ARLINGTON, Tex. -- Take a quick glance at the relievers in the Jays bullpen and you'll see six guys who were there last year.
But that is deceiving.
Although the likes of B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs, Jesse Carlson, Shawn Camp, Jason Frasor and Brandon League performed gallantly in 2008 when the Jays had the best bullpen in the AL, their roles have changed dramatically.
Ryan is gone as the closer with that important task now held by Downs.
Brian Tallet, who held the long relief role last year, is in the rotation by default when Jesse Litsch came up lame back in April.
A year ago, manager Cito Gaston had the luxury of having four left-handers.
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But now that's all changed as the mix in the bullpen is a lot more depleted from the left side than just the switch of jobs by Tallet.
The team is a little more vulnerable in the late innings against left-handed hitters.
"We are missing Tallet down there so we're missing a left-hander," Gaston started out when comparing the bullpen to last year.
"And B.J., because he's not pitching like he was last year and (the same with) Carlson, and Downs going from a set-up guy to a closer, it's a little different down there."
The emergence of Frasor and his new splitter/change, plus the consistency shown by League, has gone a long way in making up the slack.
"Frasor's thrown the ball well out of the bullpen and so has Leaguer," Gaston said. "They've done a great job.
"And ever since we've come off that losing road trip (the ugly nine-game slide at the end of May), League has been outstanding down there.
Facing lefties in the late innings, though, remains problematic.
"It is," Gaston conceded. "They're working with Carlson to get his slider down, he's kind of spinning it up there. He's dropping his elbow, they want to get it up to get that downward plane.
"When he gets back to that point he'll start getting those left-handers out again."
In the interim, Gaston has had to be a little more creative and at times go against the flow of a strict lefty-righty matchup.
Overall they are getting the job done more often than not and rate fifth best in the league with a 3.99 ERA.
This season, it's just been a bumpier ride.
