Halladay, defence and power hits beat Boston in Fenway

Series opener Toronto v Boston in Fenway. Saturday August 16, 2008.
Another huge series for Jays, Any win here will pull Boston back to them in wild card race which is the only race that Jays are in at this time. Jays last night’s game rained out so this a two game series before Jays head back to Toronto for Yankees series. Boston has five players over .300 average. Jays have no one. Boston also has four hitters with more RBIs.

Pitching: Halladay (13-9 .272 ERA). v Byrd, Jays faced and lost against Byrd last week when he was playing for Cleveland, so goes the last month in MLB.
Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Wilkerson, McDonald, and Halladay pitching.
Boston: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis, Drew, Bay, Lowrie, Casey, Varitek and Byrd pitching.

Result: Jays win 4-1.

The very good: Halladay on his own, complete game.

The good: Alex HR and triple came to play tonight. Lind HR and great defense behind Halladay, two double plays, Scutaro and Wilkerson catches.

The bad: Nothing tonight.

Top 1st: Inglett single to LF first pitch. One on for Scutaro, Inglett picked off at 1B, MAN this kid., get your head sorted out Joe. You are your own worst enemy. He was way off 1B. Scutaro singles to RF, Inglett’s brain lapse even worse here. Rios at bat, let’s hope he is not brain dead tonight.. he had his day off yesterday with rain out. He was just awful in Detroit. Gets hold of this one aiming at Green Monster. HR Rios. 2-0 Jays. Wells gets some chin music from Byrd. Pops it up to Pedroia at 2B, two down. Lind at bat, gets hold of one and long fly ball out into deepest part of Fenway in CF. Jays take early lead but could have been more but for Inglett’s error. You can’t give Boston anything Joe and definitely not at Fenway. 15 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Ellsbury strikes out on three pitches. One down for Pedroia grounds to Overbay throw to Halladay two down. Ortiz singles to LF wall. Youkilis with one on and two down. 3-0 count. Walks him. Drew at bat with two on. Lines out hard to CF for Wells. Nice catch Vernon. No damage for Halladay. 14 pitches.

Top 2nd: Barajas at bat singles up the middle, Overbay with one on, pops it up to Varitek behind plate, one down. Wilkerson at bat, one on one down. Pops it up to Youklis at 3B, not a good at bat by Wilkerson. two down. McDonald at bat, grounds up middle to Perdroia throw to Lowrie for third out. 31 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Bay singles into shallow LF. Lowrie at bat with one on lines hard to Overbay at 1`B steps on bag and doubles up Bay just a few feet off the bag. Casey at bat two down grounds out to Overbay for the third out.24 pitches. Rain starting again. We don’t need this tonight with Halladay pitching and winning right now.

Top 3rd: Top of the order again. Let’s hope Inglett has learned something. 3-0 count. Full count, singles up the middle, 2-2 tonight. Now stay on base Joe. Scutaro with one on. Lines out hard to Pedroia, throw to 1B but Inglett safe. One down for Rios fly ball out to Ellsbury CF two down. Wells at bat, that was the pitch Vernon right down the middle and lay off it, grounds next pitch to Lowrie SS throw to 2B for third out. 45 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Varitek at bat, full count, singles into RF. Halladay doesn’t appear sharp tonight. And no great curve ball so far. Ellsbury grounds to McDonald flip to Inglett, steps on bag to get Varitek, throw not in time at 1B. Ellsbury safe but one down. Pedroia grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett on to Overbay, that IS a double play. 34 pitches.

Top 4th: Lind at bat, high fly ball to RF corner, one down. Adam just got under that one. Barajas at bat, soft liner to Lowrie at SS, two down for Overbay, lines it off Byrd’s foot into foul ground at 3B. Lyle safe at 1B. One on two down for Wilkerson. Grounds to Pedroia flip to Casey at 1B. 62 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Ortiz at bat, pops up to Scutaro at 3B, one down. Youkilis at bat, lines hard to Scutaro diving catch for the out, great catch Marco. Two down. Drew at bat, bounces to McDonald, throw to Overbay for third out. Great inning for Halladay, his best so far. 42 pitches.

