No, not the losing. Not even the failure to mount anything resembling an offense, although those things are indeed very tiresome as well.
Tonight it was Voldemort himself, Esteban Loaiza. Not only did he throw six shutout innings, he lined a two run double to give himself all the run support he would need. (In view of how little offense the Nationals have given The Dark Lord this year, one has to regard this as a wise precaution.)
Didn't Roger Clemens limit our boys to one run over 7 IP about two weeks ago? And then, mere days later, didn't Chris Carpenter throw a one-hit shutout in our faces, striking out 10, facing just two over the minimum?
These were our guys. We cheered for them once, we hoped with all our heart that they would Do Well.
Now would be a good time to Stop, fellas.
Oh well. At least we kicked the crap out of Doug Davis.
Anyway, tonight's game made me think of the events of the last two weeks - the Carpenter and Clemens games. And that made me think - how have former Jays performed when facing the Blue Jays. So I went and gathered the data and I'm going to pass it along to you.
I'm only interested in what they did against Toronto after they had played here, after we had invested our hopes and dreams and mojo in them. Roger Clemens, from 1984 through 1996, was just an Evil Guy on another team. But since 1999, he has been one of our own who has Fallen from Grace and joined the Dark Side. What's he done with it? Plenty, as it happens.
The former Jay who pitched most often against Toronto was David Cone - most starts (23), innings (147.2), and wins (9). Cone did have a lengthy career as a former Jay. Clemens has made barely half as many starts against the Blue Jays since leaving town. That hasn't stopped him from winning just one fewer game than Cone - the Rocket is 8-2 against Toronto, and if Brad Lidge hadn't blown a three run lead this month, Clemens would have caught up to Cone.
They were our boys, but they became Yankees. They joined the Evil Empire. Not all of them used the force effectively against the Blue Jays. David Wells is 4-8, 5.78 against Toronto since leaving town.
But if we were to pick one former Jay as the man who actually pitched most effectively against his former mates, it would be... Mark Eichhorn? Mark! What did we do to deserve this? When your arm went bad, we nurtured you. We taught you to throw sidearm. True, when you slumped in 1988, we sent you to the minors. And sold you to Atlanta. But still... 6-1, 1.72? That's harsh.
Tom Henke and Billy Koch have both saved 6 games against the Blue Jays, which is more than anyone else. We have had some measure of satisfaction. The Jays managed to hang a couple of losses on the Terminator. And as for Billy Koch - well, the Jays did beat his brains in a time or two, and left him an 11.32 ERA.
It took a while before a former Blue Jays was able to record a win against his old team. Think about it. There weren't any former Blue Jays in 1977 - well, not at first. Steve Hargan pitched briefly with the Jays, and then moved on to Texas. He faced the Jays on May 21 1977, and it didn't go well. Fairly walked, Ault singled, Ashby homered, and Torres tripled. With three runs in, they gave him the hook rather than see if he could allow the cycle. It was Hargan's only appearance against Toronto - the Rangers sold him to Atlanta three weeks later. The Braves released him at the end of the season, and he called it a career.
The first former Toronto pitcher to come back and beat the Blue Jays was Tom Underwood on June 1, 1980 at Yankee Stadium. Paul Mirabella, who would one day become an ex-Jay himself took the 11-5 loss. Underwood picked up a second win against Toronto later that year, working 3 innings of scoreless relief. This game began on a Wednesday evening in September. It was suspended in the top of the 10th when it started raining in New York, just after the Jays had scored two runs to take a 5-3 lead. They resumed the next day, and Lloyd Moseby added a two-run inside the park home run to make the score 7-3. Bobby Mattick sent Dave Stieb out to pitch the 10th. (Luis Leal would start and win the game actually scheduled later that day - he tossed a CG two-hitter, in fact.) Anyway, Stieb promptly gave up four runs in the bottom of the 10th to tie it up again. So the game went on a little longer, with Jack Kucek pitching for the Jays and Underwood coming on for the Yankees, who finally won it in 13.
None of you will possibly guess the first former Blue Jay to come back and throw a CG shutout at his former team.
It was Luis Aquino.
Aquino made 7 relief appearances for the Blue Jays in 1986, and was traded to Kansas City for Juan Beniquez a year later. The Royals called him up in August 1988, and he made the second start of his ML career on the 14th of August against the Jays. He shut them down on 6 hits. Aquino went on to give the Royals several useful seasons as a swing man.
The second former Blue Jay to come back and throw a shutout was... Chris Carpenter. Yes, there have been only two.
