What the hell is wrong with the West Coast?

Okay fine, I'll concede the Weaver game on Sunday. I figured all along the Blue jays would lose that one (props to Reyes for doing his part though).

But two of the last three days have had "WTF?" tattooed all over them - as you know. First the Jays piss away innumerable opportunities to win, then, when it looked like they were going to dodge the bullet, Bob "Blown Call" Davidson stole even that away from them. Sure, let's be very aware the jays ought to have already won the game anyway - that doesn't let Bumblin' Bob off the hook.

Now tonight we have some mysterious case of Purcey Disease infecting the whole bullpen. You have to remember, this is a bullpen that came into tonight with a 0.91 ERA. A group that had only walked 10 batters is over 32 innings pitched in the nine previous games - and then they walk SEVEN in four innings tonight (six unintentionally). And this in a game in which they'd surprisingly knocked around arguably the best pitcher in the AL.

I consoled myself slightly by acknowledging that i didn't expect them to win a game King Felix started - but once you have a 7-0 lead, you are supposed to pick that up. I'm NOT going to rag on the pen as a whole - this stuff happens. but there are two things I'll quibble with:

First - I'm not sure why John Farrell felt the need to try to defy the well established fact that Dotel can't handle lefties by sending him out to potentially face 4 in a row. In general, I'm NOT going to second guess a manager's bullpen management but that just made so very little sense to me. Not that Purcey really gave him a lot of options, but still, I don't see why you wouldn't sooner risk Zep there than Dotel.

Second - Dammit Bigfoot, I'm about ready to wash my hands of you. I've long been the one who said "Don't give up on Purcey" - and last year he seemed to demonstrate he did in fact have value. It seemed my faith had been rewarded. Now? Now dude simply can't find the zone again. Yes I KNOW it's only 2.1 IP but damn it took SIX appearances to get to that because he just goes out and puts runners on and goes to the shower - no outs required. Everyone knows about the crowded staff dilemma, and the problem that arises from Purcey lacking options, but at this point - I'm not sure he wouldn't clear waivers. Being a former first rounder only gets you so far (ask Brian Bullington). A potential claiming team can either look a 2010 and say "we'll take a chance on finding that guy again" or they'll watch the wheels coming off this year and pass. I honestly don't know which at this point.