Bats at last and superb Marcum win this one.

Wednesday May 7th 2008. Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto. Second game of series

So many people and media have been commenting on Rays and how surprised they are beating the Jays this season 4-0 to date. Losing to the Rays is terrible etc etc. Wise up friends, this Rays team is NOT the doormat Devil Rays of old. They have been for real since Day 1 of the season and in fact as we have said here many times since the First inning Game 1 Day 1 of Spring training when Pena and Crawford had that double steal. Joe Maddon has given these young guys the confidence and swagger to achieve.They returned the favours by easily winning the Grapefruit League. Maddon said at the time he wanted that winning spirit to carry on and it has. Speed, aggression, confidence has been supported by the swagger that only a young side can bring.

With the old dogs like Hinske supporting the youth with now seven HRs the rest of the East had better wise up and understand this team.

Interesting footnote to illustrate this point. Jays have had 29 different lineups already. Rays have had basically same one since Spring. Maddon had this team ready Day 1.

Jays win this one going away 6-2 with all six runs in last two innings.

The very good: Marcum on his own, Great game. Eight 2/3 innings, one out from his first complete shutout.
The good: Eighth inning… some bats and hits and five yes five runs. Great throw by Alex to get Navarro at 2B, great defence from Rolen.
The bad: Bats again……. Early in game but wake up in time.
The very bad: Alex Rios in capital letters. I'm sorry but this guy has a $65 million contract. Jays are not getting anything like that from his bat. He really needs dynamite behind his bat. His at bat in the ninth after five runs have scored was awful.

Lind back to AAA today. Good news re Eckstein and Johnny Mac injuries, not as severe as first thought and should be back earlier than projected last night.

Lineups;
Rays: Iwamura, Crawford, Upton, Pena, Longoria, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Bartlett and Matt Garza pitching.
Toronto: Rios, Stewart, Rolen, Stairs, Wells, Overbay, Hill, Barajas, Scutaro and Shaun Marcum pitching

Top 1st: Iwamura grounds out. Crawford grounds to Overbay two down. Upton strikes out. Ten pitches. Good start.
Bottom 1st: Matt Garza pitching, Rios grounds to SS. Stewart same as Rios grounds to Bartlett at SS. Rolen doubles to LF corner over 3B bag. Nice hit. Two down though, come on Matt, 3-0 count, walks him on four pitches. Wells now, come on Vernon two on for you, big one. Ball two, strike one, three and one, grounds out to 2B. Not good Vernon, pitch before was the one down the middle.

Top 2nd: Pena strikes out. And four strike outs last night. Longoria strikes out on (very) low pitch. Hinske seven HR’s this is ridiculous, Wells has four ! . Marcum strikes him out. LOUD cheers for Hinske from biased crowd there. But also for Marcum as he strikes out the side.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay strikes out, Hill, fly ball to Crawford in shallow center left. Barajas fly ball to Upton in CF.

Top 3rd: Navarro double to RF but Alex gets him at second, great throw Alex. Perfect. Gross at bat. Strikes out. Two down. Bartlett fly ball to right Hill backpedalling takes it in front of Rios. That was Alex’s ball Aaron. We don’t need more injuries.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro singles to CF. Rios at bat, should be fired up now Alex with that great throw top of inning. Singles to RF, that’s the way. Scutaro to 2B. Stewart chopper to 3B, moves both runners over Stewar ouyt at 1B. Two in scoring position now for big bats. Rolen fly ball to shallow RF, Gross, no way for Scutaro to score. Stairs turn. Horrible… first pitch pop up to 2B. That was ugly Matt and Scott. When oh when are these guys going to break out with six run inning ?

Top 4th: Iwamura grounds to Hill. Crawford bounces to Marcum flips it to Overbay, Upton grounds first pitch to Rolen. Another good inning by Marcum but he needs RUNS to win.
Bottom 4th: Wells, off end of bat rolls up third base safe at 1B. Overbay, great hard long fly ball to LF wall, just missed base hits. Hill high pop up to 3B. Barajas fly ball to LF. Four left on base tonight so far. Ugly.

Top 5th: Pena another strike out 6 -6 now, Longoria first pitch pop to Marcum, Hinske first pitch fly ball to LF. Six pitch inning for Marcum, he will take it. BUT Jays bats, where are you ?
Bottom 5th: Scutaro long fly ball to CF, all of these bats are getting it close, but close is not enough. Rios now if he can get hold of one, only three HRs this season. Walks him. Stewart grounds to SS, double play.
WHERE is the aggressive play, steal, hit and run ??? anything from the dugout would be better than this tiring, listless, pathetic batting performance. Shake them up Gibbons bigtime. There is NO energy out there. They are missing Eckstein and Johnny Mac.

