Brandon Morrow definitely saved his best for last, having his best start since returning from the disabled list, on the last day of the season.

Striking out five of the first six batters he faced, it was easy to tell early on that Morrow had his best stuff working on the night. His eight innings, three hits, three walks, and one earned run with eleven strikeouts is one of the best pitching lines by a Blue Jays’ starter all season. Morrow set his season high in strikeouts on Wednesday night and with his tenth win prevented from Toronto from having no starter in double digits for wins.

The Jays’ defense was solid on the night, except for a non-converted double play in the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, the Twins’ Matt Carson hit a ground ball to third base. Brett Lawrie threw to Adeiny Hechavarria for the out at second, but Yan Gomes was unable to hold on to the ball at first to get the second out on the play which allowed the run to score. Had the play been completed, Toronto would have more than likely shutout Minnesota.

Offensively, the Jays took advantage of a two-out triple to right by Anthony Gose. Rajai Davis followed with a single left. With Hechavarria at the plate, Davis stole second base. Running on the first pitch after his first steal of the night, Davis scored at Hechavarria hit a line shot to centre for a single. It was all the scoring Toronto would need on the night.

Brandon Lyon pitched the ninth inning, giving up a one-out single before getting a fly out and a ground out to end the game, and the Jays’ season. Toronto managed to end on a high night, sweeping the Twins for the last series of the season.

It was a historical night as Omar Vizquel played in his last game. Starting at shortstop, Vizquel received numerous ovations, first of which came with his first at bat. After making an over-the-shoulder basket catch in shallow left in the seventh, the crowd applauded the great play, the last defensive playoff Vizquel’s career. In the bottom of the inning with two out, Vizquel managed a single to centre field in his last at bat, securing the 40^th spot on the all-time hits list. The hit followed a standing ovation that had Vizquel tipping his cap a few times to the crowd before getting down to the business of hitting.

In the ninth with two out, John Farrell replaced Vizquel allowing him to walk off the field. Hugging his teammates on his way to the dugout, it was apparent how much the moment meant to Vizquel who again tipped his cap and waved to the cheering crowd.

Finishing in fourth with a 73-89 record is a disappointiment for the Jays. Although they avoided the 90 loss mark, 2012 was nowhere close to being the season the team was expecting. But, it’s apparent to see after watching the team for the full season that there are some great pieces in place moving forward into 2013.

At this point in the season, there’s not much left to play for if you’re the Blue Jays. The team could be forgiven for solely counting down until season’s send, but apparently that’s not what Toronto has in mind.

After kicking off the scoring in the first on Adam Lind’s single to score Rajai Davis, the Jays were unable to keep the Minnesota Twins on the scoreboard.

Aaron Laffey lacked the sharpness he brought to other starts through the year, and Trevor Plouffe made him pay for it with a two-run shot in the second.  Plouffe was at it again in the third, driving in another run on a double to left. By the end of the night, Plouffe went two-for-three with three RBI. Joe Mauer scored the Twins’ fourth run of the game with a single to left in the fifth inning.

Toronto would come within a run in the sixth with a two-out, bases-loaded double by Jeff Mathis. Both Lind and Kelly Johnson scored, making the score 4-3. The Jays were unable to score again in the inning, which proved costly at the time.

Even without his best stuff, Laffey pitched five innings on the night and gave up the four runs on eight hits. Chad Beck pitched the sixth, giving up a walk and a hit before getting the next three batters to fly-out, pop-out and ground out. Brett Cecil got the first two outs in the seventh, but gave up an RBI single to Jamie Carroll making the score 5-3. Brad Lincoln came on to close out the inning and pitched the eighth, striking out four and walking one.

With the first two batters striking out in the seventh, Brett Lawrie singled to right and score on Lind’s double, his fourth hit of the night. Yunel Escobar struck out to end the inning, leaving the Jays unable to score the runner from second.

Casey Janssen pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two of the batters her faced. The Jays went into the bottom half of the inning trailing by a run, before a two-out homerun by Yan Gomes to almost dead centre tied the game at five.

Brandon Lyon pitched the tenth inning, managing to escape some trouble after giving up a lead-off double then hitting a batter. Mathis made a nice play on a bunt attempt in front of homeplate to get the lead runner at third.

