10 days ago BC native Rich Harden and Brett Cecil went head to head at the Rogers Centre where Harden pitched 7 innings given up a run on 5 hits with 2 walks and 8Ks while Cecil pitched 7 innings and he gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks to go with 5Ks.
Tonight night it looked like it was going to be a different pitcher as he had a fielding error to allow Yunel Escobar to reach base which was followed by walks to Eric Thames and Jose Bautista to load the bases with no outs in the top of the first inning but then Harden throw 9 straight strikes to strike out Adam Lind, Edwin Encarnacion, Colby Rasmus in order to get out of the inning. In the bottom of the first Brett Cecil walked the lead off hitter Jemile Weeks and then with two outs he faced Josh Willingham who has more than 25% of the A's homers (20 of 78) this season and Brett Cecil challenged him instead of working around him or at least not something to handle and Willingham crushed his 21st homer and that was the ball game as the A's won 2-0.
Rich Harden going into the fifth inning had retired 15 of 16 batters and Jose Bautista was the only one to reach base on one of his three walks in the game and then with one out J.P. broke up the no-hitter with a single in the fifth but he did not get any further than first base as Harden struck out Yunel Escobar and Eric Thames which was part of his career high tying 11Ks. While Cecil left two runners on in the second, fourth, and fifth inning but got out of it without given up a run and he pitched 7 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 5 batters and 4Ks.
Rich Harden gave up a singled to Bautista in the sixth inning and he made it around to third base with two outs but then Colby Rasmus struck out and Rich Harden ended up a 7 inning two hit shutout with 4 walks to go with the 11Ks and before 10 days ago he had pitched horribly against the Blue Jays in his career as he had not won against the Jays and had an ERA of over 6. The A's bullpen in the eighth inning walked Bautista for the third time in the game and he dodge the infielders when Lind hit a ground ball and was safe at second and the stole his sixth base to be on third base but then Edwin Encarnacion fouled out to A's first baseman Brandon Allen to end the inning. Then Andrew Bailey came in to try to finish the game for the A's with one out the other BC native Brett Lawrie singled but when Arron Hill hit into a double play it gave Bailey his 16th save on the season to even the series.
In other news Mike Wilner came up with an idea to try to fix the closer position and he was thinking that with all the injuries that Rich Harden has had over the years and he seems to look like a fragile player that breaks down so he may be a good pitcher to try to be a closer like a Kerry Wood was last year or a couple of years ago. So the thing is that Rich Harden if he puts his effort into an inning instead of 7 or 8 innings he may last longer and still be effective as a pitcher and it looks like he can also work out of jams.
Also rumor right now the Jays Brass are looking into given Alex a contract extension and if he gets a two or three extension it maybe a good idea but if it is like a five year deal it maybe a little to long right now.
The Jays road trip is still looking good and tomorrow as Henderson Alvarez continues to look for his first MLB win and maybe talking with King Felix in Seattle may have helped a little
Tom Mehegan
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