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For the second game in a row, we finish with a tag at the plate. My question? It is September 1st, how the hell don't we have someone on the bench to pinch run for Omar Vizquel. It's just dumb. The man, 15 years ago, was pretty fast. Now he isn't. We can have 40 guys on the roster (which would be overkill) but let's make sure we have someone to run for Omar. We can have 8 guys in the bullpen, but can't have someone to pinch run for an old man. Even without expanding the roster, I'd have had Yunel Escobar pinch run.
It was a good job of blocking the plate by Josie Molina.
On top of that, why don't we have a stop sign for base stealers with 2 out and our best hitter up. In the 5th inning, we are down 2, Rajai Davis and Colby Rasmus walk, 2 outs and Edwin Encarnacion up. Of course Davis tries to steal 3rd. Base runners are told, if the runner at second tries to steal, you go at first too. This time Colby shouldn't have and was thrown out. Davis shouldn't have been stealing, there should have been a big stop sing up for him, and Colby shouldn't have been running.
We had another chance to tie or go ahead in the 8th. Adeiny Heachavarria doubled, Rajai singled, Edwin walked. Lind singled one to drive home 2, making it a 1 run game. The Rays brought in their closer, Fernando Rodney. He walked Yorvit Torrealba to load the bases but then Rodney struck out Kelly Johnson and Moises Sierra.
Lind's single produced half our runs. The other half came from a massive 2 run homer from Encarnacion. At 488 feet, it was the second longest home in the MLB this season.
Henderson Alvarez wasn't good yet again. He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings. Actually he gave up 4 runs in the 3rd. He had a terrible August and September isn't starting any better.
Aaron Loup looked great in his 1.2 innings. Brad Lincoln gave up a 1 in his 1.1, which turned out to be a big run. Brad hasn't been wonderful for us, 4.70 ERA in 13 games, but Pat and Buck still told us that the reason the Pirates have fallen off is because they miss him. The Pirates were 11-17 in August, you really think a middle reliever could fix that? Brandon Lyon pitched a clean 9th.
Jays of the Day are Edwin (.166 WPA) and Lind (.177). Omar had the number too, .107, and if he could have run faster home I'd give him it but I'm grumpy he didn't score, so no JoD for him. Suckage: Sierra (-.304, 0 for 4, 3 k), Rasmus (-.281 even though he was 1 for 3 with 2 walks), Johnson (-.219, 0 for 3, 3 k, 1 walk) and Alvarez (-.158).
So tomorrow the Jays get to try again to get a series win over the Rays. Ricky Romero (8-12, 5.50) gets the start, hoping that his offense can get him some runs. He is on an 11 game losing streak. David Price (16-5, 2.53) goes for the Rays.