12:03 AM Eastern

There’s an old Yiddish proverb that can be loosely translated as “Man makes plans and G-d laughs” - sounds better in Yiddish, it even rhymes and everything.  That old saw reared its ugly head tonight as the Blue Jays were set to call up super-prospect Brett Lawrie to join them on the road in Baltimore.  The 21 year-old B.C. native had passed every test in Triple-A and was going to make his major league debut on Friday night.  Exciting times for a franchise that’s not only moving in the right direction, but that sits just two games out of a playoff spot as we begin the second third of the season.

Then Anthony Bass happened.  The Tucson Padres righty – making his first start in AAA after being called up from AA San Antonio – hit Lawrie on the top of the left hand with an 0-1 pitch, sending the young Jays phenom to the hospital where, as I write this, he’s anxiously awaiting the results of an x-ray.

There’s no other way to describe this but to say that it really, really, really sucks.  Lawrie had a terrific spring training and got off to an even better start at Vegas, but after a month the Blue Jays thought he was getting by too much on raw talent and great hand-eye co-ordination.  He walked just four times against 27 strikeouts, and that was a huge red flag, so they told Lawrie to work on his plate discipline, to only swing at strikes.

So he did.  Immediately.  And in the month of May, the strikeouts went down and the walks went up, and even though the batting average was lower, Lawrie hit twice as many home runs post-talking-to as he did before, because he was only swinging at quality strikes.  His defense at third base improved and he forced the big club’s hand.  He was all set to be a major leaguer, and then this.

Hand injuries can be brutal on hitters.  We saw a broken hand derail Lyle Overbay – it took him more than two years to come back fully from getting drilled by John Danks, and he really hasn’t been the same hitter since.  Long time Jays fans will remember that Derek Bell broke camp as the Blue Jays’ starting right fielder in 1992, but broke his hand in the second game of the season – I want to say it was in fouling a pitch off – and it would be two years until Bell was a productive big-league hitter.  Now a lot of that was circumstance, Bell came back after missing a month and wound up being a part-time player; and to his credit he did hit .298/.378/.433 primarily off the bench for the rest of that season, so it’s not always so dire.

Still, a bruise – even a bad one – would be an awfully good thing.  Lawrie made his feelings known publically over his Twitter account (@blawrie13), saying “At hospital…..please be bruised” and finishing it up with the hashtag “#praying”.  He knows he’s on the cusp of a call-up, and he knows just how far a hand injury could set him back.

The sheer absurdity of the situation is pretty overwhelming.  Word gets out that Lawrie will be called up in three days, despite the notorious tight-lippedness of the Blue Jays’ front office, and those plans get knocked for a loop on the second pitch Lawrie sees in his minor-league game that same night.

The news about Lawrie is, of course, far bigger than the fact that the Indians beat the Blue Jays in the 55th game of the season, ending the Jays’ win streak at four.  Brandon Morrow struck out nine over his first four innings of work, but hung a few too many sliders and the Indians knocked him around for six runs on nine hits over a five-inning stint.  Corey Patterson made a brutal play on what appeared to be a routine fly ball by Jack Hannahan and the Indians flashed some serious leather, with Hannahan making a pair of spectacular plays in the 3rd to rob Jayson Nix and Jose Bautista, and Matt LaPorta taking what might otherwise have been a two-run double away from Eric Thames in the 4th.

Also, Bautista had three hits on the night – all of them singles, and all to right field.  Shift this, as it were.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure – it started with my pre-game conversation with Alex Anthopoulos, back in happier times:

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The series wraps up with a battle of young righties – Kyle Drabek against Josh Tomlin.  The Blue Jays will try to take the series and finish up their homestand at 5-2, two games over .500, before heading out for a weeklong road trip through Baltimore and Kansas City.  It’s a road trip that will likely see a lot of Jayson Nix at third base, which hadn’t been the plan.  On the good news front, barring any setbacks, Adam Lind should rejoin the team for Saturday night’s game at the Orioles.  Join us for the finale, we’re on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern.

If you’re not already following me on Twitter @wilnerness590, tonight would be a good night to start.  I’ll tweet whatever news I get about the results of Brett Lawrie’s x-rays, assuming there’s news to be had tonight.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

11:29 PM Eastern

So Sunday I said that in the wake of Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion each homering for the first time this season and Jayson Nix snapping the Jays’ third basemen’s ugly 0-for-44 streak, the only thing that didn’t go right for the Blue Jays was that Jo-Jo Reyes wasn’t on the mound to be the beneficiary of the big offense.

Monday, they fixed that, and Reyes got his first win in nearly three calendar years (June 13, 2008 was the last one).  The win – Jo-Jo’s first career complete game – means that Reyes will not take sole possession of the major-league record for longest drought between wins (starting pitching division).  His 28 remains tied for the all-time mark.

The Blue Jays got him 11 runs – upping their total for the last three games to 33 – but he only needed a pair, and those first two came off the bat of former Indian Jayson Nix, who homered deep to left in the third, a couple of pitches after missing a two-run home run just foul down the left-field line.

