August 15: White Sox 9, Jays 5

Romero and Lincoln blow game after Johnson's blast ties game

Ricky Romero's biggest problem is himself. Rather than just pitch, he has the game all inside his head. When the three pitchers went on the DL in mid-June, rather than continuing to pitch well, he fell apart, not that he was particularly good this season to begin with, sporting a 4.15 ERA and a WHIP around 1.3 in his first 13 starts in the season. But since the Philadelphia start until the end of July, he truly sucked. Over 9 starts, his ERA was 8.37 with a WHIP over 2, with a K to BB ratio very close to 1. 

He had a couple of good starts, but tonight, Ricky was just warm and cold. To open the top of the the 2nd inning, two runs scored on four singles opened the 2nd inning, throwing 11 fastballs in a row to the 5-8 hitters (Pierzynski, Ramirez, Viciedo, and Dewayne Wise). Mind you, Edwin was playing left tonight and despite a valiant effort by Edwin to catch Wise's line drive, he ended up dropping it. Then to open the 4th, Romero walks Viciedo and then Dewayne Wise hits a home run to the 100 level in right. It was 4-0 at the end of 4.

The Jays opened scoring at the bottom of the 5th against Gavin Floyd as a double steal by Visquel (on 2nd) and Gose went awry with Davis striking out. Pierzynski's throw went errant, hit Visquel, who ended up scoring. 4-1 after 5.

In the bottom of the 6th, the Jays tied it (after Romero retired 9 in a row) on a three run blast by Kelly Johnson to score Edwin (single) and David Cooper (ground rule double). 

But at the top of the 7th, Ricky lost his concentration again, walking De Aza on 5 pitches and plunking Youkilis. Out went Ricky, on came Brad Lincoln. Brad Lincoln just came off of his worst relief effort in a 10-4 lead against the Yankees, letting in 3 runs over 4 hits three days ago. Brad Lincoln couldn't find the plate against Adam Dunn, and when he did, he let it fly out of the park for a three run homer to the 200 section in right. Four batters later, Viciedo homered to plate Piercynski. 

Chad Jenkins pitched a quick 1-2-3 ninth. Jeff Mathis hit a solo homer in the 9th against Philip Humber, but the Jays did nothing else.

Fans are not going to be happy with Brad Lincoln or the trade. Travis Snider is hitting .325 / .360 / .450 in Pittsburgh which is what the Jays have really needed. Lincoln, meanwhile, has not looked good in the last two outings, and has not contributed to a Jays win in his previous four outings. My response is to give Lincoln some more chances.

And fans certainly are not going to be happy with Ricky after tonight's game. His head just isn't screwed on properly. Hopefully he spends alot of valuable time with a Spanish speaking sports therapist between his starts because man, he needs it.

On a positive, I do like the middle of the makeshift lineup with David Cooper following up Edwin Encarnacion. Cooper is just really proving himself up in Toronto, making us not miss Adam Lind at all.