Jays, same old story with the lack of hitting despite very good outing by Litsch and bullpen.

Toronto v Tampa. Series finale. Thursday August 28,2008.

Stating the obvious Jays really need this one, not only to win the series but to keep pace with Yankees who have beaten Red Sox this afternoon. Jays go into New York this weekend for head to head to establish who will be third.

Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Barajas, Bautista, McDonald and Litsch pitching. No Stairs which I agree with.
Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Gross, Riggans, Bartlett and Jackson pitching.

Pitching: Litsch 9-7 4.01 ERA v Jackson 10-8 3.93 ERA.

Result: Jays lose 3-2 but this game was not close.

The good: Jesse Litsch pitched very well but had no run support at all. Good defence of course once again from Johnny Mc and Scutaro tonight, but that’s it. What if ? lots of those but a key at bat was the hit by Inglett in first inning and great diving catch by Hinske. If that had been a double Jays would have scored first run on Vernon’s fly ball out later in the inning. Kudos to Hinske though.
The bad: The hitters or rather the lineup as the hitters were missing once again for the second game in a row until the eight inning when game was almost over. Bautista ?? Now 0-12 since joining the Jays. Does Cito sit him for the rest of the season? He really is a bust to date. At least Mench and Wilkerson hit occasionally, but Cito knows that next week the kids from AAA will be here and you know they will be out to impress. And some of them have lots of power.And to tell you the truth, the fans will probably enjoy seeing the young players actually trying to win a game.

The very, very bad: Vernon at 3B and no outs in the sixth and three poor hitless at bats although at least Lyle hit his hard. Nine left on base and 2/9 with runners in scoring position. This has to be top priority for spring training in 2009.
The game: Top 1st: Inglett slices it to LF corner, Hinske incredible diving catch saves two bases. Tampa defence has been saving them this series especially last night in the ninth, with Ruggiano taking away extra bases with catch at the wall. Scutaro at bat, grounds slowly to Aybar at 3B throw to Pena gets the out. Rios, this pitch way high and inside and hits Alex on the hand, that was rough and could have been much worse, Alex is flat on his back trying to avoid getting hit on the body. Wells at bat, Alex has to make Jackson pay for that one. Vernon, fly ball out to Upton in CF. 14 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Iwamura doubles off RF wall. Upton singles to RF, Iwamura moves to 3B. Pena with two on and no one out. Pops this one up to McDonald, runners have to hold, one down. Floyd at bat fly ball out to Wells, Iwamura tags and scores from 3B. 1-0 Rays. Aybar two down and Upton at 1B. Singles into LF corner, Upton moves to 3B, Jesse not fooling anyone tonight. Hinske at bat with two on, grounds out to Overbay. That could have been much worse for Jays. 13 pitches.

Top 2nd: Lind DH tonight, will be interesting to see how he does without being in the game. Strikes out swinging at one in the dirt, not good Adam. Overbay at bat grounds to Iwamura cannot get it and Lyle safe at 1B. Error on the play. Barajas with one down and one on. Gets hold of this one, over the head of Gross in RF off the wall but Lyle holds at 2B. Bautista now with two on. Still looking to make an impact for Jays. Strikes out. Two down for Johnny Mc. Fly ball out to Hinske in LF. Leaves two on base. 35 pitches. Jays have to make the most of their opportunities the way they have been playing.
Bottom 2nd: Gross at bat, grounds to Johnny Mc throw to Overbay for first out. Riggans at bat singles up the middle. One on one down for Bartlett grounds this one up the middle but great diving stop by Johnny Mc. and from the ground gloves it to Scutaro to get Riggans at 2B, what a great play by both of them. Two down, one on for Iwamura, grounds hard back at Jesse who saves it himself, throw to Lyle for the out. 36 pitches.

