Aj and BJ win this one with big hits from Stairs and Rolen.

Friday June 13, 2008. Game 1 between Chicago Cubs and Toronto.

Burnett v Sean Gallagher.

Jays would really like to get a good start here and forget the last two series. Get this one and give themselves a chance with Halladay pitching to win this series. Easier said than done. This is the best team in the majors. Almost 20 above .500. That is something for Jays fans to dream about.

Lineups: Cubs: Theriot, Hoffpauir, Lee, Ramirez, Fukodome, Soto, Edmonds, DeRosa, Patterson, and Gallagher pitching.
Jays: Rios, Stairs, Rolen, Wells, Overbay, Barajas, Wilkerson, Inglett, Eckstein and Burnett pitching.

Result: Toronto 3-Chicago 2.

The good: Back to back HR’s by Stairs and Rolen. Bullpen holds it for Burnett after five. BJ Ryan a great inning to save it. Thirteen strikeouts for Jays pitchers tonight.
The bad: Not bringing them in scoring position. First, second, sixth and eighth innings. Burnett high pitch count in first inning meant an early departure in the fifth.

Top 1st: Theriot at bat walks him. Hoffpauir at bat. There goes Theriot, steals 2B. Burnett strikes out Hoffpauir. Derrek Lee at bat one down one on. Grounds high bouncer back to Burnett, leaps and makes great stop and throw to 3B gets Theriot. Two down. Ramirez at bat full count now singles to LF. Lee moves to 3B. Fukodome 3-1 count. Walks another. Second of the inning. Soto at bat, fly ball to Mench. Cubs do not score but Burnett throws 35 pitch inning. Not an impressive start by Burnett. He may last three innings at this rate.
Bottom 1st: Gallagher pitching Rios at bat, Alex needs something to get him going. There he goes doubles this one down the 3B line. Great start Alex. Stairs at bat. Strikes out. Rolen high fly ball to CF. Alex tags and moves to 3B. Wells now at bat had that terrible game on Wednesday, needs to make up for that disaster. Full count, fly ball to shallow left centre. Strands Alex at 3B. Déjà vu. 18 pitch inning.

Top 2nd: Edmonds at bat grounds back to Burnett on second pitch. DeRosa at bat lines to Inglett throw to 1B. Two down and quick outs. Patterson at bat strikes out on four, seven pitch inning. AJ needs that for his pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat. Strikes out weakly at high third pitch. Not a good at bat at all. Barajas 3-1 count, walks Barajas. One on one down. Wilkerson at bat fly ball out to LF. Inglett at bat, two down one on. Singles this one to LF. Barajas to 2B. Two on now. Eckstein at bat Barajas running on the play lines to CF great running catch Edmonds falling over with momentum. Saved at least one run there. 40 pitches.

Top 3rd: Theriot fly ball out shallow RF to Rios. Hoffpauir strikes out, great curve ball. Lee strikes out , number four for Burnett. 58 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Top of the order again. Alex to lead off. Another double into the LF corner his second tonight in two bats and number sixteen for the season. Stairs now. THERE SHE GOES third deck RF. That uppercut swing by Matt. All the way. 2-0 Jays. Rolen at bat and the crowd is now in the game. Seems to be big one tonight. YES YES, back to back, Scott gets hold of this one, LF corner. 3-0 Jays. First HR in a month. It seems much longer than that. Bats are alive tonight. Now Vernon. Can he ???? Grounds to 2B. Overbay at bat swings at ball four. Another weak at bat for Lyle. Barajas at bat singles this one to LF. Gallagher checking flights out of town. Wilkerson at bat two down one on. Fly ball out to CF. 66 pitches.

Top 4th: Ramirez at bat full count, strikes out. Fukodome at bat, full count, singles to LF. Soto lines out to Wilkerson in LF. Two down. Edmonds at bat gets hold of one here just misses going out in RF. Fukodome scores 3-1 Jays. Edmonds at 2B. DeRosa at bat strikes him out looking. 80 pitches though for AJ.
Bottom 4th: Can Jays bats continue? Inglett at bat 3-0 count. Full count. Walks. Eckstein at bat, fly ball to RF. Inglett holds at 1B. Alex now for third at bat with two doubles tonight, not this time, fly ball to RF. Stairs now at bat, can’t lay off that one outside for second time tonight. 83 pitches. Gallagher may only have one more inning. This game will be battle of bullpens and Cubs have a good one.

