Shitty Loss: Complete the Sweep Edition

Didn't watch this one (couldn't, anyway), but it seems like it was more of the same old same old we've been seeing against the Rays all season. 4-14 vs. the defending AL champs this season.

The Rays also became the first team to beat Roy Halladay four times in a season.

And Marco Scutaro got hurt, which means that we'll get to see some wacky line-up combinations for as long as he's out (say hello to Jose Baustista, lead-off hitter).

And Travis Snider sat again, wouldn't want him to get any at-bats against Major League left-handers.

At least the Jays are done with the Rays for the season. That's something to be happy about.

Shitty Loss: Blame It On The Rain Edition

I don't know if it was because I was only paying half-attention to the game, but it seemed to me like it was only raining in the bottom of the 9th during the game.

Maybe that fucked with Frasor, I don't know. Maybe it caused Scutaro to misplay that ball.

It was another one of those losses that would have been a kick in the nuts in May (maybe even June), but it's hard to get too upset about now. And, hey, keep adding to that one-run loss stat.

Congrats to Adam Lind, though, for his 100 RBI season. One of the few bright spots in this awful year.

Shitty Loss: 09/09/09 Edition

9 strikeouts (and 9 hits allowed). 9 innings. A chance to go to 9-0 against the Twins.

It would have been nice if the offense could have helped him out. Aside from a pretty good night from Travis Snider (and, I guess, Encarnacion's triple), the Jays made Carl Pavano look like, well, Roy Halladay, and probably put the final nail in the coffin of Doc's Cy Young chances this year.

At least this one was over quickly.

Shitty Losses: Three For The Price Of One

Adam Lind can only do so much, I guess.

I suppose I shouldn't say I'm too upset, since I'm at least glad that they helped out the Rangers chances of catching the Red Sox for the Wild Card.

I did spend too much time yesterday watching the doubleheader, like I figured I would. I was really hoping that Thursday was an off-day, since I'm basically a junkie at this point, but I guess I'm going to keep chasing that dragon once 7:07 PM rolls around.

And to show how much things can change in a year, the Jays were in the midst of their 10 game winning streak at this time last season. Remember how nice that felt?

Shitty Loss: Not-Quite-A-Comeback Edition

Just fucking lose, please.

I knew they weren't going to come back all the way. Even when they scored those 2 runs in the 9th, I knew they were still going to lose. I guess it's not bad enough just to lose a game, they need to make sure that Papelbon gets a save to piss me off even more. Padding the 1-run loss stat is nice, too.

These are the kind of losses that would have been killing me in June. Right now, they're just a mild annoyance.

Shitty Loss: Rain Delay Edition

The game had it's entertaining moments, at least. I wanted nothing more than for Travis Snider to be the hero against Papelbon, but I guess it wasn't to be. Of course, they couldn't go down quietly in the 9th, that's not the Jays way, even though they were pretty lucky to get the bases loaded there.

But man, I keep waiting for Aaron Hill to stop hitting home runs and it still hasn't happened. I don't know if 40+ is possible, but, even with his early season power surge, I didn't think 30 was possible and he has proved me wrong and then some. With Roy Halladay's Cy Young chances and Ricky Romero's Rookie of the Year hopes seemingly fading by the start, seeing if Hill can catch Alfonso Soriano's American League record of 39 long balls or Davey Johnson and Rogers Hornsby's MLB record of 42 is about all Jays fans have left to cheer about in this lost season. With games left in homer friendly parks like Fenway, Yankee Stadium, and the Ballpark in Arlington, you'd have to think he has at least a decent shot.

Shitty Loss: WTF Edition

I didn't think it was possible for Roy Halladay to have a bad a start as that one (even though he was mostly nickled and dimed to death in the first inning). The whole team has really gone into the tank after losing a bunch of close games to fall out of the race, the Doc trade rumours, the Rolen trade, and the Rios stuff.

That second inning sure was nice, though!

Shitty Loss: Roy Halladay Edition

I don't think I ever defined what I consider a shitty loss. Basically, since the Jays have seemed to lose an inordinate amount of games by 3 runs or less over the past 2 months, or so, I figured that was a good criteria. I will make an exception, though, for any game in which Roy Halladay loses.

Despite his 7 strikeouts, Doc clearly didn't have it in this one. Going less than 7 innings for the first (non-injured) time in about 20 years is pretty noteworthy for him. I don't know, maybe the start looks a little better if the ump doesn't blow that call on Youkilis at first, but the Sox seemed to have his number most of the night.

Not that the hitters bailed him out at all, squandering the few chances they had to try and make a game out of it, Encarnacion being the biggest culprit.

Hard to take anything positive out of this one, unlike the last few games where there was something you could point to that looked good. Maybe Wells getting a hit with RISP, as pathetic as that is, was the highlight for the Jays.

