When will Gibby's tinkering with the lineup end?  I know the offense is sputtering, but for gosh sake stick with the same 9 for like 3 or 4 games in a row and see what happens.  It can't get worse!

I vaguely remember during Cito's swan song season people gave him hell for doing the exact opposite, so I guess you can't win either way.

I figure since this is a game that looks like a guaranteed loss (ala Lester on Tues), then we'll probably clean the King's clock!!

Lineups posted. From 3-9 it goes Bautista, Encarnacion, Arencibia, Lind, Rasmus, Izturis, Kawasaki against Felix.  It's unusual to hit Arencibia 5th and Rasmus 7th because Rasmus hits righties better than Arencibia, and the stacking of right-handed and left-handed hitters in the batting order makes it easier for the opposing manager to obtain favourable platoon matchups with relievers.

It is a relatively minor point.

Can we officially declare this season over? In their desperation over Johnson, they've just fucked up Romero for who knows how long.

Make that LF, C, 2B, and *2* starting pitchers needed in 2014. Bloody hell.

Hello, Mr Gibbons? Aaron Loup is a LOOGY. He should not face RH power hitters. We've been over this.

That was a helluva play by Ryan (on Kawasaki), but then he follows it up with an E.

Can we officially declare this season over?

It's over.

I wonder when Jays will officially sell. Stroman and Carreno should be ready to step up next year which makes Janssen (free agent after next year) and maybe even Oliver valuable commodities, to go along with Johnson and Rasmus as guys that could bring a decent return to prepare for 2014. I wonder if Davis, Buehrle or Bonifacio would even be claimed if placed on waivers... Likely not.

On a side, and thinking about next year (because it makes me feel better), does anyone know when Nolin is expected back?

Was R.R. still using his "new delivery mechanics" in the fourth?   He gave up one hit in his first 3 innings yet faced only the minimum nine.   Or was he tired out, as he hasn`t pitched much this season?    Runners on 1st and 3rd with no one out and scoring none.   That is stupid and must be discussed a.s.a.p., at least one run must score 90% of the time.

Izturis hit a line drive right at the third baseman (continuing his run of horrible luck) and Rasmus foolishly took a couple of steps towards second.  Down 4-0, there was absolutely no reason for this. It does get tiresome discussing boneheaded plays.  Instead, we can talk about Josh Thole, Jim Negrych, Anthony Gose, Kevin Pillar, A. J. Jimenez, Dwight Smith Jr. and Christian Lopes.

RR hurt his finger and couldn't throw is what happened. Fits in well with this Murphy's Law season.

I actually thought the Jays hit the ball pretty hard today, but at people. Very good defensive plays and double plays helped Seattle, you can't beat King Felix if you're unlucky.

Dickey and Morrow going tomorrow and Sunday, there's no reason why we can't win this series.

It's May 3rd and the Jays still have not played a fundamentally sound game (to the best of my recollection). Most games have featured at least one or two significant blunders. I too find it tiresome to discuss, but no one in management seems willing to speak bluntly about it. This was supposed to be a highly competitive team, but to date they've played pitiful baseball.

They say a sign of a good team is how they do in blowouts (5+ runs ahead of opponent) as the good teams pound the you know what out of the weaker opponents.  For the 10 wins how big were they?

6+ runs: never
5 runs: once (5-0 Happ start vs Boston)
4 runs: twice (8-4 both times, Happ once, Johnson nd the other time)
3 runs: never
2 runs: 4 times
1 run: 3 times (6-5 in 11 innings, 4-3 Buehrle, 3-2 Dickey)

What about losses?
6+ runs: 4 times (13-0, 11-1, 10-1, 7-0)
5 runs: once (9-4)
4 runs: twice (including tonight)
3 runs: once
2 runs: 5 times (once extra innings)
1 run: 7 times (once extra innings)

So 3-7 in one run games, 1-5 in blowouts.  That is not good.  Bad luck in 1 run games could give them 2 more wins.  The rest is all on the team itself.  To lose by 7+ 4 times already is just embarrassing.  7 times there wasn't a usual save available (ie: not even close). 

