To borrow a line from legendary Blue Jays broadcaster Jerry Howarth: “Oh, what a night for the Blue Jays.”
The Blue Jays blew a 6-0 lead, and ended with a 7-6 walkoff victory over the Yankees.
Jose Reyes had a bit of a rough night. This might be jumping the gun a little bit, though, Petey.
But, there is cause for concern.
The shortstop made two throwing errors, one of which allowed two runs to score in the seventh inning tying the game.
Some of us have more faith in Reyes, in karma, and in baseball gods. I tweeted this while Reyes was batting in the bottom of the 7th.
In the ninth inning, he doubled, and scored from second on a Melky Cabrera bunt and Yangervis Solarte throwing error.
That’s the second time this month I’ve predicted a #WalkoffRedemption on Twitter. A couple of weeks ago it was Kevin Pillar. This team is fun to watch.
The Good:
Mark Buehrle was very good until the 7th inning. He gave up some hard-hit balls, but was in vintage form working quickly and throwing very few pitches.
His final line: 6.2 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 3 K. He gave up two home runs contributing to three of his four earned runs. He did everything asked of him, and set up a pretty easy night for the bullpen. However …
The Bad:
Dustin McGowan, who has been SO good out of the ‘pen this year, came in with two outs and a man on to face Derek Jeter. He walked him on five pitches, and then allowed a single to Jacoby Ellsbury, cutting the deficit to two. He recovered by getting a ground ball from Mark Teixera that should have ended the inning, but Reyes booted and allowed the runs to score. Then he gave up another single to Soriano and his night was done. He faced four batters, retired none of them, and allowed two inherited runners to score. Just a bad night for a good pitcher, and he’ll have to turn the page.
Colby Rasmus lands in the middle. Mixed night for him. Two great plays in centre field, missed a grand slam by about a foot and a half, but he also struck out twice. I’ll let it slide tonight.
The Ugly:
Reyes’ two erroes underscore what’s been a disappointing season for him in the field. Are the hamstrings bothering him? Is the artificial turf a factor? Whatever the cause, the results need to change. He’s better than this and we know it.
Johnny McFrank struck out twice, and now apparently can’t hit fastballs either. The following stats are more of a red banner than they are a red flag.
Where’s my beer again?
The Next:
With the series victory wrapped up, the Jays will go for the sweep (remember when those were common? Fun times) tomorrow night. They send Drew Hutchison (who has been not-good at home) against Hiroki Kuroda.
Jays Balk 