ANAHEIM, Calif. – Among the most pressing items the Toronto Blue Jays had yet to accomplish this season heading into Monday night’s series finale versus the Los Angeles Angels were winning consecutive games and winning a series, something a single victory would take care of.
But in the midst of a pretty good pitcher’s duel, a pretty bad ump show broke out featuring Toby Basner – whom you might remember from such previous ump shows as Josh Donaldson’s ejection, last May – and another Blue Jays win streak ended at one after a 2-1 loss.
A late rally attempt went for naught as Justin Smoak opened the ninth against Bud Norris with a single and Russell Martin followed with a walk, but after Chris Coghlan fouled off two bunt attempts ahead of a check-swing strike out on appeal, Devon Travis bounced into a game-ending double play.
That meant a split for the 5-14 Blue Jays before they headed to St. Louis for a three-game series in which they’ll see Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Adam Wainwright. Fun times.
"We didn’t execute," lamented manager John Gibbons. "It was one of those low-scoring games, couldn’t get a bunt down late, couldn’t make contact on a couple of hit and runs out of guys that need to do that, that’s the way it usually ends up."
While both teams had ample reason to complain about the strike zone, things got testy in the top of the sixth, when after a two-out Smoak walk Martin took a full-count strike three that was egregiously out of the zone.
Martin, who is generally understanding of umpires and tries to maintain cordially professional relationships with the men in black, stood at the plate in disbelief and briefly complained to Basner before walking away.
"It’s not just one call," said Martin. "In the previous inning, (Francisco) Liriano was on the mound, it seemed like he was getting squeezed a bit, so when my pitcher is throwing pitches on the plate getting called balls, and when I go hit I get a ball that’s called a strike, that’s frustrating.
"Things just keep adding up a little bit, so I let him know how much I disagreed and it’s just frustrating when you’re battling your butt off out there, trying to help the team win, and you feel like you get cheated a little bit. I know the umpire is probably trying his best effort out there, it’s a tough gig, but like Donaldson said, it’s not the try league. We expect the umpires to get the calls right."
As Martin returned to the dugout, Gibbons muttered something, pointed to his wrist and immediately got chucked for a second straight day, this time by an entirely different umpiring crew.
At least that kept one Blue Jays streak going, as home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus – whom the Blue Jays also have history with – gave him the heave for arguing an illegal quick pitch call against Marcus Stroman.
"I try to keep my cool and I try to talk to them," said Martin. "Some are harder to talk to than others and I don’t think anybody really enjoys being told they made a mistake. I still haven’t learned how to let an umpire know he’s made a mistake without him getting ticked off. I just try to be honest with them, I’m not really there to console their feelings, they want to get the job done right at the end of the day, too.
"Sometimes they don’t want to hear it and those are the ones that are hard to work with," Martin continued. "The ones that are human and understand that they do make mistakes, and they try to correct it, try to make an adjustment, just like players do when they’re playing the game, baseball is a game of adjustments and it’s the same for the umpires. It’s just frustrating when they don’t believe and you ask the video guy, where did you have that, you go back and tell him, it’s like they don’t want to hear it. The veteran guys are often easier, the young guys tend to get a little tight and let things bother them and let situations linger a little bit instead off just thinking about it."
Things got weirder in the seventh, when Coghlan led off with a single, broke for second and slid in safely as Devon Travis swung through a changeup. But Martin Maldonado ran into Travis’ bat on a natural follow through as he rose to throw and Basner called Travis out for batter interference, sending Coghlan back to first base.
Had Basner instead called backswing interference on the play under the comments for Rules 6.03 (a)(3) and (4), the swing would have counted as a strike and Coghlan would have been sent back to first. Travis argued, bench coach DeMarlo Hale charged out of the dugout and got heated, but Basner held firm, even after crew chief Jerry Layne joined the discussion.
"The catcher came barrelling through and I hit him on my backswing probably three times in this series already, took my full swing, he came jetting through and I smoked him in the back and we had zero contact other than the backswing, zero," said Travis. "I was just telling the umpire, ‘We didn’t touch each other, I hit him on my backswing.’ It’s unfortunate.
"It was 100 per cent backswing interference. It’s unfortunate something like that can affect the game, that was a big spot right there."
The Blue Jays rally immediately fizzled and an Angels bullpen that makes no game feel out of reach managed to hold this one down.
Still, as dodgy as things got with Basner, the Blue Jays certainly didn’t help themselves.
In the eighth, Ezequiel Carrera opened the inning with a single and after Jose Bautista popped up and Kendrys Morales flew out, got picked off by David Hernandez. Kevin Pillar was also caught stealing by several feet after a leadoff walk in the first.
Trying to make things happen is good, but giving away outs is not.
The decisive run against Liriano – who allowed two runs in 5.1 innings on five hits and four walks – came in the fifth when with runners on second and third, the infield in and one out, Travis fielded a Yunel Escobar grounder but made a poor throw home, allowing Cameron Maybin to just sneak in safely and break a 1-1 tie.
"I didn’t feel like I touched him," said Martin. "When it’s so quick, sometimes you maybe just catch a pant leg or something like that. Sometimes a questionable run is worth challenging even though it’s debateable."
Martin’s solo shot in the top of the fourth off Jesse Chavez had given the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead that didn’t survive the inning. Mike Trout opened the bottom half with blooper down the right field line and a hard-charging Bautista slipped as he tried to plant for a throw in, allowing the AL MVP to reach third. Albert Pujols immediately knocked him in to tie things up.
"I was missing a little bit but then I think I made some good pitches and it’s a part of the game, you have to hang with them and keep your composure and try to make pitches when you need to," said Liriano. "It’s hard, we’ve got to stay positive, keep moving forward and find a way to win some ballgames and find a way to do the little things we have to do to win games. We have to keep battling."
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