Bad night for Greinke = great night for the Jays

No pitcher in MLB is completely invincible. Hell, even Roy Halladay has a bad night at the office every once in a while. Although it took 111 innings, someone finally hit a home run off Zack Greinke. Lyle Overbay snapped the streak in the 2nd inning of the Blue Jays 9-3 routing of the Kansas City Royals, which broke a streak of 17 straight games where Greinke had not surrendered more than 3 earned runs.

The long ball came in multiple doses courtesy of Lyle Overbay, Adam Lind, and Rod Barajas. Until last night, the Blue Jays had not hit multiple home runs in a single game since May 17th against the Chicago White Sox. Although the home runs numbers have tapered off in the past few weeks, extra base hits in the form of double after double are still bringing in the runs.

Although we’re very quick to criticize Vernon Wells or Alex Rios during a slump, Aaron Hill is very quietly riding an 0 for 25 streak. You would never know it because Rios was the one taking all the heat after his 0 for 5 afternoon on Thursday and his media gaffe on Thursday night.

Luckily, Rios apologized for his actions on field before Friday’s game because that was inexcusable. Sometimes, being the bigger person means walking away from the situation. Alex chose his words poorly, and paid for it. But if Alex Rios didn’t play baseball for a living, that would have been a perfectly normal reaction. And who heckles someone outside of a charity event anyway? What kind of lowlife waits around for a baseball player just so they can say “the way you played today, you’re lucky someone wants your autograph”. That kind of stuff should be left at the ballpark.

This afternoon, our boy Scott Richmond returns after a two week vacation from the starting rotation. The Blue Jays hope to hand the Kansas City Royals their 9th straight loss against Royals prospect Luke Hochevar. He was dynamite in the Royals Triple A system going 5-0 with a 0.90 ERA for the Omaha Royals. Since being called up to the majors, Hochevar has been 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA. Hmm … sounds like the Royals’ version of David Purcey.