Toronto v New York. Series opener. Friday August 29, 2008.
After the very disappointing series in Tampa, Jays need to sweep Yankees to make this interesting. Big news here comes Travis Snider and revolving door sends Matt Stairs to Phillies. Great for everyone. Matt was losing his bat speed anyway, but has chance to play baseball in October. Snider is the phenom rocketing through the organization.
Pitching: Pavano v Burnett
Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Barajas, Rolen, Snider and Burnett pitching. This is the strongest lineup (on paper) that Jays have put out all season in my opinion. Let’s see what happens.
New York: Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Giambi, Nady, Matsui, Cano, Pudge Rodriguez and Carl Pavano pitching.
Result: Jays lose 2-1.
The very, very good: AJ Burnett threw complete game and loses this one. He should not have lost this one the way he pitched. Yankees needed six pitcher s to stay with AJ.
The good: Snider good defensive play and his first hit and first run. Nice debut.
The bad: The hitting lineup yet again. Going into another slump at the worst possible time although to be fair perhaps this team was playing above themselves the last couple of weeks and are now reverting back to normal form. Rios, Lind, Overbay and Rolen hitless tonight, that is nothing to boast about friends. Jays leave five on base and were a horrible 1/7 with runners in scoring position.
Game: Top 1st: Inglett at bat, singles into CF. One on for Scutaro, bunt is on first pitch, nice bunt Marco Inglett makes 2B easily. Scutaro out on throw by Pavano to Giambi at 1B. One down for Rios. Gets hold of it hard but Nady gets it at the track in LF. Two down. Wells, full count, lines hard out to Abreu in RF at the track. 16 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Damon at bat, singles to RF corner. Jeter one on grounds to Scutaro, flip to Inglett, on to Overbay, double play, Burnett loves that, two down. Abreu at bat, grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay for third out. 9 pitches.
Top 2nd: Lind at bat, DH tonight as Snider is in LF. 3-0 count here. Walks him, one on for Overbay. Grounds to Jeter, throw to Cano on to Giambi, double play ball. Two down for Barajas high fly ball out to Damon in CF. 29 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Alex Rodriguez grounds to Overbay, throw to Burnett for out at 1B. Close though, A-Rod moves fast down that line. Giambi, strikes him out, nice pitching AJ. Two down for Nady, strikes out. 20 pitches for AJ. He is pitching for Cy Young Award now and not least a great contract off-season who knows could be in New York.
Top 3rd: Rolen with his first bat on return from DL. Fly ball out to Damon in shallow CF. Snider first major league at bat, can you imagine this kid was in High School in 2006 ???, lines out to Jeter, he will remember that at bat. Inglett first pitch NO Joe, fly ball out to Damon to end inning. Joe that was not good at bat. 36 pitches. Seven pitch inning !
Bottom 3rd: Matsui at bat, grounds to Rolen throw to Overbay for first out. Cano with one down, long fly ball out to Wells in CF, two down. Pudge Rodriguez grounds to Overbay flip to Burnett only just gets Pudge at 1B. That was very close for third out. 33 pitches.
Top 4th: Scutaro at bat, lines out to Abreu into RF. One down. Rios first pitch, yes that’s right, Alex pops this one up to pitcher’s mound for Cano. Two down. Wells grounds second pitch to 3B. Throw to Giambi for third out but awful, awful at bats by Rios, Wells and in earlier inning by Inglett. 42 pitches.
Bottom 4th: You do not very often see Yankees hitters blindly swinging at first pitch counts, they are very patient and work the count. Different style from Cito and his coaching crew. Damon again, singles to RF corner great throw by Alex to hold Damon at 1B. Jeter at bat, Damon stealing great throw gets there in time but ball knocked out of Scutaro’s glove by Damon. Jeter strikes out swinging. One down. Abreu at bat, 3-0 count here. Doubles to left centre, Damon scores 1-0 Yankees. A-Rod grounds to Scutaro throw to Rolen not in time and Abreu safe as is A-Rod at 1B. Two on one down. Giambi at bat, fly ball to LF corner, great leaping catch by Snider, Abreu tags and scores 2-0 Yankees. Two down. A-Rod at 2B. Nady grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for the out. 51 pitches.
Top 5th: Let’s see what the under achieving bats can do this time…. Jays have not impressed with the bats in the last three games. Lind at bat, another fly ball out to Nady in LF. Overbay at bat, one down. full count, fly ball out to Damon in CF. Jays hitters have been getting under their hits all night long. Two down for Barajas, here’s another one right to the LF wall but just another long fly ball out. 54 pitches.
