Eveland the hero tonight with superb outing and Molina has the runs.

Jays v Baltimore Saturday April 10.
Eveland v Hernandez.

Jays 3-1 to start the season and ruined Orioles opening day record crowd. Vernon at .500, only Overbay yet to break out, his average at .071. 14 at bats one hit and that was a triple. Problem is Vernon in front of him will start to get nothing to hit so that pitchers can get at Lyle. Encarnacion only slightly better at .083 12 at bats and one hit but also a sac fly.

McCoy playing for Aaron still day to day with that hamstring. Lugo in for Roberts injured yesterday sliding into second. One less worry for Jays pitchers.
Interesting discussion today regarding the umpires trying to speed up the game by not allowing timeouts for the hitters at last Yankees-Boston game. The rule also states 12 seconds for the pitcher, I hope Frasor realizes that this is the same umpiring crew. I for one agree 100% with them. Slows the game down so much and Frasor is the Jays biggest culprit.

Jays lineup: McCoy, Bautista, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Encarnacion, Gonzalez, Snider, Molina.
Baltimore: Lugo, Jones, Markakis, Tejada, Atkins, Wieters, Reimold, Wigginton, Izturis.

Top 1st: McCoy, bunting but not a good one and Hernandez no problem with flip to Wigginton at first for the out. Bautista, ducks away from that one. Strikes out, two quick outs for Hernandez. Lind doubles off the wall in right. OK Vernon, walks. Two on two down for Overbay. Time to get going here Lyle. Pops it up behind catcher. Lyle that was a horrible at bat.
Bottom 1st Eveland’s first regular season game for Jays, he was very good in the spring. Lugo leading off in place of Roberts. Singles into left. Jones, lines one to left for Snider to catch. One down. Markakis grounds to Encarnacion on to McCoy on to Overbay double play ball.

Top 2nd: Encarnacion, pops it up to Wigginton behind pitchers mound. One down for Gonzalez, fly ball to Markakis in shallow right. Snider, come on Travis, had a good game yesterday with the bat, is he ready to go? Not this at bat, grounds to Wigginton and Jays go very quietly. To be fair this is the first time they have seen Hernandez so perhaps second time around they will set him alight.
Bottom 2nd: Tejada, back to Eveland throw to Overbay for first out. Atkins, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, two down. Wieters singles in to centre. Reimold with one on and two down. doubles to centre. Wigginton two in scoring position. Grounds to third Encarnacion nice play throw to Lyle for third out.

Top 3rd: Molina lines it into right and bounces into crowd, ground rule double. Top of the order now to bring him in please……McCoy that’s ok Mike, high fly ball to right centre and Molina easily tags and ambles to third. Bautista same again Jose. 3-1 count, your pitch Jose. High and walks him. Two on one down for Lind. Adam doubled in the first. Battling Hernandez here, fouling them off, full count, Oh no…. Bautista stealing Lind strikes out and Jose is out caught stealing. Double play with Molina standing at third. That is definitely not good. 0-4 with runners in scoring position tonight already.
Bottom 3rd: Izturis, hit on the back leg. Top of the order Lugo, bunting but foul. Izturis stealing but nice throw to McCoy and gets him. Nice play. Jones, with one down. Full count. Grounds to Eveland throw to Overbay for out number two. Markakis grounds to first, nice diving save by Lyle throw to Eveland and end of inning. Very nice play. Some good defence helping Eveland tonight.

Top 4th: Wells leading off. Full count. Don’t swing at that pitch Vernon…. Down and away strikes out. Overbay, strikes out. His average is hardly registering on any scale. We may see Randy Ruiz in there tomorrow. Encarnacion that’s better Edwin, lines single into left field. One on for Gonzalez, oooh Alex off the wall in left, just misses going out. Snider, intentional walk Travis will love that respect. Bases loaded two down. Molina he will also love that. Make them pay Jose. Hits him and here comes the run. 1-0 Jays, they will take it what ever way they can. Bases still loaded for McCoy. Come on Mikey. Don’t have to be a hero, a base hit will do fine. Not this time, fly ball to centre and leaves the bases full, but at least Jays are on the board.
Bottom 4th: Markakis hanging tough here fouling them off. Full count. Walks him. Markakis earned that one. Tejada grounds to short, Gonzalez overruns the ball. That was a mess. No error given but he should have had that. Two on now and no outs. Atkins. Pop up to shallow right, Bautista no chance for tagging on this one, runners hold one down. Wieters high fly ball to Wells in centre, two down but this time runner tags and gets to third. Tejada also tags and gets to second to beat the throw. Reimold with two in scoring position. Strikes him out. Nice pitching Dana.

Top 5th: Bautista pops it to up Tejada behind third for the out. Lind high pop up down first base line for Lugo. Two down for Vernon. Come on Vernon, horrible at bat, first pitch pop up to Wigginton at first base fence. Not a good inning for Jays hitters, very undisciplined.
Bottom 5th: Wigginton, grounds to Gonzalez, this time no mistake and throw to Overbay for first out. Izturis same play, two down. Lugo 3-0 and walks him on four pitches. Jones high fly ball to Bautista in right for third out.

