Jays give this one away, no support for Litsch.

Saturday July 12,2008. Toron to v New York Yankees

Pitching: Litsch 7-6 v Rasner 4-7, 4.94ERA

Lineups: Yankees: Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Giambi, Posada, Cano, Cabrera, Moeller, Gardner and Rasner pitching.
Jays: Inglett, Scutaro, Overbay, Stairs, Wilkerson, Rolen, Lind, Zaun, McDonald and Litsch pitching.

Result: Toronto lose this one 9-4. Very poor fielding, even worse hitting with runners in scoring position and a game that looked as if they might win after first inning leading 4-1 and with Rasner at 38 pitches. Instead Rasner lasts five with 108 pitches.

The good: Not much today after the first inning. Inglett lead off triple in first inning. Lind 3 RBI triple in the first inning.
The bad: Same old Jays hitters 2-13 with runners in scoring position, nothing has changed much yet despite new coaching staff. Scutaro the fielding goat muffing double play ball which the lead to three runs in second inning and put Yankees back in this one. Hitless today, Overbay, Rolen, Stairs and Zaun. Will not win many games like this without Vernon and Alex in the lineup. 2-3 today.

The game:
Top 1st: Jeter at pitch, Litsch second pitch HR into RF bullpen. 1-0 Yankees. Abreu grounds it to Overbay, one down. Rodriguez full count. Strikes him out, crowd loves that. Two down for Giambi, big shift right grounds to Scutaro behind 1B, throw to Overbay.
Bottom 1st: Inglett leading off, fouling some off here, gets hold of this one, right centre wall, lead off triple for Joe, Scutaro at bat singles to CF, Inglett scores 1-1. Overbay number three today as Alex is away for birth of daughter, catcher interference bat hits glove of Posada, error to Posada. Overbay to 1B Scutaro at 2B.Two on no outs, for Stairs, takes third strike. 20 pitches to get first out. Wilkerson at bat full count. Walks him. Rolen at bat with bases loaded and one down here. Strikes out on three pitches. Two down. Lind at bat, YES Adam, lines this one to the wall in right centre, clears the bases with this one, three runs score, and Adam at 3B. 4-1 Jays. Zaun at bat, strikes out. 38 pitch first inning for Rasner OUCH!

Top 2nd: Jesse now has to settle here. Posada at bat walks him. Cano at bat, strikes him out, great pitch Jesse. Cabrera at bat, singles to CF. Moeller at bat two on one down, hits him, bases loaded. Gardner at bat, singles to CF, Posada scores 4-2 Jays Cabrera holds at 3B. Jays bases still loaded for Jeter. Grounds to Scutaro cannot handle ball, this could have been double play. Error on Scutaro. Run scores 4-3 Jays. bases still loaded. Abreu at bat. strikes out. Two down. Rodriguez at bat, singles to CF, two runs score. 5-4 Yankees. Giambi at bat grounds to Scutaro, throw to Overbay. Jesse that was NOT your fault Scutaro should have had that double play ball and save three runs here. 54 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: McDonald at bat. grounds to Cano, throw to Giambi one down. Inglett at bat, full count here, grounds to Cano kicks the ball, error on Cano. One on one down for Scutaro at bat. Bunting here, great play and Marco diving safe at 1B beats the throw. Two on great hustle. Overbay grounds to Giambi, both runners move up. Stairs at bat two down. Hits his shoulder. Bases loaded. Wilkerson at bat grounds it up the middle Jeter flips to Cano to get Stairs at 2B. 57 pitches.

Top 3rd: Posada at bat grounds out to Overbay, one down. Cano at bat grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay, tags but ruled safe. One on. Error to McDonald. Cabrera lines to Inglett in RF. Two on one down for Moeller. Full count. Grounds to Rolen throws out Moeller at 1B. Runners move to 2B and 3B. Two down. Gardner at bat doubles to RF, two runs score, 7-4 Yankees. Jeter singles up the middle Gardner scores 8-4 Yankees. That’s it for Jesse today. Tallet now pitching. But for that Scutaro error…. Could have been very different game today. Abreu at bat, fly ball out to Lind in LF.
Bottom 3rd: Rolen first pitch pops out to Giambi, one down. Lind at bat, full count. Grounds to Jeter, throw to Giambi, two down, Zaun first pitch fly ball out to Cabrera. Not a smart inning by Jays hitters. Three up and down. 65 pitches.