There haven't even been very many CG victories by former Jays. Neither Cone nor Clemens ever went the distance to defeat their former team. Tommy Underwood did - he was actually the first, on September 29 1981. Underwood was with Oakland by then. He was followed soon enough by Pete Vuckovich (August 13, 1982) and Ken Schrom (September 15 1983, for Minnesota). Aquino's 1988 shutout was the fourth complete game. John Cerutti spent one year, 1991, as a former Jay. He worked mostly out of the Detroit bullpen, but he did start 8 games, and one of them was against Toronto on August 6, 1991. The Jays got to him for two first inning runs - Cerutti shut them down the rest of the way. But Jimmy Key and three relievers held the Tigers to just one run. Cerutti is the only former Jay to pitch a complete game against the old team and take the loss.
Jimmy Key himself became a former Jay in 1993 - he returned to SkyDome in June and won 4-3, and beat the Jays again at Yankee Stadium, going the distance in a 5-4 victory. That was the last CG against Toronto by a former Jay until last May, when Voldemort came back to the SkyDome and pitched the White Sox to a 5-2 win. Chris Carpenter's game was the second shutout and eighth complete game.
Roger Clemens may have never pitched a shutout or a complete game against the Jays since leaving Toronto. (Of course, before he got here, he was 15-10 against the Jays with 5 CG and 1 SHO.) However, Clemens did have the biggest single season against his old mates - he started 5 times against the Jays in 2001, and went 4-0, 3.86 in 32.2 IP. Pete Vuckovich (1982), Ken Schrom (1983), and David Wells (1997) also beat the Jays three times in a season. Somewhat surprisingly, so did Mark Eichhorn (1994) and Mike Timlin (2003). The Jays have never hung 3 losses on an old team mate, although they've beaten lots and lots of guys twice.
OK, today's Rows of Numbers. These are just the career records against Toronto of former Blue Jays, and again I point out that this only includes what they did against the Jays after leaving Toronto. We don't care about Mike Flanagan's many, many victories over the Blue Jays before 1987 (he was 17-7 with 4 shutouts) - we only care about his work as an old LOOGY in 1991 and 1992.
As you can see, Mike Timlin has pitched the most games against the Blue Jays since leaving us in 1997 - the most outings in a single season were the 11 appearances by Paul Quantrill last year.
I've just arranged them by career innings pitched.
G GS CG SHO GF W L SV IP H BFP HR R ER BB SO ERA David Cone 23 23 0 0 0 9 7 0 147.2 38 619 21 65 61 46 135 3.73 David Wells 16 16 0 0 0 4 8 0 104.3 126 454 6 69 67 23 80 5.78 Roger Clemens 12 12 0 0 0 8 2 0 77.0 72 324 7 32 31 29 76 3.62 Tom Underwood 21 9 1 0 3 5 3 0 74.3 62 317 8 42 31 34 57 3.75 Jimmy Key 10 10 1 0 0 5 3 0 61.0 57 251 8 31 30 21 37 4.43 Doyle Alexander 8 8 0 0 0 2 3 0 57.7 57 245 6 26 23 18 22 3.59 Ken Schrom 12 9 1 0 1 4 4 0 56.3 68 253 10 28 27 20 23 4.31 Juan Berenguer 22 4 0 0 8 3 1 0 53.0 42 225 8 25 18 25 56 3.06 Pete Vuckovich 8 8 1 0 0 3 2 0 47.0 55 217 4 28 25 25 23 4.79 Esteban Loaiza 8 7 1 0 0 4 2 0 45.0 50 195 5 25 24 16 23 4.80 Dennis Lamp 22 0 0 0 6 3 4 0 42.0 48 188 6 33 27 16 23 5.79 Mike Timlin 36 0 0 0 10 5 4 1 42.0 41 174 3 17 16 8 42 3.43 Frank Castillo 7 7 0 0 0 2 4 0 37.3 42 161 4 29 26 12 37 6.27 Mike Morgan 8 6 0 0 0 2 4 0 37.3 50 174 4 30 27 13 17 6.51 Luis Aquino 11 3 1 1 4 3 2 0 36.3 33 153 4 13 12 13 14 2.97 Willie Blair 6 5 0 0 0 2 3 0 35.3 42 155 5 26 24 9 18 6.11 Paul Mirabella 17 0 0 0 5 1 1 0 33.7 31 138 3 20 14 11 18 3.74 Mark Eichhorn 20 0 0 0 9 6 1 2 31.3 25 124 0 8 6 8 26 1.72 Mark Hendrickson 4 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 23.7 30 105 1 19 9 3 12 3.42 John Cerutti 5 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 22.7 17 88 1 6 6 3 10 2.38 Tom Filer 4 4 0 0 0 2 1 0 22.0 25 95 2 14 14 8 5 5.73 Pat Hentgen 4 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 21.7 21 91 4 14 13 6 11 5.40 Omar Daal 5 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 21.3 28 100 2 17 15 9 7 6.33 Doug Linton 5 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 20.7 24 89 2 11 11 8 10 4.79 Tom Candiotti 3 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 18.7 19 79 2 8 8 6 8 3.86 Al Leiter 3 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 18.7 16 79 1 6 6 11 16 2.89 Juan Guzman 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 16.3 19 77 5 16 12 8 18 6.61 Bryan Clark 10 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 16.3 13 68 2 10 10 11 6 5.51 Kelvim Escobar 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 13.3 10 53 0 3 3 4 21 2.03 Paul Quantrill 15 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 13.0 18 61 0 6 6 4 6 4.15 Todd Stottlemyre 