Rookie Richmond finally gets run support and win with help from Thigpen

Toronto v Baltimore. Series opener. Friday September 26,2008

Preview: Jays have won 10 of 15 against Baltimore this season, including four of six in Baltimore.
What is to play for here ? For a start a share of third with Yankees if they win them all and Yankees get swept in Boston this weekend. Boston will show no mercy they are after Tampa for Division title still within their grasp. All four teams still have something to play for. Media not happy with JP contract extension. I don’t understand this constant negativism with JP. If they are happy with Cito and what he has done with the team then this is the same team that JP put together so why are they not happy with him? It is not his fault that the hitters have underachieved all season. Plus his farm teams and draft picks are starting to show their strengths even though some of them could have done with an extra year in the minors, certainly Snider, tonight’s pitcher Richmond. On paper this team should have been competing for playoffs. If they don’t like JP sounding off on Adam Dunn then they should be grateful they don’t have Ozzie Guillen in Toronto. JP is certainly not a classic baseball character but I for one would take his style over the laid back fall asleep in the dugout that we have now. Joe Maddon came out day one in spring training with that infamous double steal in the first inning. That showed me they were playing serious this season and they have not stopped since. Would that we had half that fire and determination to win in Toronto. Does anyone steal a base besides Rios occasionally?

Pitching: Waters (3-4 5.06 ERA) v Richmond (0-3, 5.14). Battle of the rookies. Waters shut out the Jays on Sept. 16, allowing four hits in the 2-0 win. Richmond pitched five innings against Boston on Sunday, allowing three runs and five hits in a 3-0 loss. In the four games that rookie Richmond has started this season, Toronto has scored four runs of support. He has not faced Baltimore.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Bautista, 1B is not his best position he is a 3B guy. Rios, Wells, DH tonight. Lind, Rolen, Snider, Thigpen, McDonald and Richmond pitching. Richmond- Thigpen battery tonight looks like Spring training.
Baltimore: Roberts, Markakis, Mora, Huff, Salazar, Jones, Scott, Santos, Fahey and Waters pitching.

The Result: Jays win 3-0. Game called in top of the seventh inning with rain.

The good: Richmond pitching 79 pitches in six scoreless innings before rain delay. Thigpen first ML HR. Rolen two hits. Bautista good execution for third run.

The bad: Jays hitters watching third strike. This is yet another priority to work on Cito and your fellow hitting coaches, this team is awful, awful in this category. Another work item Cito, staying out of double play balls by Vernon and others. Rios has to steal more with Vernon behind him.

Top 1st: Scutaro leading off grounds to 3B Huff throw to 1B Salazar for the out. Bautista, gets hold of this one, high fly ball to Jones in CF, good hit for Jose nut not far enough. Rios at bat, opposite field single, unusual for Alex but he will take it single to RF. Wells fresh from good 4 RBI game last night. Pops this one up into shallow RF Markakis long run to make the catch and third out. 12 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Richmond making his fourth start He has pitched well but needs run support, Jays have only hit four runs in his three starts. Roberts first pitch pops it up to LF Lind. One down for Markakis grounds to Scutaro throw to Bautista, two down for Mora DH tonight. Fly ball to Snider in RF, five pitch inning Richmond will take that to settle the nerves, now if his hitters could only give him a five run cushion, please?

Top 2nd: Lind grounds to 2B Roberts throw to 1B Salazar for the out. Rolen at bat, singles up the middle, one on for Snider strikes out. Two down for Thigpen, full count making Waters work. Strikes out swinging. 34 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Huff singles to right centre, Salazar, long fly ball out to Rios in CF tonight. One down for Jones fly ball out to Lind in LF two down. Scott, high pop up first pitch to Thigpen to end the inning. 16 pitches, not bad for two innings work.

Top 3rd: McDonald, grounds to 3B Huff throw to 1B Salazar for first out. Scutaro singles into CF. One on one down for Bautista, come on Jose hit this one out. Not like that, swings wildly at a pitch three feet off the plate. Hits him on the foot. Two on one down for Rios. Alex takes called third strike, when are the Jays going to stop doing this? 50 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Santos grounds to Rolen great throw to Bautista for first out. Fahey grounds to Scutaro throw to Bautista for second out. Rain getting heavier, Boston Yankees game is delayed also. Roberts full count. Singles 30 to Lind in LF. One on two down. Markakis at bat, strikes out. Very nice Scott. 36 pitches.

