Jays Lose Fourth Straight

Blue Jays 2 Mariners 3

Quick recap, because it is late and losing is depressing.

The game really hinged on one play. In the 8th Corey Patterson, having just driven in our first 2 runs, stole second and took third on a Miguel Olivo throwing error. Jose Bautista popped one up, foul, behind first base. Mariners first baseman Justin Smoak made a perfect throw to cut down Patterson at the plate. It really was an amazing throw, since he had been running away from home plate and had to turn and throw. He threw a strong strike home. 

Clearly it was the right choice to try to score, watching it, I thought there was no way there would be a play at the plate. I think Corey should have slide into home, I don't know if he would have been safe but it would have made the tag harder. Hard to get on a guy that drove in both our runs and had 2 of our 5 hits. 

Ricky Romero pitched a strong game for us, complete game, 5 hits, 2 walks, 2 earned runs and 8 strikeouts. The only real mistake he made was on a 2 run homer to Ryan Langerhans. The Mariners other run scored because a Jayson Nix two base throwing error. I know a lot of folks seem to think Nix is a savior at third but, in his career he has make more frequent errors than EE. His fielding average at third is below .900, so more than an error every 10 games. But he does look to have some range at third. 

Mariner starter Michael Pineda did what Felix Hernandez couldn't do last night, pitch a great game. He kept us off the scoreboard until the 8th inning. 7.1 innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, 1 earned and 7 k. Chris Ray and Brandon League finished off the Jays, League getting his 2nd save and looking unhittable doing it. 

We managed a big 5 hits on the day, 2 each for Patterson and Encarnacion, 1 for Bautista. The rest took 0 fors. 

Patterson gets the Jay of the Day with a .227. Edwin was the only other Jay above 0 at .073, good to see him getting his hits. Suckage Jays? Almost everyone else. Bautista (-.198), Romero (-.157), Lind (-.147) and Hill (-.115) but I can't give Romero the dishonor after pitching a complete game, so just give it to the others. 

Bautista made a nice throw to the plate in the 8th, getting the last out for the team, cutting down Langerhans. Really good throw.

We play tomorrow afternoon trying to savage a win in Seattle. We are going to need more than just EE and Patterson hitting to get that win.