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TORONTO — Twice, John Gibbons had Jason Frasor up in the bullpen. Then it was Brandon League and Brian Tallet, but it was when Kurt Suzuki of the Oakland Athletics singled with two out and a man on in the bottom of the fifth inning that the Toronto Blue Jays' manager had seen enough of starter A.J. Burnett.
It's true that baseball is a 162-game marathon and yadda yadda, but this slow and steady stuff isn't always the way to go about your business. Sometimes you need to streak.
The Blue Jays didn't have their first four-game winning streak in 2007 until rattling off four in a row from June 22 to 25. They had only three such streaks, including a season-longest five-game string from July 21 to 25.
The Blue Jays have the type of rotation that would seem to have a couple of streaks in it, but Burnett came up woefully short with a chance to get the team a fourth consecutive win. The Athletics won 9-8 last night.
Related Information
- Arizona Diamondbacks
- Oakland Athletics
- Jeremy Accardo
- Travis Buck
- David Eckstein
- Dana Eveland
- Jason Frasor
- Chad Gaudin
- Rich Harden
- Dan Haren
- Brandon League
- Dustin McGowan
- Kurt Suzuki
- Brian Tallet
True, a throwing error charged to David Eckstein on a play at first base that Tallet misplayed contributed to the loss, and the winning run came on a triple against closer Jeremy Accardo.
But c'mon. With Rich Harden scratched and Chad Gaudin making his first start of the year and his Toronto teammates giving him a 3-1 lead in the first inning, the Blue Jays had every reason to think this one was there for the taking.
Momentum doesn't just hang in the air waiting for somebody to seize it. True momentum in baseball comes from the next day's starter.
Burnett threw some good changeups in the first inning, but the Athletics soon took the measure of the pitch — Travis Buck broke a 0-for-22 string with a run-scoring double on a changeup of 86 miles an hour in the second — and also teed off on Burnett's curveball and fastball. His velocity was down noticeably in his final two innings of work, as he concentrated simply on getting his fastball over for strikes.
"It was a matter of all location," Burnett said when asked whether it was his fastball location that did him in. "As soon as I got ahead, I couldn't hit a spot and couldn't put anybody away. Every time I thought I made a few good pitches, I lost the next couple. It all happened so fast.
"I just didn't feel good out there," Burnett added. "Physically, I felt fine, but as far as my delivery and repeating … everything was out of whack."
Much was made during spring training about how Burnett was trying to turn himself from a thrower into a pitcher and make a kind of brains instead of brawn transition. When Burnett showed up with the nail of his right index finger torn off, much was made of the fact that, because he could not grip his curveball, he was going to use a changeup, which was somehow going to carry over into the regular season and that all would be well.
But last night served as a reminder that Burnett is first and foremost a fastball pitcher. He has just four strikeouts through two starts and that's not good enough for a guy who was fourth in the American League last year with 9.56 strikeouts for each nine innings pitched.
You can get the square root of this and that or look at the stars for guidance, but in the end, if Burnett doesn't have command of his fastball, it's going to be a long, or in this case short, night.
So now the Blue Jays turn the ball over to Dustin McGowan, who tonight will be up against a pitcher making his first career start, Greg Smith. Smith, along with tomorrow night's starter, Dana Eveland, joined the Athletics over the winter as part of the trade that sent Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
This was a series chock full of promise. A series that streaks can be built on. But after last night's outing by Burnett, there's a sense of starting all over again — the faint whiff of lost opportunity, whatever the calendar says.
