As the Toronto Blue Jays struggle to find their own consistency, the inevitable dilemma has begun. Many of the Jays pitchers have been assigned to their farm system affiliates, such as the Buffalo Bisons. Some as starters and some as bullpen stock. The Blue Jays front office is more concerned with fixing issues with the big club than worrying about the Triple-A farm team’s record in May. Rightfully so, since the whole point of a farm system is to help grow talent to become Major League solutions. However, the mixing can clash with the franchise’s overall goals. As Triple-A baseball fans, you learn to roll with it. For the old Bisons fans, this is nothing new. For brand new Bisons fans, who are not used to seeing so many changes to a team roster, it can be disconcerting. Even downright painful.

As of May 18, the Herd already saw a few collapses from former Blue Jays starters and relievers, which cost the Bisons a number of mid-month games. As the Charlotte Knights rolled to an 11-6 victory at Coca-Cola Field, the same feeling of the wheels coming off the bandwagon was in the air and on Twitter. Many fans blamed the recent changes to the Bisons’ pitching staff as the cause for the sudden slide. This point is where the debate begins. This situation is why the Blue Jays obtained the rights to the Buffalo Bisons in the first place: a close location where players can be quickly assigned to work on their performances, whether it be physical rehabilitation or mental conditioning. If these players perform better, they likely will be called back to Toronto. The problem is that the pitching staff’s performance often impacts a batting order and its strategy.

After giving up six runs in the 3rd inning, the Bisons were playing catchup to Charlotte for the rest of the game. It is only natural to want to force the play so that your team can get back into the fray. It was noticeable in the eight of eleven strikeouts coming from the top five Bison sluggers. You will find it a tough battle when your leadoff man, Mike McCoy has only one Walk on four At-Bats. As a team, Buffalo did try to even the odds with nine Walks, with Luis Jimenez and Andy LaRoche getting the bulk of the RBIs. The thing that nobody can argue with is the fact that Jim Negrych, as hot a hitter as he has been this season, dipped below the .400 mark while scratching out two walks for the night. You cannot expect the stars to come from behind every night to save the game. Six runs scored on most nights wins you the game easily. Not tonight.

There were two bright spots though. Anthony Gose* continues to impress on the bases as he scored three of the six runs. He reached by one hit, one base on balls, and he was even hit by a John Danks pitch. This effort gives him a league-leading 34 runs scored, which is four runs clear of Syracuse’s Jeff Kobernus. Dustin McGowan also came out of the bullpen to make his debut as a Bison. He looked great as his mechanics seem to use more of his entire body to extend when throwing strikes, most likely to help save his arm from re-injury.  His 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout provided Bison faithful, and Blue Jay fans, with hope of further success.

Even though Claudio Vargas has had the most starts for the Bisons, the 3-3 record with a 4.70 ERA in eight games is a sign that consistency has been recently lacking for the Buffalo pitching staff. It is debatable that this inconsistency is simply because of the Jays’ pitcher influx threatening Bison veterans. It is, however, inevitable that the bats are soon to follow into the pit of inconsistency, if some have not already.  If you were in the same job situation, where other workers, who rank higher on the employer’s radar, were asked to work with you on a project, you might feel pressured to perform that much better too. You want to shine and have your day in the big leagues. That moment is when the clouds may form and rain on your parade through the downtown Toronto streets. You may not even get past the Fort Erie border.

Ah, the life of Triple-A. The duality of baseball dreams and nightmares.

*Anthony Gose was recalled from Triple-A after this article was updated.

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As Louisville Bats’ Chad Reineke beaned his second Bisons victim in the second inning, any Toronto Blue Jays or Buffalo Bisons fan would wonder what is going through Ricky’s mind. Is this where Romero belongs? How will his performance be judged? Could he be back with the Jays soon? Was Dunedin a better home for him this year? As much as Triple-A is not where Romero wanted to be, the Herd may be where he needs to be. After all, this team is winning. This team has baserunners as well as big bats. Josh Thole may not know Romero’s delivery, but here’s a man who mastered catching the knuckle ball. Pitching coach, Bob Stanley has worked with major arms like Tim Lincecum,  so he has the pedigree you would think could help Romero. There’s got to be some advantages in the Buffalo organization that Romero could use right now.

