Jose Bautista Hits 2 Homers, Jays Still Lose

Blue Jays 6 Twins 7

Well, it was much closer than it should have been. Kyle Drabek was terrible, but fortunately he was terrible against a lousy team. He couldn't throw strikes at all. He was fortunate to get out of the first inning only giving up 2 runs. Then in the second he was helped out by Denard Span trying to steal. Why you would try to steal when the pitcher can't throw the ball anywhere close to the plate, I have no idea, but J.P. Arencibia threw him out and Kyle got out of the inning. He had a better 3rd, only allowing a single and a wild pitch. In the 4th he had his only 3 up 3 down inning. By then he was around 100 pitches. Farrell still sent him out for the 5th. He gave up a lead off double then got a strikeout and Farrell brought in Carlos Villanueva.

Carlos, though it hardly seems possible, was even worse than Drabek. He started things off with a walk, then gave up a double, costing Kyle an earned run. After that Farrell ordered an intentional walk of Ryan Doumit, he of the .245 batting average, to load the bases. I hate this decision. Carlos was having trouble finding the strike zone and we want to give him no room for error? I hate it. Anyway, it didn't work. Carlos walked in a run and then gave up a 2 run single to, former Jay prospect Darin Mastroianni. Darin's first career hit. He's get his second career hit and his 3rd RBI later in the game.

Joel Carreno pitching the 6th and 7th and was better, only giving up 1 run. Darren Oliver pitched a scoreless 8th.

Any time you give the other team 9 walks in a game, you should lose big.

But the offense made a game of it. Jose Bautista hit 2 home runs. He looked great in batting practice and he carried it into the game. Eric Thames and Edwin Encarnacion hit one each. We had the tying run at 3rd with 2 out in the 9th and Jose up but he popped out. We really didn't deserve to win.

Jays of the Day? By the numbers it is Thames (.243 WPA), Lawrie (.206, 3 for 4) and Edwin (.129). Jose didn't have the number (-.015) but that's mostly from the pop out to end the game, but I'm going to give him one anyway. Anytime you hit 2 homers, I think you deserve a JoD. Suckage goes to Carlos (-.333), Yunel (-.310) and Colby (-.240). Kyle's WPA was -.048 but I think he deserves the award too, though he didn't battle through his troubles, but he was lucky it was the Twins he was up against. I decent team would have knocked him out in the first inning.

Ben Francisco almost tied it for us in the th. Pinch hitting for Adam Lind (the right move against a lefty), Ben hit a fly to left that Josh Winningham made a nice, diving catch on. Likely a LFer with some range wouldn't have had to dive, but Winningham showed more range than I thought he had.

Darin Mastroianni was a favorite of mine, but not any more. I'm glad he is getting a chance with the Twins but, I don't want him to do well against the Jays.

The 2 hour rain delay allowed folks to get good and drunk by the time play started. I'm not sure who was more irritating, idiot drunk Jays fans or ignorant drunk Twins fans. It was a close battle.

It was darn cold at the game and it is late now, so I'm off to bed....tomorrow will be a better game. Good news is Bautista looked like the Bautista from the last couple of years.