Jays sweep Phillies despite usual poor hitting with runners in scoring position.

Series finale Toronto v Phillies.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Wells, Rolen, Lind, Rios, Overbay, Chavez and Mills hitting and pitching.
Phillies: Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Werth, Feliz, Mayberry jr. Ruiz, Blanton pitching and hitting.

How many innings does Cito want from Mills today? I would guess he would settle for five. Jays have to keep hitting though to give him a chance.

The very good: Jays taking all three from Phillies in Philadelphia, this was an amazing result considering state of Jays pitching and fact that Phillies are top of Eastern division as well as current World Champs playing at home. Not least the facts that Jays had Mills out there and were 0-6 in inter-league play going into this series.

The good: Pinch hit home run by Barajas in the ninth to won. Chavez two run home run. Scutaro on base four times and a great base running play in the 3rd to go to second. Accardo save. Ryan ERA down to .571.
The bad: Hill at bats especially in the fifth with two in scoring position and no outs. Jays same old with runners in scoring position.

Top 1st: Scutaro fly ball to Victorino in centre. Hill strikes out. Wells singles to left. Rolen fly ball to Mayberry in right.
Bottom 1st: Rollins singles to centre. Victorino 3-0 and walks on four pitches, Rollins to second. Utley fly ball to Lind. Howard, Rollins stealing and great throw by Chavez to Rolen gets him at third. Howard strikes out.

Top 2nd: Lind singles to centre. Rios strikes out. Overbay pops up to third base Feliz. Chavez gets hold of one here and into left field seats, Lind scores, Chavez scores and Jays go out 2-0. Mills grounds to first base Howard.
Bottom 2nd: Werth gets hold of this one into left field seats. 2-1 Jays. Feliz, full count, high fly ball to Lind in left. One down but Phillies hitters catching up with Mills now Mayberry jr. over leaping Hill into right. One on one down. Ruiz fly ball to Wells, two down. Blanton the pitcher strikes out.

Top 3rd: Scutaro walks, and now going to second, catches Blanton totally unawares Scutaro could see that no one was covering second and Blanton had his back to him, dives into second easily to beat the throw very smart play by Scutaro. Hill fly ball to shallow left. Not far enough to move him up. Not a good at bat there Aaron. Wells, can he move him? Yes Vernon is getting hot again, doubles into left corner. Scutaro scores easily. 3-1 Jays. Vernon 2-2 today. Rolen with Wells at second. Fly ball to shallow left Rollins makes the catch, two down for Lind. Full count. fly ball to left but Jays have another. Blanton pitch count 70.
Bottom 3rd: Rollins full count and walks. Victorino, will Rollins go? Chavez has a great arm. They may want to test him here. Mills is nibbling, don’t be so fine Brad. Grounder to Rolen could be two, throw to Hill unable to get ball out of glove with Rollins sliding and safe at first. One down. for Utley. Could have been two there. Full count and walks another. Come on Brad. You don’t want to mess with this guy Howard now at bat. 0-2 count. Finish him off. Singles to Wells to load the bases and here comes Werth who unloaded last at bat. Mills in big trouble here, just get the ball in play and let your defence take care of it Brad. 3-1 count. Fly ball to Wells, 3-2 with two down. could have been much, much worse. Feliz now with two on and two down. To be fair to Mills he should have been out of the inning if Hill had turned the double play earlier. Grounds to Rolen, throw to Overbayfor the third out.

