Three in a row and great pitching continues.

Saturday May 3, 2008 Jays v White Sox.

Jays have been settling down for the last four games anchored by great pitching. Bats are starting to wake, still long way to go but you can see the confidence coming back. This is a big game for Litsch and Jays with Halladay tomorrow would be good to get a win today.

The very good: Jesse Litsch almost eight innings of great pitching. 24 scoreless inings by starters. Jays patience at bat wore Danks down with so many full counts to get him out of game in fifth.
The good: Scutaro HR. Defence, Overbay catch in 6th to save a run and double. Wells double in 6th to score two and three rbis and 3-5 for the game. Downs to hold and B.J.Ryan for save.
The bad: Leaving two in scoring position in the 4th with only 1 out. Bases loaded in 5th and 6th and scoreless before Wells can bring them in. Hill out at 3B in 6th when two runs have scored.
Very bad: Eighth inning runner at 3B with no outs and no score.

Lineups
Chicago: Swisher,Cabrera ,Thome, Konerko, Dye, Pierzynsky, Quinton, Crede, Ozuna and Danks pitching.
Jays: Rios, Eckstein, Wells, Stairs, Stewart, Overbay, Barajas , Scutaro and Litsch pitching. Rolen day off today. I don’t agree with this day off, Scott is in a groove and has not had more than ten days. Wait until he cools off and then give him day off. But this is Gibbons way.

The game:
Top 1st: Swisher, grounds to Overbay at 1B. Cabrera, pops up to Hill, Thome grounds out to Hill.
Bottom 1st: Danks pitching Rios grounds to Ozuna at 2B, ? Eckstein doubles to LF, Hill lines to Ozuna, two down. Wells singles to RF, Eckstein scores 1-0. I told you, Vernon is in a groove now. Stairs at bat. Strikes out but Danks pitch count high at 25 pitches.

Top 2nd: Konerko fly ball to Stewart, Dye at bat, fly ball to Wells in CF, Pierzynsky at bat strikes out. Good quick inning for Jesse.
Bottom 2nd: Stewart at bat, fly ball to shallow right Dye, Overbay, Danks was the guy who broke his hand in 2007, not hitting but great on base percentage to date, strikes out on full count, Barajas lines to 1B.

Top 3rd: Quentin, grounds to Scutaro in for Rolen today. Crede fly ball to Rios in RF. Ozuna playing today for Uribe, bunt but back to Litsch. Another good quick inning for Jesse, and keeps his pitch count low. Nine up and down in three innings.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro, WOW…. HR to second deck LF, he really caught that one, 2-0 Jays. 1st home run as Blue Jay. Not bad for number 9 guy. Evidently his second career HR off Danks. Ahah that might be another reason to give Rolen day off. My apologies to Captain Gibbons.
OK, Alex if number 9 can do it you can. Rios grounds to 3B, Eckstein singles up the middle after eight or nine pitches, Hill at bat now overdue, full count, strikes out. Wells fouling them off running up pitch count. Danks now 64 pitches compared to Jesse 28 pitches, full count, strikes out on ball four. Jays four hits two runs.

Top 4th: Swisher strikes out. Cabrera lines catch to Scutaro, Thome shift right on, grounds to Hill behind Overbay at 1B. Another three up, three down for Litsch. Twelve in a row to date.
Bottom 4th: Stairs, grounds to Konerko at 1B, Stewart, singles up the middle, Overbay full count, Overbay grounds to Cabrera throw to 2B does not catch ball goes to foul ground at 1B, Stewart to 3B and Overbay on to 2B. Error 1B. 80 pitches. Barajas two in scoring position, fly ball to shallow centre, Stewart holds. Two down. Scutaro grounds to SS. Jays leave two more. Base hit there could have been the game.

