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The Blue Jays didn't lose a game last night but right-hander Jesse Litsch lost his job.

Following the suspension of last night's game because of a severe rain storm, the Blue Jays announced that Litsch was optioned to triple-A Syracuse with left-hander David Purcey being recalled to take his place.

The suspended game will resume at 12:05 this afternoon with the Jays holding a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning with two out and Scott Rolen at the plate with a 1-0 count.

Twenty minutes after its completion, the fourth and final regular scheduled game of the series will commence.

Litsch is 8-7 with a 4.46 ERA on the season but has been struggling recently as he has gone 1-6 in his past eight starts. So, the move hardly comes as a shock.

Last night he declined comment.

"We want him to go back down there and work on some things. You can say he can work on things there but not at this level," manager Cito Gaston said.

"Here is not where you work on things.

"I like him, he goes hard out there but we feel he needs to go down and get back to where he started the season and hopefully get back soon."

Last year, Litsch was the rags-to-riches story, the former Tampa Bay bat boy, who made a successful jump from double-A to go 7-9 with a 3.81 ERA in 20 starts.

Gaston said that Litsch needs to work on developing his two-seam fastball and the location of all his pitches.

Purcey, a No. 1 draft pick in 2004, is 8-6 with a 2.69 ERA at Syracuse.

General manager J.P. Ricciardi, who also wasn't available for comment last night, has said in the past that Purcey deserves a long look at the big-league level and now he'll get it.

In two emergency starts with the Jays this season, he has gone 0-1 with an 11.05 ERA.

"We're going to give him a good look because hey, there's nothing wrong with having a left-hander starter for this year and next year," Gaston said. "We're going to give him a good look and try to let him know that too, so he doesn't come up here and rush himself."

Gaston said that Purcey would take Litsch's spot in the rotation -- meaning his first start would Saturday at home against the Mariners.

Getting back to the suspended game, A.J. Burnett looked sharp in his powder blues as the Jays wore their Flashback Friday garb on a night the Orioles brought back players from their 1983 World Series championship team.

The question is, what uniform will he be wearing in a week's time?

With the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching Burnett turned in another solid performance.

Between now and the 31st, Burnett has one more scheduled start -- Monday at home against Tampa Bay.

The Blue Jays didn't lose a game last night but right-hander Jesse Litsch lost his job. Following the suspension of last night's game because of a severe rain storm, the Blue Jays announced that Litsch was optioned to triple-A Syracuse with left-hander David Purcey being recalled to take his place. The su