Former Jays wreak havoc for Yanks
Wells, Overbay homer; Bautista returns
TORONTO Jose Bautista returned to the lineup and homered, but so did Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay — both New York Yankees now.
The former Jays were greeted by boos by many of the 40,028 fans at the Rogers Centre Friday night.
Bautista returned from a four-game absence caused by back spasms, as the Blue Jays lost 9-4 loss to the Yankees. It was the first time Bautista and Brett Lawrie, who missed the first two weeks of the season because of a strained left rib cage, were in the lineup together. But Friday, it didn’t matter as the Jays fell behind early.
“That’s the team we envisioned,” Jays manager John Gibbons said before the game. “You’re not going to get a whole lot of sympathy from the Yankees. They’ve taken more of a beating than anybody as far as the injuries go. Your team is built a certain way and you want to see them all out there together. They’re two big players for us.”
Lawrie recorded his first two hits of the season after starting the year 0-for-10.
Bautista hit his fourth home run of the year in the sixth inning, a blast into centre field. He is expected to serve as the designated hitter on the weekend before returning to right field in Baltimore.
“I don’t have the tightness in my body that I had before,” Bautista said before the game. “It’s still a little sore because my muscles were tight for four days until today. The pain hasn’t subsided completely, but the tightness has.”
The Blue Jays’ lineup lacked punch as a unit, though.
They managed seven hits, with only Bautista’s blast, Rajai Davis’ leadoff triple and J.P. Arencibia’s ninth-inning homer going beyond a single.
The Blue Jays have scored just 19 runs in seven games since shortstop Jose Reyes got injured.
“He’s one of the best players in the game,” Gibbons said of Reyes. “There’s going to be some effect. We’re built to do some damage from the top to bottom. We can’t lay it all on that. One man doesn’t make a team. He sure helps.”
Even if the Blue Jays got some better hitting, it likely wouldn’t have mattered.
Brandon Morrow continued his good-bad-good-bad pattern on the mound, allowing seven runs, five earned, over 5 1/3 innings. Morrow struggled badly early in the counts, and that haunted him all evening.
Travis Hafner had an RBI double in the first inning and a home run in the third, while Overbay added a home run in the sixth. Two batters later, Morrow’s evening was done. Wells added a home run in the seventh inning.
“Nothing’s coming together yet,” Gibbons said. “I think it will. It’s just a matter of time. But it’s time to start playing some better baseball.”
One of the bright spots has been Reyes’ replacement, shortstop Munenori Kawasaki. His affable nature since coming to the team last week has rubbed off on the club.
“Let’s face it: We’re just kind of sputtering along as a team,” Gibbons said. “He’s a guy that keeps things positive and gives you a lot of energy.”
Early in the season, with Maicer Izturis playing third and Emilio Bonifacio at second, shoddy defence became the norm. Beyond that, the Blue Jays now feel no need to acquire a replacement at shortstop.
“Everybody knows when Reyes goes down, (teams that you are trying to trade with) have got you,” Gibbons said. “Every team in baseball has got you where they want you.”