Blue Jays Journal

The Blue Jays dropped the 2nd game of the 3 game set with the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, 5-1. The loss evens the series at 2 games a pieces and both teams will look to take the deciding game on Thursday. The Jays now look at a 32-29 record and continue to sit in 3rd place in the AL East.

The offense only collected 6 hits in the game and out of those hits they could only record 1 run. The run came off the bat of Scott Rolen who went 1-for-4 getting his 15th RBI of the year. Rolen now has his batting average at .304 this season. The run that was scored came from Alex Rios who went 2-for-3 with the lone run scored. His batting average is now up to .266 which was helped by getting his 13th double of the year. Not much else can be said about the offense for the Blue Jays as they were pretty much shutout throughout the game.

Brad Litsch took the mound for the Jays and had a rough outing. He worked 5 1/3rd innings allowing 10 hits, 4 runs, all earned, 2 walks and 1 homer. He was given the loss for the game bringing his record to 7-2 with a 3.45 ERA.  Shawn Camp came in for some relief work and also had a tough night. He pitched just 1 inning giving up 1 hits, 1 run and 1 walk. Mike Mussina pitched for the Yanks and had his way with Toronto hitters. He pitched 6 innings allowing 5 hits, 1 runs and 6 K’s. He got the win for New York improving his record to 9-4 this season.

A little bit of a disappointment considering how well the Jays played in game 1. both pitchers and hitters can take blame for the poor play in this one and will need to improve to take game 3 from the Yanks which will take place on Thursday.

Toronto took the 1st game of a scheduled 3 game series against the New York Yankees, 9-3. The win gives the Jays a 3 game lead over the last place Yankees. They now look at a 32-38 record and sit in 3rd place in the AL East.

The game was close until the 7th inning when Toronto put together 6 runs to take a 9-2 lead. The Yanks added a run in the bottom half to make the score 9-3, which ended up being the final. Rod Barajas had the most impressive game for the Jays going 2-for-5 including 2 doubles with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. The RBI give him a total of 19 this season with a .303 batting average. Alex Rios also had a nice game going 1-for-5 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. His batting average is now at .261 with 24 RBI this season. Marco Scutaro chipped in for an RBI as well going 1-for-5 including the RBI with a run scored. He now has 21 RBI this season with a solid batting average of .270.

Roy Halladay took the mound for the Blue Jays and pitched a strong game. He worked 6 inning allowing 6 hits, 2 runs, all earned, 1 walk and 3 K’s. He earned the win for the Jays bringing his record to 7-5 this season with a 2.94 ERA. The next 3 relievers that got work only allowed 3 hits in a total of 3 innings of work.

A strong win for Toronto and its even better that it comes off a division rival like the New York Yankees, whether their struggling or not. The teams will face off again on  Wednesday night with the Yanks looking to even the series.

Toronto lost their 2nd game in a row on Sunday against the LA Angels, 4-3. The LA win gives the Angels the series 2 games to 1. The Jays now look at a 31-28 record and sit in 3rd place in the AL East now 5 games behind the division leading Rays.

The Jays had the game in hand until the bottom of the 9th came and B.J. Ryan couldn’t hang on. Marco Scutaro had a solid game despite the loss going 1-for-4 with 1 RBI. The RBI is his 20th of the season and his batting average now stands at .272. Rod Barajas also chipped in with a RBI when he hit a solo-homer with 2 outs. The homer was his 5th of the season and his RBI count now sits at 17. Scott Rolen put up some good numbers as well going 3-for-4 bumping his batting average to .310.

A.J. Burnett nearly went the distance in the game pitching a gem. He work 8 inning allowing just 3 hits, 2 runs, all earned, 3 walks and 8 strike outs. When the 9th came B.J. Ryan entered the game looking to close it out. Unfortunately he had a little bit of difficulty going 2/3rd inning giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, a walk and the game. He received the blown save giving him 1 for the year and making his record 1-1.

The Jays couldn’t have asked for a better performance from their starter. The offense even had a solid game getting 10 hits. Too bad for us and the Blue Jays is that closer B.J. Ryan had a forgettable game and lost it in the 9th. Hopefully the team has a short-term memory and can get ready for their next series with the Yankees.