Saturday, April 24, 2010

What happened? Jays bullpen implodes and wastes great effirt by Romero

Jays v Rays. Game two of series. Saturday April 24.

Romero v Niemann. Great pitching matchup between two young pitchers.

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Buck, Snider.
Rays: Bartlett, Crawford, Zobrist, Longoria, Pena, Upton, Aybar, Kapler, Jaso.

Top 1st: Lewis fouls out to Longoria at third base, one down. Hill fouls out to Pena at first base. Lind strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Bartlett fly ball to Snider in right field, one down. Crawford strikes out. Two down for Zobrist, singles to right. Longoria infield single to third, Zobrist to second. Pena with two on strikes out.

Top 2nd: Wells fouls out to Jaso catching tonight. Overbay fly ball to Upton in centre field. Gonzalez pops up to Bartlett at short. Jays go quickly.
Bottom 2nd: Upton grounds back to Romero throw to first baseman Overbay. Aybar same play, grounds back to Romero throw to Overbay at first base. Two down for Kapler fly ball out to Wells in centre field.

Top 3rd: Bautista strikes out. Buck strikes out. Snider infield single to short. Lewis strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Jaso fouls out to Bautista at third, one down. Bartlett grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay at first. Crawford doubles to left. One on two down for Zobrist, grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay at first for the third out.

Top 4th: Hill leading off strikes out. Lind fly ball to Upton in centre field. Wells strikes out.
Bottom 4th: Longoria walks. Pena grounds to Gonzalez throw to Bautista, Longoria out. Upton grounds to Gonzalez throw to Hill, Pena out. Wild pitch by Romero, Upton to second. Aybar with runner in scoring position grounds out to Bautista at third, throw to Overbay at first.

Top 5th: Overbay, full count, there it goes Lyle, home run to centre and Jays have first run. Good to see Lyle get a good game going, double yesterday and then today that home run. Things are looking up and that will definitely help Vernon in front of him. 1-0 Jays. Gonzalez grounds to Longoria at third, throw to Pena at first. One down. Bautista strikes out. Buck grounds to Bartlett at shirt, throw to Pena at first.
Bottom 5th: Kapler doubles to left. One on. Jaso first pitch swinging, home run to right, just like that, and Rays are in flight with two runs. 2-1 Rays. The first runs off Romero today. Bartlett singles to right. Crawford fly ball to Snider in right one down. Zobrist sacrificing to move runner over, Buck throws to Overbay at first, Bartlett moves to second. Longoria intentional walk. Pena strikes out.

Top 6th: Snider grounds back to Niemann over to Pena at first base. One down for Lewis grounds to Bartlett at shirt, throw to Pena at first. Hill singles to left, his first hit today. Lind, patience here, full count. There it goes Home run for Lind to left field. Jays have the lead 3-2. Wells pops out to short Bartlett.
Bottom 6th: Upton grounds back to Romero throw to Overbay at first. One down. Aybar grounds to Gonzalez error on the play. Aybar at first. Kapler grounds to Gonzalez at shirt on to Hill at second base over to Overbay at first base, double play ball to end this one.

Top 7th: Overbay singles to centre, second hit for Lyle and that is great to see for all Jays fans.Gonzalez strikes out. Overbay stealing and safe at second. Lyle is hot tonight. Bautista hit by a pitch. Buck fly ball out to Upton in centre. Snider one down and two on, full count and walks bases loaded, Overbay to third, Bautista to second. That’s it for Nieman. Choate now pitching.
Lewis strikes out.
Bottom 7th: Jaso full count and walks. Oh no Romero's throw to first gets away and Jaso all the way to third. Error to Ricky. Major trouble now for him with top of the order. Bartlett fly ball to Snider in right field, too shallow for Jason to come home. One down. Crawford grounds back to Romero looks at Jaso and throw to Overbay for second out. Zobrist fouls out to Bautista at third and Romero very fine pitching there with runner at third and no outs.

Top 8th: Cormier now pitching. Hill lines out to Longoria at third. Lind doubles to right. His second hit tonight along with Overbay good to see both of these two getting the hits, Jays will need their bats this year. Wells grounds to Zobrist at second, throw to Pena at first base, Lind movers to third. Overbay intentional walk and Lyle would love that, so would Cito, a week ago they would walk to get to Lyle not to avoid his bat. Wheeler now pitching. Gonzalez strikes out.

Bottom 8th: Downs now pitching. Romero has had a great outing. 105 pitches, three strike outs and three walks but only two runs. Another superb outing and leaves with the narrow one run lead. Longoria singles to centre. Now a great start. Pena walks, Longoria to second. Upton with two on and no outs, this is not good Scott. Upton singles top left, here comes Longoria and Rays have tied this one up negating that great start by Romero. 3-3. Pena at second and that’s it for Downs, Cito gives him the hook. Janssen now pitching. Aybar bunt single to third, Pena to third, Upton to second. Bases are loaded, this is getting worse Brignac pinch-hitting for Kapler. Janssen walks him in and a run, Rays have taken the lead on a walk, 4-3 and bases are still loaded. Jaso, he hits him. A walk and a hit batsman and two RBIs, How bad is that Casey ? 5-3 Rays. Top of the order, this is not looking good for Jays. Singles to left here comes Aybar, here comes Brignac two more score and this is a rout 7-3 Rays. Jason at third. Bartlett to second.
Crawford lines out to Snider in right field. Finally an out. That’s also it for Janssen. Accardo now pitching. Zobrist singles to left, here comes Jason, here comes Bartlett, two more runs and Trays lead 9-3. This inning started 3-2 for the Jays. Cito should have left Romero in there at this rate. Zobrist at second. Longoria fly ball to Snider in right two down, Zobrist to third. Pena pops up to Bautista at third to end this agony. That is by far the worst inning Jays have had this season and for many a season. Ten Rays come to the plate and seven runs score.

Top 9th: Zobrist in at right field. Brignac in at second base. Ekstrom pitching but this will be a formality, Jays hitters must be shelllshocked watching that. Let’s see if they have anything here. Bautista grounds to Longoria at third, throw to Pena at first. Quick first out. Buck fly ball to Zobrist in right field. I hope Cito benches this guy tomorrow and for the Boston series, he is pretty bad right now and cannot catch any runners. Two down for Snider who lines out to Crawford in left field. Jays implode and lose this one 9-3. Totally wasting a superb effort by Romero. The bullpen had nothing today. Not sure why Downs was pitching back to back, but didn’t work.
The very good: Romero with seven innings. Overbay on base three times including Home run and double plus a walk.
The good: Not much. Lind two hit game including home run.

The horrible: Eighth inning collapse of the bullpen. Downs, Janssen and Accardo. The first time it has been that bad with more than one pitcher and let’s hope it will be a very long time before it happens again. Jays 0-4 with runners in scoring position.

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