Jays hitters give this one gift-wrapped to Tampa

Series finale. Toronto v Tampa. Wednesday July 30,2008

What a tough baptism for rookie Scott Richmond facing division leading Tampa. Anything can happen and as always with this team probably will. But Jays hitters have to be much more productive for Richmond than they were for Halladay last night. You know that Tampa will show no mercy to Richmond, this team is after one thing only, winning the division. Would that some of their intensity would rub off on the Toronto team.

Pitching: Edwin Jackson (6-7, 4.22 ERA) Scott Richmond 0-0
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Crawford, Longoria, Pena, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Bartlett and Jackson pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Overbay, Stairs, Lind, Wilkerson, Zaun, McDonald, and pitching Richmond. No Rolen today, Scutaro playing at 3B.
The good: Overbay HR. Lind and Rios triples. Bullpen shutout from the fourth onward.
The bad: Scutaro first two at bats. Double play number 110, it hurts to even write that. Bottom of 4th with no outs and Lind at 3B and could not bring him in. Bottom second, Bottom third, Bottom 5th, Bottom 6th. And like a broken record the sad tale continues.
The VERY bad: Runners in scoring position. This team has not improved one iota in this category. fourth and fifth innings golden opportunities with runners at 3B and NO outs.

The game: Top 1st: Iwamura full count, singles to CF. Upton at bat, grounds to McDonald throw to 2B to get Iwamura, only one. Crawford with Upton on 1B. Base hit to the wall, Upton scores, 1-0 Rays, another triple for Crawford, one down for Longoria. Strikes him out, that is one tough out for Richmond. Now for Pena two down but Crawford on 3B. Pena flied out to left fielder Lind. Nice inning for Richmond, now he can relax a bit. 24 pitches.
Bottom 1st: It will be interesting to see how Jays hitters help Richmond out today, do they do their usual or do they make every effort. Inglett singles to left, one on, good start, Scutaro shows bunt, now grounds to Longoria, throw to 2B Iwamura on to Pena at 1B and the usual Jays double play ball. Pathetic. Number 110 !!! for the season and as with last night n the first inning. Rios at bat, at least he cannot give up a double play, singles to LF, one on two down for Overbay. YES Lyle, gets hold of this one and this one is out of here, a rocket off Windows restaurant in CF.HR Lyle with Alex two runs score, 2-1 Rays. That’s much better. Stairs at bat strikes out. 14 pitches.

Top 2nd: Hinske at bat, Richmond now with a lead to work with. Strikes him out. Number two today. Navarro at bat grounds to Rolen, throw not in time, Navarro safe at 1B. Ex-Jay Gabe Gross at bat, fly ball out to Lind. Navarro cannot advance. Two down for Bartlett, strikes out. 41 pitches but much better inning and if they can get six out of Richmond today Cito should be happy.
Bottom 2nd: Lind at bat, grounds to Bartlett SS to Pena at 1B out at 1B one down. Wilkerson at bat, grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena, two down. Zaun at bat, lines this one to RF, doubles here, two in scoring position for McDonald. First pitch swinging fly ball out to Gross in RF. 27 pitches.

Top 3rd: Iwamura at bat, pops it up to Inglett. One down. Upton at bat, lines out hard to Inglett, two down. Crawford full count, doubles to left field, Longoria, grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay gets Longoria. 62 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Inglett at bat strikes out. Scutaro better have his head with him this at bat. Not good, first pitch swing to shallow CF, Upton gets it, two down. What is wrong with this guy? Must be because he is playing at 3B for Rolen. Rios at bat now long drive off the wall in CF, Alex going to 3B and gets in safe, another triple for Alex. Alex also 2-2 today. Overbay at bat with Alex at 3B but two down. 3-1 count, pitch high and Lyle walks. Two on for Stairs, come on Matt get hold of one here. Grounds it up the middle, great save by Iwamura, and throw to Bartlett just gets Overbay. That saved a run. 47 pitches.

Top 4th: Pena at bat, gets hold of this one, HR to RF this game is tied 2-2. Hinske at bat doubles off the wall in LF. Hinske at 2B no outs for Navarro. Singles to Wilkerson in RF. Hinske at 3B. Gross with no outs. Parrish warming up in bullpen. Grounds to McDonald, back flip to Inglett throw to 1B double play. Hinske scores but damage limited by that play.3-2 Rays. Bartlett at bat pops up to Scutaro at 3B. 78 pitches for Richmond. One more inning or will that be it for the rookie today? Parrish can take over here and hold Rays.
Bottom 4th: Time for the Jays hitters to get a big inning. Lind at bat, lines hard and high off the CF wall here and going for third base, another triple for Jays. No outs. Wilkerson now has to bring him in. Pops up to Longoria at 3B and Lind holds. Zaun at bat, grounds to 1B. Two down. McDonald at bat, last chance to bring Lind in. lines one hard here to Gross in RF. Hit it hard and Gross had to run to get to it. BUT bottom line, Jays hitters failed here bigtime after the Lind triple.

