Washburn Experiences Support System Failure

TORONTO —  The derailment of the Jarrod Washburn Gravy Train began the moment right-hander Roy Halladay took the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.

Washburn had been backed by the best support in the American League -- the Angels averaged 8.6 runs a game in the left-hander’s first nine starts -- but it was apparent from Halladay’s game-opening strikeout of David Eckstein that Washburn would not be luxuriating amid a bounty of runs in the SkyDome.

Eckstein, one of the Angels’ top contact hitters, waved meekly at a nasty Halladay curve in the dirt for strike three, and the Blue Jay right-hander went on to dominate the Angels, giving up two unearned runs and four hits in 8 2/3 innings of Toronto’s 3-2 victory before a crowd of 14,773.

The Angels were swept in the three-game series against the Blue Jays, with all the losses coming by one run and one in extra innings, hardly the kind of momentum they hoped to take into a three-game series against the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, who have won seven of nine games.

“Getting swept by anyone is tough,” Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “It’s not easy to take because we’ve been playing well. We just didn’t execute offensively this week.”

Halladay, the 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner, didn’t give the Angels much chance to execute. He got Jose Guillen to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play with runners on first and third to end the first inning and struck out Kennedy to end the second with runners on first and third.

The Kennedy strikeout was the first of 19 consecutive batters Halladay retired from the second through eighth innings. The Angels threatened in the ninth when third baseman David Berg’s error paved the way for two unearned runs, and the Angels had the tying run at first base with two out.

But right-hander Jason Frasor replaced Halladay and needed only one pitch to snuff out the rally, getting Casey Kotchman to fly to left for his second save. Halladay, who has a 95-mph fastball and one of baseball’s best curves, struck out seven and walked two to improve to 5-4, while Washburn lost for the first time since April 12 at Texas, falling to 7-2.

“I scuffled a little through the first two innings, but after that I felt like I was on a roll,” Halladay said. “I was making good pitches and getting outs.... Close games bring out the best in you.”

For six innings, it was shaping up as a possible carbon copy of a Washburn-Halladay duel on Aug. 11, 2002, when Washburn combined with closer Troy Percival to throw a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 victory over Halladay and the Blue Jays.

Washburn blanked Toronto on three hits through six innings, allowing one runner to reach second, and he was locating his fastball, changeup and slider effectively.

“You never go into a game thinking you’re going to get 10 runs,” Washburn said. “I approach every game the same way -- keep the other team at zero. I haven’t changed my approach or mentality because of my run support, but you know when you’re going against a guy like Roy, you’re not going to get many runs.”

Instead, it was the Blue Jays who busted through with three runs in the seventh, a rally that began with Alexis Rios’ first major league hit, a one-out single to left, and Chris Gomez’s infield single.

Berg grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out, but Reed Johnson, a former Cal State Fullerton standout, fought off an inside fastball and fisted an RBI single to center for a 1-0 lead.

With center fielder Chone Figgins playing shallow in hopes of catching a short fly ball or cutting down a run at the plate on a single, Toronto second baseman Frank Menechino blasted a two-run triple well over Figgins’ head to make it 3-0.

“We took a calculated risk pinching in a bit, trying to stop a run from scoring,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “[Figgins] was in the right position. [Menechino] just killed that ball.”

Said Washburn: “I enjoy matching up with the best in the game, and Roy is definitely one of those guys. You hate to come out on the losing end of a game like this, but it’s not something you can hang your head about. Halladay was locked in.”