After Shelley Duncan took Reyes out into the 500-level down the left-field line in the top of the fourth (only the second 500-level shot since 2004.  Hmmmmmm, what happened around 2004?), the Blue Jays exploded for their biggest inning of the season, putting up seven off Fausto Carmona in the bottom of the fourth.

The highlights in the inning were J.P. Arencibia’s two hits on two pitches seen and two-run doubles by Jose Bautista and Rajai Davis – one of three hits for Davis on the night.

The lowlight?  That would be Orlando Cabrera embarrassing himself at second base.  With the bases loaded, Corey Patterson hit a potential double-play grounder to him, but he booted it, went to pick it up and dropped it again.  In complete exasperation, Cabrera – who had his back turned to the plate because he had spun around to try to pick the ball up – put his elbows on his knees and bent down to signify his incredible frustration with himself……while Rajai Davis rounded third and scored.

Just a terrible, embarrassing play by someone who should know better.  We get it, you screwed up and you’re upset with yourself.  There’s still a game going on, kick something in the dugout between innings.

I’ve never been a big fan of those kinds of displays of emotion in a game; they’re not productive and generally all they amount to is a big show to the people watching to make sure they know you’re upset.  Not that it mattered in this game, but Indians fans would generally have the run back, I’m sure.

But this night was all about Reyes – from Brandon Morrow soliciting his Twitter followers for donations of goats to sacrifice before the game to the entire crowd on its feet chanting “Jo-Jo! Jo-Jo!” for the entirety of the ninth inning, this was a magical night for the 26 year-old.  Reyes’ first complete-game was also the Blue Jays’ first nine-inning complete game of the season (Ricky Romero went eight in a loss), and he dominated the American League’s best team from start to finish.  And I would have cut him after the loss to Texas at the end of April (well after most fans would have done so).

And then, we had Timothy Busfield on The JaysTalk!  Here it is, for your listening pleasure:

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The Tribe is sticking around for another two games, and the next one will see Brandon Morrow on the mound trying to stretch the Blue Jays’ win streak to five.  Mitch Talbot responds for the visitors, and we’ll have it for you starting at 7:00 PM Eastern – join us, won’t you?

Please follow me on Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590 – I put up three swell pictures today for you!

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

4:25 PM Eastern

It started well and just kept getting better as the Blue Jays climbed back over the .500 mark with a laugher of a win against the White Sox and in so doing, shook a bunch of monkeys off their collective back.

Really, the only thing that was missing was Jo-Jo Reyes on the mound as the beneficiary of a baker’s dozen worth of runs, but we did get to see every Blue Jays starter get at least one hit and score at least one run.

What did happen?  Well, Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion finally got off the schneid, each hitting his first home run of the season, and they happened to come back-to-back in the first inning.  As if that wasn’t good enough, Hill’s homer was his first career Grand Slam, giving the Blue Jays a 5-1 lead at the time.  Edwin’s first followed – a shot into the 200 level in left field - and the good vibrations kept on happening in the first inning, as Jayson Nix blooped one in front of a late-breaking Alex Rios in centre for a single.  That was the first hit from a Blue Jays’ third baseman in two weeks, snapping a combined 0-for-44 run.  Nix himself hadn’t gotten a hit since coming off the disabled list on May 16th, so the hit took him out of a personal 0-for-22 since his return. 

Want some more?  Well, Corey Patterson followed up Saturday’s five-hit effort with four more safeties including another home run.  Patterson is on fire right now, having gotten his batting average up over .300 with nine hits in the last two games.  Over the last week (7 games), Patterson is hitting .424/.455/.688 with two doubles, two homers, eight runs scored and five RBIs.

I have to say, it was nice to see a return of the pre-game interview karma.  There was a point last season in which five or six straight players either homered or picked up a win (for pitchers) in the game that followed a pre-game appearance with me.  Among them were Lyle Overbay, Adam Lind and John Buck, at least.  Aaron Hill moves into that conversation now, and I’m sure he’ll thank me before the next game.  That interview, by the way, is available on this very website in the audio on demand section.

There was a little bit of controversy in the 4th inning, when Jose Bautista popped up to short and slammed his bat to the round in disgust.  White Sox starter (and eventual loser, dropping to 0-8) John Danks said something to Bautista on Jose’s way back to the Jays’ dugout, and Bautista seemingly replied with “Throw the ball! Throw the ball!” as if telling Danks to worry about his own job and nothing else.  After the game, Danks told reporters that he told Bautista to just run the bases, and to quit acting like a (censored) clown.  Danks elaborated, saying that he feels Bautista carries himself like he’s Babe Ruth, and that he isn’t good enough to be acting as though he should be hitting every ball out of the ballpark.  It’s a shame these two teams don’t get together again until the final series of the season.

It’s also a shame we hadn’t heard what Danks had to say in time for today’s edition of The JaysTalk – the show might have had a different tenor altogether.  Here it is for your listening pleasure:

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With the White Sox winging their way east, the league-leading Cleveland Indians come to town.  The Tribe isn’t enjoying its current run through the A.L. East, having dropped two of three against each of the Red Sox and Rays prior to their arrival in Toronto.  Jo-Jo Reyes, the one man wishing the Blue Jays would stop scoring all those runs and save some for him, will try to avoid a date with destiny in the series opener.  Reyes comes into the Monday nighter having not picked up a win in 28 consecutive starts – he’s tied with two others for the all-time drought record.   Fausto Carmona, a big-armed righty on whom the Blue Jays have had their collective eye for a while now, replies for the visitors.  We’ll be on at 7:00 pm Eastern – join us, won’t you?

