Disheartening.
Another Jays loss on the books, bringing us to 48-51 on the season. This particular loss comes after a sweet win yesterday where Rios and Scutaro helped the team come back from being down 3-4 in the third inning to eventually win it 9-4, even with sucky pitching from Parrish. The game tonight was another example of sucky pitching, this time from Litsch. Now, I like Litsch, but I seriously am rethinking that position after he’s gone 1-6 in his last nine starts, with an ERA over 6. I know everyone goes through slumps, but this is a little bad. As in, rotten eggs bad.
Then again, I wouldn’t be complaining so much had we won. Well, maybe I would, but still. With Vernon Wells out of the games, you’d think we’d be winning more (hey — even he said as much). And I’m sorry if I blame Alex Rios entirely for this offensive slump. Even though he’s a big part of it. But guys, we did well with the small-ball, why are you now going back to working the count? It’s the Ingletts and the Linds and the Scutaros and the Ecksteins that have the right idea. Yes, home runs are nice. But when we don’t have small-ball working for us, and the homers go slumping, runners will get stranded. And since none of us really expect certain players to be able to hit us the big ones (*cough* Ecksy *cough*), why not go for quantity?
I don’t think I’m being very clear here. Okay. We have a lineup of 9 dudes who can at least hit singles. Not all of them can hit homers. Therefore, if one or more of the few guys able to hit homers goes into a slump, and we’re counting on those for all our runs, then we’re in a sucky position. BUT, if one or a few of the dudes who are able to hit singles goes into a slump, it makes less of a difference, since all the rest are capable of picking up the pieces. The one thing I actually really admire about Rios is his ability and willingness to steal bases. THAT’S a good small-ball attitude. Quick. Aggressive. So more singles, more base-stealing. Oh, and this hitting into double-plays business has got to stop. The fact there are so many of them hints at bruised confidence. Which is understandable, but not excusable of course. I hope Cito will be able to help with that, as he has the experience Gibby didn’t have. Hopefully, we’ll get things straightened out again and get winning again soon.
Oh, and one last thing: put Johnny Mac back in!
Get well Aaron Hill, Jeremy Accardo, Vernon Wells, Dustin McGowan, Shaun Marcum, Shannon Stewart, and Casey Janssen. We miss you all dearly.
GO JAYS!
Clio44's Blog 