ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The mediocrity that has befallen the Blue Jays has now claimed Roy Halladay as one of its victims.
Yesterday Halladay made his final start before the all-star break and his third since coming off the disabled list because of a right groin tweak.
Over that time, the Jays have tumbled in a free fall and Halladay has bounced right along with them. Even his brilliance can’t carry them to a win.
Two starts ago against the same Rays, Halladay took the loss despite giving up just two runs over six innings. His next start in the Bronx was painful as Halladay allowed a season-high three homers and blew a 5-3 lead in the seventh in a game the Jays ultimately would lose 7-6.
It was more vintage Doc stuff in yesterday’s matinee but Halladay couldn’t get the breaks, couldn’t pitch out of trouble in the pivotal inning and suffered another loss. The Jays dropped a 3-2 decision to be swept in the three-game series.
They are 1-6 on the road swing, 1-5 on the season against the Rays, have lost 10 of their past 12 and now sit 43-44 overall, dropping below .500 for the first time this season.
Getting back to Halladay, who is at the centre of the July 31 trade storm following the news that the Jays will listen to offers for his services, he is 0-2 with a no-decision since returning from the DL.
To show how the baseball gods are lined up against Halladay these days, he trotted out to pitch the bottom of the seventh trailing 3-2 only to have severe thunderstorms and lightning knock out half the lights inside the Trop which delayed the game 20 minutes. Despite the delay, Halladay soldiered on for another inning.
“They’re all tough right now,” Halladay, 10-3, said of the loss. “Having two close games the last two days and another tough one today, when you keep coming up short it’s hard.”
The story line in yesterday’s defeat was a continuation of the theme that now sees the Jays playing just poorly enough to lose. When things were rolling in April and early May, it was just the opposite.
With a break here or there, the Jays could have gone 3-1 in New York and won two here, but that’s not the way it’s going these days.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Halladay said of the losing ways. “Things do go the other way for the other teams and we can’t get the one hit or get the out when you need it. It’s definitely been one of those times. Hopefully we can get it turned around.
“When you go like that it seems like those things do happen where it’s hard to get the tables turned in your favour.”
The big blow came in the fifth with one out, the bases loaded and dangerous slugger Carlos Pena at the plate. On a two-strike pitch, Halladay dropped a curve on the outside corner. Pena, fooled, took a defensive swing and launched a soft opposite-field liner into left field that kissed the line for a two-run double. Ouch!
“It’s tough, a couple inches it’s foul and you get another chance,” Halladay said. “I don’t think it was a bad pitch, probably a little more up than I wanted to.”
At the plate, the Jays did little. In the top of the seventh they had the bases loaded and one out when Adam Lind singled in a run to make it a 3-2 game.
But that was it. Kevin Millar popped out and Vernon Wells flied out.
Then the lights went out. How fitting.