Adeiny Hechavarria hit a one-out single in the tenth then advanced to second on a wild pitch. With J.P. Arencibia at the plate, Twins’ catcher Drew Butera dropped the third strike and hit Arencibia with his throw to first. Hechavarria had managed to score, but was returned to second when Arencibia was called out for runner interference. With two out, Anthony Gose lined a 1-2 single to centre to score the runner from second, making the final score 6-5.

Game two goes Tuesday night. Chad Jenkins will make his third major league start against Anthony Swarzak for the Twins. First pitch is set for 7:07 p.m.

After losing 8 of 10 on the last road trip of the season, the Jays managed to kick off their last home stand with a 6-0 win over the Yankees.

Brandon Morrow went the deepest in a game since before he went on the disabled list in June. Morrow pitched seven strong innings, only giving up four hits. After facing five batters in the seventh and needing 21 pitches to get through the inning, Morrow’s night was done and the Jays’ bullpen came in to close out the game.

Brad Lincoln got a three-up-three-down inning by striking out former-Jay Jayson Nix, then getting a fly out and a ground out. Darren Oliver pitched the ninth. Although he hit Alex Rodriguez to start the inning, then gave up a single to put runners on first and second, Oliver got fly outs to all three outfielders to end the game.

Brett Lawrie got the Jays’ offense started early, hitting a two-run shot to right in the third. Edwin Encarnacion drove in three runs on the night, bringing his season RBI total to 110.  His first two came on a double to right in the fifth inning, following by a run-scoring groundout in the seventh. J.P. Arencibia hit his 18^th homerun on the eighth inning, giving the Jays a nice 6-0 cushion heading into the Yankees’ last at bat.

In a season marred by injuries and their horrendous timing, this last weekend series of the season must be bittersweet in ways for Toronto. They can play for pride and do their best to act as spoilers with New York in town, but the early season thoughts of them chasing a Wild Card spot were not unfounded. It’s hard to know what the season could have been like had three starters not done down in a week in June, or had key players not been injured at the same time like Jose Bautista and Lawrie. Still, for those who have watched the team develop under the current management and coaching squad, it’s not hard to believe the Jays’ could be contenders next season. There’s never any telling who will make it into the post-season, but flashes of what the Jays could be when healthy appeared all season.

Game two against the Yankees is Friday night. Rookie Chad Jenkins makes his second major-league start. Even though he was handed the loss, his one earned run on two hits over five innings in Tampa last week was impressive. The Yankees will counter with Hiroki Kuroda.

First pitch is set for 7:07 p.m.

The Blue Jays’ overall difficulty winning games aside, this past road trip has seen the team play a lot of baseball in a short span. After leaving Toronto last weekend, the team’s current trip features two double-headers and leads right into their last homestand of the season. When all is said and done, Toronto will have played 17 games in 15 days to close out 2012.

Game one in Baltimore on Monday was originally scheduled from a nighttime start, but was bumped up when the Orioles and Jays were rained out on July 26^th.

Henderson Alvarez wasn’t quite as sharp as his last start, but managed to pitch until two outs in the sixth inning. Although he struck out six, he gave up eight hits and was hurt by the homerun, a trend Alvarez has exhibited all season. Adam Jones started the scoring in the fourth with a two-run shot to left, followed by a solo shot in the fifth by Ryan Flaherty. After intentionally walking Jim Thome to load the bases with none out in the sixth, only one run managed to score as Alvarez got Mark Reynolds to ground into a double play. Brett Cecil came on to finish the inning and got Flaherty to ground out to second.

It was another quiet day at the plate for the Jays. Although they got seven hits, they didn’t really manage any scoring opportunities until late in the game. With two out, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind got back-to-back singles. Encarnacion went to third on Lind’s bloop single and scored on Rajai Davis’ 23^rd double of the season.

With the 4-1 loss, Toronto extended their losing streak to seven games.

Game two started off better for Toronto’s offense. Encarnacion hit his 41^st homerun of the season to drive in two in the first inning. J.P. Arencibia hit a sac fly in the second to score Moises Sierra, while Omar Vizquel advanced to third after getting on base with a double. Anthony Gose followed up with a single to score Vizquel and give the Jays a 4-0 lead at the time. Arencibia hit a grandslam in the seventh, that afford to Jays a good number of insurance runs.

Ricky Romero seemed to have slightly better control than his previous outing. He managed eight hits over five innings, but still walked more Orioles than he struck out, 5 and 4 respectively. By no means his best start over his 15 game losing streak, Romero finally managed to pitch well enough and get enough run support from his offense to get his first win since June 22^nd against the Marlins.

