Bullpen Loses Game. Jays lose to Rays

Blue Jays 3 Rays 9

All was going well until we let the bullpen into the game. Ricky Romero went 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, walked 3 and allowed 2 earned. 12 ground outs to 6 fly outs. A great start, he left the game with a 3-2 lead.

Then Scott Downs came in. Single, Walk. Scott needed a ground ball bad, and got one but it missed the gloves, single, game tied. Downs out, Casey Janssen in. Bunt single, just perfectly places and Casey slipped going for the ball. Bases loaded. Walk, Hit batter, single and we were down by 4. Then we finally get an out. Jeremy Accardo in. When Accardo comes in you know it's over. Single, two more runs. Then he got the last two outs of the inning. But 7 runs had scored. 

Offensively there were a couple of good things, Lyle Overbay was 2 for 3 with a homer and Adam Lind was 2 for 4 with a homer and a double. Travis Snider was 1 for 3 and a walk. Aaron Hill was 1 for 4. Then we get the 0 fors: Fred Lewis, Vernon Wells, Alex Gonzalez, Jose Bautista and John Buck. Lewis, Gonzalez and Bautista each struck out twice. Gonzalez' little hot streak, to start the season, has definitely ended.

Jays of the Day are Line (.321 WPA), Romero (.193) and Overbay (.185). Suckage are Downs (-.444), Janssen (-.228), Lewis (-.156) and Gonzalez (-.130).

The Cito rant? In the 7th inning Overbay single (and stole a base), Bautista was hit by pitch and Snider walked to load the bases with 2 out. Lewis was up, so Joe Maddon brought in a lefty to face him. Now it is the obvious move. Of course the obvious move for our side was to pinch hit for Lewis. We were up by a run but this was a pretty big moment in the game. Insurance runs are a pretty big thing. But Cito doesn't believe in pinch hitting. I'm sorry but pinch hitting isn't Santa Claus. Sometimes it should be tried. 

Anyway, Ricky deserved the win tonight. He's just been amazing this season. But that's baseball , sometimes the bullpen is going to blow a game. 

We are striking out a ton so far this year. I think convincing the guys there are all power hitters and should swing from the heels all the time is an error in judgement. We ran Gary Denbo out of town on a rail, because he had guys taking pitches but perhaps there could be some middle ground?

Tomorrow's game is an afternoon one. Brandon Morrow going up against David Price. I am curious to see our lineup against the lefty Price. 1:40 Eastern starts.