Litsch throws this one away, Wells is also the goat tonight as Mariners win one in the ninth.

Tuesday July 1,2008. Jays v Mariners

Pitchers: Litsch 8-4, .322 ERA v Ryan Rowland-Smith. 2-1, 2.55ERA
Rowland –Smith out of bullpen as Hernandez was injured last game. We should see committee of pitchers tonight.

Result: Mariners win bottom of ninth 7-6.

The good: Lind three hits and three RBIs, Scutaro and Zaun two hits, Wells 3-4.
The bad: Errors cost them the game literally. Wells poor baserunning in fourth cost Jays a run on following hit. Litsch throwing error cost them two. Three runs friends.

Lineups: Toronto Eckstein, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, Lind, McDonald and Litsch pitching.
Seattle: Suzukie, Lopez, Ibanez, Vidro, Beltre, Reed, Sexson, Clement, Betancourt and Ryan Rowland-Smith pitching.

The game: Top 1st: Eckstein at bat pops up to SS Betancourt shallow left as the train goes through the stadium. One down for Scutaro. Gets hold of one here but Ibanez just gets this at the 388ft wall. Rios at bat pops up to Lopez at 2B. Not an impressive at bat by Alex. Rowland –Smith 12 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Ichiro at bat singles to LF. Lopez at bat strikes out, one down. Ibanez at bat full count. Bounces one off the plate, both Overbay and Litsch go for it, no one to throw to at 1B. Two on one down. Vidro at bat, first pitch grounds back to Litsch, throw to Johnny Mc at 2B throw to Overbay double play. Just what Jesse needed here. 17 pitches.

Top 2nd: Wells at bat, first pitch swinging of course. Third pitch grounds down to 3B. One down. Another train going through loudly. Overbay at bat strikes out, Rolen at bat Smith has perfect five up and down so far. Rolen pops up to catcher Clement in front of dugout. So far Jays hitters are missing bigtime. 25 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Yankees and Boston have both lost. Orioles and Rays have won. Beltre at bat, singles up the middle, one on no outs. Reed at bat lines this on to Lind in LF great catch. One down. Sexson at bat grounds back to Litsch gets Beltre at 2B throw to Overbay not in time for Sexson. Two down one on. Clement at bat Sexson stealing poor throw by Zaun Johnny Mc almost misses it. Now Litsch hits Clement. Two on two down. Betancourt at bat grounds to McDonald throw to 2B gets Clement.

Top 3rd: Zaun at bat, pops up to Sexson, seven up and down so far, Jays not impressing. Lind at bat now here we go, Lind singles hard to RF Ichiro. McDonald at bat pops up to Sexson. First pitch swing hard liner to LF, Ibanez catch at the wall. 34 pitches only. Not good Jays should be lighting up this guy, he is not a starter.
Bottom 3rd: Ichiro second at bat, fly ball to Lind in LF. One down, Lopez at bat. Grounds back to Litsch throw to Overbay, two down. Ibanez at bat fly ball out to Lind. That is a much better inning for Jesse. 52 pitches.

Top 4th: Scutaro singles to LF. Rios at bat 3-0 count, walks, two on no outs for Wells. Finally Vernon, doubles to right centre. Scutaro scores, Rios held at 3B. 1-0 Jays. Overbay is hit first pitch to load bases for Rolen. Still no outs. Pops up to Betancourt in shallow left. Not a good at bat by Scott there. Zaun now bases still loaded. That’s better. Singles to LF, Rios scores, 2-0 Jays. Vernon out at 3B, he held up and went back to 2B, didn’t turn to watch ball, that was an easy base. Not good by Vernon. Two down, two on for Lind. Singles to RF corner, I like this kid. Overbay scores, Zaun to 2B. 3-0 Jays. Makes error by Wells even harder to take. That’s it for Rowland-Smith. 62 pitches. Roy Corcoran now pitching. McDonald at bat, seventh Jays hitter this inning, two on two down. First pitch ground out to Betancourt. Should have been better inning without base running error by Wells.
Bottom 4th: Vidro at bat lines out to Rios in RF. One down. Beltre at bat singles to left. Reed chops it high to Scutaro throws Beltre out at 1B. Two down. Sexson at bat. grounds to Litsch, poor throw by Jesse throws it away over Overbay’s head. Beltre scores error on play. 3-1 Jays. Sexson gets to 2B. Clement singles to LF, Sexson to 3B. Bettancourt at bat with singles to RF Sexson scores 3-2 Jays. Error has cost him two runs so far. Ichiro now runners at 2B and 1B. Grounds to Scutaro, out at 1B. Litsch should have been out of this without a run if he had his throw to 1B, he had the time to get Sexson, just rushed it. 70 pitches.

