Overbay the hero today along with Marcum, Hill, Encarnacion and Wells.

Game two of two. Toronto v Minnesota. Tuesday May 18.

Early afternoon getaway game for both teams. Encarnacion due back. Snider on DL. What happens when Travis is fit again? Multi-million $ question.
Noisy lot today school day at the park. Should be well over 25,000. Let’s hope Jays can feed off this noise support. The last few school day matinees days have been awful ad Jays have given the crowd nothing to cheer about. I always think such a waste as there is so much energy from the children that the team can tap into.

Lineups: Twins: Span, Hudson, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel, Young, Harris, Punto.
Jays: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Gonzalez, Bautista, Encarnacion, Molina.

Pitching: Pavano v Marcum

Top 1st: Span, grounds back to Marcum, throw to Overbay for the first out. Hudson, pop up shallow left to Wells. Two down. Mauer, strikes out on three. Joe doesn’t like that. Very nice Shaun. Nine pitches.
Bottom 1st: Lewis singles first pitch into right. Hill, grounds to Punto at third, throw to Hudson at second gets Lewis not in time at first to get Hill, one down one on. Lind. Singles into right, Hill to third on the play. Wells, one down with runner at third. Vernon had a great night last night 3-4, and the hits were all up the middle, he is getting away from pulling everything this season. Has also being going opposite field. Needs to bring Hill in here though. Full count. This will do it, lines it to centre, not too deep but enough for Hill to score, that is an awfully weak throw from Span. 1-0 Jays. Overbay finally Lyle gets it going doubles to centre and here comes Lind. 2-0 Jays. Gonzalez, 3-0 count. Takes it all the way, 3-1. Full count. Lyle will be running. Grounds to Harris at short, throw to Cuddyer at first for the out but Jays go out ahead early here and also get the crowd into the game. 18 pitches.

Top 2nd: Morneau, strikes out on three pitches. Cuddyer, singles into left, Kubel, 3-0 count. Walks him. Two on one down for Young. Strikes out two down. Harris, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 2nd: Bautista, leading off. Ouch hit by pitch on the elbow. Encarnacion welcome back Edwin. OH MY, off the wall in left,. Home run Edwin. 4-0 Jays. Molina singles over Hudson’s glove into right. Still nobody out this inning, but that’s ok from this seat. Lewis .full count. Strikes out. Hill, grounds to third, throw to Hudson to get Molina on to first but Hill beats it out, just like first inning. Lind. Grounds to Hudson, throw to first to get Lind. 39 pitches.

Top 3rd: Punto grounds back to Marcum throw to Overbay for first out. Span, high, very high fly ball into right but Bautista has it. Two quick outs for Hudson, full count. Singles into right. Mauer, doubles into right field corner. Hudson at third. Morneau, careful here Shaun. Grounds first pitch to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay for third out. 62 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Wells leading off. Oh BOY Vernon, classic Vernon home run to left. Over the bull pen, no doubt about that one from the moment he swung. 5-0 Jays. Overbay grounds to first. Gonzalez, this is trouble grounds down third base line tries to rush it and gets by him into left, double for Alex. Bautista with one down one on. Lines to right. Encarnacion. Pops it up to Hudson for third out but Jays have added another. 49 pitch count.

Top 4th: Marcum with a good cushion here 5-0 lead. Cuddyer leading off, triples to the wall, off glove of Vernon. Kubel, singles to right, Cuddyer scores 5-1 Jays. Young, pops up to Molina. One down. Harris, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Hill on to Overbay, in time, double play ball to end this inning.62 pitch count.
Bottom 4th: Molina, leading off. singles back up the middle. Lewis lines it hard to centre, Span makes the great diving catch but ball is out of glove as he hits the ground, two on and in scoring position for Hill with no one out. Getting there Aaron as he lifts on foul into left. That’s the swing. Strikes out on this one way outside. Lind with one down and two in scoring position. This will do it singles into right; here comes Molina here comes Lewis, out at the plate. Great bullet throw by Kubel from shallow right. 6-1 Jays. Wells, with Lind at first two down. Singles to right but great play by Hudson to throw him out at first. 70 pitches for Pavano.

