Not a good start for Brett Cecil. He did have some good moments, but too many walks, 4, too many hits, 6, and too many runs 5. Like I said, there were good moments, he made some very good pitches. He is close but not quite there yet this year.
The bullpen did a pretty nice job. Casey Janssen gave us 1.2 scoreless innings, with help from Luis Perez, getting the last out of the 7th inning. Octavio Dotel pitched a very nice 8th, getting 3 quick outs. Frank Francisco gave up a home run on the first pitch he threw as a Jay. He got out of the rest of the inning with just a walk and 2 k.
Our offense did almost nothing against Bartolo Colon. He went 6.2 with 7 strikeouts, 5 hits, 2 walks and 2 earned. They tried to get something going against him in the 7th. Edwin doubled and JP walked. Then Snider hit a hard line single to right. We would have had the bases loaded, but Arencibia didn't notice that Butterfield held EE up (clearly the right move, we were down by 4 and there was no reason to chance getting a runner thrown out at home). So while we still had three runners on, but two of them were on third base. Jayson Nix single scored just EE, when it could have scored two. After that John McDonald struck out to end the inning.
We gave it another try in the 9th. We loaded the bases on an EE walk, Snider double and Nix walk to put the tying run at the plate. But Mac popped up and Yunel flied out to end the game. I'd have put Rivera in to pinch hit for Mac. A home run would have tied the game and as much as Mac has hit the occasional HR, Rivera would have had a better chance. We'd have had to scramble to field a defense if they did tie but they could have worked it out. Course if we had more than 2 guys on the bench it would be far easier to pinch hit. Have I mentioned how stupid it is to have a 9 man bullpen?
There were a couple of positives. JP hit his 3rd home run. Travis Snider went 2 for 4 with a double. Edwin went 1 for 3, with a double and a walk and his two outs were hard hit balls. Yunel was 2 for 5, and turned a nice DP.
No Jay of the Day again today. JP came closest at .079 WPA and did make a great throw to catch ARod stealing. Those with Suckage numbers are Cecil (-.234), McDonald (-.134 for an 0 for 4, 2 k) and Patterson (-.124 for a 0 for 4, with 2 k).
We have an off day before we start a series against the Rays Friday. Jo-Jo Reyes (please have a good game) goes against Jeremy Hellickson.