Disappearing offence.

Thursday April 17, 2008 Jays v Texas at the Rogers Centre.

Good to see the roof open tonight and not too cool to sit out.
Jays lose another 4-1 even with Halladay pitching complete game. We need patience with this team.


The good: Halladay complete game and great double play in 9th started by Halladay. Halladay saved bullpen tonight also from more work although Frasor was up and working in 9th. Hill one of the few bats to be consistent tonight. The good also, we didn't see Captain Hook Gibbons out there tonight, that must be hard for him.
The bad: Bats again for second night against Texas.
Thomas again now with average down to .179 ouch… I think they have to start moving him down the order. Opposition is pitching around Wells now to get to Frank.
Jays play into two double plays early in game.

Lineups: Toronto: Eckstein, Hill, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Stairs, Overbay, Zaun, Inglett with Halladay pitching.
Texas: Kinsler, Catalanotto, Bradley, Botts, Murphy, Laird, Vazquez, Duran making his major league debut, and Padilla pitching.

Top 1st: Kinsler single to LF, Catalanotto grounds to 2B, double play, Hamilton grounds to SS. 9 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Eckstein grounds to 2B, Hill continues his streak and singles to LF, Rios grounds to 3B, Hill out but Alex is safe at 1B, Wells walks on four pitches, are they starting to pitch around Vernon to get to Thomas? Frank checks swing grounder to 1B awful.

Top 2nd: Bradley single to RF, Halladay not as sharp as usual. Botts bounces one to SS, out at 1B, Murphy doubles to LF, Bradley scores. Texas 1-0. Laird grounds to 3B, two down. Vazquez grounds to 1B. No further damage to Roy. 23 pitches for first two innings, count will be important in later game for the bullpen.
Bottom 2nd: Stairs grounds to 2B, Overbay walks, although Lyle only has two doubles to date, he has a great on base percentage. Something different out there tonight, Padilla has a curve ball that he is throwing at 59 mph !! Zaun grounds to 2B, double play.

Top 3rd: Duran debut, a little different from AAA Oklahoma tonight, poor guy facing Halladay in first game. Strikes out on three pitches. Welcome to the majors. Kinlser singles to LF, Catalanotto at bat, Kinsler steals 2B, Catalanotto singles to CF, Kinsler scores, 2-0 Texas. Hamilton grounds to 1B, double play gets Roy out of more trouble. 35 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Inglett grounds to 2B, Eckstein singles to LF, Hill fly ball to RF, Rios singles to CF, two on two out, Wells fly ball to RF. Padilla up to 51 pitches. And 50/50 balls and strikes. Halladay is 30/70.

Top 4th: Bradley lines to SS caught by Eckstein, Butts strikes out, Murphy pops up to 3B. Quick inning for Halladay. 48 pitch total. He is keeping Jays in the game but is getting no run support.
Bottom 4th: Thomas pops up to 2B, Jays have yet to get lead runner in any inning tonight, Stairs a long single off RF wall, Overbay grounds to 2B, double play. Second of the game against Toronto.

Top 5th: Laird grounds to 3B, Vazquez strikes out for second time tonight, Duran strikes out also for second time tonight. Some good news on the outfield scoreboard … Manny Ramirez hits second home run against Yankees tonight. Roy 58 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Padilla 61 pitches. Zaun pop up to RF, Inglett walks, Eckstein flies to CF, Hill grounds to SS. Jays are getting baserunners but not bringing them in. Where have we heard that story befiore ?
Padilla is still throwing that 59 mph curve but next pitch is 93 mph fast ball, must look like 200 to the batters. 76 pitches by Padilla. 18 more than Halladay. Texas bullpen is also hurting from last night but so far it looks as if they will be brought into use before Toronto’s bullpen. We clutch at any straw....

Top 6th: Kinsler pops to 1B, Catalanotto grounds to 2B, Hamilton grounds to 1B, Halladay is doing everything he can. Another 9 pitch inning.
Bottom 6th: Where is the offence ? Here come the big bats again. Rios strikes out, Wells singles to LF, Vernon is doing his part. Thomas now with average at .185 and dropping at each bat. Strikes out. Stairs grounds to 2B. Padilla now at 91 pitches. Maybe one more inning.

Top 7th: Bradley dribbler to 1B. Botts grounds to 2B, Murphy double to LF, Laird broken bat single scores Murphy, 3-0 Texas. Vazquez walks, two on again. Duran strikes out for third time. Roy now at 93 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Padilla on 92 pitches. Overbay grounds to SS, Zaun doubles off CF wall, Inglett grounds to 1B Zaun to 3B. Eckstein grounds to SS, safe at 1B. Zaun scores 3-1 Texas. Finally a run. Hill flies to LF.

Top 8th: Kinsler another single to CF, his third hit of the game, Catalanotto bunts in front of Halladay, great throw by Roy to 2B, gets him and throw to 1B gets Catalanotto, great double play. Hamilton singles to RF, Halladay helped himself with that double play, Bradley grounds to 2B. Roy now at 101 pitches but you know he is coming out for the 9th.
Bottom 8th: Padilla is already out of game. Jamey Wright pitching. Rios singles into right centre. This is the first Toronto lead off runner in the game. Wells grounds to 3B. Thomas strikes out, his average now .179. Stairs wild pitch and Alex moves to 3B, this is the first piece of good luck Jays have had tonight, Stairs grounds to 1B.

Top 9th: Yes Halladay is out there. Botts strikes out, Murphy again double to outfield drops between Rios and Wells, from where I am sitting I think that is a catchable ball by Rios, he appeared to slow down when he saw Wells closing. Alex very rarely goes full out for any ball. Laird singles to CF, Murphy scores, 4-1 Texas. Laird out at 2B, Vazquez grounds to SS.
Bottom 9th: Wilson the Texas closer in for 9th. He also pitched last night. Stewart pinch hitting for Overbay, strikes out. Zaun walks, his on base percentage has improved this game, Scutaro pinch hitting for Inglett pops ball to 2B, Eckstein grounds to 1B. This game is over.

Halladay pitches complete game for the loss. But just as important he saved the bullpen tonight from more work.
Tomorrow David Purcey, recall from AAA, will replace Burnett after last night. Burnett will now pitch Sunday.
Another disappointing game with lack of offence. There is no consistency at all yet from this team. One day 11 runs the next 1. Perhaps with Rolen back in lineup things may settle. Meantime Jays are at .500 with eight wins and eight losses.
This next 4 game series will be big, Detroit is no pushover even with Cleveand beating them tonight.