Still, six straight losses are discouraging. Other than Verlander’s complete game, none of them have been “good” losses, either. In this one Bruce Chen pitched a great game and the bullpen backed him up reasonably well. But no amount of talent on the mound is going to help a team that strands runners at third base four times in a single game.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record (a phrase I understand we’re no longer supposed to use because today’s students don’t know what records are), we got off to a good start. Eric Hosmer led off the second with a home run. Then Mike Moustakis doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. And got stranded there.
Alcides Escobar doubled to start the third. Chris Getz (once again a second baseman at the top of the order) bunted him to third. Where he was stranded.
The fifth inning got a little wild. Brayan Pena hit a lead-off double, aided at least a bit by a badly airmailed throw from Rajai Davis in left (which just goes to show that stirrup socks may be good juju overall but may not bring the individual player good fortune). But then Mitch Maier decided (on his own, according to Ned Yost in the post-game press conference) to bunt him over. The Blue Jays got Pena on a 1-5 that wasn’t even close.
And because the bunt-a-guy-from-second-to-third happened (or was at least attempted) twice in this game, perhaps we should ask ourselves if a runner on third is really way tremendously better than a runner on second. If he gets there without cost, then great. But is it a big enough offensive advantage that it’s worth a sacrifice? Especially if the team doesn’t generally seem to have the room to spare the out? Just something to ponder.
Maier made it around to third on an exceptionally well-executed hit and run. And got stranded.
Then in the eighth Escobar got stranded at third again.
And again the broken record factor creeps into the observation that the visiting team didn’t really play all that well, either. Kelly Johnson hit a solo shot in the first, but after that the Royals pitchers learned to stay away from him. The Jays scored two on a home run by Jose Bautista in the sixth and one more on a triple-single combo by Brett Lawrie and Davis. But then Davis got badly suckered by a pitch-out (either that or he’s seriously not that fast), and Jonathan Broxton got two more outs in rapid succession.
So we did a solid job of defending against Toronto, but our failure to score proved our undoing.
After starting the home season with ten straight losses, the Royals have left their fans a bit on the testy side. The drunks are screaming for Ned’s head, and even less intoxicated folk on the blogosphere predict his termination by Flag Day. Maybe it’s just living day in and day out with college students, but I’m prepared to cut the manager and his team some more slack.
Still, a quick check of our upcoming schedule reveals that the next two games for which we have tickets are against the Evil Empire. And the two after that are against the Red Sox. And the game after that – School Day, no less – is against the Orioles, who are off to a strong start. It’s the Diamondbacks after that, so let’s hope they suck this year. Otherwise we could be all the way into June before we have a serious shot at seeing a win.
The box score:
BLUE JAYS (4) AT ROYALS (1) BLUE JAYS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI Yunel Escobar 4 0 0 0 Chris Getz 3 0 1 0 Kelly Johnson 2 2 1 1 Alex Gordon 4 0 0 0 Jose Bautista 4 1 1 2 Billy Butler 4 0 0 0 Edwin Encarnacion 4 0 0 0 Eric Hosmer 4 1 2 1 Brett Lawrie 4 1 2 0 Jeff Francoeur 4 0 1 0 Rajai Davis 4 0 1 1 Mike Moustakas 4 0 2 0 Adam Lind 4 0 1 0 Brayan Pena 4 0 1 0 J.P. Arencibia 4 0 1 0 Mitch Maier 4 0 1 0 Colby Rasmus 3 0 1 0 Alcides Escobar 2 0 2 0 TOTALS 33 4 8 4 TOTALS 33 1 10 1 BLUE JAYS 100 002 001 -- 4 ROYALS 010 000 000 -- 1 LOB--BLUE JAYS 4, ROYALS 7. ERR--Brandon Morrow. 2B--Colby Rasmus, Chris Getz, Brayan Pena, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas. 3B--Brett Lawrie. HR--Jose Bautista, Kelly Johnson, Eric Hosmer. SACB--Chris Getz. BLUE JAYS IP H R ER BB SO HR Brandon Morrow 6 2-3 8 1 1 1 3 1 Luis Perez 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 Francisco Cordero 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 ROYALS Bruce Chen 7 6 3 3 2 3 2 Aaron Crow 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 Jonathan Broxton 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 WP--Brandon Morrow, Bruce Chen. SO--Rajai Davis, Kelly Johnson, Edwin Encarnacion, J.P. Arencibia, Brayan Pena, Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer. BB--Kelly Johnson (2), Alcides Escobar.
Buck Seat: W- (and if the word "homeless" hadn't come up ...)
Guard: Lenexa cops
Anthem: Canada good, USA over-wrought
Umpires
1 - Cooper
2 - Foster
3 - Timmons
4 - Kellogg
Time - 7:10
Temp - 65
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