Fumbling and bumbling and lack of hitting lose this one for Jays

Toronto v Boston Series finale. Sunday September 14, 2008.

Preview: It is fitting that it is Halladay pitching the finale. One of the most important games of the season. Jays win and are 6.5 games back they lose and are 8.5 back with twelve to play. Lots of interesting numbers. Halladay looking for better game than his last game. Pitching today on three days rest.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Bautista, Rios, Wells, Mench, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, McDonald and Halladay pitching. This lineup will not scare many teams. All the lefties are sitting apart from Overbay. No Inglett, no Lind and No Snider. Second team in action and against a very good pitcher in Lester at home.

Boston: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis, Lowell, Bay, Varitek, Cora, Crisp, and Lester pitching.

Pitching: Lester (14-5, 3.23 ERA) v Halladay (18-10, 2.77).

The result: Boston wins 4-3. Closer than it actually was as Jays rally at the very end but too late.

The good: Halladay seven innings on three days rest.Bautista HR.

The bad: The hitters once again let the pitching down. Error by Overbay in the seventh and another by Rios in the eighth to ruin this one for Halladay. Manager Gaston debatable decisions. Could have, might have and should have today.

The game: Top 1st: Scutaro fly ball out to RF Ellsbury. One down for Bautista, DH today. full count. Oh YES Jose…. Gets hold of this one over the wall in LF centre. This one is out of here, HR 1-0 Jays. Very nice Jose. Rios at bat, grounds to SS Cora, fumbles the ball but has plenty of time to throw to Youkilis for the out, with Alex ambling down to 1B, his heart is in the game today. Joe Maddon benches players for not running out ground balls. Rios has had one hit in three games of this series in Boston. Wells with two down. Hit on the foot. Mench at bat, two down one on. Strikes out. 19 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Halladay. Ellsbury at bat, singles to CF. Pedroia at bat, Ellsbury stealing on first pitch and easily safe at 2B on the throw by Zaun wide of the base. Boston plays much more aggressively than Jays. Pedroia bunts back to Halladay throw to Overbay for the out. Ellsbury moves to 3B. Ortiz at bat, shift right is on grounds to Scutaro, throw to Overbay, Ellsbury scores 1-1. Great execution by Red Sox. Something else they are far better than the Jays are. I think it will be very interesting Spring training to see of Cito does any of the basics. Two down for Youkilis. Singles into RF. Lowell at bat, grounds to Rolen, throw to Overbay for third out. 16 pitches.

Top 2nd: Overbay at bat, strikes out, one down for Rolen, full count and walks. Zaun grounds to out, 2B Pedroia throw to 1B Youkilis, Rolen movers to 2B on the play. Two down for McDonald with Rolen in scoring position. Strikes out. 37 pitches. This bottom of the order is very, very different from the first team, much weaker.
Bottom 2nd: Bay at bat, doubles to left centre wall Vernon cannot get up to it. Varitek with runner in scoring position. Grounds to Scutaro, throw to Overbay for the out. Bay moves to 3B. One down. Cora at bat, strikes out, two down. Crisp singles into RF, Bay scores 2-1 Boston. Ellsbury at bat, dribbler in front of plate and throw to Overbay gets Ellsbury for third out. 40 pitches though for Roy.

Top 3rd: Jays hitters need a big inning here to take some pressure of Halladay. Top of the order Scutaro high fly ball to CF Crisp runs it down. Bautista with one down. grounds it up the middle to Pedroia throw to first baseman Youkilis. . Rios now what does he have? in a big slump at Fenway this weekend, that’s better Alex doubles to the right centre wall. Vernon now, can he bring him in? Pops it up to Cora for third out. 52 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Pedroia fly ball out to RF Rios.Ortiz strikes out. Youkilis grounds to 3B Rolen throw to 1B Overbay.

Top 4th: Mench grounds to 3B Lowell throw to 1B Youkilis for first out. Overbay singles to CF. Rolen fly ball out to RF Ellsbury. Two down for Zaun. Zaun grounds to 3B Lowell throw to 1B Youkilis. Three up and down by Jays hitters.
Bottom 4th: Lowell strikes out. Bay strikes out. Varitek fly ball out to LF Mench. Quick three up and down for Halladay, nice inning Roy.

