Blue Jays dominating in Anaheim

The Blue Jays are on the West Coast for the first time this season, starting a two-game series in Anaheim Wednesday night before moving on to Oakland for a three-game set this weekend.

So, as the Jays game was going on, the other AL East games had already been decided.

Boy, ex-Jay A.J. Burnett sure is lucky. But not his Yankees.

Sure, Burnett is still undefeated, at 2-0. But he hasn't won since April 14th. In fact, those two wins came in his first two starts of the year.

He avoided a loss in the Carl Pavano game, where ex-Yankee Pavano outpitched him at new Yankee Stadium. He avoided a loss at Fenway, where he gave up eight runs to blow a 6-0 lead.

On Wednesday night, A.J. was lucky again. He gave up three runs in six innings--sure, that's a 'quality start', but when you sign that big contract to pitch in New York, you're expected to do more than that--and left with the score 3-0 Tampa Bay.

Alas, Mark Teixeira's two-out, three-run double in the last of the eighth inning tied the score, and A.J. escaped with a no-decision. By the way, Teixeira was hitting just .198 going into the game. Yikes.

Oh well, the Yankees lost in the 10th inning. (Though New York nearly came back; Johnny Damon made it to third base with one out in the 10th, but Teixeira--hehe--flied out for the second out, and Hideki Matsui did likewise to end the ballgame.)

Meanwhile, in Boston, the Cleveland Indians continued to hit, beating the Red Sox 9-2. The Tribe, who trailed 2-0 in the second inning, ended Boston's nine-game home winning streak.

And oh, Pavano was the one who gave the Tribe six strong innings in this one.

The Indians scored 19 runs in two games at Rogers Centre on Monday and Tuesday, and kept hitting when they got to Fenway.

So, both New York and Boston lost--at home.

And the Blue Jays, meanwhile, are winning at this moment, out on the West Coast.

But is it really a surprise on Wednesday night?

After all, the Jays' Roy Halladay got the ball out in Anaheim, and the score in the eighth inning was 13-0!

Through seven innings, Halladay had given up just three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Angels rookie Anthony Ortega--hey, the Jays aren't the only one with rookies in their starting rotation!!--was bombed in his third ML start, and was gone in the second inning with the score 4-0. (Two more runners Ortega put on base scored after he departed, so he was charged with six runs in total.)

Through eight innings, Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, and Aaron Hill had homered for the Blue Jays. All three players had 3 RBIs (with Overbay and Wells hitting three-run homers).

Toronto will be 20-10 by the time the game is done, best in the American League.