Pitching perfection ends

Oakland v Jays Tuesday April 8,2008

Jays lose a slugfest 9-8 but it was the pitching that was the problem tonight with meltdown for first time this season.

The good: Wells and Thomas with home runs, Hill contuining torrid pace of .400 plus, with home run and 4-4 night, Wolfe pitching and the ability of Jays bats to fight back.
The bad: Bullpen of Tallet and Accardo and Stairs two double plays.
The very bad: Burnett. Awful game. Totally out of this one and did nothing to shake his reputation of inconsistency and a .500 pitcher at best.

Lineups: Oakland. Buck, Ellis, Barton, (Mike) Sweeney, Cust, Crosby, Hannahn, Suzuki, (Ryan) Sweeney, Gaudin pitching for Harden
Jays: Eckstein, Stairs, Rios, Wells, Thomas, Overbay, Hill, Scutaro, Zaun and Burnett pitching.

Top of 1st: Buck 1-20 this season, pops up to Zaun, now 1-21. Ellis grounds to 3B, Barton singles to CF. Mike Sweeney doubles to LF run scores, Cust grounds out to Hill. Oakland 1-0
Bottom of 1st: Gaudin pitching for Harden still injured. Eckstein grounds to SS, Stairs singles up the middle, Rios on base percentage .520 already this season, singles to LF, two on. Wells HR to CF, 3 runs score. Thomas pops up in front of 1B dugout, 2 down. Overbay singles to LF, Hill singles up the middle. Scutaro flies to CF, 3-1 Jays but could have been much worse for Gaudin. Very good sign of Jays cashing in with runners on.

Top of 2nd: Crosby singles to RF. Hannahan walks, Suzuki at bat wild pitch runners move to second and third base. Burnett is all over the shop tonight. Suzuki grounds to SS, Crosby scores 3-2. Ryan Sweeney doubles to RF. Hannahan scores 3-3. Suzuki at 3B. Buck doubles to RF 4-3. Great time for Buck to break out of that 1-21 streak ! Burnett should have put him away.

This is beginning to illustrate exactly what Halladay talked about in Spring training. Some of the Jays can get fired up for Boston and Yankees but not against the sub .500 teams. Burnett right now is pitching like it. Throwing away the 3-1 lead the bats gave him in the first. Ellis now triples ! to CF, 5-3 Oakland. Barton sac fly to LF, Ellis scores 6-3 Oakland. Sweeney grounds to ss. Oakland score 5 runs and without a home run. Garbage inning by Burnett. One he wants to forget fast.
Bottom of 2nd: Zaun fly to LF one down, Eckstein grounds to SS but safe at 1B, diving under the tag. Stairs grounds to 2B, double play.

Top of 3rd: Burnett still pitching…. Cust grounds to 1B, Crosby grounds to SS, two quick outs. Hannahan singles to CF, Suzuki singles to RF, why oh why is Burnett still in there? Ryan Sweeney grounds to 1B. Eight hits in two innings already for Oakland.
Bottom of 3rd: Heart of the Jays order. Rios strikes out. Wells strikes out. Thomas strikes out. I can't blame them, they must be sick of Burnett tonight. Gaudin now pitching very well also.

Top of 4th: Buck grounds to 2B, Ellis another double to LF, Barton strikes out, Mike Sweeney pops up to Rios.
Bottom of 4th: Overbay singles to CF, Hill two run home run to LF. 6-5 Oakland. Scutaro walks, Zaun at bat, Gaudin throws to 1B wild throw and Scutaro gets on 2B without a steal, error to Gaudin. Zaun grounds to 1B and Scutaro moves to 3B. That would probably have been another double play without the wild throw. Infield is in to save run, Eckstein lines shot off glove at SS, Scutaro scores, This game is tied again 6-6. Stairs at bat, one down Eckstein on. Grounds to 2B into his second double play of game. Game is tied 6-6.

