If I'm Alex Anthopoulos, when looking for a new manager for next season, my first question is: It is the 7th inning and you are down by 4, 2 base runners on and John McDonald up, and a right handed pitcher, do you. a) pinch hit b) let him swing c) have him bunt?
If the answer is anything other than 'a', the interview is over. If the answer is c, I use the trap door button.
Cito failed that test yesterday.
But the Jays failed a few tests. Brandon Morrow pitched a better game than the final score suggests. A two out John McDonald throwing error cost us the two runs in the first inning. I don't know why we can't find anyone that can make a throw from third base. Mac playing any of the corner spots is a mistake to begin with but if he's going to he can't be making errors. Another of the runs Brandon gave up scored because Vernon Wells let a ball get past him after it hit the wall. If he played it properly off the wall, the runner from first wouldn't have been able to score. Since Brandon got the third out on a strikeout right after that, that run shouldn't have scored.
Morrow went 6 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned, 2 walks and 8 k. He also gave up a home run. David Purcey and Jason Frasor finished out the game with a perfect inning each.
Offensively, we clearly are in our second little slump of the season. We only had six hits on the day. Fred Lewis had 2. Gonzalez, Wells, Lind and Molina had 1 each. Lyle walked twice. Bautista walked once and was hit by pitch.
We had our chances. We scored two in the 6th, but we could have had more. Bases loaded, one out, Vernon pops up. But Adam Lind singled driving in two. Then Hill flied out to end the inning. A little help from Wells or Hill and that would have been a big inning.
Then the 7th, 2 on, no outs, and Cito lets Mac swing. Strike out. Johnny argued the call, thinking he foul tipped the third strike. I'm not sure I've seen Mac argue a call before, so maybe he had a reason. Lewis ground out. A wild pitch and a Shin-Soo Choo error on a easy Bautista fly ball got us a couple of runs but again it should have been a bigger inning.
Jays of the Day? Well Bautista has the number (.168 WPA) but then they are giving him points for the Choo error, so I can't give him this one. Jose Molina had a .156, let's make him JoD. Suckage Jays? Morrow had the number -.228, but then his number was hurt by the defense behind him, let's not give him one. Guys earning the award: Lewis (-.170, even with the two hits, that ground out in the 7th was big), Wells (-.157), Hill (.146, is he ever going to start hitting again?), Buck (-.107, off a 9th inning, pinch hit strikeout) and Mac (-.107 and that doesn't take his error into account).
Jesse Litsch takes on Aaron Laffey tonight as the Jays try get back into this four series.