Sunday May 25. 2008.

Sunday May 25th 2008. Toronto v Kansas Game 3 of 4.

McGowan v Meche should be interesting today. Gil Meche was the pitcher the Jays were bidding on in off-season. McGowan has a tough job this afternoon not just following Litsch and Halladay complete games but also keeping his pitch count down and reducing the number of walks which of course go together. McGowan is due for a good win today.

Result: Jays win 3-1.

The very good: Fielding and bullpen this afternoon
The good: McGowan. I won’t say very good as I think he was rescued by his defence today specifically Stewart and Rios. Alex’s throw in 4th saves a run. But seven strike outs and NO walks today. BJ Ryan save number 11. Stewart and Barajas now have ten game hit streaks.
The not so good: Offence.

Lineups: Kansas: DeJesus, German, Gordon, Guillen, Butler, Buck, Gload, Pena, Gathright and Meche pitching.
Jays: Stewart, Hill, Rios, Rolen, Stairs, Overbay, Scutaro, Wilkerson, Barajas, and McGowan pitching. I was right yesterday about Barajas replacing Zaun. I think it should be for several games just to give him an extended shot as I don’t think Zaun is playing well at all.

The game: Top 1st: DeJesus fly ball to Stewart in LF. German singles to CF. One on and there goes the no-hitter. Gordon follows with single to CF. McGowan not fooling anyone. Could be result of his only pitch so far has been fastball. Two on, one out. Guillen strikes out. Butler grounds out to Hill. McGowan off the hook but high pitch count already.
Bottom 1st: Stewart infield single to SS. perfectly place between pitcher, 3B and SS. Hill grounds out to Gordon at 3B. Hill out at 1B but Stewart in scoring position at 2B for Rios and Rolen. Alex strikes out, head in sky again. Rolen now with two down, doubles to CF that’s more like it. Stewart scores easily 1-0 Jays. Rolen on 2B. Stairs now back from three days off with stiff neck. Fly ball to DeJesus in LF gut Jays are leading this one.

Top 2nd: Buck singles to LF. McGowan still throwing fast balls. It seems as if the first 25 pitches have all been 93-95mph fast balls. Royals are just sitting back waiting. Dustin has to mix this up. Gload grounds to Overbay get lead runner Buck but he has prevents double play by hard slide into 2B. Pena at bat, there goes Gload but great throw by Barajas to catch Gload at 2B. Pena strikes out. McGowan still with high pitch count, he will not be throwing complete game tonight.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay walks on full count and there is a new team record of 13 consecutive on bases by Lyle, beating Tony Fernandez record of 12 set in 1999. Lyle has an on base percentage of 400 plus. 13 in a row helps. Scutaro now at bat, fly ball to Gathright in CF. Wilkerson strikes out. Barajas grounds to Pena, throw gets Overbay at 2B.

Top 3rd: Gathright strikes out. DeJesus fouls out to Barajas. German strikes out. McGowan now using offspeed pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Stewart fly ball to Gload in RF. Hill grounds to Gordon. Rios walks to get on base. You still get the feeling Alex is not happy at bat. Rolen at bat, long fly ball to Gathright in CF. Nice catch.

Top 4th: Gordon strikes out. Guillen double to RF. Butler singles to CF, Guillen to 3B but coming home. Rios charging ball and perfect throw as Barajas blocks plate and Guillen is out. Buck fly ball to Stewart in LF. That would have been Royals run if Alex had now thrown Guillen out previous play. But then again time the Jays had some luck.
Bottom 4th: Stairs grounds to Pena. Overbay at bat, can he make it 14 in a row? No, fly ball to DeJesus in foul territory. Scutaro strikes out.

Top 5th: Gload singles to RF. Pena bunts to 1B and beats out play, Hill was at 1B but Overbay doesn't lift his head as he fields ball. Gload to 2B. Gathright at bat now also bunting. Third attempt gets it right, perfect bunt to Scutaro. Bases loaded and no outs, McGowan in deep trouble here. DeJesus sac fly to Stewart, Gload scores but Shannon perfect throw to 3B to get Pena. Great double play. 1-1. Gathright in scoring position at 2B. German at bat. His average is back over .100. Strikes out though. McGowan escapes this one bigtime, bases loaded an no outs he only gives up one run. Thank you Shannon.
Bottom 5th: Wilkerson great leadoff double into LF corner. That’s the way to respond to the Royals run. Barajas now singles to LF, Wilkerson to 3B. Stewart now at bat grounds to Pena at SS but cannot get runner Wilkerson at plate but get Barajas at 2B. 2-1 Jays. Hill at bat, strikes out. Alex now at bat, Stewart running and steals easily. Alex strikes out. What can one say? My forecast is that Alex will burst out in second half of season this year. Coinciding with Wells return. Right now Jays are managing to win games without the big three of Rios, Wells and Thomas. How things change so quickly in baseball.

