Great pitching and good win for Jays.

Thursday May 1, 2008. Jays v Boston. Final game of the series.

Jays win this one BIG. 3-0. Shut out Boston. Burnett win. Save #3 by B.J.Ryan.

The very good: AJ Burnett, give him the credit here, Hill’s spectacular catch in the 4th to get Moss and double play. Rios HR.
The good: Wells defence, Rolen now six game hit streak, BJ save, Carlson getting Ortiz.
The bad: NOTHING at all tonight apart from that balk call by 2B umpire. I don’t blame Eckstein and the wall. How many times has he played at Fenway? I don’t believe he will make that mistake again.

Lineups: Toronto. Rios, Eckstein, Rolen, Wells, Stairs, Hill, Stewart, Barajas, Scutaro. Burnett pitching.
Boston: Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Ramirez, Lowell, Moss, Crisp, Lowrie, Cash. Wakefield pitching.

The game:

Top 1st: Wakefield pitching Rios grounds to 3B, Eckstein walks on four pitches, Rolen grounds to SS double play. Not a good start.
Bottom 1st: Pedroia strikes out on three pitches, Youkilis, full count, walks, Ortiz fly ball out to LF first pitch, Ramirez strikes out. Good first inning for Burnett, gets the big guys.

Top 2nd: Stairs, grounds to 1B, Wells hit on arm, one way to get on base for Vernon, Hill, walks on four pitches, two on, one out, Stewart at bat, grounds to 3B, get Hill at 2B Stewart safe, Wells to 3B, Barajas, a chance here for Jays to get going. Fly ball to CF Crisp. Leave two on.
Bottom 2nd: Lowell, double to right centre, Moss, fly ball to CF nice catch by Vernon running to his right and quick throw back to infield saves Lowell from advancing. Crisp fly ball to RF Rios, two down Lowell to 3B, that play by Vernon just saved a run. You don’t see these things in the stats. Lowrie at bat lines out to Eckstein. Nice catch. Boston’s turn to not bring in the lead-off double for a change.

Top 3rd: Scutaro fly ball to shallow centre nice catch by Crisp, Rios first pitch swing single to shallow centre, Eckstein Rios steals no throw, couldn’t get it out of glove, fly ball to shallow RF no chance for Alex to get to 3B, Rolen, single to R, Alex SCORES !!!! Nice hitting Scott, 1-0 Toronto. Stairs pops up to Cash.
Bottom 3rd: Cash walks, come on AJ you have the lead, don’t give it back. Pedroia fly ball to Rios in RF one down. Youkilis, grounds to SS, double play, Scutaro gets ball in dirt. AJ is off the hook. So important to not give back the run, Jays have done it so many times this road trip. Another positive, every little helps with the fragile psyches….

Top 4th: Wells, come on Vernon, everyone wants you to break this 1-22. Strong hit to LF and Ramirez. Not this time but Vernon has been hitting hard this series. Hill back to Wakefield, two down. Stewart single to LF, Barajas, Stewart stealing, Cash throw into centre field, Shannon on to 3B, error on Cash. Barajas walks, two on. Scutaro, Wakefield 60 pitches. Walks on four pitches to load bases for Alex… Hey Alex how about it? Long hard shot to LF, Ramirez jumps, makes great catch,that could have easily been over his head. But that’s the way it has been for Jays. Encouraging sign though to get the bases loaded, its starting friends….. Both Vernon and Alex good strong hits.
Bottom 4th: AJ has to hold it here now. Ortiz single to RF, Ramirez walks, two on no outs, this is NOT what you want AJ. Now Lowell at bat, shallow left to Stewart, one down, Moss at bat. Lines at Hill for spectacular catch and steps on 2B for double play. WOWEEE. Not only a run saver but double play. Is the tide turning folks ? That would give huge boost to team.

Top 5th: Eckstein drops blooper into right between two players, lead off double great start here, Rolen at bat, hits him on shoulder, two on no outs, Stairs ay bat, NOW Matt you are overdue…… crowd definitely quiet, just foul down right field line, off the wall in LF, Eckstein in run down, out . Rolen moves to 3B on the run down, Wells first pitch swing fly ball to LF to bring Rolen in, 2-0 Jays. Confusion probably with being unfamiliar with wall for Eckstein and Rolen. Eckstein should have been off and running when it is on the wall. Hill first pitch fly ball to Ramirez. Jays 2-0 but could have been more.
Bottom 5th: Crisp, lines back at Burnett, gets Crisp. Lowrie, grounds to Hill, two down, for Cash walks him on full count, fourth walk, 73 pitches. A J. Fly ball to Rios.

