Cecil pitches a beauty as Jays win 6-0

Jays v Angels. Game one of three Monday May 24, 2010

We called Eveland right, reassigned today and Purcey is back in the first team Eveland really had nothing for his last three games.
Jays need this first game as Boston is hammering Tampa tonight, that’s ok if Jays win as well as they will gain one and not lose any ground to Boston. They will also move up on Yankees idle tonight.

Lineups: Jays: Have their first team out there today. Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Buck, Encarnacion.
Angels: Aybar, Kendrick, Abreu, Hunter, Morales, Rivera, Matsui, Napoli, Frandsen.
Pitching: Cecil v Saunders. AL rules tonight.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off, Great start here Fred, high fly ball to right, high off the wall, just misses going out and hustles to third. Leadoff triple. Fred was very slow out of the box there he might have had a chance at in the park home run if he had hustled from the time he hit. You see that so many times where hitters admire their home run and it hits the fence. Instead of running hard from the moment they hit it. Hill with runner at third, sad, sad Aaron, has a gift run here. No can’t do it, pops it up to third. One down. Lind. This is better, fly ball to Abreu in right, and here comes Lewis Jays go out 1-0. Wells who had the day off yesterday. 3-0 unusual for Vernon. Walks, One on for Overbay. 3-1 count. Full count. Strikes out. Saunders gets out of a mess here. 17 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Which Cecil do we have tonight? Aybar bunting but foul. Pops up to Buck behind home plate. One down. Kendrick, grounds first pitch to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay at first, two down. Abreu, strikes out swinging , very nice start for Cecil here. Nine pitch inning.

Top 2nd: Gonzalez leading off. Lines it to left for Rivera to make the catch, one down Bautista, this one is trouble lines it high and hard to centre, Hunter makes a great over the shoulder catch at the wall. Two down for Buck, full count, strikes out swinging. 33 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Hunter, 2-2 count. Full count. Strikes out, Hunter tries to fool the umpire but first base umpire confirms, one down. Morales, Lines it to Bautista in right, makes a great running catch, two down. We certainly don’t miss Rios out there in right, Bautista is an excellent fielder in that position. Apart from his great bat. this season so far. Two down for Rovera, grounds to Gonzalez at short , long throw to Overbay but gets him. Another three up and down for young Cecil. Both pitchers are not slowing this game down. 22 pitches for Cecil.

Top 3rd: Encarnacion leading off, must be the best number nine ! in the majors. Five home runs over weekend series in Arizona. He has such a great swing. Full count and walks him. One on for Lewis. Grounds to second, Encarnacion breaks up the double play by nice slide. One down Lewis at first for Hill. This is what you wanted first inning Aaron, fly ball to Hunter in centre, this time an out. Lind with two down and runner at first. 2-2 count. Very nice Adam, a line drive to right, Lewis to second. Vernon has a chance here. Not like that, first pitch fly ball to Hunter in centre. Saunders escapes any trouble. 53 pitches for Saunders. Jays 0-2 with runners in scoring position.
Bottom 3rd: Matsui, pops it up to Gonzalez at short, one down for Napoli. 2-2 count, high pop up to Lewis in left, two down. Frandsen, singles to centre, first hit for Angels tonight. Aybar, bunting, foul. That’s the second time tonight already for Aybar. Grounds to Encarnacion, long throw to Overbay at first, but in time to end this one. 36 pitches.

Top 4th: Overbay to lead off. 3-0 takes one. Grounds to second, throw to first in time, one down. Gonzalez, singles to left past diving Aybar at short. Bautista with one on. Jose was robbed of extra bases by great Hunter catch last at bat. 3-1 count. Misses this one, huge swing, count full. Pitch inside and walks him for Buck. Runners at first and second, one down. Singles into left, here comes Gonzalez, 2-0 Jays. Encarnacion now with two on and one down. Lines it at Frandsen at third, drops the ball but steps on third to get Bautista, two on two down for Lewis. Strikes out swinging but Jays get another for Cecil and leave two on. 79 pitches for Saunders. Jays could see him out next inning.
Bottom 4th: Kendrick leading off. Fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Abreu, pops it up for Gonzalez in shallow left. Two down for Hunter. Grounds first pitch to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay at first for the third out. 46 pitches for Cecil.

Top 5th: Can Jays hitters add on a few here? Hill 0-2 tonight. Strikes out swinging. His poor pitch selection is compounding his problems. Lind, gets hold of this one long liner out to right caught at the track. Two down. Wells, 2-2 count. Count full. Strikes out. 92 pitches for Saunders, will get another inning.
Bottom 5th: Morales leading off, 3-0 count. Walks him on four pitches. First walk for Cecil tonight. Rivera, takes a strike, whoa great play, grounds to Encarnacion at third and Edwin off balance throws a great strike to Overbay at first for the out. Matsui, pops it up to Lewis in left for second out. Napoli, 3-0 count. Pops it up into right, long run for Bautista to make the catch and third out. Cecil 64 pitches.

