Jays win this one and the series. Litsch an excellent outing.

Thursday June 26, 2008. Series finale Toronto v Cincinnatti.

If the Jays think they can win this series they had better look hard at tonight’s pitcher for the Reds. Edinson Volquez is the Reds phenom this season. 10-2 with an ERA of 1.71, this guy is (very) good. He was the other part of that trade with Texas for Josh Hamilton who is also tearing up the league with (wait for it) 76 ! RBIs. Both teams are very happy with the trade. Would that Jays had a hitter with half that number of RBIs. Volquez also leads the majors in ERA and strikeouts 110 and not least opponents batting average of a miniscule .196 . Jays will have to make most of every opportunity tonight to score because if Volquez is on form tonight it will not be often. It will also mean sending Rios home as opposed to holding him like last night to load the bases and then failing to score.

Lineups: Cincinnati: Hairston Jr. is back from injury, Dunn, Phillips, Griffey, Votto, Keppinger, Bruce, Patterson, Bako and Volquez pitching.
Toronto: Same as last night, this is Cito managing. Shades of 92-3 when lineup never seemed to change for a whole season. Scutaro, Inglett, Rios, Wells, Stairs, Rolen, Overbay, Zaun, Lind and Litsch pitching.

Result: Jays win this one 7-1 and the series for first time in a month !

The very good: Litsch eight outstanding innings. Rolen at bat 3 RBIs.
The good: The way the bats treated Volquez. This is one of the best pitchers in the majors and Jays bats got to him early and often to take him out. He had no strikeouts tonight and this is a pitcher with 119 on the season. Good job by the bats. If only they could be more consistent. Some great defense by Rolen and also Litsch helping himself with that bullet return in the fourth. Rios still hitting confidently. Overbay also with two RBIs hit in the third to make game 5-1.This game was almost 89 minutes shorter than last night.

The bad: Nothing tonight.

The game: Top 1st: Hairston lines this one out to RF Rios. One down. Dunn at bat, fans were merciless to him last night. Strikes out here. Phillips at bat grounds out to Rolen at 3B. Three up and down. Good first inning for Jesse. 9 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro at bat. Orioles and Tampa have already won this afternoon. Orioles an impressive series win in Chicago Wrigley only the second time this season for the Cubs to lose a series. Jays are not going to get any breaks from teams above them they just have to keep on playing one game at a time and winning. Scutaro grounds out to 3B Keppinger. One down. Inglett at bat has been excellent so far. .320 average. Singles here to RF. Alex now, has been so much happier since Cito came back. Hits it hard but fly ball to LF Dunn. Wells at bat one on two down. Wells grounds to Hairston Jr. at SS. Inglett out at 2B. Wells to 1B. 15 pitch inning for Volquez. Yankees already ahead in top of their first inning in Pittsburgh.

Top 2nd: Griffey at bat. Pops up to Rolen. Good to see Griffey go quickly. Votto at bat one down strikes out. Keppinger at bat grounds out to Scutaro. Another good inning for Litsch. 19 pitches for two innings will help a great deal.
Bottom 2nd: Stairs at bat. Takes ball four here and walks. One on for Rolen now. He drills this one to LF no question. There it goes for Rolen number six on the season. That was a very sweet swing, good to see. Two run home run. Jays 2-0. Overbay at bat still no outs. One down for Zaun. High pop up to Hairston. Lind now with two down. Adam Lind has had a great week this week two home runs already and seems very comfortable this time around in the majors. He also adds big threat at the bottom of the order and no pressure on him to perform. Grounds this one to Phillips at 2B. 33 pitches.

Top 3rd: Bruce at bat grounds to Overbay, flip to Litsch to get out. One down for Patterson at bat, grounds to Inglett. Bako at bat grounds back to Litsch. Three up and down. Makes nine in a row for Jesse so far. 29 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro again, Volquez hits him on right elbow. One on for Inglett. Not swinging here 3-1 count. Scutaro going on this, throw down there but ball four. Two on no outs. Rios again at bat. 2-0 count. Grounds to Volquez throw to 2B on to 1B not in time and Inglett called safe here at 2B. All safe for bases loaded. Error on Volquez. Vernon now bases loaded grounds to SS get Rios at 2B no chance for double play Scutaro scores. 3-0 Jays. One out for Stairs now. Walks. Bases loaded again. Rolen now chance to add to that 2 RBIs. Pops up to 1B. Not good there Scott. Overbay now a chance to make up for being goat last night. Yes indeed, Lyle singles here to RF. Two score Rios and Inglett score. 5-0 Jays. Lyle must feel very good. Stairs at 3B. Zaun with two on and two down. 63 pitches.

