How many times would Johan Santana, Roy Halladay and Zack Greinke all start on the same night and combined come up with zero wins? Well, it happened Thursday night. Halladay and Greinke were brilliant. Santana was not.
Poor Greinke. He pitched seven innings and only gave up one run (a solo homer by Marlon Byrd). He gave up only three hits and walked three while striking out ten Rangers. But the surprising Scott Feldman combined with a miserable Royals' offense spelled "S-H-U-T-O-U-T" for the Rangers.
How bad is the Royals' offense? They are last or next to last in thirteen offensive categories and 11th and 12th (among 14 teams) in two other categories.
If Thursday night was Roy Halladay's swan song with the Blue Jays in front of their home crowd, he sure gave them something to remember him by. It was vintage Halladay as he went nine full innings, giving up only two runs on four hits. One of his runs was unearned as beleaguered catcher, Rod Barajas suffered his fifth passed ball of the season. Halladay's performance against one of the better offenses of the league was simply brilliant and he struck out ten batters.
Matt Garza matched Halladay with his own nine innings, striking out nine and only surrendering five hits. He didn't walk anyone. It was hard to tell if Garza was that good or if the Blue Jays' offense is sputtering that badly lately. It was probably a combination of the two. The bottom line is that Scott Downs lost his second game of the week in relief for the sad Blue Jays, who started the season so well.
As for Johan Santana, he just didn't have it Thursday. In six and a third innings, he gave up fifteen base runners (12 hits and three walks) and surrendered a two run homer to winning pitcher, Mike Hampton. Hampton is now batting .312 for the season (with a .345 OBP). Santana also gave up two doubles in the game and only struck out three batters. It was not vintage night for the great Johan.
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