Toronto v Tampa Friday September 5, 2008.
This is a very interesting series. Jays on a roll and five game win streak. Rays losing two to Yankees. Boston fans will be routing for Jays this weekend. However it is by no means a walkover for the Jays. Rays have owned them this season winning eleven of the fifteen games to date. That is dominance. Jays have their best going tonight to start the series and maybe get on the right foot to start.
Pitching: Sonnanstine 13-6 Halladay 17-9. This should be some match-up.
Lineups: Tampa: Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Bartlett and Sonnanstine pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, McDonald, Rios, Wells, Lind, Barajas, Overbay, Rolen, Snider and Halladay pitching. Not quite the lineup that Cito had last game and Johnny Mc hitting number two ??? Strange.
Result: Jays win this one 6-4 although BJ Ryan makes it very close….
The very good: Halladay in a class of his own. Tonight also Alex Rios with the two HR’s.
The good: All round effort by the team for the most part, good hitting throughout and excellent pitching. Four for six with runners in scoring position and only left two on base.
The bad: Defence by Inglett and McDonald for once, cost Halladay some runs in his ERA. The clown who agreed to open the roof and then have to close it 20 minutes later.
The game: Top 1st: Iwamura grounds to Onglett at 2B, NO Joe, bobbles this and too late for throw to 1B. Iwamura safe at 1B. That was a dumb error buy Inglett. We have noted here before in this blog that sometimes this guy does not have his head in the game, his attention appears to wander sometimes in the field. This is classic, and he now has to face Halladay’s glare. Upton at bat, doubles to RF, Iwamura now moves to 3B. He should not even be on base. Two in scoring position with no outs, even for Halladay this is tough. Pena hit fly ball to RF Rios, Alex lopes after this one once again it is to his left where he seems to have problems, Iwamura scores, Upton moves to 3B. 1-0 Rays. Inglett owes Hallday bigtime. Floyd at bat another fly ball to RF Rios, Upton scores. 2-0 Rays. They certainly don’t miss opportunities to execute.This might be enough to win the game right here. Aybar at bat with no one on base, strikes out. Roy has to do it himself here. Damage is done, can the hitters get something off a very good pitcher in Sonnensatine?
Bottom 1st: Inglett chance to redeem himself here by getting on base, strikes out. McDonald with no need to bunt Inglett over, hit away Johnny Mc. Grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 1B Pena.Two down for Alex, first pitch swing fly ball out to Hinske in LF. Jays go quietly.
Top 2nd: Hinske gets mixture of boos and cheers although the boos sound much louder. Eric grounds out to 1B Overbay. One down. Navarro grounds to Inglett at 2B throw to 1B Overbay. Crowd gives him cheers both for fielding the ball and managing to throw it to Overbay. Ex-Jay Gross with two down, strikes out. Halladay needed that three up and down inning.
Bottom 2nd: Wells doubles to CF. Nice solid hit by Vernon hard to the wall. Lind dribbler to Punto at SS, but beats the throw. Two on for Barajas singles to CF, Wells held up by third base coach Levya, Lind at 2B. Two in scoring position with no outs. Overbay doubles to CF, Wells scores and is waving in Lind, he scores and this game is all tied up. 2-2. Barajas moves to 3B. Still no outs for Rolen, hits one to RF Gross, Barajas scores. 3-2 Jays and the first inning is almost forgotten. Sniderat bat and gets a very nice reception from the crowd, Problem is that they do not yet have a photograph of Travis for the JumboTron. Snider grounds to 2B Iwamura throw 1B to Pena, Overbay to third. Inglett at bat, strikes out. Second time tonight and in first two innings, definitely not his night tonight.
Top 3rd: Bartlett lines one out to LF Snider. One down. Iwamura grounds to 1B Overbay.
Upton at bat, singles to 3B. Pena at bat two down and one on strikes out. NO damage tonight.
