Game 142 – Some guys just have a team’s number

Explain this to me, in 5 starts against the Jays this year Matt Garza gave up just 2 runs in 38 innings and yet, wait for it …, lost 2 games. This one was a 1 – 0 nothing victory for the Jays. The other he left down 1 – 0 in a game the Jays eventually won 6 – 2. Here is Garza’s line against the Jays this year 38 IP, 25 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 8 BB, 25 K, 1 CG and a 3 – 2 record. The Jays just could not figure him out no matter who was in the lineup and how many times they saw him.

David Purcey is doing his own Garza impression against the Rays. In 2 starts against the Rays, Purcey has given up just 1 run in 16 innings but yet he lost 1 of the 2. Here is Purcey’s line against the Rays this year 16 IP, 11 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 18 K, 1 CG and a 1 – 1 record.

Onto what happened in this game, neither team picked up a hit w/a RISP. The Jays were 0 for 7 and the Rays 0 for 5. The lone run of the game came on a leadoff 2B by Lind, groundball advance by Overbay, and a SF by Barajas. 3 times the Jays got a runner to 3rd w/2 out but couldn’t get the drive him in. The Rays got just 1 runner to 3rd all game and it came in the 8th w/2 out.

I would have pulled Purcey after he walked Pena to load the bases in the 8th inning. You had a RH up in Baldelli and Purcey was up to 108 pitches. He just walked a LH batter on 5 pitches and it was his 2nd walk of the inning. There are times when I like the starter getting left in to see what he is made of, see if he can get out of the jam. I did not think this was one of those times. I would have brought League in even if it meant the Rays bringing in a LH pinch hitter. Cito stuck w/Purcey and he got the fly out.

I figured there was no way they were using Ryan tonight, but I thought maybe Downs would be available if necessary. Both pitchers threw the past 2 days as Ryan threw 25 and 25 pitches, while Downs threw 12 and 13 pitches. Given Ryan is coming off TJ surgery they have pretty much said they will not use him 3 consecutive days no matter what. Downs has been used 3 consecutive days on occasion this year and neither outing required a lot of pitches so I thought he might be good to go. Apparently, Downs wasn’t available or at least Cito decided it was best to go to a fresher arm. My next choice would be League to close it out, but Cito went w/Carlson. Both pitched yesterday as did almost everyone, and neither pitched 2 days ago. League only had to throw 9 pitches and Carlson had to throw 27. The batters due up were Switch, RH, Switch, RH, Switch which would favour League, although most switch hitters tend to be better from the left side. Ultimately I just trust League more than I do Carlson to try and save it, although both have been pitching great. Carlson went 1-2-3 w/a pair of strikeouts.

I thought the Rays could have stuck w/Garza for the 8th inning. Given the way he has dominated the Jays and he had only thrown 100 pitches, why not give your bullpen a night off (unless they came back in the 9th) after a 13 inning affair. The only concern was Garza was starting to fall behind the hitters. He had thrown first pitch balls to 4 of the last 5 compared to just 6 of the first 24 he faced. Of those 4, he walked one, got a ground out on 2-1, a hard line out on 2-1, and a soft line out on 2-0.

As well as Purcey pitched he did have problems w/2 players who accounted for 6 of the 9 Rays to reach base. Upton had 3 hits (all singles) and Aybar had a 1B, 2B, and BB. The pair were also each picked off once, one by Purcey and one by Barajas.

Moving to the stats:
Adv: Overbay (2)
P-Adv: Garza
NAdv: Bartlett, Inglett (4)
P-NAdv: Garza, Purcey (4)