Post by #1 Jays Fan on Apr 18, 2008 11:28:28 GMT -5
TORONTO -- This one went so long the Toronto Blue Jays went through their entire bullpen and then had to dip into their starting rotation.
And after they squandered chance after chance to score Wednesday night, they eventually ran out of Houdini-like escapes on the mound. Finally it was A.J. Burnett who buckled in the 14th, coughing up the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and some insurance on Josh Hamilton's RIB double in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
"It's frustrating," said catcher Gregg Zaun. "It's one thing when the other team takes it to you and they beat you. But when something as simple as a ball getting between my legs is possibly the difference in the ball game, that's hard to swallow."
For a while it looked like the Blue Jays (8-7) were about to commit some grand theft by stealing a victory from the Rangers (6-9), whom they swept over the weekend in Arlington.
The Blue Jays rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the eighth and watched B.J. Ryan and Jesse Carlson escape big-time trouble in the ninth, 11th and 13th innings only to go 0-for-7 with an opportunity to bring home the winning run from the eighth inning on. They were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position overall on a night of poor execution at the plate.
"That's the difference right there," said manager John Gibbons. "The pitchers hung in there, they laid their guts out there."
Burnett (1-1), who threw 5 2-3 innings Sunday in Texas, was the ninth Toronto pitcher used to match a club record, came on to start the 14th. He got in trouble when two of his first three batters reached but was almost out of trouble when threw a curveball that squirted through Zaun's legs and allowed Frank Catalanotto to break the tie. Hamilton followed with his double.
"The pitch was nasty," Burnett said of the wild pitch. "It's one of those that got through because it broke so much. That's the good thing out of tonight, I found my curveball."
The relief appearance was Burnett's first since Oct. 3, 2004 when he was with the Marlins. He's scheduled to start Friday versus Detroit and doesn't anticipate missing the start.
"I'm ready to go, no problem," he said.
The Blue Jays bullpen can't say the same. They may need to call up a pitcher for Thursday's meeting with the Rangers, although ace Roy Halladay is on the mound and could give the relief corps a rest.
"We've got the right guy going, that's for sure," said Gibbons.
Dustin Nippert (1-1), who came in with a 14.54 ERA, pitched a scoreless 13th and C.J. Wilson nailed things down in the 14th for his fourth save before small remnants from the crowd of 15,686. The game lasted four hours 53 minutes.
Jays reliever Carlson threw three innings after he came on in the top of the 11th after the Rangers loaded the bases with none out against Brian Wolfe. The rookie lefty promptly struck out Adam Melhuse, Marlon Byrd and David Murphy to keep things tied and then tossed a three-up, three-down 12th and got out of another jam in the 13th.
"The kid's got as big a heart as anybody you'll ever find," said Gibbons.
Ryan, pitching for the second time since returning from Tommy John surgery, also walked his first two batters in the ninth before retiring three straight to keep things tied 5-5.
Stymied for most of the night by Kason Gabbard, the third southpaw starter to give them fits this year, the Blue Jays exploded for three in the eighth inning to erase a 5-2 deficit.
Marco Scutaro brought the first run in with a bases-loaded walk off Joaquin Benoit and after Wes Littleton came on in relief, Joe Inglett smacked what looked like a double-play ball to first baseman Ben Broussard.
But Broussard, who came on as a defensive replacement in the seventh, threw his relay to second into left field, allowing two more runs to come in and tie the game. But the Rangers held there, as Scutaro was cut down at home on David Eckstein's grounder and Aaron Hill hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Up to that point, the Blue Jays were having a bad night at the dish, scratching out a charitably scored RIB single by Vernon Wells in the third inning and Alex Rios's RIB double in the fifth.
That hurt on a night when Jesse Litsch wasn't especially sharp but found a way to keep his team in the game.
He walked the tightrope for five innings before leaving with runners on first and third and the game tied 2-2 in the sixth. Brian Tallet relieved and promptly served up a two-run double to Jason Botts that put the Rangers ahead.
Litsch had been in and out of trouble for most of outing before that, coughing up an RIB single to Hamilton in the third that opened the scoring and a solo shot to Botts to open the fourth that put Texas up 2-1.
It might have been worse, too, if not for a great play by super sub Scutaro in the second. Starting in left field against the lefty because Shannon Stewart was nursing a sore groin, Scutaro fielded Gerald Laird's two-out single and proceeded to gun down Hank Blalock at home to end the inning.
Catalanotto ripped a solo shot off Jeremy Accardo in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2 Texas.
Notes: Blue Jays 3B Scott Rolen is taking batting practice and throwing from 120-130 feet in Florida and will start taking grounders this weekend in his recovery from a broken right middle finger. After that he could start a rehab assignment, or perhaps even rejoin the Blue Jays. "I think we'd like him to do a rehab," said GM J.P. Ricciardi. ... Ryan may find himself pitching in many non-save situations in the next while as Blue Jays manager John Gibbons does his best to give his closer regular work. "You don't want him to all of a sudden sit for a few days because then he can backslide and he's still in the building process," said Gibbons. ... The Toronto Blue Jays are valued at US$352 million according to the annual estimates by Forbes magazine, 22nd at in the majors. Rogers Communications Inc., bought 80 per cent of the team for $112 million (U.S.) -- C$165 million at the time -- in September 2000 and picked up the remaining 20 per cent in January 2004 for an undisclosed amount. The club later bought the SkyDome for C$25 million in December '04 and renamed it the Rogers Centre. ... IBF Featherweight champ Steve Molitor threw out the first pitch. ... Blalock left the game in the 10th with a sore lower back.