Shitty Loss: Masshole Edition

I was all set to chalk this up as a non-shitty loss. Falling behind early, Beckett is a pretty good pitcher, Romero has trouble with the Red Sox, and, with the Jays having to go to the bullpen early and those guys being hit or miss, I figured that Boston would pile on a few more runs and make this a laugher.

Well, I have half-right, as the bullpen didn't do a very good job bailing out Romero, who's RoY chances look to be dwindling by the start.

Obviously, it was great to see homers from both Ruiz and Snider. If they can keep their Vegas mojo going maybe I won't have to make so many of these posts.

Do they have to make things so excruciatingly close, though? Seriously, 23 one-run losses on the season is insane and both Ruiz and Lind came within feet of hitting one out against Papelbon (God, do I hate that guy) and winning the game for the Jays and almost had me believing they would actually pull a win out of their collective asses.

I should probably know better by now.

Shitty Loss: Grand Slam Edition

Can't say I paid too much attention to this one, though I did see Zaun's slam (unfortunately).

Remember when Brandon League had that amazing outing at Yankee Stadium last week? Seems a lot longer than 3 or 4 games ago. League is a weird one, as he's been amazing this season against the Yankees. 8 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts against only 2 walks and 5 hits. That makes his 5.20 ERA for the season seem that much worse.

On the plus side, at least Rzepczynski had another decent start, Carlson didn't shit the bed in his inning, and Hill didn't get hurt in his collision at home with Navarro. You take what you can get at this point, I guess.

Shitty Loss: Daytime, Extra Inning Edition

Another shitty loss! Is there anything worse than losing a day game like that? I mean, at least if I'm at home watching a game at night, those are likely my plans for the evening. I've got nothing better to do and I've set aside 3 hours or so to sit on my ass and watch baseball. But sitting inside on a beautiful day feels bad enough as it is, seeing another stupid Yankee walk-off win just makes it worse. Especially when the game is about 4 hours long.

At least we got another homer out of Randy Ruiz, and not a cheapo off the foul pole, this time. And Jeter got hurt. And maybe A-Rod. And Romero had another pretty good start. And Burnett didn't get the win. So it wasn't all bad.

I'll just blame this loss on Hill bobbling a likely double play ball in the 1st that let a run score and move on. Sounds good to me.

Shitty Loss: Yankee Stadium Edition

I guess it was too good to be true. After the bullpen shut down the Yankees in the first game of the series, it would have been too much to hope for that Jesse Carlson didn't shit the bed 2 nights in a row. The Matsui homer was a no-doubter, but in Carlson's defence, the Posada shot is probably an out in 29 other ballparks (I guess I shouldn't complain too much, though, since Randy Ruiz's (!) home run was a 314-foot Yankee Stadium special). And, all things considered, I guess, I'd rather the Jays blow it in the 8th than have to put up with another annoying Yankee walk-off win.

Encarnacion's first Blue Jay home run was a bomb, so that was nice, and the Jays did their routine of making things look interesting in the 9th. But again, you can't really expect to come back off of Rivera (no matter how many times the announcers bring up Scutaro's home run off of him in Oakland 23 years ago).

I wonder what it's going to take to end Cito's love affair with Carlson, though. As awesome as he was last season- and he was- he just doesn't have it this year. I'm not going to pretend to understand why, but it's tough watching him get trotted out there almost every time there's a big at-bat against a lefty late in the game. Maybe because there were other, sometimes better, options against lefties out there last year (Downs, Ryan, even Tallet), but it seemed like Carlson was put in similar situations as tonight late in games a year ago and didn't piss himself in the process.

I realize that none of this really matters, as the Jays are already playing for next season, but you'd at least like to see some glimmers of hope that some of the problem areas that the team has had this year are at least looking to be turning the corner heading into the off-season.

Another Shitty Loss

Well, I can't say that this one was any more of a nut punch than any of the other shitty losses this team has had in the past month or so. I guess they always sting a little more when Doc is on the mound, though. The first inning sucked, with A-Rod maybe being out when trying to get back into 2nd but being called safe and then a few bobbled balls that let him score (maybe Millar should have let Hill play that one). And then bringing the tying run to the plate in the 8th, but not having Overbay hit for Millar (although Millar had a decent at-bat, at least, before striking out [side note: was it just me, or did they Jays get caught looking a ton in this game?]). Wells's double was nice, but you can never really expect to come back against Rivera. Same thing with the 9th inning and getting the 2 guys on for Hill (I know we all had visions of a walk-off shot, but the guy's going to the Hall of Fame for a reason).

Again, the margin of defeat was razor thin (you have to go back to June 27 to find a game they've lost by more than 3 runs), enough to make me think the team just needs some minor tweaking on the offensive side to contend next year. I'm probably delusional, but what other choice has this team given me over the past 15 years?