Blue Jays 3 Angels 4
Once again Hutchison didn't look terrible but still managed to give up a bunch of runs. I keep thinking he's going to get lucky, one of these starts, and shut down the other team but it doesn't seem to be happening. Today he gave up 4 runs in 5.1 innings. 8 hits, no walks, 6 strikeouts. And he gave up Albert Pujols' first homer of the season. This was his first loss but his ERA is 6.65. I don't know long you can go with a guy that is getting beat up each start. I think he has looked better than his numbers but pretty soon I'll have to give in and figure if he's getting lit up each start, we have to try someone else.
The bullpen did a good job, Darren Oliver, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen and Carlos Villanueva pitched 2.2 scoreless innings between them.
On offense, we should have scored more. 9 hits and 2 walks, should add up to more than 3 runs. J.P. Arencibia had 3 hits, Kelly Johnson 2. 0 fors go to Adam Lind (0 for 3 with a walk), Edwin Encarnacion (0 for 3 with a sac fly) and Brett Lawrie (0 for 3 with a walk).
There was a sad moment in the 8th. Lind led off with a walk (he deserves applause for that, we've been on his case so much). Rajai Davis pinch ran and on the first pitch he got a great jump for a steal off second but the Ernsesto Frieri pitch was so far inside, it glanced off Edwin's bat. So Rajai had to go back. Then Rajai was running again, when Edwin popped up, Rajai didn't pick up the ball and doubled off first. Erick Aybar was pretty animated with the decoy at second, but Davis should take a look to his third base coach.
In the 9th, Arencibia hit a hard liner up the middle. Scott Downs fell awkwardly, trying to field/get out of the way of the ball and limped off the field after. I hope he's ok. Farrell had Jeff Mathis pinch run for JP. I don't know that Mathis is faster than JP. I don't know if Farrell knows if he is fast. I do think Ben Francisco is faster and would have been a better choice to run. I also don't know why Farrell didn't pinch hit for Omar Vizquel, but he didn't and Vizquel hit one back to the pitcher. With Mathis running on contact, it was an easy double play.
Jay of the Day is J.P at .108 WPA. Suckage awards go to Hutchison (-.294), Edwin (-.203) and Jose Bautista (-.093, but I'm giving him extra credit, if that the right term, for watching strike three hit the outside corner with 2 out and runners on 1st and 2nd in the 7th, when we really needed a hit).
The Jays get a day off tomorrow and then we have 2 games in Oakland against the A's. I'll be missing for those, I'm driving to Minneapolis to watch the Jays' 4 game series there. I'm really looking forward to getting a good look at their new stadium.
We did split with the Angels, but with those two shutouts to start the series, we were hoping for better. Still we are 16-13, sitting 3rd in the AL East. It could be worse.