Romero fails miserably as A's bats destroy him in 16-0 thrashing

Was this the very worst game this team has played? If not I cannot remember sitting through a game at this stadium worse than tonight’s. Add on losing Arencibia to a broken hand which was bad enough and this was miserable ugly. I have seen them fight back and score a lot to win but not tonight. From the very first inning with Romero taking 26 pitches to get his three outs and giving up a run, this got even more ugly. Forty ? pitches later, yes you read that right, Romero took 66 pitches tonight to get four outs giving up eight runs and was out of the game at the start of the second inning. That was just the start. Beck was not much better, Carpenter whom I actually felt sorry for gave up three solo shots but at least he didn’t walk five like Romero. To rub it even further Farrell who’s mental state must be clearly questioned brings in Mathis, yes Jeff as in catcher tonight replacing Arencibia with a broken hand and makes him pitch an inning. It is totally irrelevant but interesting trivia factoid for the future that Mathis pitched better than the “ace” of the Jays pitching staff. Not sure what ace means anymore, maybe the clown in the blue costume. But the point is did Farrell ever consider what would have happened if Mathis had pulled a muscle or worse pitching? Maybe he wanted to give Gomes an inning catching but come on, catching Mathis is hardly the same. Hello but I thought we had Oliver and Janssen sitting out there, in fact Janssen was up at one point waving the towel around, maybe it was the white flag of surrender but at least he was out there. Now he has to pitch tomorrow or he will be far too strong and will be over pitching again. Manager Farrell misusing no sorry abusing the bullpen once again. Plus the decision to let Happ pitch several innings last night left him unable to come in tonight and provide long relief after Romero, this was exactly the scenario he would have thrived in. Oliver and Janssen did not pitch last night either. Monday was day off. This means they both have to pitch tomorrow. But the highlight for the 100 of us left in the stadium by the ninth, perhaps we need our heads looking at not Farrell. The highlight was not just Mathis pitching but coming out bottom of the inning to lead off the hitting and more to the point striking a fine single to right. I guess it was Alice in Wonderland at the park tonight. Maybe even more fitting as I leave into a torrential rainstorm, pathetic fallacy if ever there was one, this is one game that I would like to forget but probably never will. One run in eighteen innings is also very troubling for a team that demolished Red Sox in Fenway, that seems an awfully long time ago. The very good: Apart from the ace pitcher Mathis. Gose gets his first real hit a nice double in the 8th. That will help the average. A bomb by Travis to right that was caught by Reddick climbing the wire fence and taking it away from Travis, I was already out of my seat and so was the guy on the button for the home run foghorn. An amazing catch that probably epitomised the Jays night. Although in the bottom of the 8th Jays had two on when Farrell, (what was wrong with this guy tonight?) pinch hits for Encarnacion!!! Gomes struck out with two and the best chance all night of scoring any runs, not that they would have scored 16 but a couple would have made the taste a little better for the few fans left. Tomorrow a midday game and the thousands of children from the summer camps, it will be roof on as this weather now is sticking around. I love going to these midweek matinees. The noise will be amazing but this team has a habit of blowing such opportunities and never seem to take advantage of the extra man that the young crowd provides, they cheer everything. But so far this team has given nothing for anyone to cheer about in this series and will be fighting to avoid another sweep, the second in three series, that is not good at all. . Any good news today, yes Morrow threw today in Dunedin and will have first rehab start at the weekend. Santos surgery revealed nothing new and went well should be back by spring training. And evidently Bautista will be swinging a bat at the weekend. That is good news with the Jays offence in a funk. Jays go 0-6 again with runners in scoring position, so far this series 0-12 ouch that is gruesome. Carpenter 4 innings work threw 67 pitches (more than Romero in 1.1) gave up three solo home runs but struck out five. Weird line. Jays pitchers threw 201 pitches. That is enough for two games and it seemed like it as well, must have been rough for the Jays fielders they seemed to be out there the whole night. Meantime the Athletics went 7-14 and did not miss many opportunities to score. Lineups: Athletics. Crisp, Gomes, Reddick, Cespedes, Inge, Norris, Hicks, Weeks and Griffin pitching. Jays: Lawrie, Rasmus, Encarnacion, Lind, Mathis, Johnson, Snider, Vizquel, Gose and Romero pitching. Top 1st: Crisp fly ball to Gose in right. Gomes ball four, one on one down for Reddick, pops it up to Encarnacion at first. Two down. Cespedes, doubles to Rasmus in