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 12.7 12 58 2 6 5 7 18 3.55 Tim Crabtree 13 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 12.3 11 50 1 5 5 4 10 3.65 Victor Cruz 6 0 0 0 6 0 0 2 11.3 9 44 0 2 2 3 12 1.59 Mike Flanagan 7 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 10.3 9 44 1 1 1 4 4 0.87 Tom Henke 9 0 0 0 9 0 2 6 10.3 11 44 1 4 4 2 11 3.48 Dale Murray 4 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 10.3 14 51 0 9 6 4 6 5.23 Billy Koch 12 0 0 0 10 0 0 6 10.3 10 51 2 13 13 8 11 11.32 Tony Castillo 8 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 10.0 13 50 1 5 3 8 8 2.70 Aaron Small 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9.7 18 49 0 8 8 3 10 7.45 Dave Geisel 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 9.3 14 47 0 8 7 4 11 6.75 Brandon Lyon 7 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 9.0 8 38 1 5 1 2 9 1.00 Chris Carpenter 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 9.0 1 28 0 0 0 1 10 0.00 Felix Heredia 10 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 8.3 11 35 1 2 2 1 4 2.16 Steve Trachsel 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 8.0 4 28 0 0 0 1 5 0.00 Woody Williams 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.0 1 25 0 0 0 1 5 1.13 Carlos Almanzar 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.3 10 33 2 5 5 2 7 6.14 Ryan Glynn 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 7.0 6 28 1 3 3 2 6 3.86 Jesse Jefferson 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.7 7 30 1 4 4 3 3 5.40 Dave Stewart 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.7 12 40 0 10 8 7 5 10.80 Edwin Hurtado 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 6.7 9 33 2 9 9 4 3 12.15 Tanyon Sturtze 3 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 6.3 3 21 0 2 2 1 6 2.84 Xavier Hernandez 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 6.3 10 34 1 6 4 4 5 5.68 Bob MacDonald 7 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 6.3 3 25 0 2 2 3 6 2.84 Jack Morris 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 9 29 1 4 4 3 5 6.00 Graeme Lloyd 6 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 6.0 4 25 1 2 2 2 3 3.00 Paul Menhart 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 6.0 7 26 1 3 3 3 3 4.50 Bud Black 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 2 21 0 0 0 1 7 0.00 John Bale 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.3 3 22 0 2 2 3 4 3.37 Trever Miller 9 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 5.3 7 22 0 2 2 1 5 3.38 Paul Spoljaric 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5.0 8 25 1 5 5 4 6 9.00 Gary Glover 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4.7 7 22 1 4 4 1 4 7.71 Robert Person 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4.7 1 19 0 3 3 3 4 5.79 Mark Guthrie 5 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 4.3 7 23 2 5 5 3 3 10.38 Don Gordon 4 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 4.3 4 22 0 2 1 3 2 2.08 Danny Darwin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.3 4 17 2 3 3 0 7 6.23 Greg Cadaret 7 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 3.7 1 16 0 1 1 2 6 2.45 Joey McLaughlin 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3.0 2 12 1 2 2 1 4 6.00 Dane Johnson 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3.0 3 14 0 0 0 2 3 0.00 Joey Hamilton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 5 14 1 3 3 0 2 9.00 Vince Horsman 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2.3 3 15 1 3 3 4 1 11.57 Darwin Cubillan 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 6 14 0 3 3 2 1 13.50 Paul Kilgus 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.7 5 14 0 4 4 4 1 21.60 Stan Clarke 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.7 1 6 1 1 1 0 1 5.40 Doug Davis 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.7 8 14 0 7 7 1 3 37.80 Steve Davis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 4 8 0 3 3 0 1 20.25 Terry Adams 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 4 9 0 4 4 1 2 27.00 Tom Davey 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.3 3 9 0 2 2 1 2 13.50 Cliff Politte 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1.3 1 6 0 1 1 1 1 6.75 Dave Weathers 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 Jim Acker 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 3 7 1 2 1 0 1 9.00 Scott Service 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.7 1 4 1 2 2 1 0 27.00 Steve Sinclair 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 Giovanni Carrara 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Steve Hargan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 3 4 1 3 3 1 0 InfinityDon't you just love that last one? The very first ex-Blue Jay pitching against Toronto.