Bottom 3rd: McDonald fly ball out to RF Gross. One down for Alex. Gets hold of this one and this one is out over Jays bullpen, Jay lead 4-2 and the crowd loves it, they are quite noisy. Roof of stadium is opening. Wells fly ball out to LF Hinske. Two down. Lind at bat, grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Rios has done some damage here and Halladay has a two run lead..
Top 4th: Floyd strikes out. Aybar singles to CF. Hinske pops up to 3B Rolen. Navarro grounds to Rolen throw to 1B Overbay for third out Quick effective inning for Jays..
Bottom 4th: Barajas grounds to Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. One down. Overbay grounds to Iwamura throw to first baseman Pena. Rolen walks. Snider strikes out.
Top 5th: Gross grounds to Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Bartlett grounded out, first baseman Overbay to pitcher Halladay. Iwamura grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 5th:. It is raining in the Rogers Centre !!! Yes that is what I said. Umbrellas are out everywhere. Not sure why they would bring them to a domed stadium but obviously they have a use now. Inglett two strikes outs tonight in his first two at bats. This time at least hits it and fly ball out to flied out to Upton in CF. McDonald lines out very hard to Aybar at 3B. That was a great catch but probably instinctive but robs Johnny Mc of at least one base. Rios fouls one out to 1B Pena.
Top 6th: Roof is closing again, this is very embarrassing, who made that decision to open when the weather system was still around? Must have been an Inglett clone. Upton strikes out. Pena strikes out. Two down. Floyd singles to LF. Aybar grounds out to Overbay.
Bottom 6th: Wells fly ball out to CF Upton. Lind with one down, grounds to 1B flip to Sonnanstine. Barajas at bat with two down, fouls one out to 1B Pena. Jays now going quietly. Roof still closing but looks as if rain has also stopped.
Top 7th: Hinske, still more boos, grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. One out. Navarro singles to CF. Perez pinch-running for Navarro. Joe Maddon wants this run badly. Gross doubles to LF, Perez moves to 3B. Bartlett grounds this to Rolen in 3B. Perez scores, Gross to 3B. 4-3 Jays. Iwamura bunting, Halladay retrieves and have Gross in a rundown. Throw to Rolen to catcher Barajas, Gross is out but Bartlett moves to 3B. Upton strikes out. Hllaaday over 105 pitches.
Bottom 7th: Riggans now catching. Perez is in at LF. Howell pitching. Overbay lines hard out to RF Gross. Rolen strikes out. Snider strikes out. Jays go quietly again.
Top 8th: Downs pitching. Pena grounds to 2B Inglett throw to 1B Overbay. Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Baldelli grounded out, third baseman Rolen to first baseman Overbay. Aybar singled to left. Riggans struck out.
Bottom 8th: Baldelli in as DH. Balfour pitching. Inglett, continues hs own night to forget, fly ball out to LF Perez. McDonald doubles to center. That ball was hit very hard into the gap. Rios with one on, gets hold of this one and homers to left on the first pitch, McDonald scores. And game is now 6-3 Jays. That gives closer Ryan some room to work. Wells grounds to SS Bartlett throw to 1B Pena. Lind strikes out.
Top 9th: BJ Ryan pitching. Perez bunts his way on, he can really run fast as most of the Rays team. Zobrist pinch-hitting for Gross. Zobrist pops up to 2B Inglett. Perez has to hold. Bartlett doubles to CF, Perez scores and this game is 6-4 Jays, getting close BJ. Iwamura strikes out. Huge cheer for crowd. Two down. Upton grounds to McDonald bobbles it, and cannot make play at1B, error on Johnny Mc. Is there a full moon out there? , Bartlett moves to 3B for Pena at bat. Upton stealing and safe at 2B. Now more pressure on BJ, both runners will score in a base hit. Pena strikes out. And this games is over, not as easy as score suggests but then again if Inglett had made that play in the first inning ? and if Johnny Mc had done the same in the ninth, then this score would have been fine for BJ and Halladay.
As it is Ryan gets his save number 27 of 30 and Halladay gets win number eighteen.
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