Bottom of the 2nd inning… runners on the corners with two out. Bisons retired the side. Buffalo was still up 2-1.

Breathe, Ricky! The defense is there for you. You got the ground ball. The curve is looking better. You got this! At least that better be what Romero was thinking as he runs off to the dugout.

The sun then begins to soften into the horizon in Buffalo as the Bisons’ faithful listen to the sweet sound of a ground ball being missed by the Bats’ first baseman to cash in Negrych and restored Romero’s two run lead. Now, what was Ricky thinking? Could he keep these Louisville batters off of him? Could he keep any mistakes to ground balls? The breaking ball is looking incredible tonight. Could he continue to pick his spots?

Bottom of the 3rd inning… Romero was called for a balk, sending the Bats’ runner to scoring position. The next pitch was a hit to the outfield and scored a run. After a couple more walks and hits, the score was 3-4 for the Bats.

The Bisons bullpen awakened and stirred. That inning did not need to be as hard as it was for Ricky. Thole earned his pay keeping any sliders and low fastballs from smoking into the backstop. Why were the pitches starting to spray all over the place? What did it take to get a tight call? Where were the ground balls to limit the damage? The Bison bats needed to fire up again, even though they already scored three runs in three innings. What did the Herd have to do to give their starting pitcher a lead he could not give away? No more bullpen action. No criticism. No fingers pointing. No angst. No Bison runs. Nothing.

Bottom of the 4th inning… some loud singles, a walk, a pitch count surpassing 70, an 89 mph fastball that fooled nobody, and a sore pain in some fans’ stomachs. The Louisville Bats put a bat on almost every pitch as the inning wore on. Buffalo 3 – Louisville 6.

As the sun begins to set on the horizon, Ricky Romero’s rocky debut for the Bisons comes to a close. The game continues, but with a sombre atmosphere in Western New York. The light is gone and will need something or someone else to get it back. The infield surrounds Ricky as the manager calls for the reliever.

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When the Toronto media continues to pound the public with the statistics for long balls, stating how the Jays are second in team home runs and other unnecessary numbers, it is hard to tell any casual baseball fan that the Jays’ wins are not wonderful. ‘Chicks dig the long ball,’ right? When the Jays lose, everyone thinks they are the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. “Off with their heads!” The fact is: some of the Blue Jays wins have been terrible efforts and some of the losses have been incredibly successful in terms of the future. The difference is in how people see the game. Many Jays fans see the game in terms of wins. I will not deny that, in the end, every sports franchise must think that winning is everything. If you are not here to win, then you should go find something else to fill your time. Stamp collecting is pretty dated. How about bird-watching? The fact everyone seems to forget, especially in a losing streak, is that you must identify what is working and what is not, if you wish to correct the mistakes. I, personally, do not go to doctors who assume I am a hopeless case because my nose is running.

The Toronto Blue Jays lost yesterday’s game because they could not beat a hot pitcher, Jon Lester, who happens to be the ace of his franchise. Ask any baseball expert and they would have told you that the Jays likely would not see Casey Janssen tonight. Maybe not even until Sunday. When you are losing 0-1 in the 7th inning, you cannot expect your closer will see any work. He’ll burn his arm out if you are trying to guarantee the run shutdown. That’s why it is so important to have a deep bullpen in Major League Baseball. You need the horses to pull your team along through the middle innings until one of your bats gets going. One bad inning for Brett Cecil in the 7th cost the Jays any hope of a comeback, as the bats stayed cold. Ramon Ortiz did walk five Red Sox batters, but he got out of five innings with only being scratched by one earned run on four hits. To that point in the game, Lester was only one run away from being even with Ortiz. Neither may have gotten the decision.

Before the big inning for the Red Sox, the Boston media on Twitter was up in arms about not cashing in runs when they needed a big hit. Sound familiar, Jays fans? Only after the game did you see the Twitter feed go wild with angst and loathing for the Blue Jays. Their venom spewed at wanting Gibbons’ head on a plate and how Ortiz did not blank the Red Sox slugging power. I’d like a shutout for my team every night too, but I’m living in a reality where that is never going to happen. If the Jays won a close game decision, people would be talking about Jose Bautista‘s defensive throws to hold runners on the bases than Jon Lester’s near no-hitter. You cannot sit past May and think things will magically turn around for your team; but you also cannot assume that whining about the team will make them play any better or get anyone fired, especially when the Blue Jays administration dedicated themselves to these signings and their coaching staff since November.

