Jays hitters still missing inaction. Barajas sinks Litsch this time as Jays lose another

Sunday June 15,2008. Series finale Cubs v Jays.

Toronto desperately needs something today to forget yesterday’s fiasco and dropping further behind the rest of the division. But to date they have appeared clueless with their bats and unable to support pitching which cannot be perfect every day. They will not win any games without runs. More importantly they don’t seem to be looking like a team that can be better than .500 and 81 wins this season.

Lineups: Toronto: Rios, Scutaro, Rolen, Wells, Mench, Barajas, Wilkerson, Zaun, McDonald and Litsch pitching.
Cubs. Johnson, Fukodome, Lee, Ramirez , Edmonds, Soto, DeRosa, Hoffpauir, Theriot and Lilly pitching.

Result: Cubs win another 7-3.

The good: Have to look a long way here Zaun two run home run and he will be in lineup tomorrow. I can see why Jays prefer Zaun over Barajas now. I think also another good feature will be that Jays get out of here and on to the road. They are playing very badly at home right now and perhaps getting away from the scorn of home fans and media may help them concentrate on the actual task at hand. Hitting with runners in scoring position. I was right about dropping Eckstein today for McDonald. If a team cannot score runs, the last thing they need is a defense that gives away runs like Eckstein did yesterday and Barajas did today.

The bad: The whole team with the usual lack of production with runners in scoring position. Barajas dropped ball at home plate to start four run inning.This was like yesterday’s game with Eckstein error leading to four runs.

Top 1st: Reed Johnson in leadoff again. Johnson fly ball to RF Rios. Fukudome fly ball to CF Wells. Lee at bat, full count here and walks. Ramirez lined out to FB Wilkerson.Jesse escapes damage.
Bottom 1st: Rios grounds out, SS Theriot to 1B Hoffpauir. Scutaro fly ball to LF Johnson. Rolen fly ball to CF Edmonds.

Top 2nd: Edmonds strikes out. Soto grounds out to 3B Rolen. DeRosa pops up to 2B Scutaro.
Bottom 2nd: Wells strikes out. Mench walks. Barajas fly ball to CF Edmonds. Wilkerson strikes out.

Top 3rd: Cubs third. Hoffpauir doubles to RF. Theriot lines out to 2B Scutaro. Johnson singles to RF, Hoffpauir moves to 3B. Fukudome singles to RF, Hoffpauir scores Cubs 1-0. Johnson moves to 3B. Lee singles to RF, Johnson scores, Cubs 2-0. Fukudome moves to 2B. Ramirez fly ball out to CF Wells, Fukudome moves to 3B. Edmonds singles to CF, Fukudome scores 3-0, Lee moves to 3B. Soto fly ball out to RF Rios.

Bottom 3rd: Zaun strikes out. McDonald walks. Rios now patient at bat full count and walks., McDonald to 2B. Scutaro grounds to SS Theriot to second baseman DeRosa, McDonald mopves to 3B, Scutaro at 1B, Rios out. Rolen full count walks, two on two out.Scutaro to 2B. Wells pops out to 2B DeRosa. More chances wasted.

Top 4th: DeRosa grounds out, 3B Rolen to 1B Wilkerson. Hoffpauir fly ball out to RF Rios. Theriot grounds out, to SS McDonald.
Bottom 4th: Mench grounds out, 2B DeRosa on to 1B Hoffpauir. Barajas at bat fly ball out to LF Johnson. Wilkerson singles to CF. Zaun grounds out, to SS Theriot.

Top 5th: Litsch 68 pitches. Johnson pops up to Barajas. Fukodome strikes out. Lee grounds back to Litsch. Great three up and down inning for Jesse. Six pitches will certainly help his pitch count.
Bottom 5th: Lilly on 68 pitches. McDonald at bat. Full count. Takes strike three. Never mind Johnny Mc you are there for your glove and saving four runs. Rios huge first pitch swing, and misses, average now at .270 and 25 RBIs. Ouch. Checked swing third strike and his woes continue. He probably can’t wait until second half of season to start over. The fans certainly can’t. Scutaro at bat. Takes third strike. All three take third strike. Now is that not an inning to remember and perfect illustration of the lack of aggression by Jays hitters.

Top 6th: Ramirez at bat grounds to Rolen one down. Edmonds pops one up behind 3B Mench running in from LF makes great sliding catch two down. Soto singles to shallow CF. DeRosa grounds out to Rolen flips to 2B to get lead runner Soto. 84 pitches. Another good quick ten pitch inning by Litsch. It is the bats that need to do something.
Bottom 6th: Rolen at bat, horrible swing to ground out to 3B. That was not a good at bat by Scott. Wells 0-2 today. Singles here to SS no throw on play. Lilly at 90 pitches. Mench at bat flies one into RF seats Fuji dives into crowd over the barrier for the ball. I don’t think we see Mr Alex doing that. Full count, walks, two one down. Good at bat by Mench. That at bat may finish off Lilly. Barajas at bat there is the 100th pitch for Lllly. We need a big one Rod here, tie this game up. Big one, long fly ball but short as it lands in Johnson’s glove at the LF wall. Close but not enough. Runners also hold. Wilkerson at bat to try again for Jays but we have seen this scenario too many times grounds weakly to 2B. Lilly off the hook. Jays hitters still swinging on theirs. Any good news out there today? Yes Baltimore and Rays are losing. Small comfort.

