Jays power and defense supports Marcum's first win.

Sunday May 2nd Final game of four game series v Oakland.

Pitching Marcum v Sheets

Lineups: Oakland: Pennington, Barton, Sweeney, Kouzmanoff, Chavez, Rosales, Patterson, Donaldson, Davis.
Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Buck, McDonald.

Have a great seat today on third base second deck, Always interesting to get a different perspective on the game.

Top 1st: Pennington leading off pops up to Gonzalez at shirt, one down. Barton strikes out. Sweeney lines out to Bautista in right field. Marcum holding them in there but seemed very slow and deliberate.
Bottom 1st: Lewis full count and walks. Lewis there he goes stealing almost immediately and safe on the throw. Hill now with Lewis in scoring position comes through here doubles to the wall in centre, Lewis scores and Jays are on the board before many have reached their seats.1-0Lind fly ball to Patterson, one down, Hill to third. Wells, there he goes up the middle and her comes Hill 2-0 Jays. Overbay grounds to Rosales at second, throw to Barton at first, Wells moves up to third. Gonzalez, lines this one below us into corner no over the wall, another home run for Gonzalez he was already leading all short stops. Two runs score and Jays aggression paying off big time as they take a 4-0 lead, with two outs. Bautista wants some of this fun, grounds to Kouzmanoff at third, throw to Barton at first base, but Jays have opened this one wide open in the first. I think you can feel the energy here now. Jays appear to be on an attack mission here.

Top 2nd: Kouzmanoff singles to centre. Chavez pops up to Lewis in left field. Rosales full count and walks, Kouzmanoff to second. Two on and only one out for Marcum, has to bear down here. Patterson strikes out. Two down. Donaldson strikes out. That’s much better.
Bottom 2nd: Buck doubles to left. Continues from first inning. Johnny Mc playing for Snider today. Hammers this to right, McDonald stretching it easily into a triple. Here comes Buck and Jays are 5-0. Lewis with McDonald at third. Sac fly to Patterson in left field. Here comes McDonald 6-0 Jays and no outs. Hill full count and walks. Lind grounds to Rosales at second base, throw to Pennington at shirt, Hill out on the play, two down. Wells fly ball to centre field Davis.

Top 3rd: Davis strikes out. One down and a tough out as well. Pennington 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Barton pops up first pitch to centre field Wells. Two down for Sweeney, Sweeney strikes out.
Bottom 3rd: Overbay singles to centre. Gonzalez fly ball to Davis in centre field. Bautista pops up to Kouzmanoff at third base, two down. Buck strikes out.

Top 4th: Kouzmanoff singles to left. Chavez singles to right, Kouzmanoff to second. Rosales full count and walks, Kouzmanoff to third, Chavez to second. Bases loaded for Marcum and no one out. He will be very lucky to escape this without runs. Patterson strikes out. One down. Donaldson fouls out to McDonald at third. Davis singles to left, Kouzmanoff scores and Oakland are on the board. 6-1 Jays. Pennington grounds to Hill playing first base today throw to Overbay to end the inning.
Bottom 4th: Johnny Mc. Another good hit doubles to left to go along with that triple. Lewis gets hold of this one a bullet to right corner seats that is still travelling east along the 401.That was the type Delgado used to hit into that corner. Home run Fred, here comes McDonald followed by Lewis 8-1 Jays out in front. Hill oh yes Aaron, first pitch his first home run, into left field seats second level. 9-1 Jays. His first since he returned from injury. Even the ticket usher in my section is dancing in the aisle. Lots of people have been waiting for Aaron to get his power swing back. Still no one out. Lind strikes out. One down. Wells singles to left. That’s it for Sheets. He must be shell shocked after all that. Kilby now pitching. Overbay fouls out to Kouzmanoff at third. Gonzalez strikes out.

Top 5th: Barton fly ball to Bautista in right, one down. Sweeney grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay at first two down. Kouzmanoff grounds to Overbay at first steps on the bag for the third out.
Bottom 5th: Bautista fouls out to Barton at first, one down. Buck doubles to left. His second of the game. McDonald pops out to Sweeney in right field. Lewis with Hill in scoring position lines out to Pennington at short leaving Aaron out there.

Top 6th: Chavez fly ball to Wells in centre, one down. Rosales singles to centre. Marcum in trouble here, two on and only one out. Patterson grounds to Gonzalez on to first base Overbay, Rosales out at second, double play ball. Two quick innings for Marcum here which has helped that pitch count but Cito will keep him in here as long as he can with that big lead.
Bottom 6th: Hill singles to centre. One on for Lind, lines out to Rosales at second base. One down. Wells fly ball to Davis in centre field for second out. Overbay grounds to Rosales at second on to Barton at first base.

Top 7th: Donaldson grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay at first, one down. Davis full count and walks. Pennington singles to centre, Davis to third. That’s it for Marcum, well over the 100 pitch count. He has thrown a lot of extra pitches to get through this one. Rommie Lewis now pitching. Barton grounds to Gonzalez at short on to Hill on to Overbay, double play ball. Pennington out at second.
Bottom 7th: Tolleson in at short. Gross in right field. Gonzalez strikes out. Bautista strikes out.Two down. Buck doubles to left. His third double of the afternoon. McDonald pops up to Barton at first.

Top 8th: Gross strikes out. Fox pinch-hitting for Kouzmanoff. Fox singles to right. Chavez doubled to left, Fox to third. Rosales singles to centre, here comes Fox and Chavez, two runs score. Patterson lines out to shortstop Gonzalez. Donaldson strikes out to end the inning.
Bottom 8th: Fox in at third. Breslow now pitching. Lewis fly ball to Patterson in left field. Hill hitting for the cycle, grounds to Fox at third throw to Barton for the out. Lind fly ball to Gross in right fiel to end the inning.

Top 9th: Roenicke pitching. Davis grounds to short Gonzalez throw to Overbay. One down and one that Roenicke did not want on base. Tolleson fly ball to Bautista in right field. Barton grounds to Overbay at first flip to Roenicke and a nice wrap up inning by Josh Roenicke. to pitcher Roenicke.

Crowd excellent today, they were in the game right from the start, so often the Rogers Centre crowd are quiet and appear to be elsewhere. Today give Lewis the credit for getting them going with that steal in the first. There was lots to cheer about today. And the crowd responded. Four home runs, three doubles and a triple, throw in two double plays to get Marcum out of trouble and this was a performance to get the crowd into the game. The weather also helped with the roof open.

The very good: Marcum although I didn’t feel he was at his best and appeared to struugle through much of the game, with four walks, and deep counts. He was definitely helped today by some great fielding. Wells catch at the wall, Bautista diving and rolling in the first. Gonzalez great throw from almost at third to make the throw. Buck three doubles. Lewis first home run a bullet to right corner. Hill hitting and needing a triple for the cycle. Gonzalez home run to get things really going in the first.
Good stolen base by Lewis and Johnny Mc. triple. Both plays showed the hustle and energy out there this afternoon which we have been missing for some of the games and appearances of going through the motions.

The bad? Nothing today. Bautista and Lind the only two lineup starters without a hit.