Take a lead, give up a lead (and lose by three)

J.J. Hardy and Vladimir Guerrero homered in the top of the first inning to provide an early cushion for starter Brad Bergesen. It deflated in a hurry. The Blue Jays scored twice in the bottom half of the inning, a bases-loaded walk producing the first run. So much for early momentum. I won't search for excuses for Bergesen. I don't know what's in his head tonight. But if my wife were due to give birth this weekend, I'd be seriously challenged to focus on the task at hand. More power to him if he can block it out. If I worked for the Blue Jays, I'd post a congratulatory message to him on the scoreboard between innings. Maybe add, "It's a boy!" But that's just the way I roll. By the way, Hardy has 17 home runs, including four to lead off the first.

Update: Bergesen isn't sharp, to say the least. He gave up back-to-back two-out home runs to Edwin Encarnacion and Eric Thames in the third, and two more runs scored on J.P. Arencibia's double. Toronto 6, Orioles 2. Bergesen threw 39 pitches in the inning, and Mark Hendrickson was warming up. He's already up to 83 pitches in three innings. The defense isn't doing him any favors. Derrek Lee had a big error in the first, and Mark Reynolds and Matt Wieters mishandled throws in the third that should have produced outs. I know Canada has an exchange rate. I'd like to exchange those three innings for different ones. Bergesen is done after three innings. I hope his weekend brings a lot more joy. Update II: It was all downhill after the top of the first inning. Hardy hit his second home run of the night in the ninth inning, but the Orioles lost, 8-5. The pitching was suspect and the defense wasn't any better. The Orioles are winless in eight straight series and have tumbled a season-worst 19 games below ,500.