Jays lose another. Hitting missing yet again.

Series finale. Jays v Angels. Sunday July 6, 2008.

Last night a good win, everything went right and more importantly Jays very aggressive all game with four stolen bases, three to Alex Rios. Today another tough pitcher in Garland and Jesse Litsch will need to be almost perfect.

Pitching: Litsch 8-4, 3.69 ERA v Garland 7-5, 3.99 ERA
Lineups: Angels: Figgins, Kotchman, Guerrero, Hunter, Anderson, Kendrick, Rivera, Mathis, Aybar and Garland pitching.
Jays: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, Barajas, Lind and Litsch pitching.

Result: Angels win 7-1.

The good: Nothing much for Jays today. Barajas HR. I will give good to Jesse, we sometimes forget this guy is the number five in rotation but every outing he pitches his heart out and did again today without any run support. Even Roy Halladay neesd run support.
The bad: the whole team, but in particular those in middle of the order, they are the hitters and should be producing. Lack of intensity and fight by Jays today and this is something that I don’t think will be changed with the current coaching staff. Cito by nature is so laid back that it is hard to get this team motivated the way they should be.
The very bad: Rios mental error in the ninth getting doubled up on Wells line drive to LF.

The game:
Top 1st: Inglett at bat, leadoff or second consecutive game. Grounds to Kendrick at 2B, throw to Kotchman one down. Scutaro at bat fly ball first pitch to Rivera in RF. Two down. Rios now at bat after great night last night. Grounds to SS Aybar throw to Kotchman. Easy inning for Garland. Nine pitches.
Bottom 1st: Figgins lead off shows bunt, singles to LF. Kotchman hit by pitch. Figgins to 2B. Trouble early for Jesse and here comes Guerrero. Grounds hard back to Litsch throw to Rolen gets Figgins at 3B, one down nice play Jesse to help yourself here. Still two on and one down for Hunter, gets under one, high fly ball to Lind. That would have scored Figgins if he were still in there. Two down for Anderson full count runners going and doubles to LF corner, both runners score 2-0 Angels. Kendrick grounds to Rolen at 3B throw to Overbay for the out. Could have been much worse for Litsch. Needs some run support now. 21 pitches.

Top 2nd: Wells at bat, yes Vernon that will help, doubles to LF wall. Good to see him hitting this weekend. Overbay at bat, wild pitch Vernon moves to 3B. Overbay strikes out. Rolen at bat, he really needs a hit badly, Strikes out. Two down. Zaun grounds out to Kotchman. That was pathetic hitting with Vernon at 3B and no outs. What has changed in two weeks ? Perhaps Cito should think about a bunt …. They can’t seem to hit with runner at 3B. 27 pitches. I really feel sorry for Litsch.
Bottom 2nd: Rivera at bat, pitch right down the middle, there it goes HR to CF, Vernon great effort. 3-0 Angels. Mathis at bat, strikes out. Aybar drag bunt, nice play by Litsch to get this one and get Aybar in time. Scioscia disagrees. Two down. Figgins at bat. fly ball out to Lind. 33 pitches.

Top 3rd: Barajas at bat pops up to shallow RF. One down Lind at bat, bounces one to Garland, throw to Kotchman two down. Inglett at bat gets hold of this one but long fly ball out to Hunter in CF.
Bottom 3rd.
Kotchman singles to CF.Here comes Guerrero, fly ball out to Wells in CF. Hunter at bat one on one down, strikes out. Anderson walks. Kotchman moves to 2B. Kendrick grounds to Overbay flip to Litsch for the out. Good inning for Jesse.

Top 4th: Scutaro at bat grounds to SS Aybar throw to Kotchman 1B. Rios at bat fly ball out to Hunter CF. Wells at bat ground to Aybar SS error to Aybar and Vernon safe at 1B. Overbay doubles to RF, Wells throw out at the plate and so it goes with this team. That could and should have been runners at 2B and 3B.
Bottom 4th: Rivera fly ball out to Wells in CF. Mathis pops up to Scutaro SS. Aybar singles to CF. Figgins fly ball out to Rios RF.

