Jays Get Much Needed Sweep of Mini-Series vs Red Sox

The Jays are starting to swing the bats well of late and are finally getting production throughout the lineup. Yesterday’s game was aided by the fact that Red Sox starter John Lackey was continuously looking for his stuff, but it helps get jays bats going nonetheless. All Jays hitters reached base safely by way of hit or walk, and only 2 did not manage a hit.

Jays Stars – Duds of the Game

By far, however, the stars of the game were John McDonald, who knocked the only 2 extra base hits off Lackey – his second HR of the season, and a double down the third base line, and Rajai Davis who was 4 for 4 and once again stole 2 bases in the same game. Between the two, the Jays got 6 hits, 1 double, 1 HR, 2 stolen bases, 4 runs, and 5 RBI. Talk about getting production from the bottom of the lineup!

The one dud of the game for the Jays are the numerous missed opportunities they had, particularly early on in the game. The Jays have to do a better job of getting on pitchers early, while they’re struggling to find their locations. That gets them to the pen more quickly, and provides better opportutinities to eek out wins as a result.

Jays Starter

Jesse Litsch didn’t throw enough strikes (about 60%) and seemed to have great innings, and long innings, but overall he did enough to keep the Jays in the thick of things. He only walked 1 batter, which made his job a lot easier than it otherwise could have been. Like I’ve always said, Litsch usually gives the Jays a good shot at winning, which is more than we can ask for from a #4-5 starter. That’s why he is now 4-2 on the year!

Big D

Defensively, Yunel Escobar and the middle infield was able to turn 3 key double plays, including 1 very pretty one. All-in-all, the Jays did well and are pretty hard to squeeze runs against if pitchers are able to keep the ball down and on the ground as a result.

The Pen

The pen did its job, thanks to some stellar D in some cases, and the Casey Janssen, Frank Francisco, and Jon Rauch combination threw 3.1 innings of shutout ball. What more cna you ask for?

Attendance

There were just over 19,000 at this game, which isn’t too bad for the time of year but is a little disappointing considering the opponent. The Jays need to draw 25-30,000 consistently if they want to get budgets up over the 100 million mark ect..  Let’s hope that becomes a reality for the majority of the summer! A nice winning streak would help….

Next Up

The Jays will be facing Carl Pavano (2-4, 6.64 ERA), Nick Blackburn (2-4, 3.95 ERA), and Brian Duensing (2-2, 3.32 ERA). They’ll throw Ricky Romero, Jo-Jo Reyes, and Brandon Morrow up against them and will hopefully come out on top before they visit the Tigers in Detroit.

-MG

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