Decisions need to be made. Maybe a proven Cy Young Award winner who coaches in the bullpen should maybe don the cap of head pitching coach. He may have some knowledge about how to pitch well for the Blue Jays. Maybe the coaching staff should tell their players to go to the plate with a better approach than trying to be Babe Ruth each time they take a swing at low balls inside. All I know for sure is that telling the world that the Toronto Blue Jays “suck” because they did not shut out one of the best teams in baseball is ridiculous and is not helping anyone, especially the team you say you love.

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Negrych left Buffalo for college in Pittsburgh, where he made a great impression. The Pittsburgh Pirates signed him in the 2006 amateur entry Draft in the sixth round (170th overall). His batting average has never dipped in the minors past .267 and is sitting at .423 this season for the Bisons, at the time this article was written. Combine that with an On-Base Percentage of .471 and you have yourself an incredible talent in the leadoff spot or in the third hole.

At 5’9” and 185 pounds, you would not expect to be intimidated by Negrych’s physique. That is until you see his lefty bat, which has knocked in three home runs and eleven RBIs. Besides, when seeing the kind of seasons Luis Jimenez and Josh Thole are having at the plate behind him, it is hard to say to opposing pitchers that they should pitch around Jim. Negrych represents a potential run each time he comes to the plate.

Many Bisons fans on Twitter have made the case that the Blue Jays should bring Negrych up to solve their problems getting baserunners aboard. This issue cannot be a quick fix and it would not be fair to place Jim in that position. Between Jose Reyes healing sooner than expected and returning during the middle of the season, Negrych will have competition for playing time in the field and in the Jays’ batting order. I won’t argue with fans in Buffalo and Toronto saying it can’t get much worse than Bonifacio or Izturis at second base, but restraint is the order of the day.

Consistency is fundamentally important to the game of baseball. We give a great deal of respect to players who can deliver every night. For every Babe Ruth fan, there is a Ty Cobb fan who reminds you who had the better batting average and batting titles. Let’s not cheapen Negrych’s season by throwing him to the wolves of the MLB who continue to chomp on the Jays’ bones on a nightly basis. As much as the Blue Jays’ players need to figure out what was worked out on paper months ago in the offseason, let’s give Jim Negrych some time in the winner’s frame of mind until it is his time to help the big club.

*** all statistics used were found on MiLB.com

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So, let’s play the ‘what if?’ game.

Let’s say that last June the Jays don’t lose Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchinson, Luis Perez and Brandon Morrow to injuries, to be joined later by Jose Bautista and Brett Lawrie as well with injuries. At the time of the injuries hitting the team they were playing around 500. And even into mid July the Jays were close to the 500 mark before things went south in August and September.

Let’s say if the 2012 Jays (if healthy) had finished around the 500 mark, would Alex Anthopoulos let the rebuild continue knowing that they were closer to winning but not quite there. Yes, they would have probably lost Kelly Johnson to free agency. They did, and they would still have had some additions to make to help the pitching out, because, even if healthy, Kyle Drabek hadn’t shown what it had taken to be a consistent major leaguer. If 2012 pans out, does Anthopoulos go all in and trade the farm to the Mets and the Marlins, or would he had stayed put and held on to the prospects?

At the time the rumors were flying around about Dickey, I tweeted that I had my concerns about Dickey and that the package the Jays would give up would be too much, and at 38 Dickey wasn’t getting any younger and that in the AL East even with the knuckler I had concerns that he might not be the same pitcher that he had been in the 3 previous year with the Mets. So far in 2013 Dickey has struggled in a few starts and has really only been lights out in 3 starts so far this year.

Look at it this way, prospects regardless of how highly touted they are, are just that, prospects. There is no guarantee that any of the prospects that were dealt away will end up being starts in the Majors, let alone solid players. How many high-end prospects have the Jays had over the years that never panned out? Jose Cruz Jr. and Travis Snider come to mind. I’m not saying that Travis d’Arnaud won’t become a productive big leaguer, I’m just saying that there is a chance that he won’t live up to the hype that had been placed on him. Also the fact that he has been sidelined with injuries the last two seasons had labeled him injury prone by some people, and that is a tag that is hard to shake for some players.