Top 4th: Lack of run support has been Richmond’s lot this season….. Jays hitters silent again so far after breakout game last night and eight runs for Halladay. Wells, sitting on the bench in the dry tonight, grounds one to Huff great bare hand play to get Vernon. I don’t think Vernon likes not being in the action, he will not be a good DH. One down for Lind, Adam gets hold of this one high off the wall in RF corner for a double. Nice swing that would have been a HR in most other parks. Rolen strikes out, he argues that one, replay does not show that he went around. Snider at bat, grounds this to SS throw to Huff for third out and Jays leave yet another in scoring position. 65 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Mora 3-0 count, come on Scott. There’s a strike. Grounds this one to Johnny Mac and throw to Bautista for the first out. Huff at bat, full count, strikes him out on a great change up. Two down for Salazar, fly ball out to Rios in CF. 54 pitches but still no run support.

Top 5th: Tampa losing 5-1 for second game to Tigers in Detroit, they will not like that with Boston at home. Pressure on the Rays this weekend. Can Boston catch them ? or will Yankees recover from their loss to Halladay ? Thigpen strikes out looking, one down for Johnny Mac. Lines out to CF Jones . Scutaro fly ball out to RF Markakis. Best inning for Waters so far. 75 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Jones strikes out swinging. Scott high fly ball out to Snider in left centre. Two down. Santos grounds to Johnny Mac and that is it for Baltimore, three up and down very quickly. 64 pitches. Poor guy it must be so discouraging pitching for this team with no run support. My theory also why Burnett will not stick around. With a better hitting team AJ and also Roy Halladay would have been Cy Young candidates this year.

Top 6th: Bautista there’s a hit, singles up the middle. One on for Rios and the big bats, but don’t place your bets here yet . Rios walks. Two on no outs for Vernon. Here we go, we have seen this before far too many times this season. Grounds to Salazar at 1B throw to Fahey SS back to Waters double play ball. I guess the good news is that Jays have someone at 3B for first time tonight, Lind at bat. Walks, that double play hurts here. Rolen at bat two on, but two down. Finally, yes Scott, doubles over the wall in left centre. Bautista scores 1-0 Jays. Lind at 3B. Lines very hard to RF great highlight reel diving catch Markakis save two runs there. Could have been much more without Vernon’s double play and that great catch, that could have been big inning for Jays. 95 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Richmond has a lead at least however stingy. Fahey grounds up the middle, no problem for Johnny Mac throw to Bautista for first out. Roberts at bat, full count, don’t walk this guy Scott, lines out to Bautista nice catch. Two down. Markakis singles into right centre . One on two down. Mora singles into CF. Two on two down for Huff. This guy has 108 RBIs. Jays top guy is Rios with 79 and therein lies the tale of 2008. Pops it up to Rolen, very nice pitching by Richmond. Definitely playing for consideration in 2009 rotation. He has my vote. 79 pitches.

Top 7th: Thigpen first pitch gets holds of this one and this is out of here fast into LF seats , his first ML HR, 2-0 Jays. Way to go Curtis. McDonald Singles into RF. Scutaro is he bunting? Showing it. 3-1 count. Full count. Singles up the middle and Johnny Mac is at 3B. No one out for Bautista. Break it open Jose. That’s it for Waters. 101 pitches. Rain is now heavier and crowd starting to stream out as well. Cormier now pitching, Bautista grounds first pitch to Salazar throw to Cormier McDonald scores 3-0 Jays. Scutaro moves to 2B. One down and one in scoring position for Rios. Here comes the ground crew, this game is in rain delay. 8.50.
9.50 Game is called and Jays win one.

What they are saying:
Baltimore Adam Jones: "I'm out here having fun still, but the outcome is not what we all want. That's the hardest part. We're men out there. We're not looking for someone to pat us on the back when we do wrong."

Halladay on the management contracts: "I like what Cito has done in the time he's been here. I think we've gone in some good directions and I've always trusted J.P. I feel confident the organization will continue to go the right way