SWEEP! Swept :( SWEEP! ..and B.J. is back!

Riding the high from the Red Sox series, the Blue Jays went on to get swept at home by the Oakland A's.  The starting pitching that had been brilliant in the opening two series faltered in the series against the A's with Burnett and McGowan having less than brilliant starts.  Shaun Marcum pitched well in the series finale but it wasn't enough to earn a victory.  The bats were there at the start of the series but cooled off by the end and just couldn't come through with the clutch hits when they needed them.  Oakland's bats caught fire in this series and the Jays left Toronto with their tailfeathers tucked in between their legs.

Their second road trip this season began in Texas where the Jays have not played well in recent years.  They hadn't swept the Rangers in Texas since 1984. Well they did it by securing a 5-4 extra innings victory today in Arlington.  Friday night's game was a solid win with the bats coming alive again and Jesse Litsch pitching effectively enough for the Jays to earn a win.  Saturday night's game was Roy Halladay's complete game 4-1 win.  It was vintage Halladay in this one as he held the Rangers scoreless into the ninth before yielding a meaningless run before ending the game.  The bats weren't exactly on fire in this game but a few defensive miscues by the Rangers resulted in a few more runs for the Jays. A nice surprise was the performance by Joe Inglett  who was recalled from Syracuse this game to start at third base.  Inglett proceeded to get three hits and a two-out RBI. Not too shabby. 

 Sunday's game was a back and forth affair.  A.J. Burnett was better than his last start but still wasn't able to maintain a lead and was out in the sixth.  The Rangers took a 4-3 lead in the seventh but the Blue Jays managed to tie it in the top of the seventh.  The Blue Jays looked like they were going to have a few multi-run innings earlier in the game but Texas pitcher Scott Feldman coaxed three double-play balls out of Jays hitters to minimize the damage and keep his team in the ballgame.  After the seventh, the game remained scoreless until the top of the tenth when Toronto got its first two batters (Thomas and Overbay) on base as the result of walks. Gregg Zaun, who came into the game for Rod Barajas who left with a sore groin, sacrificed the runners over.  Joe Inglett cashed Stewart with a sacrifice fly to right field that would have been an extra base hit if not for a fine play by Rangers right fielder Josh Hamilton.  The best part of the game for Blue Jays fans was the bottom of the tenth when B.J. Ryan made his first appearance of the 2008 season.  He was activated Sunday morning (Brandon League was optioned to Syracuse).  He came in firing strikes getting Marlon Byrd to an 0-2 count but Byrd ended up tripling to left centre.  It looked like Ryan was going to get his first blown save of the season in his first save opportunity but then Ryan got David Murphy to ground out with the Jays infield drawn in to protect the lead.  Milton Bradley then popped out to third before Ryan nailed down the save by getting Gerald Laird to fly out to right.  It wasn't an easy save but the important thing was that Ryan was able to strand a lead-off triple and the Jays walked out of Texas with the victory. 

It was the Blue Jays first sweep of the Rangers in Arlington since 1984 and brought the Jays to a 7-5 record and into a first place tie in the AL East as the Rays took down the Orioles.  The Jays head to Baltimore tomorrow for a two game set before returning home to face the same Texas Rangers on Wednesday and Thursday at Rogers Centre.  Lets hope the Jays break the pattern they have established early on this season and don't get swept in Baltimore!

I'm encouraged by the fact the team has two sweeps this early on in the season.  Last year, Jays fans had to wait until June to see the Blue Jays sweep a series.  The team just has to work on being consistent at the plate and with their strong starting rotation and bullpen, they can start to put together some longer streaks.