Jays and Halladay lose big one, hitters absent again.

Toronto v Tampa Tuesday July 29, 2008. Game two of three.

On paper this should be an excellent pitching matchup as last night. Shields was unlucky to lose, he pitched well enough to win BUT Jays pitchers have had games like that this season, including AJ thus its was his turn last night to get some help. Runs should be few tonight, so watch for small ball from both teams, and that definitely favours this speedy aggressive Rays team. No changes by the Managers in the lineups tonight.

Pitching matchup: Halladay (12-7, 2.82 ERA) v Garza (8-6, 3.83 ERA)
Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Overbay, Barajas, Stairs, Rolen, Lind, Wilkerson and Halladay pitching.
Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Crawford, Longoria, Pena, Floyd, Navarro, Hinske, Bartlett, and Garza pitching.

The result: Rays win this one 3-0.

The good: Certanly not the hitters. Maybe Carlson for his three up and down inning in the ninth. Not much else tonight. Garza had too easy a night and Jays poor hitting helped him. Halladay goes eight but paid bigtime for his mistakes and without run support again he has no room for errors.
The bad: The three double plays started by Rios, Rolen and Barajas two in the first two innings. These are huge plays in a close game. All of the hitters tonight.

The game: Top 1st: Iwamura pops up to Rolen at 3B. One down. Upton at bat, strikes out. Crawford lines this one to CF this is three base trouble, Crawford can really run. Longoria at bat grounds to Rolen throw to Overbay to end this inning.
Bottom 1st: Inglett grounds to Pena 1B flip to pitcher Garza for the out. Scutaro at bat singles to center. Rios, oh no…. grounds to Iwamura 2B throw to Bartlett on to Pena at 1B double play ball.

Top 2nd: Pena grounds to Overbay throw to Halladay covering 1B, one down. Floyd at bat lines out to Rios, two down. Navarro strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay fly ball out to Crawford LF. Barajas singles to LF. Stairs walks, Barajas at 2B. Two on for Rolen one down. Time for a big hit here Scott, not again !!! grounds to Bartlett throw to Iwamura on to.Pena, another double play, two in two innings !!!! Jays hitters back to their old tricks.

Top 3rd: Hinske at bat gets hold of this off the CF wall but Rios thinks it is a Home Run and has stopped, Halladaty shouting at him to throw ball back in as Hinske goes all the way round. Replay shows that is HR and that both Rios and Wilkerson had stopped, they had the best view. Ray go ahead 1-0. Now those two double play balls against the Jays are big here already. Bartlett at bat doubles to LF, come on Roy settle down here. Iwamura grounds out to Overbay, Bartlett to 3B. One down for Upton strikes out. Crawford at bat grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 3rd: Lind grounds to Bartlett throw to Pena, one down. Wilkerson at bat grounds to Bartlett throw to Pena, two down. Inglett grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena. Garza doesn’t look as if is giving up much tonight.

Top 4th: Longoria fly ball out to Wilkerson in RF. Pena fly ball out to Wilkerson. Floyd fly ball out to Rios this time in CF. Three up and down for Halladay. Has settled after that HR last inning.
Bottom 4th: Scutaro grounds to Bartlett at SS throw to Pena for the out. Rios first pitch lines out to Upton, Overbay singles to LF. Barajas with one on.pops up to Iwamura at 2B.

Top 5th: Navarro at bat, singles to RF under diving Inglett. Hinske at bat with one on and no outs, full count, Navarro stealing, Hinske strikes out and Barajas’ throw perfect on first base side, to get him double play. Bartlett at bat two down and no one on, strikes out. But Halladay needs runs here to win a game. 43 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Boston and Yankees losing again but Jays still have to win their own game. Stairs at bat, full count, strikes out this time. Rolen another full count for Garza, at least he has to earn the outs this inning. Lind is watching this at bat, ten pitches so far. Misses this one and strikes out but long at bat. Lind at bat, strikes out swinging and number three for Garza. 57 pitches.

Top 6th: Iwamura grounds to Scutaro on first pitch throw to Overbay one down. Upton at bat, full count. Walks. Crawford at bat, one down one on. Bounces high to Rolen and throw to Overbay gets Crawford and two down. Upton to 2B. Longoria at bat grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay gets Longoria. 74 pitches for Halladay.
Bottom 6th: Wilkerson at bat, strikes out on great curve ball. Inglett at bat, high pop up to Bartlett at SS. Two down. Scutaro at bat, full count and fouling a few off here, long at bats by Jays hitters but nothing coming from them. Scutaro strikes out looking. 74 pitches.

Top 7th: Pena at bat, lines out to Inglett nice catch Joe. Floyd at bat one down high bouncer to Halladay but gets him at 1B. , Navarro at bat, two down. 3-0 count, walks him. Hinske at bat with one on and two down. Strikes out looking at one right down the middle. 91 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Ex-Jay Gabe Gross in for Hinske. Rios at bat, grounds to Longoria at 3B throws him out at 1B. Overbay at bat, there it goes, singles to RF. Finally a hit. Barajas now at bat, Can he do something? One down. Grounds to Longoria throw to Iwamura. throw to Pena, double play ball. (another and we have stopped counting, it is too embarrassing now.)

Top 8th: Halladay must be screaming inside through lack of any run support. Bartlett at bat, strikes out on four pitches. One down. Iwamura at bat, fly ball out to Lind in LF, two down. Upton at bat, full count. Walks him. Crawford at bat. Singles to LF Upton was not running and stays at 2B. Two on for Longoria. Carlson up in the bullpen but you know Halladay wants to go further. This pitch is big trouble, lines it to the wall in RF two runs score 3-0 Rays and Longoria at 3B Pena at bat. Strikes him out but this game is finished unless those underachieving bats can get something going here. A no hitter going for Angels Lackey at Fenway. Yankees also losing again to Baltimore.
Bottom 8th: Stairs grounds to Longoria at 3B great throw to get Stairs at 1B. Rolen at bat, 0-16 ouch bigtime. High fly ball out to Gross in RF. Two down for Lind. Hitless tonight. No longer, hits a high fly ball to Gross in RF up against the wall and off his glove as he jumps. Lind at 2B. Wilkerson at bat. Grounds it hard up the middle but Garza great reflex and gets it and throw to Pena for the out.

Top 9th: That’s it for Halladay 118 pitches with six hits and eight strike outs. Carlson facing Gomes pinch hitting for Floyd strikes him out. Navarro at bat, strikes out, two down. Grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay.
Bottom 9th: Garza 95 pitches still pitching and why not, Jays hitters are missing in action tonight. Lackey in the ninth with one out at Fenway on his no-hitter. Top of order for the Jays but will it be enough tonight? Inglett fly ball to Crawford in LF. One down. Scutaro at bat, pops it up to SS Bartlett. Two down for Rios grounds it up the middle to Bartlett throw to Pena and this one is over.
Rays win 3-0

Hard to win a game when the bats don’t score. Lackey also loses his Fenway no-hitter in the ninth with one down. Both Boston and Yankees losing so Jays will stay pat but that is not what they want, they need to gain games on night’s like this and with Halladay pitching.