Top 6th: Gordon strikes out. Guillen grounds out to Rolen. Butler fly ball to CF. McGowan much better and appears to be settling down and reducing that pitch count. Meantime Meche is almost done with pitch count near 100.
Bottom 6th: Rolen fly ball to Gload in RF. Scott has hit ball hard tonight with not much success though. Strange how he can hit like this and yet Alex is all at sea. It will come. Stairs now grounds to 2B and beats out throw. Nice hustle by Matt. Overbay fly ball to Gathright, his record is now forgotten with two successive outs by Lyle. Scutaro fly ball to Gload. Meche is way over hundred pitches now but must be gutting it out as Kansas bullpen has been abused in both earlier games. Jays on the other hand have had luxury of two complete games by Halladay and Litsch and McGowan still pitching into the 7th here. This is the time when lights go out with Carlson, Downs and BJ Ryan.

Top 7th: Still McGowan. Buck singles to CF. Gload grounds to Scutaro double play ball here. Gload and Buck are out. Pena at bat grounds out to Overbay. MCgowan still only 90 pitches. Will he come out in 8th? What a remarkable groups of starters for the last three games.
Bottom 7th: Meche has gone, he pitches well but had no run support. Does that not sound familiar at Rogers Centre? Ramirez now pitching. Wilkerson strikes out. Barajas singles to LF. His second hit of afternoon. Plus throwing out runner Goad in 2nd. Sorry Gregg. Stewart now singles to LF, two on with Barajas at 2B. Hill grounds out to Gordin at 3B gets Stewart at 2B but Barajas moves to 3B. Alex now, YES indeed, great timing Alex, a single to CF, Barajas scores and Hill moves to 2B. 3-1 Jays. Alex is VERY happy. Nunez now pitching. Rolen at bat. Grounds to SS Rios out at 2B. But valuable run has scored.

Top 8th: Well we didn’t see Captain Hook but McGowan is finished and Downs now pitching. Too bad Gibbons didn’t leave McGowan out there for one batter and then give him well deserved ovation from fans here. By the way it looks as if the walk up-crowd today is huge, judging from where the stands are sold out. The gaps are in the season ticket holders seats. Inglett now in defensively for Stewart in LF. Gathright bunting again…. This time Overbay gets him without any help. DeJesus grounds to Overbay. Two down. German singles to CF. Come on Scott, this guy has an average just over .100. Gordon at bat, the tying run. Fly ball to Inglett in LF. Table is set for you know who in the 9th.
Bottom 8th: Jimmy Gobble pitching. Mench pinch-hitting for Stairs hits a bullet to Gordon who cannot handle it and now throws it away into the TD seats. Extra base for Mench. Error to Gordon but that ball was scorched by Mench. When Wells returns Gibbons will have two great bats in Mench and Wilkerson off the bench. Mench at 2B for Overbay, strikes out. His on-base streak is a receding memory. Scutaro lines out to Gordon, Marco hitless today. Wilkerson strikes out. Leadoff Mench is left at 2B. Let’s hope Jays don’t regret this inning.

Top 9th: Here he is BJ Ryan. The flames are a burning around the scoreboards. The crowd loves it. Some already on their feet behind me. Guillen strikes out. The crowd really does not need the scoreboard to tell them to make noise. Butler grounds out to Scutaro. Most are on their feet now. Buck one strike, everyone is on their feet, Buck strikes out. Jays win 3-1.

Four in a row and two games over .500 and going after Tampa for second spot.

What they said:
Gibbons on McGowan and his walks in last games. "Walks generally come back to haunt you, they put you in a tough position, they use up pitches. He's going to walk some guys. When you get those kind of arms, sometimes that happens. (But) he looked much better. He has been in a little bit of a rut. Today was a boost for him."
McGowan on Jays defence "They played great behind me," Rios throwing a runner out at home was big, and (Stewart) throwing a runner out at third was also big. That was really nice. That's the play of the game".
Overbay on his team record reaching base on twelve successive at bats."That's just I think a lot of luck more than anything. We got the win, that's all that matters... I'll look back, but I'll probably forget about it." (Sure Lyle if you say so, but an base percentage of .400 is not luck.)

Meche on giving up second run after Royals had tied up game. "We tied it up and I turned around and gave it right back to them. Those are situations where you've just got to take control and make sure you get us back in the dugout, keep the momentum in our hands."
Royals Manager Hellman on seven game losing streak. "These are tough, hard times. These guys are frustrated - we're all frustrated. I'm trying everything I know to try." Hellman on Rios throw to plate "Rios did what he has the athleticism to do. He came and got it, quick release and it was a perfect throw."

Hellman on Stewart’s throw to 3B. "That's the best throw I've ever seen Shannon Stewart make," "If I was coaching third base or running at second base, I would have done exactly the same things we did today.

Hellman on aggressive play. "You can't get out of the funk we're in right now being careful. It just doesn't happen that way. You've got to be aggressive and you've got to try to make some things happen."

Butler on losing streak. "We're going through a rough part as a team. We're just not getting the luck, you know? We're getting hits, we're just not getting the big one, something to get us going. That's what happens when you struggle. You can't find something to get you going."
Rios on win streak. "We've managed to put everything together and we're playing good baseball right now."

Good news: Wolfe has started rehab at Dunedin.