Top 3rd: Inglett at bat, good at bat and walks on full count. One on for Scutaro, Jays have not scored in 11 innings in Tampa. Inglett stealing and out by a mile as Scutaro swings at ball outside. That was a hit and run but ball was way outside no way for Marco to hit it. Now grounds up the middle Bartlett throw not in time Marco safe at 1B. Rios now, what can he do? He owes this guy from last at bat. Pops this one up to Aybar at 3B. Wells at bat, also pops it up to Aybar in foul ground. Very disappointing with lead hitter on. Jays hitters are very flat and listless in Tampa right now, one of the worst times to be in such a slump. They really need these wins. 53 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Upton grounds first pitch to Bautista throw to Overbay for first down. Pena at bat, huge hit here to RF corner but foul, Jesse breathes again. Full count, strikes out. Floyd at bat two down. Gets hold of this one, way out of here deep into right center seats. No question about that hit. 2-0 Rays. Aybar at bat grounds this one off leg of Litsch into centre field. Hinske at bat, 3-0 count, fly ball out to Inglett in LF. Jesse needs some run support friends. 54 pitches.

Top 4th: Twelve scoreless innings and counting, what happened to the power surge we saw against Boston last week? Maddeningly inconsistent all season long. Lind at bat, fly ball out to Hinske in LF. Overbay singles into RF. Barajas at bat, fly ball out to Upton in CF, two down. Bautista at bat, lines it up the middle but good shoe level catch by Upton. 70 pitches, and thirteen scoreless innings which will win you zilch games. The problem is the Jays hitters don’t even look as if they can score runs.
Bottom 4th: Gross at bat, lines out to Scutaro at 2B. One down for Riggans, first pitch fly ball out to Wells in Cf. Bartlett with two down. Grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for third out and three up and down for Jesse, nice pitching. 67 pitches.

Top 5th: McDonald, is he bunting here? No, first pitch ! fly ball out to Gross in RF. That was great at bat, Johnny Mc. Inglett full count, Joe almost threw his bat for ball four. Now ball four. Second walk for Joe. Scutaro 3-0 count, pops it up to Aybar. How many times have Jays hitters popped up in this series? Over and over again. Rios at bat, here’s another one, pops it up to Gross shallow RF. Man this team needs some dynamite under the bench to get them motivated and I really don’t care about Yankee Stadium tomorrow, we have a game here friends. Let’s get some hits. 14 innings and not one measly run from this crew. 81 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Meantime poor Jesse has to try to keep them in this one. Iwamura fly ball out to Wells in CF. One down for Upton singles up the middle. One on one down for Pena, careful here Jesse. Upton stealing and safe at 2B. They get him. Johnny Mc gets behind Upton at 2B and great throw by Jesse to nail him, very nice pickoff. Two down, and strikes out Pena on full count. 84 pitches and Johnny Mc. has earned his money tonight.

Top 6th: Wells at bat, that’s better Vernon, doubles over the head of Hinske to the LF wall. Now Adam singles to LF. Vernon holds at 3B. Overbay with two on and no outs, swings at ball one, way out of zone. Bradford up in Rays bullpen. Lines out hard at SS Bartlett. One down. Barajas, NO, first pitch pop up to Iwamura, two down for Bautista grounds, yes you guessed right, first pitch to Aybar, throw to 2B for the out. 84 pitches. This team is awful right now, and downright embarrassing. Not only can they not bring them in from 3B but this first pitch swinging is terrible. No pressure on the pitcher. Where did Barajas and Bautista learn their baseball fundamentals? These two get the skunk award tonight. That is definitely rock bottom for Jays in Tampa this series.
Bottom 6th: Floyd at bat, fly ball out to Inglett. Aybar 0-2 count gets hold of this one and another HR to right center seats, 3-0 Rays and you cannot blame Jesse, he must be totally disillusioned with his teammates hitting or lack of. Hinske at bat, lines out softly to Scutaro at 2B two down. Gross at bat, triples into RF corner. Riggans at bat, lines out to Mc.Donald.

