August 11: Yankees 5, Jays 2

Jays continue batting struggles as Laffey fails to hold the Yankees

The game was over by the middle of the fourth innings, with a three run Casey McGehee three run homer to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. The Las Vegas Jays went 0 for 18 tonight. Anthony Gose struck out 4 times, and Ivan Nova went 7 and a third, gave up 2 runs, struck out 10, and walked 1 in a pretty easy effort that was closed out by the very effective Robertson/Soriano combo. Edwin Encarnacion and Davis created all of the runs tonight, with Edwin knocking in Davis who was in second (once on a single-balk, the other on a double) with two singles. Kelly Johnson got the only other hit.

And the fans have to accept that this is the problem with the team. They are the not-ready for prime time players. Don't expect any run production or miracles from this team. The starting rotation is not good enough to pitch without letting in enough runs for the Jays meager run support to do anything. The Jays were successful without Jose Bautista because the starting lineup of Lawrie / Rasmus/ Encarnacion/ Lind / Escobar / Johnson / Arencibia / Davis / Snider was good enough to score runs and win games, and in fact, after Arencibia and Lind (who were hot before they went on the DL) went on the DL on the 27th of July, the Jays are 4-11. Lind and Arencibia was the tipping point for the team, and with Snider's trade at the deadline, it forced a AAA player in the outfield just weakened the offense even more.

Hechavarria has started his major league career 1 for 14 with 7 strikeouts. Anthony Gose's career is 12 for 55 with 21 strike outs. Yan Gomes bats .176. Moises is doing okay as well as is Cooper, who has seen plenty of major league action.

Hechavarria probably was due to be a mid-2013 callup and a replacement for Yunel in the 2014 season. Yan Gomes is the utility infielder and probably is not designed to be a regular, a 2013 bench player. Anthony Gose also was probably designed to be a 2014 callup and a replacement for Rasmus, but he is probably pegged in left-field. Moises has been a welcome surprise, but he is also not ready yet.

To add injury to insult, it looks like Escobar got his elbow hurt by an Ivan Nova pitch (second of the game) and listed day-to-day, along with Rasmus.

And it looks like it will be at least a week before anyone comes back with any regularity. Bautista starts swinging a bat on Monday, but he will be shut down if he has any pain. Rasmus likely will need a week for his groin to heal and may go on the DL. Lawrie is on the DL for a week. Arencibia is not back until mid-September at the earliest. Adam Lind may be back earlier than that.

So look for lots of woes in this home stand, with very little in the way of heroics. Davis, Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson are the only offensive threats left on the team, and with a three person line-up and against some excellent bullpens and starters, don't expect anything from this team.

Frustrating times for the fans, frustrating times for the team, frustrating times for all. But if all goes well, the offense will be back by the end of the month and the Jays will need to win games again. Don't be surprised though if the Jays go 8-21 in August (or worse).