Monday, April 19, 2010

Power and speed plus excellent pitching from Morrow win this for Jays tonight

Monday April 19th.

Jays open series with Royals. Need a win tonight after being swept by the Angels. But to be fair Jays had some good pitching form Romero and could/should have won that one with some decent hitting, but the bats have gone south. Perhaps this series might help them get them back but I hope they don’t think Royals are any pushover.

Morrow v Bannister.

Royals: DeJesus, Callaspo, Butler.Guillen, Ankiel, Pena, Gordon, Maier, Betancourt.
Jays: Lewis, Gonzalez, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Bautista, Snider, Molina, McCoy.

Top 1st: DeJesus 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Not what Morrow wanted to start with.
Callaspo, wild pitch, DeJesus to second. Callaspo grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to third base Bautista back to shortstop Gonzalez, run down in play, DeJesus out. Butler grounds to second base McCoy throw to Gonzalez on to first base Overbay, Callaspo out. Inning ending double play ball. That helps Morrow a great deal.
Bottom 1st: Lewis grounds to third base Gordon throw to Butler at first. Gonzalez fly ball to centre field Ankiel. Two down. Lind grounds to first base Butler flip to Bannister covering to end this inning.

Top 2nd: Guillen grounds to Bautista at third, throw to first base Overbay. Ankiel strikes out. Two down. Pena fly ball to to left field Lewis.
Bottom 2nd: Wells strikes out. Overbay with one down, gets a very nice supporting hand from the fans, everyone wants Lyle to succeed they know he cares unlike someone like Rios last season. doubles to left. There is a very nice supporting poster in right centre, “We believe in Lyle O “ And it is very true, we all hope tonight will be the breakout night. Bautista full count and walks.
Snider grounds to first base Butler throw to Bannister, Overbay moves to third, Bautista to second. Molina grounds to shortstop Betancourt throw to first base Butler for third out.

Top 3rd: Gordon strikes out. Maier strikes out. Betancourt fly ball to centre field Wells.
Bottom 3rd: McCoy singles to centre. Lewis strikes out but McCoy stealing on the play and safe at second. Gonzalez strikes out on wild pitch which gets away, throw to first but Gonzalez beats it out and coming home is McCoy, great heads up running by McCoy. The catcher should now have throws to first .Jays go out ahead 1-0. Lind full count and walks, Gonzalez to second.
Wells strikes out. Bannister wild pitch, Gonzalez to third, Lind to second. Overbay 2-2 pitch going down to first, was he hit ? Didn’t look like it from our seats. No, scorer calls interference by the catcher, not his inning. Bases loaded for Bautista fouls out to right field DeJesus. Bases left full but Jays are at least ahead.

Top 4th: DeJesus grounds to first base Overbay who takes it himself to the bag, one down. Callaspo fly ball to Wells in centre field. Butler grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to first base Overbay

Bottom 4th: Snider leading off, full count, and no doubt about this one, a Travis special, there she goes a moon shot to right but drops over the right field fence. 2-0 Jays. Molina grounded out, shortstop Betancourt to first baseman Butler. McCoy fly ball to left field Maier. Two down. Lewis fly ball to centre field Ankiel.

Top 5th: Guillen strikes out. Ankiel strikes out. Pena strikes out.
Bottom 5th: Gonzalez fouls out to first base Butler. One down for Lind, lines out to second base Callaspo. Two down. Wells doubles to centre. Overbay walks, Bautista with two on and two down. There it goes a blast to left on the first pitch, home run from the moment it left the bat, three runs score and Jays are ahead 5-0. Snider strikes out. But Jays have broken this one open.

Top 6th: Gordon full count and walks, come on Brandon. Maier grounds out to second base McCoy throw to first base Overbay, Gordon to second. No change for double play. Betancourt singles to left, Gordon to third. There goes the no hitter but Morrow has pitched so well and should have other chances later. DeJesus singles to right. Here comes first run for Royals. Gordon scores Betancourt to second. Callaspo strikes out. Butler grounds back to Morrow throw to first base Overbay.
Bottom 6th: Molina strikes out. McCoy infield single to short. Great speed again. McCoy stealing bases, now at second. Lewis four pitches and walks. Two on for Gonzalez, doubles to centre McCoy scores, Lewis moves to third, he could probably have come home he was really moving on that play. He adds a whole new speed dimension to the Jays attack. 6-1 Jays. Mendoza pitching. Still only one out. Lind grounds to shortstop Betancourt throw to first base Butler. Two down for Wells, Vernon fouls out to Betancourt at short.

Top 7th: Guillen singles to left, one on. Ankiel strikes out. Pena grounds to short Gonzalez steps on the bag and throws to first base Overbay, Guillen out. Double play ball.
Bottom 7th: Overbay walks, on base four times tonight. Bautista with one on there it goes, first pitch hammered to left home run as soon as it left the bat, his second consecutive home run and two more RBIs to add to the three last inning. Jays ahead 8-1. Snider singles to centre. Molina lines out to left field Maier. McCoy doubles to right, Snider to third, had to hold up in event catch made on that play. Tejeda now pitching. Lewis strikes out. Two down. Gonzalez fouls out to first base Butler.

Top 8th: That’s enough for Morrow great outing tonight. Camp now pitching. Gordon grounds to short Gonzalez throw to first base Overbay. One down. Maier doubles to right. One on one down for Betancourt, he strikes out. DeJesus grounds to McCoy at second throw to first base Overbay for third out.
Bottom 8th: Farnsworth now pitching. Jays have gone deep into Royals bullpen tonight which is good. Lind strikes out. Wells fouls one off his foot, that was painful, Vernon hobbling around, full count and walks. Will he come out for pinch runner? No, so I guess not as bad as it looked. Overbay on base four times tonight singles to centre for his second hit. Wells to second. Bautista now can he get three home runs here in three at bats? Already has five RBIs great chance here to add three more. Fly ball to centre Ankiel. Two down for Snider lines out to right field DeJesus.

Top 9th: Janssen pitching. Callaspo grounds to Overbay throw to Janssen. One down.
Butler fly ball to Lewis. Two down. Guillen singles to centre. Ankiel with two down and one on, grounds to Overbay flip to Janssen and this game is in the books. Jays win convincingly 8-1.

The very good. The bats have emerged. Bautista looking good again, McCoy an excellent night and Lyle Overbay perfect tonight, on base five times, two walks, interference call and two hits double and a single and two runs. Lyle will be very happy guy tonight.
Morrow of course an outstanding night.

Big questions though.
What happens when Encarnacion returns and that could be as early as tomorrow.
Bautista is playing very well at third but if he returns to right then where does Travis go ? Presumably Lewis will stay in left and Lind DH.
And on Friday Aaron Hill is back who goes down? I say from here Ruiz, as McCoy has proven himself far too valuable with bat and glove as well as his speed. He can play any position infield or outfield. Both he and Lewis are also adding some much needed speed to this team and of course Hill is also no slouch. This gives Cito several more options.

Jays eleven hits tonight everyone except Lind and Molina, with McCoy three and Lyle two and Bautista of course with two hits, two home runs and five RBIs. Six walks for Jays lots more patience at bat tonight, 2/13 with runners in scoring position and still score the eight runs. But something to be concerned about. Left eleven on base. Four doubles and three home runs, seven extra base hits out of the eleven. Something to criticise but the end result is a BIG W.

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