Agressive evening pays off bigtime for Jays win for Halladay

Saturday July 5,2008 Jays v Angels.

This will be a very tough one for Jays. Don’t think that Halladay is going to walk through and win this one on his own, Lackey is just as good a pitcher as Halladay. Plus the way Cito is managing this team I don’t think they have the intensity and desire to win. “Chugging along” to quote Cito. Whereas on the other side the Manager Scioscia takes every opportunity to get an advantage.”Always looking to advantage, run, bunt , hit and run.” There’s the difference between these two teams and why one is top of the division eighteen games over .500 and other at the bottom five games under.

Pitching: Halladay 9-6 2.90 ERA v Lackey 6-1 1.44 ERA.

Lineups:
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Wilkerson, Rolen, Overbay, Zaun, Lind and Halladay pitching.
Angels: Figgins, Kotchman, Izturis, Guerrero, Hunter, Anderson, Mathews, Kendrick, Napoli, and Lackey pitching.

The result: Jays win 7-5. Series is tied.

The very good: Halladay win number ten and was outstanding tonight. Alex Rios a great night, three stolen bases and three hits and two RBIs. We have been on Alex all season but tonight he showed us why he is so frustrating to watch, the guy definitely has great talent but has underperformed for so long but we will enjoy tonight. The aggression tonight by the Jays, finally Cito is letting them go and the team responded. BUT they still have to find some consistency and get a streak going.

The good: Vernon also good night especially with that 2 RBIs HR plus stolen base.
Not good: Perhaps Rolen, Zaun and Wilkerson 0-12 combined evening.
The bad: Tonight we will not find fault. Even with BJ making it close. The guy has not pitched for so long it took him time to settle and I am giving him the benefit here.

The game: Top 1st: Inglett leading off? I don’t think this guy is a leadoff. Strikes out. Scutaro at bat, grounds out to Kotchman at 1B. Rios doubles hard to Mathews in LF. Ball under his glove to the wall. Error on Mathews but that was tough play. Wells with Rios in scoring position, fly ball out to Mathews. 15 pitches
Bottom 1st: Figgins grounds to Rolen, good throw to Overbay. Kotchman back to Halladay knocks it down and throw to Overbay, two down. Izturis at bat grounds to Scutaro at SS, throw to Overbay. 13 pitches.

Top 2nd: Wilkerson at bat, full count after 0-2 count. Takes third strike. Rolen at bat, strikes out. Overbay at bat, strikes out. 32 pitches. Jays hitters doing their normal thing. They look totally outclassed right now, and it doesn’t really matter who is pitching.
Bottom 2nd: Guerrero leading off. Bounces one to Rolen at 3B, throw to Overbay. One down. Hunter at bat strikes out. Anderson at bat strikes out. Three up and down. 25 pitches.

Top 3rd: Zaun at bat, fly ball out to Mathews in LF. Lind at bat grounds to SS Izturis, dives to get ball but drops ball cannot make a throw. Lind at 1B. Inglett at bat one down, singles to RF, Lind moves to 2B. Two on one down. Double steal ? I don’t think so. Scutaro at bat now walks to load bases for Rios. Singls to LF. Lind and Inglett score 2-0 Jays. Alex is 2-2 tonight. Wells at bat two on one down. Single to 3B short hops him Scutaro scores 3-0 Jays, error on play. Wilkerson at bat one down two on. Pops up to Figgins, two down. Runners hold. Rolen now perfect timing for him. Runners going, double steal YEAH! Napoli cannot get ball, both now in scoring position. Strikes out throw to 1B. But Jays are on the board and also showing some aggression running for a (big) change under Cito at least. Good to see from this vantage point. 60 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Mathews strikes out looking. Third one for Halladay tonight. Kendrick singles to LF. First hit for Angels. Napoli at bat Kendrick stealing, throw OK but gets away from Inglett, Scutaro backing up. Walks Napoli here for Figgins at bat. YES, grounds to Inglett, flips it to Scutaro throw to Overbay double play ball. 41 pitches.

Top 4th: Overbay at bat, grounds first pitch to Kendrick. Throw to Kotchman one down. Zaun now high fly ball out to Guerrero in RF. Lind at bat grounds hard to Kotchman at 1B. 68 pitches. Rays and Yankees have won, Orioles and Red Sox have lost.
Bottom 4th: Kotchman singles first pitch to RF. Izturis at bat strikes him out. Number four for Halladay. Guerrero at bat, swinging away, WHOA there goes this one . HR over Wells head in CF. Golf shot. Two runs score. 3-2 Jays. Hunter at bat grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay. Two down. Anderson singles to RF. Mathews high bouncer off plate to Inglett. Throw to Overbay gets Mathews. 58 pitches.

