Jays bats take the day off in Houston
HOUSTON -- Now, that was appropriate. In a road trip characterized by a lack of offense, the Blue Jays saved the most egregious example for their final game.Toronto was shut out and dominated by Houston's Roy Oswalt on Sunday in the finale of a three-game sweep. Oswalt allowed just two baserunners in the 3-0 win, which sunk the Jays below .500 for the first time since April 26. Toronto has been shut out four times all season, and three of those came on the current 13-game road trip.
"It's kind of like the icing on the cake. Let's get the [heck] home and get out of here," said Eric Hinske, Toronto's first baseman. "What do you do? It's a long season and a lot of weird things happened on this trip. Just turn the page and go home."
Hinske had cause to seek a new chapter. The Jays averaged just over three runs per game in the last two weeks and racked up a 4-9 record. In their nine losses, they scored a grand total of 17 runs. By contrast, they got 25 runs in their four wins.
In all, Toronto logged nearly 6,800 miles on the four-city trip and lost three of the four series. Despite their struggles, the Blue Jays (31-32) dropped just two games in the standings to first-place Baltimore.
"This is the worst road trip I've ever been on. Terrible," said Toronto starter Josh Towers. "We've never been on one this long -- or I never have. We went 4-9 and it didn't feel like we won a game. We won one in Oakland, got beat by Seattle and got beat by these guys.
"We just flat out didn't play good baseball, for the most part. We won one series out of four, and that's not good. At least split a series or something."
Everyone knows that you can't win if you can't score. Oswalt (7-7) took that to the logical extension: You can't score if you can't hit. The right-hander allowed just two hits all day -- a second-inning single to Shea Hillenbrand and a ninth-inning double by Alex Rios. In between, he retired 23 straight batters and never seemed to work from behind.
"He painted all day and was hitting the corners at 94 or 95 [mph]. I don't care who you are -- you can't hit that," said Hinske. "I think we faced him once in Spring Training, but it's a lot different. He's the nastiest guy I've seen all year. No offense to the other pitchers in the league."
"That's as good a game as you can pitch. He hit every corner all [day] long, throwing strikes with some overpowering stuff," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "He's pumping strikes, so sometimes you've got to go at him on the first pitch. Otherwise, you're sitting 0-1 or 0-2 by the time you turn it around.
"The only way you can describe that game is that he had everything going -- every spot he wanted."
For four innings, Towers matched him zero for zero. The slim finesse specialist gave up a few hits in the early going but kept the Astros (26-35) from crossing the plate. That changed in the fifth, when Jason Lane worked a 3-2 count and deposited the payoff pitch over the left-field fence.
That was one of three hits on the day for Lane, who also doubled and scored in Houston's two-run seventh frame.
"I was happy until the home run," said Towers. "I thought I had him punched out, then he hit a 3-2 home run. I was kind of [upset] about that."
He had more cause for aggravation in the seventh, when Houston strung together a final rally. After Lane's double, Towers (5-5) got a ground ball to second base. With another potential run standing on third base, the right-hander walked the home team's catcher to face Oswalt.
The hurler dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance Ausmus, giving the Astros runners at second and third with two outs. Willy Taveras, Houston's leadoff hitter, hit a chopper to second base, but Orlando Hudson charged it and threw wildly. One run likely would've scored anyway, but the error padded the final score.
"He put that in a perfect spot. The guy can run," Gibbons said of Taveras. "Perfect placement. Put it this way: If [Hudson] can't make that play, nobody can make it."
"He pitched a great game. The infield hit, I think that's what kind of sunk him," said Oswalt. "He was good at mixing up the pitches. He was real good with the fastball -- kept us off balance."
Oswalt, meanwhile, moved to 6-1 with a 2.12 ERA at home. He's gotten a decision in every one of his starts this season and credited his Sunday success to Toronto's lack of familiarity with his arsenal.
"That was a big advantage -- just like when you come to the league the first time," said Oswalt. "You do things they've never seen before. The scouting report on me is I throw a lot of strikes. They were going to try to get to me early. I was able to keep the ball down enough to get into a groove."
Source: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/
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