While you’re on line, head on over to Twitter and give me a follow @wilnerness590 – I promise you won’t regret it.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

6:36 PM Eastern 

So I was going to write this whole big thing about Juan Rivera’s massively clutch at-bat in the bottom of the 7th, a three-run two-out double off the left field wall on the 10th pitch of the at-bat that had Rogers Centre exploding with more noise than we’d heard in here since Opening Day.

It was a great battle at a key point with a terrific result, and it gave the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead with six outs to go.  All the Jays had to do was hold on to it and the story was set.  But given the events of the recent past, I knew not to pre-write too much.

Because then the bullpen happened. 

Actually, in the 8th inning, Jose Molina happened.  With a runner on third and two out, Molina just plain couldn’t handle an Octavio Dotel offering.  It wasn’t the first pitch he’d dropped today, and it seems to be getting a lot worse.  This passed ball cost the Jays a run, as Brent Lillibridge was able to score and cut the White Sox’ deficit to one.

Molina does a lot of good things, with his handling of the young pitchers and his ability to throw out basestealers- and he’s done a nice job of contributing offensively this season – but a catcher has no greater responsibility than actually catching the ball when it’s pitched.  I’m not talking about pitches in the dirt, or near the dirt, or cross-ups – I’m talking about just plain drops.  I would say there were at least four today (in the first nine innings), which is four too many.

In the ninth, Frank Francisco was called upon to try to close it out, and he failed – but in a very strong outing.  This was the best he’s pitched in a long time, and if he’s able to repeat this outing, he’ll wind up being just fine.  Francisco gave up one hard-hit ball – a line drive to centre by Juan Pierre that was caught by Rajai Davis.  He then gave up two doubles sandwiched around a strikeout of Adam Dunn.  The first, by Alexei Ramirez, was a ground ball that just snuck inside the first-base bag on its way to right field.  The second, by Paul Konerko, was a nothing pop-up to shallow right that blooped in just out of the reach of a sliding Jose Bautista.  Francisco deserved better, and was definitely unlucky today.

After the Konerko double, Jason Frasor came on out of the bullpen and got A.J. Pierzynski to ground out to end the threat.  Frasor threw a perfect 10th and came back out for the 11th but gave up a leadoff double to Brent Morel, who was bunted to third.  After Frasor walked Ramirez to put runners on the corners with one out, the call went to rookie Luis Perez – the 6th and last man out of the Jays’ bullpen, and a kid with all of 7 2/3 big-league innings under his belt.

Perez popped up Adam Dunn, who fell to 0-for-35 against lefties this season (he’s now 0-for-36 thanks to a groundout in the 14th) then got pinch-hitter Carlos Quentin to fly to right.  Perez would work three more innings, allowing a total of two singles and nothing more.  The Blue Jays, meanwhile, never threatened during extras until Corey Patterson decided enough was enough and took Gavin Floyd off the back wall of the White Sox’ bullpen in right field for his fifth hit of the game – a walk-off home run leading off the bottom of the 14th.

Perez wound up with his first major-league win in a game in which we also saw 44 year-old Omar Vizquel’s first-ever appearance at first base!  Vizquel was forced over there by the pinch-hit machinations in the 9th, and handled two ground balls relatively flawlessly.  He never had to take a throw from an infielder.

In the first inning, Jose Bautista hit a three-run bomb – his 20th home run of the season.  It snapped an insane four-game homer drought and got him to 20 faster than any Blue Jay ever has.  This was the Jays’ 52nd game of the season and Bautista’s 44th.  The previous mark was set in 1987, when George Bell hit his 20th in his 53rd (the Jays’ 54th) game of the year.  Bautista would later single, double and walk twice, and he was on deck a triple shy of the cycle when Patterson ended it.

On a down note, Jayson Nix and Mike McCoy combined to go 0-for-5, meaning Blue Jays’ third basemen are now hitless in their last 44 at-bats.  When the sun comes up on Sunday it will have been two full weeks since the Jays have gotten a hit from their third baseman, whomsoever he has happened to be.

Here’s this evening’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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Tomorrow, the Blue Jays look for a third straight win to get back over .500 and they’ll send their ace to the mound.  Ricky Romero has had three fantastic starts in a row, allowing just two runs on 14 hits over 22 2/3 innings, walking eight while striking out 18.  He’s looking to get over the .500 mark himself - for the first time since he was 1-0 - and he faces hard-luck Chicago lefty John Danks, who is 0-7.  The White Sox have scored two runs or fewer in six of his seven losses, and Romero is going to try to make it seven of eight.  We’ll be on the air at 12:30 PM Eastern with the pre-game show for a 1:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

As long as you’re online anyway, why not follow me on Twitter?  It’s all kinds of fun. Find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

11:39 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays scored early and got strong starting pitching that took them deep into the game, great work out of the bullpen and timely hitting late and as a result snapped their three-game losing streak in a game in which they never trailed.

