Toronto Blue Jays Thoughts, May 8th Edition: Last Call For Coco Cordero
Well folks, this was one to remember. The short? The Toronto Blue Jays suffered a 7-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics. The whole story, on the other hand…
- I think we’ve all beaten the “our bullpen sucked” storyline to death in ’11, but no matter how many guys the team brings in, the late-innings drama simply won’t go away. Tonight, it wasn’t so much a drama as much as a comedy. I don’t generally like to transcribe innings, but this was one for the ages. The scene: Francisco Cordero taking the mound in the bottom of the 9th. The Blue Jays had just squeezed out a go-ahead run in the top of the inning. A double by Michael Taylor greets Cordero to start the innings, and the alarm bells immediately start ringing. Sure enough, a sac bunt and a Cliff Pennington single later, the game is tied at 3. Pennington then steals 2nd, forcing an intentional walk – standard procedure to set up the double play. Then, with Jonny Gomes batting, Jeff Mathis whiffs on a Cordero slider, allowing the runners to move to 2nd and 3rd. So he gets intentionally walked too. John Farrell runs a 5-man infield gambit to try to induce the double play with Brandon Inge up – at worst, Inge would hit a single and the game would be over with another standard blown save, right? Not tonight. Inge jumps on a 2nd pitch slider from Cordero, and takes him to deep left for the walk-off grand slam. Brandon Inge. In the Coliseum. If there was a more spectacular way to blow a save, I think I’d like to see it. Cordero has had a tough go with his move to the AL, but there is simply no reason for him to be in the 9th inning role as soon as…right now. Literally any arm in the Blue Jays bullpen would be a better option at this point, I think. It’s a good thing Sergio Santos has started throwing, because this just isn’t working out.
- That wasn’t all, though. Mathis, whose defensive reputation is well known, actually whiffed on 2 pitches during the inning, with the 2nd one to Gomes being to key that set up the intentional walk that preceded the final act. So I guess it really wasn’t all within Cordero’s control, though it was overwhelmingly so. The reason why Mathis was in the game? With runners on 1st and 3rd in the top of the 9th with one out, Farrell had decided to pinch-hit for JP Arencibia with…Omar Vizquel. Why? To set up squeeze bunt, instead of letting one of the hottest hitters on the team swing the bat. Naturally, Vizquel popped up for an out. Were it not for Kelly Johnson’s heroics (go-ahead single in 9th, 2-run HR in the 3rd), we wouldn’t even be treated to the spectacular meltdown. So, at least there was that.
- May is no time to bury a player’s season, but with each passing day, Adam Lind is inching closer to that territory. The “cleanup hitter” went 0-4 with a strikeout, dropping his average to .186. Our 3rd and 4th hitters are now hitting .187 and .186 respectively. Their combined average is lower than Jeff Mathis’ OBP. It’s getting hella ugly in the middle of the order, folks.
- Juuuuust to add to Lind’s misery, he also made a fielding error – his 3rd of the season. Whatever happened to Edwin Encarnacion being put there anyway? Actually, El Fuego has cooled a bit too, and is in a 0-18 slump after today’s 0-fer.
- Brandon Inge! Grand slam, in Oakland Coliseum! The veteran has 141 big league home runs over his 12 seasons, with just 2 of them (3 now) coming in that park.
- Ricky Romero‘s performance would normally be counted on as a lone bright spot for losses like these, but even the Blue Jays ace wasn’t all himself on the mound tonight. Romero needed 110 pitches to get through 6 innings, throwing just 61 strikes. His 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 7 K line would’ve been pretty good, actually, if it also didn’t include a season-high 5 walks. I suppose you could say he was effectively wild, but it could have been a lot worse.
So, the closer carousel continues to spin for the Toronto Blue Jays. Who will be in there next, should a chance presents itself? Maybe Brandon Morrow can just throw a CG shutout just to make it easier.
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