Bautista, Colabello, Devon White, Devon Travis
* Jose Bautista is reaching to get back into the Blue Jays lineup as the every day right fielder and not the DH. His sore shoulder has prevented him from playing right field since April 21 ....
The every day right fielder watched.
The back up right fielder was making his 38th and 39th career starts in right (of his 67 starts in the majors) the first two games against the Seattle Mariners. He was asked after Saturday’s loss if he felt like it was Ground Hog Day.
Chris Colabello dove for a Logan Morrison single turning it into a Logan Morrison two-run triple on Friday.
And Colabello didn’t track a Chris Taylor fly ball which fell for a ground-rule double on Saturday afternoon. Two batters later Willie Bloomquist doubled off the AtBat sign in left for a two-run double.
And Colabello homered for the second-straight day.
Another one-run loss dropping the Jays record to 2-10 in one-run games, this one a game lefty Mark Buehrle pitched well enough to win.
“It’s not that the pitchers fault, it’s not the fielders fault, it’s not the hitters fault and it’s not the base runners fault,” said every day right fielder Jose Bautista, who has not played outfield since April 21. “We’re not clicking.”
Tempers were high after Bautista was knocked down, homered, took his time running the bases, was challenged by Adam Jones and the Baltimore Orioles dugout at the end of the inning. When Delmon Young led off with a sharp single to right, Bautista came up throwing to first re-aggravating his right shoulder.
And now one of the best right fielders in the game sits.
“You guys want to talk about what we hit with runners in scoring position and our ERA when really it’s a small sample size,” Bautista said. “What if we have a grounder with a man on third, less than two out and our pitcher pitches a shut out? We win 1-0 and we’re hitless with men in scoring position.”
We haven’t seen too many 1-0 Jays wins this season.
“We ran into a tough lefty (James Paxton, of Ladner, BC) with an unorthodox delivery who throws 97 mph and their bullpen did a great job,” said Bautista. “I’ll tell you this if the wind isn’t blowing Danny Valencia’s ball gets past Robinson Cano and it’s a different game.”
Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion walked to open the sixth with Mariners leading by a run. One out later, Cano speared the Valencia drive and flipped to second for the inning-ending double play.
Bautista rested his arm Saturday after five days of throwing for the first time since his ill-advised toss to first. On Friday he threw from 60 feet.
He, like the Blue Jays, have a long way to go ... and a short time -- 127 games -- to get there.
How bad? So, the Jays have lost four of six games this home stand, making it nine losses in the past 11.
They sit seven games below sea level, six games out of first in the division and five back of the Minnesota Twins, who own the second wild-card spot.
Their .422 winning mark (19-26) is 25th worst in the majors.
You think that’s bad?
Well, the University of Tokyo recently beat Hosei University 6-4 for its first victory since Oct. 2, 2010 ending a 94-game losing streak in the Tokyo Big 6 League.
Get it right: The stranger dressed in street clothes came up to Devon Travis at the end of the dugout with a question: “How do you pronounce your first name?”
“De-VIN or Dev-ON, I answer to either,” Travis answered.
“Well, who named you?” the man said.
“My parents? Why?” asked a puzzled Travis.
“Well, you have to establish yourself, I think you should go by Dev-ON, but you can’t have Devo,” he said.
“DEVON WHITE! Oh my goodness, you’re Devon White” Travis exclaimed as he hugged the former Blue Jays gold glover.
First White, and then Travis recounted the same story. Both were impressed with each other ... White with Travis’ play and the fact he had seen him play. World Series winners like Hall of Famer Robbie Alomar, Duane Ward and Pat Hengten sometimes walk through the Jays clubhouse unnoticed.
Travis’ opinion was former at age six growing up in West Palm Beach when White played centre for the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins.
White hit .218 with a homer and seven RBIs as the Marlins beat the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves and then the Cleveland Indians. When the Jays knocked off the Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies to win the 1993 Series, he hit .373 with two homers and nine RBIs in post-season play.
And the year before against the Oakland A’s and the Atlanta Braves he batted .292 with four RBIs.
Looking for No. 29: Blue Jays scouts have often been seen at the games of Richie Martin, University of Florida shortstop and right-hander Dakota Chalmers a high schooler from Gainesville, Ga.
Martin is hitting .294 with nine doubles, four triples, four homers and 31 RBIs in 59 games. He’s 20-for-26 stealing bases and owns an .824 OPS. Chalmers has had his fastball clocked at 97 this spring.
Chalmers is ranked 40th by Perfect Game USA and Martin 45th.
Three Canucks are in the top 100 led by Demi Orimoloye of Orleans at 49th; Mississauga’s Josh Naylor 65th and Calgary’s Mike Soroka 75th.
Baseball America’s mock draft 3.0 has the Jays selecting North Florida outfielder Donnie Dewees when the draft takes place June 8-10.