Gibbons must go, followed by Thomas. Carlson for PM.

Wednesday April 14, 2008. Jays v Texas at Rogers Centre
Jays lose this one in 14 innings 7-5.
Managers don’t lose games, the players do but this is one exception. Gibbons must take full blame for this loss. His use/abuse of pitchers has been questioned continually and tonight it came home to roost. To use his whole bull-pen and have to go to starters is inexcusable. This not only lost tonight’s game but has messed up Burnett’s next start at the weekend. Starters prepare for games, they are not relievers on five minutes warmup.

The very good: Jesse Carlson, his three innings of scoreless relief has to earn full marks and being brought in for his first inning with bases loaded no outs and striking otut e side is the single best ining to daye of this season. This guys was in AAA two weeks ago.
The good: Aaron Hill not just with his bat again but also his fielding saving base after base hit. Scutaro with his bat.
The bad: the big bats again failing to bring in the winning run.
The very bad: Gibbons and Frank Thomas. The time may be close to sit Thomas or senbd him to Syracuse to get his timing right and use Stairs as DH.

The lineups.Texas: Catalanotto, Young, Hamilton, Bradley, Blalock, Botts, Murphy, Laird, Vazquez, and Kason Gabbard pitching.
Toronto: Eckstein, Hill, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Barajas, Overbay, Scutaro, MacDonald and Jesse Litsch pitching.

Top1st: Catalanotto flies to Scutaro playing in LF tonight, Young grounds to SS, Ham,ilton lines back to Litsch, great reflex catch by Jesse. Nice inning.
Bottom 1st: Eckstein loops one to RF one down, Hill now .340 average, doubles to LF, he is one bat that is hot, Rios grounds to 2B, Hill to 3B, Wells .345 average, ball hits Wells as he comes out to fthe box,. Leave Hill at 3B.

Top 2nd: Bradley strikes out, Blalock singles to LF, Botts strikles out, Murphy grounds in hole at 1B Hill saves extra bases with diving save, two on, Laird lines to LF Scxutaro throw to plate gets Blalock, great throw by Scutaro. Tonight DEFENCE rules.
Bottom 2nd: Thomas singles to LF, Barajas to Blalock automatic double play, Overbay singles to LF, Scutaro singles to RF, Johnny Mac grounds to 3B.

Top 3rd: Vazquez strikes out, Catalanotto ground rule double into LF seats, Young grounds to 1B, two out, Catalanotto at 3B, Hamilton singles into CF, Frank scores, 1-0 Texas. Bradley singles to CF, Hamilton to 3B, Blalock grounds to Overbay to end inning. 1-0 Texas.
Bottom 3rd: Eckstein hit, ( his league leading sixth time), Hill flies to LF, Eckstein stays, Rios singles up the middle, Eckstein at 2B, Wells up the middle off the glove of Vazquez, Eckstein scores, 1-1. Thomas flies to RF, Barajas first pitch swinging club member, grounds to 3B. Leaves two on.

Top 4th: Botts, HR 2-1 Texas, Murphy strikes out, Litsch is not rattled, Laird flies to Rios right cventre, Vazquez grounds to Overbay at 1B.
Bottom 4th: Overbay grounds out, Scutaro high fly ball to wall in LF, two down, Johnny Mac strikes out.

Top 5th: Catalanotto strikes out, Young fly ball to Rios, Hamilton grounds out to Hill. Litsch is doing his job. Where are the bats?
Bottom 5th: Eckstein grounds out to 3B, Hill walks, Rios doubles to LF wall, Hill scores, 2-2. This is Alex’s fifth double of the season, Overbay take note. Gabbard now at 78 pitches. Wells walks, Thomas high fly ball to CF, two down, Barajas chops ball to 1B. Two more left on.

Top 6th: Litsch at 87 pitches also. Bradley double over Scutaro’s head off the wall, Blalock singles to RF, Bradley to 3B. That’s it for Jesse. I think he did his job well he could be sitting on a good lead if the bats were working tonight. Tallet now pitching, Botts with two on doubles to CF, two runs score, 4-2 Texas. Murphy grounds to 1B, Botts to 3B, Laird grounds to 3B, runner holds two down, one on. Kinsler pinch hitting for Vazquez, intentional walk, Catalanotto at bat, Kinsler pinch running steals , Catalanotto walks, bases loaded. Tallet pulled and Frasor pitching to Young. Young fly ball to Rios I shallow RF. Leaves bases full. Gibbons has use three pitchers this inning.
Bottom 6th: Overbay strikes out, he is in deep slump, Scutaro grounds to SS, Johnny Mac flies tro CF wall. The Jays bottom three are scaring no one tonight.

Top 7th: New pitcher !!!!! Downs now in. Hamilton singles to CF, Bradley walks, two on no outs, Blalock grounds to Hill, gets Hamilton but not in time for Blalock, runner to 3B, Botts strikes out,, Murphy lines to LF Scutaro, nice recovery Scott.
Bottom 7th: Jeremy Wright pitching, Eckstein walks, Hill strikes out, Rios grounds to SS, double play. This is the 23rd double play for Jays this season. I wonder also how many have involved Thomas?

