No Winner, No Chicken Dinner. Rangers 2, Jays 1

Today's game was a hard fought game and you have to give both Roy Oswalt and Carlos Villanueva top marks for keeping this a tight pitchers duel, but the better lineup won out today. A big goof by Gose in the OF and some really lousy hitting with runners in scoring position killed any hope the Jays had of tying or winning this one.

On the Mound:

Carlos brought his A stuff against the Rangers today. He went 6 1/3 with 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB and 4Ks. With the exception of one bad pitch to Nelson Cruz that was blasted for a 2 run HR, he did what he was supposed to do. Part of that problem was the 1st run of the Hr was on base because Anthony Gose lost Beltre's flyball in the sun and fell in for a ground rule double leading off the 5th inning. Carlos had a look of disgust on his face after the ball fell in. Can't blame him though. His annoyance probably didn't help the next pitch which was smashed by the aforementioned Cruz.

At the Plate:

The Jays did have their chances today. Gose scored the first run of the ball game on a walk, stolen base, balked to 3rd and then came home on an Adeiny Hechavarria base hit to LF. After that, the Rangers pretty much shut down the Jays. The Jays loaded the bases in the 6th with 2 out and the 7th with one out and did not score. The most painful AB was Colby Rasmus fouling out with runners on 3rd and 2nd with none out in the 7th. After that the Rangers tough bullpen pretty much stopped it right there as the game ended with Nathan getting his 22nd save in a row.

The Jays had a total of seven hits. Hech being the hitting star with 2 including the lone RBI with the other hits were from Davis, Cooper, Mathis, Gose, and Escobar. I suspect things would have gone a bit better if Lawrie, Bautista and even Lind were in the lineup instead of the 51s. Might have just as well wished for healthy UCLs and shoulders for all the Jays pitchers, too.

From the Pen:

The Jays pen shut down the Rangers as well. Aaron Loup, Chad Jenkins and Darren Oliver shut down the Rangers for the most part. The trio only allowed one hit.

Yunel Escobar got ejected after he went to take the field in the 8th by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson. He was not happy with a Nelson strike call. John Farrell argued with Nelson afterwards but to no avail.

From Fangraphs WPA, the only Jay of the Day was Chad Jenkins (.112) for shutting down the Rangers in the 8th with a runner on (although he could have had a double play on a bad bunt if he didn't throw it away) while Colby Rasmus (-.243), David Cooper (-.169), Yunel Escobar (-.145) and Kelly Johnson (-.146) all got the Suckage Jay of the Day for their awful hitting with runners in scoring position.

Tomorrow it is Henderson Alvarez vs Matt Harrison at 1:07pm.