The Jays bats were not up to the task against Mussina tonight. Mussina shut them out through 5 innings giving up just 4 hits. From there 5 relievers held the Jays to just 1 run. A big problem for the Jays was the strikeouts. They struck out 14 times and 8 of them were looking. Yes, Vanover had a wide strike zone but the Jays hitters have to adjust. Once the umpire establishes that he is going to call it on the black (and then some) you have to start swinging at those pitches b/c he is going to keep calling them there. Yankee pitchers took advantage and kept throwing it outside. The Jays kept taking it and Vanover kept calling them strikes.
Litsch picked up a few strikeouts of his own, 8 of them (3 looking). Litsch went 7 innings giving up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs (2 earned). It was good to see him get back to throwing strikes and not walking players after a couple of high walk games. I have to say Litsch has impressed this season. After seeing him last year I didn’t think he was good enough to repeat it over an entire season. Litsch did have a rough patch and had to be sent down to AAA but he has come back up and is pitching well again. By no means is Litsch over the hump. Baseball is all about adjustments and hitters will adjust how they attack Litsch. Litsch will have to make adjustments right back, but as long as he continues to show the control he has so far in his brief career he will continue to be successful. With the way the Jays pitching staff is shaping up next season they will certainly need him.
I didn’t have a big problem w/Vanover’s strike zone b/c at least he was consistent. However, he blew a call at the plate when Cano scored on the PB in the 7th. I really thought Litsch got the tag down in time and it was the kind of play that umpires seem to love to call the runner out on. Given the Jays lost by 2 maybe it doesn’t matter, but it does effect how the Jays play the final 2.5 innings (at the time it put the Jays down by 3).
I didn’t agree w/the Yankees intentionally walking Lind in the 8th w/runners at 2nd and 3rd and 2 out. The only benefit was it sets up a force play at every base. The danger is you are putting the go ahead run on base. As far as the batters go you got another LH in Overbay instead of Lind. I guess the other thing to consider is Overbay is really struggling recently. He was 0 for his last 13 and 2 for his last 23.
Checking the stats:
ME(r): Gardner
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