How do you spell awful? Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto v Baltimore. Series opener. Tuesday September 16, 2008.

Preview: Jays on life support now for the rest of the two weeks of season. They are still in it mathematically but realistically their biggest opportunity will come in weekend series against Boston and final chance to sweep them (as they did last season in last series and who can forget that grand slam off Papelbon……? ) how sweet it was….
Jays are not even getting help from Tampa now, last night Boston hammered the Rays and in Tampa for their first win this season in seven tries. They should be fired up tonight and relaxed at least for Baltimore. Jays now 80-60 and have a chance to get over 90 wins for the season, we can but dream but with a nine game homestand and home cooking. Who knows and with the 208 Jays anything can and probably will happen. Fans would not be surprised to see them go 0-9 or 9-0 and that has been the big difference this season. Undoubtedly a good team on paper and occasionally in practice, they just cannot get it together consistently.
Baltimore (66-82), has lost 17 of its last 21 games but always dangerous and definitely playing for something the last two weeks. Baltimore has four players with more than twenty home runs. Jays highest is Wells with seventeen. Roberts at leadoff has 37 stolen bases. Baltimore beat the Twins on Sunday. Jays lost three of their first four with Baltimore this season, but have won seven of eight since.

What they are saying: Halladay: "It was a big series for us. There's obviously still two weeks left to go, but it's tough to come in knowing you've got to win three or four and getting one."
Overbay: "We need a lot of help from other teams, And for us), it's just a matter of getting on a roll."

Pitching tonight: Marcum 9-6, 3.38 ERA) v Waters (2-3, 5.73). Marcum has a 1.26 ERA over his last two starts, and allowed two runs in 7 1-3 innings of Thursday's 6-4 victory over White Sox. Marcum limited Baltimore to run over seven innings on June 6 at Rogers Centre, though he didn't get a decision after Baltimore rallied for a 6-5 victory. Opponents are hitting .199 off Marcum at home in 2008.
Waters, a 28-year-old rookie left-hander, hasn't pitched well recently. He's 0-2 with a 7.63 ERA in his last three starts, and gave up five runs in 5 2-3 innings on Wednesday in a 7-1 loss to Cleveland. Baltimore starters are 2-10 with an 8.02 ERA over their last 15 games. BUT you know record of Jays against rookies… he will probably give them tough night.

Lineups: Baltimore: Roberts, Markakis, Mora, Huff, Hernandez, Scott, Jones, Salazar, Castro, and Waters pitching.
Toronto: Scutaro, Bautista, Rios, Wells, Overbay, Rolen, Lind, Zaun, Snider and Marcum pitching. Bautista playing 2B for fourth time in his career and first since 2006. Sorry Cito I don’t get it.

Result: Jays lose 2-0 to Baltimore at home and to a team sixteen under .500. This was one of those rock bottom performances from an underachieving team that the fans have long been accustomed to this season. No fire, no fight and no effort.
The good: Snider with his double in the eighth inning. The only Jay tonight to have a good at bat. Three double play balls to save the hapless Jays from further damage, Baltimore go 0-8 with runners in scoring position (fortunately for the Jays). The good, all those empty seats showed that many Jays fans are smarter than some give them credit for. 25,746 I don’t think so. Closer to a Tampa attendance. A game to miss. Boston fans will get access to lots of cheap tickets this weekend.
The bad: The awful first pitch swingers, bush league, sorry Cito. Interesting statistic. Waters threw 106 pitches for nine innings, Jays pitchers threw 159… That is what first pitch swinging does friends, for a start it made the difference for Waters staying in the game. Eight walks by Jays pitchers tonight.

The game: Top 1st: Roberts grounds to 1B Overbay throw to pitcher Marcum for first out.. Markakis doubles to RF. Mora grounds to SS Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay. Huff walks. Hernandez grounds to 3B Rolen throw to 1B Overbay.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro grounds to 2B.Roberts throw to 1B Huff. Bautista fly ball out to RF Markakis. Rios fly ball out to RF Markakis for third out.

Top 2nd: Scott grounds out to Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay. Jones grounds to SS Scutaro throw to Overbay.Two down for Salazar, strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Wells at bat (first pitch ? yes) grounds to SS Castro throw to 1B Huff. Overbay fly ball out to CF Jones. Rolen with two down singles to CF. Lind lines out to RF Markakis. 21 pitches for Waters.

Top 3rd: Castro full count and walks. Roberts doubles to LF Castro scores. 1-0 Baltimore. Markakis full count and walks. That’s it for Marcum, he is injured, looks like his hand and out of there. Parrish now pitching. Two on no outs for Mora strikes out. Mora doesn’t like the call and is arguing, and is now thrown out of game. Huff at bat 3-0 count, come on Parrish. Walks bases loaded. Hernandez grounds to Scutaro steps on 2B and throws to Overbay for third out. Double play ball. Jays needed that, not a good inning for them.
Bottom 3rd: Zaun at bat, pops it up to Castro at 3B, one down for Snider. Full count and strikes out looking, two down. Scutaro grounds to 2B Roberts for third out. Someone needs to wake up Jays hitters they are flat bigtime tonight.