Top 5th: McDonald at bat, grounds to Lowrie throw to Casey for the first out. Inglett 2-2 tonight. Does he have Byrd’s number ? No, grounds out to Casey for second out. Scutaro at bat, two down. grounds to Lowrie, throw not in time Scutaro beats it out. Rios at bat, two down one on. Grounds to Youkilis at 3B throw to 2B to get Scutaro. 74 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Bay singles into shallow CF. One on for Lowrie strikes out looking, one down one on for Casey bounces to Inglett tags Bay, but throw wide and pulls Overbay off the bag safe at 1B. Inglett should have flipped to McDonald at 2B, he would have had better chance at the double play. Varitek with two down and one on, pops up to Inglett at 2B. Inglett breathes again, no damage done. 54 pitches.

Top 6th: Wells loops this one, great over shoulder catch by Pedroia at 2B. Lind gets hold of this one over the wall in LF, HR to Adam. 3-0 Jays. Barajas fly ball to LF corner. Bay makes the catch. Two down. Overbay at bat, two down. Gets hold of this one and long fly ball out at CF wall by Ellsbury. Excellent catch at the wall. Jays hitters letting go here, but only Lind scores. Quick and short inning for Byrd. 80 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Ellsbury at bat, grounds to Scutaro, throw in time at 1B to get Ellsbury, one down for Pedroia. Fly ball out to Wells in CF. Two down. Ortiz at bat, lines hard to LF, Wilkerson great leaping catch at the wall to get Ortoz. Defence has been excellent so far behind Halladay. 68 pitches.

Top 7th: Wilkerson at bat, should be fired up after that catch. Lines out to right center, Drew makes great running catch to rob Wilkerson of a double here. McDonald grounds to Pedroia for second out. Inglett at bat, grounds to Pedroia throw to Casey at 1B for third out, Three up and down quickly here. 88 pitches. I wish these guys would take a few, Byrd could and should be out of the game by now.
Bottom 7th: Youkilis fly ball out to Rios in RF. One down. Drew singles to RF. Bay 2-2 tonight. Grounds to Scutaro, throw Inglett on to Overbay another double play to help Halladay here. This team has a bundle of IOUs for Roy this season and he is cashing some of them in tonight. 80 pitches.

Top 8th: Scutaro at bat. Delcarmen and Kopez up in Boston bullpen. Fly ball out to Drew in RF, one down. Rios now 3-0 count. Gets hold of this one into CF, off the CF wall over head of Ellsbury, three bases here. Wells with Alex at 3B. Bring him in Vernon. That’s my man Vernon, singles up the middle into CF, 4-0 Jays. That’s it for Byrd tonight. 96 pitches. Lind at bat with Vernon at 1B and one down. Javier Lopez now pitching. Strikes out. Two down for Barajas pops it up to Pedroia in shallow center for third out.
Bottom 8th: Lowrie pops it up to Inglett at 2B. Casey at bat one down, singles to LF. Varitek with one on and one down. Timlin up in Boston bullpen. Varitek full count, strikes him out. GREAT pitching Roy. Two down for Ellsbury, grounds first pitch to Inglett, throw to Overbay to get Ellsbury for third out. 93 pitches.

Top 9th: Overbay at bat, full count, good patient at bat by Lyle here, strikes out this time. Wilkerson at bat grounds to 2B Pedroia throw to Casey for second out at 1B. McDonald at bat, 0-3 tonight. Grounds to Youkilis throw to Casey for third out.
Bottom 9th: Pedroia at bat, first pitch, this one is hit hard, hard, hard and is out of here above Green Monster. 4-1 Jays. Ortiz now no outs. BJ Ryan up pitching in bullpen. No lead is safe in this place. Grounds to Inglett deep behind Overbay on the shift right for Ortiz. One down. Youkilis full count, lines out to Inglett at 2B. Two down. Drew at bat two down, strikes him out. Number eight complete game by Halladay. 110 pitches.