Five and counting. Lousy defence tonight sinks Jays.

Friday April 25 2008. Toronto v Kansas in Kansas.

Before the game:
Lots of insightful comment: “losing streak tough, due to break out ““Rolen is big part of team, make us better.”
and a classic Gibbonsism from Manager before game “One of us is due to win “ That’s very insightful John..

Gregg Zaun "We're playing well below our capability," "We've had some moments of brilliance. We get some great individual performances from people night in and night out. But as a team, we haven't played a really solid nine-inning game in a while."

So tonight, one team on losing streak of four another on seven and two hard losses in the double header for Kansas the night before. Royals have scored three runs or fewer in five losses. Odds should be in favour of Jays tonight. But we all know about Jays percentages. Jays 2-21 runners in scoring position in the Tampa series.

Final score: Jays 4 Royals 8 but it was the way they lost tonight that hurts.

Defence was the culprit tonight, makes a change from batting and pitching I guess. Nothing else left is there ? in this horrible slump.

The very good: Burnett pitching into the 8th and deserved a win. Rolen two run double in the 8th.
The good: Overbay HR, he has been playing much better this week getting on base at least, Rios 2-4 tonight.
The bad: Sloppy fielding by Rios and Wells. Horrible batting from most of team.
The very bad: Two errors Eckstein and especially the double play miss in 8th that leads to the avalanche.

Lineups
Jays: Eckstein, Hill, Rios, Wells, Stairs, Rolen, Overbay, Stewart, Barajas and Burnett pitching.

Kansas: De Jesus, Callapso, Gordon, Guillen ,Teahen, Butler, Gload, Buck, Tony Pena jr

Burnett won both starts in 2007 against Kansas while posting a 1.29 ERA. He's 2-1 with a 3.67 ERA in four career outings versus Kansas City. Toronto won four of seven meetings against Kansas 2007..
Cold and windy night Kansas had double header last night ending at midnight losing both games. Jays arrived early in the morning. Both should be tired but I would imagine a double header loss finishing at midnight is the rougher of the two on players.

The game:
Top 1st: Greinke young guy. only 24. Eckstein 1-10 in last three games, but career .365 batter at Kauffman Stadium, where he's hit safely in 18 of 19 games makes it 19 of 20 and loops single into LF, Hill only two hits in last 3 games, full count, pops to Guillen, Rios, fly ball to RF, Wells, grounds out to SS.
Bottom 1st: Burnett pitching, which AJ is around tonight ? De Jesus pops to Rolen, Callaspo grounds to SS, Gordon single to CF, Guillen strikes out. AJ 13 pitches.

Top 2nd: Stairs, ex Royal, full count, strikes out, Rolen first at bat for Jays full count, walks, Overbay at bat, Rolen running on first pitch, hit and run, Overbay single to RF and Rolen to 3B, aggression yeah ! Stewart pops up to 2B, Barajas. Jays .228 as team with runners in scoring position. Barajas strikes out leaving two on.
Bottom 2 . Teahen at bat,fly ball to LF, Butler grounds to Rolen, Gload, grounds to 2B. Five pitches for Burnett great… keep that pitch count down AJ.

Top 3rd: Eckstein grounds to 2B, Hill fly ball to RF, Rios, lines to LF good catch by Guillen. Quick inning for Greinke. Jays really a big threat tonight. Two bad teams fighting it out.
Bottom 3rd: Buck bounces back to Burnett bare hands throws him out at 1B, Tony Pena Jr. .136 average grounds to SS first pitch. De Jesus walks, Callaspo, De Jesus bouncing around at 1B, balk called on Burnett, De Jesus to 2B, Callaspo strikes out.

Top 4th: Wells first pitch swing fly ball to LF, Stairs double to LF, nice running by Stairs, tested LF throw, Rolen fly ball to wall, 0-3 runners in scoring position, Overbay pops up to SS,
Bottom 4th: Gordon strikes out, Guillen strikes out, Teahen singles to CF, Burnett balk, Teahen to 2B, Butler grounds to 2B.

