The Toronto Blue Jays tried to not make too much of Tuesday's impressive win over the New York Yankees, and they'll surely want to similarly downplay the miserable loss that followed last night.
Canadian rookie Scott Richmond didn't make it out of the second inning in the worst start of his short career, while the offence failed to make an inconsistent Andy Pettitte pay in an ugly and tedious 8-2 loss to the Bronx Bombers. The brilliant atmosphere from the amped up crowd that took in Roy Halladay versus A.J. Burnett in the series opener was completely absent from this one.
Only 20,164 were on hand and they witnessed a tortuous game that plodded along, as working fast and throwing strikes appeared to be foreign concepts to the pitchers on both teams.
"You're going to have a bad one out there once in a while," said manager Cito Gaston.
"We'll turn the page and come out (Thursday) and deal with Mr. (CC) Sabathia."
Compounding matters, the Blue Jays (23-13) gave their fans precious little to cheer about once they took a 1-0 lead in the first when Aaron Hill scored on a Robinson Cano throwing error.
Richmond (4-2), looking to bounce back after giving up five runs in a complete game loss versus Oakland last week, was dreadful. He opened the game with a pair of strikeouts and fooled no one after that.
"Plain and simple fastball control needs to be better," said Richmond, who struggled with his release point.
"Obviously you want to get the fastball across better and you can work off your other pitches from there, but if your fastball isn't getting across down in the zone it's going to be a rough outing."
Notes: Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said Casey Janssen, impressive in a rehab start Tuesday, is getting closer to a return although he wouldn't put any sort of target date on it. ... Jays starter Dustin McGowan (righty shoulder) is set to throw from 90 feet today.
