Jays end first half sinking fast, pitching great hitting awful.

Toronto v Baltimore Series finale.

End of first half cannot come quickly enough for Jays. Now on par for fewer than 80 win season even if they were to win today. Horrible.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Lind, Rolen, Wells, Overbay, Rios, Dellucci, Barajas and pitching Rzepczynski. Second team in action today…with Chavez and Dellucci. Cito must see something in this guy Dellucci that no one else can see, there is no way he is better than Bautista.
Baltimore: Roberts, Jones, Markakis, Salazar, Wigginton, Reimold, Mora, Zaun, Izturis and Bergeson pitching.

The good: Rzepczynski deserved much better support than he got. If he can keep it to three every game then he is ok.
The bad: Jays hitters for six inings, get the hits but cannot bring the guy in from second or third. 2/9 with runners in scoring position.

Top 1st: Scutaro grounds to Mora throw to first one down for Hill. Fly ball to Scott in left, two down for Lind. Doubles to left corner, slicing away from Scott, Rolen with one on and two down. Runner in scoring position. Same as last night ? 0-2 on Rolen. Lines out to centre. Dejo vu all over again ???
Bottom 1st: Roberts grounds to Rolen, fires to Overbay, one down for Jones. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay, two down for Markakis. Nice pitch strikeout number one. Good clean inning for Marc here.

Top 2nd: Wells, grounds slowly to Mora, Vernon beats out the throw. Vernon has not lost any speed this season despite his hitting woes. Overbay now not Rios, I like that. Can Lyle move him ? that is the question. No, fly ball to Jones in centre, not enough Lyle. Rios 3-1 walks him. Two on for yes Dellucci. 0-17. There he goes, grounds to first on to second back to Bergeson, double play ball. Pathetic. 0-18 but far more than that in damage. You have to question Cito’s judgement here putting him in the lineup, is he being his usual stubborn self for some reason? Believing he will come around ? No thought of winning at all cost for our Cito. Even if Dellucci were to get three hits today 3-21 is hardly Major league.
Bottom 2nd: I feel sorry for the pitching staff. One hand tied behind their backs with this hitting lineup supporting them even if they were to do well. Salazar singles to centre left. Wigginton, Not bunting…. Umpire gets one right on the mask, that hurts, on the chin. Staying in the game but looks rough. Salazar stealing grounds to Scutaro no chance for two gets Wigginton at first. One down one on for Reimold. Grounds to Scutaro looks Wigginton back to second throw to Overbay for second out. Mora, last night’s hero. Strikes out. 24 pitches for Rzepczynski.

Top 3rd: Chavez strikes out. Scutaro doubles to left. Here we go again. Hill grounds to Izturis to Wigginton. Two down. Lind 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Rolen safe at first on fielding error by third baseman Mora, Scutaro to third, Lind to second. Bases loaded for Wells, pops up to Roberts at second. How bad is that Vernon ? Jays just keep getting worse with runners in scoring position when you think it cannot get worse. Right now after three innings 0-5 Wow. That is on par for worse than last night 3/15. In vacation mode or something worse.
Bottom 3rd: Long delay. Umpire change. Dale Scott taking over. Zaun to lead off. I hope Rzepczynski is ok with that delay. 3-0 count. Full count. Walks him. Hard for a pitcher with that type of delay, all ready to go and have to wait out there. Mental concentration goes. Izturis with one on. Grounds to Hill throw to Scutaro gets Zaun relay not in time a little slow there by Hill and Scutaro. Izturis can speed. Roberts, ball gets away and Izturis is at second before you can say Cito Gaston. Speed. Something Jays do not have much of. This is trouble, doubles to centre right and Orioles are ahead 1-0. That slowness by Hill and Scutaro hurts here. Jones with runner in scoring position and this is not the Jays batting. 3-0 Roberts running safe at third, ball four Two on at the corners one down. Markakis will be going for that fly ball. No need, singles to right, Roberts scores 2-0 Baltimore. At third still only one down. Here comes Arnsberg. Salazar, there we go, grounds to Rolen, throw to Hill over to Overbay double play to help Marc here, about time he had some. But Cito, did you note the execution by Orioles hitters ???? 2/5 with runners in scoring position. Jays are 0/5. Will not win any games without scoring.

Top 4th: Overbay first pitch of course, grounds to at second, throw to first and one down just like that. Wouldn’t you feel sorry for Rzepczynski? Rios, full count, fly ball to centre, Jones brings it back off the top of wall. When you are playing badly you don’t get any breaks, two down. Dellucci, strikes out. Oh boy, this guy is so depressing to watch 0-19 ? Quick three up and down for Bergeson.
Bottom 4th: Wigginton high pop up to Rios in shallow right almost drops it, that would be about right for today. Reimold, singles up the middle. Mora, 2-0 count, Reimold running Mora strikes out Two down, Reimold at second. Zaun with runner in scoring position. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for third out. 62 pitches.