Top 5th: Richmond still pitching. Iwamura at bat grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay, one down. Upton grounds to Overbay, throw to Richmond to get the out. Upton was flying down the line here. Crawford with two outs. Grounds to Overbay, throw to Richmond to get the out. Three up and down, that feels good for Richmond.
Bottom 5th: Inglett singles to RF, where was this hit when it was needed last inning? Scutaro at bat, 0-2 today. Grounds it up the middle off the glove of Iwamura, Scutaro safe at first. That should have been another double play, error on Iwamura. Inglett to second, two on for Rios. Alex 2-2 today, wild pitch and both runners move up, two in scoring position this time with no outs. Alex grounds back to Jackson throw to Pena one down. Runners hold. Overbay at bat strikes out. Stairs at bat, will this team ever bring in a guy in scoring position? 0-7 so far, this game should be blown open by now in the last two innings. Ball four now for Stairs to walk and to load bases, but Matt we need your bat not the walk here. Lind at bat, fly ball out to Upton in CF and Jays go 0-8 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! with runners in scoring position. I don’t see any improvement with the new coaching staff in this area.

Top 6th: Longoria at bat Richmond strikes him out. Here comes Cito. Richmond has done very well it is not his fault that his hitters are the worst in the league and have been unable to hit with runners in scoring position. He should definitely be leading with the lead here. 92 pitches and no walks. Carlson pitching. Pena at bat, strikes out, two down for Hinske. Strikes out.
Bottom 6th: Jays hitters today have been worse than worse, they have been awful. The last two innings in particular, they will be very lucky to get any more golden opportunities from the Rays bullpen. Howell now pitching. Mench pinch hitting for Wilkerson grounds to Longoria throw to Pena. First pitch, one down. Zaun at bat, grounds to 3B great play by Longoria to get Zaun at 1B. McDonald at bat singles to CF. One on for Inglett at bat, singles to CF, McDonald moves to 2B. We have been here several times before today 0-8 to no effect. Scutaro at bat strikes out. 0-9 today with runners in scoring position. No team will win many games with paper bats like this.

Top 7th: Navarro first pitch swinging (must be contagious) fly ball out to Mench in RF for Wilkerson. One down for Gross grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay two down. Bartlett fly ball out to Lind, three up and down for Carlson.
Bottom 7th: Jays hitters have outhit Tampa 9-7 !!! Balfour now pitching .129 ERA, virtually perfect all season so far. Jays will be very lucky to get one off this guy. Rios at bat, fly ball out to Gross in RF. Overbay at bat, strikes out. Two down for Stairs 0-2 today. Strikes out. Jays have had their chances with runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. That is more than enough for one game, but they couldn’t produce. Rays bullpen is much too strong now.

Top 8th: Downs now pitching. Top of Rays order. Iwamura doubles off the LF wall one on. Upton sac bunt here by Upton, Iwamura safe at 3B. Upton out at 1B. I wonder if Jays coaching staff were watching, perhaps this might be an answer to guy on 3B and no outs? Crawford with one down. Strikes out two down. Longoria, intentional walk. Two on two down. Pena at bat, strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Dan Wheeler .218 ERA now pitching to Lind, grounds to Bartlett at SS, throw high to 1B pulls Pena off bag but Lind is tagged out. A good nine pitch at bat for Lind. One down for Mench. Strikes out. Two down. Zaun at bat, walks. Johnny Mac at bat.

Top 9th: BJ Ryan pitching. Off day tomorrow although you could say Jay hitters have had today of as well. Nothing meaningful since the first inning. They have out-hit Rays and have had nine hits but nothing when it really counts. I think that says something. Unable to hit under pressure? Aybar pinch hitting for Hinske. Singles to LF. Navarro at bat. Grounds back to Ryan throw to 1B gets him Aybar to 2B. One down. Gross at bat, grounds to McDonald throw to 1B gets Gross, Aybar to 3B. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay to get Bartlett and end the inning.
Bottom 9th: Troy Percival against the top of Jays order. 22 saves this season and that is with being on the disabled list this season. Inglett at bat. 3-0 count. One right now the middle. Do you swing or no? Joe didn’t. Full count now. Grounds out to Pena at 1B. Scutaro at bat fly ball out to Upton in CF ends a horrible day for Scutaro. Two down for Rios. 3-0 count. Does he swing? No. Strike inside 3-1. Full count. Pops up to Pena at 1B. Rays win 3-2. Jays hitters give this one away.