Juan Rivera’s double to left in the 1st cashed Yunel Escobar, who had led off the game with a single and moved up on Jose Bautista’s beautiful piece of throwing-bat-at-outside-pitch-while-protecting single to right on an 0-2 pitch.  The Jays left the runners at second and third – they left nine on the night and lost another couple on the bases – but the early score was a welcome sight.  They had only scored in the first inning once in their previous 10 games.

The game was tied in the 7th when Jayson Nix hit a double-play grounder to third, but he hustled down the line and beat the relay.  That turned out to be huge as Escobar followed with a double to right-centre; Nix was able to score when Alex Rios and Carlos Quentin sort of mashed into each other and then Quentin came up throwing to second.  Nix went 0-for-3 with a walk, meaning that Blue Jays’ third basemen are now 0-for-38 since John McDonald’s two-run single back on May 15th in Minnesota, but beating out that double-play ball played a huge part in this win.

So did Kyle Drabek, who walked five over 6 2/3 innings of work – including Adam Dunn three times - but allowed only three hits.  Drabek threw 121 pitches and gave up two runs, a quality start, but no win since the game was tied when he left.  Drabek did this against the Tigers a couple of starts ago as well – seven innings, six walks, but only three hits.  Even when he struggles with his control, he’s not especially wild – and he doesn’t give up many hits.  It’s not exactly a formula for long-term success, but as a rookie in his second real month in the majors, he’s looking good.

Remember, too, that for his minor-league career Drabek averaged only 3.4 walks per nine innings, so you know eventually it’s going to click and those walk numbers will come down.  When they do, he has a chance to be awfully scary.

The bullpen did its job, with Casey Janssen coming on to pop up Carlos Quentin to end the 7th after Drabek’s wild pitch had allowed Alexei Ramirez to reach on Drabek’s fourth strikeout.  Janssen got two quick outs in the 8th, then Rios hit a shot right through Aaron Hill, which was followed by a walk to Dunn on a 3-2 pitch that missed by about an eighth of an inch.  On came Shawn Camp to retire Omar Vizquel on a grounder.

Tonight’s choice on the Closer Carousel (TM) was Jon Rauch, and he pitched a shutout 9th, allowing only Juan Pierre to reach - Pierre did so on a weak grounder to the mound that kicked off Rauch for an infield single.  Sure there was a wild pitch and a passed ball, but no other baserunners and Rauch notched his 6th save in 8 tries (7 as closer).

The adventures on the basepaths continued, with Rajai Davis getting hung out to dry in the 4th on what appeared to be a missed suicide squeeze by Escobar.  Davis also got picked off by Mark Buehrle – and he’s in good company there, no doubt.  In the 8th, Davis bluffed for third with Jose Molina on first, and the only one who bought it was Molina, who came trucking hard towards second, forcing Davis to third.  The throw went to second, late, and Davis was barely able to beat the relay to third.  Fun times.  But for all the shenaniganing, Davis has 14 steals in 21 attempts, which is close to fine, and I have a feeling that we’re going to see his numbers in that area get better and better.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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After the game, the Jays put John McDonald on the 15-day disabled list with a right hamstring strain.  Mike McCoy (who else?) was called up to take his place.  They’ll also be keeping an eye on Edwin Encarnacion, who has fouled a ball off his big toe twice in the last few days.  They were talking about maybe having to drill into the nail to relieve the pressure in there.  Gross.

Saturday afternoon, the series continues with the White Sox, and we get a chance to see if Carlos Villanueva can keep bringing the magic.  He was brilliant in his emergency start at Yankee Stadium on Monday, and for the season has allowed just 12 hits in 29 1/3 innings for a .129 opponents’ batting average.  He has walked 11, it’s true, but the WHIP is still well under 1.  Edwin Jackson, he of the 149-pitch no-hitter for the Diamondbacks last season, replies for the South Siders.  We’ll be on the air at 12:30 pm Eastern for a 1:07 first pitch – join us, won’t you?

And while you’re at it, please follow me on Twitter, I can be found @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

2:09 AM Eastern

You know, I thought it was bad when the Blue Jays were losing seven out of nine to drop to 15-20, but they climbed out of it with a six-game win streak and were looking pretty good until the Houston Astros came to town.

Now, with tonight’s series-opening (!) loss to the White Sox, the Jays have dropped five of seven to fall two games under the .500 mark and into sole possession of last place in the A.L. East (though they’re only four games out of first).

Tonight’s loss stung, not because an error by the third baseman opened the floodgates to the game-winning 9th-inning rally by the Sox, but because it was a wholly unexpected error, since that third baseman was John McDonald.

It was the first error of the season for Johnny Mac, who gave Alex Rios too much credit for his speed and rushed a throw on a routine grounder, missing Juan Rivera by a couple of feet over his head.  The ball bounced into the stands and Rios wound up at second.  Despite the error, Marc Rzepczynski almost worked his way out of the inning.  He struck out the next two batters before hitting Gordon Beckham.  Juan Pierre followed with a grounder to first and he beat Zep to the bag.  Rivera’s rushed throw caromed off a sliding Rzepczynski allowing a second runner to score.