Gose showed off his impressive arm in the sixth inning, throwing out Taylor Teagarden to end the inning. The play put a stop to one of Baltimore’s scoring opportunities, as they had the bases loaded at the time.

Aaron Laffey heads to the mound on Wednesday against the Orioles’ Joe Saunders. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

On a day where both Jays’ starters pitched well, the offence just couldn’t come up with enough support to get a win.

Henderson Alvarez had one of his better starts of the season. He lasted seven innings, struck out seven, walked none, and gave up five hits. The three runs he allowed in the game all came in the first inning, but he managed to shut it down after that. It was a nice progression from his last start, and an excellent effort from Alvarez to prove he deserves a shot at a rotation spot come Spring Training.

Darren Oliver pitched the eighth inning and gave up New York’s fourth run, to make it 4-2. Ichiro Suzuki hit a ground-rule double and scored on Nick Swisher’s single to left. The extra run stung twice as it was scored with two out and after the Jays had scored two runs in the top of the inning to come within one.

For the Jays’ offense, although they were late to the scoreboard, got things going in the eighth with Brett Lawrie leading off with a double. Adam Lind followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Kelly Johnson, pinch-hitting for Jeff Mathis, hit a single to left to score Lawrie. With one out, Omar Vizquel hit a double to right to score Lind, and put himself and Johnson in scoring position. For Vizquel, it was a historic day as he surpassed Babe Ruth for total career hits. His run scoring double in the eighth gave him sole possession of the 40^th spot on the all-time hits list.

Game two was a much closer contest, with Ricky Romero showing brilliant flashes of his old self. Although his walk total matched his strikeouts at five, Romero did an excellent job at pitching out of  some very tight situations, keeping the Yankees from scoring more than one run on seven hits over his six innings pitched.

Again, the Jays’ offense was unable to muster much in the way of scoring. Yankee’s starter David Phelps did a pretty good job keeping them off the bases, only giving up three hits and three walks over 6.2 innings. His six strikeouts on the afternoon were effective in killing anything the Jays wanted to run together to try and score.

Both teams scored in the second inning. With two on via the walk and two out, Adeiny Hechavarria singled to centre and scored J.P. Arencibia from second. In the bottom half, with two on via the walk and one out, Suzuki hit a single to centre. Jayson Nix attempted to score from second, but was thrown out on a laser shot from Colby Rasmus. In the next at-bat, Chris Stewart hit a ground-rule double which scored Casey McGehee from third.

Steve Delabar was given the loss after giving up an RBI single to Suzuki in the eighth.

Of the two losses, the second was by far the hardest as Romero’s effort was worthy of the win.

Game three goes at 7:05pm on Thursday.

For anyone who may be watching, Carlos Villanueva has shown this season that he’s capable of being a member of a starting rotation. Of his 14 starts this season, only two of them have been no decisions (including Saturday against Boston) and he’s amassed a 7-5 record.  In a season where Toronto rotation needed some stability from somewhere, Villanueva provided a decent starting point.

On Saturday, Villanueva was the first Jays’ started to make it to the seventh inning since the middle of the summer. Over his seven innings worked, he held Boston to two runs on four hits. He managed six strikeouts while walking two, one of which came in the eighth before Aaron Loup came in to face two batters. He walked one and got an out on a sac bunt before being replaced by Steve Delabar. Delabar walked the bases loaded with one out, but managed to get Toronto out of the inning without Boston scoring another run. He struck out Cody Ross and induced an infield pop-up from James Loney.

Delabar gave up the eventually winning run in the ninth inning after Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled to lead-off. After getting a strikeout and a fly-out, Delabar gave up another double to Pedro Ciriaco that brought Saltalamacchia home. Brett Cecil eventually came into the inning and got the final Boston out by striking out Daniel Nava, but not before walking Dustin Pedroia.

The offense for the Jays’ struggled against Clay Buchholz, who has an ERA under 1.50 at Rogers Centre. In total, Toronto was one for five with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. After scoring in the first off Yunel Escobar’s single to bring Edwin Encarnacion home, the Jays’ only managed to score one more run in the fifth as Adam Lind drove in Anthony Gose with a sac fly.

Gose managed a two-out single in the ninth, which prompted thoughts of a possible tying run. It wasn’t to be as Rajai Davis ended the game by striking out. As has been the often case with Toronto’s inconsistent offense, it was a case of too little too late.