Top 5th: Burnett needs a short quick inning. Patterson strikes out on great curve. Three pitches. Number seven strike out for AJ. Theriot at bat grounds out to Overbay. Hoffpauir at bat, hits him on foot on 0-2 count. Lee another two strike count. Full count, wild pitch Hoffpauir moves to 2B. Walks him. Two on for Ramirez grounds to Eckstein. 101 pitches. Too bad as he had two quick outs and Hoffpauir 0-2Camp is up in bullpen. Good news is that they didn’t score another and gives Jays bats another chance to move further ahead.
Bottom 5th: Rolen at bat pops this one up at the plate to Soto. Wells at bat fly ball out to the CF wall. Overbay at bat, strikes out looking at pitch. 0-13 now. Not good Lyle, need to change your approach, it is not working right now.

Top 6th: Fukodome at bat singles to CF. Soto at bat 3-0 count. Fukodome running but fouls off here, full count but walks him. Two on. That’s it for AJ. 111 pitches. That first inning killed his night. Wolfe pitching with two on and no outs. Edmonds at bat, singles up the middle but hits 2B umpire, Fukodome scores but waved back to 3B. Ball is dead hitting umpire. Bases loaded. Major trouble here. DeRosa at bat no outs. Full count. Strikes him out on ball four. Patterson at bat, singles to RF. Fukodome scores 3-2 Jays. Theriot at bat bases still loaded. Grounds to Eckstein flips to Inglett on to Overbay, pitcher’s best friend here and Wolfe preserves the lead for Burnett and Jays. BUT bats have to get going. Refrain.
Bottom 6th: Here we go Barajas first pitch single to CF. Gallagher also high pitch count. Now 97. Wilkerson at bat, here comes Pinella for first time tonight. Yankees winning in Houston 1-0 inthe 4th. Baltimore losing 6-5 in Pittsburgh in sixth. Boston losing 3-1 in Cincinatti top of the eighth. Rays beating the Marlins 5-3 bottom of the sixth. Back in Toronto Neal Cotts now pitching for Cubs, inherits 1-1 count. Great bunt here for Wilkerson. Barajas to 2B. One down. Scutaro pinch hitting for Inglett and here comes Pinella again. Captain Hook’s brother? Third pitcher of the inning but who is questioning Manager of the best team in the majors? Michael Wuertz now pitching grounds to SS, two down. Barajas holds at 2B. Eckstein now at bat. Singles to shallow LF. Barajas running all the way, NO chance Rod. Not very smart whether it was your decision or that of Marty Pevey at 3B. Jays just can’t get that running home right.Either no aggresion or too agressive. But Barajas is not an Inglett or a Rios. He knows that. Percentage play again with two outs but Patterson was very shallow for Eckstein.

Top 7th: Scutaro in at 2B. Camp now pitching. Hoffpauir at bat. Strikes him out. Lee at bat. Grounds to Eckstein. Two down. Ramirez singles this one over Eckstein. Here comes Captain Hook. Jesse Carlson now pitching. Fukodome at bat strikes out. Very nice Jesse.
Bottom 7th: Boston has lost in Cincinatti. Baltimore and Tampa winning, Yankees tied up 1-1. Alex at bat, that was terrible swing Alex at ball in dirt. And another same pitch. Full count now, lay off that pitch Alex. That’s better now singles to CF. 3-4 tonight. Stairs fly ball to Patterson, one down for Rolen. Grounds to 2B double play ball.

Top 8th: Downs pitching. Needs better stuff than Wednesday game when he threw more than 30 pitches in one inning. Soto at bat, singles to LF. Marquis (pitching tomorrow) pinch running at 1B. Henry Blanco at bat for Edmonds. Strikes him out after fouling off pitch after pitch. DeRosa at bat. Full count on a great pitch. Gets him that time strike three another great curve. Cedeno for Patterson with two down. Bounces one down to Overbay. Great inning Scott.
Bottom 8th: Still nervous about one run lead for the ninth here. Jays bats need to help BJ Ryan out here this inning. I don’t think many hearts will stand a one run lead. Blanco catching for Soto, Vernon at bat. Wuertz still in there 3-0 count. Singles into LF. That’s it for Wuertz. Here comes ex-Jay Scott Eyre. One of THE best relievers in majors, has not given up a run this season. That’s challenge enough for Jays hitters. Overbay at bat. 3-0 count. Fly ball out to LF. One down for Barajas. Vernon stealing, throw gets away at 2B. Vernon in scoring position now. Pop up Theriot catch in front row of crowd in shallow LF. Wilkerson now, can he bring in Vernon? Takes third strike.

Top 9th: BJ Ryan pitching with one run lead. Orioles have won in Pittsburgh. Yankees and Rays tied games in the seventh. Johnny Mc in at SS for Eckstein. Theriot at bat strikes out. Reed Johnson pinch hitting gets standing ovation. Grounds out first pitch to Scutaro two down. Lee at bat 3-0 count. Full count. Walks him. Ramirez pops up to Barajas at the dugout steps. He was not dropping that ball. AJ gets the win, BJ gets the save. And JP is a happy guy. Jays beat the best in the majors here tonight. 3-2. Savour the moment.