Not Brett Cecil's kind of night
Alright, so the Jays didn’t lose tonight because Rod Barajas was batting cleanup, but his shady .241/.271/.392 line coming in certainly didn’t strike any fear into Jon Lester & friends. Seriously though, what is Cito Gaston thinking when he puts together these lineups? Why is Travis Snider still batting ninth? If Gaston is worrying about the pressure of him hitting higher in the order, then why is he up in the first place? Bump the kid up and give him a shot, because pressure is the last thing that should be associated with the Jays the rest of this season.
Toronto, by the way, lost 8-1 to Boston tonight, their third straight to the Sox and fifth straight overall. The Jays wasted a chance to jump all over Lester early, loading the bases with none out in the first before Barajas grounded into a double play. Lester settled in after the inning, going eight and giving up three hits and the lone run. Brett Cecil, meanwhile, was roughed up by Boston, who also rocked him back in May for his only other loss this season. J.D. Drew hit a pair of homers tonight off Cecil, who lasted four-plus and fell to 5-2.
Toronto will be glad to see Boston leave town, but it doesn’t get much easier — the Angels, owners of the league’s second-best record (73-46, and 48-22 since the beginning of June), are in for a three-game set starting Friday and the Rays are in for three right after. Mark Rzepczynski gets the ball against fellow rookie Sean O’Sullivan in the opener.
