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TORONTO — Thirteen innings of baseball lost on a grand slam, but it was the 10th inning – oh, that horrible, bitter 10th – that must surely have made for a glum chartered flight for the Toronto Blue Jays to Cleveland last night.
“Pathetic,” was the word chosen by Gregg Zaun and, well, yeah. That's pretty much it.
Playing a man short after they'd placed both shortstops John McDonald and David Eckstein on the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day, the Blue Jays were beaten 8-3 in 13 innings by the Tampa Bay Rays.
Toronto manager John Gibbons was right when he said the Blue Jays' three-run ninth inning, pieced together on a two-run home run by Vernon Wells and a run-scoring single, meant that “justice was served” because it removed a loss from the record of Jesse Litsch.
Jason Bartlett gets around Toronto Blue Jays catcher Gregg Zaun to score the go-ahead run during the 13th inning Thursday night. (Aaron Harris/The Canadian Press)
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But it was only a smidgen of a silver lining. Dioner Navarro's grand slam against Shawn Camp, 0-1, put the finishing touches on things after Carl Crawford's sacrifice fly put the Rays into the lead.
But it was the 10th inning that told the tale of the game and the Blue Jays season so far: a leadoff triple by Alex Rios. Wasted. Trashed without as much as contact being made. Walks to Scott Rolen and Wells sprinkled among strikeouts of Shannon Stewart, Matt Stairs and Rod Barajas and – yeah. Pathetic's a pretty good word.
“A heartbreaker,” Gibbons said.
So now the Blue Jays, 17-19, begin a 10-game, 10-day trip tonight with the first of four games in Cleveland against the Indians. Then it's on to play the Minnesota Twins, who hold down first place in the American League Central, followed by an interleague series in Philadelphia against the Phillies.
The Blue Jays are expected to have a new player in tow today, as they are planning to bring in Brad Wilkerson, who was designated for assignment by the Seattle Mariners and is expected to become a free agent today.
Eckstein strained his right hip flexor in Tuesday's 5-4 loss to the Rays, leaving the game after the fifth inning.
McDonald, a sure-handed defender who had become Eckstein's late-inning replacement, then sprained his right ankle in the sixth inning while sliding for a ball.
On Wednesday, the Blue Jays held out slim hope that at least one of the players would escape the disabled list. They didn't. Journeyman Jorge Velandia was called up on Wednesday, and Joe Inglett was recalled yesterday from Triple-A Syracuse.
Wilkerson, a left-handed hitter who can play the outfield and first base, would only cost the pro-rated portion of the $390,000 major-league minimum salary, with the Mariners on the hook for the difference of the remaining prorated portion of the $3-million contract he signed last winter. Wilkerson hit just .232, with five runs batted in, for the Mariners, but Blue Jays assistant general managers Alex Anthopoulos and Tony LaCava both know Wilkerson from their time in the old Montreal Expos' organization, and general manager J.P. Ricciardi has tried to trade for him on multiple occasions.
Wilkerson has hit left-handers marginally better than right-handers during his career. He has also shown an ability to draw walks.
Ricciardi would say yesterday only that he has some “irons in the fire,” although he admitted Wilkerson had been a topic of internal conversation.
The Blue Jays see Wilkerson as a player who would be able to help them once their injured shortstops are back because he could provide some lefty balance off the bench and would allow the organization to leave Adam Lind in Syracuse.
But Wilkerson won't cure what ails this group. Neither will talk.
“We've all talked about this until we're blue in the face and I'm pretty sick of talking about it,” Zaun said.
“A guy leads off with a triple, it should be automatic with this team. You have to find a way to get it done. This isn't a league where the best you can is good enough. You have to get the job done.”
