Deja vu all over again

Wednesday April 9th Jays v Oakland.
Second game of series. A game that Jays have to win.
Pitchers tonight McGowan v Greg Smith a rookie with first major league start.
Recipe for disaster and oh boy. What a horrible performance.

Jays lose 6-3 but it was the way they lost.

The good: Nothing that I can think of in this game BUT I see Yankees lost to Kansas ! and Boston at home to Detroit, so Jays don't lose ground but they could be gaining.

The very bad: All round performance by Toronto. Pathetic bats, pitching and fielding to complete the fiasco. This was minor league performance at its worst by the Toronto players tonight. Tomorrow they will be lucky not be swept they have been outplayed by Oakland in both games so far.

Lineups:
Oakland. Buck, Ellis, Barton, Cust, Brown, Crosby, Hannahan, Suzuki, Sweeney and Greg Smith pitching.
Toronto: (although none of them will admit they were actually playing tonight.) Eckstein, Stewart, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Hill, Overbay, Scutaro, Zaun and McGowan on the mound but not pitching.

The game: Top of 1st. Buck leadoff double off CF wall, that should have been the omen for rest of game. Elis dribbler down 3B line ball hits the bag bounces to McGowan who tags Buck trying for third. That ball could have gone into LF and scored the run. Ellis at 1B, a huge break for McGowan who would escape the bullet all night. Barton strikes out. Cust at bat, Ellis is stealing, Zaun throws to 2B and into centre field. Ellis goes to 3B, error to Zaun. Zaun’s throw was nowhere near the bag, shades of 2007. Cust strikes out. McGowan escapes huge damage.
Bottom of 1st: Greg Smith in major league debut, Hits Eckstein in thre back, one on. Way outside to Stewart, a little nervous Greg ? Full count and walks Stewart, Rios .500 on base percentage so far this season, strikes out. Smith’s first out for his major league career. Two on one out. Wells single to LF Eckstein scores 1-0 Jays. Thomas another full count and walks. Bases loaded for Hill. On base percentage of .464 with average of .444. Sac fly to CF, throw to plate but Stewart scores, ball is cutoff but thrown past pitcher Wells scores. Thomas on 3B. 3-0 two out. Overbay pops up to LF. This is the best part of the Jays effort tonight. Remember well.

Top of 2nd. Emil Brown pops up to Zaun, Crosby grounds to 2B, Hannahan strikes out. Niuce inning for McGowan.
Bottom of 2nd. Scutaro flies out to CF. Zaun pops up, Eckstein grounds to 3B, Hannahan great play and throws out Eckstein at 1B. Smith is pitching like Cy Young.

Top of 3rd. Suzuki grounds to Eckstein at SS, Ryan Sweeney strikes out, Buck strikes out, fifth strikeout for McGowan.
Bottom of 3rd. Stewart walks for second time, Rios strikes out for second time, Wells strikes out, Thomas checked swing to 2B. Smith another easdy inning.

Top of 4th. Ellis chops ball high off McGowan’s glove, Eckstein has no chance, Barton lines one off Scutaro’s glove but Eckstein gets lead runner at 2B, nice play. Cust full count walks, two on. Brown in-field hit, Scutaro cannot get runner, bases loaded, one out. Crosby base hit to LF, Barton scores 3-1. Bases still loaded. Hannhan walks ! Cust scores. 3-2. Suzuki strikes out, Sweeney flies out to LF. Leaving bases loaded.Oakland has five hits off McGowan. 3-2.
Bottom of 4th. Hill flies out to LF, Overbay now dropping down the lineup and deservedly so, his Spring training form has dispapeared with the move North, flies out to LF. Scutaro having a horrible game with bat and fielding, flies to CF. Eight pitches and Smith is still Cy Young. Jays take some pitches ! this is a rookie in his first game but easily outpitching McGowan tonight.

Top of 5th. Buck lead-off double down LF, Scutaro is way off the line. McGowan is fooling no one now, Oakland bats have adjusted to him after first innings and he is not making adjustments to his pitching. Ellis single to LF, Buck to 3B, Barton at bat, Ellis steals without a throw, Greg is gunshy now after earlier throw, Barton walks, bases loaded yet again. No outs. Cust strikes out, Brown lines hard at McGowan great catch, throw to 1B but Overbay cannot handle. Double play chance lost. Crosby grounds to 3B, Scutaro gets runner at 2B. McGowan escapes once again but is losing more of his nine lives with each at bat.
Bottom of 5th. Smith still in there and why not. Zaun high fly to LF, Eckstein gorunds to SS two down, Stewart single to LF, Rios strikes out for third consecutive time tonight. Cameras donlt show Alex’s reaction. Ouch bigtime Alex.