I also get that some fans really like the thought of looking at the “prospect porn” as they call it, and now that Anthopoulos has emptied a lot of the farm, some fans are now screaming that the farm is empty, and that unless Anthopoulos does a complete sell off this year, that a rebuild will take years. First off, if things truly don’t get better this season, the only valuable piece that the Jays would move at the deadline might be Josh Johnson. Dickey and Buehrle’s contracts are too much for a team to want to take on unless the Jays eat a ton of money on those contracts and I doubt that Rogers is willing to do that. The core guys of Lawrie, Encarnacion and Bautista are guys that are still productive players that are off to slow starts and would start a fan revolt if moved. The rest of the offence right now has very little trade value, so the thought of a salary dump doesn’t work unless guys start playing better. If they play better, then they start winning, and maybe turn things around.

So as I said in the beginning, it’s nice to think of the what if scenario of last year, but reality is the Jays are in the mess they are in now, and in my opinion, it is on the players to start showing some passion and leadership and work their way out of this mess. There is too much talent on this group to be as bad as they are. Now it’s time to start proving it.

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According to Baseball Reference, J.P. Arencibia over a 162 game season, averages 31 home runs and 93 RBIs, not to mention in 2012 he hit .295 with RISP.   How many catchers in the league can give a team that type of production fit for the middle of the order? The answer is not many! Yet fans and baseball analysts look at his career .225 batting average, his high strikeout rate (175k/162 games) and his .271 on base percentage along with his tendency to give up pass balls or his inability at times to block balls in the dirt as ingredients to put together a recipe for criticism. The facts are that J.P Arencibia will never be a high on base percentage guy or win batting titles like Joe Mauer or Buster Posey. It is not his strength, thus not his job. His job is to be a run producer and he is one of the best run producers among catchers in baseball.

Fans and media alike love to criticize and highlight every error J.P commits defensively.  The overtly negative Toronto Sports media along with the city’s pessimistic fan base seem to a greater extent highlight his mistakes compared to those committed by other players on the team.  Two aspects of his defensive game that seem to be much more under the lens are his technique behind the plate blocking balls in the dirt and his inability to throw out base runners. Fans and baseball media “experts” have to keep in mind the pitchers the Blue Jays have fielded over the last couple of years when analyzing the rate at which he catches runners stealing. These pitchers have affected J.P’s ability to throw out runners due to their inability to hold runners on or shorten their delivery towards home plate with men on base.

This concentration by the fans on the negative or “still work in progress” side of J.P’s game, seems to be feeding of the harsh criticism (at times) from two former MLB catchers, Buck Martinez and Gregg Zaun, who are part of Rogers Sportsnet’s television broadcast team. To be fair they are not saying that J.P. Arencibia is not a fine defensive catcher because he is, but it seems like fans are taking their harsh and at times realistic criticism and amplifying it to a degree 100 times of the intended meaning. The fact is that J.P. Arencibia is not a great defensive catcher, but he is not a defensive liability either. He has taken leaps and bounds offensively and defensively through his development as a catcher. I would take J.P. Arencibia’s only “fine” defensive play for his outstanding offensive production any day of the week. But the fact is that there is more to J.P Arencibia’s value than just his offensive and defensive stats/output.

Arencibia has intangible qualities, both on and off the field, that make him such an asset to the Blue Jays organization. Aside from being a fan favourite on and off social media (great for marketing),  J.P brings a leadership quality and mental toughness rare for a young 27-year-old Major League player. He has developed relationships with his pitching staff making them confident of his ability to call games. Most importantly J.P. is unselfish and brings to the team dynamic a “team first mentality”.  He was even quoted as saying, “I would run through a wall for this team”, after he found out that AA (Alex Anthopoulos) kept his word and did not include him in the Dickey trade, despite the belief of both fans and experts.