Top 5th: Will Jays breakout of their slump ? or are they already on the beach? Jays will drop to eleven behind Boston if they lose this one. Red Sox already cleaning up Kansas 3-0. They will just love visiting Toronto next week. Chavez grounds back to Bergeson throw to first one down. Scutaro Bergeson hardly moves out there between pitches same spot. 2-2 , Scutaro singles into right. Hill, one on one down. Hill why not, grounds to third throw to second on to first another double play ball and of course on the first pitch, never gave Scutaro a chance to move a base. Hill has definitely dropped off production this last week. It is too bad he is going to All-Star I think he needs a well-deserved break not more baseball.
Bottom 5th: Izturis leading off. Grounds to Rolen and not even his speed will beat Rolen’s throwing arm. Roberts again, shows bunt, changes his mind. Strikes out, two down. Jones, strikes out, nice inning by Rzepczynski but he is on his own so far today out there.

Top 6th: Lind, grounds to Wigginton, one down for Rolen. Fly ball to Jones in centre, Jays hitters going through the motions, you can see it in their body language now. They have their bags packed for vacation week. Wells, fly ball to Reimold. Was that seven or eight pitches? Bergeson now on only 71pitches. That’s what happens when you have a team swinging unsuccessfully at first pitches,
Bottom 6th: Markakis, grounds to Overbay one down for Salazar, there it goes, home run to left. 3-0 Baltimore. Wigginton full count. Walks him. Hard to be a Jays pitcher with an offence that is unable to score runs. Reimold, grounds to Scutaro throw to Hill on to Overbay not in time. Gets away from Lyle, another double play botched, runner safe at first. Two down for Mora, fly ball to Wells. Probably last inning for Marc. He did well again, but without run support, not much he can do.

Top 7th: Overbay, finally, gets hold of one and doubles of the 410 wall sign, but we have been here too many times the last two games to get excited. It is what happens next that matters. Rios strikes out, one down. Not even a bunt Alex? Probably just as well. There we go, and guess who ? Dellucci, first hit for a Jay and a double that scores Overbay. 3-1 Orioles.Who would have thought that? Dellucci now 1-20. Chavez can he bring him in? Does he steal? May be better off doing that, full count, error here, Chavez lines it very hard off Mora into shallow right, Dellucci to third. Two on one down for Scutaro. Coach Kranitz out there. Marco 2-3 today but this is where it will count. Good boy, that will do it fly ball to centre scores Dellucci. 3-2 Orioles. Two down for Hill. Chavez gets to second on the throw. Johnny Mc pinch running. Here comes the manager Trembley. Danys Baez out there. Hill. 0-3 today. Grounds to Mora stumbles but great throw to get Aaron at first, were you really hustling there Aaron? but Jays are finally back in this thing.
Bottom 7th: Back to the pitchers to hold this one. Camp should be fresh. Barajas now in for Chavez. Boston winning, Tampa losing, Yankees game just starting on west coast. Grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay for first down. Izturis grounds to Scutaro throw wild and runner to second. Error on Marco. Roberts singles to left and here comes Izturis just like that 4-2 Orioles, That error hurts now. Jones pitch out, Roberts not going. Jones fly ball to Rios, Two down. Markakis. Grounds up the line to Overbay tags him for the out.

Top 8th: Jays need to get one back at least. Jim Johnson pitching. Lind, on nineteen home runs, he would love another by the break. Not quite fly ball to right. Rolen, same again but drives Markakis to the wall this time. Two down for Wells. This guy can’t wait for the break, he badly needs it. Singles to right, one on two down for Overbay. Vernon not running here. 2-2 count. Strikes out, way outside.
Bottom 8th: Accardo now pitching. Salazar, 3-0 come on Jeremy. Full count, walks, close but not enough. One on for Wigginton, perfect, grounds to Sctaro, on to Hill on to Overbay double play ball. Two down for Reimold, pops up to Scutaro.

Top 9th: Bottom of Jays lineup against Baltimore closer, Sherrill 19/22 saves. Pie in left. Rios leading off. Remember when Alex was going to the All-Star game? whatever happened since then? Fouling a lot off here. Full count, did not chase that one outside. High fly ball out to Jones in centre but a good at bat for Alex. One down for pinch hitter Bautista, grounds to Roberts at second two down, Barajas, rolls it to Izturis and Jays lose and another series and are falling out of everything.

The All-Star break is a very welcome for this underachieving side at this stage of the season at least. However it does not get any easier even at home with a visit from Boston to start off the second half.
Yankees and Boston winning, Tampa losing.