Buehrle faltering when Jays need him most

The Blue Jays started what might be the most important series of their season on a bad note, with Mark Buehrle giving up four earned runs in just four innings and the Orioles crushing three homers.

It arrived a sunny summer night like many others, but after so, so long it meant a little more. A Toronto Blue Jays fan could be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t just one of 162.

The division leaders were in town and the Blue Jays had Mark Buehrle, arguably their best pitcher, on the mound. It was a chance to make a dent in Baltimore’s four-game lead in the AL East and make this season about more than trying to cling to the second wild card spot, a consolation prize in a sport that never used to believe in them.

It was a chance wasted and worse.


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Buehrle is showing signs of running out of juice just when his club needs him to step on the gas as Toronto lost 9-3 and never really threatened after Baltimore got to the Jays starter early.

“They hit him around pretty good,” said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. “He’s a control artist … he’s got to be on and two out of the last three [starts] he’s kind of struggled. That’s who he is. When he’s off a little bit, he’s going to get hit.”

The last time the Toronto Blue Jays were in possession of a playoff spot this late in the season was in 1999 when they were one game up on Boston in the wild card race (there was just one of them then). They were trailing the New York Yankees for the AL East lead by 6.5 games, having lost two out of three in New York.

So meaningful baseball — as a working definition we’ll use games played in the final third of the season by a team either in a playoff spot or within five games of claiming one — has arrived. It’s not quite a pennant race, but it’s not the soul-sucking dog days which have been by far the norm every August but one since you know when.

And given it’s been nearly a generation since the Blue Jays have been in this situation, there is almost no one on their roster who has been through a situation quite like it.

The question as they came home having lost three straight was how they would respond. Who will lead them?

It could be Buehrle, but the veteran left-hander is in an odd position. He’s by far their most accomplished pitcher. He’s paid $18 million this year and $19 million next year for a resume that includes six post-season appearances and a World Series win in 2005.

But he’s more cog than engine at this point, even in the midst of a season that was shaping up as one of his best when he started 10-1 through June 1.

He followed that up by going seven starts without a win, but he was pitching respectably as he averaged more than six innings a start and posted an ERA of 4.06, which should have earned him a better record than 0-5.

But Buehrle has now gone three and four innings in two of his last three starts. He’s not waving the flag, and maybe he’ll right the ship, but the Blue Jays can’t wait.

“I said at the beginning of the year whenever things are going good, you have to have luck on your side and balls gotta go to your defensive guys, but like always, good or bad, I’m going in tomorrow getting my work on getting ready for my next start,” he said.

On Tuesday his line was miserable, as he gave up 10 hits and walked three before being lifted. That he somehow got out of the game with only giving up four runs is somewhat of a miracle. With the Blue Jays needing someone to lead them into uncharted waters, Buehrle failed to put any wind in their sagging sails as Toronto lost its fourth straight to fall five games behind Baltimore.

“Of course I wanted to get [the homestand] off to a good start,” he said. “But us losing today doesn’t mean the season’s over … if someone thought we were going to come in and sweep these guys you’re on some good drugs. It’s not going to happen. This team is in first place for a reason. Hopefully we’ll come in and win the next two and take two of three and be happy with it.”

It will be up to an equally struggling Drew Hutchison and J.A. Happ if the Jays are going to pull that off. All the more reason Toronto needed something solid from Buehrle, but he never gave the impression that he was in control, that he was going to make everything work out.

He gave up three hits in the first inning, walking the bases full with two outs. He put two more Orioles on base in the second before escaping and then ran out of luck in the third when he walked Delmon Young with one out and saw him come around on a J.J. Hardy double. Buehrle completely fell apart in the fourth as he gave up consecutive home runs to Caleb Joseph and Jonathan Schoop, the Orioles’ eighth and ninth hitters who came into the game hitting .218 and .210 respectively. He gave up three more hits but just one more run before Blue Jays manager John Gibbons replaced him with rookie Aaron Sanchez for the fifth.

If you can’t rely on Buehrle, then who?

Tuesday night would have been a perfect time for Buehrle to be Buehrle and go deep in a game, to give his team a chance at a confidence boosting win as they opened up in front of 36,183 at Rogers Centre.

But after a scintillating start to the season what ‘being Buehrle’ means is in doubt, just when the Blue Jays need him to be what he’s always been.

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