At start, blue days in Toronto
TORONTO -- The Blue Jays have never been this bad at the start of a season. Not even back in 1981, when they had a .187-hitting third baseman named Danny Ainge and won just three of their first 13 games for what stood, until last night, as the worst start in franchise history.
The Jays of 2004 now stand 3-11 after last night's 4-2 loss to the Red Sox, who have beaten Toronto in four of five meetings this season and have Curt Schilling poised to make it a sweep here in SkyDome, where the Jays are now winless in their first eight games.
"We're just in a downward spiral and having a tough time getting out of it," said Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca, groping for ways to explain the Jays' start to the media in his office while the general manager, Worcester's J.P. Ricciardi, was gamely fulfilling his obligation to his call-in radio show, "Wednesdays with J.P." in an upstairs booth.
The last American League team to lose its first eight games was Detroit in 1992, a year in which the Tigers dropped to sixth a year after finishing second. The Tigers have had just one winning season in the 11 seasons since.
The Jays, who had a great September (19-7) to finish 10 games over .500 (86-76) last season and set a club record for runs scored (894), were a fashionable pick this spring to challenge the Yankee-Red Sox hegemony in the East. They had the league's top RBI man in Carlos Delgado, a superstar-in-the-making in center fielder Vernon Wells, their own Kevin Millar type in Frank Catalanotto, and a pitching staff retooled by Ricciardi around Doc Halladay, the reigning Cy Young Award winner.
But so far, it hasn't played out that way. The Jays have fallen behind in 11 of their 14 games and are 1-10 in those games. They haven't led at home since Delgado hit a three-run home run in the first inning April 7, two weeks ago last night. That's the only inning the Jays have led at home, as the Tigers scored four runs in the second and went on to win.
They've been outscored at home, 51-15, and are batting 2 for 29 (.069) with runners in scoring position on this homestand. Catalanotto's RBI double off Tim Wakefield in the fifth last night was the Jays' only hit with a man in scoring position. They had four starters last night who are hitting below the Mendoza line, including Delgado, who had two hits Tuesday but went 0 for 3 with a walk, dropping his average to .143.
"Our offense," Tosca said of a team batting a league-low .210, "is nonexistent."
The Jays had five hits off Pedro Martinez Tuesday night, six off Wakefield last night, and have yet to collect a hit in two nights off the Sox' bullpen.
"I don't know what it's going to take," said third baseman Eric Hinske, 0 for 6 in the two games against the Sox, "but it better turn around soon. We haven't won a game at home yet. We all know that. But we can't press."
Blue Jays pitcher Ted Lilly knows what it's like to lose a winnable game. Lilly was Oakland's Game 3 starter against the Sox in the division playoffs last season, when he gave up no runs on two hits in seven innings, putting the A's in position to close out the Sox, but came away with a no-decision in an Oakland loss because of ghastly base-running decisions by Eric Byrnes and Miguel Tejada.
"I definitely thought about that game a few times," Lilly said. "That was a tough series to lose, especially when you're up 2 [games]-nothing."
Lilly threw 39 pitches just to get through the first two innings, then gave up home runs in consecutive innings to Doug Mirabelli, who took him the opposite way to lead off the third, then crushed a two-run home run to left in the fourth.
Mirabelli is now 5 for 8 with three home runs off Lilly, who was well aware of Mirabelli's past success.
"To be able to drive that ball out was pretty impressive," Lilly said of Mirabelli's home run over the right-field wall. "You make a mistake out and over the plate, usually a guy will drive it the other way, but not with the authority he did. The home run to left, I just kind of grooved one."
Whatever momentum the Jays built last fall to win back their fan base is rapidly diminishing. The Jays drew 26,000-plus Tuesday night, when upper-deck seats were selling for $2 a pop, just 16,163 last night, a crowd that didn't even have Maple Leafs highlights to cheer, like the night before. It's not an atmosphere conducive to cultivating a home-field advantage.
"Obviously, Boston and New York have home-field advantages," said Halladay, who was outdueled by Martinez. "I think we've always won here, but it's tough when things are dead to climb back into it. But that's something we've got to do. We can't rely on our fans to get us through it."
Wells agreed the Jays were too good to remain in a funk.
"What happens when you get pitching that keeps you in ballgames but [there's] no offense, you're going to lose close games," he said. "Hopefully, we come out of it before it's too late."