Sergio Santos, the former Jays’ minor-league shortstop, pitched a hitless ninth around a walk to Aaron Hill to record his eighth save of the season.

You could argue that none of Edwin Encarnacion’s 11 errors this season have cost the Jays a game.  The irony in the fact that McDonald’s only error of the year did is simply cruel.

By the way, it should be noted that Blue Jays’ third basemen have NO hits in their last 35 at-bats.  Just so you know.

Anyway, the frustration I’m feeling from the fans doesn’t seem to be about the McDonald error, or even necessarily about the fact that the Blue Jays only managed one run tonight (a mammoth home run by Yunel Escobar leading off the 6th), wasting a very strong performance by Brandon Morrow – with J.P. Arencibia behind the plate yet!  It seems to me to be coming from the fact that the Blue Jays appear to be better than most people believed they would be this season, and yet they’re not trying to tweak what they have so as to repair the glaring deficiencies.  And maybe it’s not that the Jays seem to be so much better as it is that the A.L. East seems to be so much worse.  As I mentioned above, the Jays are only four games back despite being under .500 and in last place.

The thing is, though, the goal of this team is to be a long-term contender, a long-term competitor for a championship.  Alex Anthopoulos and his crew can’t allow themselves to be distracted by the fact that the division appears to be up for grabs less than a third of the way through the season.  Anthopoulos was very clear this spring that the Blue Jays made a whole whack of developmental decisions before Spring Training so as not to allow emotion to creep in and cloud their judgement.

If that hadn’t happened, Brett Lawrie might have broken camp with the team.

The Jays did, however, allow the timetables they’d set to be moved up by performance.  Hence Eric Thames’ presence in the big leagues at the moment, Henderson Alvarez and Anthony Gose’s presence at AA New Hampshire, and Lawrie’s likely big-league debut coming within a month as opposed to in September, which had been the likely scenario coming into the season.

I feel your frustration, and I’d like to see Lawrie as much as most of you seem to.  But I trust in Anthopoulos, Tony LaCava and their scouts and development people.  The things they’re looking for can’t be seen in minor-league boxscores.

It’s folly to ask a fanbase that has waited 18 years for even a sniff of the post-season to be patient, but the truth is, you have to be patient.  Heath Bell isn’t the answer to any question the Blue Jays have, neither is Jose Reyes.  They’re not going to give up anything of value for guys like that.  And until Lawrie and Zach Stewart are ready, Travis Snider and Brett Cecil are back and  Adam Lind is healthy, you’re going to continue to see guys like Juan Rivera, Jo-Jo Reyes, Edwin Encarnacion and Jayson Nix getting regular playing time.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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Plenty of news before the game today:

-Jesse Carlson had season-ending surgery to repair a tear in the rotator cuff of his left shoulder.

-Litsch is going to see Dr. Steve Mirabello to get a look at his ailing right shoulder on Friday.

-Dustin McGowan is progressing well, and will be sent out on a 30-day rehab assignment at the conclusion of extended Spring Training (end of next week).  Once those 30 days are up, if there are no setbacks, McGowan will have to be activated off the DL, onto the major-league roster, or the Jays would risk losing him on waivers.  Right now, McGowan is throwing one inning, then getting three days’ rest.  That schedule is going to have to be ramped up.

-Adam Lind will DH in an extended spring game on Saturday.  No word on how much time he’ll need before coming back to the bigs, but you’d hope it wouldn’t be more than three or four games.

-Oh, and there’s no closer anymore.  John Farrell wants to use Jason Frasor and/or Casey Janssen in high-leverage situations prior to the 9th inning (as he did tonight, successfully, with Frasor in the 8th).  The 9th inning (in save situations) will go to one of Jon Rauch, Frank Francisco or Octavio Dotel, the choice to be made based on match-ups, availability and the hot hand, and the relievers will be made aware of Farrell’s planned usage on a game by game basis.

Tomorrow, the series continues with Kyle Drabek facing Mark Buehrle.  Get there early, Buehrle’s starts tend not to last too terribly long – which means we should have all kinds of time for a super-extendo JaysTalk!  We’re on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch.

Please give me a follow on Twitter @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

4:25 PM Eastern

It’s been a rare thing this season when a Blue Jays game has been over pretty much right from the get-go, but this was one of those losses.

Yunel Escobar tripled to left-centre on the first pitch of the game, but the Jays left him there, and the Yankees opened the bottom of the first with back-to-back doubles, then Aaron Hill dropped a pop-up.  It was going to be that kind of day.

The first-inning damage was minimized because of a great catch by Jose Bautista that turned into a 9-3-6 double play because Granderson thought the ball would drop, but the inevitable was merely delayed.  Andruw Jones took Jo-Jo Reyes deep with a walk aboard in the second, and Mark Teixeira took Reyes out of the yard with another Granderson double on in the 3rd, giving the Yanks a 5-0 lead that would be more than enough.

Reyes, who was coming off the best start of his career and had looked strong in his last four starts, didn’t bring much to the table today and got yanked after three.  This was supposed to be the day that he avoided a date with history, instead, Reyes couldn’t even make it through the requisite five innings required to qualify for a win.

