Crawford put the finishing touches on the Jays' latest implosion
Just when I think the Jays couldn’t infuriate me any more, they go and do something like this…and completely prove me wrong! A night after Kevin Gregg’s walkathon, Shaun Marcum, Jason Frasor and the ever-reliable Scott Downs combined to turn a 2-1 ninth inning lead into a mind-numbing 7-3 loss. I know Festivus doesn’t roll in for another six months, but I’m getting ever-so-close to airing some serious grievances.
To Marcum’s credit, he was his usual solid self until running into some trouble in the ninth. After giving up singles to Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist to start it, he got John Jaso to ground into a fielder’s choice before Dioner Navarro delivered a Lyle Overbay-aided successful squeeze, tying things at two apiece. Reid Brignac followed with a go-ahead double, Frasor came in and walked B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford touched Downs for a grand slam. End scene.
The Jays missed a handful of scoring opportunities with a few costly double plays balls and some strong Tampa Bay defense — despite three errors that left both Toronto runs unearned, David Price was picked up by a couple fine catches by Crawford and Upton and a pair of tough double play grounders handled by a desperate Evan Longoria.
In the end, a nightmarish wrap to a series the Jays should’ve swept, and not exactly the shape they want to leave themselves in with the Yankees rolling into town on Friday. It’ll be interesting right from the get-go, too, with King A.J. of Doucheville (6-2, 3.28) in to start in the opener against Brett Cecil (5-2, 3.81). Here’s a reminder (and also a pick-me-up, for myself at least), by the way, of Burnett’s return to Toronto last season. That’s gotta hurt, kind of like a pie in the face.
I’m starting to prefer your recaps to the Star’s. Thanks buddy.
By: Marcel on June 3, 2010
at 12:41 am
Thanks man! I’ll let Richard Griffin know, and maybe I can step in for him when he hangs up his spikes…
By: Jeremy on June 3, 2010
at 10:58 am
I blame Buck as much as I do Overbay on that squeeze play. Buck should have been blocking the plate while awaiting the throw from Overbay. Obviously Overbay took his sweet old time making the throw, but Buck should have been in position. Thoughts?
By: Scott on June 3, 2010
at 1:29 pm
To be honest, I haven’t even seen the replay…all I saw was my live view from the game. I was too sick to watch the highlights for the second straight night…
To me, it looked like Overbay rushed into a horrible throw, but it’s also Buck’s job to block the plate. If he’s doing that and Overbay throws into the runner, it’s an out. Either, no execution. A bang-bang play, but one that needs to be made.
By: Jeremy on June 3, 2010
at 2:26 pm