Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Blue Jays Return from West After a Mediocre Week

The past week for the Blue Jays has been quite forgettable – surprise, surprise.  This time ’round, they won three games and lost four, but every loss seemed more painful than the others, and even in some of the wins you would think they had still lost.  It just looks like a demoralized team.

The Jays did win two of three games in Oakland before losing three of four in Anaheim.  They wrapped up the trip with winning 2 of 3 in Seattle. That’s a 5-5 record, although this road trip really could and should have been 7-3 in favor of the Blue Jays. Toronto should have swept Mariners and tied the series with the Angels, but that’s not the way this season has worked for Toronto.

The Blue Jays had a 5-4 lead over the Anaheim Angels going into the 8th inning and with only 6 outs to go, you’d think the Jays would get some luck. Well they didn’t, and instead had three runs scored against them; first and RBI triple off of J.B. Shucks’ bat then a 2-run homer, by Kole Calhoun. The Jays would lose 7-5. The Mariners game was even worse as the Blue Jays were up 7-3, but blew up in the 5th inning with 6 runs scored against them.  That was all Seattle would need as they would win 9-7.

The Jays losing those two games really represents how this season has been for them – lousy and the worst luck possible.  Their record as it stands is a disappointing 53-61. Of course had they won those two games they would be 55-59; not much better but a lot closer to 500 and possibly bringing back hope for the team this season.

The pitching on the road was “okay”.  R.A. Dickey and Josh Johnson both won against the Mariners, which is great for them, especially Johnson who has hopefully broken out of his slump and now can pitch better games and win more. Mark Buehrle has proven that there still is gas in his tank and has been the most dominant pitcher for the Jays of late. JA Happ was unfortunately part of the collapse against the Mariners, but it’s great to seem him back pitching. Esmil Rogers has been pretty terrible losing the last two games, earning over 13 runs. I know he’s technically a starter, but to me he’d have been better in the Pen as a long relief kind of guy.

The last 7 days the Jays best batters have been Brett Lawrie, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes and Colby Rasmus. I’m not surprised that these guys have the better numbers the past 7 games – they are supposed to!  Those five guys are the guys you build around to win, and hopefully for the rest of the season they can keep up the good work.

The Jays are back home to play 7 games; 4 against Oakland and 3 against the Red Sox. If the Jays play the way they have when the have won and not blow up randomly, they can easily win more games then lose in this upcoming homestand. The Jays have had flashes of good baseball, if only they could figure how to be more consistent, this season would have been different.

 

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Main photo credit: james_in_to via photopin cc

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