Toronto v Detroit. Monday, August 11, 2008.
Preview: Jays on a dive need a win to get them back on track. This will not be an easy series, Detroit lineup has much more power than Toronto, five players with 10 or more HR’s Toronto has one; three players with over .300 average, Toronto has no one and the only two close are Inglett and Lind. The April four game series was split two and two but Detroit outhit Jays 18-13.
Good news at least for Jays is that Vernon is back and Lind can drop back down lineup putting less pressure on him which was definitely affecting him in the last series against Cleveland. Other good news is that Marcum is pitching tonight and he was showing signs of being back to his early season dominance in his last start. Vernon is the intangible. He could be a game winner but is it too soon to expect him to get in the big league swing in his first series ? Rios, who knows with this young guy. He has to be the biggest frustration for Cito. Shows signs of brilliance but then long stretches of mediocrity. The problem is that Jays are paying this guy top dollars to be a star not a third rate AAA player just up in the majors. In fact both of those in that situation Lind and Inglett are showing far more talent than Alex right now and are leading the hitting averages for the team. Rolen now in DL and we may have seen last of him this season. Shannon Stewart released. With Lind now in LF now not much space for Shannon.
What they said: Wells on his return yesterday: “Good to be back, bad game to be back. Felt good some at-bats, a little tardy on other ones."Pitching: Marcum 6-5, 3.44 ERA v Verlander 8-12, 4.56 ERA
Lineups: Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Stairs, Barajas, Lind, Overbay, McDonald and Marcum pitching.
Detroit: Granderson, Polanco, Guillen, Ordonez, Cabrera, Joyce, Sheffield, Renteria, Inge and Verlander pitching.
Result: Jays win going away 7-2.
The good: Marcum, the win and six innings although high pitch count. League excellent in relief. Great hitting execution with runners on tonight, 3/4 with runners in scoring position tonight. Five players share the RBIs. Defence double play and also great play by Scutaro in the ninth inning.
The bad: Double play in first inning by Overbay ruined what was looking to be a rough inning for Verlander. Rios not hustling down the line in first also cost them a base runner. Far too many first pitch swingers.
The game: Top 1st: Inglett at bat strikes out, Scutaro with one down, first pitch ground out to Renteria throw to Cabrera for the out at 1B. Rios with two down, strikes out but ball gets away from catcher, Rios VERY slow to run to 1B in fact of he had been faster off the mark and not ambled he could have run that out. Catcher Inge throw just beats him. Another mental error by Rios. Nine pitch inning for Verlander.
Bottom 1st: Granderson grounds to Scutaro at 3B throw to Overbay for the out at 1B. Polanco at bat, lines it softly to Inglett for the out. Guillen at bat, lines it over MacDonald to Wells in shallow CF. One on two down for Ordonez, same play again to Wells, two on. Cabrera at bat, grounds to Overbay, flip to Marcum for the out at 1B. 14 pitches.
Top 2nd: Wells hits one very hard here to Renteria, great stop but throw too late to get Vernon safe at 1B. Stairs at bat, full count, singles to LF. Wells to 2B. Two on no outs for Barajas, singles to RF, Vernon scores. 1-0 Jays. Stairs to 3B. Lind with no outs, and two on. Lines out to Ordonez, great catch, Stairs tags and scores 2-0 Jays. One down for Overbay. Chance to keep this line moving here Lyle. Grounds very weakly to Renteria steps on the bag and throw to Cabrera for the yes you guessed it yet another double play. Jays have so much practice hitting into these they become routine now especially when they have chance of a big inning. 33 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Joyce at bat pops it into shallow CF for Wells to make the catch. Sheffield at bat, full count, strikes out, Sheffield doesn’t like the call. Two down for Renteria, pops it up to Scutaro in foul groun behind 3B. 27 pitches.
Top 3rd: McDonald at bat, grounds it to Renteria, bobbles the ball and throw too late to get Johnny Mac hustling down the line, please note Alex. Error to Renteria on the throw. Inglett at bat, first pitch fly ball out to Joyce in foul territory in left. Inglett has to vary this first pitch swinging, advance scouts are going to note this pattern. Scutaro at bat, one down one on. Grounds to Renteria throw to Polanco on to Cabrera, another inning ending double play. This is getting very monotonous by these Jays hitters.42 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Inge at bat, gets hold of this one, and HR number ten for Inge to LF over Lind’s head. 2-1 Jays. This is where those two double plays start to hurt. Granderson at bat, grounds to Overbay cannot handle it and Granderson safe at 1B on the throw to Marcum. Polanco at bat, still no outs, grounds to McDonald throw to Inglett on to Overbay double play ball. That cancels one out. Two down now for Guillen. Hit in the back. One on two down for Ordonez. Wild pitch by Marcum gets away from Barajas and Guillen at 2B. 3-0 count, Marcum not sharp right now, almost 50 pitches, full count. Walks on high pitch outside. Not even close. Cabrera at bat, another 3-1 count. Grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for the out. But a long inning for Marcum and 55 pitches on first three innings.
Top 4th: Rios at bat, is he focused now? full count, walks. Wells with one on. Rios running Vernon singles to LF, Alex gets to 3B. Two on no outs, Stairs at bat. chance to at least get that run back here. That’s better Matty, singles into RF. Rios scores 3-1 Jays and Vernon moves to 3B. Barajas fly ball out to Granderson in shallow CF enough for Vernon to tage and score 4-1 Jays. Lind at bat hits this one hard to LF but Joyce makesa nice catch. Stais thought it was going to at least hit the wall and runs past 2B now has to retrack and cannot tag. Overbay at bat, Stairs at 1B. two down. fly ball out to Granderson. 63 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Joyce grounds hard up the middle Johnny Mc great stop and throw to get him at 1B. Sheffield at bat one down, grounds to Scutaro at 3B throw to Overbay for second quick out. Renteria at bat doubles to the F wall. Inge at bat full count, Marcum very careful to him this at bat, strikes him out, Inge does not like the call. 73 pitches though for Marcum. He needs a quick inning soon.
