Burnettt ten strikeouts in 3-1 loss and Jays revert to April form.

Toronto v Oakland. Tuesday May 27th 2008. Start of nine game road trip.

Jays have a tough road trip to face but are playing well right now so have the confidence. Let’s see what happens.
Tonight, Hinske (Rays) has already homered and did yesterday ten home runs already this season ? What is going on this season? Rays at least are happy he is with them. Yankees are having tough time with the Orioles and Texas is giving the Rays a hard time also. But Jays have to look after themselves and win this one.

Lineups: Jays: Stewart Hill, Rios, Rolen, Barajas, Mench, Overbay ,Scutaro , Eckstein,and Burnett pitching.
A’s: Hannahan, Crosby, Cust, Thomas, Sweeney, Brown, Ellis, Barton, Suzuki and Smith pitching.

Result: Oakland 3 - Toronto 1.

The good: Nothing much here by Jays at least. Burnett ten strikeouts. Eckstein a good return two singles.
The bad: Hitting throughout the game. Leaving men on base when they did get hits. Free swinging and generally reverting back to the old way again.
The (very) bad: Third inning with two on and no outs and three fly ball outs to RF. Jays left ten on base and were a horrible 1/9 with runners in scoring position. You can’t do that with a team as good as Oakland.

The game: Top 1st: Smith pitching. Stewart lead off fly ball to Sweeney at CF. Hill walks four pitches. Rios now fouls out to Ellis. Rolen at bat fly ball to Cust. 20 pitches for Smith
Bottom 1st: Hannahan, grounds out to Eckstein. Crosby grounds to Eckstein again but throw dropped by Overbay. Error on Lyle. One on. Cust at bat runner Crosby going but Cust strikes out. Thomas at bat full count strikes him out. Not this time Frank. That felt good Lyle didn’t it?

Top 2nd: Barajas at bat high pop up to Hannahan at 3B. Mench grounds to SS Crosby. Two down. Overbay grounds to 1B Barton. Three up and down.
Bottom 2nd: Ryan Sweeney at bat, strikes him out, wicked pitch from AJ. dropped vertically over the plate. Brown singles to RF Mench. Mark Ellis at bat, Brown is stealing, throw hits Brown’s foot and bounces into shallow LF Eckstein scrambles to get ball but throw just too late. Run scores 1-0 A’s. Error on Barajas. Ellis now walks. Barton singles to RF. Two on. Suzuki at bat, watch the double steal friends. Not this at bat. Strikes him out, Suzuki doesn’t like that. Hannahan strikes him out, another wicked pitch. But pitch count high now for Burnett 46 pitches. I don’t think this game will be a complete game for AJ.

Top 3rd: Scutaro lines one into LF off Crosby’s glove. Eckstein singles to LF. Nice to see Eckstein back and contributing. Stewart at bat, two on, no outs. Fly ball to Brown in RF Scutaro cannot move up. Hill the same play to RF and still Scutaro cannot advance. Rios now exactly the same play, that is awful. Two on no outs and they could not bring one in. Bottom 3rd: Crosby strikes out. Six strikeouts now for Burnett. Cust at bat. Strikes out. Thomas again a double for Frank to left centre. Sweeney singles to RF. Frank to 3B. Two on, two down. You can’t let Frank score here. Brown at bat, fly ball to Mench. Frank you had all that exercise for nothing. 60 pitches for Burnett. Much better even with the hits. Seven strike outs for AJ.

Top 4th: Rolen at bat. High fly ball to CF. One down. Barajas at bat strikes out. Mench at bat lines it into CF. Overbay now. Come on Lyle we need a double here. First pitch swinging no Lyle. Pops up to SS. Not his best at bat. 66 pitches for Smith.
Bottom 4th: Ellis pops up to Overbay in foul ground. Barton grounds first pitch to Hill. Two down. Suzuki walks on four pitches. Hannahan doubles into right centre Suzuki scores. 2-0 A’s. Crosby singles up the middle, Hannahan scores 3-0 A’s. Cust at bat. Crosby stealing. Late throw no chance. Strikes him out. Number eight but Burnett would prefer no runs. 80 pitches. He had first two out in seven pitches.

