Never in it

Blue Jays 10 Royals 3
W-Halladay (3-3), L-Anderson (1-3)
Royals Season Record: 8-18

Three more errors—two by pitchers. Why can’t our pitchers throw the ball to first base? Why didn’t they master this in spring training? Both Anderson and Reyes made bad throws to first base. Anderson’s set the tone for the game, allowing a hitter to not only reach base early in the game, but to make it all the way to third on his bad throw. Angel Berroa bobbled a ball and picked up another error as well.

Beyond the bad defense was another bad pitching performance. This time by Brian Anderson. He is our number one starter and his ERA is still over 7.00 on May 6th. He could not get the ball down in the zone and one Blue Jay hitter after another smashed base hits. I know Pena doesn’t have a lot of options with our pitching staff, but I kept wondering when he was going to yank Anderson.

After giving up 7 runs (not all earned) in the first two innings, why leave him in? He obviously didn't have good stuff. Why let the game get away from us so early before doing something about it? Or at least trying to do something about it?

On a positive note—yes, I’m still looking for positive things to say—has anybody noticed that Mac’s ERA is still 0.00? I know he’s been wild and given up a hit or two, but it is encouraging to see that he hasn’t given up any earned runs after several outings. As for why Pena put him in to a 10-3 game, I have no idea.

And what about Matt Stairs? He’s hitting .300 with 4 HRS and 12 RBIs. At this point in the season, he looks better than Juan Gonzalez does. And I bet that Halladay would tell you that Stairs’ bat isn’t nearly as slow. In the sixth inning, Stairs got around on a ball and crushed it off the facing of the second deck located OVER the restaurant.

Ken Harvey had two more hits, raising his average to .361. Say what you want about Harvey’s huge swing and slow speed, it’s hard to argue with an average that high—even this early in the season.

Today is an off day. That’s probably a good thing. Our guys are on the way to Boston where Affeldt (0-3, 5.10 ERA) will take on Wakefield (2-1, 2.25 ERA) on Friday night. Affeldt’s ERA is 2.66 in his last three starts. Let’s hope that is a trend. Go Blue.