When it rains it pours for the Toronto Blue Jays. Coming off a series loss to the rival Texas Rangers that ended in controversial fashion, Toronto was thoroughly dominated by Tampa, putting up their worst series performance of the year by far. Toronto is now 19-23. The Blue Jays have lost five in a row and six of the last seven. They’ve also lost five straight at home. They currently sit seven games back of Baltimore. The Blue Jays were dominated in every facet of the game and now have fallen closer to the last-place Yankees then the first-place Orioles in the AL East. R.A. Dickey put the current struggles in perspective: “As fun as it is when you’re playing like we did last July and August, it’s equally painful when we go through ruts like this.” With a quarter of the season in the books, time is running out to use the “it’s early” rationale. However, the Blue Jays were virtually in the same position this time last year and we all know how that ended. Here are the biggest takeaways of the series.
The brawl effect
Jose Bautista sure has a flair for the dramatic. In his first plate appearance after the announcement of his one-game suspension for his role in the bench-clearing brawl against the Rangers, Jose hit a home run, bringing Rogers Centre fans to their feet. You’d think that brawl might have galvanized a scuffling Jays team but other than Bautista’s answer Toronto seemed undisciplined at the plate and careless in the field. Neither have the Rangers been energized by the brouhaha: Since the brawl the Rangers and Blue Jays are a combined 0-6.
Pitching problems
You could make the argument Toronto’s top two starters this year have been J.A. Happ and Marcus Stroman. And yet, they started the series off by each giving up 17 hits, and losing 13–2 and 12–2 respectively. R.A. Dickey was able to limit the damage but was hit almost as hard in the finale of the series. In all, Toronto gave up 44 hits and 22 extra base hits in the three-game series. Until recently, the Jays’ saving grace has been their stellar starting pitching which has performed better than expected and kept them in games as their bats have yet to come around. The last three days was a sign that their starting staff might begin to revert back to the mean.
Plate problems
The most troubling sign for Blue Jays fans is the continued struggles at the plate. Toronto currently sits 17th in the league in runs scored and 20th in OPS. None of their big sluggers have performed closer to their career numbers. Josh Donaldson is batting .253, Bautista is batting .222, and Edwin Encarnacion is batting .241 with an even worse .762 OPS. Troy Tulowitzki has a slash line of .196/.287/.392. Long rallies and big innings seem like a thing of the past. As bad as their pitching was against Tampa, their plate approaches and run support were equally as bad. Toronto falls to 0-19 when giving up four or more runs.
Bad shoulder news, good shoulder news
The bad news is an already struggling and thin bullpen loses a high-leverage arm. Brett Cecil has a tear in his lat on his throwing arm and will be out at least a month. This is the same injury Aaron Sanchez had last summer and he was out a month and a half. The struggle to find a way to bridge the gap from starting pitcher to closer Roberto Osuna got even tougher. But the good news is Devon Travis was assigned to Triple-A Buffalo for a rehab assignment after looking and feeling good in a brief stint with the Dunedin Blue Jays. Travis has shown no ill effects from the shoulder inflammation that sidelined him last year. Travis’s return to the lineup with the big league club would give Toronto another bat with pop and a potential everyday lead-off option.
Next up: Marco Estrada tries to end the Blue Jays’ losing streak as the team heads to Minnesota.
