Game two Toronto v Seattle. This is two game series, not three as we said yesterday. Jays head to Phoenix tonight for weekend series with Diamondbacks.
Lineups: Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Encarnacion, Molina.
Seattle: Suzuki, Figgins, Gutierrez, Sweeney, Lopez, Bradley, Kotchman, Bard, Wilson.
Pitching: Romero v Vargas.
Top 1st: Lewis leading off. NO crazy swings today Fred please. Like that. First pitch but misses. 3-1 count. Full, Pops it up to Lopez at third but at least it took nine pitches, last night that was two innings le alone outs, Hill, what has he brought today? Gets hold of this one, high into left corner but Bradley runs it down nicely. Two down for Lind. High pop up to Gutierrez in centre for third out.
Bottom 1st: Suzuki, grounds to Gonzalez at short quick throw to Overbay to get Ichiro. One down for Figgins, showing bunt, strikes out looking. Gutierrez with two down. Oh WOW what a play by Encarnacion, Gutierrez grounds to third Edwin way off bag in foul ground long, long throw all in one movement to get him and out by at least a stride. Great highlight reel play. We are beginning to see what the Jays saw in Encarnacion.
Top 2nd: Wells DH today, here we go again, Vernon pops up feebly at first pitch to catcher, what is wrong with this guy, you would think he would want to send more time out there if he is DH today? Overbay, at least he takes one. .199 now Lyle, lets get it over that .200. Not this time high lazy pop up to Gutierrez in centre for second out. Gonzalez, pops this one up to Kotchman. Jays looking as if they want to go south fast this afternoon. 25 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Sweeney leading off, 3-0 Come on Ricky, walks him on four pitches. Lopez,not bunting. Fly ball to Lewis in centre, one down. Bradley with one on lines it to centre right but Lewis catches up with it to make catch. Two down. Sweeney almost doubled up he was round second base, Kotchman, two down one on. Full count, Romero thought he had that one but too low. Fly ball to Lewis in centre, earning his money in the field at least making all three outs. 29 pitches for Ricky.
Top 3rd: Bautista, high fly ball to left, if that had flattened out, home run, Encarnacion, 2-2 count. Full. Pops it up to shallow right Ichiro makes the catch in front of the fans. Molina, slow roller to short, throw to first for third out. Nine up and down for Vargas. Perfect game through three. 10 pitch inning.
Bottom 3rd: Bard, full count, walks him. second walk today. Wilson. Bunting? Not yet. Singles into centre. Not good, two on no outs for Ichiro, might see bunt now. Yes indeed. And they get him, great throw by Romero, Encarnacion had it covered and almost a collision but Ichiro gets his job done. Two in scoring position for Figgins, another bunt, perfect up first base line, throw gets him at first but Bard scores, 1-0 Seattle. Great small ball, Jays don’t or unable to do that. Two down runner at third, Gutierrez, grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for the third out but Mariners strike first. Don’t walk these guys Ricky. 43 pitches through three.
Top 4th: This one might be enough to win today the way Jays players are hitting. Lewis, grounds to first flip to Vargas covering for the out. One down for Hill, grounds up the line fair ball at first, Hill safe. First hit for Jays, they will take whatever they can get today. Lind, fly ball to centre, for the second out, Wells now, has spent 30 seconds on the field in an hour today, takes one here, must be difficult for every day player to have to sit for 99% of the game. Fly ball to Ichiro in right for the third out. Roof closed again. They did that last night in the middle of the game. 55 pitches.
Bottom 4th: Sweeney leading off, very nice play, Bautista runs this down in almost centre field, long run but gets it flat out. He is so good in right has cannon for an arm as well one down. Lopez, 3-1 and walks him. I thought you learned last inning Ricky. Bradley, another great play grounds it back to Romero, throw to second on to Overbay at first double play ball. Ricky helping himself here. Two in one. That’s the way. Now can that momentum carry into Jays hitters? 52 pitches.
Top 5th: Overbay leading off. Still flirting with .200. Strikes out, that will not help. Gonzalez, solid hit to centre. One on for Bautista, he has hammered it today without any luck. YES Jose, this time no doubt, off the top of the wall in left, to the right of that scoreboard so it counts, two here comes, Gonzalez, here comes the hero of the hour, Jays take the lead 2-1. Encarnacion. 3-1 and walks, Vargas rattled here? Molina with one on and one down. Time for Jose to join this hit parade. Here comes pitching coach. 2-2 count. Full count, Cito not sending the runner Molina grounds to short, throw to second on to first, double play to end the inning. Cito will get the criticism on that play. Molina is always candidate for double play and that was a full count with one down. Jays have the lead. Vargas 75 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Can Romero go a few more here? Pitch count is in his favour. Kotchman leading off, 3-0 count. Full count. Singles to left. Bard with one on. Lines it to centre right, Lewis cannot make the catch, it looked as if Bautista could have. Two on and no outs. Wilson, bunting foul, but a great bunt third base line, if nothing else Mariners can do that very well. Ichiro, Figgins, now Wilson. 2-2. Trying again, misses, fouls it off and strikes out. One down. Suzuki with two on. NOT bunting. Grounds to Bautista, bounces off his body, throw to Hill, falls over but gets the runner no chance for two. Two down for Figgins. Grounds to second throw to first to get Figgins and third out. Ricky gets out of another jam despite some adventures in the field. 77 pitches as well. Has lost that advantage.
