Doctor Halladay gives Texas a pain.

Saturday April 12, 2008. Jays v Texas.
Jays win 4-1 Halladay another complete game. That will help the bullpen although Accardo was warming up in bottom of 9th. Coats is back on Syracuse and Joe Inglett up in lineup at 3B, gives Scutaro a break.
FSN SouthWest is televising this series from Texas and have different perspective more aligned to Texas of course.

The very good: Halladay
The good: Eckstein, Stairs, Hill, Inglet’s bat and team defence
The not so good: Two bonehead plays by Inglett and Zaun.

Lineups: Jays: Eckstein, Hill, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Stairs, Overbay, Zaun, Inglett with Halladay pitching.
Texas: Kinsler, Young, Hamilton, Blalock, Byrd (sorry for typo last night Marlon), Murphy, Catalanotto, Laird, Broussard and Mendoza pitching.

The game:
Top of 1st: Eckstein hit, Hill double to left centre wall, Eckstein scores easily, 1-0 Jays nice start. Rios walks on 14 pitches ! Alex really is trying to be more patient, Wells at bat, .341 average. Grounds to SS double play, Thomas back in after night off, flies to RF. Could have been much better than 1-0.
Bottom of 1st: Kinsler singles to RF, Young strikes out, Hamilton at bat Kinsler steals, not a good throw by Zaun, Hamilton walks, Blalock flies to Stairs in LF, Byrd grounds to Inglett at 3B. Byrd is now 1-20 on season.

Top of 2nd: Stairs fly ball to LF, Overbay lines back to Mendoza, Zaun single and tries to make ut two bases, thrown out. Foolish play by Zaun. Hardly the swiftest of runners.
Bottom of 2nd: Murphy doubles to LF corner, Catalanotto trying to bunt grounds to 1B, Laird strikes out, Broussard off end of bat to Halladay. Out of a jam.

Top of 3rd: Inglett singles over SS, Eckstein at bat, Inglett is running and caught at 2B, this was not hit and run as Eckstein didn’t even swing, another bonehead play by Inglett. Remember the brain cramp in Dunedin forgetting number of outs. Eckstein strikes out, Mendoza hits Hill, Rios singles to LF, Inglett’s mistake huge now as he would have either scored on that play or at worst bases would be loaded with one out. I don’t care how talented he is if he has no mental game. Wells back to Mendoza.
Bottom of 3rd: Kinsler hit, Young grounds to SS double play ball, Hamilton fly ball to Stairs.

Top of 4th: Thomas flies to RF, Stairs singles to RF, Overbay flies to LF, Zaun lines one off Blalock’s glove at 3B, Runners safe at 1B and 2B.Inglett chance to redeem himself, singles up the middle of Young’s glove, Stairs scores 2-0 Jays. Zaun to 3B, Eckstein on, bases loaded for Hill. Hill grounds to SS under Young’s glove, two runs score, Zaun and Inglett. Rios with two on, lines to Broussard, bobbles ball but recovers in time to get Alex at 1B. Jays lead 4-0 for Halladay.
Bottom of 4th: Can Halladay shut them down now? Blalock flies out to LF, Byrd he of .050 average, strikes out, Halladay now 40 economic pitches, Murphy strikes out. Halladay on a roll.
FSN SouthWest informs us that Brad Arnsberg pitched for Texas 1989-1991 and was the save for Nolan Ryan’s 300th win !

Top of 5th: Wells flies out to RF, Thomas .171 average and sinking fast, walks on 9pitches. Stairs pops to shallow left and drops in, Thomas at 2B, Overbay grounds to 1B, Stairs is out but Overbay beats out double play. Thomas moves to 3B. Zaun flies to LF.
Bottom of 5th: Catalanotto flies to Wells in CF, Laird grounds to SS, Broussard taps back to Halladay two-hit shutout for Halladay so far.

Top of 6th: Jays need to bring in more runs, Texas is a good hitting team and can turn this around quickly. Rupe now pitching. Inglett grounds to 1B, Eckstein lines to left centre, Hill on base three times tonight 2-2 plus hbp, flies to LF, Rios strikes out. Toronto has now left eight on base so far tonight.
Bottom of 6th: Kinsler grounds to 3B, Young grounds to SS, Hamilton strikes out. Texas has not had a hit since 2nd inning.

Top of 7th: Wells flies to CF, Thomas another 9 pitch walk, Stairs singles to LF Frank already running, was this a hit and run ? but Frank manages to get to 3B, an interesting sight, Overbay long overdue.taps to 1B, Frank out in run down, runners at 1B and 2B, Zaun grounds to 2B. I don’t think Zaun will be playing tomorrow, he is playing tired.
Bottom of 7th: Halladay still only 70 pitches.Blalock strikes out, Byrd finally gets a hit, single to CF, Murphy dribbler down 1B line, Overbay swipe tags, called out but argued by Texas, call stands, Catalanotto exactly same play but this time Halladay almost pushes him out with tag to make sure this time.

Top of 8th: Inglett again single to CF, he is having a good game apart from that earlier mistake, and to be fair it could have been Gibbons sending him to test Laird who was so bad last night. Eckstein sac bunt to get Inglett at 2B, Hill on base here 3 times tonight, flies to RF, Inglett tags and gets to 3B, Rios getting overdue for his first home run this season, strikes out. Jays have now left 11 on base.
Bottom of 8th: Laird pops to Hill, Broussard singles to RF, Kinsler grounds to 3B, and Broussard takes out Hill to avoid double play. Kinsler safe at 1B without a throw, Young grounds up the middle to SS to get lead runner at 2B.

Top of 9th: Franklyn German pitching, Wells pops t 1B, Thomas with two walks tonight, German is huge, looks bigger than Frank. Frank walks again, Stairs with three hit night, Johnny Mac running for Frank, and tries steal but caught by Laird, who has now caught three tonight. Who is sending these runners ? Stairs flies to CF.
Bottom of 9th: Hamilton leadoff single to CF, Halladay now at 100 pitches. Blalock lines to Stairs, one down, Byrd now 2-21 a double to LF, two hits tonight and now 3-22. Hamilton scores and breaks up Halladay’s shutout. 4-1 Jays. Murphy grounds to 2B, Byrd at 3B, Catalanotto grounds to 1B,. This one is over.

Jays 4 runs on 11 hits and 0 errors apart from a couple of mental ones and leave 11 on base.
Texas 1 run on six hits and 1 error.
Jays go for the sweep tomorrow with Burnett. Bullpen will be well rested.