Top 5th: Jays hitters have to get Litsch back in this one. Eckstein at bat, grounds to Bettancourt. Scutaro singles to right centre, second hit tonight. Rios at bat OH NO. lines hard right at Sexson, double play ball. This game is slipping away from them, they were cruising. Mariners are right back on this one now.
Bottom 5th: Jays need a good inning from Litsch here. Lopez first pitch fly ball to Wells. One down. Ibanez at bat singles up the middle, 2-3 tonight, runner going Zaun gets him great throw Gregg. Two down. Vidro at bat grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay. 78 pitches. Eight pitch inning for Jesse exactly what the doctor ordered. Now the hitters have to do something.

Top 6th: Wells at bat, can he make up for his poor base running last at bat? OK that will do, singles up the middle. Another train loud appreciation for that hit. Overbay at bat singles to Lopez this could be double play, NO ! right through his legs into centre right. Wells gets to 3B. That was an easy double play there. Rolen now, no outs and Vernon at 3B. Walks him. Bases loaded again. No outs. Zaun at bat. YES Gregg, singles to right. Vernon scores. Overbay held at 3B. 4-2 Jays. Bases loaded again for Lind, no outs. YES INDEED Adam drives double into LF. Overbay and Rolen score. 6-2 Jays. Lind 3-3 tonight. McDonald at bat, high chopper for Bettancourt and out at 1B. One down. Eckstein at bat, NO, Stairs is pinch hitting. Crowd loves it, it is Canada Day and the Canadian is hitting. Coincidentally Matt’s sister is at the game with RCMP detachment from Kelowna and holding the Canadian flag tonight for the anthem. That’s it for Corcoran though. Zaun at 3B, Lind at 2B and one down. Jiminez pitching. Stairs strikes out. Second out. Scutaro now at bat full count. Grounds to Betancourt.
Bottom 6th: Beltre first pitch swinging gets hold of this one, fly ball out to Wells at the wall. Reed singles to right off Overbay’s glove and also Scutaro. Sexson at bat full count. Lines hard catch to Rolen, throw to Overbay, Reed back in time. Clement loops one in front of Wells, Reed at 2B. Betancourt at bat singles up the middle Reed scores. 6-3 Jays. That’s it for Litsch, 90 pitches but losing control here. Carlson now pitching. Two out two on for Ichiro. Grounds it to McDonald flip to Scutaro at 2B. Nice pitching Jesse.

Top 7th: Rios at bat hitless tonight. High fly ball to Reed in CF. Wells at bat with two hits tonight. Drops this one in shallow right centre. Overbay at bat also hitless but hit by pitch and scored. Strikes out. Rolen with Vernon at 1B. Scott also hitless, pops up to Lopez at 2B.
Bottom 7th: Carlson still pitching here. Lopez at bat grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay, one down. Ibanez strikes out. Two down. Vidro at bat, bangs this one up the middle. Beltre at bat two down one on. NO…… Beltre lines big one into RF corner on a 0-2 count, two run HR makes this game 6-5 Jays. Bloomquist one run game now. Fly ball to Rios in RF.

Top 8th: Jays need to get it going again here. Zaun at bat has had a good game so far with bat tonight. Arthur Rhodes pitching. Full count to Gregg. Grounds to SS Betancourt, Zaun safe at 1B on the throw. Lind at bat 3-3 count, strikes out this time but he has had a good game. Johnny Mc at bat, one down. Lines this one to Bloomquist at CF. Two down. Stairs at bat yes Matt, singles to LF. Two on, two down. Scutaro at bat, that’s it for Rhodes. Sean Green pitching. Fifth pitcher for Seattle tonight. Scutaro 2-4 tonight, wild pitch here both runners move up into scoring position. Single will score them both Marco. Watches strike three.
Bottom 8th: Downs now pitching. Sexson at bat full count, there it goes, you could sense this one coming. HR to LF. 6-6. Clement at bat strikes out. One down. Betancourt at bat, taps this one in front of plate, Downs throw to 1B gets the out. Ichiro at bat. Bunts to 1B, Downs flips it past Overbay but Scutaro saves it from going into dugout and an extra base or Ichiro. Lopez at bat, strikes out.

Top 9th: This comes down to heart of Jays order that has been just awful tonight. Rios, Rolen and Overbay all hitless. Now is the time to earn that money friends. Only Vernon with three hits has come through. Brandon Morrow pitching. Sixth pitcher tonight. Rios at bat. Strikes out. Wells at bat, can he do it again? Strikes out. You can feel this game fading away from Jays. Overbay at bat two down. Full count for Lyle, walks him, nice at bat Lyle. Rolen now at bat his turn. Strikes out. Don’t tell me that the new hitting coaches are making a difference to this team.
Bottom 9th: Downs still pitching. Ibanez at bat walks him. This is not Downs night. Vidro at bat, bunts in front of plate, Rolen throw to 1B gets Vidro. Ibanez at 2B. Beltre at bat, intentional walk. Bloomquist at bat. Two on one down. That’s it for Downs, Shawn Camp now pitching but has not pitched in ten days. First pitch singles to LF centre. 7-6 Mariners. Not a good game for Jays giving this one up leading into the eighth. And also leading 6-2 at one stage.