Jays make it difficult but win for Halladay and take another series

Toronto v Chicago. Series closer.

Lineups: Toronto: the first team for Halladay today. Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen, Overbay, Barajas, Snider and Halladay pitching.
Chicago: Lillibridge, Fields, Quentin, Thome, Dye, Konerko, Pierzynski, Anderson, Ramirez and Contreras pitching.

The very good: Halladay as always. Not his best but gives 110% to keep it close. Barajas 3-4, Carlson four pitch two outs Thome and Dye in the eighth. Downs save in the ninth. Frasor and Carlson perfect.
The bad: the very bad, Rios and Wells back to their old faults making outs on first pitch swinging. Redeem themselves in the end but. Contreras had forthy pitches after two but Jays could not get rid of him as a resul of this first pitch swinging.

Top 1st : Scutaro fly ball out to left. One down for Hill.376 average I would say that is hot. 3-0 count. lines it up the middle. Rios with his new “upright stance” ! (Cito) fly ball to opposite field for Dye. Two down for Vernon. Breaks his bat lifting ball into shallow right, Hill to third. Two on for Lind. 3-0 takes it all the way for strike. Doubles it to right and Hills scores, Vernon chugging around from first 2-0 Jays. Rolen with Lind at second first pitch swinging to centre for the third out but Jays have given Halladay a start. Interesting both Alex and Vernon go opposite way today. Lind also into right field.
Bottom 1st: Lillibridge doubles to centre, Fields, singles to right, Lillibridge scores 2-1 Jays. Quentin singles to left, still no outs, need a ground ball Roy, gets it Thome grounds to Hill but fumbles it and only one play to first, should have been easy double play. No error given but…. One down two in scoring position for Dye. Strikes out. Two down for Konerko lines to Hill throw to Overbay for third out. No further damage.

Top 2nd: Overbay full count. grounds to second throw to Konerko for first out. Barajas 3-0 count, singles to left. Snider strikes out. Scutaro with one and two down. Singles into centre. Two on for Hill, first pitch fly ball to shallow centre for third out. 40 pitches for Contreras.
Bottom 2nd: Pierzynski grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for first out. Anderson lifts it just over head of Hill into shallow right, Ramirez shows bunt, ball gets away from Barajas, Anderson to second. Ramirez nubber in front of him, Halladay throws to first for second out, Anderson to third. Lillibridge grounds to Scutaro over to Overbay for third out. 30 pitches for Halladay.

Top 3rd: Rios to leadoff. Lines it hard to third but right at Fields, throw to Konerko for first out. Wells, exactly the same play and on first pitch, come on friends Halladay will not be pleased with this. He has hardly sat down. Lind now has to take a few, full count, and walks him. Rolen, swung at first pitch his first time up. Drives it hard to centre but Anderson makes the catch. 51 pitches.
Bottom 3rd: Fields 3-0 count, walks on full count. Sox hitters more patient than Jays today. Quentin lines out to Rios, nice catch but cannot double up Fields at first. One down for Thome singles into left, Snider fumbles and Fields goes to third on the play. Dye now needs a sac fly, doesn’t get it, a nubber in front of plate Halladay gets it and throws out Dye at first, two down. Konerko with runners at second and third, lines it into left corner two runs score and Sox are ahead 3-2. Pierzynski strikes out but Halladay is not his usual sharp self today and will need hitters to get their bats moving. His fielders are not helping him with both Hill and Snider giving up extras.56 pitches

Top 4th: Overbay full count, fly ball to right for the out, pushed Contreras pitch count up by eight at least. Barajas doubles into left centre, 2-2 today. Snider, has he learned from last at bat ? singles to second, infield hit for Travis. Barajas to third on play. Scutaro now can he bring him in? grounds back to Contreras fumbles ball and Barajas scores 3-3 game, Snider stays at second, two down for Hill. Grounds to Ramirez throw to first for third out. 70 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Anderson, full count, grounds hard to Scutaro fumbles the ball and throw not in time, this is the third such play for Roy’s defence. That was also an eight pitch at bat. Ramirez showing bunt. pops it up to Barajas right at the plate. One down. Lillibridge, Anderson running but great throw by Barajas to get him easily, nice throw Rod. Two down. Lillibirdge fly ball to Rios in shallow right. No damage done but pitch count into the seventies for Roy. He needs a couple of quick innings to get back on track or he may be gone by the seventh but this White Sox side is very patient, unlike the Jays. 75 pitches.

Top 5th: Rios, yes first pitch out grounds to third. Alex back to his old tricks. Wells now takes the first two at least, grounds to second, throw to Konerko for the second out. Four pitches two outs. Halladay must cry. Lind grounds to second, throw to first. Six pitch inning pathetic. 76 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Fields strikes out but six pitches. Quentin full count but that looked like third strike. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay but another six pitches. Two down for Thome takes third strike on three pitches. Roy up to 90 pitches.

Top 6th: Now can Jays hitters show some discipline this inning? Rolen no, first pitch ground ball to third for the out. Overbay first pitch swinging fly ball out to Dye. Two pitches two outs. Barajas 2-2 and singles into centre (four pitches). Snider now I hope he has not been watching Rios, Wells and Rolen. Two pitch out. Grounds to second, flip to Ramirez for the out. Eight pitch inning to go with the six pitch previous inning. This is probably the most undisciplined hitting that Jays have shown all season. Contreras should be out of the game by now. Instead he has 86 pitch count.
Bottom 6th: Dye lines to Hill again not a clean stop but managed to just get Dye at first. One down for Konerko this could be Halladay’s last inning with pitch count over 90. Fly ball to Rios. Two down for Pierzynski, lines out to Scutaro. Roy is doing more than his share, but where are the bats today ? this weekend ? 101 pitches.

Top 7th: Scutaro grounds to third throw to first for the out. Hill 1-3 today, strikes out. Two down for Rios. 0-3 today and deservedly so, he has no discipline at all. Pops it up to Ramirez. This team does not deserve to win this one today.
Bottom 7th: Halladay starting this one, he wants to win even if the rest of his team doesn’t. Anderson, grounds to Overbay flip to Halladay for the out. Ramirez singles up the middle, Lillibridge, strikes out two down. Fields pitchout but terrible throw as Ramirez steals. Roy has to do it himself and strikes him out number six today.

Top 8th: Can the hitters win this for Halladay who has pitched his heart out even without his best stuff today and not helped by some sloppy fielding and far worse hitting. Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen and Overbay two hits between them today. New pitcher for Chicago Linebrink pitching to Wells. That’s much better Vernon, doubles into left. Lind can he keep it going? Will Vernon steal third ? 3-1 count and now walks Lind. Two on, no outs for Rolen, long, long overdue. Yes singles into left, Wells scores, Lind to third but Rolen out trying to stretch this one out to a double. 4-3 Jays and puts Roy back in win option. Overbay intentional walk, Barajas 3-3 today. Strikes out.Snider another one overdue for a big hit. Big hit to centre but fly ball out, we needed that the last at bat by Barajas.
Bottom 8th: Jays have the lead, can they hold it for Halladay? Frasor pitching, Quentin at bat, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for the out. One down for Thome, Carlson to pitch to Thome. Lines first pitch hard to Hill, two down for Dye three pitch strike out, Carlson blew him away.

Top 9th: Can Jays pad this lead for Downs to finish off? Bobby Jenks now pitching.Guillen wanst to hold this right here. Scutaro leading off, strikes out. Hill grounds to second. Now only Rios left, has had a horrible game 0-4 will it be 0-5 ? Not today, Alex doubles into right centre. Vernon can he keep it going ? or bring in Alex ? No grounds to Ramirez, throw to Konerko for the third out.
Bottom 9th: Downs the new closer. Konerko at bat, no room for error Scott. Gorunds to Overbay flip to Downs for the first out. Pierzynski grounds first pitch to Scutaro throw to Overbay, two down. Anderson singles to centre, Vernon saves a double. Owens pinch running. Ramirez fly ball out to Snider. Jays win the series number six.
Halladay wins his fourth and Jays stay on top of division. They did it the hard way but it is a win and also the sixth consecutive series win. I'll take it.