Game 59 – Blink of an Eye

It was bound to happen eventually, Ryan wasn’t going to go the whole season w/o blowing a save. After Ryan go the ground ball to Overbay and they threw out Guerrero at the plate I thought that was the play they needed to get out of it. Then Ryan struck out Rivera and it looked like it was all but over but just like that the 1st pitch to Kendrick hits him to push in the tying run and before you know it Izturis bloops the next pitch into no man’s land. Game Over.

For the 2nd time this season the Jays lose back-to-back walkoffs (they lost 2 in a row in BOS). At least the fans in ANA are not nearly as loud as BOS, (especially since a lot left early) but its still not any fun watching the other team walkoff. The Jays inability to win more of these 1-run games is really starting to add up.

Not to be forgotten is the strong outing from Burnett minus one mistake to the 9-hitter Rodriguez. Sure Burnett could have come out for the 9th but if you can’t trust your closer who has yet to blow a save then he shouldn’t be your closer plus Ryan hadn’t worked in 3 days and there is an offday tomorrow. The 3 BB’s from Burnett are still a little concerning, although one was to Guerrero w/1st base open and 2 outs.

The Jays offence could have put this game away early as they had the bases loaded in the 1st w/2 outs after already scoring 1, but couldn’t get the 2-out hit. The Jays couldn’t cash a leadoff double in the 6th nor could they get anything w/1st and 2nd none out in the 9th. In total they went 0 for 7 w/RISP, although they did manage 1 SF (they have even struggled getting those in the runner at 3rd less than 2 out situations). The Jays also hit into 2 DP’s.

Nice game from Rolen going 3 for 4 w/a HBP, except his 1 out came the only time he had a RISP.

I don’t get Mench starting as the DH in this game vs a RH. Mench should be used strictly against LH’s unless he is on a real roll and right now he is not even hitting lefties that well. I would much rather have saw Stairs or Stewart as the DH.

Now onto the stats:
Adv: Mench (1)
P-Adv: Oliver
NAdv: Rios (9)
P-NAdv: Arredondo
DE: Eckstein (2)