That was quite a game last night. From Bob Davidson to Brett Cecil to Yunel Escobar to Travis Snider to Edwin Encarnacion and missed opportunities there was a lot that happened in this game. And unfortunately the end result was not good.
Bob Davidson is one of the worst umpires in the major leagues and he has been for many years. Mike Wilner keeps mentioning how Davidson blew the Kelly Gruber triple play call in the world series but Davidson has a long list of blown calls. I remember the world baseball classic where Davidson butchered call after call.
Davidson was behind the plate for Drabek's start on Friday night and he missed a lot of ball and strike calls. Earlier last night he blew a call in the Jays favour when Tori Hunter was safe on a play at third but Davidson called him out. Then there was the 13th inning last night. Bases loaded, ground ball to third, Callaspo knew Escobar was coming in his direction, running from second to third, and he hesitated and made a bad throw to first allowing the go-ahead run to score. But Bob Davidson called Escobar out for interference. The rule says that Escobar has to allow Callaspo to make the play, Escobar didn't interfere directly with Callaspo but his presence distracted him. Davidson saw that Callaspo was distracted and called interference but in reality Callaspo distracted himself. I thought it was a bad call. Here is how Lyle Spencer from MLB described the reaction. The story also has video of the play.
"Bob Davidson's interpretation of the play was that Callaspo's timing and direction to the ball [were] altered going into third," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "I obviously disagreed with his view and his judgment. I would still argue the same play all over again.
"I saw that as a slow roller to the 5-6 hole that Yunel had his baseline established. [I] recognize that he has to give right of way to the defensive player, but that ball was 10 feet away from him.
"I viewed it as Callaspo was unsure if [shortstop] Izturis was going to cut him off, which is a very typical play for a shortstop to cut off a third baseman there. Again, if that were to happen 10 more times, I would still have the same thought to the point, where I think video backs up my view of it."
Not surprisingly, Angels manager Mike Scioscia had a different view and interpretation of the play.
"The baserunner has to yield to a fielder," Scioscia said. "Alberto definitely had to alter his route to the ball from where Escobar was running. You have to make the throw and let Escobar get by him."
In other news:
Yunel Escobar obviously was cleared to play, he pinch hit and walked in the thirteenth. He was in the DH slot and didn't play in the field.
Brett Cecil did not look good and he was tagged for ten hits in five innings. Nothing looked sharp, he was missing his spots and his pitches didn't look crisp. He had nothing working to get the swings and misses. If Reyes pitches well today Cecil will have one chance to stay away from Las Vegas.
The bullpen was great until Jon Rauch came in. Rauch has been generally unimpressive so far. If there is a save situation in the next few days I would almost prefer Dotel as the closer unless there are a lot of lefthanders coming up in which case I would prefer Rzepczynski.
The Jays had lots of opportunities to win the game before the fateful 14th. In case you didn't notice the Jays ended the game with four players hitting under .200. Rajai Davis, Edwin Encarnacion, Travis Snider and Juan Rivera are well under 200 and Aaron Hill is barely over it. Remember spring training? Davis was the star and hit a number of home runs, four I think. So far this season he has hit no home runs and he hasn't taken a walk yet. Davis will have to stop swinging at everything to stay at the top of the lineup.
The guy who couldn't hit in spring, JP Arencibia, had another couple of hits last night and also picked up his first strikeout of the season.
Travis Snider made a couple of bad plays in the outfield. The double by Bourjos that ended up as the game winning run, was only a hit because Snider fell down. Earlier he overran a ball and was charged with an error.
Speaking of errors EE made another one, again on a throw. There were reports that he had hurt himself late in the game and we will see today what that means.
Even though Bautista had a couple of hits last night he is not locked in at the plate yet.
Defensively the Jays made a great play when the Angels tried to win the game on a double steal in a first and third situation. Aaron Hill did not fall for the rundwon between first and second and fired home for the out at the plate. I don't generally go goo-goo over John McDonald but on one play last night he made the fastest transfer from glove to throw that I have ever seen.
The Jays need Reyes to pitch well today and save the bullpen. The Jays face Jared Weaver and King Felix over the next two days so they could be 5-5 very quickly.
If EE is injured, and even if he is not, I would play Jayson Nix at third today (or even Johhny Mc) and leave EE and Juan Rivera to fight over DH at-bats.
So who stayed up until 2:30? I did not and had to rely on the PVR after the 11th.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2011041009272523