Top 5th: Stewart grounds out 3B, Barajas fouls out to catcher, Eckstein strikes out.
Bottom 5th: Gload doubles to CF, Burnett wild pitch, Glaod to 3B. Buck doubles to RF Gload scores, 1-0 Kansas. Pena sacrifice bunt, DeJesus strikes out, Callaspo walks four pitches, Gordon grounds to SS.

Top 6th: Hill grounds out to 3B, Rios infield single to 3B, Wells flies out to RF, Stairs grounds to pitcher.
Bottom 6th: Guillen fly ball to RF, Teahen fly ball to LF, Butler ground ball to 3B.

Top 7th : Rolen grounds to SS, first pitch, Overbay HR Lyle CF 1-1 first for Lyle in 44 games since August 2--7, Stewart awful strike, pitch way off plate, Barajas high fly to LF.
Bottom 7th: Burnett 72 pitches Greinke 93 pitches. Gload full count strikes out, Buck grounds to SS, throw wild error to Eckstein, Buck at 1B, Pena single to LF, diving Hill cannot get it, two on, De Jesus single to CF, run scores 2-1 Royals. Callaspo at bat, Pena at 3B, Barajas fakes throw to 2B and gets Pena at 3B, great heads up play by Barajas, huge out. Two down, De Jesus to 2B on the play, Callaspo grounds to 3B.

Top 8th: Leo Nunez pitching. Eckstein grounds back to Nunez, Hill single to LF, Rios double to LF, Hill at 3B, Rios to 2B, Wells, grounds out to SS, Hill scores, 2-2. Rios to 3B, Wells out, Stairs hits Stairs on shoulder, Rolen at bat, don’t be a hero Scott just a hit, YES!!! two run double to left centre, 4-2 Jays. Overbay at bat, grounds to 2B (by the way friends, Frank would not have scored from 1B as Stairs did).
Bottom 8th: Burnett still pitching, Gordon pops out to Rolen, Guillen single to RF, 94 pitches. Teahen walks on full count, Arnsberg out there, Butler singles to LF, Guillen scores, 4-3 Jays. That’s it for AJ, nice game, just couldn’t finish it off but that’s what bullpens are for. Downs now in lefty lefty match up.. One down two on. Gload back to Downs, turns and throws to 2B Eckstein drops ball run scores, that was double play ball. 4-4. Second error of game for Eckstein. Buck singles down LF line, run scores from 2B. 5-4 Kansas, two on at 2 and 3B, Pena, puts him on intentional. Bases loaded for De Jesus, singles to RF two runs score 7-4 Kansas. Rios might have had a throw at 3B but doesn’t bother. And runner goes to 3B. sloppy. Callaspo with runners at 1B and 3B, single to CF, single but error by Wells as he fumbles ball, scores run 8-4 Kansas, that’s it for Downs. Frasor now in. Runners at 2B and 3B Gordon at bat, strikes out, two down both Gordon at bats !! Guillen at bat, chopper down 1B line Frasor fields to 1B. End of terrible inning, with two errors and six runs after going ahead in top of the inning.

Top 9th: Soria the closer. OK Jays what do you have ? any guts ? Stewart grounds to SS, Zaun pinch hit for Barajas, same again to SS, Eckstein the goat tonight, fitting that he is last at bat, grounds to 2B.
Tale of three games: Great pitching for 7 innings. Jays take lead 4-2 then Royals finish them off with six in bottom of same inning.

Epilogue: Tomorrow another game. Were there any good signs tonight ? Yes indeed and that is what we have to focus on. Great pitching from AJ, Scott Rolen is back and swinging so is Overbay, Rios 2-4. We know the fielding is usually very good, tonight was aberration especially for Eckstein. The hole is much deeper but this team is supposed to be able to put some wins together. And they have to find a way very quickly to salvage this road trip. How about a run of five wins ??

Now I believe the big question is how far with management go with John Gibbons ? Will he be history if Jays don’t turn this road trip around ? Someone has to pay, this team has been built up too much to accept underachieving this season.
Footnote: Rays beat up on Red Sox and Yankees lose to hot Indians. SO…… Jays don’t lose ground to those at the top but Rays go further ahead. Boston has lost three in a row now.