Top of 8th. Yes you guessed another new pitcher… Accardo this time. The fifth this game. Gibbons “the hook.” Probably playing his percentages. Laird flies to RF, Kinsler same play, Catalanotto HR into RF bullpen… look on the bright side friends, Accardo could be the closer. 5-2 Texas. Young bounces ball to Hill nice play by Aaron to get Young at 1B.
Bottom 8th. Crunch time bats. Benoit now pitching for Texas. Wells flies out to shallow RF, Thomas walks, Stairs pinch hitting for Barajas, singles to LF, Matt has been Mr. Clutch all season.He has my voet to replace Thomas anyday. Overbay walks, bases loaded. Scutaro great at bat also walks, Frank scores without running, 5-3 Texas. Inglett now in for Macdonald bases still loaded. New pitcher, Wes Littleton. Inglett grounds to 1B, Broussard now playing at 1B, throws ball into LF, two runs score. What an error. Texas has committed 17 errors this season. This game is tied and inning not over with runners at second and third with one down, big inning and chance to steal one from Texas here ? Eckstein grounds to 2B, throw home gets Scutaro, Hill grounds to 3B, gets Inglett at 2B. What a wasted opportunity here Jays but game is all tied up.

Top 9th. Oh man. Another pitcher B.J. Ryan in non save situation, sixth pitcher. Hamilton walks, Bradley walks, Blalock flies to shallow centre, Wells great sliding catch to save BJ. Broussard strikes out on three pitches, Murphy flies to Wells. Good inning BJ. Now up to the bats.
Bottom 9th: The big bats…… 5-5 can they steal this one? Littleton still pitching. Rios flies to CF, Wells bounces to 2B, and Thomas ??? lines one at Littleton, recovers ball and throws him out at 1B. This is not good at all from the big bats.

Top 10th: Guess what, another pitcher number seven tonight. This time Wolfe, only one left now in bullpen, bats had better come through quickly. Laird flies to Wells, Kinsler flies to Inglett in LF Catalanotto lines to Hill, great diving play by Aaron. Good neat inning by Wolfe. The bullpen have come through tonight.
Bottom 10th: Can the Jays do it this time ? Littleton still pitching ???? Washington has different philosophy from Gibbons obviously. Zaun grounds to 1B, Overbay singles to LF, Scutaro hit and run on executes perfectly. Overbay to 3B, Scutaro at 1B, two on, one out and runner at 3B… Inglett tries squeeze play, fouls it off. Inglett grounds to SS, Kinsler unassisted double play. We are going to 11.

Top 11th: Wolfe still pitching. Young singles to CF, Hamilton ground rule double into LF, trouble bigtime, runners at 2B and 3B no one out. Bradley intentional walk. Gibbons goes to the bullpen for Jesse Carlson, the eighth pitcher used tonight and now the bullpen is empty. Carlson the poor guy from AAA two weeks ago has the bases loaded and no outs. He has to limit the damage here but it is asking a lot from him. Melhuse at bat, strikes out on three pitches, wow, great stuff Jesse. Byrd pinch hitting for Broussard, strikes out !!! two down for Jesse. Can he do it ? Murphy at bat, Jesse strikes him out amd the side with bases loaded. That is unbelievable. Give this guy the key to the city. Talk about pressure on a newbie.
Bottom 11th: Top of the Jays order. German pitching. Eckstein grounds to 3B, and beats out the throw, great hustle David, Hill bunts Eckstein to 2B, runner in scoring position for the big (expensive contracts ) bats. Rios grounds to SS, Two down, someone says Jays are 1-13 with runners in scoring position, seems like 1-1000 tonight, Wells at bat, surely he can come through…. Flies to RF. Pathetic.

Top 12th: Big question now will Gibbons be pitching himself ? No he is leaving Carlson in, poor guy. Laird grounds to Overbay, Kinsler flies to Wells, Catalanotto grounds to Overbay. Carlson is amazing. Where has he been ???????? but he is saving Jays and Gibbons face tonight and giving them chances to win this thing.
Bottom 12th: Ggerman still pitching. Big Frank at bat… Flies to RF, pathetic at bat, Zaun singles to CF, Overbay strikes out Zaun moves to 2B and inscoiring position, Scutaro walks on four pitches. Inglett strikes out.

Top13th: Carlson in for his third inning. Too much to expect this guy to do. Young doubles to LF, Hamilton flies to CF, Young tags and is at 3B with one down, Bradley intentional walk, Melhuse strikes out. Carlson is at 37 pitches. Byrd intentional walk, bases loaded. More pressure on Carlson. Murphy grounds to 1B. What more can we say about Jesse Carlson ? Just an incredible performance tonight.
Bottom 13th: Top of order again for Jays. Nippert now pitching. Eckstein pops up behind 1B, Hill firs pitch ! swinging ?????? grounds to 3B, terrible at bat Aaron, Rios singles to RF, Wells ??? flies out to LF. The smell in the Rogers Center is the Jays batting tonight.

Top 14th: A.J.Burnett pitching. Gibbons strategies have finally backfired on him, he has no one left in bullpen and has gone to Sunday’s starter. Recipe for disaster. He has used nine pitchers tonight and is praying out loud that Halladay can give him lots of innings tomorrow. Laird singles to LF, Kinsler strikes out, Catalanotto doubles down right field line, runners on 2B and 3B, Young groiunds to SS, throw home rundown gets lead runner. Hamilton at bat wild pitch scores Catalanotto, 6-5. Hamilton double to LF, runs scores 7-5 Texas. Bradley walks, Melhuse strikes out. This game is done.
Bottom 14th: Wilson the closer now in. Thomas the saviour at bat, HA! First pitch swing, good for Frank, pops up to SS, garbage Frank and you know it. Zaun pops to 1B, Overbay grounds to 2B.

It is now Thursday morning and there is no one left in Rogers Center to watch this awful performance.
Texas wins 7-5 and apart from the pitching, Carlson in particular, Hill and Scutaro the rest should follow Gibbons into the nearest hole.