Regardless of the fact that Reyes wound up getting the loss, it wasn’t possible for him to get the win, so he has tied the major-league record by going 28 consecutive starts without recording one.  His last W remains June 13th, 2008, as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

I have no doubt that he’ll get at least one more shot – his next start is set for Monday night against the Indians.  Reyes wasn’t good at all today but again, it was the first time in five starts that he hasn’t pitched well enough to give the Jays a good shot at a win.

Luis Perez followed and threw four very good innings, the only blemish a two-run homer by Jones in the 6th.

Offensively, the Blue Jays didn’t get much done after stranding that triple – they only managed three hits through the first five innings before breaking onto the scoreboard in the 6th when Juan Rivera’s two-out single cashed a Corey Patterson double.  They threatened again in the 7th, opening the frame with three straight hits.  But after Jayson Nix’s groundout scored the inning’s second run, Rajai Davis got caught leaning too far off third on a subsequent groundball by Yunel Escobar.  Davis couldn’t extract himself from the pickle, and the Jays lost a very good chance to make it even closer.  They weren’t heard from again.

With the Yankees having Thursday off before heading out on a western road trip, Mariano Rivera was brought in to work the 9th.  It wasn’t a save situation, but Joe Girardi wanted to let the hometown fans salute Rivera on his 1,000th career appearance.  In so doing, Rivera became the first pitcher in history to make a thousand appearances for the same team.  He gave up a leadoff single to Eric Thames (nice notch in the rookie’s belt, for sure), before retiring Rajai Davis and pinch-hitters Edwin Encarnacion and J.P. Arencibia.

The Blue Jays fall to one game below .500 with the loss, but are still only 3 1/2 games out of first place in the A.L. East, though the manner in which this series was lost has lit a fire under many a live bloggist, for sure.  More than a few fans are expecting some major roster changes to happen before the weeklong homestand opens up Thursday night, but I don’t think they’re forthcoming.

The Jays will bring Brett Lawrie up when he’s ready, and not before, regardless of how Jayson Nix and Edwin Encarnacion are performing.  Nix, by the way, was 0-for-3 today and remains hitless since coming off the disabled list last week.

Right now, with a patchwork crew and having had a tough schedule that has seen them play five more road games than home, it’s pretty amazing that the Jays have done as well as they have to this point.  The fact that they’ve played so many close games only serves to makes things more frustrating for fans, rather than more exciting, but it’s easy to see how a few of those losses could have been turned into wins.

No JaysTalk today, owing to the fact that it was a weekday day game, but we’ll be back in full force after Thursday night’s series opener with the White Sox.  Brandon Morrow, coming off a workmanlike start against the Astros, will make the start against righty Phillip Humber, once a top prospect for the Mets, who gave him up as part of the deal to get Johan Santana.  We’re on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern for a 7:07 first pitch.  It’s the only visit of the season for Ozzie Guillen, Adam Dunn and the rest of the Chisox crew.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @wilnerness590, and check out our in-stadium engineer, as well – you can find him @tomyoung590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

10:55 PM Eastern

What seemed like a terrific night for the Blue Jays went to the double hockey-sticks in a handbasket in a hurry, with the Yankees coming back to win in walk-off fashion, despite being down by three with two out in the 8th.

Ricky Romero had his third straight magnificent start, holding the Bronx Bombers to just one run – a Russell Martin solo shot – over seven fine innings of work.  Romero had thrown only 100 pitches, but left after seven with a 4-1 lead.  Romero hardly breezed through the seven innings, though, allowing seven hits, walking three, and throwing only 54% of his pitches for strikes.  He had some high-stress at-bats late as well, the highest being the last – Romero got Derek Jeter to ground into double play with two on to end the 7th on a 3-2 pitch.

Casey Janssen, the de facto second lefty in the bullpen, took over for the 8th and gave up a leadoff double to Curtis Granderson but then got two quick outs.  With Robinson Cano coming up, John Farrell went lefty-lefty, but Marc Rzepczynski couldn’t get the job done for one of a very few times so far this season.  Cano took Zep into the gap in right-centre for an RBI double and Martin followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it a one-run game.

All the while, the Jays weren’t helping out offensively; CC Sabathia retired the final 16 men he faced in going the route, with the Jays not getting a sniff after their bat-around three-run 4th inning.

I had thought that Farrell might stick with Zep to start the bottom of the 9th, what with the left-handed Brett Gardner leading off and Frank Francisco’s utter inability to hold baserunners, but Farrell started the final frame with his closer, and Francisco retired Gardner on a ground ball.

Jorge Posada was called in off the bench and smacked Francisco’s first-pitch get-ahead fastball to right-centre. It kicked off the glove of a sliding Jose Bautista, allowing Posada to get to second.  Derek Jeter followed, and completed his second straight 0-for-5 night with a groundout to short that moved pinch-runner Chris Dickerson to third with the tying run.  Next up was Granderson, and his ground ball to the right side snuck under the glove of a diving Juan Rivera to drive in the tying run.

Granderson stole second easily, and scored the winning run when Rivera couldn’t handle a hard-hit grounder by Mark Teixeira.