Top 4th: Rodriguez at bat, full count. Gets hold of this one hits the LF foul pole. 9-4 Yankees. Number 537 to pass Mickey Mantle. Giambi at bat gets under this one fly ball out to Wilkerson in CF. Posada at bat, strikes out, two down. Cano at bat, doubles to RF wall. Number nine hit for Yankees today. Cabrera with two out and one in scoring position. Strikes out.
Bottom 4th: McDonald at bat singles to LF corner. Top of order again Inglett showing bunt, another single into LF, two on no outs. Scutaro at bat strikes out. Overbay at bat, strikes out. This is NOT good. Stairs at bat full count this time, runners will at least be moving ! strikes out. Why didn’t they get runners moving earlier in this inning? Double steal, anything aggressive….

Top 5th: Wolfe pitching. Moeller at bat grounds back to Wolfe throw to Overbay beats Moeller, one down. Gardner full count walks. Jeter grounds to Scutaro flip to McDonald on to Overbay, double play ball.
Bottom 5th: Wilkerson at bat 89 pitches. Wilkerson at bat. Doubles off LF wall, runner in scoring position and no outs, but we have been here before. This team is just not executing today. Rolen grounds to Jeter. One down. Wilkerson cannot move. Lind now to try, grounds to Giambi Wilkerson at least gets to 3B. Two down for Zaun. Rasner well over 100 pitches but this group of hitters is not getting the runs. Here we go again Zaun futile fly ball to LF. Same old, same old garbage from the hitters today, chance after chance, bases loaded, runners in scoring position, add in some lousy fielding and you have a gift wrapped giveaway win for Yankees.

Top 6th: Abreu at bat, grounds to Scutaro, throw to Overbay drops the ball. Abreu safe. This is sandlot baseball today by Jays. Rodriguez at bat, strikes out, huge cheer from crowd, has not had much else to cheer this afternoon after the first inning. Giambi at bat lines it to Overbay steps on base double play ball. Something else to cheer about.
Bottom 6th: Edwar Ramirez pitching, Jays had their chances for five innings; they will not get much from this much better bullpen. McDonald at bat pops up to Moeller, one down. Inglett at bat, 2-3 today, fly ball to Cabrera, two down. Scutaro at bat, also 2-3 today, strikes out.

Top 7th: Frasor pitching, here we go Mr. Speedy, hope we don’t get any runners on, this game is already two and half hours long. Posada at bat, walks him. Cano at bat, fly ball to Lind in LF. Cabrera at bat, grounds to Rolen, throw to Overbay beats Cabrera. Two down. Moeller at bat pops up to Scutaro.
Bottom 7th: Jose Veras pitching. Overbay at bat strikes out on three pitches. Stairs at bat fly ball out to Cabrera in CF. Wilkerson at bat, fly ball out to Cabrera. Jays hitters have given up on this one. No fight today. Lots of Jays fans have already gone and more now. Lots of blue seats.

Top 8th: Problem is tomorrow’s game with Burnett pitching on three days rest; he will probably need help from bullpen. Cito has used four pitchers today and probably one more to come. Gardner at bat full count. Walks Gardner. Same as Frasor’s last inning lead off walk. Now top of the order. Jeter at bat grounds to Rolen throw to Scutaro gets Gardner but not in time to get Jeter at 1B. Abreu at bat, strikes out, two down. Rodriguez at bat, strikes out. Yankees want to get out on the town tonight.
Bottom 8th: Kyle Farnsworth now pitching. Betemit in for Giambi at 1B. Rolen at bat not a good day for him fly ball out to Cabrera 0-4 today. Lind at bat, fly ball out to Abreu. Zaun awful today 0-3 but also poor at bats. 3-0 count, walks on four pitches. McDonald at bat full count, fly ball out to Abreu.

Top 9th: League now pitching, he was terrible last outing. I guess Cito feels Yankees will be swinging away to get dressed and out of here. Betemit at bat, first pitch swing singles into LF. Posada at bat one on, no outs. High fly ball to RF Inglett makes catch. One down. Cano first pitch swing lines straight at McDonald. Two down. Cabrera at bat, strikes out swinging.
Bottom 9th: I don’t think many feel that Jays are going to score here. It has been a game to forget. They had their chances over and over again but could not get that one hit. Does not give very good endorsement to the new hitting coaching staff. Hawkins pitching and top of the order at bat. Inglett to start strikes out looking. Scutaro at bat one of the goats today, full count, grounds to Jeter throw beats him out at 1B. Overbay at bat fly ball out to Gardner in LF. This game is over. Jays were hitless after fifth inning.

Jays lose this one 9-4 but it could have been so very different. The three runs that Scutaro gave away and add a few hits with all those runners in scoring position…… Tomorrow a very tough Andy Pettite. Jays will be lucky to win that one.