Top of 6th: McGowan gone, not his night at all. 7 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouits and 101 pitches and flirted with disaster for much of game. Frasor now in. Hannahan fly ball to CF, Suzuki fly ball to shallow CF, two down. Ryan Sweeney walks, Frasor gets quick hook and Downs replaces him. Buck grounds up the middle and Eckstein gets runner at 1B.
Bottom of 6th: Smith still in there. Wells walks on four pitches. Smith now over 90 pitches. Thomas strikes out, Hill walks, good eye and patience, Overbay, overdue, grounds into double play. First pitch Lyle ?

Top of 7th: Jays are still hanging on to a one run lead but really very lucky. Downs Ellis at bat 3-3 tonight, 3 singles. High fly ball to LF, Barton grounds to Crosby, Cust strikes out on three pitches, very nice pitching Scott.
Bottom of 7th: Casilla pitching. Scutaro strikes out. Zaun single drops into shallow CF, Eckstein at bat, Zaun running ? it really must be a full moon out there. Eckstein fouls off. Zaun goes again ! safe as tag misses him. Is that Zaun’s first ever stolen base ? Eckstein strikes out. Stewart walks, Coats ponch runner, two on for Rios he of three strikeouts tonight, rolls one down 3B line Hannahan misses ball and it hits the bag again, Zaun would have scored but bases are loaded with two down for Wells, chops it to SS not Vernon’s night.

Top of 8th. Downs still pitching. Brown singles to RF, Crosby doubles to RF, two in in scoring position no outs, Big trouble for Downs. Hannahan strikes out, you need that one Scott, Suzuki walked intentionally to load bases. Wolfe is ready in bullpen, Sweeney at bat, you need a ground ball badly here Svcott. You get it… grounds to Hill, quick flip to Eckstein and out at 1B. Double play ball and Oakland leave bases loaded for the 100th time tonight. They are still outplaying Jays, you know the dam is going to burst.
Bottom of 8th.: Fernando Hernandez another rookie AA in 2007. Facing Thomas, high fly ball to CF at the track. Hill strikes out two down. Overbay, come on Lyle you are so due. Walks, an improvement I guess. Hernandez is working very fast, hardly moves after each pitch. Great to watch. Zaun lines one off Hernandez ‘s leg to Hannahan bare hands to get Zaun at 1B. Great play.

Top of 9th. Accardo in for save and chance for redemption for last night’s loss. Buck hit by Accardo, major groans, Ellis already has three singles tonight. A TRIPLE ! to right centre Buck scores this game is tied 3-3 and Accardo has just blown save. Still in deep trouble with Ellis on 3B and no outs. Barton strikes out. Still time Jeremy. Cust walks intentionally after 3-0 count. Brown grounds to SS, Scutaro in front of Eckstein again, throws it away at home plate, what a mess, run scores and still no outs. 4-3 Oakland. A game Scutaro wants to forget.

Accardo is finished and will probably not be available tomorrow either as his pitch count is very high. Wolfe is in. One down with runners on first and second. Crosby at bat, WILD pitch ! is there anything else these guys can do wrong tonight ? runners advance and of course lose double play chance. Crosby doubles ! to LF two runs score 6-3. Hannahan grounds to 2B two down. Crosby at 3B. Suzuki taps back to Wolfe. The agony is almost over.

Bottom of 9th: Street in again for the save and mop up the detritus. Top of the order for Toronto. Eckstein singles, Bronx cheer from fans at the game or was it from me? One on no outs. Stairs pinch hitting for Coats and walks, two on no outs, Tying run at plate. Rios, Wells and Thomas, are you a betting man? Not tonight. Rios flies to RF runners hold. Wells flies to CF, two down runners hold. Thomas grounds to 3B. This agony is over.

Post mortem.
Rock bottom hitting, pitching, and fielding tonight.
Accardo is pitching very badly two nights in a row now. Will not be able to pitch tomorrow so Marcum had better pitch complete game. This was just awful to watch. It was also so inevitable after the first inning, we knew Oakland was gong to blow it open any inning. Now the betting money is on Oakland to sweep Toronto at home. Does anyone want my ticket for the game tomorrow ?

JP must also be wonderng whether or not Accardo should be setting up Ryan when he comes back. He has definitely lost something. Perhaps JP knew something when he signed Benitez ? Plus League may be alternate.