No Necesito José

That game was flat out insane. It illustrated perfectly how this is a team sport. Both the A's and the Jays had nightmare innings. Jo-Jo Reyes started out ok, but by the 3rd inning, the pitches were up and the A's were just sitting on the fastball. Shoddy pitching led to some amazing plays that tried to keep things close but that didn't quite get the outs, and it was 5-0. A's starter Brandon McCarthy was limiting the Jays to useless ground balls until a defensive implosion, which was nurtured by the speed of Rajai Davis on the bases. McCarthy tried desperately to calm himself down while his team flailed and get the train back on the tracks, but it was 5-5.

Villaneuva, Purcey, Camp and Rauch held it down. And Jason Frasor illustrated why he can't be closer. He gives up a homer, which isn't good, but it's forgivable as he pulled it together and made his pitches. The problem was that he took 30 minutes to pitch his half inning. The A's do indeed work the count, but he took a constitutional after every pitch. God damn, son.

But then the bottom of the 10th arrived, and Yunel Escobar said, "No necesito José. Yunel es muy macho. A lo profundo... y ¡no... nono, nono, no...! ¡Dígale que no a esa pelota!"

Speaking of, Bautista will be out for the Oakland series for a "personal family matter." It became clear over Twitter about 10 minutes after it was announced. Here is @MLBastian, former Jays beat writer and general solid dude, with the line of the night:

Since the Sox are amusingly 0-4, I thought I'd go and take a wee peek at SOSH.

First thing I want to point out is the caption under the game thread:

"A roller-coaster diary of ecstasy and misery so overwhelming, it would make even Dostoevsky go weak in the knees and have to steady himself on the furniture..."

Right...but if you were going to be histrionic, how would you do it?


Beckett is the hero SoSH needs but not the one it deserves right now.

Jeez.