Top 5th: Jays need to get back in this one before it is out of sight. Scutaro at bat pops up to Barton in foul ground. So much space here in foul ground. Eckstein at bat now. Fly ball to Brown in RF. Stewart grounds out to Hannahan at 3B. No contest here tonight by Jays, at least not yet.
Bottom 5th: No Frank here. Mike Sweeney pinch hitting here. All that running for Frank in the 3rd did him in. Sweeney strikes out. Number nine strikeouts tonight for AJ. Ryan Sweeney now ground ball to Overbay at 1B for a change here. Two quick outs again. Brown at bat. Finish him off here AJ. Grounds to Eckstein. Three up and down here. 89 pitches though. May have two innings max left in him.

Top 6th: Hill now at bat, need to get something going here Aaron. Full count here. Grounds out to Crosby at SS. Alex now 0-2 needs something here. Single here to shallow RF. Will he be stealing here? Rolen now singles nicely to LF. Two on one out. Barajas strikes out. Mench now fly ball to CF.
Bottom 6th: Burnett still in there but this could be his last inning. Mark Ellis at bat pops it up to Hill shallow right. Barton now strikes him out, very nice curve ball. Just like that vertical pitch earlier. Suzuki full count here. Singles into RF. That’s it for AJ. Captain Hook out there. AJ had ten strikeouts but that one bad 4th inning “did him in” tonight. 108 pitches. Tallet now pitching. Hannahan at bat. Suzuki going but Barajas gets him easily at 2B. Great throw. Tallet still hasn’t thrown a pitch. See ya next inning.

Top 7th: Overbay strikes out. Scutaro lines it back at Smith, drops it and throws Scutaro out. Eckstein singles to RF. 2-3 tonight. That’s it for Smith 107 pitches. Embree facing Stewart pops up to Ellis. Not a great at bat by Shannon.
Bottom 7th: Tallet pitching Hannahan completing his at bat from last inning. Strikes him out looking. Crosby at bat, pops up to Mench in very shallow RF. Nice job there Kevin. Two down. Cust walks. That’s it for Tallet. Now Shawn Camp. Rajm Davis pinch running for Cust. Mike Sweeney at bat grounds out to Rolen.

Top 8th: Big bats now for Jays need something. Hill first pitch swinging, high fly ball to RF good catch by Mike Sweeney now in RF. Rios now, nice single up the middle Alex. Rolen now with one on, will Alex run now ? Smith has gone with that great pickoff although Embree is still left hander. Scott patient here giving Alex time here to go. Full count, and now walks. Two on. Barajas at bat. Lines one into RF. Sweeney good catch. How many outs now in RF tonight by Jays???? Now Mench, come on Kevin justify your contract here. Yes he does. Single into LF Alex scores here. 3-1 now. Overbay at bat. Rolen at 2B. Need a double here Lyle. Horrible at bat. Swings weakly at last two strikes.
Bottom 8th: Benitez now pitching, we haven’t seen him for a long time. Ryan Sweeney fly ball excellent sliding catch in LF by Scutaro. Brown at bat strikes out. Ellis now at bat first pitch high fly ball to RF.

Top 9th: Last chance for Jays but they will have to get through Huston Street to do it. Eleven saves so far. Jays have outhit A’s tonight. Scutaro nice hit to left centre but Davis runs it down saves a double there. Jays have hit it hard tonight but A’s have played some good defence. Eckstein at bat, great at bat by Eckstein. Fouling pitch after pitch now walks. Stairs now at bat. Pinch hitting for Stewart. Golfs this one to RF. Two down now. Hill at bat Eckstein takes 2B defensive indifference. Aaron free swinging tonight and strikes out here. A’s win this one 3-1but Jays were flat and never looked like winning this one.

Footnotes: Only 10,000 attendance tonight, Jays are not a great draw and have not convinced many to drive out to see them tomorrow either.
Yankees lose in eleven innings to Baltimore and Texas wallop the Rays 12-6.