Sunday’s game wraps up the season series against the Red Sox and Jays. Brandon Morrow will try to bounce back from his last start on Tuesday against Seattle. Jon Lester will start for the Red Sox, as they try for the three game sweep.

Game time is set for 1:07 p.m.

It’s hard to know when or how things will click back into place for Ricky Romero. After pitching one of his better performances on seven days earlier this season, Toronto hoped giving Romero some extra time this go-around would have the same result. Unfortunately, Romero was nowhere as effective on Wednesday night as the Blue Jays were hoping for.

The first inning was a solid start for Romero, even though he gave up a sharp single to Kyle Seager. Seager, it should be noted, is 14 for 29 in eight games against Toronto this season. Romero’s second inning was shakier as he gave up three consecutive hits, kicked off by a solo shot to left by Miguel Olivo. With two on, Romero managed to get a strikeout and a fly ball to left to end the inning without another run scoring.

Seattle’s third inning started with Romero walking Frank Gutierrez, then giving up another hit to Seager. Toronto’s defense managed to turn a double play before Romero gave up another walk. He managed to escape again without letting the Mariners score with two men on base. Romero wasn’t so lucky in the fourth, as with two out Romero gave up a walk, a ground-rule double, followed by a single to right that score both runners. Moises Sierra made a strong throw to the plate, but J.P. Arencibia’s attempt to dive at and tag Dustin Ackley while he came home prevented him from adjusting when Ackley veered off course to be able to slide into home. The Mariners score two in the inning, including the eventual winning run.

After giving up another lead-off walk followed by a single Romero was lifted for Steve Delabar. With runners on first and second, Delabar struck out Olivo before walking Mike Carp to load the bases. Delabar struck out the next two batters to end the inning, and also ended one of Seattle best chances to score the entire game. Delabar, Brandon Lyon, Darren Oliver and Casey Janssen combined for five shutout innings to finish the game.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his 39th homerun of the year of Seattle starter Kevin Millwood in the fourth inning, bringing the Jays within a run. Colby Rasmus walked to become the Jays’ first base runner of the night right before Encarnacion went deep. Encarnacion has now set a career high in homeruns and runs batted in and is one RBI away from 100.

Henderson Alvarez will be in tough tomorrow night to close out the three game set against the Mariners. He’ll be facing his idol, Felix Hernandez, while trying to salvage a win for Toronto.

Game time is set for 7:07 p.m.

As the Blue Jays made their way to Fenway Park for the last time this season fresh off a win at home on Wednesday, they probably couldn’t help but think about repeating their last trip into Boston. The three game sweep in July came only days after Toronto lost Jose Bautista and they were without Brett Lawrie for the first game. After looking anemic after the All-Star Break, the Jays managed to score 28 runs over three games, while holding the Red Sox to only 11.

Since then, both teams dug deeper into the basement of the AL East. At this point, they could very well be fighting each other to avoid last place. Happily for Toronto though, Friday night saw the return of both Brett Lawrie and J.P. Arencibia to the Jays’ lineup.

Jays’ starter Henderson Alvarez showed a better command over his fastball than in his last few starts. His sinking fastball was on the lower border of the strike zone all night and had more than one player in the Boston lineup thinking twice about the pitch’s location. Over sixth and a third innings, Alvarez gave up only one run on four hits, but only struck out one while walking two.

The bigger story of the night was Toronto’s power game. Edwin Encarnacion, Moises Sierra and Colby Rasmus all hit multiple-run homeruns. Rasmus’ came in the ninth inning and offered the Jays’ much needed insurance runs, making the score at the time seven to three. The Jays also managed to score without hitting the ball out of the park. Brett Lawrie led-off the game with a double and advanced to third on a groundout by Rasmus. Encarnacion hit a sac fly to centre to score Lawrie from third. In the fifth, Rasmus led-off with a triple and was later brought home by Yunel Escobar’s single to right.

Of slight concern was Toronto’s inability to turn the double play multiple times in the game, although between the pitching and defense they managed to get out of any tough situations. The defensive highlight of the night was a spectacular and run saving catch by Rajai Davis in the bottom of the seventh. With a run already having scored and a runner on first, Scott Podsednik hit a fly-ball to deep left field. Davis tracked the ball and made a leaping grab against the green monster, throwing his glove back over his left shoulder.

Aaron Laffey will take the mound on Saturday night for Toronto, as the Jays try to make it five in a row over Boston. The Red Sox will send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound. In his last start at home against Toronto in June, Matsuzaka was given a no-decision after giving up a run over five and two-thirds innings.