centre, Gomes scores. Carter, ball four. Inge there goes Cespedes and safe at third without a throw. Inge grounds to Vizquel throw to Edwin to end the inning. Romero 26 pitches for the inning. Not looking good at all and very slow and deliberate. Bottom 1st: Lawrie grounds to Hicks at short , throw to Carter at first for the out. Rasmus, strikes out swinging, two down for Encarnacion, ball four. One on two down for Lind, strikes out swinging. Top 2nd: Norris, ball four, leadoff walk and the second by Romero. Hicks, wild pitch and Norris to second without a throw. Hicks, takes strike three. One down one on for bottom of the order Weeks. Ball four and the second walk of the inning by Romero. Crisp singles to left, Snider fumbles the ball and his throw gets away. Error to Snider as run scores, 2-0 Athletics. Weeks to second, Crisp at first. Here comes Bruce Walton. Gomes singles to Rasmus in centre, Weeks scores. 3-0 A’s. Reddick, lines to Gose in right, 4-0 Gomes to third. Cespedes intentional walk to load them up. Carter, ball four, another run scores, I don’t think that is what Romero and Farrell wanted here, 5-0 Athletics as Gomes scores and bases stay loaded. Romero on 66 pitches, that means he has thrown 40 pitches this inning alone for one out. And there are three runners on base his responsibility. But Farrell has had enough, so have all the fans around my seats. Romero is booed off the field. Head down and straight for the tunnel. Let’s hope he does not punch the wall. Chad Beck now pitching with bases loaded and one down, poor guy. Inge lines to Snider in left, here comes Reddick, here comes Cespedes, 7-0 A’s. Carter at third, Inge at second. Norris, lines to Gose in right, Carter scores, Inge to third. 8-0 A’s. Hicks, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Edwin for the second out, Inge scores 9-0. Weeks grounds to Edwin throw to Beck and mercifully this inning over. Eight runs score and this game is over early. Jays look shell-shocked and believe me the fans are giving the team their opinion. That is one terrible ugly, ugly inning. Bottom 2nd: Mathis now pinch hitting for Arencibia, why is he out of the game. He had one pitch fouled off his bare hand but he shook it off and stayed in there. Mathis strikes out swinging. One down Johnson, fly ball to Crisp in centre. Snider, hammers this on to right and this one is out of here, NO an amazing catch as Reddick climbs the wall and comes down with it. I was already celebrating the home run as was the stadium guy on the foghorn, started to sound it and then cut it. Oh Wow, Reddick climbed that wire fence in the bullpen to make that catch above the wall to end this one, three up and down and Jays are back out there. We will be seeing that catch on highlight reels for the rest of season. Top 3rd: Mathis stays in to catch. Carpenter replaces Beck. This poor guy should be in Vegas and is only there because of Frasor injury. Crisp, oh no, first pitch, high to right and over the fence, home run and 10-0 A’s. This is getting embarrassing; I hope Romero thinks so as well. Gomes, ball four. Yet another walk. Reddick, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Vizquel covering he bag, to get Gomes. Cespedes, strikes out swinging, two down. Carter lines it right at Vizquel for the third out. Not as bad as the second inning but Jays had better start hitting and getting back in this one. Bottom 3rd: News on Arencibia from the Tweets, he has broken his hand. Can you believe that, the one Jays hitter who had been hot recently and now he is gone. Who knows for how long? Vizquel leading off, pops it up to Norris behind the plate, one down for Gose, grounds to Weeks at second, throw to Carter, two down. Gose still unable to get a clean hit, his sole hit was that bunt single his first at bat in his first game. Lawrie, two down. Grounds to Hicks throw to Carter to end the inning, another three up and down by the Jays. Tope 4th: Inge pops it up to Lawrie at third, one down. Norris fly ball to Rasmus in centre, two down. Hicks strikes out swinging. Great cheers in my section. Beck no damage. Bottom 4th: Rasmus, strikes out swinging, one down. Encarnacion lines this one down the left field line, fan leans over to get the ball, interference called and Edwin has to stop at second. Lind, strikes out swinging. Mathis, ball four, two on two down for Johnson, strikes out swinging to leave two out there. That kind of day for the Jays. Top 5th: Weeks, strikes out swinging, one down for top of the order yet again. Crisp, there he goes again fly ball to right and this one is out of there and his second home run off Carpenter. 11-0 A’s. Gomes one down, strikes out swinging, two down. Reddick, pops it up to Lawrie at third. But A’s have another. Bottom 5th: Snider, strikes out, one down for Vziquel, lines to Gomes on left as he dives and makes the catch, no, third base umpire says no catch and Omar is safe at first. Gose, strikes out swinging, unable to buy a hit. Lawrie singles to short, unable to come up cleanly and make the out. Vizquel to second, Jays have two on. Two down for Rasmus. Colby pops it up to Hicks at short, leaving two out there. Top 6th: Cespedes, pops up to Edwin at first, one down. Carter one down, oh no, not another, fly ball to left and this one is over head of Travis another home run, the third given up by Carpenter. 