A win and some cuts

Jays 4 Pirates 1.

Nice win on a very windy and HOT day in Dunedin... After all that cool rain yesterday temperatures are in the 80's today and the winds are constant...

Good: Hallady pitching, hitting Overbay, Stairs and the cannon from Cannon.

Game lineups
Pirates: Morgan, McCutchen, Gomez, Nady, Paulino, Walker, Bixler, Chavez, Wilson and pitching Snell.
Jays: Eckstein, Rios, Wells, Rolen, Thomas, Stairs, Overbay, Hill, Zaun and Halladay pitching.
Jays have their first team out today.
Top of 1st. Halladay pitching well. Grounder to 2B one down, Grounder to 3B two down grounds to 2B. Three up and down. Roy keeping it down. Smart guy on a day like today with that wind.
Bottom of 1st. Eckstein grounds to 3B, Rios double off RF wall, Wells flies to LF, Rolen walks, two one two out. Thomas high pop up to shallow centre... wasted opportunity already.
Top of 2nd. Strikeout, base hit to right one on one out, Fly ball to centre two down, grounds to SS another fine inning for Halladay.
Bottom of 2nd. Stairs strikes out. Overbay double to CF, same as yseterday,Lyle is starting to get in that double groove. Hill walks, two on. Zaun hit and run stays out of double play but Zaun out. Two in scoring position for Eckstein flies to RF... three already left in scoring position in first two innings.
Top of 3rd. Grounder to 1B, base hit to centre, strike out, two out. Fly ball to Wells in CF. another good inning by Halladay. in the groove today.
Bottom of 3rd. Rios full count flies to CF, will not go out in this wind. Wells single, right centre, Wells on first for Rolen double to left. Runners at second and third yet again. Thomas at bat strikes out. Ouch... Stairs double off right centre wall finally, two runs score.
Overbay strikes out but Jays 2-0. Could be many more by now.
Top of 4th. Halladay still pitching. Ground ball to 3B, strike out and ground ball to 3B... fine inning yet again for Halladay.
Bottom of 4th. Hill line drive out to LF, Zaun strikes out, Eckstein grounds to SS. Three up and down.
Top of 5th. Halladay again.. Stewart in LF for Stairs. Base hit to right centre, nice cut off by Wells to save double, Base hit to left two on and first sign of trouble for Halladay, bunt to Halladay throw to 3B gets lead runner, strikeout and ground ball to Hill at 2B ends inning.
Bottom of 5th. Rios very hot hit to 3B no chance, hot hit by Wells to 2b another error, two on. Rolen double play, Rios at third Thomas at bat... strike out... Not a good day at the park for Thomas... yet another Jay left in scoring position.
Top of 6th. Luna in at 3B, Sanchez in at SS, Watson in RF and Reed Johnson at CF. Frasor now pitching... Oh no.... watch the clock...
Base hit to CF, Pop up to Sanchez, stolen base what a surprise ! with Frasor pitching, has to be the slowest pitcher in the majors... Walks the next batter, no surprise here, double steal imminent. Frasor saves the day with two strikeouts. He has great stuff but takes forever to get it across especially with runners on. Must drive coaches crazy.
Bottom of 6th. Stewart lead off grounds to SS but Shannon is seeing ball much better than two weeks ago, his hittin at bp was really in the groove. Overbay single to right, this guy also is seeing ball well now. Perhaps one of them can talk to Frank.. Cannon pinch running for Overbay almost gets picked off, Hill strikes out, Zaun pops up to SS.
Top of 7th. Wolfe now pitching, Single to left, Pop up to Zaun, one out. Base hit to LF. Two on.
Grounds to 1B, runnesr at second and third, two out. Strike out. Wolfe gets out of trouble.
Bottom of 7th. Sancghez strikes out, Watson flies to left. Reed bullet double down left field line, Luna flies out to RF.
Top of 8th. Wolfe still pitching. Bouncer to 2B, one down, HR to CF, finall one gets out.. 2-1 Jays. 8 hits each but two errors costly for Pirates. Grounder to SS, Pop up to 3B and Wolfe out of more trouble.
Bottom of 8th. Thomas !!! still in the game... needs the practice badly.. another fly ball to shallow centre, still needs the practice.. I hope we are not going to get last years "slow starter" stuff. Very frustrating to watch with all the runners in scoring position.Stewart first pitch swinging, pops up. Two down and Cannon connects, and I mean connects, HR over RF wall. Great hit. 3-1 Jays.
Gutierez loop single Kratz now catching double off wall in right centre, Gutierez scores 4-1 Jays. Two runs from the young guys with two outs. Sanvhez grounds to 1B. Jays 10 hits Pirates 8 hits and two errors.
Top of 9th Shawn Kemp pitching. Error at SS. Base hit to left field two on no one out, trouble brewing.... Double play ball, and liner to Shannon in left finishes it off.
Jays win.

The cuts.... Rumours before the game were that Lind and Coats had gone and that Reed was on the trading block. JP was in media scrum but there were no official announcements. Lind and Coats have been great this spring, hitting consistently. The only reason they are going down is to give them daily games rather than sitting on bench in Toronto. Both these guys are ready for majors. Reed is the odd one out. Stewart and Stairs are both playing so well the outfield is a traffic jam. Maybe Reed's back is still not 100%. but he is not number one right now in left.