Game time is set for 7:10 p.m.

Wednesday night’s win was a sorely needed bright spot to end the Blue Jays’ current home stand. After winning the first two games against Tampa Bay last week with good pitching and defense, Toronto went on to drop their last four games, including two shutouts at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles.

In his third start since coming off the DL, Brandon Morrow continued to improve and show glimpses of just how good he could have been all season, had be not been sidelined with an oblique strain. After struggling in the second inning, Morrow was able to keep himself and the Jays out of any serious jams. Adam Jones lead-off the second with a solo shot to left and after walking the next two batters, Morrow found his command again and struck out Orioles’ first-baseman Mark Reynolds.  Morrow walked the next batter to load the bases with one out. Rookie Manny Machado drove in Baltimore’s second run on a fielder’s choice to second for the second out, and Morrow induced another ground out to end the inning. Although he wasn’t credited for the win, Morrow’s six innings, three hits, one walk and six strikeouts put Toronto in an excellent position to win.

The Jays started their scoring in the bottom of the second when Kelly Johnson doubled home Adam Lind, who had singled to lead-off the inning. Rajai Davis tied the game in the bottom of the third with his seventh homerun of the season. The bulk of Toronto’s scoring happened in the seventh when they managed to string some hits together when in counted, something that has happened very little of late.

Yunel Escobar doubled, followed by a bunt single from Kelly Johnson. After Yorvit Torrealba popped out, Adeiny Hechavarria laid down a perfect bunt that brought Escobar home from third.  With only one out, Anthony Gose singled to load the bases, and Davis singled to centre to bring home Johnson and Hechavarria. A throwing error by Oriole’s centre-fielder Adam Jones allowed Gose to score as well.

Toronto’s bullpen closed out the game, with Steve Delabar being the pitcher of record. Casey Janssen pitched the ninth, having not worked since last Friday, and wasn’t as sharp of usual. He walked Jones to start the inning and with two out Reynolds went deep to centre to make the score 6-4. Janssen got Baltimore’s second-baseman Omar Quintanilla to strike out to end the game.

Although a 3-4 home stand isn’t ideal, ending on a winning note, and in the fashion they did, is a positive way to head on the road to Boston to start a three game series over the weekend. J.P. Arencibia will rejoin the team on Friday, returning earlier than expected from a broken throwing hand. Brett Lawrie is also close to returning, although no date has been set yet for his return. Word also came today that Jose Bautista underwent successful surgery on his injured left wrist.

Henderson Alvarez will face Felix Dubront on Friday in Boston. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.

With their win Thursday night, the Blue Jays managed to win back-to-back games for the first time since the middle of August. It seems Toronto has every intention of ending a disastrous August on a winning note, having won three of their last four.

In what was one of (if not the best) pitched games on the season, Toronto starter Carlos Villanueva went six strong innings without giving up a run. He gave up five hits, one walk and struck out seven, including a stretch of six straight strikeouts. Villanueva seemed to have a lot of pitches left after the sixth, but was removed from the game because he had been suffering from a low-grade fever all day. Darren Oliver pitched a clean seventh inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Brad Lincoln came in for the eighth and commanded his pitches better than in his last few appearances and also pitched a three-up-three-down inning. Closer Casey Janssen converted his second save in as many days with a clean ninth inning, shoring up the 2-0 victory for Toronto.

The only scoring in the game came in the bottom of the first as Kelly Johnson doubled to right field and scored Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind. Toronto managed to set up the scoring opportunity with two out, a rarity over the past few months. After Rajai Davis struck out and Colby Rasmus flied out, Encarnacion walked. Adam Lind followed up with a single to left in his first ever at bat against Rays’ starter Matt Moore. Yunel Escobar followed with a four-pitch walk to load the bases.

Toronto got some positive news today as both Jason Frasor and J.P. Arenciabia could be set to rejoin the team soon. Frasor could return as soon as Saturday, with Arencibia possibly coming back closer to the 10^th.  Still to set timetable for Brett Lawrie’s return, but as the end of the season moves closer, the likelihood of the Jays’ shutting him down for the year looms closer.

Game two Friday night sees Brandon Morrow making his second start since returning from the DL. He only pitched into the fifth against the Orioles last Saturday, but managed to strike out seven, walk one and give up four runs (two of them earned) on six hits. Jeremy Hellickson will try to get his ninth win of the season for the Rays.