Despite all these non-quantified assets, almost every Blue Jays fan was ready to throw him off the ship for an unproven prospect by the name of Travis d’Arnaud, and concede him by assuming he was part of the Dickey deal with the Mets. I for one, applaud the Blue Jays for keeping J.P. because just like he was a very highly touted prospect, d’Arnaud currently holds and use to hold the title as the “prospect” . That word prospect is so key because they can be a bust, but the beautiful thing with Arencibia is that he has a track record. He has not only passed the stage of his development where he is learning and experiencing “growing pains”, but entering the prime of his career as one of the top offensive catchers in Major League Baseball. In a year where the Blue Jays appear to be “all in” do you really want to take your chances with an inexperienced catcher who is going to experience many of the typical developmental challenges most young catchers face to start their careers? With an experienced veteran starting rotation? The answer is NO.  Now, I don’t believe Arencibia will ever be as good defensively as Yadier Molina or Ivan Rodriguez, but is it really fair to put that type of expectations on a young 27-year-old player? At least one or both of those guys I mentioned above are first ballot Hall of Famers. I have faith Arencibia will become a proven winner in the game and will be one of the core pieces of many Jays teams to come. But I want to leave you with a question, which you all know what my answer is going to be: Which catcher (other than Buster Posey, Matt Wieters, Yadier Molina or Joe Mauer) would you want to have on your team?

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Another notable start is hard-working Rajai Davis who continues to show himself day in and day out, offensively and defensivley. Davis finished game 1 going 1-1, with 3 runs, and a stolen base.

Despite watching their 4-0 lead collapse,  all was good in Blue Jay land as they pulled out the 9-7 dramatic win and finally gave Jays fans something to cheer about.

But things changed…and they changed quickly. (que inception music)

While the Jays bats came alive against Lester grabbing 6 hits and 6 runs in 6 innings; they were dismal against (6-0) Clay Buchholz in part 2 of the series, where they found themselves on the wrong side of a 10-1 ball game.  I should note here that there has been some controversy around Buchholz and the substance he had on his arm last night.  Did it help him grip the ball and get that extra spin? Nonetheless it was a 10-1 game, far out of reach for the Jays, so we move on.

Buchholz’ counter-part, (1-2) Mark Buehrle, continued to struggle while serving up 3 homeruns to the Red Sox, ringing up his total to 6 in the lefty’s last 2 starts.  The renowned ground ball pitcher also watched his ERA climb to 6.43 after the tilt.

“I feel I’m right there, a few quality pitches away from having a quality start,” Buehrle said after the game.  The lefty will chuck next against Tampa Bay on Monday.

So this brings us up to Thursdays finale as the boys go for only their second series win of the season.  Which Blue Jays team showed up?

Early on it was the lead off man, Brett Lawrie, who jumped all over a (2-2) Ryan Dempster fastball for a solo shot to give the boys of summer a quick advantage.

The Red Sox didn’t waste any time erasing that shot in the top of the second.  First basemen Mike Carp made no mistake on a (2-2) Happ breaking ball,  taking it to the right field wall and cashing in an RBI to tie the game up at ones.  Boston would then score the go ahead run after a Drew sac-fly brought in Middlebrooks ahead of a Bautista throw.  Happ had a rough couple innings totalling over 50 pitches in the first two frames.

The Blue Jays had a chance to break open the game in the bottom of the 3rd with the bases loaded and the hottest hitter on the team in Encarnacion at bat.  But the story of the Jays’ inefficiency with RISP continued as Edwin couldn’t deliver, rolling over on a 2-0 slider from Dempster  into an inning ending double play.

J.A. Happ‘s night would end in the top of the 4th after throwing 94 pitches and walking 7 batters, leaving Brad Lincoln to make Pedroia ground out in a bases juiced situation of their own.

From there on it was Lincoln, Delabar, Cecil, and Rogers out of the Blue Jays bullpen that shut the door the rest of the way.  While these guys went to work out of the pen mowing down Red Sox batters, the Blue Jays could not muster anything offensively.

The bottom of the 7th saw Adam Lind strike out in another 2 out, bases loaded situation. The team was a combined 0/2 with the bases full and failed to come up big in clutch situations, something that has haunted them all season.  The lone bright spot of the night surprisingly was Colby Rasmus who is leading the team in strikeouts with 40 on the season.  Rasmus finished 3-4 including his single in the ninth.

