Blue Jays Journal

It’s hard to call this one a sweep because Wednesday’s game was cancelled but the Jays took the only game that was played against the Yankees yesterday and in the process, they won their third straight game.  A.J. Burnett was fantastic on the mound and he gave up just four hits and four walks with five strikeouts in seven shutout innings. 

At the plate, Vernon Wells went three for three with two walks, a run and an RBI in the 6-0 win.  Alex Rios also had a nice game and he went two for four with three runs and an RBI.  Frank Thomas singled and drove in two.

So the Jays now sit in second, but they’re three games back of the hot Red Sox.  Fortunately, the Jays come home and they’ll play four against the Rangers in a wrap around series that’ll go through Monday.  Josh Towers gets the start tonight and hopefully he’ll keep the winning streak going.

The Blue Jays have hit the skids and with three losses to the Orioles in the most recent sweep, the Jays have now lost five in a run.  At the beginning of the skid, the Jays were in first and now they’ve dropped all the way to fourth place just a game ahead of the Devil Rays.

Most of the troubles have been at the plate, although the offense hasn’t been great either.  In the Friday game, A.J. Burnett had a nice start and he gave up just two runs on three hits and five walks with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Unfortunately the pen gave up three late runs to blow the game.  Victor Zambrano gave up the game winner in the ninth although the two runs that Shaun Marcum gave up in the eighth definitely didn’t help.  Vernon Wells drove in two runs in the 5-4 loss and Adam Lind finished with two hits, a run and an RBI.

On Saturday, Josh Towers was hit hard and he dropped to 1-2 on the season.  He gave up five runs on nine hits and three walks with four strikeouts in five innings.  Alex Rios had two hits and a run while Royce Clayton singled twice and drove in a run in the 5-2 loss.

Yesterday, it was more of the same as the Orioles scored just three runs and Gustavo Chacin was hammered.  He lost his first start of the season and he gave up six runs on five hits and two walks in just 4 1/3 innings.  Alex Rios drove in two of the three Blue Jays runs and Frank Thomas had two hits and a run in the 7-3 loss.

Next up is two against the Red Sox so we can make up some of the ground if we can end the skid.  Tomo Okha will throw in the opener tonight and Roy Halladay throws tomorrow.

The Blue Jays hitters just couldn’t it get it going against the Red Sox.  They pushed just six runners across the plate in the three games and it took a great start by Gustavo Chacin just to take one of the three games.

In that first game, Chacin and the pen were pretty formidable.  Chacin gave up just one run on six hits with three strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.  Casey Janssen and Jason Frasor then closed it out with 2 1/3 of shutout relief.  Lyle Overbay singled home a run to tie and then Greg Zaun drew a bases loaded walk to make it 2-1, a lead that would end up standing.

In the second game, Tomo Ohka was only okay and with the Jays scoring just one run, it ended up being a loss.  Okha gave up four runs on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings and the lone run in the 4-1 loss came on John McDonald’s RBI single.

Today’s game was the toughest because Roy Halladay was very good through 7 2/3 but the pen didn’t do their job.  Shaun Marcum gave up a two run shot to Manny Ramirez that tied it and then he gave up another run in the ninth to lose it.  Halladay finshed with two strikeouts and he gave up two runs (one of which scored on the Ramirez homer) on six hits and three walks.  Frank Thomas and Alex Rios each hit solo homeruns and Vernon Wells went two for four with an RBI in the 5-3 loss.

Next up is three at Baltimore.  The Orioles have gotten off to a surprising start but it sure would be nice to put them back in their place with a three game sweep.

This one could have been worse but it also could have been better as the Jays split a four game series with the Tigers.  The Jays blew a nice lead on Saturday but they pulled off a couple of tight win to get their two.  Just to put it in perspective, the Jays scored four runs in their two wins yet they racked up eleven win in the losses.

On Thursday, the Jays were down 5-2 for most of the game but they threw together two runs in the eighth to make it interesting.  Aaron Hill continued to hit the ball well and he went two for four with a homerun, two RBIs and two runs.  Tomo Okha took the loss and he gave up five runs on eight hits and one walk with two strikeouts in six innings of work.

On Friday, it was all Roy Halladay as he gave up just one run in a ten inning complete game win.  He gave up just six hits with two strikeouts and he improved to 2-0.  Alex Rios was the offense with his two run homerun in the first inning in the 2-1 win.

