Boston sweeps Jays. Same old Jays story with runners in scoring position and unable to score.

Toronto v Boston series finale and Boston going for the sweep.
Jays have to smarten up with their hitting if they want to get out of here with a win.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen, Millar, Barajas, Bautista, and Ray pitching.
Boston: Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis, Bay, Drew, Lowell, Varitek, Lugo and Lester pitching.

The good: Nothing much tonight but I would put Ray in there. For a rookie with only three games in majors and going into Fenway he was fine, he just had no run support and with the Rios dropped catch this game would have been much closer. Yes he gets my vote tonight.

The bad: Ray has to play against his own defence tonight let alone insipid Jays hitters. The overachieving of the first seven weeks has come down with a big thud. I don’t blame the pitching. Hitting scores runs. But 1/7 with runners in scoring position and eleven left on base tell a horror story.

How can a team get 25 hits and only four runs in two games? JP is probably asking himself that question. What is wrong with this team? Jays had chance to make a statement here in Fenway, well they did, but not the one they wanted. Boston know now that they can take Jays in September if it gets to that situation.
What is even more important and worrying is that Jays have been swept by Boston and lose badly to Yankees at home and have yet to show they are going to challenge for the division. They still have many, many games to play against these two and have not even played one against Tampa.

Top 1st: Scutaro singles to right. Hill strikes out. Rios fly ball to Bay in left. Two down. Wells singles to left, Scutaro to second. Lind pops up to Lugo at short.

Bottom 1st: Ellsbury doubles to right. Pedroia grounds to Scutaro throw to Millar, one down. Ellsbury to third. Ortiz grounds to Hill throw to Millar Ellsbury scores 1-0 Boston. Youkilis full count and walks. Bay home run to right centre but Rios misplays and drops the ball on that one. That was definitely catchable. 3-0 Boston. Drew struck out.

Top 2nd: Rolen grounds to Lugo throw to Youkilis. One down. Millar singles to centre. Barajas fly ball to Bay.Two down. Bautista singles to right, Millar to second. Scutaro grounds to Youkilis flip to Lester. Jays four hits and no runs, Boston two hits and three runs, thanks to Alex.
Bottom 2nd: Lowell strikes out. Varitek grounds to Millar two down. Lugo grounds back to Ray to first baseman Millar. Ray 45 pitches already.

Top 3rd: Hill strikes out on full count. Rios first pitch dribbles to Pedroia at second. He is really off his game tonight. Wells with two down. Average now only .267. for a cleanup guy that is not acceptable. But Cito not doing anything, says “Vernon is trying”. Trying our patience and that’s about it. It is really three seasons since Vernon produced. Doubles over head of Ellsbury to the wall, but with two outs, same old Jays, Cannot get the hits when they are really needed. Lind perhaps he can change this.
Bottom 3rd: two down for Youkilis. Pedroia at third. Full count, singles up the middle. Pedroia scores 4-0 Boston. Bay strikes out, but Jays way behind this one already and not looking as if they will threaten.

Top 4th: Jays have already outhit Boston 5-4 but are 0-3 RISP and thev have already left five on base. Will not win many games like that. Rolen leading off full count and walks. Lester’s pitch count is way over 60 also but he has a four run lead which should be more than enough the way Jays hitters are going. Millar with one on. fly ball to centre Ellsbury one down. Rolen has to hold at first. Barajas singles into left corner. Two on and another in scoring position with one out for Bautista, two chances here to get a base hit and get on the scoreboard. Well, this is the hapless Jays. grounds to second throw to Lugo back to double play ball. Jays now have four runs in the last twenty two innings. That is not going to win them any wild card let alone a championship.
Bottom 4th: Drew grounds to Hill, great save and throw to Millar for the out. Lowell Grounds to Rolen throw to Millar two down. Boston doing a Toronto, first pitch swinging but Ray will take it.Varitek at bat, two down, strikes out. Nice inning for Ray but he cannot win this without runs and now lots of them