Top 5th: Jays have to get runs back here. Top of order again. Inglett at bat strikes out on three pitches. Scutaro at bat gets hold of this first pitch, doubles hard to left centre. Rios again, 2-2 tonight come on Alex. Grounds to Figgins at 3B throw to Kendrick to get Alex, Scutaro cannot move. Two down one on. Wells at bat 0-2 Vernon does NOT swing at one outside, YES VERNON, swings at this one ….. Scutaro running and Vernon gets hold of this one into the garden in left centre and Vernon is happy guy. So am I. Two runs score and they heard me. 5-2 Jays. Wilkerson at bat with two down. Full count. Grounds to Kendrick throw to Kotchman but cannot find bag Wilkerson safe error to Kotchman. Rolen at bat now make him pay for this error. Strikes out for third time tonight. Alex and Vernon have 4 RBIs tonight.92 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Wells smiling out there. Kendrick grounds first pitch to Scutaro. Napoli at bat full count. Fly ball out to Wells. Two down. Figgins at bat singles to LF. Kotchman at bat, pitch out but Figgins not running, singles off Inglett’s glove to shallow RF. Two on two out for Izturis. You don’t want to lose this guy Roy with Guerrero on deck. Full count, runners going and lines out hard to Inglett. 82 pitches.

Top 6th: Overbay at bat, gets hold of this one hard double to centre wall. Zaun grounds out to Kotchman and Overbay moves to 3B. One down for Lind at bat, grounds to Kendrick coming home with throw but Overbay scores 6-2 Jays. Inglett at bat, Lind running first pitch, what’s with this aggression ??? hit and run on fouls off. Fly ball to RF Guererro. Two down, Scutaro at bat first pitch grounds to Izturis. Steps on 2B and gets Lind. 104 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Guerrero at bat to lead off. Grounds first pitch to Scutaro at SS. Throw to Overbay one down. Halladay breathes easier. Hunter swings at one outside and strikes out. Great curve. Anderson at bat two down. Pops it up to Lind in LF. Great quick 8 ? pitch inning for Roy. Just what he needed after last inning. 90 pitches.

Top 7th: Can Jays add to this six spot tonight? Rios at bat two hits 2RBIs tonight. Speier now pitching. Alex pops one into shallow rf. Vernon now with Alex on base. Will he be going ? Vernon not giving him chance first pitch swing but pops it up into shallow RF. One down. Wilkerson at bat, there goes Alex this time, Vernon are you watching this? Number nineteen career high steal. Wilkerson takes strike. Alex going again. But Wilkerson fouls off. Full count now. Alex stealing, throw to 3B goes into LF. Error to catcher. 7-2 Jays. And number twenty steal for Alex. Wilkerson walks. Rolen first pitch swinging fly ball to Guerrero in RF. Not a good night at all for Scott. Overbay at bat. Wild pitch Wilkerson to 2B. Intentional walk to Overbay. Two on two down. Zaun at bat strikes out on right down the middle.
Bottom 7th: Halladay still pitching Mathews at bat, full count strikes him out looking, number six tonight. Kendrick at bat one down, high fly ball to RF corner, Alex is not dropping this one. Two down. Napoli at bat, Halladay over 100 pitch count. Strikes him out looking. Number seven. 107 pitches. This could be his last inning tonight. Bullpen is rested and Ryan has not pitched in a few nights so may get the ninth.

Top 8th: Keep going here bats, enjoy this one. Lind at bat Darren O’Day pitching. Lind strikes out. Inglett at bat, Downs now up in bullpen. Grounds one out to Kotchman. Two down for Scutaro at bat. Grounds one to Izturis throw to Kotchman to just get Scutaro.
Bottom 8th: Halladay is finished for tonight. Downs now pitching. Top of Angels order Figgins at bat. Singles into Rios in RF short hops the ball. One on for Kotchman, pitch gets away from Zaun, Figgins moves to 2B. Kotchman grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay, one down. Figgins moves to 3B. Izturis at bat don’t lose this guy Scott. Drives it to Rolen, two down. Walk this guy Scott. Doubles to centre right, run scores 7-3. Hunter at bat bounces to Scutaro throw to Overbay.

Top 9th: Would be nice to get that run back. The big guys up again. Alex 3-4 tonight to lead off, O’Day still pitching. Grounds to Izturis, throw to Kotchman one down. Wells at bat. Strikes out here. Wilkerson at bat, grounds to Kendrick at 2B. Wilkerson 0-4 tonight with a walk.
Bottom 9th: I called this one right BJ Ryan is in there, needs the work. Anderson at bat full count. Walks him. Jays great closer Tom Henke used to say unless he pitched every other day he was too strong when he first came out. Mathews at bat singles into CF. Two on, no outs. Kendrick at bat singles to RF, run Anderson scores 7-4. Two on, no outs. Napoli at bat grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett and to Overbay double play ball. Run Mathews scores 7-5. Figgins doubles to LF. Relax everyone. Kotchman fly ball out to Rios in right centre. This game is over.

Jays win one for Halladay 7-5.