Top 5th: Johnny Mc at bat full count and doubles it past Guillen at 3B into LF corner. Nice at bat. Inglett at bat, bunting and gets it down to move McDonald to 3B and almost beats the throw at 1B. One down for Scutaro, full count, making Verlander work here and now walks him for Rios. That was the pitch Alex, takes it. Gets a second chance and lines it into RF. McDonald scores. 5-1 Jays. Jays hitters seem to be executing tonight apart from the two double plays that is. That’s it for Verlander tonight. 78 pitches. Last game he threw 130, that may be one reason for his short outing tonight. I hope Halladay doesn’t do the same next outing after his 130 pitch game at the weekend. One down two on for Vernon. Aquilino Lopez pitching wild pitch both runners move up. Base hit here Vernon will be huge now. High fly ball to Joyce, McDonald tags and scores. 6-1 Jays. Stairs at bat with Rios at 2B. and two down. Stairs strikes out.
Bottom 5th: Marcum has to hold them here. Top of the order, Granderson at bat, strikes out at a pitch way off the plate. Polanco at bat, singles to Wells in CF. Guillen at bat, pops it up to Barajas at home plate, two down. Ordonez at bat, grounds to McDonald flip to Inglett to get Polanco at 2B. 81 pitches. Marcum needs two more innings like that one.
Top 6th: Barajas at bat, he almost golfs this one from off his toes, this one has gone, HR to LF. 7-1 Jays. Lind at bat grounds to RF but Cabrera dives to save this one and flip to Lopez one down. Overbay at bat, strikes out, hitless tonight. Two down. McDonald at bat pops it up to shallow right for Polanco to make the out. Yankees and Baltimore losing tonight.
Bottom 6th: Marcum needs another quick inning here. Cabrera at bat, full count, these Tigers are free swingers. This one is gone though, Vernon watches it over his head at the 420 mark HR Cabrera. 7-2 Jays. Joyce singles to RF. Sheffield at bat, League up in bullpen. Pops it up to McDonald at SS, one down. Renteria with one on and one down. Long fly ball out to Rios in RF, two down. Inge pops this one up to Wells in shallow centre. Marcum leaves one on and escapes further damage but that might be his last inning at 99 pitches. Interesting both teams have eight hits but five run difference. Jays are not complaining at all.
Top 7th: Top of the order again. Inglett first pitch swinging pops up to Ordonez RF. Scutaro at bat, singles to RF. Rios now. High fly ball out to Granderson in CF, Scutaro retreats to 1B. Wells first pitch grounds to Renteria SS, steps on bag to get Scutaro at 2B. Not a good inning by Jays hitters two out on first pitch swinging.
Bottom 7th: Granderson at bat, League pitching, strikes out. One down for Polanco, full count. Hard back to League great play to grab this and throw to Overbay for second out. Guillen at bat strikes him out, that was wicked pitch. I can see why Cito likes this guy, he is certainly pitching much better than earlier in the season and last season. Starting to fulfill that promise he showed two seasons ago.
Top 8th: Downs up in the bullpen Stairs at bat, pops up first pitch to Polanco for first out. Barajas, chin music here knocks him down, payback for the HR? now full count, strikes out. Lind 0-12 although he had the sac fly RBI in 2nd inning. I think dropping him down in order now that Vernon is back is a good move by Cito. He appears to understand the psyches of these young hitters. Strikes out here. Yankees, Boston and Baltimore all losing right now tonight. Tampa not playing tonight. Jays would love to move up on the two above them here.
Bottom 8th: Downs pitching. Ordonez grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for first out. Cabrera strikes out looking. Joyce at bat, grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay for third out. Nice inning for Downs here.
Top 9th: Casey Fossum now pitching. Overbay at bat, hitless tonight, this one drops in shallow CF for a single, Lyle is happy. McDonald at bat, hammers this one to LF but beautiful diving catch to his left by Guillen, robs Johnny Mc. of a base hit. Inglett at bat, check swing pops up to Renteria SS. Scutaro at bat with Overbay at 1B strikes out.
Bottom 9th: Ryan pitching. Needs the work. Has not pitched since Thursday. Tom Henke Jays greatest closer always said if he didn’t pitch every two days he was far too strong when he eventual got in there. With a free swinging lineup here this could be interesting. Sheffield at bat walks. We have seen this situation before for BJ with the leadoff walk. He loves living on the edge. Renteria at bat, grounds to Scutaro nice throw to Inglett to get Sheffield at 2B. One down one on. Inge at bat. Doubles off Scutaro's glove into LF, Renteria to 3B and Inge at 2B. Granderson at bat fly ball out to Rios, Renteria holds at 3B, smart decision. Two down. Polanco at bat with two in scoring position strikes out. Jays break their losing streak with some great pitching and hitting tonight.
Marcum goes 7-5 and certainly reduces his ERA.
Baltimore in wild game in Cleveland now 8-8 after a five run innings for the Orioles.
Boston and Yankees still losing close games in Chicago and Minnesota tonight.
Monday, August 11, 2008
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