Then Saturday’s game was a downer.  The Jays jumped all over the Tigers number five guy, Chad Durbin and took a 4-0 and 6-3 leads only to see B.J. Ryan give up a ton of walks and another game.  To his credit, he’s now on the disabled list, which definitely isn’t a good thing.  Rios homered in this one as did Vernon Wells in the 10-7 loss. 

Then yesterday, the Jays got another nice pitching performance, this time from Josh Towers. He gave up one unearned run on three hits and a walk in 7 2/3 innings.  John McDonald was the hitting star and he went two for three with an RBI in the 2-1 win.

The Jays sit tied with the Red Sox in the standings although they have one more loss.  The won’t matter much though because the Jays host the Red Sox for a three game series beginning tomorrow.  Gustavo Chacin gets the start in the opener and he’ll face Dice-K.

With the Yankees getting hot, the Jays had to throw together some wins to keep up with the joneses and that’s what they did in their three game series with the Royals.  The end result was a series win and a 5-3 record, meaning that no matter what the Yankees do tonight, the Jays will have at least a share of first place.

The Jays did it all in the home opener on Monday.  Vernon Wells hit a homerun, Lyle Overbay drove in three runs and Aaron Hill went three for three with two RBIs and two runs in the 9-1 win.  In the meantime, A.J. Burnett held the Royals to just a single run on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

Yesterday didn’t go as well.  Josh Towers was bumped in the sixth inning after giving up six runs while Greg Zaun hit a two run homerun, the Jays offense didn’t get much more then that.

The Jays then did what they needed to in the rubber game.  Gustavo Chacin didn’t have a great game but he threw well enough to pick up the win.  He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts in five innings.  Aaron Hill had three hits and three RBIs while Troy Glaus homered and scored three times in the 7-4 win.

The Tigers come into town tomorrow for a four game series.  The most interesting matchup takes place on Friday when Roy Halladay and Jeremy Bonderman get a rematch from their opening day starts.

The Blue Jays won their first series of the season in a three game set against the Devil Rays.  Things didn’t get off to a good start though as they dropped the opener on Friday.  Up 5-3, B.J. Ryan gave up a three run homerun in the bottom of the ninth as the Jays lost it 6-5.  A decent start by Gustavo Chacin went to waste in the ninth inning loss and if not for that, the Jays would have walked away with a sweep.  Troy Glaus hit his first homerun of the season and Aaron Hill had two hits.

Saturday’s game went a bit better as the Jays racked up eight runs in an 8-5 win.  Frank Thomas homered and drove in four runs to lead the way while Reed Johnson had three hits and a run.  Tomo Okha had a pretty poor start and he didn’t even last five innings but the pen picked him up and four relievers combined to hold the Rays to a single hit in 4 2/3 innings.

Roy Halladay got it done in the rubber game.  He gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in seven innings of work.  Reed Johnson hit a three run shot while Vernon Wells went yard with nobody on in the 6-3 win.

The Blue Jays home opener is tonight with the Royals come to town.  A.J. Burnett will throw for the Jays in the series opener.

Talk about a wild game.  A.J. Burnett was pulled in the third inning in which the Tigers would end up scoring eight runs.  The Tigers then added another to make it 9-0 and later had a 10-2 lead.  Then out of nowhere, the Jays scored seven in the eighth to make it a one run game.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t complete the huge comeback.

The first seven hitters in the Jays lineup had at least two hits.  Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill each had two RBIs while Frank Thomas scored twice.  The only Jay who didn’t reach base was Royce Clayton, yet they still lost.

The rubber game is tomorrow afternoon.  Gustavo Chacin will go up against last year’s rookie of the year, Justin Verlander.

This was kind of a weird game.  The Jays jumped all over Jeremy Bonderman in the first inning and tagged him for three runs.  With Roy Halladay on the mound, I figured this one was done but the Jays bats disappeared and the Tigers actually made Halladay look mortal and they eventually tied the game.  The good news is, the Jays eventually got it done in the tenth and B.J. Ryan slammed the door shut as the Jays walked away with the 5-3 win.

Halladay went six innings and he gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Give some credit to the pen though because they held the Tigers scoreless over the final four innings.  Casey Jansen was particularly good with 2 1/3 perfect innings. 

At the plate, Alex Rios drove in two runs while Vernon Wells had one hit, one RBI, two runs and a stolen base.  Lyle Overbay was the only Jay with two hits.

A.J. Burnett takes the mound Wednesday against Nate Robertson.  It’s another day game and hopefully the Jays can make it two straight.