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LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — He didn't sound like a saviour. Instead, Scott Rolen went out of his way to be self-deprecating yesterday as he prepared to take batting practice with the Toronto Blue Jays in advance of his return to the active lineup tonight.
Perhaps he realizes how much work it will take to right the ship, after the Tampa Bay Rays put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep with a 5-3 win over the Blue Jays in front of 9,540 at Disney's Champions Stadium last night.
"Pretty exciting rehab stint: 0-for-9 with an error, and they could have given me two, actually," said the third baseman, who will be officially added to the roster today, likely at the expense of Robinzon Diaz or Joe Inglett.
"I did bare-hand a few balls that were bunted … but I was pretty pathetic, actually. They're probably happy to see me go. I was killing them."
Blue Jays base runner Gregg Zaun, middle, slides past Rays catcher Dioner Navarro and gets the safe signal from umpire Mike DiMuro during last night’s game in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (John Raoux/Associated Press)
With the team in last place in the American League East Division — three games under .500 and in the middle of a noxious hitting slump with runners in scoring position (9-for-77, .117) — manager John Gibbons agreed Rolen's return was akin to adding an impact hitter in a trade. But he added, "We don't expect him [Rolen] to carry the load."
Somebody needs to take charge. Soon. Because this latest sweep wasn't just about bats turning to sawdust with runners in sniffing distance of home plate. It was about their charitable pitching, too. The Blue Jays blew five leads in the series. They scored runs in seven innings — and gave back at least a run in the bottom of those same innings on six occasions.
"We're close," Gibbons said, after watching Marco Scutaro strike out and David Eckstein fly out with runners in scoring position in the ninth inning. In the same inning, Gregg Zaun hit a ball he thought was a three-run homer that died in the heavy, humid Florida night. "I can't hit a ball any harder," Zaun said.
Starter Dustin McGowan, 0-2, lost the strike zone after a blazing start. He ended up facing 22 batters in just four innings, throwing 87 pitches. He had seven walks, five of them coming after Eric Hinske was thrown out trying to steal second base for the second out of the fourth. Of his last 32 pitches, 21 were balls. The carryover was evident in the fifth, when he walked B.J. Upton.
"I don't know what happened — lack of concentration, maybe," McGowan said. "I just lost the strike zone. I was good for three innings and I fell apart. I was just searching for a way to fix it … and that might be when I got in trouble. Looking for a different arm slot."
There's a lot of searching going on right now. The Blue Jays, who lost the services of Alex Rios when he was ejected by first-base umpire Tim McClelland in the second inning after he was called out on an appeal, scored one of their runs on a wild pitch and another on a brain-cramp by the Rays, who left home plate open after Eckstein's sacrifice moved Zaun to third. With Akinori Iwamura holding on to the ball and catcher Dioner Navarra walking toward the mound without calling timeout, Zaun scooted home.
Rolen, who made it through a regular round of batting practice and infield practice without incident yesterday, suffered a non-displaced fracture of the right middle finger when he was hit by a ball in a spring-training fielding drill on March 23. H had a pin surgically implanted and then removed.
He said the performance of the Jays had no impact on the timing of his return.
"That's not been portrayed from the front office or the trainer or the manager along the way," said Rolen, who was acquired in the off-season in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. "It's always been: 'We want to get you better, get you back and get you ready to play. Take what you need, and c'mon back.'
"When it happens, and you have a pin sticking out of your finger and it's in a cast, you're not really anxious to travel the globe and play baseball. When you get back and you're nearing being ready to go, you get to a point where you feel like you need to get back in the groove. You're thinking [of] playing games. I want to play games.'"
His Blue Jays' debut couldn't be more timely.