12-0 A’s. Inge one down, strikes out swinging, two down for Norris fly ball to Rasmus in centre to end the inning but A’s keep adding them on. Bottom 6th: Encarnacion leading off, strikes out swinging. One down for Lind, grounds off the end of his bat to pitcher Griffin, throw to Carter for the out at first. Two down for Mathis. Fly ball to left and Gomes makes the catch. Another three up and down. Top 7th: Loup now pitching for Carpenter. Carpenter actually did a fairly good job of stemming the bloodletting, four innings and three runs but that is ok assuming the Jays offence should be doing their job. Plus this guy should be in Vegas not in Toronto. He ate up the innings for the team and they should see it that way. Hicks takes strike three. One down. Weeks, grounds to Johnson at second, throw to Edwin, two down. Crisp, fly ball to Gose in right. Three up and down for Loup. He did his job. Bottom 7th: That is it for Griffin, he completely fooled Jays hitters all night. Blevins now pitching. Lefty lefty match up as Johnson leads off. Strikes out swinging, one down for another lefty in Snider, strikes out swinging. Two down for Vizquel, fly ball to Gomes in left. Blevins mowing them down here. Top 8th: Gomes grounds to Loup and safe on the slow roller. Nothing going Jays way tonight, get all this hex stuff out of the way and blow Oakland out of the water tomorrow. That’s the theory. Seth Smith pinch hitting for Reddick, grounds to Lawrie, throw to Johnson at second to get Gomes. Cespedes, lines to Gose in right, here comes Smith to score 13-0 Oakland. Error to Johnson on the relay throw and Cespedes goes to third. Carter grounds to Vizquel, not coming home but throw to Edwin at first to get the out. Cespedes scores 14-0. Inge pops it up to Edwin at first. Bottom 8th: Smith in right field, Sogard replaces Inge at third. Jim Miller now pitching. Gose, there we go Anthony, lines it up the middle and he motors easily to second. His first major hit. Crowd gives him a very nice ovation, they are following his at bats. Lawrie, grounds to Hick at shirt as Gose is past him to third. Throw to first to get Lawrie. One down and runner at third, will this be the first run? Top of the order Rasmus and Edwin. No, not Colby as Rajai Davis pinch hitting for him. Strange decision. Ball four, two on one down for Edwin. No, another pinch hitter, I don’t get it with runners in scoring position and chance to get a couple maybe. Yan Gomes ??? pinch hitting for Edwin. Strikes out swinging, well that gamble worked for the Manager. Two down and Lind hitting, if ever there is a need for a pinch hitter it would e for Lind right now, not for Colby and Edwin. Lind hitless tonight, strikes out swinging, leaving two out there. Awful on a night of ugly at bats. Top 9th: Now know Farrell has lost it, Mathis, yes Jeff Mathis is pitching for the second time this season. BUT the difference tonight is that Mathis is now the number one catcher with Arencibia out with broken hand. If Mathis injures himself here, Farrell should be fired. Remember Canseco pitching and unable to hit afterwards. Mathis obviously in to eat up an inning in a meaningless game but surely Oliver or Janssen could do that, both need the work not having pitched since Fenway. Norris leading off, lines to Davis in centre and stand up double to lead off. Hicks, lines to Snider in left, here comes Norris to score 15-0 A’s. OK no mercy. Weeks grounds to Johnson, throw to Lind now at first for the out. What is left of this crowd cheer the out for Mathis. Hicks moves to third. Crisp fly ball to Gose, funny Hicks is not moving on the throw and wow great bullet to the plate without a bounce, that is some arm that Gose has and Hicks obviously knew. Two down. Brandon Moss pinch hitting for Gomes. Lines to Gose in right, here comes Hicks to score 16-0 A’s. Smith pops it up to Vizquel at short for the out. Mathis gets a great ovation and so he should, he actually threw fewer pitches (21) than Romero did (26) in his first inning. I would not like to be the three A’s hitters who made outs for Mathis. For the archival record, Weeks, Crisp (he of the two home runs) and Smith. Bottom 9th: Look who is leading off, Mr Everyman, Jeff Mathis. Yan Gomes catching, I guess he will be the backup for now which could mean we will see Moises Sierra again, he is really lighting up the AAA Vegas 51 team. Mathis lines to Moss in right, leadoff single. He does everything obviously, crowd gives him nice applause, at least one Jay has earned it tonight. Johnson, fly ball to centre for Crisp to make the out. One down one on for Snider, good at bat here for Travis, fouling them off besides us here, everyone getting a foul ball, pops this one up to Carter. Jays down to their last at bat. Vizquel, grounds to Weeks, throw to Hicks to get Mathis at second and this one is finally over. Jays lose one very poorly played game. New for the decision re Romero and replacement for Arencibia.