The Jays lost 2-1 Wednesday night, but came within a clean John Buck swing of the bat of taking this one from the masterful Tampa Bay Rays.
It was a good show by the Jays, who have been putting on a good show for most of the season and convincing fans and critics alike that one day they will catch up to the likes of the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees in the ever-tough AL East Division.
"I could tell when I hit it that it was off football jerseys
the hands," Buck said of his high flyball out at the warning track off reliever Rafael Soriano, who picked up his league-leading 40th save.
It wasn't that the Jays were overmatched in this one. Buck had homered off Cy Young contender David Price in the fifth inning to give Toronto a brief 1-0 lead. The Rays answered back in their half of the inning when Sean Rodriguez hit a solo homer off Jays ace Shaun Marcum.
Rodriguez is a career 6 for 6 off Marcum with five extra-base hits. Marcum says he gets two strikes on Rodriguez, but can't finish him off. While the Jays lead the majors in homers and are rightly credited for having a sound, young starting staff, the Rays have all that and play any kind of baseball they need to bag a win.
Buck, like Marcum and several other Jays, realize the Rays' ability to steal a base, sacrifice to move runners and have superstars like Evan Longoria punch out a game-winning hit are some of the reasons why Tampa is in first place.
It was Longoria who delivered the game-winning RBI in a Chicago Bears jersey
great eighth inning at-bat against Jays reliever Scott Downs Wednesday night. That gives the Rays an MVP-calibre player doing MVP-like things, to go along with a potential future hall of famer in Carl Crawford and a host of excellent role players.
Toronto has players like minor league base-stealing king Anthony Gose in the talent pool to answer those shortcomings in the Jays arsenal.
For now, though, the Jays have September call-up J.P. Arencibia on tap. Arencibia will be largely in a learning role over the final month of the season.
He went 0-3 with two strikeouts against Price on Monday and will need to show more of the power that produced 30-plus minor league homers when he gets some game action this month
Otherwise, the Jays' final month will be all about putting a final shine on a season that was better than expected, and spurred hope for the immediate future.
And there's Jose Bautista.
The major league home run leader is four clouts shy of tying George Bell for the franchise single-season record of 47, and seven shy of the magical 50-homer mark.
With 29 games left, Bautista looks good to reach those marks.
He also has potential for the MVP race.
"As his manager I New Orleans Saints jersey
support him, but you'd think he should get some consideration," Jays manager Cito Gaston said.
"There's some good players out there. (MVP) could go to Robinson Cano or Josh Hamilton, but Jose should get some mention."
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