Top 6th: Marcum 59 pitches Garza 73 pitches in first five innings. BUT I hope this will not be another wasted great outing. Navarro grounds to 1B. Gross grounds to Overbay. Bartlett lines to Rios in RF.
Bottom 6th: Well here we have it, big bats….what can they do this inning? How about back to back to back dingers ? Dream on. Rolen pops up to Navarro. Stairs strikes out. Wells grounds to 3B. Awful.

Top 7th: Iwamura long fly ball great over the shoulder catch by Vernon at the wall 400’ mark. Crawford strikes out. Upton walks him first one tonight. Pena , Pena steals first pitch. No surprise from this team. Problem for Rays tonight is that they have only had two on base. Pena grounds to Hill. Leaves runner at 2B.
Bottom 7th: Marcum 70 pitches after seven. Garza 85 pitches after six. Jays fans have to pray much harder to get these bats going. Overbay has had two narrow misses last two evenings, one off the wall and one at the wall, he may be close ??? walks, well better than a strike out. Hill please don’t bunt… goes to bunt but pitch is over his head… bunts again and Longoria gets Overbay at 2B, what a waste of at bat. Hill at 1B but one down this time. Barajas hit and run on, but pitch inside and could not get it out there, now a single to LF, Hill to 2B. Two on one out for Scutaro. Garza 104 pitches, this will be his last inning maybe last batter if he doesn’t get him. Scutaro lines to LF, Hill scores but Barajas hung up between 2B and 3B and tagged out in run down. 1-0 Jays. Maddon is out of dugout and so is Garza. Scott Dohmann pitching. Two down with Scutaro moved to 2B whilst Barajas was hung up. Rios at bat strikes out without even offering. Alex you are in it deep. What more can we say about his bat? But at least prayers must have worked this inning.

Top 8th: Marcum still in there Longoria at bat. Strikes him out, his eighth for the night. Hinske at bat full count, strikes him out. Navarro grounds to Rolen. Great pitching by Marcum. 98 pitches and nine strikeouts . Ryan warming up in bullpen.
Bottom 8th: Big bats or are they paper tigers? Need to put this one away for Marcum. Stewart 3-0, walks him on four pitches, good start. Rolen 2-0, six balls in a row, this one is coming down the middle Scott, and he did, Scott agrees and is waiting for it, doesn’t miss this giveaway. HR to right centre, 3-0 Jays. Stairs at bat no outs. New pitcher ex- Jay Trever Miller, Stairs strikes out. Wells 3-0, takes strike, walks him. Overbay at bat, now Lyle perfect time for you. Full count. Doubles down the line to RF, nice at bat Lyle. Wells to 3B. Hill at bat. Maddon out again. New pitcher Jason Hammel. Eight hits for Jays now but it would be very nice for a base hit right here from Aaron to break this one open. Don’t be a hero Aaron base hit will be fine and there she is… single to LF scores Vernon, 4-0 Jays.That felt good for Aaron.
Barajas at bat. Overbay at 3B Hill at 1B. Barajas single to RF scores Overbay, 5-0 Jays. Whoa what is this ????? hits and runs ??? keep em coming guys. Scutaro at bat full count singles to RF, Hill scores 6-0 Jays… YEAH!
Now Alex my man….. can you do it ??? Barajas at 2B, Scutaro at 1B. that was right down the middle Alex, strike two, I don’t believe it… weak ground ball to SS DOUBLE PLAY Alex …. Should have taken that previous chance

But good news, here comes Marcum to try for complete game…

Top 9th: Marcum on 98 pitches. Gross grounds to Rolen, throws from his knees he gets him ay 1B, great play. Bartlett bullet to Rolen, gets him at 1B two down. Crowd on their feet Iwamura singles down LF line, Crawford bounces one to Hill, no chance to get either runner. Speed kills…. Upton, doubles over head of Wells, two runs score 6-2 Jays. That’s it for Shaun, standing ovation for Marcum. Pena at bat Downs pitching. Pena strikes out again.

Jays win 5-2 on 11 hits and superb pitching yet again.

More good news. Baltimore has already lost in ten so Jays go above them.
Bats are awake, pitching super and our SS may be back earlier. All is right in Toronto.
Oh and Leafs clean coaching house. Surprise, surprise.