Halladay wins one, Jays bats reappear and Joba is a bust.

Tuesday June 3, 2008. Toronto Blue Jays v New York Yankees.

Jays want to start this series with a win. This will not only move them up another game on New York but also get that momentum back that they had started to lose at the weekend in California. Boston and the Rays will beat each other up and enable the Jays to move IF they win this series.

Halladay 6-5, 2.93 ERA. v Chamberlain 1-2, 2.28 ERA.

Lineups: Jays: Stewart, Scutaro, Rios, Rolen, Stairs, Overbay, Barajas, Wilkerson, Eckstein and Halladay pitching
Yankees: Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Matsui, Giambi, Cano, Molina, Cabrera and Chamberlain pitching.

Result: Jays 9 - Yankees 3

The very good: Halladay although not perfect tonight and only six innings. The seventh inning by Jays hitters.
The good: Barajas two hits tonight and has really done more than enough to replace Zaun and in my book deserves to stay in there when Zaun is back. He has hit for power and also situational hits. The hitters tonight being patient and getting Chamberlain out of there in two and to get to bullpen bigtime. Nine walks. Carlson pitching the eighth. Wilkerson three hits.
The bad: Gibbons percentage play in 1st with shift for Giambi that gave up run. Rios still with his bat left five on base tonight.

The game: Top 1st: Stewart. Crowd nuts standing for Chamberlain’s first pitch. Full count now.Walks Stewart. Good at bat Shannon. Scutaro at bat. Jays are patient so far. Another full count, this is perfect. Strikes out. Rios now if ever a time to hit one out it is now Alex. .262 avge. Balk called Stewart moves up to 2B. Wild pitch now on the strike and Stewart to 3B. Rios grounds out to 2B, Stewart scores 1-0 Jays. Rolen now not a good swing here Scott, but Chamberlain up to 21 pitches. Scott singles to RF. Good for Scott. Stairs now 3-0 on Matt. Full count now walks him on high pitch. 28 pitches perfect from Jays perspective. Overbay now with two on. Come on Lyle. Full count again. 33 pitches perfect for Jays, now walks bases loaded and quietens that crowd. Barajas now. Dan Giese up in bullpen. Strikes out Barajas. Chamberlain 38 pitches.Not waht the 50,000 were expecting tonight but give credit also to Jays hitters for their patience.
Bottom 1st: Halladay pitching Damon lead off triple to right centre, not the greatest start Roy. Jeter at bat, full count. Chops it to 3B, perfect Damon has to hold. Jeter out at 1B. One down. Abreu strikes out. Two down. BUT here comes A-Rod. No… hits him on back. Not what he wanted there. Matsui at bat two on two down. First pitch singles to LF. 1-1. Rodriguez at 2B. Giambi singles it to where SS would have been without the shift. Another percentage play that backfired for Manager. That would have been easy out. Rodriguez scores 2-1 Yankees. Cano grounds back to Halladay but damage is done. 20 pitches for Halladay.

Top 2nd: Wilkerson another full count for Chamberlain. High fly ball to LF wall, Damon gets at the track. Eckstein now how many pitches will he take? Six and strikes out. Stewart now at bat. 52 pitches for Chamberlain. 3-0 to Shannon. Fly ball to RF. Three up and down but 15 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Jose Molina strikes out. Cabrera dangerous guy. Grounds first pitch to Overbay. Halladay takes out at 1B. Damon at bat, fly ball but ground rule double. Jeter full count now fly ball to Wilkerson in RF. 36 pitches for Halladay. Needs to get them down a bit.

Top 3rd: How long can Chamberlain last now? Now at 54 pitches. Scutaro fly ball to RF wall, Abreu great catch up against the wall. Rios now 3-0 count. Walks on four pitches. Will Alex be stealing here? And that’s it for Chamberlain. Out of game 62 pitches but had walked four already and many full counts. That pushes up your pitch count. But give credit to Jays game plan I would imagine that this was their strategy. Now they have to capitalize. Dan Giese first major league appearance .There goes Alex on first pitch and Molina’s poor throw goes into CF. Alex to 3B. Error to Molina. Rolen grounds to 2B but Alex scores. 2-2. Stairs now with two out. Walks him. Must be so tough for rookie to start in Yankee Stadium. Overbay that was the pitch Lyle, right down the middle, takes it for strike. Pops this one up Rodriguez catches it at the 3B wall. That was a long inning but they get Chamberlain out of game and into Yankees bullpen in the third inning and also tie up the score. Now Roy over to you.
Bottom 3rd: Abreu at bat grounds out to Overbay at 1B. Rodriguez now full count, Roy not getting that inside pitch for strike, walks him. One on one down. Matsui singles to LF. Two on one out. Giambi fly ball out to Rios in shallow CF. Cano with two down, horrible swing there Robinson pops this one up to Eckstein. 41 pitches.

Top 4th: Barajas nice at bat, doubles down to RF wall in the corner. Wilkerson singles to RF. Barajas at 3B. Eckstein now, can he keep line moving? Sac fly ball to Cabrera CF. Barajas hesitates there but safe. 3-2 Jays. Stewart at bat, hit and run on and perfect execution singles this to RF. Wilkerson to 3B. Scutaro fly ball to shallow centre, no chance for Wilkerson. Two down. Alex another chance for you. 3-0 count here. Takes this pitch right down the middle. That was the pitch. Now weak grounder to Rodriguez at 3B. Leaves two on.
Bottom 4th: Molina full count grounds to Rolen great play and throw. Cabrera grounds to Overbay two down. Dangerous Damon now. Strike zone is being squeezed for Roy tonight grounds this one up the middle but Eckstein has it and throws him out. Good inning for Halladay.