Top 5th: Punto, pops it up to Hill at second. One down. Span, fly ball to Wells in centre. Hudson with two down. Full count. Pops it up to Lewis in shallow left for third out. 74 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Ron Mahay now pitching. Overbay leading off grounds to Hudson at second throw to first for the out. Gonzalez, full count. Strikes out swinging. Bautista, grounds hard at Punto at third throw to Cuddyer at first for the out.
Top 6th: Mauer leading off. Pops it up to Molina, One down for Morneau. Pops it up to Gonzalez. Two down for Cuddyer. 3-0 and walks him. That may have been semi-deliberate by Shaun, Cuddyer already had two hits this afternoon. Kubel, Pops it up Encarnacion calls off Molina to make the catch. 88 pitches. Maybe one more inning for Shaun.
Bottom 6th: Encarnacion leading off, strikes out swinging. One down for Molina, 2-2 today. Two singles. Three now, singles up the middle. Lewis, 2-3 single and a double. Singles into left, 3-4. Hill one more chance, hitless today. YEAH Aaron, no doubt about this one, home run to left into the bullpen, here comes Molina, Lewis right behind him, and finally the man of the moment Hill. three run home run. 9-1 Jays. Lind, pops it up to Hudson two down. That’s it for Mayhay, Jesse Crain. Wells with two down. WEIRD Play grounds back to Crain, wild throw to first, Vernon gets all the way to third, Overbay WHOA Lyle…high into right centre seats..another home run his second of the day !!!! 11-1 Jays. Gonzalez, fly ball to centre to end the fun here.

Top 7th: Marcum still out there enjoying this lead. 89 pitches. Young leading off. Pops up to Overbay. Grounds to Encarnacion very nice slick play to throw him out at first. Two down for Punto. Bounces one to Gonzalez at short, another very slick play to get him at first. The right side is very good defensively now. 105 pitches for Marcum.
Bottom 7th: Butera now catching for Mauer. Mijares pitching. Bautista, pops it up to Tolbert replacing Hudson at second. Jose the only one in starting lineup without a hit today. One down for Encarnacion. Full count. Janssen up in bullpen. Lines it to right for Kubel to make the catch. Two down. Molina, 3-3. Strikes out this time but some of those swings were get away day swings.

Top 8th: McCoy in for Vernon in centre, Johnny Mc in for Gonzalez at short, Janssen now pitching. Span leading off. Full count, come on Casey you have a ten run lead. Just throw strikes here. Low and walks him. Tolbert, now Molina out to talk to him. another full count, Cito must be getting a little upset here. Fly ball to McCoy, one down. Butera, grounds to Hill at second throw to Overbay for the out, two down. Casilla pinch hitting for Morneau. Another full count. Lines it to right, Bautista diving for it past him to the wall, run scores, Probably not a smart move there Jose. Casilla at third. Cuddyer. Lines it to Overbay, good catch to end this. Everything Lyle does today has been successful, what a difference from last night. Strange game. 26 pitch inning for Casey.
Bottom 8th: Top of the order again. Lewis 3-4 today. Lines it to Span in left centre. Hill with one down. Hits it hard to centre, good hit but Span has it Lind 2-4,strikes out here.

Top 9th: Last chance for the Twins. Frasor to pitch the ninth. Kubel leading off. Strikes out, one down for Young. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Harris, strikes out swinging. Frasor strikes out the side.

Jays win big here today. Twins are top of their division and no pushover by any means. It is a good homestand 4-1 and to go on the road at least with some momentum.
The very good: Marcum of course for his seven one run innings. The hitting of Overbay, Lind, Encarnacion and Wells. Finally both Overbay and Hill have a good hitting game and Lyle made no mistakes at first today. Lyle the booing is over if you play like that now. Encarnacion immediately at ease and his glove looked very, very smooth on the plays. Not that Bautista embarassed himself at third, but he is far better in right. If Lyle and Aaron can get their bats going that should mean less pressure on their gloves and they can perform at their high level, the infield will look very good.

Attendance: 27,981. That is the second biggest crowd this season after Opening Day, things are looking up.
Bad: Not today friends…..