Top 5th.
Rolen not having another good game, pops up to SS Aybar. Zaun at bat one down, fly ball out to Hunter in CF. Barajas at bat, gets hold of this one HR to LF. 3-1 Angels. Lind atbat, can he keep line moving ? No grounds to Kotchman1B flip to Garland for the out but Jays get one back.
56 pitches for Garland
Bottom 5th:
Kotchman grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay. Guerrero grounded out, shortstop Scutaro to first baseman Overbay. Hunter grounded out, pitcher Litsch to first baseman Overbay.

Top 6th Inglett . Scutaro doubles down the 3B line. Rios first pitch swinging pops it up. Sometimes this guy’s head is out of the game. Wells two outs. Grounds to Aybar SS. throw to Kotchman. Garland rolling along here 65 pitches.
Bottom 6th: 78 pitches for Litsch. Anderson at bat singles to right centre. Kendrick at bat doubles over Lind’s head to the LF wall. Anderson to 3B. Rivera at bat no outs two on. Grounds hard back to Litsch, looks Anderson back at 3B and throw to Overbay gets Rivera. Very nice play by Jesse. One down. Mathis at bat singles to LF, two runs score 5-1 Angels. That’s it for Jesse. The other Jesse running in, Carlson. One out, one on for Aybar at bat. Fly ball to Lind but drops in front of him. Could have had that one with a dive. Two on. Figgins at bat full count. Walks bases loaded. Kotchman at bat fly ball out to Rios in shallow RF. Mathis holds at 3B. Two down. That’s it for Carlson. Nasty. Here comes Guerrero with bases loaded. League now pitching. 0-2 Pitch gets away Mathis scores. 6-1 Angels. Runners move up. Full count. Grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to Overbay, inning finally over.

Top 7th: Jays running out of outs. Overbay at bat, fly ball out to Hunter, one down. Rolen hitless today, and 0-11.That’s better Scott, singles to LF. Zaun at bat, strikes out. Barajas at bat, fly ball to Rivera in RF corner. Angels are coasting to another win here. Jays hitters are AWOL. 82 pitches. Rays have won again sweeping Kansas. Orioles lose 11-10 to Texas. Yankees and Red Sox play tonight.
Bottom 7th: Hunter at bat singles up the middle. Anderson at bat, fly ball out to Wells in CF. Kendrick at bat one on one down. Strikes out, two down. Rivera at bat. Walks. Mathis at bat, singles to LF Lind, scores Hunter. 7-1 Angels. Aybar first pitch swinging high fly ball out to Rios at the wall in RF.

Top 8th: Willits in RF. Angels do not need Guerrero anymore today. Let’s see if Jays have any fight left or want to get that plane back to Toronto. Lind at bat grounds to Aybar SS, throw to Kotchman. Inglett at bat grounds to 2B throw to Kotchman two down. Scutaro at bat, fly ball to Willits. I think we have the answer to that question. This team has no fight and frankly I don’t think Cito is the type of Manager to inspire this. Keep chugging along I think is the phrase that he used.
Bottom 8th: New pitcher Brian Tallet, have not seen him for a week. Figgins full count. Fly ball out to Rios in RF. Kotchman grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay two down. Guerrero swinging away to end the agony. Strikes out but Brian don’t think it was your pitching.

Top 9th: This should be very interesting Rios, Wells and Overbay, chronic underachievers, how will they end this one? Alex doubles to the wall in LF. Alex you get a nine out of ten. Vernon at bat. Jays 0-5 runners in scoring position today. Fly ball out to Anderson LF, AND throw to 2B gets Alex, double play. Alex, that was a bonehead mental error. Overbay ? well, how about a fly ball out to Anderson LF. Garland complete game and 95 pitches. They don’t get much easier than that this season for Garland.

Angels 7 Jays 1. And the Jays once again undo the good from previous game. Angels win six of nine in the season series.
Now back home for Orioles and Yankees. They will probably sweep them both or get swept. This team is so maddingly unpredictable and inconsistent.