O.K. Frank K.O. Boston

Sunday April 6, 2008.

Jays v Boston series closer. Beckett v Halladay classic, maybe ?

Jays win 7-4. Frank the hero... yeah.... Red Sox Nation in deep mourning and excuse mode. Jays go for the killer punch. Red Sox have ace Beckett rested and ready to go. No "three country travel" excuse Josh.

The very good. Frank and Frank again you have it all to yourself today and deservedly so for your grand slam knockout punch.
The good: Halladay as usual but needed run support today. He would not be pleased with the Boston home runs. Johnny Mac highlight reel fielding. Scutaro finds a way to get on base. Wells HR. Rios' maturing patience which I think is noteworthy. Clutch hitting by Frank, Hill and Wells.

Lineups: Jays: Stewart, Hill, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Scutaro, Barajas, Macdonald and Halladay pitching.
Boston: Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Drew, Varitek, Ellsbury, Lugo and Beckett pitching.

Top of 1st: Good lead off at bat by Pedroia, really makes Halladay work for out maybe 12 pitches ? before grounder to Johnny Mac in for day off Eckstein. Great backhand stop by Mac but Pedroia just safe at 1B.
Bottom of 1st: Stewart chopper to 3B, under Lowell's glove and Shannon safe at 1B, error to Lowell. Hill grounds to SS double play, Rios doubles down LF line, Alex is in the groove this week, Wells flies to CF.

Tope of 2nd: Ramirez strikes out, Lowell pops up to Barajas, Drew single to CF, Varitek grounds out to Johnny Mac in the middle.
Bottom of 2nd: Thomas flies to shallow RF, Overbay strikes out, Scutaro strikes out. Jays bats much too tentative, looking at third strikes, need to go after Beckett.

Top of 3rd: Ellsbury HR to RF. Lugo grounds to SS, Pedroia liner to LF, two down, Youkilis walks, Ortiz on a .87 average, chopper to SS. Some will suffer later. Boston 1- Jays 0.
Bottom of 3rd: Barajas lines to Pedroia, nice catch, Macdonald walks, Stewart strikes out, Hill first pitch swinging pops up not a smart at bat with a guy on. Beckett benefiting from poor hitting judgement by Jays hitters.

Top of 4th: Ramirez pops up to SS, Lowell pops up to Hill shallow LF, Drew strikes out. Nice ten pitch Halladay inning.
Bottom of 4th: Rios walks. He appears to me to be far more patient and selective at the plate this week, Wells connects, a two run home run to LF. Beckett to me appears to be tiring. Thomas almost back to back HR's but flies to LF off the tip of his bat, if he had hit it properly it would still be well on its way to Fenway Park.Overbay strikes out with pitch in the dirt. Scutaro grounds to SS Lugo bobbles ball Scutaro safe at 1B, error to Lugo. Barajas increases pitch count for Beckett but strikes out.

Top of 5th: Varitek HR to CF, 2-2 game. Ellsbury grounds to 1B, Lugo chops back to Halladay, Pedroia groiunds to 1B.
Bottom of 5th: Macdonald strikes out but almost beats throw, Stewart grounds to 3B, two down. Hill single over Lugo to CF, Rios at bat, Hill steals, his first of the season but Scutaro 3 and Rios 1 have already stolen this week, so different from 2007 and good to see this year. Rios walks, again a very patient at bat, two on two down. Wells walks, Beckett now up to 91 pitches. He is tierd. Thomas at bat with two out and bases loaded. Francona out to pull Beckett. Delcarmen in. Come on Frank. 1st pitch HR to CF, grand slam all with two outs and no one on base. 6-2 Jays. Frank's second HR in two days. Overbay strikes out.
What is that mass of red leaving the stadium ? Red Sox Nation bleeding badly. This could be seven in a row in Toronto. and two consecutive sweeps...

Top of 6th: Finally Halladay has some run support. Youkilis pops up first pitch, we surrender ? Ortiz strikes out, Ramirez doubles to CF, Lowell strikes out.
Bottom of 6th: Aardsma pitching, day off to tomorrow so Francona can abuse his sad bullpen.
Scutaro in-field single. another throwing error by Lugo. Barajas strikes out, Johnny Mac with hit and run but Mac fouls pitch off.. and then strikes out, Stewart walks, two on two out, Hill rbi double up the middle off Lugo's glove, poor guy he will have nightmares about this game, if he can sleep. Scutaro scores 7-2. Stewart at 3B, Hill at 2B. More blood. Rios with a double two walks and 2 runs so far, pops up to Lugo.
7-2 Jays and the Boston planes can leave early tonight.

Top of 7th: Coats in for Stewart at LF, seems to be the pattern. Drew first pitch swinging, does he want to go home early? but then HR, 7-3. Varitek strikes out, Halladay six strikeouts, Ellsbury grounds to Hill and Lugo fly ball to Coats. Halladay has given up 6 hits but only three runs, all HRs, fortunately with no one on.7-3.
Bottom of 7th: Okajima pitching, Wells grounds to SS Wells safe on Lugo's throw in the dirt at 1B. Third error for Lugo. He definitely wants to go home now. Thomas double play ball to SS, Frank has 8 rbis this week... not bad at all.
Overbay already with three strikeouts but avoids fourth by grounding to 1B.

Top of 8th: Halladay still out there. Predoia first pitch swinging grounding through the hole between short and second, OH MY !!!!!!!! What an incredible play by Johnny Mac. Out of this world. Running to left and diving for ball, up and throwing as he is falling again to get Pedroia, bang bang play at 1B. What a play even for Johnny Mac, and this is his first start of the season.
Youkilis at bat, more drama, lines to shallow centre and Johnny Mac goes for it way out of his area, collides with Wells ! neither see each other, ball drops form Mac's glove. This was Wells ball, Jonnny Mac shouldn't even be in that area, Hill was even closer and also converged. Wells and Mac go down hard with Youkilis all the way round to 3B.
My theory is that Johnny Mac was too pumped with adrenalin after previous play, he would have pulled off an even greater play than previous one if Wells had left it. But bottom line this was Wells ball. Ortiz now singles to LF Youkilis scores 7-4... too close Jays... this is Boston remember.
Ramirez at bat, one on one out.... overdue for a big one and Halladay is well over 100 pitches... Manny grounds to 3B, double play ... 35,000 cheer.
Halladay is finished 107 pitches. This guy is a horse.

Bottom of 8th: Papelbon of course to get some excercise. He hasn't been seen this weekend.... Scutaro no base hit but has been on base twice courtesy of his friend Lugo and two errors. Strikes out. Barajas strikes out, Johnny Mac strikes out. Bottom of the order Papelbon, don't get too excited.

Top of 9th: Accardo in again. Two saves this week already Papelbon... Lowell grounds to Johnny Mac, reaches on throw to 1B. Drew pops up to SS, Varitek singles to CF, Lowell up to 3B.
Two on, one down, tying run at plate to keep Boston fans glued to TV. Ellsbury home run hero, strikes out this time. Goat Lugo has his big chance to get the key to the city of Boston... fly ball to Vernon. Game over. Jays win 7-4. Closer than the score suggests but an all-important W in the column and moves the consecutive winning streak to 7.

Boston 4 runs on 10 hits and 4 errors.
Jays 7 runs on 5 hits and 0 errors.

Out hit but you have to have guys on base to score more runs...... Jays will definitely take this one and the series and earn the day off at golf course tomorrow.