This one seemed to be over before it started, like the 2005 playoff bandwagon. The Tigers just exploded on poor Dustin McGowan in the first Inning. Placido Polanco lined out to left to start things off, but then it all went pear shaped, there were four runs on the board before the next out and seven before the inning was over, as the Tigers sent 12 hitters to the plate. McGowan obviously didn't have his stuff and was leaving bad pitches over the plate. As Jordan noted in the instant replay thread it's an encouraging sign that he stayed in the game and steadied himself a little, taking a few innings for the team just like Josh Towers did in May against the Twins.
The Jays hadn't allowed a homer in 55 Innings prior to this weekend. I guess they were due. Carlos Pena certainly thought so, he had an awesome series:
Name AB R H HR RBI BB SO Pena 9 4 4 3 6 0 1
Pena obviously had a few points to prove after a stint in the minors, shame he couldn't have waited a few days. There has never been any question of Pena's talent, but in his age 27 season this year he's hitting just .199/.319/.360.
So what went wrong this weekend? well, Griffin writes a largely positive column about the team and they immediately going on a three game skid, I'm just sayin'. Maybe its some kind of weird reverse Griffin mojo. That being said the Jays were beyond the reach of even the most sophisticated positive mojo this weekend. POTD mojo, gamechat mojo, ageing Irish rock star mojo - all were tried and all found wanting.
The Jays are on the losing end of swept series this year 5 sweeps to 6 times swept. Although, they might be level, as one of the losing sweeps was a two gamer against the Yankees, I'm inclined to rule that that doesn't count (and not just because it was the Yankees). Interestingly, all the Jays winning sweeps have been at the RC.
Losing Sweeps
April 20-21 New York April 22-24 Baltimore May 6-8 Chicago June 10-12 Houston (away) July 8-9 Texas (away) Aug 19-21 Detroit (away)
Winning Sweeps
April 26-28 Tampa Bay May 9-11 Kansas City May 24-26 Boston Jul 19-21 Seattle Jul 26-28 Anaheim
The next four days would be a really opportune time for the next sweep of the year, just a suggestion.
During the game chat we touched briefly upon who have been the Jays scariest opponents recently. A year or two ago I hated it when the name Tampa bay popped up on the schedule, recently any mention of the word Texas has had me reaching for the strong liquor. I had a look and since JP took over this is the record against the rest of the AL. Texas should clearly be transferred to the NL, or contracted or something.
Team win loss diff Baltimore 41 29 12 Boston 28 40 -12 Chicago 11 17 -6 Cleveland 10 12 -2 Detroit 18 10 8 Kansas City 16 9 7 Anaheim 16 11 5 Minnesota 8 17 -9 New York 28 37 -9 Oakland 16 19 -3 Seattle 18 13 5 Tampa Bay 36 33 3 Texas 10 27 -17
Links
Nothing earth shattering came up in a brief scan of the usual sources, but here's whats out there. Anyone have any good links I missed?
"Not out but definitely down". Allan Ryan looks at yesterdays game and the state of the Jays place in the wild card race. Gibby refelcts on McGowans day: "Someday ... he'll be able to look back on this ... and laugh."
Canada's Little League World Series entrant from Whaley, B.C dropped to 1-1 for the tournament with a 5 zip loss to Guam yesterday.
Patrick Mooney examines the new smarter Josh Towers at the official site, and comments on Hill's first game at second.
The Devil Rays , who were 28-61 before the break, have gone a pretty incredible 23-12 since, only Oakland have been better. Rich Lederer breaks it down, and predicts "... the Devil Rays are on the verge of putting together a highly competitive team over the next three-to-five years".