Top 6th: Overbay leading off strikes out. The pitch before was the one to hit and he took it. Lyle’s pitch selection is still shaky even though he appears to be out of his own slump. Gonzalez, pops it up to Napoli in front of the plate, two down for Bautista. Full count. and walks, nice at bat by Jose as he was down two strikes and battled back. Buck with one on two down. Oh dear, Saunders throws it away at first, ball gets away into outfield, Bautista moves up to second. Error to Saunders. Bullpen working. Jose giving Saunders concern at second now. Pops it up to Morales at first for the third out. Might be the end of Saunders 109 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Frandsen leading off. Grounds down the line to Encarnacion at third long throw to Overbay for first out. Aybar, Pops it up to Gonzalez for second out. Kendrick, fly ball to Bautista in right for third out. Nice running catch by Jose. 75 pitches for Cecil.

Top 7th: Saunders is still out there. Encarnacion leading off 3-1 count. Walks. Lewis, lines it to right, Encarnacion has to dive back in. One down here comes Scioscia. That is it for Saunders. Giving Hill some respect ?? 115 pitches for Saunders. Jason Bulger now pitching. 3-0 count. Count full. He is not taking this one. Way outside so he does. He will take a walk right now, anything to get on base. Two on for Lind who hit Saunders very hard with no results though. Bulger two balls way high and outside, here’s the pitching coach Butcher , am not surprised. 2-2 count. Count full. Lind singles to the wall in left, here comes Encarnacion, 3-0 Jays, runners at second and third, Wells. Vernon singles to left here comes Aaron 4-0 Jays. Here comes Scioscia, not amused. I can see why he left Saunders in, his bullpen has the highest ERA. Cassevah now pitching Overbay with runners at first and third. Grounds back to the pitcher, fumbles it, throws to first to get Overbay but only one, here comes Lind to score, 5-0 Jays. Gonzalez with Vernon at second, 3-1 count. Walks. Bautista. 2-2 count. Way inside, full count. Cecil warming up again in dugout. Jose walks. Bases loaded for Buck. Lines it to left, off glove of Aybar at short here comes Vernon for another run 6-0 Jays, bases still loaded. Encarnacion for the second time this inning, grounds first pitch to short, throw to second to get runner but Jays have blown this one open with four runs.
Bottom 7th: Abreu leading off. Feel sorry for poor Cecil having to wait that long, but he will probably take the six runs. Strikes out Abreu. Hunter with one down. Pops it high up to Hill at second for the out. Two down for Morales. Fly ball to Wells in centre, Vernon gets it before crashing into the wall. A typical Wells great catch. 91 pitches for Cecil. He will be starting the eighth.

Top 8th: Lewis to lead it off. Grounds one to third, throw to first for the out. One down for Hill. Another chance for Aaron. Fly ball to Hunter in centre, Two down for Lind. Grounds to short, throw to first for the out. Three up and down for a change.
Bottom 8th: Cecil out there, Rivera leading off. Bat shatters as he grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for the out. One down. Matsui, fouling them off here. Singles to Wells in centre. Only the second hit off Cecil all game. One on one down for Napoli. Cecil tiring here, he wants that complete game but I don’t think he will get it. Frasor now warming up. The right move here. Full count. Walks him, come on Cito. Yes I agree with you this time. Here he comes. Cecil has had a great game and it would be shame to spoil it here. 110 pitches. Frasor with two on and one down. Frandsen. Come on Jason, a little wild here,2-2 grounds to Overbay flip to Frasor covering for second out runners move up. Aybar with runners at second and third. 0-2 count. Pops it up to Gonzalez for third out and keeping Cecil’s outing clean, both those runners were his.

Top 9th: Scot Shields now pitching. Wells first pitch fly ball to Hunter in centre, one down. Overbay, 0-4 tonight. But did get the RBI in the eighth. Strikes out. Gonzalez with two down, grounds to Aybar at at short, throw to Moreales at first for third out.
Bottom 9th: Kendrick leading off. Downs has this one. Strikes out looking. Abreu with one down. Full count strikes out. Hunter with two down. Singles to Lewis in left. Morales with one on two down. Groiunds to Encarnacion at third throw to Overbay at first for the out. Jays win big tonight 6-0 and maintain that lead over Boston.

Excellent: Young Cecil 7 1/3 scoreless innings with only two hits.

The good: The bats still hitting although not booming tonight six hits and six runs tonight but no home runs tonight. Frasor a little rusty but managed to do the job in the eighth. Downs closed it out.

The bad: Jays are 3/11 with runners in scoring position.