Top 7th: Ruggiano now in LF for Hinske, Joe Maddon knows he has this one locked up. That’s a slap in the face to Jays, see what they do about it. McDonald fly ball out to CF Upton. Inglett at bat, Tallet now pitching in bullpen. Fly ball out to Upton in right centre. Two down for Scutaro, grounds it to Iwamura throw to Pena for third out. Maddon knows Jays are mailing this one in and have given up. Let’s see, sixteen innings without a run … I thought we had new Manager and coaching staff to change all that nonsense. I still believe that until this team goes better than 20-10 that they did under John Gibbons in May, I am not convinced this is a better management crew. 103 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Litsch has pitched his heart out tonight, but he will not be buying drinks for his hitters. Bartlett now first pitch swing fly ball out to Wells, he wants out on the town tonight. Iwamura at bat, doubles into RF corner. Upton at bat grounds to McDonald at SS holds Iwamura at 2B and throw to Overbay for the second out. That’s it for Jesse and he can be pleased with his outing tonight. 104 pitches and no walks. Tallet now pitching. Pena at bat with two down and one on. Full count. Walks him. Baldelli pinch hitting for Floyd with two on and two down. another full count. but strike out saves Tallet.

Top 8th: This should be interesting Rios, Wells and Lind at bat. Are their heads in New York already ? or do they have the guts to try to fight back? I think the former but would love to be proven wrong. Rios first, Jackson still in there and why not with this group of hitters. FINALLY Alex doubles to CF wall. Over the head of Upton and bounces over the wall. But of no use unless they can actually score runs which they have managed not to do for two days and sixteen innings. That’s it for Jackson. Bradford now pitching to Wells. Vernon grounds to Bartlett at 2B throw to Pena for the out, Alex moves to 3B. One down Adam Lind grounds up the middle scores Alex, finally and Adam safe at 1B. Fifty Jays hitters since the last run.., is that franchise record? It is certainly not playoff baseball. Nothing like it. 3-1 Rays. Overbay at bat, ex-Jay Trever Miller pitching. Overbay strikes out, here is Maddon again. Manages like sssh ! John Gibbons. Jays have seven hits and one run ! Jays have left eight on base and are 2/8 with runners in scoring position tonight. Balfour now pitching, Barajas at bat, the goat last at bat, can he redeem himself here? but this guy has only given up one home run all season, now full count. Barajas doubles here to right centre wall. Lind scores 3-2 Rays. Eckstein pinch runner for Barajas. Bautista another goat last time, his turn now, 0-11 since joining Toronto. 0-2 count. Strikes out looking, you have to swing in that situation, another poor at bat, he is really earning his money, when will Scott Rolen be back? Jays get two though to make it more interesting but I am still not betting on them tonight.

Bottom 8th: Eckstein stays in game at 2B. Scutaro to SS and Zaun catching. Frasor now pitching. Long time since he pitched last, six days. Aybar at bat, grounds to Eckstein throw to Overbay for the out. Wheeler now pitching in Rays bullpen. Ruggiano grounds hard up the middle to SS Scutaro to his left, this is a Johnny Mc. play, great stop and throw to 1B for the out. Gross at bat, two down. Walks him on very close pitch. Riggans at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Eckstein for out at 2B. Frasor did his job to hold Rays now can the hitters get one? They finally know how to after last inning.

Top 9th: Wheeler pitching. Pitcher number five tonight. Zaun batting, his bat almost gets into RF but not the ball. We have seen that many times from Gregg, he must hold that bat so gently. Strikes out looking at that one. Inglett now at bat, Joe don’t try to be a hero, a base hit will be fine. Full count. Strikes out. Jays down to last at bat, Scutaro first pitch ! lines out to Iwamura and Jays lose again.

Score is irrelevant they lost this with very poor situational hitting throughout the game.
Jays lose another one run game, they just don’t have that finishing touch to grind out a run, they have no imagination but we have to blame Manager Cito for that, it is not his style for a suicide squeeze for example or even bunt. With Vernon at 3B and no outs in the sixth Jays inning reflects their glaring weakness to bring a guy in with no outs let alone one or two outs.
We can certainly give Tampa a lot of credit from the very first inning but the Jays make it oh so easy for the opposition. Not sure now what they will be playing for in New York apart from the euphemistic "Pride" ?? But they long ago lost that. Fans want to see them play every at bat as if they were playing for a new contract instead of showing up to get their pay cheque. New York on the other hand will be playing to close the gap on Boston and looking for a sweep.