). I'm more convinced that Bautista shouldn't bat against RHP. Ruiz, he has got to learn not to swing at the ball off the plate. And quick. Teams scout in the majors.
I'm wondering if all the power we showed at the start of the season has players over swinging. The good news? Most of the guys not hitting are older players that won't be with the team after this year or, at worst, after next year (other than Snider).
Added to the hitting fun, Scott Downs came into the game in the 9th and didn't shut things down. To be far, a Lyle Overbay error hurt a lot. Downs inning went double, error (scoring the run), strikeout, double (driving home the error), ground out (6-2), ground out. First runs Downs has allowed this year and one was unearned.
Jay of the Day: Romero (.296 WPA). Suckage Jays Buck (.129), Wells (-.129), Downs (-.123) and Gonzalez (-.101). Add Overbay to the list for the error and 0 for 3.
I don't know, slumps do happen but it is tough when they are pretty much team wide. A lot of the guys slumping are players we weren't expecting a lot from but would like them to do some better.
Cito is a very good hitting coach, we'll get to see how good in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully he can get some guys turned around. We are striking out way too often.
Tomorrow we start 3 games against the Royals. I'd like to think that series will go better.