A JaysTalk caller suggested that Teixeira should have been intentionally walked after the stolen base, since Francisco was behind in the count already and the righty-righty match-up with Alex Rodriguez was following.  There’s certainly merit to the idea, but I don’t mind letting Francisco pitch to Teixeira there.  He’d struck him out in three of their previous four meetings (tiny sample size, for sure) and is very effective against left-handed hitters when he’s right.

Of course, it’s pretty clear that Francisco isn’t right – though I’d rather see him get ground balls out of 80% of the hitters he faces, as he did tonight, than give up the longball as he has on a few previous occasions.  For the season, he’s blown two of seven save opportunities, and has allowed 20 baserunners in 13 innings, despite striking out 15.

It seems apparent that the Blue Jays don’t have a true closer at the moment, which makes me think it’s time to have the bullpen going in the 9th with some back-up regardless of who is in.  Farrell did it that way in Saturday’s win against the Astros, when Francisco wasn’t available, and it paid off.  I do think Francisco will come around, but until he does, there should be some bullets in the chamber behind him.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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Tomorrow, it’s the series and roadtrip finale, the day game after the night game with Jo-Jo Reyes try-trying again for a big-league win.  It’s been an elusive entity, he hasn’t gotten one since June 13, 2008 – a total of 27 starts.  If he can’t get one tomorrow, he’ll tie Matt Keough’s modern-era record of 28 straight starts without a win.  The good news?  He’s kind of due.  The better news?  He’s coming off his 4th straight strong outing, this one the best of his big-league career – seven shutout innings.  Also, he’s due.  Freddy Garcia answers for the Yankees, who are now in sole possession of first place in the A.L. East; we’re on the air at 1:00 pm Eastern for a first pitch somewhere around 1:08. Join us, won’t you?

Please give me a follow on Twitter, you can find me @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

11:20 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays were hopeful that Carlos Villanueva would be able to carry his early-season success as a reliever into his start in The Bronx tonight, and also that he’d be able to give them more than three or four innings.

After all, this was a guy who hadn’t started a game since the last weekend of the 2009 season, and who had thrown more than 25 pitches in a game just twice since the middle of April.  He had made 27 starts earlier in his career and was unspectacular, going 6-12 with a 4.81 ERA, 1.45 WHIP and opponents’ OPS of .844.

But the move paid off, with Villanueva doing everything they hoped for and more, throwing five innings of two-hitter, allowing just one run.  He struck out five against a walk and was pretty much in complete control throughout his outing, handing things over to the bullpen after the Jays exploded for five runs in a bat-around top of the 6th against Bartolo Colon.

You have to think that Villanueva earned himself at least one more start, which would come on Saturday, home to the White Sox.

It was touch-and-go for a while, with the Blue Jays getting a solo shot from Jose Bautista in the 1st inning and nothing else through five, and the Yankees tying it up in the 4th on a sac fly by Robinson Cano.  But the Jays finally got to Colon in a big way in the 6th.

Corey Patterson led off that frame with a double over the head of right-fielder Chris Dickerson, which led to an intentional walk to Bautista.  That’s something we’re really going to have to get used to – the intentional passes are going to start coming earlier and earlier until the Jays start making teams pay on a consistent basis.  Tonight, they did – though not directly.  Yunel Escobar, tonight’s surprise clean-up man, dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third, then Joe Girardi made the interesting decision to intentionally walk Juan Rivera, loading the bases for Aaron Hill.

Yesterday, Hill grounded out to third with the bases loaded to end a 3-2 loss to the Astros.  Tonight, Hill hit a hard ground ball to the left side, but this time it got through into left field for an RBI single to give the Jays the lead.  Eric Thames was next, and Colon couldn’t throw a strike, walking him on four pitches to cash in another run. He threw a strike on the next pitch, though, and J.P. Arencibia crushed it.  The double into the right-centrefield gap cleared the bases and made the score 6-1 Blue Jays.

The Yankees only threats from then on came with two runners on for Russ Martin and Jorge Posada in both the 6th and 8th – they combined to go 0-for-4.  It’s hard to believe that with Andruw Jones on the bench, Yankee manager Joe Girardi let Posada hit against a lefty in the 8th.  Posada hasn’t gotten a hit against a left-hander all season, and a hit in the 8th would have been kind of huge, given that there were two on and two out and the Yanks were down by four.

But of course, you don’t want to make Jorge Posada angry.  You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

In all, a lovely evening made even lovelier by the fact that Derek Jeter went 0-for-5.  Oh, and with that first-inning homer, Bautista has 19 for the season.  Bautista missed eight games earlier this season with a stiff neck, and if he doesn’t miss any more, he’s on pace to finish up with 75.

Here’s tonight’s edition of The JaysTalk – including home appliance repair advice! – for your listening pleasure:

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Tomorrow night, it’s the resurgent Ricky Romero taking on CC Sabathia in a battle of lefties at The Stadium.  Romero is coming off a pair of spectacular starts, having allowed just a run on seven hits over 15 2/3 innings since getting beat up by the Tigers.  I’m going to take a guess that Edwin Encarnacion won’t be at third tomorrow night – he made another error tonight, though it wasn’t especially bad, and also went 0-for-3, striking out three times.  John McDonald came in for defense after the Jays’ big sixth inning.  I do think Edwin will be in the line-up against the lefty, though (assuming he’s still here – Travis Snider did get lifted after the 7th inning of tonight’s Las Vegas win in Iowa)

We’re on the air at 7:00 PM Eastern for an anticipated 7:10 first pitch, though you never do know with the Yankees.  Join us, won’t you?

