What a Downer. Downs blows Jays comebcak.

Jays v Royals series finale. Wednesday April 21.

Lineups: Royals: DeJesus, Podsednik, Butler, Guillen, Callaspo, Ankiel, Kendall, Gordon, Betancourt.
Jays: Lewis, Gonzalez, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Bautista, Snider, Molina, McDonald.

Marcum v Greinke should be a good pitching game although Greinke has not started the way he did last season.

Top 1st: Jays trying for the sweep here today and a good and noisy crowd with all the school students. The key is for Jays to get them in the game. DeJesus leading off grounds to Overbay one down. Podsednik singles to left. Butler doubles to left, Podsednik to third. Marcum having early problems. Guillen, dangerous guy to have runners on base. There it goes, gets hold of this one and just like that Rays are ahead 3-0. Callaspo fly ball to Lewis in left, two down. Ankiel strikes out. But Jays are in a hole right from the start.
Bottom 1st: Lewis strikes out. Gonzalez full count and walks. One on one down for Lind. Come on Adam grounds to Callaspo on to Betancourt at short on to Butler at first, double play ball. Lind is not timing his hits yet, so many ground ball outs. Not a great start yet.

Top 2nd: Marcum needs a good inning here. Kendall grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay for first out. Gordon strikes out. Two down for Betancourt, grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay at first to end this one and give his hitters chance to get back in this one but with Greinke last year’s Cy Young winner pitching, good luck.
Bottom 2nd: Wells strikes out. Overbay strikes out. Bautista strikes out. Greinke humming this afternoon. Must be the open roof.

Top 3rd: Marcum, not much rest there. DeJesus grounds to Johnny Mc playing second today might be his last game for a while as Hill is back on Friday. Throw to Overbay for first out. Podsednik same again, grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay. Two down. Marcum settling down. Spoke too soon Butler singles to right. Guillen again, grounds to Bautista at third throw to Overbay to end the inning.
Bottom 3rd: Snider grounds back to Greinke throws over to first base Butler. One down for Molina grounds to Betancourt at short, throw to Butler. Two down. McDonald fly ball to centre. Ankiel makes the out.

Top 4th: Callaspo fly ball to right field Snider. One down for Ankiel fly ball to left field Lewis.
Kendall with two down grounds to second base McDonald, throw to first Overbay for the out. Marcum is going well now, but Jays need some runs and to get the young crowd raising the noise level here.
Bottom 4th: Lewis leading off, hit by a pitch. That’s ok, anyway you can get on base is fine with me. One on for Gonzalez, connects here with one, low line drive but this is over the wall in left field, two run home run and Jays are back in the game 3-2. Still no outs. Lind strikes out. One down for Wells. Grounds to third, long throw oh that is wild and into the crowd at first base. Something went wrong here, although this new turf has a great bounce. We have seen balls bouncing over the fence in centre this week. Wells safe at second on this error by Gordon. One down and Vernon in scoring position for Overbay, strikes out. Second time today for Lyle. Bautista pops up to second base Callaspo and Vernon is left out there, but Jays get two back on that Gonzalez home run.

Top 5th: Gordon strikes out. Betancourt fouls out to Overbay. Two down. DeJesus strikes out. Marcum really pitching well now but we needed that at the start. Three run lead is too many to give to Greinke.
Bottom 5th: Snider pops out to Betancourt at short. Travis not getting out of the infield today.

Molina fly ball to Ankiel in centre. Two down for McDonald. Johnny Mc grounds to Betancourt at shirt throw to Butler to end the inning.
Top 6th: Podsednik walks. Butler strikes out. Guillen with one on. Podsednik stealing, but great throw by Molina to McDonald to get Podsednik at second. Nice throw Jose. Guillen singles to centre. That would have scored Podsednik, he has speed. Little things but am not sure why he would be stealing anyway with Guillen at the plate unless that was a hit and run. Callaspo grounds to Gonzalez at shirt, throw to first base Overbay to end this one leaving Guillen out there.
Bottom 6th: Lewis pops up to Betancourt at short. One down for Gonzalez fly ball to left field Podsednik. Lind, there we go Adam, hammers this one to the wall in right just misses going out but a long single to right. That was tough, just a little higher and that was out. Wells strikes out.