Top 5th: Lester at 77 pitches. Scutaro leading off. Grounds to Youkilis, one down for Hill. Hitless tonight on two strikeouts. Make that three grounds to Lugo throw to Youkilis and two down for Rios. Also hitless and responsible for two of the four runs. Singles to left but with two down and Wells at bat, don’t bet the house here. Seven hits for Jays and nothing to show for it so far. First pitch grounds off the end of his bat to Pedroia at second throw to Youkilis and out at first. Wells is getting worse. Didn’t even give Rios a chance to steal. They are playing as if they want out of Fenway as fast as possible which might be true but at least give the impression you are trying.
Bottom 5th: Lugo grounds to Scutaro throw too late at first. Ellsbury with one on. grounds to Millar throw to Scutaro one down back to Millar but not in time. Ray can’t win anyway. Pedrioa Pitch out, but throw sails and Ellsbury safe. As I said poor Ray cannot win despite doing everything right. Pedroia 3-0 count now full count and drives it up the middle run scores. 5-0 Boston giving Jays a lesson in hitting with runners in scoring position. Ortiz. Singles into right. Two on one down for Youkilis. Here comes Gaston, don’t blame Ray Cito. Blame some of your underachieving hitters and defence. Three runs in 23 innings is not good enough. League in to pitch. Fly ball to Wells at the wall, Pedroia tags and moves up, two down. Bay with Pedroia at third. Grounds to Rolen at third, throw to Hill to get Ortiz.

Top 6th: Lind hitless tonight. grounds weakly to Lugo throw to Youkilis one down for Rolen. Hitless but one walk. Takes third strike does not like the call, sorry Scott we need hits not looking at pitches, Millar 1-2 tonight. Fly ball to left for third out. Jays have still outhit Boston tonight 7-6 and yet have not scored and Boston has five. Last night Jays had 14 hits and 3 runs. Not difficult to work out what is wrong with this team.
Bottom 6th: Drew singles to centre. Lowell strikes out. Varitek strikes out. Two down. Drew stealing second but great throw by Barajas to Scutaro ends this one.

Top 7th: Lester is still out there. Barajas at bat, last nine Jays hitters to get this one over and out of town but if Jays think it will be any easier in Atlanta they will have a shock. Jays could easily be swept in Atlanta as well as here in Boston. Barajas pops up to Lugo one down. Bautista walks. Scutaro at bat. Lester way over 100 pitches but Francona keeping him in there, not much faith in the bullpen Terry? Scutaro singles to left, Bautista to second. Once again runner in scoring position for Hill hitless tonight. That’s it for Lester. Ramirez pitching. Hill singles to left and Bautista scores finally after nine hits they get a run but much too little too late. 5-1 Boston. Rios with no outs. Strikes out. That figures. Wells at bat, semi-intentional walk on four pitches? I hope that was the case and not a case of Vernon freezing with runners in scoring position. Bases loaded for Lind. 0-3 tonight. Two down. Fly ball to Bay in left nice catch at the wall in foul territory. Lind now 0-4. Jays hitters are 1/7 tonight with runners in scoring position and have left 10 on base.

Bottom 7th: Carlson now pitching. Lugo fly ball to Wells. Ellsbury bunting Hill to Millar for the out.Pedroia grounds to Scutaro throw to Millar.

Top 8th: Rolen hitless tonight. Rolen singles to centre. Millar fly ball to Ellsbury. One down one on. Barajas lines out to Lugo. Two down. Bautista strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Frasor now pitching. Ortiz at bat. Shift on, lines right at Hill behind Millar. Youkilis strikes out, that pitch was way outside but the umpires want this one over. Must be getaway night for them. Bay swinging away pops up to Millar.

Top 9th: Francona rubbing this one in, here comes Papelbon with a four run lead ??? Well will be interesting to see how Jays hitters react. Last time they met Papelbon it was lights out. Scutaro 2-4 tonight. Grounds first pitch to Lowell at third throw to Youkilis one down. Hill 1-4 singles into centre. Rios with one on, we have been here before. Upper deck left field but of course foul. Alex was in his home run trot. Strikes out, two down for Wells, any bets on first pitch swing? Grounds back to Papelbon throw to Youkilis and Boston has swept Jays.

But in reality this more than a sweep this is a statement to Toronto and a wakeup call that they are not as good as they have been lead to believe and that they have been overachieving for two months. They have won one game against Yankees and none against Boston.
The worst part of course is that tonight they outhit Boston 11-7 and score one run. That is the problem. Hitting with runners in scoring position and until Cito and Tenace and all the Kings Men sort this out then Jays are in their downward spiral.