Joel Hanrahan came in to close the Blue Jays and promptly got Kawasaki to hit into the inning ending double play (3rd DP on the night). Hanrahan recorded his 4th save in 5 opportunities and handed the Blue Jays the 3-1 loss.

After a 10-19 start the Jays find themselves 10.5 games back from the first place Red Sox and have still only won one series the entire season.

STARTING PITCHING LINES:

Ryan Dempster: 6.0 IP 4 H 1 ER 3 BB 4 K’s

J.A. Happ: 3.2 IP 3 H 2 ER 7 BB 2 K’s

The Blue Birds are going to be buried by Toronto media, there is no doubt in that.  But in all fairness, they have all of this talent and nothing to show for it.  Things aren’t coming easy for our boys so far this season, but this is still no time to panic.  With over 100 games left things can change after one play, one hit, one swing.  We need to stay with our guys through the worst of times because things can’t get any worse..right?

Ricky Romero takes to the mound against King Felix at the Rogers Centre SkyDome tomorrow which will be a fun tilt to watch after his good start in the minors.  It is also a series the Jays can come away with, possibly sweep?  I’m staying optimistic, but what do you think about Romero and how well will he pitch?  Well enough to get the Jays back in the win column? Leave a comment.

Pitching matchup for Friday’s game: R. Romero (0-0) 0.00 ERA vs F. Hernandez  (3-2) 1.90 ERA

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As much as J.P. Arencibia has raised his batting game to become one of the leaders in the home run race, the team has lacked the power and RBIs that many Blue Jays fans were expecting. Gripping the sticks too hard? Too many boys trying to prove their manhood by ‘going yard’? Whatever the speculation, it is clear that the lineup is not producing, especially in late innings with runners in scoring position. The general manager, Alex Anthopoulos has openly said to many media sources that a trade may be the only answer. Well, if you were to ask many Buffalo Bisons fans, they would tell A.A. that the talented Latin Americans in baseball stretch farther than the Dominican Republic.

Luis Antonio Jimenez, from Bobare, Venezuela is tearing up the Triple-A pitching and helping to catapult the Bisons to early season success. In eighteen games, Jimenez is hitting .358, with five home runs and twenty-four RBIs as of April 29th. Being a solid, natural lefty bat, Jimenez is the type of first basemen who can produce with a .419 batting average with players in scoring position. With only nine strikeouts and nine walks in sixty-seven at-bats, this Venezuelan Viper is looking to unleash his venomous swing on fat pitches to help his team to the post-season.

Having noticed his great start, it must be said that Luis Jimenez has been around the professional diamond for a while. Being one week from his 30th birthday, Jimenez has seen the majors, if for only brief stints. He was signed by the Oakland Athletics as an undrafted free agent in 1999, but later released in 2001. Having spent time in the minors with the Orioles, Dodgers, Twins, Red Sox, Nationals, and Mariners’ organizations, he has settled this year in Buffalo.

The question you must ask yourself is: am I an optimist or a pessimist? You could look at his years in the minors and say he changes jerseys like a kid trying to pick a flavour at Dairy Queen. It is painful to watch and makes you question getting your wallet out. Real dads out there know my anguish. Yet, you could also look at Jimenez’s .434 overall OBP, .526 when his teammates are chomping at the bit to run home, and say to yourself that here is a baseball player who will do whatever it takes to get his boys to the promised land. The realist in all of us can appreciate that these numbers count, regardless of age.

After watching countless ball games this season, Blue Jay fans must be asking themselves why the team keeps losing close games. When these young athletes, often said to be future all-stars, have the game on their bats, they have not produced. The Jays do not lack baserunners, but they do lack experience to get the job done. For my money, I’d rather bring up an older, more experienced man who will not let a scoring chance get away from him in the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, and he is ahead in the count.

Home run, single, walk, whatever! Get on base. Produce. Capitalize. Win. Substance, not flash. Let us forgo the trade talks, firings, riots, and beheading of coaches. For Jays’ fans, let us hope Anthopoulos is a true connoisseur of batting talent. Much like a fine wine, Luis Jimenez is getting even better with age.

* all statistics and background information were obtained from www.milb.com

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Ace R.A. Dickey (2-4) couldn’t salvage a win in the series while the winless Phil Hughes (0-2) straddled the rubber for the Bronx Bombers and did enough to complete the four game sweep. Dickey has yet to return to his usual 2012 Cy Young winning self and he knows it.

