Halladay almost perfect and wins this one.

Series opener Toronto v Oakland Monday August 4, 2008.

Preview: Oakland 53-57 have lost 15 of their last 17, Toronto not much better 55-56 lost yesterday for its fourth loss in five games. Oakland are probably happy to get the Jays and perhaps get some momentum back for themselves in Toronto. Oakland has swept its last two series at Rogers Centre, including the last one in April and they need to break out of their own slump. Halladay lost his last start in Tampa but had no run support. Lots of kids here tonight, too bad they are here for the fireworks and not the baseball. Jays are not an attractive night out these days.

Pitching: Halladay 12-8, .285 ERA v Sean Gallagher 4-4, .411 ERA

Lineups: Oakland: Hannahan, Suzuki, Cust, Thomas, Gonzalez, Brown, Ellis, Crosby, Barton and Gallagher pitching.
Toronto: Scutaro, Eckstein, Rios, Overbay, Barajas, Lind, Stairs, Wilkerson, McDonald, and Halladay pitching.

The good: Halladay almost perfect. Nothing much else tonight.
The bad: Jays hitters. Leave twelve on base and are 3/13 with runners in scoring position. Not good at all. They win this one mainly through the great pitching of Halladay and also the erratic pitching of Gallagher, walks, hit batsmen and wild pitches.

Top 1st: Hannahan full count, fly ball out to Rios in CF. one down for Suzuki strikes out, Cust at bat, full count, strikes him out.17 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro at bat playing 3B for Rolen for second game in a row to give Rolen’’s shoulder a break, lets hope he is thinking better tonight. Patience here Marco tonight. Full count and walks him. Eckstein, getting a rare start at 2B and hitting number two, I think that is much better one two in the lineup. Eckstein grounds to Ellis 2B throw to Crosby gets Scutaro but no double play. One down for Rios. Is he in the game tonight? Full count and down and away two strikes and Alex swings for the 1,000 time this season. Two down for Overbay. First pitch fly ball out to Cust in LF. 18 pitches. This team is SO difficult to watch sometimes.

Top 2nd: Roy my man, I think you will have to go the distance tonight based on the first inning hitters. Big Hurt at bat, you know he wants to show JP what he is really worth tonight. Full count. Thomas walks. That should not hurt them and in fact help any double play ball. Gonzalez, at bat, first pitch fly ball out to Wilkerson, one down. Emil Brown, there we go, grounds to Scutaro throw to Eckstein on to Overbay, double play ball…. 29 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Barajas at bat, Zaun did nothing yesterday to get him more playing time. 3-0 count. Walks on four pitches. Lind at bat, why does a guy swing at a pitcher who has just thrown four balls? I guess Adam thought he would get one down the middle. Now Adam singles to LF on two strikes. Two on and no outs for Stairs. Full count on a pitch way up and outside. Strikes out. Wilkerson at bat, two on and one out. Strikes out. Gallagher likes these hitters. McDonald at bat 3-0 count. Walks him. Now up to 47 pitches. Scutaro with bases loaded but two outs. That was the pitch Marco right down the middle. Next pitch hits him on the elbow and walks in a run Barajas, Jays will take it anyway they can. 1-0 Jays. Bases still loaded for Eckstein. Pops it up to 2B Ellis. Jays leave three on base. 53 pitches for Gallagher. Jays take early lead but realistically this should have been a breakout inning and more runs. This team seems incapable of putting together a big inning and knocking a team out early.

Top 3rd: Ellis at bat, fly ball into shallow CF. Alex misjudges this one and lets it drop. Alex is no Vernon in CF. Crosby with one on. Full count. Grounds up the middle but Ellis was running and too late for double play but McDonald gets Crosby at 1B, one down. Barton at bat, grounds to Eckstein throw to Overbay for second out. Ellis at 3B. Hannahan at bat with runner Ellis at 3B. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for the out. 46 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Rios at bat, really long overdue for this guy to show he is worth $65 million. He has shown no leadership with Vernon injured. That’s better Alex, he heard me, doubles to the CF wall. Overbay now with Alex at 2B. Must get this run in here. Will Alex steal 3B? Overbay walks. Walk number four tonight. Barajas at bat, we need hits though, not runners. Thank you Rod, singles up the middle but coach Leyva holds Alex at 3B. Gonzalez was on that one very quick in shallow CF. Bases loaded. Lind at bat, Hits him on the foot and Alex scores 2-0 Jays and bases loaded. Still no hits for these RBIs. Stairs at bat Another wild pitch over Stairs head to the backstop and Overbay scores 3-0 Jays. BUT still no bit hits. Stairs with runners at 2B and 3B. No outs. Full count. Gets hold of one but just wide of foul pole. Had the distance. Dan Meyer up in the Oakland bullpen. Singles into RF. Barajas scores Lind held at 3B. 4-0 Jays. Wilkerson at bat with Lind at 3B and Stairs at 1B. No outs. 80 pitches for Gallagher and still no outs. High fly ball out to CF Gonzalez, Lind tags and scores. 5-0 Jays and one down for McDonald. Stairs still at 1B. Full count. Pops up to SS Crosby, two down. Scutaro now, full count, strikes out and end of a nightmare inning for Gallagher. 94 pitches. 41 pitch inning. Good to see a 5-0 Jays score but Cito must be concerned about lack of hits again with runners in scoring position.

Top 4th: Halladay has a good lead to just relax and throw strikes. Suzuki at bat, fly ball out to Wilkerson in RF. One down Cust doubles to the LF wall, Lind is no Reed Johnston maybe should have had that one. Thomas at bat, with one out. Strikes out, crowd loves that. Two down. Gonzalez strikes out number four tonight and 62 pitches for Roy.
Bottom 4th: Dan Meyer now pitching. Jays hitters need to make a statement here, they have Oakland on the ropes, can they put this game out of reach and run up a score? Not very often this season and it cost them two big wins in Texas at the weekend, after leading early 6-0 and 4-0 and losing both games. Eckstein at bat, grounds out to Ellis 2B but Eckstein beats this one out with his hustle. Rios now at bat, first pitch fouls out to Ellis in right field. That’s exactly why he has not shown any leadership, but I really believe that he is not a thinking hitter, he tries to get by on his raw talent and right now that is not good enough. Overbay strikes out. Barajas at bat, two down Eckstein still at 1B. Full count here for Rod, good at bat. Can teach Rios something. Broken bat fly ball out to Gonzalez in shallow CF. Leadoff Eckstein is left on base.

Top 5th: Brown at bat, strikes out, number five for Halladay tonight. Ellis at bat, grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for second out. Crosby at bat, singles to Rios in CF. Barton grounds to Scutaro, throw to Overbay for the out. 78 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Lind at bat, first pitch fly ball out to Gonzalez, Stairs at bat, strikes out looking, Wilkerson at bat, full count, doubles hard to CF wall. Nice hit for Brad. McDonald first pitch swing fly ball out to Cust in LF, leaves Wilkerson at 2B.

Top 6th: Hannahan at bat strikes out. Suzuki at bat, strikes out. Number seven. Crowd gets free pizza tomorrow. Cust at bat grounds back to Halladay, flip to Overbay for the out. 89 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Jays have not scored since the 3rd. They just cannot break out for a big win. Scutaro doubles first pitch to LF wall. Eckstein at bat, lines out to Ellis at 2B. Rios at bat, runner in scoring position and one down. Meyer hits him on thigh. Two on. Overbay at bat two on. Grounds to Barton at 1B, both runners move up. Barajas with two more in scoring position and two down. Just need a hit here Rod. Full count. Pops up to Ellis at 2B. Jays hitters continue that runless streak since the 3rd. 2/9 now with runners in scoring position and have left 9 on base. Ouch. Not good enough friends.

Top 7th: Thomas at bat, fly ball out to Rios in shallow CF. Gonzalez at bat grounds out to Overbay, two down. Brown at bat, grounds to Scutaro at 3B throw to Overbay to get third out. 100 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Lind at bat, the last two games Lind has not looked sharp. Has not been as patient as he normally is. Hears me. Now 3-0 full count. Strikes out. Stairs at bat, singles to RF past Barton diving for the ball. Wilkerson at bat, high fly ball out to CF Gonzalez. Two down for McDonald. Fly ball out to Cust and Jays leave another on base. Number ten for the night.

Top 8th: Ellis at bat, fly ball out to Wilkerson. Crosby at bat this one has gone high fly ball HR into LF and Jays 5-1. Barton at bat lines out to Rios in F. Two down. Hannahan at bat, strikes out, number eight. 115 pitches for Roy.
Bottom 8th: It would be nice to get a run or two from Jays hitters. They don’t want Oakland to take anything positive from this one. Oakland relievers have shut them down since the 3rd. Top of Jays order Scutaro. Jerry Blevins pitching. Fly ball out to Brown in shallow RF. Eckstein at bat, doubles hard into LF corner, Rios now at bat with runner in scoring position, loops it into shallow CF Gonzalez just misses this one and Eckstein can only get to 3B. Alex at 1B. Overbay with Eckstein at 3B. Grounds to Hannahan throw to the plate, Eckstein safe as he knocks ball out of Suzuki glove. 6-1 Jays. Barajas with two on and one down. Grounds to Crosby SS throw to 2B gets Overbay. Barajas safe at 1B Rios at 3B. Lind now, not a good night so far. Has a chance to do something positive. Pops it up to Ellis at 2B. Jays leave twelve on base tonight and hit 3/13 with runners in scoring position.

Top 9th: Downs pitching. Suzuki at bat. Lines out to Rios in CF. One down. Cust at bat one down. Grounds to McDonald great dive to stop ball but throw not in time. Thomas at bat, don’t go away friends. He could make it interesting with one on base. 3-0 count. Walks Frank.Semi-intentional walk here? Gonzalez at bat, grounds to McDonald gets Gonzalez at 1B. Two down. Brown with two in scoring position strikes out. Jays win this one 6-1. Back to .500.
Tampa losing, Boston and Yankees winning. Jays need lots of help to move anywhere.