Top 6th: About time Jays bats get going. Overbay now at .063. Full count. Strikes out. One hit in seventeen at bats….I think Cito should sub him before he gets ever worse. Encarnacion, doubles to the wall in left. But we have been in this place before, not much good unless someone can bring him in. Not like that Gonzalez first pitch swing and fly ball to left. Awful at bat. Now up to Snider. Two down. 3-0 Travis patience here, good sign. Now they put him on. Molina with two on and two down. Doubles into centre. Encarnacion scores 2-0 Jays but Travis should have got to third, held up at second on the throw but throw goes through to home and to backstop, as soon as he saw it going through he should have advanced even partially and not retreated, not confident enough yet ? McCoy with two on. Grounds to short. Jays get another but…..
Bottom 6th: Markakis grounds to third bare handed by Encarnacion to get him at first. Good play. Tejada grounds to Gonzalez, throw to first, two down. Atkins strikes out on three pitches, very nice Dana.

Top 7th: Can Jays add to this ? The big bats. Will Lyle (.059) get another chance ? Jason Berken now pitching. Bautista leading off, pops it up to short. One down for Lind. Grounds weakly off the end of his bat to short, two down. Vernon after a terrible at bat last time out. Another first pitch swing pop up to shallow centre, he is beginning to look like last season, smarten up Vernon.
Bottom 7th: Wieters grounds to McCoy, throw to Overbay for first out. Reimold fly ball to Bautista in right, two down. Wigginton same play, fly ball to Bautista and Eveland preserves the shutout. I don’t think we will see him in the eighth though with Downs and Frasor out there.

Top 8th: Lyle getting one more shot. There you go Lyle, easy isn’t it, singles into right centre. His second hit of the week ! Encarnacion grounds (first pitch) to third on to second on to first double play ball. It is frustrating watching these guys sometimes. Gonzalez swinging away pops it up to shallow centre; three Orioles converge and drop it. Gonzalez in with a double. Snider grounds hard down first base line but Wigginton robs Travis here with a great save and throw to Berken for the out at first. That could easily have been run number three. Jays 1-8 with runners in scoring position. But let’s look on the bright side, Lyle has another hit.
Bottom 8th: Izturis at bat. Very nice play Lyle, diving to his left to catch that one, at least his defense is still great. One down for Lugo lines it into right. That’s it for Dana Eveland great outing tonight. Downs now to preserve the lead. Jones takes a strike. Downs does it all himself, Jones lines one hard back at Downs great stop turns and throw to Gonzalez at second on to Overbay double play ball. Very nice Scott.

Top 9th: It would be good to see a couple more here guys. Molina who has both RBIs. Not this time grounds to Izturis at short, throw to first for the out. McCoy, full count. and walks. Bautista awful swings at first pitch way high and pops it back to catcher. I think coach Dwayne Murphy has a lot of work to do with some of these hitters. I am sure he does tell them but do they listen? Lind, that’s it for Berken, Ohman now pitching. Adam my man that’s the way, doubles off the wall in right and here comes Mike McCoy, 3-0 Jays. Vernon, they are putting him on. More respect than he deserves tonight but it is the guy behind him they want, Overbay, now was that last at bat his breakout? Fly ball out to left. But on the bright side Jays have another insurance one here.
Bottom 9th: Will Downs be allowed to finish this one? He only had two pitches. No, Cito is a creature of habit… Jason Frasor out there to finish this one (we hope). Leading off Markakis. 3-0 here we go……full count and walks him. Molina giving him what every Jays fan wants to tell him. Just throw strikes man. Tejada with one on and no outs. High pop up to Gonzalez, one down for Atkins. Bounces one in that gets away but Markakis not running. Molina calling time here giving Frasor the stare down, punching his chest, get on with it throw the ball. Another full count. Lines it into right and yes folks we have the tying run at the plate. How long will Cito stay with Frasor as the closer this season? Two on one down for Wieters, strikes out. One more to go. Reimold, pops it up to Gonzalez for third out.
Jays win this one 3-0.

As they walk off Molina is talking to Frasor and gesturing and that is not a friendly chat. I hope he is listening. I don’t think there is enough heart medication around for the Jays fans.

The very good tonight: Has to be Eveland in his first start for the Jays, pitches into the eighth. Great defense by Downs to turn the double play.
Jays now lead the East 4-1. Yankees and Rays both 3-2 and Boston still playing but can only be 2-3 if they win tonight. Go Jays!

The good: Molina with two RBIs. Lind to add the insurance in the ninth.
The poor: Undisciplined hitting by the veterans. Vernon the biggest culprit tonight but also Bautista and Gonzalez.
Am not grading Frasor tonight, he managed to get out of trouble but he is living on the edge and almost ruined Eveland’s evening.