Top 5th: McDonald fly ball out to RF Ellsbury. One down for Scutaro lined out to 3B Lowell. Nice catch by Lowell. Bautista strikes out. Jays go quietly.
Bottom 5th: Cora grounds back to Halladay throw to 1B Overbay. Crisp pops up to SS McDonald. Ellsbury strikes out.

Top 6th: Rios grounds to 2B Pedroia throw to 1B Youkilis. One down for Wells grounds to 3B Lowell throw to 1B Youkilis. Two down for Mench strikes out. He has been a bust today. I think it would have been better to see Snider in there, and give him the experience certainly he could not do worse than Mench today. Although if Kevin hits a grand slam in the ninth I will be the first to cheer.
Bottom 6th: Pedroia grounds to 3B Rolen throw to 1B Overbay. Ortiz fly ball out to CF Wells. Youkilis grounds to SS McDonald throw to 1B Overbay.

Top 7th: Overbay strikes out. Rolen singles to 3B safe at 1B. Zaun walks, Rolen to 2B. Jays have something going here. No pinch hitter here Cito for McDonald ? Two on and one out ??? NO NO NO Johnny Mc. Grounds to SS Cora throw to 2B Pedroia on to 1B Youkilis. Double play ball. That one hurts bigtime. Cito wishing he had pinch hit? or maybe not. But hard to justify not pinch hitting for McDonald in that situation.
Bottom 7th: Lowell singles to LF Mench. Bay pops up to 2B Scutaro. Varitek grounds to Overbay, Lyle fumbles this one and Varitek safe at 1B, and Lowell moves to 2B. error on Overbay nut that should have been double play ball Lyle. Halladay gets no help here. One down two on, instead of end of inning. Cora at bat grounds to Rolen throw to 2B Scutaro to get Varitek, Lowell moves to 3B. Two down for Crisp, singles to LF, Lowell scores, Cora to 2B. 3-1 Boston. Two down two on for Ellsbury fly ball out to CF Wells.

Top 8th: Jay running out of at bats. Top of the order. Scutaro fly ball out to CF Crisp. One down for Bautista fly ball out to LF Bay. Rios pops up to 2B Pedroia. Three up and down.
Bottom 8th: BJ Ryan pitching, needs the work with off-day tomorrow. Pedroia at bat grounds to 2B Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay. Ortiz at bat, hits this hard to Rios in RF, tries to make an impossible catch and ball gets by him, Ortiz a triple. Alex gambled and lost bigtime. Youkilis now with one down here it goes sacrifice fly to CF Wells, Ortiz scores. That was not smart Alex, but then not atypical, the guy does not seem to have a baseball mind. He has not had much of anything this season apart from $65 million contract. Maybe he is smarter than we think. It really doesn’t matter to him. Red Sox now up 4-1. Lowell fly ball out to LF Mench.

Top 9th: Papelbon pitching. Jays now have a three run deficit thanks to Alex’s misjudgement. But then again we have the big guys at bat. Wells at bat, here we go, doubles to LF. Lind now pinch-hitting for Mench. ADamn should probably have been hitting all game regardless of the lefty lefty matchup. Here we go again Lind singles to left, Wells scores. 4-2 Boston could have been 3-2 without the giveaway run by Rios in the eighth. Overbay at bat singles off the wall in left, Lind moves to 3B Overbay thrown .out on Bay’s throw to Pedroia at 2B. Lyle is furious and TV replay shows he is right, he was safe. That is a huge call by umpire, instead of two ins croing position and no outs it is one on and one out. Rolen grounds to Lowell at 3B throw to 1B Youkilis, Lind scores and this is a 4-3 game but now with two down. The Rios messup in previous inning and bad umpire call completely change this game. This game should be tied at minimum. Zaun at bat grounds to 2B Pedroia throw to 1B Youkilis. Jays lose a very important game and one that they could have and should have won.

Several what if’s. Cito’s decision not to pinch hit for McDonald. Not to use some of his bench throughout the game, his lineup against Lester. Overbay’s error, and finally Alex.
Rios the goat today and definitely a forgettable series for him with two hits all weekend in four games in addition to his poor fielding. You know he will be hitting for the last two weeks when it will not matter anymore. (apart from his personal stats that is.)
The problem with Alex is that he has to be the most frustrating of all the Jays players to watch with such great all-start abilities and underperforming through most of the season, as he did last season.