Also, keep your eye on the interwebs tomorrow for the next edition of The Blue Jays This Week Podcast.  Ben Ennis and I will be getting it done tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll be tweeting its arrival.  You can follow me on Twitter @wilnerness590, Ben can be found @bennis590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!

5:32 PM Eastern

The Blue Jays rallied furiously with two out and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, getting the game to – then past – Jose Bautista, but they came up a run short and wound up losing the series to the Houston Astros, who came to town with the worst record in the bigs but left with the Minnesota Twins holding that distinction.

The Jays didn’t lose any ground in the AL East, they’re the same 2 1/2 games out as they were when the ‘Stros got here on Friday, but they certainly lost a chance to gain by blowing a 2-0 lead in the 8th inning of the opener and falling a run short today.  This was a series that was there for the sweeping, and the Jays simply didn’t get the job done.

Solo home runs from Juan Rivera and J.P. Arencibia wound up being all the offense, and the Blue Jays really only threatened once before the ninth; they had runners on second and third with one out in the 2nd inning, but Jayson Nix struck out and after an intentional walk to Yunel Escobar, Corey Patterson popped out foul to the catcher.

Nix has had a lot of trouble readjusting to the big leagues since his return from the disabled list.  He’s hitless -the 0-for-3 today making him 0-for-14 since being activated.  He hasn’t even reached base.  His defense has been solid, at least, and that’s something given what they’d been dealing with when sending Edwin Encarnacion out there.

Edwin was back in the line-up today, going 1-for-4 and being absolutely robbed of a double in the 6th inning by Chris Johnson’s spectacular leaping grab at third.  He went way up to bring down a sizzling line drive that was headed for the left-field corner.  Hopefully, Encarnacion hits his stride at some point soon – and maybe the DH spot agrees with him – because there’s so much potential in that bat, almost all of it unfulfilled.

That furious 9th inning rally started with two out and nobody on, when Escobar legged out a slow roller to short for an infield single.  Mike McCoy came on to pinch-run (we miss you already), and Patterson snapped out of an 0-for-11 with a double ripped to right, under the glove of a diving Brett Wallace.  McCoy had absolutely no chance to score, so the two-bagger left runners on second and third for Bautista – which means the two-bagger left the bases loaded for Aaron Hill.  Astros manager Brad Mills is no dummy, and there’s no one who wouldn’t have issued the free pass to the best hitter in baseball in that situation.  Hill took a breaking ball for a first pitch strike, then grounded to third to end the game.

Hill has one hit in his last nine at-bats after going 8-for-19, but it’s a lot to ask to have him stay that hot.  He’ll likely be the clean-up man for at least the next week though, and in order for Bautista to have the impact he can, Hill is going to have to get back in a groove.

Kyle Drabek had a quality start, but didn’t dominate to the extent he did in Detroit, allowing eight hits over six innings, including a big two-out line drive RBI single right back through the box by Brett Wallace.  Only three walks today, though – and he wasn’t even helped out by the crazy strike zone of home plate umpire Dan Bellino, who called both Bautista and Rivera out on pitches that were literally in the left-handed batters’ box.

Here’s this afternoon’s edition of The JaysTalk, for your listening pleasure:

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We talked a lot about whether or not the Blue Jays should shift focus since they find themselves in the thick of a race in which hardly anyone expected them to be.  I’m in the camp that they shouldn’t, that the long view is the right one to take, that short-sightedness tends to lead to long-term pain.  But if there’s an opening at DH and/or left field later in the season (meaning that two of Edwin, Rivera, Snider, Patterson and Thames aren’t here and hitting) and if Hill doesn’t pick it up AND the Jays are still in the race two months from now, I have no problem with dealing a couple of C prospects for some big-league help.  Just don’t get too excited about being in a race if you’re not really in it.

Speaking of the race, the Blue Jays visit the (tied for) first-place Yankees for three games starting tomorrow night, with Carlos Villanueva coming out of the bullpen for the injured Jesse Litsch, facing the resurgent (and rebuilt) Bartolo Colon.  Before today’s game, Farrell said he hoped for a quality start from Villanueva (though he didn’t necessarily mean six innings), but wouldn’t talk about a potential pitch count.  I would think they’d have a hard time having him throw more than 70, though Villanueva told me that he still felt strong after throwing 70 pitches in his 4 2/3 inning relief stint a couple of weeks ago against the Tigers.  If we have time – and there may be a LOT of time with rain in the offing in The Bronx – we’ll try to get that interview on for you before the game tomorrow.  We’re on at 7:00 pm Eastern for what the Yankees claim will be a 7:05 first pitch, but we all know it’s not going to fly earlier than 7:10.  The Yankees, they lie.

Follow me on Twitter, if you please.  I can be found @wilnerness590.

Rational, reasonable comments are always welcome!