Top 4th: Scott at bat, this one is gone, high fly ball out to CF, HR to Scott. 2-0 Baltimore. Jones grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay one down. Salazar at bat, Parrish does not have that great control he had earlier in the season.50/50 balls and strikes. Full count, Salazar singles up the middle. One on one down for Castro. Singles to LF. Two on one down for Roberts. Grounds to Rolen steps on the bag and throw to Overbay, double play ball, for second inning in a row saves the Jays and Parrish.
Bottom 4th: Bautista high fly ball out to CF. Rios at bat, his average is dropping so you know he will be playing for average the last two weeks not that it matters with his contract.. Fly ball out to Markakis. Two down for Wells. Singles to Huff at 3B who cannot get it Castro throw too late. One on for Overbay. Fly ball out to Scott in LF. Cy Young pitching again tonight. Plus ca change, with this group despite the new coaching staff. By the way the best month of the season remains May when Jays went 20-10 under John Gibbons. Interesting.

Top 5th: Markakis at bat, Parrish walks another. He is awful tonight. Not the Parrish we saw in March and April. Millar with one on and no outs. Markakis stealing but Zaun’s throw in time and throw back to Overbay as Markakis retreats. Millar grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for first out. Markakis safe at 2B. Huff lines first pitch hard to Rios, nice catch for second out. Hernandez at bat, 3-0 count. Takes all the way for strike one. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 5th: Jays hitters mailing this one in tonight so far against the rookie pitcher. I can see why there is a very small crowd tonight. Rolen at bat, Fly ball out to CF Jones. One down. Lind at bat, first pitch swinging (another rookie ruined >?) lines right at Millar at 1B. Zaun smarter than the rest, singles into CF. One on but two down. Snider at bat. grounds to SS Castro, throw to Millar at 1B for the third out. 50 pitches in five innings? Jays want out on the town tonight.

Top 6th: Wolfe now pitching. Scott singles into LF hit number six for Baltimore. One on for Jones, grounds to Rolen on to Bautista on to Overbay double play ball, the third one tonight to save Jays pitchers. Salazar at bat, strikes out. Jays still need to score some runs to win a game.
Bottom 6th: Scutaro first pitch fly ball out to Markakis. Bautista well at least it took five pitches but fly ball out to Markakis. Two down. Rios 0-2 tonight. Grounds to Huff throw to Millar for third out.

Top 7th: Castro at bat, grounds to Rolen, throw to Overbay for first out. First time since second inning that Jays pitcher gets leadoff hitter. Roberts at bat, strikes out. Tallet now up in Jays bullpen. Two down for Markakis, on base three times already tonight. 3-1 count, and walks, third walk tonight for Markakis and perfect night at bat. Millar at bat one on two down. Pops up to Snider for third out.
Bottom 7th: Baltimore embarrassing Jays tonight. Which team is 16 below .500 ? Wells what will he do? This is interesting takes first three pitches 3-0 count and walks, when did Vernon walk last on four pitches? That’s more like it Lyle, pops up (first pitch) to 3B after four straight balls. One down for Rolen, strikes out two down. Lind at bat, strikes out on three pitches. Waters for MVP.

Top 8th: Jays running out of time now and do not look like winning this one, they have not had a runner at 2B all game and Waters can probably pitch a complete game as his pitch count is so low thanks to the first pitch swing club. Tallet now pitching. Huff at bat, grounds to Overbay throw to Tallet only just in time to get Huff. One down for Hernandez, strikes out, two down for Scott. Grounds out to Overbay. Three up and down.
Bottom 8th: Lots of talk about letdown after Boston series and tough losses but Jays have to be motivated to play out the two weeks, this falls into the Manager’s lap, and Cito is not doing his career any good tonight. Jays are awful yet again. Zaun (first pitch swing ! ) fly ball out to RF Markakis. Snider at bat, 3-0 count. full count but five pitches at bat at least, eight pitches and doubles into CF, the rookie shows the Jays hitter how to do it and he is playing against a lefty… I hope Cito and Jays hitting coaches don’t get to him and make any changes. One on one down, Scutaro at bat, grounds (first pitch) to SS throw to Millar for second out. Bautista now grounds to 3B Huff throw to Millar for third out. Two of those outs were on first pitch swings, don’t tell me that is good hitting Cito. The guy who gets on took eight pitches.

Top 9th: This game will be over in less than 2.5 hours and that is with six hits from the Orioles. Frasor now pitching, I revise my time for the game. Jones at bat, grounds back to Frasor throw to Overbay for the first out. Nice defensive play by Frasor. Salazar at bat, full count, and walks him. One on one down. Fahey pinch running. Castro grounds to Bautista at 2B throw to Overbay for second out but Fahey moves to 2B. Roberts at bat, I was right about revised time, Frasor has slowed this game to a crawl. Here comes Arnsberg, wild pitch but no damage, the last time Zaun had one of those in Boston, the guy scored from 2B. 3-1 count. That was a strike but called ball four. That’s it for Frasor. Two on two down for Markakis. Carlson pitching. Pitcher number six Jays tonight. Baltimore still with Waters going into the ninth. Strikes him out.
Bottom 9th: The big bats, but don’t bet the house on them friends. Rios at bat 0-3 tonight, Waters still in there and why not pops it out to Markakis. One down for Wells, pathetic grounds to SS Castro throw to Millar, Overbay, does not swing, 3-0 count and walks on four pitches. Relax Waters this is the Jays. Rolen here we go, first pitch swinging fly ball out to Markakis.

The rookie gets complete game shut out after a month in the majors. Sorry Cito that is disgusting.