Alarm Clock On Snooze

My favourite thing about the Blue Jays this season is the fact that their opposition needs to do so very little to kill a rally. This was never more evident than in the first, sixth and ninth inning of last night’s game against the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim California.

Runners in scoring position seem to cause Blue Jay bats to go as limp as pictures of my Nana in sexually suggestive positions cause my own bat to go limp. It’s ridiculous, frustrating and as predictable as their terrible play on the road this year.

I will mention here though that in the Jays defence, Kelvim Escobar was firing on all cylinders, mixing speeds and hitting everywhere in the strikezone.

However, even more frustrating tonight than their inability to get anything going at the plate (until it was far too late in the game) was their ability to stoke the fires of the Angels’ rally. Yes, I’m talking about you, Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios.

In the seventh, after a leadoff walk to Gary Matthews (who hit a monster home run in the first inning that would still be heading West if not for Rogers Centre being a cavernous shell with windows in centre field) , Casey Kotchman grounded a ball that Bucknered through Lyle Overbay. Rios gathered the ball and missed Aaron Hill, the cutoff man, by about four Dom DeLuises, and as if mocking Toronto’s own Big O, the errant toss ricocheted off of Overbay’s outstretched glove allowing Matthews to score.

Macier Izturis then added insult to injury by knocking the ball over a shallow-fielding Overbay to bring in Kotchman.

The whole scene was heartbreaking and the obvious nail in the coffin for anyone who wasn’t a glutton for sadistic hope-crushing disappointment. You know, the kind of person who would write a post like this.

Yes, that was me you saw in the bottom of the ninth, as the Jays managed their “make it look close” routine at the plate. It was me with the rally cap on when Matt Stairs came to the plate with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth, miraculously only down by one. It was me you saw in mourning when Stone Cold Stairs hit a shallow fly-out to Matthews in centre field.

And it was me you saw on Front St. burning a rickshaw driver alive out of anger for the Jays’ 4-3 loss.

A new series starts tonight as A.J. Burnett takes the hill against Garrett Olson and the Orioles. I’ve been waiting to see Olson since he was called up earlier in the year (this is only his fourth start) and if Burnett can pitch half as good as his first start after coming off the DL, we should be in for an interesting pitching matchup.