Jays win this one and pick up one on Rays.

Series Preview: Toronto v Tampa. Monday July 28,2008
Jays would love to start this home series with a win.

Pitching tonight: Burnett (11-9, 4.73 ERA) v Shields (9-6, 3.66 ERA)

Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Overbay, Barajas, Stairs, Rolen, Lind, Wilkerson and Burnett pitching.
Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Crawford, Longoria, Pena, Floyd, Navarro, Hinske, Bartlett, and Shields pitching.

Result: Jays win this 3-1.

The good: Burnett wins number twelve with ten strikeouts and lasts seven innings. Matt Stairs to get the lead with two run HR. Ryan gets save number 20. Wilkerson and Inglett with back to back triples to make the score 3-1.

The bad: Jays wild hitters. First pitch swingers club Scutaro and Rios the worst offenders back to back in the sixth on two pitches. Rios hitless tonight. Two innings took only eleven pitches.

Top 1st: Iwamura at bat strikes out. One down, Upton at bat, full count, strikes out, Crawford at bat, strikes out.17 pitches. Great start for AJ….. Now for the bats.
Bottom 1st: Inglett at bat, grounds to Iwamura, throw to 1B just gets Inglett. Scutaro at bat fly ball out to Hinske in RF, two down. Rios, which Alex has turned up tonight? Who knows. Grounds to Bartlett at SS, throw gets him at 1B. Three up and won on 7 yes 7 pitches. Cito probably wishes Eckstein was leading off, he would take eight pitches just to get on base.

Top 2nd: Longoria at bat, singles to 3B Rolen throw not in time. Scott was playing back for Longoria. Pena,bunting? No, swinging away, now strikes him out, number four for AJ. Floyd singles hard to Wilkerson in RF. Two on, one down for Navarro, strikes out number five. Hinske at bat, 3-0 count, now full count, walks bases loaded. Bartlett at bat, grounds out to Overbay at 1B. AJ off the hook. 38 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay grounds out to 2B Iwamura, Barajas at bat grounds one very hard to 3B great diving stop by Longoria and throw to 1B gets Barajas, Stairs with two down strikes out on three pitches. Shields is just mowing the hitters down, 17 pitches.

Top 3rd: Iwamura singles to CF. Upton singles to RF Wilkerson, two on and no outs for Crawford. Grounds back to Burnett throw to Rolen at 3B ruled safe. Replay shows Rolen tagged him before he touched bag.Bases loaded no outs for Longoria and strikes him out bigtime. Pena at bat, grounds to Overbay drops the ball and gets Pena at 1B. Iwamura scores 1-0 Rays. Floyd at bat, Upton and Crawford in scoring position. Strikes him out…… number seven for Burnett tonight, this could have been much, much worse with bases loaded and no outs, but pitch count high at 52.
Bottom 3rd: Jays hitters have to get to Shields here. Rolen at bat 0-11 ouch, full count here at least gets hold of this one but caught at the LF wall by Crawford. Lind now the hottest Jay right now and there he goes again doubles into LF. This kid what can we say about him that has not been said before? Wilkerson at bat, with one in scoring position and one down. Lofts this one to LF centre, Crawford gets to it, two down. Inglett at bat, first pitch grounds to Butler at SS, throw to 1B and Inglett is out. Not a very smart at bat by Joe. 30 pitches by Shields 22 less than Burnett and I don’t wonder why with these free swinging Jays.

Top 4th: Navarro first pitch swing and high fly ball to Wilkerson in RF. One down. Hinske at bat, 3-0 count. Walks and this is another major difference between Rays and Jays. Patience at the plate. Bartlett at bat, pick off at 1B and Hinske is gone. Two down. Great pick off. Bartlett singles into CF. Iwamura at bat, lines out to Wilkerson in RF. Much better inning for AJ. 64 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Top of the order. Scutaro at bat, strikes out looking. Rios at bat, full count, grounds hard to Bartlett, knocks it down and still throws out Rios at 1B. Two down for Overbay. Strikes out on four pitches. Overbay in yet another slump, looks totally at sea at the plate. 45 pitches.

