Toronto v Chicago, Series finale.
Jays going for the sweep today, must be ruthless in these situations and finish a team off. Every win now is worth it and one less for September. Not only that, the greater the gap going in to Boston tonight is so important. Any Jays win in Boston counts two.
Lineups: Chicago: Podsednik, Nix, Dye, Thome, Konerko, Pierzynski, Ramirez, Getz, Fields and Richard pitching.
Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Lind, Rolen, Millar, Chavez, Bautista, and Richmond pitching. Cito resting Snider it will be interesting to see what he does in Boston in left field. Millar in for Overbay, and Chavez catching. Bautista at DH.
Jays win this one 3-2 and sweep Chicago.
The very good: Richmond seven shutout innings, Rolen outstanding defensive play.
The good: Save number five for Downs. Millar home run. Rios triple and winning rbi in the eighth. Bautista stealing third in the eighth to place more pressure on Dotel.
The bad: Jays (not Vernon today) giving up two more double plays.
Top 1st: Podsednik grounds to Rolen throw to Millar playing at first today for Overbay. Nix grounds to short Scutaro on to first base Millar. Dye grounds to Scutaro throw to Millar.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro walks. Hill at bat, wild pitch by Richard, Scutaro to second. Hill singles to short. Rios grounds to third base Fields on to second base Getz on to first base Konerko, double play ball. Scutaro to third, Hill out. Wells walks. Lind grounds to shortstop Ramirez throw to second base Getz.Wells out.
Top 2nd: Thome full count and walks. Konerko strikes out. Pierzynski fly ball to Wells.
Ramirez grounds to Scutaro on to second baseman Hill, Ramirez to first. Thome out.
Bottom 2nd: Rolen fly ball to right field Dye. One down for Millar, homers here to left 1-0 Jays. Second home run of seasonfor Millar. Chavez with one down, strikes out. Bautista strikes out.
Top 3rd: Getz fly ball to Wells. One down for Fields, grounds to third, great diving save by Rolen and on one knee is throwing to Millar at first and gets Fields, highlight reel play. Podsednik triples to centre. Nix strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Scutaro lines to left-centre, Podsednik he slowed at the last minute to avoid collision with Nix in left field and the ball goes off his glove to the wall and Scutaro safe at third. Error on play. Now Jays hitters have to bring him in with no outs. Hill this should do it, fly ball to Podsednik in centre and Scutaro tags and scores, 2-0 Jays. One down for Rios, fly ball to Nix in left. Wells ground ball to Fields at third and throw to Konerko at first.
Top 4th: Dye grounds to Scutaro throw to Millar. Thome strikes out. Konerko strikes out. Richmond rolling along here so far today.
Bottom 4th: Lind at bat strikes out. Rolen lines to Nix in left field. Millar singles to right. 2-2 today, he has been in his own mini-slump when he has played. Chavez grounds to short Ramirez, Millar out at second.
Top 5th: Pierzynski fly ball to Lind, one down. Ramirez singles to centre. Getz fly ball to Rios. Fields pops up to Hill. Richmond still strong.
Bottom 5th: Bautista grounds to Fields throw to Konerko at first. One down for Scutaro, walks, his second today. Hill grounds back to Richard throw to short Ramirez on to first Konerko, double play ball.
Top 6th: Podsednik strikes out. Nix singles to left. Dye fly ball to Rios. Thome at bat, Nix stealing and safe at second. Nix stealing third, taking advantage of that shift and safe. I am only surprised that White Sox have not done that earlier in the series. Thome strikes out.
Bottom 6th: Rios fouls out to Konerko at first. Wells flied out to right fielder Dye. Vernon hitless today but not alone. Lind grounds to second base Getz on to Konerko for third out. Richard has held Jays bats for the most part.
Top 7th: Konerko singles to left. Pierzynski grounds to Rolen throw to Hill, Konerko out at second. Pierzynski at first for Ramirez, strikes out. Getz singles to right, Pierzynski to third. Two on for Fields. Fields grounds to Rolen throw to Hill, Getz out at second. That might be it for Richmond today. 109 pitches, seven hits and five strikeouts but has kept Chicago off the scoreboard. Now the bullpen to hold this for two.
Bottom 7th: Richard still in there, he has kept Jays to three hits. Rolen fly ball to Nix in left. Millar fly ball to Dye in right. Chavez grounds to Konerko for third quick out. 94 pitches and only three hits and two runs. Problem is that those two might be enough to lose today.
Top 8th: Carlson now pitching. Richmond has had great outing and seven scoreless innings.Podsednik fly ball to Lind. One down. Nix fly ball to left field Lind. Two down. Dye grounds to Scutaro beats out throw. One on for Dye. Thome, gets hold of this one in the air and home run to left, no shift will help you there Cito. Dye scores, two run home run, this one is tied.2-2. Thome number 548 ties Mike Schmidt for 13th on baseball's career home run list.
Richmond will not get a win today. That is such a shame after great outing. Konerko with two down fouls out to catcher Chavez but the damage is done here.
Bottom 8th: Dotel now pitching to hold Jays at two. Bautista full count and walks. Scutaro sacrificing, great bunt up first base line, Konerko throw to Getz at second, Bautista to second. Hill pops up to Getz at second base. Bautista steals third, or to be more precise it looks as if White Sox gave it to him, no one covering. Fields was well behind the bag at third and Dotel was looking in for the sign. Rios now connects on huge blast to left but foul and in the fifth deck at Rogers Centre. That was a bullet into the upper level. This time much better, triples to centre past a diving Podsednik, almost gets his glove on it, that was all or nothing, would have been incredible catch but instead Bautista scores easily and Jays go out ahead again 3-2 Jays. First run given up by Dotel in 14 games and 12.1 innings. Wells fly ball to centre field.
Top 9th: Snider in at left field. Downs pitching. Pierzynski grounds to Hill throw to Millar. Ramirez full count and walks. You don’t need those Scott. This guy will be stealing if he gets the choice. Getz with one on and one down strikes out. Fields grounds to Scutaro onto second Hill, Ramirez out, and Jays have won this one.
Downs gets save number five and Carslon gets the win despite giving up the two run home run which denied Richmond his win, he owes him bigtime. Richmond will be happy with this outing after his very short appearance against Yankees on Wednesday. Chicago starter Richard also had career high seven innings and deserved better.
Jays now go into Boston with a record of 27-14 the best in the American League and percentage points behind Dodgers for the best in the majors. Jays 3.5 ahead of Boston who are not playing today after west coast trip where they dropped two in Seattle.
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