Top 6th: Stewart fly ball out to shallow CF, Barajas grounds to 3B, Scutaro first pitch ground to SS. Not a great at bat by Scutaro. Wakefield has been struggling, that was much too easy for him. Make him work for it guys.
Bottom 6th: Big inning here for AJ. Big bats coming up. Youkilis grounds out to Rolen, Ortiz with shift on right, full count, single to RF,through the shift, HARD hit ball. Ramirez at bat, Burnett now at 91 pitches, this could be your last inning AJ, walks him just like 4th inning, Ortiz and Ramirez on. Lowell, fly out to Stewart, again just like 4th inning. Two outs. Moss strikes out.
Top 7th: Rios, there she GOES, HR, Alex over the wall in RF, second row, Manny watches it go. 3-0 Jays. Eckstein grounds to SS. Rolen, pops it into RF: Stairs high fly ball, just misses foul pole, fly ball to CF. 97 pitches for Wakefield, 99 for Burnett. Jays lead this one 3-0. Keep it going friends. This is Fenway.
Bottom 7th: Burnett still in there, Crisp at bat, Overbay at 1B, strikes out, Lowrie fly ball to Rios right centre, two down, Cash strikes out. Great inning by Burnett.

Top 8th: Jays need more runs. 3-0 not enough here with the big guys still to come in 8th for Boston. Wells at bat, Aardsma now pitching, this one hit hard by Vernon but out in CF. Vernon has been hitting hard and well but right at fielders. BUT a lot better than his pop ups. His timing is much better. Hill in his own mini slump, gets this one, great hit off top of the wall, just misses over the wall, long double, his first base hit at Fenway this week. Stewart also overdue, I guess everyone is, grounds to SS, Hill to 3B, two down. Barajas first pitch grounds out to 3B. Leaves Hill at 3B.
Bottom 8th: Top of the order, Burnett still in there, Pedroia fly ball to Wells, Youkilis first pitch fly ball to left field, keeps AJ.s pitch count low BUT here comes Captain Hook. Hmmmm… Seen this scenario before with AJ last game. Bottom line though three great starts by Halladay, McGowan and Burnett. I still maintain that Jays have the best rotation in American League. If only the bats can give them help. Jesse Carlson….pitching to Ortiz. Fly ball to Rios ends this inning. Must be tough for a rookie to pitch in this situation against Ortiz. Another good point however is that bottom of 9th with Manny at bat leads off inning so a HR will hurt Jays less than runners on.

Top 9th: Javier Lopez pitching, Overbay at bat, came in defensively top of inning for Scutaro, singles to LF, Rios again, single to CF for Alex, 3-5 tonight, Eckstein bunt ??? No, hit and run, Eckstein misses it, both runners going, Overbay out at 3B, Alex at 2B, grounds to 1B, Rios to 3B. Two down, Rolen at bat. Here comes Francona. Ex-Jay Mike Timlin now pitching. Grounds out to 2B. leaving Rios at 3B. Jays nine hits tonight.
Bottom 9th: B.J.Ryan now pitching. Starts with Manny Ramirez. Power v Power. Strikes him out, but not without big pitch count, Lowell, fly ball to left centre, Wells gets it. Moss walks, Crisp, fly ball to Rios, Oh No!! ????? This is so WEIRD. Call is balk called on Ryan by 2B umpire before fly ball. Gibbons out there to argue, ejected. What more can go wrong. Crisp still at bat, second life. Moss to 2B. Single to LF Crisp, two on. Lowrie at bat, strikes out. NOW it is over. Great pitching again all round.

You could feel this one was going Jays way tonight. I think from my notes the bottom of 4th inning, the spectacular catch by Hill to make the double play. This to me was the big boost for Toronto. Could have been at least one run for Boston. And after bases loaded in top of inning. From then on gradual confidence in the hits all round. Even Vernon hit very hard just inches away each time. He is close. The little things by Vernon on defence saving the run in bottom of 2B. Rolen keeps his streak going. Overbay single.

Summary: 0-1, 1-2, 3-0. Says it all. These were two big hitting clubs, Boston at home, but Jays outscore Boston 4 runs to 3 in the three games. AND I would also say that they outpitched them with three outstanding performances from Halladay, McGowan and Burnett. This could have been a sweep by Toronto.