The last time Hiroki Kuroda faced the Jays he went 7.1 innings and allowed only 1 run and 3 hits with 7 strikeouts. The second time around did not start the way he wanted against the Jays. In the first inning of the opening game of their 4 game series, Kuroda gave up 4 hits, a walk and 2 runs including a homerun against him. Brett Lawrie would continue the damage, hitting his first homerun of the season in the top of the second. However, in the bottom of the second Vernon Wells once again hit a homerun off of Jays starter Mark Buehrle and Robinson Cano made life more difficult for Buehrle, hitting a 3 run homerun in the third. Rocco Cervelli would hit a solo shot in the bottom of the 4th to give the Yanks a lead they would never relinquish. Despite a solid start to the game by the Jays bats, some bad middle innings once again led to a loss. Kuroda woke up after the second inning and combined with the Yankee bullpen to really quiet the Jays bats after the early explosion. The Jays really need to start taking advantage of the Yankees and their injuries; I mean look at this Yankee team that was on the field, it did not have Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson or Alex Rodriguez. The Jays really need to do something about that before these guys come back. John Gibbons was thrown out of the game for the second straight game in a row, I wonder, if he is starting to feel the pressure.
Josh Johnson was not able to pitch the second game of the series because of tightness in his triceps on his pitching arm. The good news was that an MRI showed no damage, just inflammation. So with no Josh Johnson on the mound the Jays looked to Aaron Laffey and on the Yankees side Ivan Nova would take the mound for the Bronx bombers. Both pitchers could not make it past the third inning, Laffey went two and a third and Nova went two innings. Laffey gave up two hits and two runs against but struck out none and had five walks, while Nova gave up four hits and two runs against with a homerun. Nevertheless both pitchers kept getting into jams so it was time to change. Jose Bautista hit a homerun and so did Edwin Encanacion, his first of two solo shots in the game. That would not be enough; the Jays would still lose 6-4 to the Yankees. The bullpen was not as strong for the Jays either, allowing the four other runs which ultimately helped lead to the loss. The upside was that the Jays defense finally played a game with no errors.
Two games down and two to go, the Jays have to be in desperation mode now. C.C. Sabathia is a pitcher who always dominates over the Jays and Sabathia vs. JA Happ who is the solid 5th starter. Toronto was able to get an early 3 run lead over the Yankees and it looked to be smooth sailing from there. Unfortunately you can never count the Yankees out. Travis Hafner hit a three run homerun in the bottom of the fourth and would add another RBI in the 7th inning. The Jays would lose 5-4, Esmil Rogers would get the loss and Sabathia would the win as he calmed down to go 8 innings holding the Jays to only four runs on 9 hits. The Jays failed to capitalize enough on those hits as they went 0-9 with runners in scoring position.
In the fourth and final game of the series, the Jays were hoping to avoid being swept for the first time this season. New York’s Brennan Bosch would open the scoring with a solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning off of RA Dickey, but the Jays would score a run in the fourth and sixth to lead 2-1. Unfortunately for Toronto, former Jay Lyle Overbay hit a two run homerun off of Dickey to make it a 3-2 game in favor of the Yankees once again. The Yankees would hold the lead, beating the Jays and sweeping the series. Dickey went seven innings strong and struck out four; he could have easily gotten the win if the Jays had scored more runs. Phil Hughes would not get the win, but had nine strikeouts against the Jays. Now the Jays are 9-17, I think before the season many people were expecting 17-9, instead, but it is just not working for Toronto right now. The Jays have a 6 game homestead coming up first against the Red Sox, and fans must hope that maybe the Jays can turn around with some home cooking.
Nicks Notes
Until this four game series against New York, the Blue Jays had never been swept by the New York Yankees in four games ever in the Toronto Blue Jays history.
The Jays had 38 hits this series and only scored 13 runs off of those hits. To make matters worse the Jays had blown at least one lead in every game in this series. The good news is they did not register an error the whole series, but that is not a lot of good news.
As mentioned the Jays are now 9-17; Miami and Houston are the only two teams to have a worse record than Toronto. This is not because Ricky Romero is not in the rotation (still do not think they should call him up.) This is not because of Jose Reyes’ injury (although he probably could have helped in a few games) it is more than a few players, it is the entire team. Maybe the players would play better under a different more seasoned coach? Maybe the players are still not on the same page, but right now it is not about the playoffs it is about getting back to 500 and that is it.
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