Joy R. Absalon- US Presswire
The Toronto Blue Jays lost their AL leading 19th game last night, 3-1 to the Boston Red Sox. It was their fourth straight series defeat, and they have yet to win a series at home all year. J.A. Happ struggled with his command the entire night while issuing seven walks in under four innings. But we’re going to cut the starting pitching some slack for once and talk about the lack of production from Melky Cabrera.
In 29 games Cabrera is batting .235, with six RBI and zero home runs, and that’s just not good enough. Through 29 games last season, he had 10 RBI and one home run, but he was batting over .300. You can forget a lot of the other problems if you are getting on base that often. When Cabrera was suspended last year he was leading the NL with a .346 batting average to go along with 60 RBI, 11 home runs, 10 triples and an all-star MVP. That’s what the Jays were expecting when they signed him to a massive contract in the off- season.
He is currently on pace for zero home runs and 34 RBI, which would both be career lows. The problem for the slow start could be the fact that he missed the final 50 games of last season or getting used to a new team, but whatever it is, Cabrera has to snap out of it soon for the Jays to have a reliable number two hitter in the lineup. Hopefully a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners will be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Follow Blue Jays Writer Robert Johnson on Twitter: @robert337733
