The first game of a three game series against the Detroit Tigers once again did not go as planned for the Jays. The Jays lost 7-3 to the defending ALSC Champs and Brendan Morrow who was solid last week only made it to 3.2 innings, pegged for 5 runs 9 hits and had no strike-outs.
On the Tigers end, Anibal Sanchez pitched 7 innings with 8 strikeouts and only 2 earned runs against him to record his first W of the season. Reigning Triple Crown and MVP winner Miguel Cabrera hit his first homerun of the season off Morrow and went 4/5 with 4 RBI’s for the game. Melky Cabrera went 3-4 for the Jays and got one RBI, but unfortunately the Jays never got a good rally going. Colby Rasmus did hit a solo shot in the 9th inning and Jose Bautista went a disappointing 0-4 in his return. With all that being said and done there is always the next game; hopefully the Jays can prevent another bite from the Tigers.
The second game did not start off any better after a rain delay forced the game to only start at 3:30pm instead of 1:00pm. With the miserable weather finally calming down, the Jays started to work. It was the Tigers, however, who were first to score, once again forcing the Jays to play catch-up. That is 7 games out of 8 that the Jays have been scored on first, and that is something that needs to be changed.
Mark Buehrle pitched his second game of the season and struggled a bit, having two runs scored on him in the first two innings, but he seemed to get warmer as the game progressed. The Jays scored their first run in the fifth inning, but the bottom of the inning did not go the way they wanted. Buehrle got tagged for four runs that inning, but that was not his fault. Steve Delabar came in to replace Buehrle and walked the first two batters he faced while the bases were loaded. Personally, I would have tried to let Buehrle get himself out of the jam he was in because he was really warming up as the game progressed (Yes I know, pitch count really matters now.)
The Jays bounced back in the top of the sixth with some quality hits and scored 3 runs. Note that Mark Derosa came in and hit a 2-RBI double, and with 4 runs scored at the top of the 7th thanks to a bases-clearing 3-RBI double from JP Arencibia to make the score 8-6 in the favor of the Jays. It is their first lead of the game and that is all they needed to win it. This game was exciting with back and forth action and shows that this version of the Toronto Blue Jays can play ball. It also shows that if pitching is having an off day the bats can pick it up was a great game to watch.
With the Jays looking to win their first series of the season they gave the ball to Josh Johnson and the poor guy got roughed up early. He only pitched 1.1 innings, had 6 runs against him and on 7 hits. He had only one strikeout and 2 walks, which is not a great outing once again for the new pitchers. The Jays also got scored on first once again for the fourth straight time, and in the 8th game this season (out of only 9), that is something the Jays need to fix – fast.
Rajai Davis on run in the 2nd scored the Jays off of a Mark Derosa sacrifice fly. The Tigers scored four more runs in the fifth and the rest was history; the Jays lost 11-1 and are now 3-6 in the season.
No homeruns were hit on either side, but Prince Fielder had 4 RBI’s and Torii Hunter had 3 RBI’s against the Jays. The Jays head out to Kansas City for a four game series and hopefully get 2 or more wins against the red hot Royals.
Series Notes:
- As Mentioned before Jays have been scored on by the other team eight out of nine games this season
- Brett Lawrie is missed not only for his bat and his defense, but he is an energetic guy and I am sure he would light a fire under this team with his lively attitude – or at least one can hope
- Is it time to bring back Ricky Romero? No way, Jose! The Jays are off to a rough start that no one expected, and bringing up Ricky and putting pressure on him to try and help this team get back on a winning track might screw him up even more – for now Ricky will still be off limits
- Whenever Lawrie comes back (and it is suggested he might come back) when the Jays play the Yankees, or Orioles later this month, Adam Lind may be on the outside looking in when it comes to playing time – he only has two hits this season with no RBI or Homeruns, and an average of .105
- Errors need to stop. Now. No, seriously, this is getting ridiculous
It is still early and I am not panicking just yet, but this team needs to star winning some series and go on a little streak to calm people down from thinking that this is the end, because sooner or later something will have to change.
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