And after they squandered chance after chance to score Wednesday night, they eventually ran out of Houdini-like escapes on the mound. Finally it was A.J. Burnett who buckled in the 14th, coughing up the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and some insurance on Josh Hamilton's RIB double in a 7-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
"It's frustrating," said catcher Gregg Zaun. "It's one thing when the other team takes it to you and they beat you. But when something as simple as a ball getting between my legs is possibly the difference in the ball game, that's hard to swallow."
For a while it looked like the Blue Jays (8-7) were about to commit some grand theft by stealing a victory from the Rangers (6-9), whom they swept over the weekend in Arlington.
The Blue Jays rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the eighth and watched B.J. Ryan and Jesse Carlson escape big-time trouble in the ninth, 11th and 13th innings only to go 0-for-7 with an opportunity to bring home the winning run from the eighth inning on. They were 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position overall on a night of poor execution at the plate.
"That's the difference right there," said manager John Gibbons. "The pitchers hung in there, they laid their guts out there."
Burnett (1-1), who threw 5 2-3 innings Sunday in Texas, was the ninth Toronto pitcher used to match a club record, came on to start the 14th. He got in trouble when two of his first three batters reached but was almost out of trouble when threw a curveball that squirted through Zaun's legs and allowed Frank Catalanotto to break the tie. Hamilton followed with his double.
"The pitch was nasty," Burnett said of the wild pitch. "It's one of those that got through because it broke so much. That's the good thing out of tonight, I found my curveball."
The relief appearance was Burnett's first since Oct. 3, 2004 when he was with the Marlins. He's scheduled to start Friday versus Detroit and doesn't anticipate missing the start.
"I'm ready to go, no problem," he said.
The Blue Jays bullpen can't say the same. They may need to call up a pitcher for Thursday's meeting with the Rangers, although ace Roy Halladay is on the mound and could give the relief corps a rest.
"We've got the right guy going, that's for sure," said Gibbons.
Dustin Nippert (1-1), who came in with a 14.54 ERA, pitched a scoreless 13th and C.J. Wilson nailed things down in the 14th for his fourth save before small remnants from the crowd of 15,686. The game lasted four hours 53 minutes.
Jays reliever Carlson threw three innings after he came on in the top of the 11th after the Rangers loaded the bases with none out against Brian Wolfe. The rookie lefty promptly struck out Adam Melhuse, Marlon Byrd and David Murphy to keep things tied and then tossed a three-up, three-down 12th and got out of another jam in the 13th.
"The kid's got as big a heart as anybody you'll ever find," said Gibbons.
Ryan, pitching for the second time since returning from Tommy John surgery, also walked his first two batters in the ninth before retiring three straight to keep things tied 5-5.
Stymied for most of the night by Kason Gabbard, the third southpaw starter to give them fits this year, the Blue Jays exploded for three in the eighth inning to erase a 5-2 deficit.
Marco Scutaro brought the first run in with a bases-loaded walk off Joaquin Benoit and after Wes Littleton came on in relief, Joe Inglett smacked what looked like a double-play ball to first baseman Ben Broussard.
But Broussard, who came on as a defensive replacement in the seventh, threw his relay to second into left field, allowing two more runs to come in and tie the game. But the Rangers held there, as Scutaro was cut down at home on David Eckstein's grounder and Aaron Hill hit into a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Up to that point, the Blue Jays were having a bad night at the dish, scratching out a charitably scored RIB single by Vernon Wells in the third inning and Alex Rios's RIB double in the fifth.
That hurt on a night when Jesse Litsch wasn't especially sharp but found a way to keep his team in the game.
He walked the tightrope for five innings before leaving with runners on first and third and the game tied 2-2 in the sixth. Brian Tallet relieved and promptly served up a two-run double to Jason Botts that put the Rangers ahead.
Litsch had been in and out of trouble for most of outing before that, coughing up an RIB single to Hamilton in the third that opened the scoring and a solo shot to Botts to open the fourth that put Texas up 2-1.
It might have been worse, too, if not for a great play by super sub Scutaro in the second. Starting in left field against the lefty because Shannon Stewart was nursing a sore groin, Scutaro fielded Gerald Laird's two-out single and proceeded to gun down Hank Blalock at home to end the inning.
Catalanotto ripped a solo shot off Jeremy Accardo in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2 Texas.
Notes: Blue Jays 3B Scott Rolen is taking batting practice and throwing from 120-130 feet in Florida and will start taking grounders this weekend in his recovery from a broken right middle finger. After that he could start a rehab assignment, or perhaps even rejoin the Blue Jays. "I think we'd like him to do a rehab," said GM J.P. Ricciardi. ... Ryan may find himself pitching in many non-save situations in the next while as Blue Jays manager John Gibbons does his best to give his closer regular work. "You don't want him to all of a sudden sit for a few days because then he can backslide and he's still in the building process," said Gibbons. ... The Toronto Blue Jays are valued at US$352 million according to the annual estimates by Forbes magazine, 22nd at in the majors. Rogers Communications Inc., bought 80 per cent of the team for $112 million (U.S.) -- C$165 million at the time -- in September 2000 and picked up the remaining 20 per cent in January 2004 for an undisclosed amount. The club later bought the SkyDome for C$25 million in December '04 and renamed it the Rogers Centre. ... IBF Featherweight champ Steve Molitor threw out the first pitch. ... Blalock left the game in the 10th with a sore lower back.
