TORONTO -- The scenario was perfect for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Big Canada Day crowd, an electric atmosphere, fan favourite Jose Bautista hitting a go-ahead homer late, a heartening victory in hand ahead of what promises to be an emotional contest with former franchise giant Roy Halladay on Saturday.
But the Blue Jays, as constituted, are very much an imperfect team, one that seemingly cannot plug one hole without opening another. Their flaws have shown up regularly of late, and they were exposed again before a crowd of 45,512 in Friday afternoon's punch-in-the-gut 7-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Having overcome two earlier defensive miscues that led to runs and, perhaps, cost Ricky Romero a chance to pitch deeper in the game, the Blue Jays still managed to take a 6-5 lead into the ninth inning thanks to a two-run Bautista blast in the seventh.
But the top of the ninth started ominously when Frank Francisco walked Placido Polanco and took a turn for the worse when Juan Rivera zig-zagged awkwardly towards Chase Utley's fly ball, eventually watching it hit off his glove for a double.
Ryan Howard proceeded to fight off a high fastball for the decisive two-run single, and the perfect scenario quickly devolved into the perfect storm.
Now the Blue Jays (41-42), who have dropped four of five, look prone for a sweep by the Phillies (52-31), who start Halladay on Saturday and Cliff Lee on Sunday. And, for a cherry atop the bad-news sundae, shortstop Yunel Escobar is day-to-day after being hit on the left hand by a pitch, although at least X-rays and a CAT scan were negative.
"Against a team as good as Philly is, or really any other team at this level, when you give them extra outs in an inning, you're kind of asking for trouble," manager John Farrell lamented about his team's defensive play. "To their credit, they took advantage of the opportunities we provided them."
The Rivera blunder comes on the heels of a miscommunication between Bautista and outfielder Corey Patterson in shallow left field Thursday that opened up a decisive three-run inning for Pittsburgh in a 6-2 win.
That was the third defensive cross-up involving Patterson in the past two weeks and he found himself on the bench Friday. Often a late-inning defensive replacement for Rivera, Farrell said he considered using Patterson, but added, "I thought the way Juan had played left field was fine."
"You'd like to have a crystal ball and look at every possible scenario that comes up, any potential play that might arise," Farrell continued. "But Juan has been very solid for us in left field."
To be fair, there often isn't much to choose from for Farrell.
One possibility for help may come in the form of Travis Snider, who is back after being cleared for action Thursday after suffering a concussion. If he regains his timing and hitting mechanics fast enough, it's possible he could come up before the all-star break.
He's been playing centre field and the Blue Jays seem intent on seeing how he fares there in the big-leagues.
Until then, they'll have to live with what they have.
Still, Friday's atmosphere was electric and things will only be more charged up when Halladay toes the rubber Saturday. He was briefly honoured before the game when a short highlight video was played on the scoreboard and he carried out the Phillies' lineup card to home plate before the game.
Fans gave him a standing ovation on his way on and off the field, and he tipped his cap. The Blue Jays hope the admiration for what's now an opponent ends there.
"He was the face of this franchise for such a long time and he deserved a standing ovation," said Romero. "But as of (Saturday) I think he's our enemy and I hope we don't see a standing ovation from our fans. It's time to get it on once we step in between those lines, we've got to beat him and we're looking forward to the challenge."
The offence did its part Friday.
Bautista, knocked to the ground by some chin music from Kendrick in the fifth inning, hammered the right-hander's first pitch over the wall in left in the seventh to open up a 6-5 lead.
But that all was undone as a streak of seven appearances without allowing a run ended for Francisco (1-4), who blew his fourth save. He faced five batters, and recorded just one out.
Antonio Bastardo worked the ninth for his fourth save while Denys Baez (2-3) earned the victory as the Phillies won for the fourth time in five outings.
The Blue Jays fell behind in the top of the seventh when, after John McDonald failed to corral Howard's generously scored single, Shane Victorino tripled home the tying run off Jason Frasor and scored on Ben Francisco's fly ball for a 5-4 edge.
That left Romero with a no-decision after he grinded through 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and four walks. Missing a dream matchup with Halladay by a day, the left-hander continued to show his growth into an ace by keeping the tough Phillies in check for the most part.
"I didn't really get in a rhythm all day but I battled through it, got us into the seventh inning and the way our bullpen has been the past few days, the past few weeks, they've been unbelievable," said Romero. "The Phillies are a really good team, they don't know how to lose, I guess.
The spotty defence in the seventh by McDonald and an error in the third by Aaron Hill led to runs and cost him pitches. Combined with Rivera's adventure, the misplays helped lead to four Philadephia runs.
"Those are plays that are typically made, and we've made them for the vast majority of the season," said Farrell.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the first on Edwin Encarnacion's two-run double but the Phillies knotted things up on Francisco's RBI double in the second and Victorino's run-scoring single in the third.
Eric Thames restored a two-run edge with a high-arcing blast into the third deck in right-field after a Hill single in the fifth. But the Phillies pulled within one in the sixth on Carlos Ruiz's RBI single before pulling ahead for the first time in the seventh.
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DRABEK MAKES STRIDES: Among the things Kyle Drabek is working on at triple-A Las Vegas is throwing his curveball from the same arm slot as his fastball.
Prior to his demotion last month, the Blue Jays noticed that his arm slot up was creeping up a tick on the curve, just far enough to tip off opposing hitters on what was coming.
They had hoped making a slight adjustment to the curve would give it more of a swerve across the plate motion rather than its original 12-to-6 action so he could throw it for strikes more often.
But to recapture the lost deception, Drabek is now working on making sure the arm slot for his fastball and curve are the same. That's on top of a focus of pitching without his cutter to help him gain better fastball command.
Things came together for him Thursday in Las Vegas's 2-1 win over Colorado Springs in 10 innings. He allowed just a run on six hits in six innings with no walks and three strikeouts.
"Pitched ahead in the count a whole lot more, his changeup was much more effective, a much higher percentage of strikes, the curveball, while sharp, the strike percentage wasn't what ideally it will be," said Farrell. "Pitching with a conventional pitch mix and without the cutter is emphasizing the need to throw strikes with his fastball, which he did."
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