Jays disappoint sellout crowd as they are swept by the Nationals despite home run 19 by Jose

Nationals v Jays. Series finale. Jays fans expecting the worst today and the sweep. Drabek hardly inspires any confidence and right now the bats are also silent with the exception of Jose who is and Colby Rasmus hitting his stride at a good time but on their own I am afraid until Edwin gets his timing back after his injury. Today Nationals number one pitcher Strasbourg. In comparison Jays number one Morrow is on the DL. If they do get swept today Jays will fall below .500 for first time this season. Problem I have with Harper is that the hype detracts from the real guy. My theory is that the media have made him into some sort of invincible five tool player, the Tiger Woods syndrome which the media promote for TV $ and the players start to believe and react accordingly to the hype until they are psyched out by the guy before he even gets to bat. Ten weeks of a season is far from being an accurate guide. Talent yes indeed in buckets, but Superman ? I don’t think so, we may yet see the Jeremy Lin factor at work later in the season. Lineups: Nationals: Lombardozzi, Harper, Zimmerman, Morse, Desmond, Espinosa, Moore, Ankiel, Flores and Strasburg pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Bautista, Encarnacion, Cooper, Escobar, Johnson, Arencibia, Davis and Drabek pitching. Top 1st: Another amazing crowd here must e over 40,000. Schol day but also end of term, post-exams for many. Noise will be great but can the Jays feed of it? Lombardozzi strikes out swinging. One down for Harper, grounds Johnson at second, throw to Encarnacion at first, two down. Zimmerman fly ball to Bautista in right for a three up and down inning, what a change !!1 Bottom 1st: Lawrie singles to Zimmerman and safe at first, nice start Brett. Rasmus strikes out swinging. Bautista grounds to Desmond at short, throw to Espinosa at second. Bautista to first. Two down one on for Encarnacion strikes out swinging. Top 2nd: Morse singles to Rasmus in centre. Desmond, ball four and walks. Two with Morse at second. Espinosa grounds to Encarnacion at first, no chance for two. Morse to 3rd. Desmond to 2nd. Drabek in early trouble here, ground ball will not help him much. Moore lines to left and bounces over the wall, ground-rule double 2-0 Nationals. Still only one down for Ankiel, fly ball to Bautista. Two down for Flores grounds to Johnson throw to Encarnacion to end it but Jays already playing catch-up. Bottom 2nd: Cooper strikes out swinging. I think we have seen enough of Cooper, pitchers have already adjusted to him but he has not. Escobar fly ball to Harper in right, two down for Johnson. Kelly singles to Lombardozzi in left. Arencibia, another in a slump, strikes out swinging. Top 3rd: Lombardozzi fly ball to Bautista in right, one down for Harper. Lines to Bautista in right for a stand up double. One on one down. Zimmerman singles to Lawrie. Harper to 3rd. Morse grounds to Escobar, on to Johnson over to Edwin at first, double play ball. Very nice. Bottom 3rd: Davis fly ball to Ankiel in centre, Rajai all the way to third on the play, his second triple of the season. Lawrie grounds to Desmond at short, throw to first baseman Moore at first, not in time and Rajai Davis scores.Finally. 2-1 Jays. Rasmus strikes out swinging. Bautista, YES JOSE, once again, high fly ball to left and over the wall, yet another home run for Jose, number 19. WOW !!!! 2-2 game. Encarnacion grounds Desmond at short throw to first baseman Moore. Top 4th: Desmond fly ball to Rasmus, one down for Espinosa singles to Bautista. One on for Moore, goodbye to this one, two run home and the first for Moore, it would be off Drabek. 4-2 Nationals. Ankiel singles to Rasmus. Flores ball four two more on. Lombardozzi grounds to Encarnacion throw to Escobar. Rick Ankiel to 3rd. Flores out at 2nd. Steve Lombardozzi to 1st. Bases loaded for Harper, grounds to Johnson at second throw to Escobar to get Lombardozzi. What an ugly inning by Drabek. Just awful and very lucky to escape with only two more runs. Bottom 4th: Cooper grounds Moore at first, one down. Escobar grounds to short, Desmond throw to Moore at first for the second out. Johnson takes strike three. Jays answer to that long inning by the Nationals, this team looks a tired depressed bunch and they are certainly doing that to their fans right now. Top 5th: