Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 17th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts. Watch for his columns regularly on Sportsnet.ca.

It was a day of just misses for the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.

On the field, the team wasted a 7-2 lead and B.J. Ryan coughed up his second straight ninth-inning lead to send the Jays home with a sub .500 record for their 10-day, three-city road trip. I’ll go more in depth with a full blown rant later on in this column.

But Thursday was also the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft during which the Jays, hopefully, brought in some arms and bats to stockpile their improving farm system. Although, thanks to the pair of Canadians that run the Milwaukee Brewers – general manager Doug Melvin and assistant G.M. Gord Ash – the Jays were one pick away from scoring the top-rated Canuck available.

With the 16th pick in the draft, the Brewers chose 18-year old catcher Brett Lawrie of Langley, BC and Brookswood High School. By all accounts, Lawrie has plus-power potential, something rare among catchers today. And while he is still considered raw due to the lack of year-round playing time that Canadian players receive, many have written that Lawrie is the real deal. Good luck to him. He was the only Canadian-born player to be selected on the first day of the draft, just the sixth ever to be chosen in the first round and the highest position player.

Surrey, BC's Adam Loewen, chosen fourth overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2002, has the record for the highest chosen Canadian at the MLB draft.

Having missed out on a home grown talent – and it’s been debated whether the Jays would have chosen Lawrie if he was available — the Jays went for 21-year-old, left-handed hitting first baseman David Cooper, currently a junior at the University of California at Berkeley.

The book on Cooper is that he was among of number college first basemen under consideration in the first round and his numbers this season (.359 batting average, 14 doubles, 19 HR and 55 RBI in 56 games) show that he’s an advanced hitter, although the scouts list that he has average foot speed and average defense But his age means he might not need much seasoning in the minors before making his way to Toronto and, as we’ve seen this season, the Jays need all the help they can get at the plate.

With their subsequent picks, the Jays chose four position players – high school CF Kenneth Wilson from Siskles, Florida, U of Miami 3B Robert Sobolewski, SS Tyler Pastornicky from the Pendleton School in Florida and Winter Haven, Florida high school CF Markus Brisker. The lone pitcher the Jays selected on the opening day of the draft was Cal State Long Beach senior right-hander Andrew Liebel, currently taking part in the NCAA College World Series.

The Tampa Bay Rays, currently battling with the Red Sox for first in the A.L. East, chose first overall for the second straight June and selected highly regarded high school shortstop Tim Beckham. With so many high picks over their 10 seasons of existence, the Rays could turn into quite the dynasty when their farm system starts to bear fruit.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN NEW YORK...

Sitting through nearly four hours of poorly pitched baseball isn’t much fun. But that’s what we were subjected to as the Jays finished out their road trip at four wins and five losses. All told, the two starters and eight relievers combined to throw 359 pitches, although that number could have been easily lower if not for home plate umpire Joe West’s lunchbox size strike zone.

(Note to Major League Baseball: time to start having the umpires call ball and strikes based upon the rule book. Oh, wait a minute, first let’s have them enforce the time rules on relief pitchers who routinely take close to 30 seconds between pitches. No wonder I missed my flight home from New York.)

But in the end, all that mattered was the Blue Jays squandered one of those games that will likely come back to haunt them in September. They had chances to put the game away, yet again, but failed in the clutch, going 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 runners stranded. Their failings with runners on second or third seem to be a monthly thing. Back in April, when the team went 11-17, their average with runners in scoring position (RISP) was .211. In May, the team went 20-10, and their RISP average jumped up to .273.

But in June, having lost three of their first four games, the Jays have hit just .159 with RISP. It seems to be cut and dry in 2008: if they don’t hit well in the clutch, the Jays won’t win.

It’s that simple.