JAYS SINK LOWER
Last-place offence blanked by King Felix and the Mariners,
The hole the Blue Jays have dug themselves in this season’s early going continued to get deeper on Friday, as they became just the third team in the majors to lose their 20th game of the season.
The much-hyped and overhauled Jays, underachieving of all expectations thus far, join the likes of the lowly Houston Astros and Miami Marlins — two clubs undergoing dramatic rebuilds — as the only teams to have lost twice as many games as they have won through the season’s first 30 contests.
Not even the heralded return of a revamped Ricky Romero could shake the flailing Jays from their funk.
But there was little Romero could do on this night as the Jays were once again stymied offensively, held to just five scattered hits, en route to a 4-0 blanking from “King” Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners.
The Jays’ anemic offence has scored just a pair of runs through their current three-game losing streak. Heading into Friday’s game, the Jays were hitting a majorleague-worst .228 — one point lower than the Marlins, from whose off-season fire sale the Jays were supposed to have benefited.
The Jays’ on-base percentage remains below .300, fifth-worst in the majors.
Granted, Toronto hitters on Friday night were up against one of the toughest right-handers in baseball in Hernandez, who threw a dominant eight shutout innings, aided by the Mariners’ stellar infield, which converted three double plays on the night.
Romero, starting in place of the injured Josh Johnson, was rolling at the outset, seeing the minimum through his first three frames. He had late and sharp action on his changeup, was working efficiently and throwing strikes. He looked like the Romero of old.
“It almost felt like I was a rookie all over again,” Romero said of his return to the Rogers Centre.
But he got into trouble right from the start of the fourth and began to look like the Romero of the recent past, walking Canadian Michael Saunders before Kyle Seager went deep to right field to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead. A hit batter, wild pitch, two more walks and a single later, Romero had lost control and the M’s had a three-run cushion. Romero gutted it out to finish the fourth after taking a comebacker off the left forearm which caused his arm to tighten up. But his night was done and once again the Jays’ already overworked bullpen was handed the ball with more than half the game remaining. “Beginning of the game, I thought he was dynamite,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He’s a little dis- appointed, but you know what? I think it’s a good starting point.” X-rays taken after the game on Romero’s forearm were negative and he hopes it’s simply a bruise. Given the opportunity to address the Jays’ struggles in his first game back with the big-league club, Romero repeated a common refrain of his teammates. “This team has the talent,” he said. “It’s just the matter of us getting on a good run.” But then some concern: “Hopefully we’ll be able to do that . . . sooner than later, because as we all know in this division if you keep falling and sliding it’s going to be tough to get back up.”