Longball sweeps Jays out of New York
Posted September 4, 2011 3:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW YORK – A lost weekend in New York behind them, the Toronto Blue Jays return home for a four-game engagement with the Boston Red Sox needing only to scan their intra-division record to understand the chasm between them and their rivals.
Sunday’s 9-3 thrashing from the Yankees capped a three-game sweep that dropped the Blue Jays to 5-10 against the AL East leaders this season, the same mark they sport against the third place Tampa Bay Rays. They’ll begin the series with Boston just 4-8 against the wildcard frontrunners, and at 69-71, in tough to avoid falling further under .500 this week.
Food for thought: Toronto is 55-43 against the rest of baseball.
Left-hander Brett Cecil (4-8) did a solid job of mostly keeping the Yankees in check, allowing only five hits, a walk and a hit batsman. But he was victimized by a Mike McCoy throwing error in the first that opened the scoring and a couple of home runs, his nemesis all year, that decided things.
Derek Jeter hit his 17th homer of the season off Cecil in the third to give the Yankees (85-53) a 4-0 lead, while Alex Rodriguez added No. 18, a harmless looking fly ball that drifted over the wall in right, in the sixth to make it 5-2 after the Blue Jays had closed the gap.
Jose Bautista’s 40th homer of the season, a massive blast to left field off reliever Rafael Soriano in the eighth inning, gave Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, among the Yankee Stadium crowd of 47,464, something to cheer about.
Then Nick Swisher put things out of reach with a two-run shot off Jon Rauch and Derek Jeter made it 9-3 with a two-run single off Rommie Lewis before Cory Wade closed out CC Sabathia’s 19th win with a quiet ninth.
Cecil returned to the dugout after the Rodriguez homer in the sixth and slammed a water cooler to the ground before burying his head in a towel. Acting manager Don Wakamatsu came by soon after to tell him his afternoon was over after just 84 pitches.
He hasn’t won a game since beating Texas 3-2 on July 29 and the Blue Jays are just 1-6 in his seven starts since, although he has pitched in some tough luck during that span.
Sabathia (19-7) had no such issues, running into one major speedbump in the fourth, when Mark Teahen doubled home one run and Jose Molina’s groundout brought home another, but was otherwise in charge over his 7.2 innings.
He gave up just six hits and a walk while striking out 10.
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ESCOBAR SORE: Shortstop Yunel Escobar was wearing a brace on the left wrist he hurt Saturday and was unavailable Sunday, prompting the Blue Jays to bring up infielder Chris Woodward up from triple-A Las Vegas as some insurance.
The injury is not believed to be serious, and there is hope he may play Monday in the Labour Day matchup in Toronto against Boston.
“He says it doesn’t feel too bad today,” said acting manager Don Wakamatsu. “We’ll re-evaluate it again (Monday).”
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PLAYOFF PUSH: The double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats and short-season single-A Vancouver Canadians both clinched playoff berths Saturday, giving the Blue Jays five minor-league affiliates in the post-season.
The Fisher Cats, led by Eastern League manager of the year Sal Fasano and MVP Travis d’Arnaud, clinched their first Eastern Division title since 2004 with a 11-0 win over Portland. They advanced despite the graduations of starters Joel Carreno and Henderson Alvarez to the Blue Jays and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria to triple-A Las Vegas.
“I’m very proud of those guys,” said Carreno. “The team, they’re hitting good and the pitchers keep throwing the ball really well. I think they’re going to win the championship.”
New Hampshire opens the playoffs Wednesday against either New Britain or Reading.
The Canadians advanced to the Northwest League playoffs thanks to Spokane’s victory over Everett. In the first year of their affiliation with the Blue Jays, they open a series against Eugene on Monday.
High-A Dunedin, low-A Lansing and rookie ball Bluefield, in the Appalachian League final, are the other teams to reach the playoffs.
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FRESH STARTS: Kelly Johnson and Aaron Hill have both been rejuvenated by the Aug. 23 trade between the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks.
Before Sunday’s action, Johnson was batting .333 with a double, two triples, two homers and four RBIs in 10 games, while Hill sported a .368 average with four doubles, a triple, a homer and eight RBIs in 10 outings.
Acting Blue Jays manager Don Wakamatsu feels Johnson has found a comfort level with both hitting coach Dwayne Murphy and his situation as a whole.
“When you get traded over to a new environment, usually there are some concerns there that someone wants to change you right away, especially when you’ve had a start to a bad season, then you come over and people are trying to figure out what went wrong,” said Wakamatsu. “I think a lot of times a change of scenery, as we’ve seen with so many players, but more importantly the relationship and environment you create (helps). He’s had some great at-bats, driven the ball, hit the ball out to left so he’s using the whole field.”
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NOTES: Blue Jays CF Rajai Davis (torn hamstring) homered in his first rehab game as the DH for single-A Dunedin on Saturday, and was 1-for-2 while playing centre-field for three innings Sunday. … The Blue Jays would like to give slugger Jose Bautista a game off in the coming days to help get him some rest.