Thus a completely horrid start.  Bringing Romero up this quick seems like a bad idea as well, just like bringing Lawrie up too quick.  Maybe they were the best options short term but long term it might have been best for each to have a few more games in the minors to get ready in a no-pressure situation.  I fear the panic button has been hit, and hit hard.  Hopefully things turn around but at 10-20 this team is on pace for the same 12-24 record that got Jimy Williams fired.  I never would've predicted that.

I had the misfortune of being in attendance, and it was a pretty dismal game. Romero gave up some false hopes through the first three innings, but he really seemed to be telegraphing his breaking balls. Plus, they were bouncing at about 57 feet. Fastball was sitting 87 by the scoreboard, but he cranked a couple up to 92 when needed. Almost made me think he was working off a cutter. I don't know what it looked like on TV. The walk, homer, hbp, wild pitch, K, walk, walk, single sequence in the fourth seemed to deflate absolutely everyone. Other points are well covered above in the thread. Aaron Loup continues to be asked to perform tasks for which he is not well suited. At no time before the eighth did a Blue Jay run even seem feasible.

I could only find one plus. I think Jesus Montero might be the worst defensive catcher in the majors. I know others here have been eager to nominate the home town guy. .

I used to cast a furrowed brow at those who had dual sporting allegiances, but my home town Brewers feature an entertainingly blue collar squad with a Canadian 1-2 finish in the bullpen.  I thought I'd casually check up on these guys as the Jays' blitzkrieged their way into the AL playoffs, but we've all given up on that.  At this point there's nothing to take safisfaction in beyond a Millwalling of Yankees and Bosox fans at  every home date.

Thus a completely horrid start. Bringing Romero up this quick seems like a bad idea as well, just like bringing Lawrie up too quick. Maybe they were the best options short term but long term it might have been best for each to have a few more games in the minors to get ready in a no-pressure situation. I fear the panic button has been hit, and hit hard. Hopefully things turn around but at 10-20 this team is on pace for the same 12-24 record that got Jimy Williams fired. I never would've predicted that.

I don't understand the reasoning behind the bolded part. How can these players possibly be HURT in the long term by NOT playing a few extra games in the minors? I also fail to understand how performing in a "no-pressure" situation gets you ready for a "high-pressure" situation. Anyways, Romero clearly WAS ready - as the first three innings indicate. Injury derailed this start for him.

Romero had pitched in game action once in a month prior to last night's start.  It could be expected that it would take another start or two for him to be at his sharpest.  If you believe that the mental aspect of pitching played a role in his struggles last year, it was probably not the wisest move to have him face major league hitters while not at his sharpest.  I don't know whether the mental aspect played a role in the 4th inning problem; it wouldn't shock me if it did.

Worst run differentials in Baseball. Miami -53, Houston -51, Bluejays -48.

There isn't another team worse than -27 (via Buster Olney's twitter account).

Basically you want a pitcher to be in the best position possible to succeed.  One minor league start against live hitting is not the best way to get him to succeed.  One A+ start is not the way to prep for seeing ML hitters.  If he had a AA start and a AAA start I figure he'd have been warmed up enough, or 2 AAA starts after his one A+ start. Remember, he hadn't faced ML hitters in over a month.  Building confidence by letting him beat up on A+ ball players is good, but then tossing him into the fire is just not a good idea.

Similar with Lawrie.  2 games of rehab before facing ML pitching was not a good idea after roughly a month off.  His early struggles should not have surprised anyone.  His first 9 games saw him hit 125/194/156 - who did that help?  Since then he has hit 290/333/645 over 8 games which is much more what we hoped for.  Lawrie, unlike Romero, has confidence up the wazoo and 9 bad games won't hurt him.  Romero, if he has 2 more bad starts, might be back to square one.