Bottom 5th: I feel sorry for Jays pitchers. They are getting no support from the hitters this week. You have to wonder whether some of them have packed it in for the season and are just playing out the games. They are certainly hitting like it. They have scored two runs in the last 23 innings. Matsui grounds to right of mound, nice recovery by Burnett to throw him out at 1B. One down for Cano. Doubles to CF wall. (Pudge) Rodriguez, grounds to Rolen, throw gets Rodriguez at 1B. Two down. Damon yet again… always seems to be at bat. 3-0 count. Walks, semi-intentional I think with Cano at 2B. Jeter at bat, strikes him out and AJ leaves two on. Good pitching by AJ. 71 pitches.
Top 6th: When oh when will Jays hitters get going? Rolen, Snider and Inglett this inning. Rolen pops it up to Jeter, one down. Snider has he learned anything? But what a lot of pressure on this kid and in New York as well. YES Travis…. gets hold of this pitch, hard drive and doubles here over Damon’s head bounces over the wall. 1st career hit, congratulations Travis very nice hit. Inglett now fly ball to Nady in shallow LF. Nice running catch. Two down for Scutaro. Singles into CF and Snider scores from 2B on Damon’s throw gets his first run… 2-1 Yankees. Rios now, I hope he watched that kid’s approach, might learn something. Brian Burney warming up in Yankees bullpen. Full count to Alex now. Strikes out swinging. But that was Snider’s inning. 70 pitches. Tampa and Boston in the lead so far tonight.
Bottom 6th: Abreu at bat, lines hard up the middle right at Burnett. (Alex) Rodriguez with one on. Grounds to Scutaro, flip to Inglett on to Overbay double play ball. Yankee fans booing A-Rod. And before ball gets to Scutaro…. Giambi at bat, strikes out, number five tonight for AJ. 83 pitches.
Top 7th: Now can the middle of Jays order do as well here as the rookie 20 year old? We need hits and a big inning friends. Bruney now pitching. Wells at bat, pops it up behind home plate, what is wrong with these hitters tonight getting under so many pitches? One down and Vernon 0-3 tonight. That’s it for Bruney. Damaso Marte pitching. Lind at bat, strikes out on three pitches. Overbay with two down. Fly ball to Damon in CF and Jays go very quietly and meekly. Their collective hitting over the last week has been pitiful. Would be interesting to hear what Gene Tenace and Cito have to say about it.
Bottom 7th: Nady at bat, strikes out. Matsui at bat, grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay for second out. Cano at bat two down. Singles past Rolen into LF. (Pudge) Rodriguez with one on and two down. Strikes him out, number seven for AJ. 97 pitches. Boston 7-0 and Tampa 10-0 running away with their games.
Top 8th: Jays chances limited now, this is their last inning before Rivera gets in there. You have to wonder what is wrong with the hitters this week. Three runs in the last three games. They have had innings with more. Jose Veras pitching, fourth pitcher tonight. Barajas at bat. Ground rule double into LF corner. Now Scott Rolen, Eckstein pinch running for Barajas. Would love Scott to get a hit here. 3-1 count. Walks him. Two on for guess who? Travis Snider again, great chance for Travis. That’s it for Veras. Edwar Ramirez now pitching, strikes out. That’s OK Travis showed some patience at bat, we don’t see much of that with this tea. One down. Another pitcher, Rivera now to finish this one off. Yankees have used six pitchers, Jays are still with Burnett. Inglett grounds to Jeter, throw to 2B to get Rolen. Two on two down. Scutaro at bat, Strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Top of Yankees order. Does AJ stay in there? That’s was Cito’s mistake last game. Yes is still in there to face Damon. Zaun catching. 3-0 count. Fly ball out to Rios in RF. One down. Downs up in bullpen. Jeter at bat, grounds first pitch to Scutaro throw to Overbay for second out. Abreu at bat, strikes him out. Eight strikeouts for Burnett tonight he has done very well but without run support it is all wasted apart from the scouts watching him for next year.
Top 9th: Last chance for Jays and the big bats to do it. Rios, Wells and Lind. Alex not a great game tonight 0-3. Ransom in at 1B for Giambi. Strikes out, far too tentative. Wells at bat, singles into shallow RF. First hit tonight. Lind at bat one down one on. Called third strike. Adam for some reason is not playing well at all. Overbay with two down. First pitch grounds to Jeter throw to 2B for the out. Jays lose another.
Now three runs in the last 27 innings. Fire the hitting coach ???? The Manager ? Hard to think what to do with this group right now.
Some good news, Mike Weir blows away the field today with his 61 and takes a three run lead into tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment