Zaun the hero today as Marcum deserves the win and Overbay hits two HRs

Toronto v Tampa. Second game of series. Saturday, September 6, 2008.

Jays send Marcum to the mound today, big test for Shawn against league leading team has he regained previous form? Should he be in rotation in 2009?

Lineups: Tampa, Iwamura, Upton, Pena, Floyd, Aybar, Hinske, Navarro, Gross, Zobrist, and Shields pitching.
Toronto: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Overbay, Rolen, Zaun, Snider and Marcum pitching.

Pitching: Marcum v Shields.

Result: Jays win 7-4 in thirteen innings.

The very, very good: Zaun walk-off grand slam home run in the 13th inning. It was the first time in Jays franchise history a game-ending grand slam in extra innings. Marcum seven shut out innings.

The good: Overbay two Home runs. Zaun also 3-5 today, plus two great throws to get runners. I think he was out to prove something to his Manager that he is definitely not finished. The bullpen apart from Frasor. BJ I have to give benefit of doubt to him here, Inglett’s error was huge in this going into extra innings. He also had another 25 pitch inning. Back to back days at the end of a long season, is his shoulder weakening ?

The bad: Inglett's second in last two games but this one really hurt Ryan and a win for Marcum.

The game: Top 1st: Iwamura singles to CF. Upton strikes out. Pena walks, Iwamura moves to 2B. Floyd grounds to Scutaro on to Overbay, douible play ball. Perfect.
Bottom 1st: Inglett singles to LF. Scutaro grounds to SS Zobrist on to 2B Iwamura, Inglett out at 2B.One down for Alex. Doubles to CF, Scutaro scores 1-0 Jays. Wells grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B two down. Lind grounds to 2B Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for third out but Jays take early lead.

Top 2nd: Aybar full count and walks. Marcum did not want that his second walk in two innings. Hinske at bat,strikes out, one down one on. Aybar stealing great throw by Zaun to Scutaro for the out. Navarro two down, fly ball out to Snider, playing in RF today.
Bottom 2nd: Overbay at bat, gets hold of this one and this one is out, HR to CF. 2-0 Jays. Rolen grounds to 3B Aybar throw to Pena at 1B for the out. Zaun getting a rare start these days, 0-21 ouch…. singles to RF that feels good along with that caught stealing throw. Snider now in his own mini slump, lines out to Iwamura. Two down for Inglett, grounds out to 1B Pena for third out but Jays have added one for Marcum.

Top 3rd: Ex-Jay Gross strikes out. Zobrist strikes out. Marcum now warming up ??? Spoke too sonn, Iwamura singles to CF. Upton two down one on, full count and walks. Iwamura to 2B. Pena at fly ball out to Snider in RF with Alex playing at CF today.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro, patient here, full count and walks. Rios at bat one on, lines out to SS Zobrist and Scutaro has to hold. Wells DH today grounds to SS Zobrist throw to Iwamura on to Pena at 1B double play ball Vernon ends that threat by Jays.
Top 4th: Floyd fly ball out to RF Snider one down. Aybar strikes out. Hinske at bat two down, grounds to Scutaro playing at SS today, throw to Overbay for the quick three up and down inning that Marcum needs.

Bottom 4th: Lind at bat, grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B to get Lind.One down for Overbay, YES Lyle, another good hit here this time to LF and out of here, HR his second of the game and 3-0 Jays in the lead. Rolen at bat fly ball out to RF Gross. Zaun full count and walks. Snider strikes out. His woes continue but I think Jays management want to carry him in September for the last three weeks. Downside could be his confidence though. Jays continue to add to the lead.

Top 5th: Navarro singles to RF. One on for Gross fly ball out to Lind. One down for Zobrist grounds to 2B Inglett flip to SS Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball.
Bottom 5th: Inglett bunting back to Shields throw to Pena, out at 1B. Scutaro fly ball out to RF Gross. Two down for Rios fly ball out to Upton in CF. Jays go quietly this inning.

Top 6th: Iwamura leadoff grounds to SS Scutaro throw to 1B Overbay, one down. Upton fly ball out CF Rios. Pena singles to RF. Floyd at bat two down one on, fly ball out to Rios. Marcum frustrating Rays here today.
Bottom 6th: Wells at bat strikes out. Lind fly ball out flied out to CF Upton. Overbay of two HR’s must be feeling great after all the season long criticism singles to CF. He has Shields number today his third hit. Rolen with two down, grounds to 3B Aybar throw to 2B Iwamura to get Overbay for third out. I think Rolen should maybe give way to Jose Bautista for a game or two, he really does not look right with that stroke.

Top 7th: Marcum still in there and why not? Aybar strikes out. Hinske strikes out. That is number seven for Marcum today. However his three walks have pushed that pitch count up. Navarro grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay and Marcum has thrown seven shutout innings. 103 pitches so that might be it for Shaun. Cito likes Downs to have the eighth and set up for BJ maybe although he had long inning last night.
Bottom 7th: Ruggiano LF for Hinske. Zaun leading off pops up to SS Zobrist. One down for Snider, fly ball out to CF Upton and remains hitless today. Inglett fly ball out to Upton for third out.

Top 8th: Cito is indeed consistent, Downs now pitching. Bartlett pinch-hitting for Gross. Bartlett grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay,one down. Zobrist 3-0 count and now walks on four pitches. Iwamura 3-0 count and also walks on four pitches, Zobrist to second. I don’t think this is what Cito had in mind for Down here. Upton is the tying run. Grounds to Downs throw to Scutaro on to Overbay, double play ball and Downs escapes trouble here.
Bottom 8th: Shields is still pitching. Ruggiano in at RF for Gross. Bartlett in at SS for Zobrist. Scutaro leading off strikes out. Rios fly ball out to CF Upton. Wells grounds to Pena flip to pitcher Shields for third out and Shields should be fairly pleased with his eight innings here. His offence has let him down tonight.