Top of 5th. Cust grounds to 2B, Crosby grounds to SS two down, Hannahan walks, Burnett is incapable of getting 1,2,3 inning. Suzuki singles to RF. That is it for Burnett, none too soon for the fans and his teammates. Get your head in the game next time AJ.
Tallet pitching has been 100% so far this season without a run scored or hit against. Ryan Sweeney at bat and grounds to 1B, leaving two on and saving Burnett from further disaster tonight.
Bottom of 5th: Andrew Browne now pitching for Oakland. Rios, Wells and Thomas again… Rios lines out to RF, Wells pops up to 2B, Thomas fly ball to F. Ouch. Nothing going right for these three.

Top of 6th: Tallet still pitching. Buck breaks bat with single to RF, his second hit tonight after his drought, also the first hit off Tallet this season, Ellis pops out to Hill, Barton walks, Sweeney walks. Bases now loaded. Tallet has caught whatever Burnett had and is definitely off tonight.
Cust grounds to 1B, Overbay gets runner at 2B, run scores, 7-6 Oakland. Eckstein throws back to Tallet covering 1B for double play and throws behind him, another runs scores. This is a comedy of errors but not funny.
New pitcher Wolfe with score 8-6 Oakland, two out with runner on 1B, Crosby flies to LF. Oakland eight runs on eleven hits. Jays have to fight back yet again.
Bottom of 6th: Overbay strikes out, Hill another single, 3-3 tonight. Scutaro flies to LF two down, Zaun dribbles to SS. I think Jays bats are now shellshocked.

Top of 7th: Hannahan strikes out. Suzuki grounds to SS, two down. Ryan Sweeney strikes out. First 1,2,3 inning for Jays. Nice effort by Wolfe. But is it too much to get bats to comeback for third time.
Bottom of 7th: Keith Foulke pitching. Eckstein flies to CF, Stairs with two double plays, grounds to 2B for the third time tonight. Rios grounds to SS. No rally here.

Top of 8th: League pitching. His first outing of this season. Buck grounds to 1B, Ellis lines to Scutaro, great catch, Barton walks, League is throwing 94-97 mph. Mike Sweeney walks on four pitches, Cust lines to Stairs in LF. League still rusty.
Bottom of 8th: Embree now pitching. Wells lead-off double off CF wall, just missing going out. Thomas two run HR to CF. YES. Frank’s third home run of the season and very timely to tie this one up at 8-8. Still no outs. Overbay strikes out . Hill batting 3-3 tonight, another single to CF 4-4 night. This guy is earning his big salary so far this year. Scutaro flies to CF, Stewart pinch hitting for Zaun, grounds to SS. The story of the Jays tonight although they have tied it up. Can they hold it?

Top of 9th: Accardo ? pitching. I guess to hold Oakland for win in bottom of 9th ? Barajas catching for Zaun. Crosby grounds to 1B, one down Jeremy. Hannahan strikes out, two down. Suzuki singles up the middle . This is not good. Ryan Sweeney triple ! to RF past Rios to the wall, Suzuki scores. 9-8 Oakland. Buck pops up to 2B. Leaving Sweeney at 3B. could have been a lot worse for Accardo but he is loser of record right now. Can the bats come back yet again and make him a winner?
Bottom of 9th: Embree still pitching but no, only warming up to enable Huston Street to finish warm up. I guess Oakland was not anticipating save situation. Top of the batting order for Jays. Eckstein grounds to SS, one down. Stairs grounds to 2B yet again fourth time tonight, he will want to forget his night tonight. Rios walks, good eye Alex and good patience again. Wells strikes out.

Game over. Oakland win. Definitely one to forget for the pitching apart from Wolfe and perhaps League. The bats definitely did their role, several times, but as Yogi Berra would say you can only go to the well so many times. It will be interesting to hear Burnett's excuses tomorrow but it definitely looked as if he was mentally out of the game from the first inning.