The Blue Jays road trip resembles a boxer suddenly forced to dummy up and try to rope-a-dope his way out of a vicious beating, hoping for a mistake to exploit and get himself out of the round. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened for the Jays, allowing even the misbegotten Orioles to pummel the bullpen into coughing up a five run lead for Halladay on the way to a 12-10 loss.
For the first time since he came on board, Cito Gaston is starting to draw criticism for his use of the bullpen by the media, and hot starts by Hill and Lind have not been picked up by slower starters like Wells and Rios. Alex especially, after looking like he'd been on the verge of rediscovering his power and contact, has completely backslid during the road trip. His complex swing now resembles a tumbling accordion, and he's been chasing Vernon's old nemesis, the high fastball, with nothing to show for it.
Well's RISP woes continue, although he hasn't been swinging the bat badly. In fact, the entire club has just been unable to find that big hit in ballgames, wasting opportunity after opportunity against weak pitchers and lame bullpens. The club has tumbled all the way to third in the standings, and now it is possible Downs might be looking at the DL for a strained hamstring.
However, all is not lost. Despite a nine-game losing skid, the Jays are only two games back of Boston, which is a tremendous statement about how strong this club was coming into the streak. Other than the RISP results, the Jays haven't played badly, even haven't pitched or hit that badly. The key is the lack of extra base hits and hits with RISP that has allowed weaker clubs to edge us. The bullpen has been very weak during the trip, and needs some rest to reset itself. I'd be surprised if Accardo isn't called up very soon to help anchor them.
Three games against the Bosox this weekend. If the Jays can bounce back, it's entirely possible we could start to reverse some of the damage, and climb a few games up to first again.
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