Toronto Blue Jays batter Jose Bautista flips his bat after popping out against Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Jake Arrieta in the first inning of their MLB American League baseball game in Baltimore, Maryland, September 14, 2010.JOE GIZA
Have the Toronto Blue Jays checked out already?
It is permissible to at least consider the possibility, no? That with all the talk about shutting down pitchers and pushing back starts and a sense that people really mean it when they say the season has been better than expected - that through it all the slight matter of playing out the final 17 games has somehow taken off a bit of the edge.
The Baltimore Orioles crushed the Blue Jays 11-3 Tuesday night at Camden Yards and, frankly, the score flattered the visitors, who were out-hit 16-7.
Shawn Hill's 5 2/3 innings were enough for the Mississauga, Ont., native to earn a qualified thumbs up from manager Cito Gaston but in the end it was a horrific display of bullpen arson and ham-handed defence that left Gaston with precious little to say.
The Orioles, who lost their first 12 games against the Blue Jays but have now won two straight and are sprinting to the finish under new manager Buck Showalter, batted around in a six-run seventh (their biggest offensive inning of the season) when they tore into reliever Josh Roenicke. A candidate for the bullpen in 2011 and part of the return from the Cincinnati Reds for last season's Scott Rolen trade, Roenicke misplayed a one-hopper to the mound with the bases loaded to fritter away a force at the plate and then served up a three-run double to the Orioles' Robert Andino.
Travis Snider, making his sixth consecutive start, double-clutched on a single to left and then over-threw the cut-off man.
In and around all that, the Blue Jays hitters were flummoxed by Jake Arrieta, a hard-throwing Orioles starter who has already caught the eye of Hall of Famer and Orioles broadcaster Jim Palmer.
"I was a little surprised," Gaston said of Arrieta, "because at the start he was throwing 95 (miles per hour) with a hard sinker and then he started to throw a lot of breaking balls. They'll probably work with him on throwing more fastballs."
Arrieta has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his last seven starts. Aaron Hill's three-run home run, off Orioles reliever Pedro Viola, was the only offensive display of consequence for the Blue Jays.
Six Orioles had at least two hits.
"We didn't pitch too well out of the bullpen," Gaston said.
The Blue Jays have some issues down the stretch. They have a catcher of the future, J.P. Arencibia, that people within the team don't seem to trust. Snider hasn't answered many questions this year - Gaston is going to give him a run-out down the stretch - and while Yunel Escobar has been a contributor offensively, you have to wonder about his defence. Tuesday night, he flipped another awkward-looking toss to first base that screamed for style points.
It is clear that he and Hill are having communication issues. Remember, Hill has spent the past few seasons with the likes of Marco Scutaro, Alex Gonzalez and, at times, John McDonald at shortstop. All three are technicians compared to Escobar, who appears to prefer freelancing and seems to need a GPS to avoid Hill.
"It's just the way he plays - a little fancy and sometimes it gets him in trouble," Gaston said of Escobar. Asked if there's any way of coaching it out of him, Gaston shrugged and said: "I think that's what Bobby [Cox, the Atlanta Braves manager]tried," a reference to Escobar's previous manager who ended up tiring of his erratic play.
"It doesn't bother you as long as you make the plays," Gaston said. "But when you don't make the plays … that's when somebody's going to say something to you."