Jays keep on slumping as they lose another home series.

Toronto v Tampa Game two of three.

Lineups Rays: Upton, Crawford, Aybar, Pena, Zobrist, Burrell, Gross, Bartlett, Navarro and Garza pitching.
Jays: Scutaro, Hill, Wells, Rolen, Lind, Overbay, Rios, Adams, Chavez and Richmond pitching.

Jays lots of hits but not when it counted. Same old story but this loss and losing series hurts bigtime. There are fifteen more against Rays and Jays do not even look as if they belong in same ballpark. They are playing very badly right now up and down the lineup, their defense is saving them from even larger blowouts, the pitching is in tatters, starters and bullpen. Problem is they have lots of games now against the top three in their division and have not beaten any of them convincingly yet. This could be a very ugly second half of the season.

The good: Nothing tonight for Jays at least. Well, Hill at least, two hits, the only double tonight by a Jay and a superb defensive play. Tomorrow at least the Jays fans can enjoy the fireworks after the game. Downs out since June 18 with a sore toe, threw off the bullpen mound and will try fielding drills in the coming days, manager Cito Gaston said. Downs is eligible to come off the DL on Friday when Jays open series in New York. ...The bad news of course is that unless they are winning he will not get chance to pitch or save !!! But at least one back…..

The bad: Far too much, poor situational hitting, terrible pitching, out managed, outhit, not much more left is there? Hill the only player with an extra base hit. Terrible. Richmond five walks. Carlson and League also joining the fun with one each. Tallet the other night six walks. This team will not win many games like that. Jays 0/7 with runners in scoring position but amazingly Rays were 0/6 so the Jays get a break !!! Another series lost at home and fighting tomorrow to avoid the sweep but I would imagine that Madden will give his first team a rest and put out the reserves. Toronto has scored just six runs in losing four in a row.

Top 1st: Upton, there she goes, first pitch, home run to left centre and Rays go out 1-0. Crawford strikes out. Aybar fly ball to Wells. Pena grounds to Hill throw to Overbay but Rays are off and running once more.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro fly ball to Upton in centre. Hill strikes out. Wells grounds to Aybar throw to Pena. Three up and down.

Top 2nd: Zobrist walks. Burrell full count and walks, Zobrist to second. Two leadoff walks ??? Richmond has a way to go yet to be ready for majors rotation. Zobrist now picked off by Richmond to Scutaro, Joe Maddon will not like that play. Zobrist out. Gross strikes out. Bartlett doubles to left, Burrell to third but that would have scored Zobrist. Navarro strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Rolen singles to centre. His consecutive hit streak now eighteen games. Lind singles to centre, Rolen to third. Jays have something going for a change. Overbay grounds to Zobrist flip to Bartlett on to Pena double play.Rolen scores. 1-1 Rays. Rios singles to right but no one on base. Adams fly ball to Upton in centre. One run from three hits.

Top 3rd: Upton fly ball to Rios. Crawford there it goes another home run into right, what a great swing this guy has, he must love it here. 2-1 Rays. Jays cannot even enjoy tying that up last inning. Aybar grounds to Overbay flip to Richmond. Two down for Pena, strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Chavez grounds out to short Bartlett throw to first base Pena. Scutaro walks. Hill singles to left, Scutaro to second. Scutaro walks, Hill singles to centre, two on one down for Wells. full count, pops up to shallow centre, runners have to hold, Two down for Rolen. Grounds to Bartlett at short throw to Zobrist at second to end this one.

Top 4th: Zobrist, singles to right. Burrell, pops up first pitch to Rolen. One down for Gross, grounds hard to right, Hill dives to his left rolls over and throws a strike, for second out. What a play!! That saved at run. Bartlett, grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 4th: Lind lines hard to right, great catch by Pena at first, saves a double. One down for Overbay. Fly ball to Crawford. Rios, grounds to Bartlett, throw to Pena at first for third out.

