A Balk and a Walk...

On a day when that pair of Sox the Jays are chasing both lost, the Blue Jays blew a tangible chance to gain ground. In the fifth inning Ted Lilly (whom I'd prefer not to criticize, because he pitched a beauty) balked in the Yankees third run, and in the seventh inning Justin Speier walked in the winning run. A balk and a walk, that's what a good day of baseball from the Jays comes down to. Once again the Jays' starter left the field with the lead and once again the Jays lost, but it would be unfair to drop the blame solely on Brandon League, Scott Downs, and Speier. The offence did nobody any favours by going 2-12 with runners in scoring position. Against a team like the Yankees you cannot have enough people cross the plate and each of those missed opportunities left extra stress upon their pitchers. Given how their week has gone, this loss had to sting, missing a golden opportunity to pick up a game on both the White Sox in the Wild Card race and the Red Sox in the AL East. Still, victory tomorrow would make it three of four from the Big Bad Empire, which is a good end to their homestand.