Top 9th: Wilkerson in as left fielder. Ryan pitching. It will be interesting to see how he does he had a long 25 pitch inning last night. Pena lead off hit by pitch. One on for Baldelli pinch-hitting for Floyd. Full count. OH NO! Baldelli gets hold of this one, HR to left into the second deck.3-2 Jays and no outs. Aybar walks. Perez now pinch-running for Aybar. Perez stealing second and safe. Ruggiano strikes out one down. Navarro at bat singles up the middle Inglett should have had that one looked like through his legs but definitely playable, Perez scores though to tie this one up 3-3. Yes, error to Inglett his second in two days, but this one is huge. Perez would have had to hold at 3B. Navarro safe on Inglett's error, but on Rios throw to Zaun he gets Navarro at 2B. Another great play by Zaun. Two down. Bartlett strikes out. But before we bury BJ here that would have been a very different inning if Inglett had had that play. Perhaps Cito had better start to consider him a defensive liability and bringing in Johnny Mc and Scutaro for the later innings defensively. Marcum does not get the win and BJ blows the save but the scoreline does not tell the complete story here.

Bottom 9th: Can Jays get one more here but you know Rays are pumped up by that. Baldelli in as designated hitter. Perez in at LF. Zobrist moves to 3B. Wheeler now pitching. Wilkerson in for Lind, fly ball out to CF Upton. Overbay strikes out. Last chance Rolen, YES Scott, doubles to CF. Zaun infield single to third, Rolen moves to 3B but is hung up here and is out. SS Bartlett to 3B Zobrist to catcher Navarro back to Bartlett. We are going to extra innings after this one looked sown up for Marcum. I don’t want to see Inglett tomorrow.

Top 10th: League now pitching. Zobrist grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay, one down.
Iwamura singles to LF. Upton with one down and one on, grounds to Inglett flip to Scutaro on to Overbay double play ball. League likes that.
Bottom 10th: Howell now pitching. Snider leading off grounds to Iwamura throw to Pena at 1B for the first out. Inglett at bat, singles to CF but he remains the goat from previous inning. Scutaro fly ball out RF Ruggiano.Two down for Rios with one on. Bradford now pitching. Rios grounds to SS Bartlett throw to Pena for third out.

Top 11th: Carlson now pitching. Pena singles to RF. Baldelli strikes out that was huge out for Carlson. Perez fly ball out to LF Wilkerson. Wild pitch, Pena moves into scoring position now for Ruggiano who strikes out. Great work Jesse.
Bottom 11th: Wells leading off grounds to Zobrist throw to 1B Pena. Wilkerson grounds to 1B Pena flip to pitcher Bradford for the out. Hero Overbay now patient at bat, full count and walks. Rolen with one on lines out to SS Bartlett. This one is more tense than last night’s game. It will be tough one to lose.

Top 12th: Carlson still in there, Navarro grounds to Inglett fortunately manages to hold this one and throw to Overbay for the out. That’s it for Carlson. Frasor now pitching, we have not seen him a few days. Bartlett strikes out. Zobrist doubles to CF. Iwamura now gets an intentional walk with first base open. Oh no, Frasor making this worse and Upton walks, Bases are loaded Zobrist at 3B, Iwamura at 2B. This is why we don’t see much of Frasor, he really freezes with guys on base. Parrish now pitching. Pena fly ball out to Wilkerson. Parris does his job bigtime. That could have been the game. Toronto has used seven pitchers today, and that is after Marcum had given them seven.
Bottom 12th: Balfour pitching. Zaun at bat strikes out. Snider strikes out. What a miserable day for him today 0-5. Inglett with two down singles to RF. Scutaro grounds to pitcher Balfour throw to Pena for the out.

Top 13th: Camp pitching. Jays are running out of pitching. Baldelli singles to LF. Perez grounds to Scutaro throw to Inglett, Baldelli out at 2B. One down one on for Jaso pinch-hitting for Ruggiano. Jaso grounds out to Overbay. Perez moves to 2B.Thatl;s it for Camp. Tallet pitching number nine pitcher. Perez stealing third, this guy has been running Jays ragged in first two games. Oh NO….. Navarro singles to RF, Perez scores. 4-3 Rays take the lead for first time in this game. Bartlett full count and walks, Navarro to 2B this is not over yet. Zobrist strikes out.Tallet escapes further damage but Rays are in flight here momentum is back with them.
Bottom 13th: Baldelli in at RF. Rays closer now Percival pitching. Rios leading off pops up to Pena at 1B.Wells now infield single to short. Wilkerson singles to left, Wells moves to 2B, Jays hve something going here. Overbay grounds to Iwamura to shortstop Bartlett Wilkerson out but Vernon is at 3B. McDonald pinch-running for Overbay at 1B. Rolen with two down. 3-0 count and walks on four pitches. Bases are loaded for Gregg Zaun. Crowd is going crazy. Zaun gets hold of this first pitch. YES YESYES YES Gregg, this one is out of here into the Rays bullpen. HR, GRAND SLAM walk off Grand slam…. Wells scores, McDonald scores, Rolen scores and Zaun with fist pumping helmet thrown off leaps into the mass of Jays at home plate. Jays win this one 7-4 Jays. Tallet loses and wins…. This one was Marcum’s but the hitters rescued a loss.