Top 5th: Navarro, full count and Richmond walks the leadoff number none hitter. Upton strikes out. One down for Crawford. 3-0 count, Richmond ultra careful to the extreme, grounds to Overbay throw to Scutaro to tag out Navarro, double play ball.
Bottom 5th: Jays hitters are still not lighting up the scoreboard yet in this series. Two runs in 13 innings will not get them far in this division. Adams called third strike, gotta swing in the majors Russ. One down for Chavez, grounds to third, throw bounces but still gets Chavez, not much speed there. Certainly not compared to all the Rays speedsters. Two down and back to the real hitters. Scutaro, full count, and walks him, excellent at bat by Scutaro. Hill with one on and two down. Doubles into the gap in centre. Wells now with two in scoring position but two down. High fly ball to Crawford in centre, problem Vernon is that there are two outs and that makes three. Two more left in scoring position and once again Vernon is unable to cash in.

Top 6th: Aybar there it goes another home run to right into Rays bullpen. 3-1 Rays. always the way when Jays fail to capitalize in last inning when they had their chance. Rays now have hit 41 home runs in June a new team record. Pena grounds to Hill playing behind Overbay. One down. Zobrist. The other problem that Jays have with Rays is that they have to lay another 15 yes 15 more games against them. Rays can’t wait. Walks him. Burrell, with Zobrist at first. Now Richmond has to keep him at first, strikes out. Two down for Gross. 3-0 count. Richmond in trouble again. Walks on four pitches, two on and two down for Bartlett, the best two strike hitter in the majors, strikes out on three pitches. Now if he only had some run support. But that is what Halladay also said and most of the rotation recently. The bats have gone south, deep south, Two runs in 15 innings and counting. 93 pitches for Richmond.
Bottom 6th: Rolen, one to get it going if anyone can. Pops up to second Zobrist. Lind singles to right. Gross throw to Bartlett, Lind is out at second. One of those nights. Weeks…... Overbay strikes out.

Top 7th: Navarro grounds to Overbay. Upton grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay. Crawford grounds to short. Safe at first. Aybar, Crawford stealing, but out at second great throw by Chavez to Scutaro.
Bottom 7th: Rios grounds back to Garza throw to Zobrist on to Pena at first. Adams grounds to Zobrist throw to Pena. Two down for Chavez. Chavez singles to centre. One on two down for Scutaro, fly ball to Upton for third out.

Top 8th: Carlson pitching. Aybar singles to left. Pena doubles to right, Aybar to third.Two in scoring position for Zobrist, sac fly to Wells, Aybar scores, it is called execution Cito. We don’t see much of that around here from your team. 4-1 Rays. And the clincher for any comeback hopes. Carlson just not in this one either. Burrell intentional walk. Longoria pinch-hitting for Gross as if the Rays need more power !!! League now pitching. Longoria fly ball to Rios, Pena to third. Bartlett strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Kapler in at right field. Hill walks. They need base runners here. Bradford now pitching. Wells singles to centre, Hill to second. Two on and no outs, that run in last inning is huge now. Rolen fly ball to Upton, Hill to third. Choate now pitching.Maddon taking no chances here. Playing the percentages. Lind strikes out. Overbay fly ball to Crawford. Lyle is now 0-13 last at bats.

Top 9th: Navarro grounds to Overbay. Upton 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Cecil now pitching, his first career relief appearance. Upton at first, One down for Crawford, fly ball to Wells, Aybar with two down. Singles to left to Adams. Pena, fly ball to Adams for third out.
Bottom 9th: What can Jays bring to this now? Rios to start. Howell pitching, Alex his usual, waves weakly at ball outside. Grounds next one to second, throw to first. One down. Bautista pinch hitting. Full count, and walks, one on one down. Barajas, pinch hitting. It is not the score here you just know that no way will they even threaten, whereas in April May this team was never out of any game.. Fly ball to right two down. Scutaro with two down and one on. Grounds to Aybar. Throw to first and Jays lose this one 4-1. They have scored only two runs in eighteen innings. Not good at all. Are now three behind Rays in third place and eight behind Boston.

Garza now 4-2 with a 0.60 ERA in his past six starts against Jays. He is 2-2 with a 0.91 ERA in four career starts in Toronto. Somehow I think he has their number. Save number six for Howell.