Jays lose battle of the bullpens

When you call on your bullpen as early as the 4th inning, things are bound to go awry. David Purcey had his second straight rough start, as the Jays dropped a 4-run lead in the eventual 8-5 loss to the Athletics.

Things started off well though, as the top of the lineup continues to hit for power. Scutaro and Hill both hit homeruns and contributed towards the Jays’ 5 runs. But after Hill, there is a HUGE hole … and I mean HUGE. Rios was hitless again tonight – that’s 3 straight games and Alex is now 0 for 14 since Wednesday. Part of me thinks that if John Gibbons was still around, he would either bench Rios or move him down in the lineup to teach him a lesson. But the more player-friendly Cito Gaston will probably just hope and pray that Rios hits his way out of this slump.

Cito made another questionable call tonight, perhaps leaving Brandon League in for too long. Could those extra runs have been prevented? Maybe. But Brian Tallet is starting tomorrow, and Cito probably threw League out there for as long as possible to keep the other bullpen arms fresh for tomorrow’s game. I’m not saying that Cito conceded tonight’s game, but sometimes you do have to lose the battle to win the war.

In the grand scheme of things, the Blue Jays are still 8-4 and still in first place.