You just knew, when you saw the lineup the Jays were using tonight, that our defense had to be perfect for us to have a chance tonight. It wasn't.
After two out in the Rays third Aaron Hill booted an easy ground ball. Being sort of fair, Carl Crawford was the batter, with his speed, the play had to be made quick, but it should have been made. Then Evan Longoria hit a hard ground ball at Mike McCoy at short and Mike missed it. It was a tough play and wasn't called an error, but it should have been made. Carlos Pena hit a home run right after, costing us 3 unearned runs.
Then in the 8th, Jason Barrlett hit a ground ball down to John McDonald at third. Mac booted it (error one), then rushed to pick it up and throw it well over Adam Lind's head (error two). A ground out and a sac fly later, we had our 4th unearned run of the game scored against us.
We did get some good plays, McCoy made a nice play at short, Travis Snider made a couple of good plays in left. And Lind looked comfortable at first.
I have to admit, I don't understand why you would have McCoy play short and Mac 3rd. Mac is a terrific defensive defensive shortstop, not so terrific at 3rd. McCoy is a utility infielder, whatever position they put him in. But I'm not manager.
Brett Cecil really didn't pitch badly. He finished his game getting 13 outs in a row and very much did not want to be pulled from the game. But he was at 108 pitches and he might end up being shut down at the end of the season, so no reason to push it. But he was throwing free and easy. If we were in a pennant race I'd have left him in. He went 7, with 5 hits, 2 earned, 1 walks and 5 k. without the errors it would have been a different game. Shawn Camp pitched the 8th, to get the other unearned run recorded against him.
Offensively, we didn't do much. Couldn't expect too much from that line up. We only had 5 hits and no walks. Aaron Hill had a homer and a double. Johnny Mac had a triple. Fred Lewis, John Buck and DeWayne Wise had the 0 fors. Lewis has looked awful at the plate lately. We did have a chance to make a comeback. Down by 3 in the 8th, we got two guys on and Jose Bautista up. The season he's had, you figured he might do it. But not this time.
No Jay of the Day today. Had Hill and McDonald not made those errors I'd give them honorable mentions. Brett Cecil has Suckage numbers (-.233) but that's mostly due to the errors. Lewis gets the real Suckage award (-.097).
Tomorrow we have Ricky Romero (10-8, 3.54) starting for us. Jeff Niemann (10-4, 3.67) starts for the Rays. It would be a good game to watch. Unfortunately, yep, Sportsnet One.
I'm not sure I like this thwip from Jordan Bastian:
What happened on Hill error in 3rd? Cito: "I don't know. You have to ask him that." Couldn't, because Hill declined to speak with reporters.