jays 5-6 orioles
June 7, 2008.
This was another disappointing night for Jays fans everywhere. Leading 4-0 until the 8th, the Jays bullpen gave up six runs in one inning. Although, in the bottom of the eight, it looked like Toronto would manage to come back and tie the game, they woefully fell one run short and the game ended 6-5 in favour of the orange birds.
Problems. In this game, the offense was there throughout the game, though they failed miserably in the clutch. The bullpen, erg, dont get me started.
Shaun Marcum was the starter for the Jays. Pitching seven shutout innings before finally giving up one run in the eight. After giving up a hit to an Oriole, Marcum was replaced by Brian Tallett, who then proceeded to give up three runs on 2 hits. Marcum would be charged for one of the runs, as the runner who scored had gotten a hit off of him earlier. Tallet pitched 10 pitches, of which 4 were strikes. Then in came Armando Benitez who also was down on his luck that day. He gave up a solo shot to Kevin Millar, David Eckstein then allowed Luke Scott to reach base on an infield error, and Benitez got smacked for a 2-run shot by Adam Jones. His pitching line? 0.2IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR. His ERA for the year? 5.68. Perhaps the Jays need to be a bit more selective with their approach to signing players. Remember, Benitez was signed immediately after his agent presented him to the Jays organization, well at least according to the news stories that came out.
Overall though, this loss just slots right in with all the others in what has been a truly woeful season for Jays fans thus far. Below .500, our roster once again riddled with injuries, our bats dead and our pitching suspect, quite frankly, I’d be surprised if any Jay made it to the All-Star game in July. At the moment of this writing, the most likely candidate would be 3B Scott Rolen, but his category has some touch competition.
So what is the problem? There are quite a few theories out there. Some say that the Jays are in a rebuilding stage. But, honestly, how can we be rebuilding when a good third of our starting lineup are signed on 1 year contracts. I say its just down to bad luck. In a mix of bad karma and the injury bug, the Jays are once again proving ineffectual, and it looks as if Jays fans will have to suffer another year of sub-par performance to rivals Bosox and NY. Bah.
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