Cito Gaston's honeymoon in his return to the dugout appears to be over.
About the only good things to come out of the Blue Jays series loss to the Mariners – the American League’s worst team – was the complete-game win from ace Roy Halladay, and the emergence of Adam Lind.
Outside of those two events, it was a classic case of same old, same old.
Cito Gaston honeymoon in his return to the dugout appears to be over. The same problems that plagued the Jays through the final days of John Gibbons’ reign have returned.
The middle of the order, considered to be the engine of an offense that was expected to carry this team towards the post-season – or so we were sold after last season – continues to sputter and cough.
It has to be very frustrating for Gaston and hitting coach Gene Tenace to watch Vernon Wells, Alex Rios, Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay fail in the clutch, when all the team needs is a hit once in a while to break games open. But it’s not happening, like it didn’t happen before the coaching changes were made. The lack of production from Rios is most puzzling, as the others can be excused to some extent due to recent injuries. Rios now finds himself 13 home runs behind his pace of a year ago and he continues to flail away at pitches that bend out of the strike zone and a good ways away from his bat.
I wish I had a dollar for every time that Sportsnet analyst Rance Mulliniks – who should be a hitting coach himself somewhere – tells you exactly what is wrong with the Jays hitting approach, yet it continues.
Rance comes from an era when hitting was not bogged down by over-analysis of video tape and computer print-outs. It was the classic "see ball, hit ball," something that Gaston and Tenace have been trying to impart on their players since they took over on June 20th. It worked for a while, but I’m now starting to think that the psychology of the poor production in the first half, thanks in most part to a flawed offensive approach, is going to take a while to de-program. The fact that they can look so good, like they did on the night of Cito’s triumphant return to the Rogers Centre when the Jays pounded out 14 runs and 22 hits, and so bad just a week later tells me that a lot of work is still needed.
It’s not like they are facing the best pitchers in the game every night. When the likes of Jarrod Washburn, Jair Jurrjens and Zach Duke make you look silly, it leads to more questions than answers.
The Jays’ lack of clutch hitting, something that has plagued this team all season long, is what has kept them hovering below .500 and prevented them from making any sort of run to escape the A.L. East basement. Batters seemingly "vapour-lock" whenever there are runners in scoring position and it’s eroding their confidence.
Until that gets corrected, two steps forward and three steps back will continue to be the way the Blue Jays season will play out.
It also became apparent when they let a 6-2 lead slip away on Tuesday night that there is a big need for some right arms in the bullpen. There are no complaints about the lefties – B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs, Jesse Carlson and Brian Tallet – who have rarely failed this season. But with Jeremy Accardo out indefinitely and Casey Janssen out until next spring, the team’s lack of quality right-handed relievers has been exposed. That’s why right-handed hitting sluggers Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson hit key home runs late in the game off lefties Carlson and Downs. That would have never happened last season when Janssen and Accardo were healthy.
Unfortunately this season, Jason Frasor’s performances have been uneven, Shawn Camp has been used to mop up and Brandon League is still trying to rediscover the strike zone. Night’s such as Tuesday, where defeat was snatched out of the jaws of victory, will happen again unless this inequality among the relief corps is rectified. And with the thoughts of a post-season appearance now unrealistic, perhaps a deal or two for right-handers should be paramount as the trading deadline approaches.
