Game 74 – Can a HR be a bad thing?

One batter too early. That was the difference between the Jays making a huge comeback down by 8 after being no-hit for 7 innings and losing. What I mean is they got the HR one batter too early. One of the things I hate to see when a team is rallying late in the game is a player hit a HR before the tying run reaches the plate. The reason is I find more often than not it kills the rally. It allows the pitcher to regroup and take a breath, whereas if you just keep getting 1B’s, 2B’s, etc. you keep the pressure on the pitcher and don’t allow him to relax. Early in the game, I’ll take the HR b/c you want whatever runs you can get, but once it hits the late innings all that matters is the batter does not get out (HR is the same as a 1B), until the tying run is at bat.

Having said all that, the Jays rally did not end w/Inglett’s slam, as Barajas legged out an infield 1B (yes that Barajas). Seeing that how could the Jays not comeback, but it was not to be as Stairs struck out to end the game.

I’m not sure why Rios thought that ball should be a ground rule 2B. Now it wasn’t easy to tell from my vantage point but it looked like the ball kind of stuck at the bottom of the wall. Unless they have specific ground rules then that ball is in play. It is not like Wrigley Field where if a ball gets lost in the ivy it is ruled a ground rule 2B. Rios compounded his mistake by deciding to pick the ball up even though Fielder was already at 3B. If Rios believed it to be a ground rule 2B he has to put his arms up like he did but then he cannot touch it until the umpire has made a ruling on it. I’m not sure why it took so long for Fairchild to rule on the ball. As an umpire he better know the ground rules and should have waved it off right away so Rios could have picked it up w/o allowing Fielder any extra bases instead of running out there to get a closer look. I don’t mean to take blame away from Rios b/c he should have just played the ball and it would have been a 2B anyways so there is nothing to be gained by ruling it a ground rule 2B (there were no runners on base).

That is the 2nd time in the last 3 starts Burnett has given up 8 earned runs. Unlike his last time, where he fell apart in the 5th, he struggled the whole game, giving up 2 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, none in the 4th, and 2 in the 5th. By retiring the side in the 4th he may have bought himself a little leeway but after the BB to Branyan I would have pulled him. That was the 4th BB of the game and he had thrown 1st pitch balls to 11 of the 24 batters faced (he went on to throw 1st pitch balls to the remaining 3 hitters he faced).

Needless to say w/only 1 baserunner in the 1st 7 innings the Jays chances w/RISP was limited, but they made the most of the chances they got in the 8th and 9th going 3 for 6. The Jays even managed to hit a pair of HR’s. However it wasn’t enough as the Brewers also slugged 2 HR’s and hit just slightly worse w/RISP at 3 for 7.

Now for some stats:
Adv+: Branyan
P-Adv+: Burnett (2)
ME(f): Rios (2)