Top 4th: Jays need to push Blanton out of the game here at 70 pitches. Rios leading off. 0-1. Grounds to Feliz, throw to Howard at first. Overbay, pops it up to Feliz, two down. Chavez, lines softly to Utley at second and Jays go far too quickly and quietly. 81 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Mayberry lines hard to Rolen throw to Overbay one down. Ruiz fly ball to Lind in left. Blanton, 3-0 count, come on you don’t want to walk the pitcher. Full count now. Walks him. Not good at all Brad. That’s the one thing you never want to do. The only advantage is that longer Blanton is on base the better as he has to pitch next. Rollins, Camp now warming up. I said four, may only be three for Mills. There it goes into left field seats, home run to Rollins. Two runs score 4-3 Phillies. I think Mills may be on next plane back to Vegas. Not what Jays are looking for. He doesn’t have much so far today. Trying to be too fine on almost every at bat. Victorino. Lifts it softly into shallow centre, Cito has had enough. That’s it for Mills four walks, not what Cito is looking for. Also interesting that Cito has not givem up on this one even though he has won the series he wants a sweep. Utley singles into right. Howard with two on. Grounds to Hill throw to Overbay to end this very long inning.

Top 5th: Who will lead off here? Pinch hitter ? or pitcher ?Joe Inglett it is, the expendable Joe, but there he goes singles up the middle. Scutaro now with Joe at first and he can at least run. Doubles off the wall in left, Inglett to third. Hill two in scoring position just a single here Aaron. No. first pitch again pops up to second, another horrible at bat. Wells. Oh boy same play off the end of the bat to second. Two down. Rolen now to loads of boos. He would love to get one here. Lines it hard at third, great catch by Feliz for third out. But that was still a terrible performance by two of three hitters.
Bottom 5th: Hayhurst pitching. Werth at bat, fly ball to Lind in left, one down. Feliz,fly ball first pitch to Wells in centre, has been watching too many Jays hitters, two down for Mayberry, gets hold of this one, into left field. 5-3 Phillies. No disgrace this Mayberry was my rookie of the year choice in Spring training, he is a very, very good hitter. Ruiz Jays can’t complain they had ample chance last inning to score at least two. Full count and walks. Now Blanton or pinch hitter ? Blanton it is. Interesting as he is around 100 pitches already. Manuel does not want his bullpen out there. Grounds to Rolen, throw to Hill at second for the out.

Top 6th: Blanton on 98 pitches facing Lind. Yes Adam, where were you last inning, with the two on, gets hold of this one home run to deep right. Number 14 for Lind. He has such a sweet swing. 5-4 Phillies. Rios now, were you watching that Alex? No, fly ball to Victorino, Alex 0-3 today. One down for Overbay lines first pitch hard up the middle, one on one down for Chavez grounds it hard to Rollins, cannot come up with it and everyone is safe. And that is it for Blanton. Manuel has to go to his bullpen now. Chan Ho Park pitching. Millar pinch hitting, come on Kevin, let’s tie this one up here. Oh boy, takes third strike down the middle, gotta swing at that one Kevin. Two down for Scutaro. Full count. Carlson up in Jays bullpen. Scutaro walks, Bases loaded for Hill who has had two horrible at bats today. Swings over first two pitches, fouling a couple off here, strikes out. Jays are 1/9 with runners in scoring position today, when oh when is someone going to sort them out. This is just like game one when they had so many chances and bases loaded without scoring. Cito you keep saying that there are two hitting coaches yourself and Tenace. What is the solution?
Bottom 6th: Carlson now pitching. Rollins leading off. Strikes out swinging. Victorino strikes out swinging.Two down for Utley. Full count. Strikes out swinging over ball four. Carlson strikes out the side.

Top 7th: Heart of Jays order here. Park still pitching. Wells to leadoff. Strikes out. Rolen with one down. That’s better lines it into right corner and is stretching this into a double, safe on the throw but that was very close as he dives under Rollins glove. Lind now with another guy in scoring position but we have been here before without any joy, eight times in fact today. That’s it for Park. J. C. Romero to Lind singles first pitch to right and Rolen scores and ties this one up 5-5. Lind makes it so easy 3-4 today.. Rios now with Lind at first. Would be nice to see Alex do something here. Thank you Alex, singles into left. Lind to second. Overbay with two on and one down. 3-0 count. Lyle is so patient when he has to be and walks, guess what, bases are loaded yet again. Chavez, base hit will be fine here, don’t need to go for the fences this time. Grounds to third, throw home gets Lind, throw to first almost gets Chavez as he turns at the bag to watch, instead of running through bag. Base running not this team’s strong point. Bases loaded for Bautista. 2-0 count. 3-0. Nowhere to put Bautista here. Full count. Strikes him out looking. This game is eerily like Game 1 with the bases loaded continually and not scoring. Jays 2/12 today with runners in scoring position. Chance after chance after chance. You can’t do this against the Phillies, this team won it all last season.
Bottom 7th: League pitching after his good work last night, this is one reason Jays arms break down, Cito will continually overuse a pitcher. Howard at bat, strikes out. Werth, strikes out swinging at ball in the dirt. Feliz lines it to Rios in right and League does his job.