“I’m definitely not 100 percent. I’m giving everything I can possibly give but it feels like going to battle with a three-shooter instead of a six-shooter. You just don’t have what you normally have. You feel like what you have is good enough to keep your team in it. But it’s frustrating because you want to give more.”

Blue Jays ended Sunday on the tail end of a dreadful 7 game road trip where they managed just one win. Before the tilt Blue Jay Manager John Gibbons had some choice words for reporters:

“It’s frustrating, I’m giving you guys the same comments every stinkin’ night and I’m getting a little bit tired of it.”

The lineup saw Brett Lawrie in the lead off spot for the first time this season. Lawrie has said that he loves the responsibility and the extra at bats that are baggaged with the job of the lead-off man. The one spot is no foreign position for number 13 who hit first in 61 games last year while batting .275.

Lawrie finished the game 1/4 with 2 K’s.

Right fielder Brandon Boesch started the scoring in the bottom of the 2nd after hitting a souvenir off a Dickey knuckleball just barely over the right field wall. A ball that, in any other diamond, would have been a warning track shot at the most.

The Blue Jays tied the game up at ones in the top of the 4th after Lind singled through a defensive shift and scored Encarnacion.

Top of the 6th saw the Blue Jays take their first lead of the ball game. Bautista lead the inning off by cranking a double down the left field line off of Phil Hughes who hit the 100 pitch mark early. Jose also managed to steal third base with 2 outs before Maicer Izturis hit a towering shot off the right field wall to help the Blue Jays take the 2-1 lead. Blanco ended the hit parade by striking out and failing to score his first RBI’s of the season. (I should note here that he did come back in the bottom of the inning to make a fantastic catch in foul territory to rob Robinson Cano).

 The ex-Jays killed Toronto throughout the series: Vernon Wells hit .285 with 4 runs and 3 RBI’s during the four games, but in the bottom of the 7th with a runner on it was Lyle Overbay who hit a two run bomb to the deepest part of the field to give New York the 3-2 advantage.

Overbay finished the game 2/3 with one run and 2 RBI’s.

The Blue Jays failed to threaten the rest of the game and were mowed down by Mariano Rivera in the ninth. Rivera recorded his 3rd save of the series and is now 9/9 on save opportunities this season.

Toronto comes home to the Rogers Centre on Tuesday where they face a (17-7) Red Sox team who are coming off a sweep of the Astros.

Pitching matchup for Tuesdays game: J. Lester (4-0) 2.27 ERA vs B. Morrow (0-2) 5.27 ERA

STARTING PITCHING LINES FOR APRIL 28TH:

R.A Dickey: 7.0 IP 4 H 3 ER 1 BB 4 K’s (4.50 ERA)
Phil Hughes: 6.0 IP 7 H 2 ER 1 BB 9 K’s (4.67 ERA)

Hopefully the Blue Jays can put something together against one of the best pitchers in baseball on Tuesday. Somebody needs to step up and be a leader if the Blue Birds are looking to win the upcoming series, but for now, “there are no answers” (John Gibbons) to this slow start.

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Waiver Claims.

They quietly added Aaron Laffey on waivers from the Mets on Tuesday. The Jays then Designated pitcher Ramon Ortiz for assignment. It’s a puzzling move to say the least. Where Laffey fits with this pitching staff is anyone’s guess, he won’t start unless there is an injury so my guess is that he would serve as long man out of the pen.

Laffey was good last year when he was with the Jays as he spent from June onward as a starter and at one point in July was the Jays best starter. He did however fade fast in late July and into August to the point where Laffey was released at the end of the year.

Laffey signed with the Mets in the offseason but struggled thru 10 innings allowing 8 runs on 16 hits walking 5 and striking out 9. Opponents hit .390 off of Laffey in his brief stint as a Met. Opposing batters had an on-base percentage of 469 and slugged 561 off of Laffey. With those numbers there is little doubt as to why the Mets released him. It is puzzling as to why Alex Anthopoulos would pick him up other that he would be more of a depth move and that maybe Anthopoulos saw enough in Laffey last season to believe that he can turn it around and help the Jays out at some point this year.

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