Top 5th: Upton at bat, strikes him out. Number eight. Crawford doubles to Lind in LF. Longoria at bat, grounds to Rolen throw to Overbay two down, Crawford no chance to move. Pena at bat fly ball out to Lind. 77 pitches but AJ is holding Rays for the hitters to break out but once again they appear to have gone south
Bottom 5th: Barajas at bat, singles into RF. Hit number two. Stairs OH BOY… gets hold of this one and just like that Jays are ahead. 2-1 Jays. Rolen loops this one to Iwamura, one down. Lind at bat strikes out this time. Wilkerson at bat, hits him on the hand. One on and two down for Inglett at bat strikes out. 64 pitches.

Top 6th: Floyd at bat, grounds to Overbay, diving play and throw to Burnett for the out at 1B. Navarro at bat, grounds to Scutaro and throws out Floyd at 1B. Hinske at bat, full count, walks for third time tonight. Bartlett at bat, grounds to Scutaro flip to 2B gets Hinske at 2B. 90 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Can Jays continue the hits from last inning? Yankees getting beaten up by Baltimore and Boston beating Angels. Scutaro first pitch swinging, fly ball out to LF. Crawford. Rios at bat and guess what first pitch swinging fly ball out to RF Hinske. Two pitches two outs. Cito you have major job with this crew. Overbay at bat, second pitch grounds out to 2B, four pitch inning, pathetic. 68 pitches.
Top 7th: The other problem with this wild swinging is that it puts more pressure on Jays pitcher, Burnett would have loved a little longer on the bench there. Apart from the fact that Shields will still be pitching tomorrow at this rate. Iwamura at bat, already takes more pitches than the last three Jays hitters. Full count here.strikes out. Number nine. Upton at bat with one down. Full count again. Walks him. Crawford at bat. Downs up in the bullpen. Upton stealing, throw off the wrong side of bag. Strike out and wild pitch , Upton to 3B and Crawford to 1B. 105 pitches. Longoria at bat, grounds to Scutaro flip to Inglett, ythrow to Overbay, YES sir, double play ball and Burnett is out of this. Poetic justice after that wild pitch strikeout. 110 pitches and ten strikeouts. Will that be AJ’s last inning for Jays? I don’t think so.
Bottom 7th: Now can Jays hitters take a few and score a few? I wouldn’t bet the house on either. Barajas at bat, full count here more pitches than the whole of the last inning by Jays, lines this one hard to Crawford in LF. One down for Stairs. Grounds back to Shields, throw to 1B and two down. Rolen at bat, you definitely need one here Scott. Almost but not quite, long fly ball out to Crawford in LF. Shields 84 pitches. Boston now losing to the Angels, Baltimore thrashing Yankees 11-0, in New York ouch. Jones grand slam.

Top 8th: Downs pitching. Pena at bat. Full count. Pops up to Inglett. Gomes now pinch hitting for Floyd. Downs a little wild here, Gomes lifts one to Wilkerson in RF. Two down. Navarro at bat, grounds to SS Scutaro throw gets Navarro at 1B. Good inning by Downs.
Bottom 8th: Shields still in here only 84 pitches. Lind gets hold it but lines out to RF Hinske. One down. Wilkerson, and Inglett to try to add to this total here for Ryan. Wilkerson at bat, lines it to CF under Upton’s dive ball to the wall and Wilkerson has a triple. His first of the season. Inglett at bat, must bring him in here Jays. Not showing bunt, 3-1 count. Full count. Inglett lines this one over the head of Upton in CF, ball goes to the wall again, Wilkerson scores and Inglett is in with another triple. 3-1 Jays and that is it for Shields. Too bad he pitched too well to gets this type of result. Balfour pitching, Scutaro at bat, one down, now can he bring in Inglett from 3B? 3-1 count. Pops it up to Iwamura at 2B, two down. Rios on centre stage here. Hitless tonight. Chance to break this open, takes second pitch right down the middle. Lines it hard to RF Hinske.

Top 9th: BJ Ryan now pitching for the save, Aybar pinch hitter for Hinske, Johnny Mc. at SS, Scutaro at 2B, Inglett in RF. Aybar lofts this one to shallow CF, Rios gets the catch. One down, Bartlett at bat, grounds to Rolen, throw to Overbay, two down. Iwamura at bat, grounds it to Johnny Mc and throw to Overbay gets third out. Jays win this one despite being outhit by Rays.Three up and down for BJ.

AJ gets the win. Jays pick up game on Rays and maybe also Boston and Yankees both losing right now. Jays now win 12 of last 17.