Top 8th: Jays hitters running out of opportunities. Top of the order again. Hill is the only one hitless today. Condrey pitching. Jays have twelve hits today. Scutaro on base three times today but one hit. Full count singles up the middle. Make that four times. Hill hitless 0-4. Lucky guy, grounds it to third bounces off the glove of Ruiz, instead of double play, two on and no outs. Wells two hit day. Make that three as Vernon opposite (note) field single, Scutaro slides safe 6-5 Jays. Rolen with two on lines first pitch off the wall in left, a double just misses going out, and Hill scores 7-5 Jays. Wells held at third. Two on for Lind, intentional walk and load the bases to get to Rios. That should give you an incentive Alex. Phililes don’t think much of your hitting. Bases loaded no one out. Break this thing open. Tyler Walker pitching. Fly ball to Mayberry in right, great throw gets Wells sliding. Perfect throw. One down Overbay with Rolen at third. 2-0 count. Full count. Is he taking this one? Yes and walks to load bases again. Frasor waiting in bullpen. Chavez two down and bases loaded. Grounds it off leg of Walker but recovers to throw to first for the out. Jays get two but once again leave a lot out there. 4/16 with runners in scoring position. They certainly make it difficult for themselves.
Bottom 8th: League still out there. Mayberry 2-3 today. Strikes out here. One down. Pinch hitter Dobbs for Ruiz. BJ Ryan up in bullpen. Where did Frasor go? Stairs on deck. Full count. Oh boy, this one is out of here high into right field seats. 7-6 Jays. First mistake by League but problem is Jays hitters have had many, many chances to out this away bigtime 16 in fact. Stairs now at bat. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay two down for Rollins 2-3 today. Here comes Cito. No, he is leaving League in there. Rollins doubles off the wall in left. Here comes Cito again, Frasor now with two down and Rollins at second. Victorino singles to right and Rollins scores 7-7 game I told you this was like the first game. Utley at bat, Victorino going but Chavez throw in time and slides into the tag for third out.

Top 9th: Jays last chance who will pinch hit for Frasor or does he take it? Decision time for Cito. Barajas to pinch hit. Is Accardo finishing off ? Ryan Madson pitching. Ryan up in bullpen. Good decision Cito, Barajas gets hold of this one high fly ball to centre over the 401 mark. 8-7 Jays. Scutaro at bat, BJ Ryan getting nervous? up in the bullpen. Two hits and two walks today. Full count. and walks for third time. Hill, lucky to get on base last at bat. Strikes out on three pitches, could not even bunt Scutaro over. Wells long, long overdue for a home run come on Vernon. Grounds first pitch to Rollins throw to Utley to get Scutaro.
Bottom 8th: BJ Ryan pitching for save. Was pulled last night, any redemption today? Accardo up in bullpen. Utley 3-1 count and walks. Howard strikes out. Werth but that’s it for BJ. Cito out he really does not like him does he? That’s ok BJ your ERA continues to drop and Cito’s endorsement of a pitcher does not amount to much in my book. I am waiting for the analysis of why so many of the Jays pitchers are blowing up. Accardo lines it to Werth great sliding catch by Wells. Almost gets Utley scrambling back to first. Feliz with two down and one on, singles to left. Mayberry, not the guy I want to see there right now. Pops it up to Hill, Jays win this one 8-7 and sweep Phillies in Philadelphia.

Who would have bet on that?