Top 4th: Hairston grounds a bullet back to Litsch great play by Jesse, throw to Overbay to get him. One down. Dunn now doubles to RF. Wild pitch by Litsch here. Dunn moves to 3B. Phillips at bat, sac fly to Wells Dunn scores 5-1 Jays. Once again Reds show Jays some execution here with runner at 3B.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, fly ball to Dunn in LF. Scutaro grounds out to Phillips throw to Votto at 1B. Inglett grounds this one back to Volquez throw to Votto at 1B. Quick inning for Volquez.

Top 5th: Votto grounds out to Overbay at 1B. Keppinger grounds to Rolen 3B. to first baseman Overbay. Bruce struck out. 51 pitches through five innings.
Bottom 5th: Rios lead off doubles to CF. Alex really is much more confident this week. I can believe it is Gene Tenace and Cito for Alex. Cito is a huge believer in his ability as an All-Star. If he can get Alex going that is fine with all Jays fans. Vernon now with Alex at 2B. Yes Vernon doubles down LF corner Alex scores 6-1 Jays. Stairs at bat Wells at 2B. 80 pitches here. Wild pitch over Bako’s head Wells to 3B. Full count on Stairs. Grounds to 1B. Looks Vernon back to 3B. One down. Rolen at bat lines it over head of Bruce in RF Wells scores 7-1 Jays That’s it for Volquez. Who would have thought? Mike Lincoln pitching. Overbay at bat Vernon at 2B. One out. Fly ball to Dunn in LF. Two down for Zaun pops up to Keppinger at 3B.

Top 6th: Patterson at bat, strikes out here on another inside pitch. Great pitch. Number four strikeout. Bako at bat full count. High chopper to Rolen in front of Scutaro hard throw to get Bako at 1B. Rolen throws HARD! Hairston at bat, lines hard to centre past diving Scutaro, second hit of the night for Reds. Dunn at bat, more boos, crowd will miss this guy when he leaves town. Grounds down the line to Overbay. 72 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Lind at bat grounds to Hairston. Scutaro first pitch grounds to Keppinger spins and throws to Votto to get Scutaro. What a great play by Keppinger. Inglett at bat grounds to SS. Three up and down, very quick inning but Jays bats were not very selective there and Reds fielders excelled there.

Top 7th: Phillips at bat grounds out to Overbay at 1B. Griffey at bat, swings over this one, does not like that ball low. Full count. Gets hold of this one but high fly ball to Rios in RF. Just missed that one. Votto at bat, full count there he gets him. Fifth strikeout for Litsch. 94 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Rios grounds to Keppinger. One down. Wells at bat strikes out looking at that one. Stairs at bat strikes out.

Top 8th: Keppinger pops up to Inglett. One down. Bruce at bat. Tallet pitching in bullpen. Strikes him out sixth tonight. Two down. Patterson lines one to Rios, sliding and drops it, didn’t commit to play at first, however that would have been great catch if he had it, bounced off his glove. Bako at bat walks here. First walk tonight. Hairston at bat fly ball to Wells in shallow centre. 112 pitches for Jesse that is probably it for tonight, Second consecutive Jays pitcher to go over 110.
Bottom 8th: Jeremy Affeldt pitching Rolen at bat, 2-3 tonight 3RBIs. Lines this one up the middle Phillips throws him out at 1B. Overbay at bat pops it up behind 3B to Hairston. Two down. Zaun at bat pops another up, Gregg is off right now.

Top 9th: That’s it for Jesse. Brian Tallet now pitching. Dunn at bat, be careful here Tallet. There it goes off the wall in CF. just missed going out. Phillips fly ball to Wells. One down. Mr. Griffey at bat pops up to Rolen at 3B. At least Jays fans saw him get one last night. Two down for Votto. Full count. Ball four. Not a good pitch. Two on two down. At bat Valentin who replaced Keppinger defensively last inning. Strikes out. Jays