August 19: Rangers 11, Jays 2

Alverez blows up; Jays pummel Rangers with 2 hit effort.

It's difficult to win games when three base runners get on base for the Jays team in a completely underwhelming effort by the Blue Jays.

Henderson told the club after the game that he had heard before game time that a family member had passed away. Really Henderson, even if you had pitched a five hitter, it would be difficult to win this one when your team's offence is absent without leave.

The team's offence was led by Air Canada spokesman (he seems to always be on the plane between Vegas and Toronto) Mike McCoy with both RBIs, one on a solo home run and another on a ground ball out.

Henderson first couple of innings looked fine but his concentration and his game started to fall apart in the 3rd inning with 4 hits in a row (Murphy double, Soto RBI single, Moreland RBI single, and Kinsler double). In the fourth, Texas scored another run with a three hit combination (Young - Murphy (RBI) - Soto) before getting out of the jam. The fifth was the end of him. With one out, Andrus singled, Hamilton got an RBI double, Beltre walked, Nelson Cruz singled (RBI), and Michael Young belted a 3 run homer. A final David Murphy walk knocked Alvarez out of the game.

It was Alvarez' worst start ever, allowing 8 ER and 12 hits over 4 1/3 innings (and 3 walks). Really, though, no matter, because the Jays offence was absolutely absent, as Matt Harrison had a great start going 8 innings of 2 hit ball. Texas retired fourteen batters in a row from Mike McCoy's solo shot in the 5th to the end of the game.

The Jays are now 5-15 in their last 20, beginning from the time that many team members gathered at Travis Snider's home in Mill Valley, Washington, for what turned out to be a farewell barbecue. Perhaps Travis' steaks had some formula in it to make the Jays' bats useless, because this is exactly what has happened to most of the Jays bats, including the regulars.