Toronto v New York, Series finale. Roof is open, first time this season. I hope it is a good omen.
Lineups: New York: Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Matsui, Swisher, Cabrera, Cano, Gardner, Cervelli and Sabathia pitching. Yankees back to almost full strength.
Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Rios, Wells, Bautista, Rolen, Millar, Barajas, McDonald, and Tallet pitching. Hill DH tonight after fouling that ball off his shin last night. Not the lineup Cito wants against Yankees.
Jays lose this game 3-2 and the series and still have a long way to go to convince that they are for real against the better opposition in the East when it really counts. More than 50 games still to play against the East, they will have to play much, much better than this. Good news is that Boston has also lost for second game in a row so Jays lose no ground. And Boston starters ERA now ovre 5.0. Ouch.
The good: Rios two hits HR and single and a walk, Rolen continuing solid play.
The awful: RISP, RISP and more RISP. 1/5 again to go with last night’s lack of hitting. You can’t win games without the hits. Tallet’s first inning with three walks and walking in run. Five walks in all ruined this outing for him. But it may make rotation decision easier for Cito. Both Richmond and Tallet will have to show more than they have in their last outings to get a place when Romero and Litsch return.
The bad: Scutaro and Hill hitless tonight, don’t see that often but must be different for Aaron not being out on the field in the game. He is not a DH. Plus of course it takes Lind out of the lineup.
Top 1st: Jeter back from injury playing for first time here in Toronto this series, grounds to Scutaro throw to Millar, one down. Damon doubles to centre. This guy has been one man wrecking crew here in Toronto. Teixeira 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Not a good start for Tallet here. A-Rod lifts one into right, Damon to third. Two down. Matsui also back in lineup after missing one game and much of the first with hamstring injury walks, Tallet all over the place this first inning. Teixeira to second. Bases loaded one down Swisher walks. Third walk of the inning. And Damon scores 1-0 Yankees and bases still loaded. Cano grounds to Millar flip to Tallet. But that was one horrible inning from Tallet.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro fouls out to Teixeira. One down. Hill grounds to Sabathia throw to Teixeira for second out. Rios singles to right. One on for Wells lines out to Damon in left field.
Top 2nd: I hope this is better than Tallet’s first inning. Gardner bunting to Johnny Mc throw to Millar at first base for first out. Cervelli fly ball to Wells.Two down for Jeter, grounds to McDonald throw to Millar for third out. Yes much better.
Bottom 2nd: Bautista strikes out. Rolen grounds to Jeter throw to first Teixeira. Millar fly ball to centre Gardner. Very quick inning for Sabathia.
Top 3rd: Damon strikes out. Teixeira singles to left. One on one down. A-Rod fly ball to Wells. Matsui lines out to Wells. Another better inning for Tallet. But when are Jays bats going to appear ?
Bottom 3rd: Barajas fouls out to Teixeira at first. McDonald fly ball to centre field Gardner. Scutaro pops up to Cano at second.
Top 4th: Swisher grounds to second base McDonald throw to Millar for the first out. Cano singles to centre. Gardner grounds to second base McDonald throw to Millar, Cano to second. Cervelli with two outs lines to Wells.
Bottom 4th: Hill fly ball to Swisher in right field. Rios there she goes, HR to centre, finally Jays get a run against Sabathia. 1-1 game. Alex’s fourth of the season. Wells, bat breaks and goes flying into crowd at third, spectator hit on head, cut but is able to walk out. Vernon grounds to A-Rod throw to Teixeira. Two down. Bautista strikes out but Jays are on the board.
Top 5th: Jeter strikes out. Damon grounds to McDonald throw to Millar. Two down for Teixeira pops up to McDonald. Good inning for Tallet.
Bottom 5th: Rolen walks. I think Scott has been very solid this last couple of weeks. Millar strikes out. Barajas doubkes to centre, here comes Rolen. 2-1 Jays. McDonald singles to centre, Barajas to third and coming home. Gardner’s throw right on the money and Barajas is out. Why is he taking third? I can see the frustration in not scoring the last two nights but this is Barajas. No speed at all. Not a good call from here. McDonald to second on the throw home. Scutaro with runner in scoring position grounds to Jeter throw to Teixeira.
Top 6th: A.Rod lines to third base Rolen. Matsui fly ball to Wells. Two down. Swisher walks.
Cano grounds to McDonald throw to Millar for third out. Tallet has been so much better after that disasterous first inning.
Bottom 6th: Hill strikes out. Rios walks. One on for Wells, pops up to Jeter. Two down for Bautista grounds to Jeter on to Cano, Rios out.
Top 7th: Gardner 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Cito, I agree with you, that is totally unacceptable. Cervelli singles to centre, Gardner to third. That’s it for Tallet, spoke too soon. Both he and Richmond have been brought down to earth against the Yankees bats. Maybe they had both had easy rides to date. Frasor pitching. Two on no outs and runner at third ? Recipe for disaster and here comes Jeter, loops this one into right, Gardner scores Cervelli to second. Game is tied up 2-2. Damon strikes out for once. Teixeira fly ball to Wells. A-Rod fly ball to right Rios. Jays escape the bullet here with two on and no outs..
Bottom 7th: Rolen doubles to left. Good leadoff but can Jays bring him in ? Millar fly ball to centre field Gardner, Rolen to third. Barajas intentional walk.McDonald (there’s the weak link in this lineup now and I guess Cito has no options with Hill injured) strikes out. He cannot use a pinch hitter for Johnny Mc. Scutaro walks, Barajas to second. Bases loaded for Hill, that was not in the plan. Hill grounds to A-Rod throw to second Cano, Scutaro out and Jays once again miss a great chance here with bases loaded to get one or even two. Same as last night. The hitters have to smarten up here. If not against Yankees they have Chicago in tomorrow for three.
Top 8th: Carlson pitching. There it goes home run over Vernon into centre. 3-2 Yankees. Swisher fly ball to Wells. One down. Cano strikes out. Gardner hit by pitch. Two on two down for Cervelli singles to left, Gardner to second. That’s it for Carlson, did not get it done tonight. League pitching. Jeter grounds to Scutaro throw to McDonald, Cervelli out. But damage is done. Can Jays come back against Sabathia ? and then Rivera in the ninth.
Bottom 8th: Cabrera in at right field.Rios fly ball to Cabrera. Wells fly ball to centre field Gardner. Two down for Bautista grounds to first Teixeira for third quick out.. Sabathia makes it look easy.
Top 9th: Downs pitching. Damon grounds to Millar unassisted. Teixeira strikes out. A-Rod grounds back to Downs throw to Millar. Good inning for Downs but is it any value ?
Bottom 9th: Last chance for the Jays and no use loading the bases if they can’t hit when it counts. Rivera pitching. Rolen grounds to Cano throw to first Teixeira. One down. Millar grounds back to Rivera throw to Teixeira. Two quick outs. Barajas strikes out. Jays go meekly.
Not impressive at all tonight or last night.
Jays lose this first series against Yankees and will have a lot to makeup when they meet in New York and to avoid the knock that they cannot beat good teams. Bragging rights this time are with Yankees.
Another 22,000 crowd and I guess the roof idea didn’t work tonight at least.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment