How About That Ricky Romero?

The Blue Jays actually took two out of three against the Athletics this weekend!

But this time, it wasn't all about their offense, which was a big part of their success, especially in the Minnesota series (when they scored 31 runs in the four games at the Metrodome).  Stellar pitching sealed the victories in these games.

On Saturday, Brian Tallet did a great job filling in for the injured Jesse Litsch. Tallet allowed just four hits and one earned run in his 5 1/3 innings in his first start since 2006 and helped the Blue Jays win 4-2.

Then on Sunday, it was Ricky Romero's turn.

The rookie turned in his third straight great outing, beating the A's 1-0. The lefty struck out six in seven innings and now has a 1.71 ERA.

Forget Travis Snider. If Romero keeps this up, he might be in contention for the Rookie of the Year!  Okay, yes, it's still early, but who knows, it could be a battle between Snider and Romero for the RoY. That could only help push each other to do better, right?

After the game, Oakland right fielder Jack Cust compared Romero to Mets ace Johan Santana: "his body, his mannerisms, the way he throws...He's similar (to Santana), he's got a similar arm slot, similar delivery. He's going to be good" (The Associated Press).

The Jays would sure hope Cust is right.

But we can't forget about the hitting hero in this one: Lyle Overbay.

Overbay, who won Saturday's marathon with a walk-off two-run shot in the 12th inning, won this one with a second-inning single.

Credit the defense, too for keeping this a 1-0 game.

The A's tried to rally in the third when Ryan Sweeney smoked a two-bagger to right-center with a runner on first. But just as things started to look up for Oakland, Blue Jays' center fielder Vernon Wells threw the ball back to the infield to second baseman Aaron Hill, who threw home to catcher Raul Chavez to get the runner trying to score.

Romero did run into trouble two innings later when the A's put two more runners on. But this time, the lefty got Sweeney to fly out to end the threat.

Great game by the rookie!