Top 7th: Ankiel strikes out. Kendall bunting to third safe at first. Gordon at bat, one down one on. Kendall is going but another great throw here by Molina to Gonzalez, nails him. Molina’s second victim today. Making it difficult for Cito here. Gordon grounds to McDonald at second throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 7th: Overbay strikes out third time today. Bautista fly ball to Podsednik in left. Snider pops up to Betancourt at short to end the inning.

Top 8th: Janssen now pitching. Betancourt grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay. One down. DeJesus bunting, but great anticipation here by Johnny Mc. And throw to Overbay for the out. Great play. Two down for Podsednik, strikes out.
Bottom 8th: Rupe now pitching. Molina singles to left. Here comes Mike McCoy pinch-running for Molina. Johnny Mc bunting here? yes great bunt to Rupe looks at second but throws to first to get McDonald. I think he had a chance at second. McCoy to second. That’s it for Rupe. Parrish now pitching. Lewis singles to right off the fielder's glove, here comes McCoy easily. Jays have tied it up. 3-3. First RBI for Fred Lewis as a Jay, starting to get comfortable and step it up. Lewis steals second. Beats the throw even though he slides through the base. Gonzalez with runner in scoring position strikes out. Lind now with two down and one on, grounds to Butler at first base flip to Parrish covering to leave Lewis out there, but Jays have come back from 0-3 to tie.

Top 9th: Buck now in as catcher. I must admit Molina has looked more like the number one catcher here today. Two great throws to get runners. Now three of four on the season, gives Buck something to work at. Butler grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to first base Overbay. One down. Guillen grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay to get Guillen, a huge out. Callaspo singles to left. Downs now pitching to Ankiel with runner at first. OH what a play, Downs picks him off with great move, he has to have the best pickoff move of Jays pitchers. Callaspo out. Inning ends without a pitch being throw by Downs. It would be strange if Jays hitters get a run here in bottom of the ninth, Downs would win the game without throwing a pitch.
Bottom 9th: Tejeda now pitching. Jays have the big bats at the plate this inning. Wells strikes out. Overbay fly ball to left field Podsednik. Two down. Bautista strikes out. That few feet on the hit by Lind could have made the difference this afternoon.

Top 10th: Ankiel grounds to Overbay at first, one down. Kendall grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay. Two down for Gordon. Oh NO Scott…… Gordon gets hold of this one, home run to centre Royals go ahead 4-3. Betancourt grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for third out but Jays playing catch up again.
Bottom 10th: Royals closer Soria now pitching. Last chance for Jays here and bottom of the order to do it. Snider strikes out. Buck fly ball to right fielder DeJesus. Two down for McDonald ? Sorry Cito pinch hitter here…. Ruiz on the bench…. What do you have against him, even if they walk him you have top of the order coming up. Johnny Mc. grounds to Betancourt at short throw to Butler at first and Jays give this one away. That is a tough loss as they had come back from three down.

Questionable call by Cito but the usual sound Downs is the goat today.

The good: Two run home run by Gonzalez. Lewis first RBI hit and stolen base. Great defense lead by Molina, with two throws to catch runners stealing second. by McDonald. The crowd, the thousands of school students today gave some life to the game and great noise which the team has not heard for a long time. Casey Janssen 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.

The bad: Marcum three run home run in the first and the winning home run off Scott Downs in the tenth by Royals. Jays 1/5 with runners in scoring position. Overbay striking out three more times today, perhaps he can get it together away from home against the Rays because Jays need his bat. Lyle was in good company today though as Vernon also struck out three times.

Tomorrow an off day, must be golf and then serious series against the Rays and then return home for Monday series against the Red Sox. That should be a noisy crowd albeit the Red Sox nation fans.

CHANGES. Friday Aaron Hill should be back. Both Encarnacion and Tallet go on the disabled list, Cecil is called up from AAA to start on Friday. I would love him to do well and stay here and put Tallet in long relief IF he stays.
Cito has some decisions re lineup changes with Hill back. Does he keep Gonzalez at number two ? or put Aaron in there and move Alex behind Vernon to give him more protection than Lyle is giving right now. And I also think he has a decision at catcher, Molina is playing much better than Buck right now and deserves more playing time.

The very good: Jays AAA Vegas 51 are leading their division right now which speaks well of the depth that we saw in Dunedin in spring training. Brett Wallace playing at third has five home runs in first thirteen games. Brian Dopirak the team leader (with JP Arencibia) nine RBIs.