It's the back end of the pitching staff, the relief corps, which has begun struggling, particularly against the Cleveland Indians, who are even worse off.
The Jays were a strike away from victory Monday night, and lost 9-7 in 12 innings, although occasional starter Brian Tallet gave up only three runs in seven innings, a.k.a. a "quality" start.
Yesterday, in one of those school kids' and senior citizen matinees, the Toronto bullpen surrendered four runs and the lead, but the Jays prevailed 10-6 because, yet again, they pounded the stitches off the ball.
And 22-year-old rookie Brett Cecil, who'd been saut?d by triple-A hitters in four assignments this year, gave up only two runs in his six innings, just one of them earned. That gives him one more quality start in the majors than he had in the minors.
Make no mistake. The bullpen, loaded with lefties, is a long-term Jay strength. However, they've had to suck up extra innings recently because of the pitch limit the club has imposed on its young starters. And a few relievers have been shunted outside their comfort zones in the absence of injured closer B.J. Ryan.
With A.J. Burnett now making excuses with the Yankees, Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan hurt long term, surprising rookie Ricky Romero starting a rehab stint and only one Roy Halladay available -- how appropriate that the leader of this outpatient ward is named Doc -- starting pitching is still the Jays' Achilles heel.
But the batting order is their pointed toe. It just keeps kicking the opposition in sensitive areas. And, in the curious American League of April-May, where bullpens have been bull-something-else, the Jays' relentless hitters are able to thrive in the latter innings.
That was particularly acute in the two-game miniseries with the Tribe, whose non-starters hardly qualify as "relief." They aren't relief from anything, other than the left side of the win-loss table.
Yesterday, they rolled over for the Jays after Cleveland hitters had banged Jason Frasor and Jesse Carlson for a four-spot and a 6-3 lead in the seventh inning.
However, Toronto scored seven runs off four pitchers in the bottom half of the inning, led by DH Adam Lind's three-run homer, running his total to five RBI on the afternoon, and 29 in as many games.
It was the fifth game already this year the Jays have scored 10 runs. And, yes, we know they've enjoyed a softer schedule. They're in California for the rest of the week to play the Angels and A's, two more sub.-500 clubs, before returning home for a big test against the Yankees and their Cirque du Sol-A-Rod.
The main point here, and it's a simple one, is the Jays are without three planned starters, have yet to get much out of Alex Rios and still have the best record in the American League.
You can't accomplish that with the bat alone.
For the first time in 30 years, the Jays have given three rookies their first major league appearances as starters. The last time, in 1979, it was Dave Stieb, Butch Edge and Phil Huffman. This year, it's Romero, Robert Ray and Cecil. And it's only May.
Romero has started three times, and averaged seven innings per, Ray pitched into the sixth, giving up three runs in his first big-league work on Saturday and yesterday Cecil allowed only one earned run (the other was the result of a Travis Snider) error while striking out six.
"A lot of young guys have had chances and I'm glad to be one of them, and I took full advantage of it today," Cecil said.
You can't judge a starting pitcher off his first major league appearance because he's new to the hitters and they're new to him. But Cecil, like many other arms in the organization, shows great promise. But if there any more injuries -- and why do the Jays seem to have so many key ones? -- those young starters may have to turn promise into delivery much sooner than planned.
smilton@thespec.com
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