Top 7th: Litsch on 84 pitches. Jesse has done his job just one bad inning like Halladay yesterday. Hoffpauir at bat. Pops up to Mench in shallow LF. Theriot soingle to CF. Reed Johnson doubles down the 3B line. Two on no outs. That’s it for Litsch today 90 pitches. Carlson in to try and stop the bleeding. Tough situation with runners at 2B and 3B and no outs. Fukudome at bat lines catch to Wilkerson at 1B. One down runners have to hold. Lee at bat, here comes Captain Hook. That’s it for Jesse C. One hitter. Camp now in. Percentage plays from now on in. Marlins hammering Rays 6-0. I have to find SOME good news. Lee singles into CF. Two runs score, Vernon’s throw has Johnson but Barajas drops ball. That is the third or fourth time in last few weeks drop at plate. 5-0 Cubs. Ramirez second pitch there it goes, two run Home run to left centre. 7-0 Cubs. Edmonds at bat. Two out. That dropped ball by Barajas. Edmonds doubles to left. Soto at bat fly ball out to Rios. Let’s see how these hitters take this now. Roll over and give up or fight back.
Bottom 7th: Eyre now pitching. Just the best reliever in baseball yet to give up any run this season. Zaun at bat. Zaun does his special bat throw to 3B. Ball goes the other way for strike. Full count, we need base runners gets hold of this one into second deck just foul. Walks. Great at bat Gregg. It all starts with base runners. McDonald please don’t bunt here Johnny Mc. Does not. Wild pitch ball gets away and Zaun moves to 2B, it all counts. 0-4 runners in scoring position 7 left on base so far today. Grounds this one to 2B. Zaun at 3B with only one away. What are the odds to bring him in? Not very good. Alex at bat takes strike one. Full count. Sac fly to CF Zaun scores. 7-1 Cubs. Eyre gives up his first but I don’t think Cubs are too concerned about this anemic attack today. Scutaro at bat. Two down. Scutaro singles to LF. One on for Rolen mired in his slump. Bo it is Joe Inglett pinch hitting, doubles to LF. Gibbons is a genius to pinch hit for Rolen ! I think it was the opposite, taking Rolen out as the game was out of hand. Hmmm. So much faith in one’s team. Two on. Pinella is worried ?? he is taking Eyre out. He has not seen these Jays hitters all season. Marmol now pitching to Wells with two in scoring position. 3-0 count. Right down the middle Vernon takes it. Vernon we don’t need a walk here you are our cleanup fly ball to Johnson in LF. Crowd empties the stadium rapidly.

Top 8th:Camp still in there. Scutaro in at 3B. Inglett at 2B. DeRosa grounds to Scutaro 3B throw to Wilkerson 1B. Hoffpauir singles to CF. fly ball to Rios in RF. Two down. Johnson at bat 2-4 today. Jays will be glad to see him go. Inglett in as third baseman.

Bottom 8th: Marmol still pitching Mench at bat full count. Fly ball out to CF. Barajas who started this rout with dropped ball at home plate. Grounds weakly up the middle. That’s it for Marmol, Pinella is a strange Manager, he must think Jays are going to mount an attack here on Marmol. Cotts now pitching with two down and nobody on base. Wilkerson at bat. Full count. Walks, the fightback continues. Zaun at bat he gets hold of one, into left field stand above bullpen. Two run home run. 7-3 Cubs. McDonald now at bat, two down no one on base. Strikes out.

Top 9th: Camp still pitching. Fukojome at bat grounds first pitch to McDonald at SS, Cubs want to catch their plane. Lee at bat strikes out but swinging wildly. Ramirez fly ball to Wells and that’s it. Three up and down. Cubs want out of here.
Bottom 9th: Jays need base runners lots of them. Top of the order again for Jays. Kerry Wood pitching, obviously needs the workout for a few pitches, lights out in Toronto. Rios at bat. A walk and sac fly to show for his day, along with a sinking average. Singles up the middle. Jays still alive. Scutaro at bat, 1-4 on the day. Grounds slow one to 2B Scutaro called out Gibbons in umpire’s face on this one to get thrown out. Replay shows safe. Rios at 2B. Inglett now again for Rolen. And again singles into LF. Rios at 3B. Vernon now with two on, we really need a big one here Vernon. Jays 0-6 with runners in scoring position and nine left on base today. 3-0 count. Pitch away from loading bases. Sac fly to RF scores Rios 7-4 with two out. Stairs now pinch hitting with Inglett at 1B. If Matt connects it will make this one interesting. Inglett takes 2B defensive indifference. Fly ball to LF. There goes the game. Jays try to come back but this team is much too good.