Jays Lose Despite Romero’s 4 Hitter

The Jays got yet another quality start from Ace Ricky Romero as he threw 6.1 innings of 4 hits ball. The Jays pen uncharacteristically blew the win with Kevin Gregg having what was one of his worst outings of the year. Romero now has a 2.71 ERA on the year while Gregg’s ballooned from 1.89 to 3.26 due to this outing. It’s nothing to worry about as he will surely bounce back, but the 9th inning losses after having what seemed like a comfortable lead hurts more than other losses – for some reason.

Jose Bautista is really putting his value to a level where Alex Anthopolous may have no choice but to see what teams are willing to pay for all that pop. He hit his 12th HR of the season in the 5th inning and is taking advantage of the playing time with Travis Snider on the DL. One has to wonder if Travis will go to AAA on his return to “rehab” and be there until a trade partner is found. Other than Bautista and Alex Gonzalez, who was the only one to manage the a multi-hit game for the Jays, the offense was really quiet with 5 hits on the day. One would have thought that they’d manage more versus Jason Vargas, but he had a great day for the Ms.

I wanted to add that Randy Ruiz‘s recent departure from the squad and subsequent signing in Japan may be the beginning of multiple changes in Toronto. A probable Brett Wallace call up and trades may change the lineup immensely in upcoming weeks. It will be interesting to see if Jeremy Reed can take advantage of his opportunity, but he’ll have to get a lot more playing time to prove himself than the Jays gave Ruiz. Either way, I hope he does well in Japan and gets to play as much of the game he loves as he can, because that wasn’t going to happen with the Jays.

Adam Lind is really starting to worry me. Not only does he fit the mold of “sign a new contract and slump” guy, but his power has been nearly non-existent at the plate with 13 extra base hits in his first 164 ABs this season (7 doubles, 6 HRs). The worst part for Adam is that things are getting worse, not better, as he’s hitting .214 with 1 HR over his last 10 games. It’s a good thing that some of the Jays are playing over their heads because it could be a much more dire situation for the Jays. Hopefully there is no injury to worry about and he can find himself before the all-star break. The Jays need him to perform if they have any chance at the wild-card or division.

The Jays get their first inter league play of the year against the Arizona DBacks as Brandon Morrow takes on their ace, Dan Haren.