Halladay and Vernon win this one. Ryan and Downs save it.

Sunday June 8th,2008. Series finale. Baltimore v Toronto.

Baltimore looking to sweep Toronto at home in Toronto and to move further ahead of them. Toronto looking to win one and send Baltimore back below them. This game should be a good one.

Halladay v Radhames Liz

Lineups: Baltimore: Roberts, Markakis, Mora, Huff, Millar, Scott, Hernandez, Payton, Bynum and Radhames Liz pitching.
Toronto: Rios, Stairs, Rolen, Wells, Overbay, Wilkerson, Barajas, Scutaro, McDonald and Halladay pitching.
I don’t like this order. One, Rios is awful right now. Two, Eckstein you know will take a few pitches and show the hitters behind him what pitcher is doing. Then followed by Stairs ??? a cleanup guy. And the Rolen ? Who is batting behind Vernon to give him protection ? Should be one of these three.

Result: Jays win one 5-4.
The very good: Halladay followed by bullpen of Downs and save number thirteen for Ryan. Vernon gets a mention on his own for three more hits today HR and two singles.
The good: The bottom two thirds of the order from Wells onwards. Hitting, situational excellence and lots of good thinking.
The very bad: I want Alex Rios to do well and get his head straight, but when he is a klutz as he was today he needs to be brought up fast by Gibbons. His batting is bad enough but his steal today when he has the big bats behind him was foolish and cost Jays at least one run as it turned out. He has oodles of talent but no thinking behind his actions sometimes.

Top 1st: Roberts strikes out. Markakis at bat , grounds out to Scutaro at 2B. Mora now hit by Halladay pitch. Huff fly ball to Rios. 12 pitches for Halladay, we need this today.
Bottom 1st: Rios leading off fly ball out to RF. Stairs at bat grounds out to 3B. Rolen horrible swing at strike out pitch.

Top 2nd: Millar at bat, pops up for Barajas, one down. Luke Scott connects on this one high fly ball just inside RF foul pole. 1-0 Orioles. Hernandez at bat strikes out on three pitches. Payton at bat two down fly ball to Wells in left centre. 27 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Vernon nice reception first pitch singles to CF. I hope Rios is watching this guy. Stay back and drives it to centre. Problem is there are no bats behind him. Overbay now at bat strikes out weak half swing. Barajas at bat, grounds to 1B. Wells at 2B. Two down. Wilkerson at bat. Full count, good at bat for Rod. Walks. Scutaro at bat, two on, two down. Singles to RF. Wells scores, Wilkerson at 3B. 2-1 Jays. Scutario stealing and so is Wilkerson, double steal here and Wilkerson stealing home. Scores. 2-2 Jays. McDonald fly ball to Scott in LF. Liz 43 pitches.

Top 3rd: Bynum infield single to 1B. Roberts singles to RF, Bynum at 2B. Two on no outs. Markakis pops up to Macdonald. Mora at bat. Singles up the middle Macdonald trying for double play but doesn’t dive to save run. Could have had that one. Bynum scores 2-2. Roberts at 3B. Huff with two on, strikes out on curve ball. Millar at bat strikes out. 44 pitches for Halladay.
Bottom 3rd: Rios leading off again. Needs to get his head together and start hitting. Singles past SS glove into LF. Now don’t get caught stealing. Stairs at bat. Well once again Rios thrown out at 2B. There goes the runner on base for Stairs. And there goes Stairs walking. That would be two on and no outs for the big bats. Rios should be sent to AAA. And please don’t tell me he is being aggressive. Foolhardy and lack of judgement is far more apt here.Has been caught five times this year so far. Rolen now fly ball out to LF, that would have moved Rios to 3B. Vernon now first pitch swing again and another single two on and two outs and don’t tell me. That would have been third run but for Rios. Overbay now with two outs. 60 pitches now for Liz. Full count now to Overbay walks him bases loaded. Two outs instead of one out but for Rios’ idiocy. Barajas at bat pops up and leaves them all on. 65 pitch count.

Top 4th: Scott grounds out to Overbay. One down. Hernandez at bat grounds to Macdonald. Payton trying bunt. Now pops one up, Barajas great one handed catch at the screen, actually behind ! the screen, great catch Rod. 57 pitches. Payton thrown out of game for arguing previous strike. Adam Jones in.
Bottom 4th: Wilkerson another big pop up to catcher. Scutaro at bat hits this one hard but lines out to LF. McDonald. 80 pitch count.

