You want atmosphere? You’ve probably come to the wrong place.
When a Jorge Polanco two-run blast in the second inning landed in the visitor’s bullpen at the Rogers Centre, you could hear the ball thud, clank and rattle its way around as the small and indifferent crowd seemed numb to the proceedings.
You want wins? Probably best to look elsewhere as well, as the Blue Jays fell 9-1 to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, another listless night to extend their losing streak to a season-long five games, and eight of their past nine.
At some point, perhaps the Jays will be able to muster more than a token run or two as the current miserable run hit a season low. On Wednesday, they meekly ventured to the plate with just two hits while watching the Twins belt 19 (the most the Jays have allowed this season), highlighted by four two-run homers.
The Jays were belted early and often with starter Trent Thornton the first victim as the Twins swept the three-game series with embarrassing ease. Not only can the young, rebuilding Jays not hit or pitch with any reliability right now, they can’t compete.
“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for this and that because we didn’t play good baseball,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “My kids know it, I know it, so I’m not going to insult your intelligence (by making excuses.)
“We did not friggin’ play good baseball the last three days. We got hit, we didn’t hit, so it was not very good.”
It was ugly from the outset in the dead-zone that the dome has become, an aging edifice that will barely qualify as a tourist attraction this summer should the current poor baseball continue.
The Jays are now 1-5-1 in home series, which doesn’t exactly encourage ticket shopping during the seventh-inning stretch. The single run they scored over the past three days matched a club record low for a three-game series, last reached back in 1981.
While a 15-22 record is plenty bad — and they fell to seven games under .500 for the first time under Montoyo’s watch — the manner in which they have piled up the losses of late is becoming embarrassing.
The hitters continue to chase bad pitches and muster no offensive presence, while the starting pitching is a roller-coaster of adventure most nights.
The Twins swept the series by a combined 20-1 over three games 30-3 in their past four. A superfecta of two-run homers (Polanco in the second, followed by C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop in the third, and Eddie Rosario in the sixth) provided the highlight damage.
If frustration isn’t building within the team, it probably should be. Baseball rebuilds are a painful thing, especially when the implosion is as thorough as the one orchestrated by team president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins.
Shapiro, who shuns the local media, was trotted out on a couple of sister Rogers stations over the previous 24 hours attempting to spread the good will. Let’s just say that the 14,372 at the Rogers Communications Cashbox on Wednesday likely won’t be savouring such spin.
Shapiro will tell you that the troubles are to be expected, but that doesn’t mean they need to be accepted. The crowds have been putrid so far and devoid of any life, such a contrast from the lively throngs that filled the place as recently as two years ago. It will only get worse.
Prior to the game, Montoyo issued a mild warning that, at some point, sub-.200 hitters won’t have a place in his lineup. The subject was Teoscar Hernandez specifically, one of four regular Jays players with a batting average below .200 prior to Wednesday’s non-contest.
“There comes a point where, okay, you’ve got to do it. I don’t know when that’s going to be, (but) that’s for anybody hitting .200. By the time it comes May and June, there’s other people fighting for the same jobs.”
On Wednesday, the Jays continued their early struggles. The first hit came in the sixth, a solo home run off the bat of Billy McKinney. It was also the first run the Jays managed to get across the plate in this series and the first in 25 innings overall. It was the 10th time this season the Jays didn’t manage a hit through the first four innings.
The team has veered down many avenues to attempt to snap out of the offensive funk — from early batting practice to hitters’ meetings, to merely preaching patience.
Apparently, not much of it was sinking in as the Jays struck out 14 times and managed just two hits, a season-low they’ve reached three times already.
SECRET TO PITCHING VLAD?
Basically, there are no secrets to attacking baseball’s No. 1 prospect, other than the obvious of taking care not to groove a fastball down the heart of the plate.
But as Vlad Guerrero Jr. sat on Wednesday — a scheduled rest night for the Jays third baseman — he did so with a .162 batting average and just one extra-base hit, a double.
Other than the fact the 20-year-old might be pressing, Jays management isn’t concerned.
“They’re pitching them like they know him,” Montoyo said. “Nobody’s got more attention in baseball than that kid. They’re pitching him pretty tough. There are no secrets. They know how to get you out.
“In a way, that’s good because he’s going to make an adjustment and he’s going to hit. We know that. You can’t forget he’s just 20 years old.”
In his 10 games thus far, Guerrero has been a minor liability defensively with some struggles at third base. But hiding him at DH isn’t an option Montoyo is fond of, given the prowess of Rowdy Tellez and Justin Smoak when they’re in that role.
“That’s the tricky part, because my DHs are hitting it so good,” Montoyo said.
AROUND THE BASES
After tossing seven innings of one-hit ball last weekend in Texas, Jays starter Thornton was all ugly on Wednesday. Thornton lasted just two innings and two batters, giving up seven hits and five earned runs while throwing 56 pitches.
* Polanco was a one-man wrecking crew for the Twins, belting out five hits, highlighted by that second-inning homer.
* The Jays avoided being shut out for the third consecutive time, a club record reached twice, most recently in 1991.
* Some organizational buzz around the double-A debut of pitcher Nate Pearson on Tuesday. The big, fire-balling right-hander struck out eight for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in his five innings of work. In 26 innings at two levels this year, Pearson has 43 strikeouts.
* After sitting out Tuesday’s game with a tight hamstring, Eric Sogard was back in the lineup on Wednesday batting leadoff and playing second base.
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