Jays aren’t messing around
Cito Gaston has made it clear: The Toronto Blue Jays, who trail the Red Sox by 6 1/2 games in the AL wild-card race, aren’t here to play spoiler. They’re here to steal the thing for themselves.
That became apparent when Gaston announced after Thursday night’s game that he will juggle his rotation to make sure his top two starters, Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett, will pitch in this weekend’s four-game showdown at Fenway, which begins tonight.
The Sox originally thought they would miss Halladay, an 18-game winner who last pitched Wednesday against the White Sox. But he will pitch on three days’ rest in the series finale Sunday, while Burnett and Jesse Litsch will also take the mound on short rest in tomorrow’s doubleheader. Burnett and Litsch started the games in a doubleheader against the White Sox Tuesday.
This also means that Halladay and Burnett are set up to face the Sox on normal rest in what could be a crucial three-game set next weekend at the Rogers Centre.
In the early game of tomorrow’s doubleheader, Burnett (17-10, 4.31 ERA) will be matched up with the Red Sox’ Paul Byrd (11-11, 4.39), while Litsch (11-8, 3.70) will face Bartolo Colon (4-2, 4.09) in the nightcap. Colon will be making his first start since June 16, when he injured an oblique muscle in an 8-2 loss to Philadelphia.
On Sunday, Halladay (18-10, 2.77) will take the mound against Sox lefthander Jon Lester (13-5, 3.23).
“If we can go in [to Fenway ] and play well, it could be very interesting next weekend [when we face Boston again],” Gaston told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
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