Top 5th: Bynum strikes out. Roberts at bat singles up the middle. One on one down. Markakis at bat. That’s more like it, grounds first pitch up the middle Johnny Mc special flips to Scutaro and on to 1B. 66 pitches, just what the Doc wanted. Two for one. And only 66 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Rios leads off for third time today. A thoughtful at bat here, first pitch swing into CF. One down. Gibbons has to do something with Rios now. Put him down the order at number eight is my suggestion or bench him and have Wilkerson in RF with Mench in LF. It will never happen. Stairs here strikes out. Rolen at bat. Lines out hard here to CF. Three up and down. 90 pitches. Easy inning for Liz. One pitch strike outs do that for a pitcher.

Top 6th: Mora at bat grounds ball and shattered bat to Rolen, one down. Huff fouls one off his knee and now hit on foot, not his day, painful way to get on base. Millar high pop up to Overbay. Two down. Luke Scott again first pitch, this one has gone deep right centre and two runs score. 4-2 Orioles. Scott has Halladay’s number. Hernandez doubles to wall in CF, over head of Wells. Jones at bat now for Payton who was thrown out of game earlier. Strikes out. 84 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Wells at bat. Matt Albers now pitching. Vernon is 4-5 since his return. Change that. 5-6. Connects with this one. HR to LF. Is he seeing the ball well? Rios take note. 4-3 Orioles. Overbay now full count on Lyle. Walks him for Barajas now. YES Rod….. doubles this one to LF. Overbay scores. 4-4. Still no outs. Wilkerson fly ball to CF. Barajas moves to 3B. Wilkerson is a thinking player, I like him. Scutaro now at bat, lots of options to bring in Barajas from 3B. That should do it Marco, sac fly ball to CF, Barajas scores. Just like that this game is changed. 5-4 Jays. Johnny Mc fly ball out to CF. Great execution by the bats at the bottom of order.

Top 7th: Roy needs a quick inning here to get into the eighth. Bynum fly ball to RF. One down. Roberts at bat singles up the middle. Roberts running but Markakis fly ball to Rios in RF. Two down. Mora at bat. Downs up in the bullpen. Fly ball to Wells in CF. We might yet see Roy in the eighth. 92 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Guess who is leading off. Rios again for third time leadoff today. How often do you see that? Can he do something this time? Get on base and leave the rest to the big bats behind him. Lance Cormier now pitching. Strikes out. Stairs now at bat, one down. Grounds this one very hard to 1B Millar off the bag dives for this one and saves a single. Two down for Rolen 0-3 today, pop up to RF. 0-4. Not a good day for Scott today and Jays are gone just like that. Not much time for Halladay to catch a breather this time.

Top 8th: Hallladay still in there. Huff at bat grounds out to Scutaro. One down. Millar at bat, strikes out. Scott now at bat, will Halladay face him ? No, Captain Hook out there and Downs coming in, percentage play here for Gibbons. Two down. Halladay 100 pitches no walks and seven strikeouts. Full count. Pops up to Rolen. Big question, does BJ come in 9th? Or does Down start? I would go with latter.
Bottom 8th: Guess who is leading off here ? Vernon yet again. Says a lot about the three in front of him today twelve at bats, one hit and one walk. Hmmmm! Ryan is now up in bullpen. Vernon strikes out here. Overbay at bat. Strikes out. Barajas first pitch swinging doubles to LF corner. His second of the day. Intentional walk now to Wilkerson. Scutaro will just love that. Two on two down. Marco connects but lines it to RF.

Top 9th: Yes here comes BJ Ryan. Hang on here. Bottom third of the order for the Orioles. Hernandez at bat. Grounds out to Rolen another Rolen special to throw him out easily. Jones at bat strikes him out, great pitch. Two down now BJ. Quiroz pinch hitting for Bynum. Grounds ball to Rolen, takes his time and throws him out. This game is over. Halladay wins, Ryan save number 13. Vernon has a great day.

Seattle now in for three tomorrow after their game today in Boston. Boston winning 2-1 in the seventh.
Yankees winning 6-3 in the eighth. And Rays yet to start. But Jays have to look after themselves on this homestand and win a few.