Top 5th: Konerko single to RF, first hit of Jesse. Dye, strikes out. Pierzynsky grounds to 1B, gets Dye at 2B but not Pierzynsky, two down. Quentin at bat grounds to Scutaro at 3B gets lead runner at 2B.
Bottom 5th: Rios at bat, Danks now at 90 pitches this could be his last inning, full count, Rios strikes out, Eckstein grounds to SS. Hill, now Aaron it’s time, singles to RF. Wells time for HR Vernon, singles to CF, that’s ok. Keep the hits coming Vernon. Stairs, full count, walks him. Bases loaded friends. Stewart now at bat. First walk this season for Danks. That’s it. Ozzie Guillen out there for Wasserman. Stewart fly ball to LF, where was that last inning? This time no good with two outs. Jays leave three more on base.

Top 6th Crede double of LF wall, Ozuna sac bunt moves Crede to 3B, one down. Swisher now at bat lines great hit to Overbay leaps to get it above his head, great catch, runner stays at 3B two down. Cabrera grounds to 3B. That’s it. Nice work.
Bottom 6th: New pitcher Octavio Dotel. Overbay, strikes out. Barajas walks him, good at bat by Barajas, Scutaro hit up high his hand, two on. Rios at bat, 0-3 today. Barajas now at 2B, single to RF, Barajas held at 3B, bases loaded again. Now Eckstein, strikes out. Hill chops it to Crede drops ball and Barajas scores, 3-0 Jays bases still loaded. Error Crede. Wells singles up the middle, Scutaro scores, Rios scores, Hill NO… out at 3B. Man. 5-0 Jays. And more important I think Vernon is back. Without the error but it’s about time Jays had some luck. Remember last week, the Eckstein drop ball, Wells in CF.

Top 7th: Thome high fly ball to Wells, Konerko fly ball to Stewart, two down, Dye, HR to second deck LF, 5-1. That is the first run in 25 !!! innings. against Jays. Not bad at all. Pierzynsky at bat, grounds to Hill. Jesse takes it at 1B. 5-1 Jays. 73 pitches for Jesse in7 innings. Excellent.
Bottom 7th: Boone Logan pitching. Stairs fly ball to Swisher at CF. Stewart at bat, same play to Swisher. Overbay single to LF and that was the smooth swing that we have been waiting for from Lyle. Barajas same hit single to LF. Guillen out there again. Gibbons brother. This is the fifth pitcher for Chicago today. Using up that bullpen. Good news for the next two games if bats can smoke. Scott Linebrink. Scutaro at bat. Grounds off the glove of Linebrink, Scutaro out.

Top 8th: Litsch still in there. Quentin at bat. HR to CF, his eighth of season. 5-2 Jays. Crede grounds to SS. Ozuna loops hit to shallow RF. Swisher at bat but Captain Hook is out there. Litsch gets well deserved standing ovation. Downs in for top of order. Makes sense when bullpen is rested after last four great games from starters. Full count, strike out. Nice pitching Scott. Cabrera grounds to Eckstein gets Ozuna at 2B.
Bottom 8th: Top of the order. Would be good to get a couple more here. Camp is warming up in bullpen. Rios very hard hit double to LF wall, nice hit Alex. Eckstein wild pitch as Eckstein squares for bunt, Rios to 3B. No that was a steal. Crede moved in for the bunt and Rios took off. Foul ground pop up to 1B. Hill now to make up for running error in sixth inning. Full count. Walks Hill. Wells now 3-4 today. Full count pops up to 2B. Ouch Vernon….. Stairs strikes out. That was NOT good. Runner at 3B with no outs and no score. Not quite there yet bats.

Top 9th: Not Camp but B.J. Ryan. Thome at bat. Strikes him out. Konerko singles to CF, Dye fly ball to gap in R centre but Alex runs it down, saved a run there, two down. Pierzynsky at bat, strikes out. This game is over. 5-2 Jays. Litsch win second in a row, Ryan's fourth save.

Jays now three in a row, bats have started to come around. This could have been huge score if those left on base had come in, but we quibble friends. Take this one.
Tomorrow Halladay. Let's keep this string going.