Top 6th: Lewis leading off, grounds slow roller to Figgins at second, throw to first. Lewis diving headfirst not in time but great effort Fred. One down for Hill, strikes out on three. Nowhere near that one. Lind, 0-2, make that 0-3 and another very quick inning for Vargas. 85 pitches now.
Bottom 6th: Could be last inning for Romero unless he can be more economical than last inning. Gutierrez leading off, strikes out. Sweeney, pops it up to Molina in front of the plate, two down. Lopez, 2-2 count, strikes out. That should do Ricky.
Top 7th: Wells leading off. Has played less than five minutes today in his two at bats. Grounds the second pitch to short, throw to first for the out. Overbay, singles up the middle Way to go Lyle but sorry still under .200. Gonzalez, with one on hammers this into left bounces into the crowd, ground rule double. Two in scoring position now for Bautista. Conference on the mound, Texeira warming up in bullpen. This could be the game right here. No, they are putting him on. That is respect Jose. Bases loaded one down for Encarnacion. He can make a difference here. Pops it up very shallow in left, here comes Overbay, here comes the throw up the line, safe at the plate, ball gets away. 3-1 Jays. That was not a good throw from Bradley. That’s it for Vargas. Two down still two on base. Texeira now pitching to Molina with runners at second and third. Molina 2-2 count. Lines it back to Texeira nice reflex catch to end this one but Jays have another.
Bottom 7th: Bradley leading off strikes out. One down for Kotchman, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for second out. Two down for doubles to the wall in left. That’s it for Ricky, no complete game today Those three walks hurt his pitch count earlier. Frasor in to help preserve this one. Wilson 2-0 come on Jason, 3-1, not good. Pops it up shallow centre, Lewis calls them of to make the catch and Ricky is happy guy.
Top 8th: Lewis leading off, need some more runs Fred. 3-1 count. That was ball four Fred you fouled off, count full. Low ball four, walks him. Hill, with no one down an done on, is he bunting? HA!.lines it to the wall in centre for the out Lewis glued to first. I wonder if Jays will get a new Manager next year who plays small ball. Whatever the reason Cito, Hill is not the hitter he was last year. Lind, even worse, grounds it softly to short steps on second throw to first and just like that inning over. Another reason to get that leadoff guy to second on a bunt.
Bottom 8th: Jeremy Reed now in the game in left for Lind. Downs pitching. Suzuki leading off. Lefty lefty matchup. Bounces it high off the plate Downs and Molina go for it and collide. No chance to get Ichiro. One on for Figgins, another bunt? Not this time strikes out, Ichiro stays at first, perhaps bunt would have been better. One down one on for Gutierrez, High fly ball to Lewis in centre, two down, Ichiro stays at first, he would be at third now with that Figgins bunt. Here comes Cito ? Ah well. Camp ? for one pitch? Cito and his pitching changes. We will probably miss them next season. Sweeney. Ichiro going on the first pitch stealing second throw is good Molina gets him. I guess that’s it for Camp as well. Ichiro and now Manager arguing. Thrown out.
Top 9th: Kelley pitching. Wells, leading off, poor Vernon, might as well have stayed at home today for his five minutes work. 0-3 this game. 0-2 count. Strikes out, 0-4 for his day’s work. Ouch Vernon. Not good. Overbay.201 can he stay over .300 fly ball to centre for the out. down he goes again. Gonzalez, 2-3 today. Double and a single. Grounds to short, throw to first for the out.
Bottom 9th: Gregg pitching Sweeney leading off. Singles up the middle, one on for Lopez, singles to right. Two on no outs. Bradley, Saunders pinch running for Sweeney, full count, walks him bases loaded. This is where Cito’s pitching strategy backfires on him. Using three pitchers to get four outs is not great idea and this is showing right now. Gregg is it for the game. Kotchman bases loaded. And no outs. 3-1 count. Full count. Walks him and a run, 3-2 game. Bases stay loaded. No room for error now Kevin. Bard. Fly ball to left run scores. 3-3 game. Griffey pinch hitting. One down two on. Runners at second and first. Doubles into right that’s the game, Seattle wins 4-3. Gregg blows it only his second of the season, BUT and a huge but in this book, Manager takes the responsibility here for lousy use of pitchers. Camp threw one pitch. Frasor only five. Downs ten. Now the issue is tomorrow in Arizona Gregg has pitched three days in a row. Will he use Camp, Downs or Frasor? This is where the arms get all worn out Cito they all have to warm up each time. You can’t wear the out like this. We have seen the results in all those pitchers having surgery in the last two years.
The very good: Romero for seven. Jays defense, Encarnacion, Bautista, Gonzalez, some excellent plays. Molina throwing out Ichiro in the eighth.
The good: It is the bottom half of the order that is carrying the offence of this team.
The bad: Top half of the order, from Lewis through Overbay. Two hits today. and not least Cito’s poor strategy cost the Jays today. Gregg had abad day but Cito had no backup to bring in to help him out. He has only blown two all season. I am happy with that. Rivera has blown two in a week, Papelbon has also blown big this week. It happens but the point is there was no backup for Gregg today. Camp could have carried on into the ninth,Vito knew Gregg had worked two nights in a row. As the great Tom Henke said, closers are different animals.Cito is an excellent hitting coach and has never understood pitchers.
On to Arizon and let;s hope for a better result.
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