Zimmerman pops it up to Johnson. One down. Drabek now injured, holding his arm, that is it for Drabek. Laffey now pitching and could even be an improvement on Drabek the way he has been pitching. But then again if he has been pitching with an injury it could explain his poor pitching record. Morse grounds first pitch back to Laffey throw to first for Encarnacion to make the second out. Desmond grounds to Johnson throw to Edwin for the out. Efficient pitching from Laffey making a play here for the rotation ??? You have my vote Aaron. Bottom 5th: Arencibia strikes out swinging. One down. Davis singles on to Harper in right, one on one down for top of the order. Lawrie there goes Rajai they have him picked off and out at second. Two down. Lawrie fly ball to Harper for third out. Jays are getting no breaks from the baseball gods. Top 6th: Espinosa grounds to Lawrie throw to Edwin Encarnacion. One down for Moore hammers this one to centre and over the wall, his second home run of the game and season. Ankiel strikes out looking. Flores grounds to Lawrie throw to Encarnacion to end this one but National keep slugging away. Bottom 6th: Rasmus leading off, strikes out swinging. Bautista ball four, how many walks is that given by this team, must be 5 or 6 in less that three games ???? Encarnacion, wild pitch by Strasburg and Jose to second. Even Strasburg is mortal. Fly ball to Lombardozzi in left, two down. Cooper fly ball to Ankiel in centre. Top 7th: Lombardozzi strikes out, one down for Harper, grounds to Lawrie throw to first for Encarnacion to make the out. Harper not having a great day today. Zimmerman grounds to Escobar at short, throw to first for Edwin to make the out. Bottom 7th: Stammen now pitching. Escobar singles to Ankiel in centre field. Johnson one on, strikes out swinging. One down for Arencibia grounds back to pitcher Stammen throw to Moore at first but Escobar moves to 2nd. Davis now hitting, there goes Escobar and safe at 3rd. Davis, strikes out swinging. Top 8th: Morse leading off grounds to third for Lawrie to make throw to Encarnacion. One down. Desmond gets hold of this one fly ball to left and over the fence, home run to Desmond. 6-2 Nationals. That is it for Laffey, here comes Cordero. Espinosa ball four, great start by Cordero, manager Farrell must take vallium to get him through these games. Moore fly ball to left for Davis to make the out. Ankiel, lines out to Johnson for the third out. Bottom 8th: Lawrie leading off, grounds Desmond at short, throw to first base Moore. One down. Rasmus lines this one hard to left-centre field, bounces over the wall, ground rule double. Bautista strike three looking. Encarnacion ball four, two on for Cooper, strikes out swinging. May have had his last at bat for a while in the big league, leaves to more on base. Not good, not good at all Cooper. Top 9th: Janssen now pitching, not much point letting him sit in the bullpen waiting for a call for a save. Not with the Jays right now anyway. Flores fly ball to Rasmus. One down. Lombardozzi grounds to Edwin throw to Casey for second out. Harper takes strike three. Harper looking ordinary today. My theory exactly. Bottom 9th: Brad Lidge now pitching. Escobar strikes out swinging. Johnson lines to centre for Ankiel to make the catch. Two down for Arencibia, grounds to Moore at first, takes it himself. Finally the agony is over. The result was never doubted even before this game. Nationals outplayed the Jays in every category. Very few of the Jays can hold their heads high after this debacle. Yes Washington is division leader and yes they have a good team but this Jays team beats themselves time and time again. Today’s RISP 0-6.They had seven hits and only two runs. Nationals had nine but four more runs. Both Strasburg and Harper were normal mortals today but even normalcy was too much for this lineup. Changes have to be made. Cooper has to go for a start. Arencibia may have to sit and watch D’Arnaud for 100 at bats, that seems to be the magic number for management. If Drabek is gone to injury, he will not be missed by the fans, a chronic underachiever but unfortunately he is not the only one, add in Romero and Cordero to that list. Jays will fall to the bottom if Boston wins later tonight and maybe that is a good thing. There will be no more expectations from the fans that this team somehow had more talent than they actually have out the