Top 5th: Can Jays add to this lead? Rolen at bat. Grounds out to Rodriguez at 3B. One down. Stairs pops this one up to 2B. Overbay now lines softly to Jeter. Three up and down this time.
Bottom 5th: Jeter at bat singles up the middle. Abreu strikes him out on three pitches great curve Roy. Rodriguez first pitch fly ball to Wilkerson in RF. 72 pitches for Halladay. Matsui full count now with Jeter at 1B. Grounds to Overbay, drops ball but recovers to throw to Halladay covering at 1B.

Top 6th: Barajas gets under this one and high fly to Damon, if that had flattened out it would still be travelling back to Toronto. Wilkerson ground rule double to CF. second hit for Wilkerson tonight. Eckstein Wilkerson stealing but thrown out at 3B. Perfect throw by Molina. Eckstein singles to RF. Ouch, that would have scored Wilkerson. Stewart grounds to Jeter and get Eckstein at 2B. Giese now has 64 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Halladay now at 88 pitches. Can he get a short inning? Giambi hit on the foot. Cano fly ball to Stewart. Molina now at bat. Perfect. Grounds back to Halladay on to 2B to get Giambi and on to 1B double play ball. Just what he needed with pitch count now over 100. Now he should be out at least to start seventh.

Top 7th: Jose Veras now pitching. Scutaro at bat. Full count now. Singles into RF. Rios another poor game with his bat full count. There you go Alex. Singles up the middle. That’s all you have to do. Scutaro at 3B. Rolen now with two on and no outs, strikes out. Girardi out to get Veras. Stairs at bat. Edwar Ramirez pitching. Stairs at bat. Walks Stairs, Overbay now with bases loaded and one down. Come on Lyle it is your turn now. 3-0 crowd muttering and booing here. Walks in the run. Yes. Four pitch walk. 4-2 Jays. Bases still loaded. Barajas now can he get hold of one? Bronx cheers for a strike. YES, YES. Barajas doubles down into LF corner, Rios and Stairs score. 6-2 Jays. Intentional walk to Wilkerson. Bases loaded again, still only one out. Eckstein at bat. Girardi out and Le Troy Hawkins pitching. Fifth pitcher for Yankees tonight. Jays have managed to get into bullpen bigtime in first game of series. Boos for Hawkins. Has not pitched well this season. Walks and high ERA. YES, YES…. Eckstein doubles into LF corner. Overbay and Barajas score. 8-2 Jays. Stewart at bat with two in scoring position and one out. Full count now to Shannon. Walks Shannon for Scutaro at bat with bases loaded again. Fourth walk this inning. Scutaro fly ball to Damon in LF Wilkerson scores. 9-2 Jays. Alex now finish them off with a dinger. Dream on. Rolls it out to 1B. Jays score six in the inning and leave two on.
Bottom 7th: Inglett in defensively for Stewart. Tallet in for Halladay. Cabrera at bat. 3-0 here come on Tallet put it in play, Cabrera walks on four pitches. Damon now full count. Walks Damon. This is not good, this New York Tallet. Jeter now grounds to Scutaro, drops it but recovers and gets Damon at 2B. One down. Abreu now with Cabrera at 3B and Jeter at 1B. Another full count. Grounds it to Scutaro Jeter out at 2B. Cabrera scores 9-3. Rodriguez at bat with Abreu at 1B. Nubber in front of plate and Barajas’ throw to 1B gets him. Tallet makes it hard work but finally does it.

Top 8th: Hawkins still pitching Rolen at bat. Rolen grounds it to Rodriguez at 3B. Stairs and Overbay are the only Jays without hit tonight. Stairs grounds out to 2B and stays hitless. Overbay now full count walks, the tenth walk tonight by Yankees pitcher but great patience by Jays hitters. Barajas two doubles two RBIs and two runs strikes out this time.
Bottom 8th: Rays have lost to Boston tonight. Baltimore winning. Jays can bring Rays back to them tonight if they hold on here. I think about 40,000 have left the stadium. Matsui at bat. Jesse Carlson in now. Fly ball to Rios in CF. One down. Duncan at bat, came in for Giambi defensively at top of the inning. Doubles this one over Rolen into LF corner. Cano fly ball to Rios is shallow centre. Molina at bat strikes him out on great pitch.

Top 9th: Chris Britton the sixth Yankees pitcher tonight. Wilkerson single and double tonight. There is another hit this time single to LF. 3-4 night. Eckstein 2-3 tonight. Strikes out this time. Inglett first at bat. Singles to RF. Wilkerson moves to 2B. Twelve hits for Jays tonight. Scutaro at bat watches that one and strikes out. Rios final chance tonight full count pops it up to 2B leave another two on.
Bottom 9th: Frasor now pitching. Cabrera with stadium almost empty. Strikes out maybe a little low but consistent with top of the inning and Jays hitters. Damon full count single to CF. Jeter at bat singles to RF. Two on now for Abreu fly ball to Inglett. Rodriguez now with two down and two on. Damon moves up to 3B. strikes him out. Jays win big tonight.