Jays v Indians. Game two of four. Tuesday June 29.
Jays have to step it up bigtime tonight. That was embarrassing loss last night, a game Jays should have and could won. Leaving runners at third with one out, mentally out of the game, getting flat footed and giving up suicide squeeze. Jays eight games out now and sinking. In my book they need a blowout to get them back on track. Problem with the Jays as that they are so one-dimensional with the big bat that they don’t have any small ball skills to get that one run that they need.
Lineups: Toronto. Lewis, Gonzalez, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Molina, McDonald. One good change by Cito to sit Hoffpauir, just doesn’t have it for this level.
Cleveland: Crowe, Choo, Santana, Hafner, Peralta, Duncan, LaPorta, Nix, Hernandez.
Pitching: Carmona v Morrow.
Top 1st: Lewis leading off. Good start singles to left, Gonzalez, here we go again, grounds to short, throw to second on to first for double play. If Jays had a running game Lewis could be running. As for a bunt? What’s that? Especially for someone like Gonzalez who is struggling right now. We can only hope that the new Manager will at least be a more aggressive manager than Cito. The lack of those plays cost them the game last night. Bautista now with two down. Full count. Ball four. Wells, grounds first pitch back to Carmona, same old same old Jays tonight. So very predictable. Throw to first for third out. They get two on but that’s it. How many first innings has Vernon swung at the first pitch this season? How about 99%? Carmona 13 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Crowe leading off. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay, one down. Choo, fly ball to centre Vernon has it for second out. Santana singles into right. Two down one on for Hafner, doubles to right, Santana thinks about coming home but Bautista’s arm gets respect. Two in scoring position two down for Peralta. Oh my, grounds to third McDonald. Throws the ball to first gets away from Overbay and bounces into the crowd, two runs score. When did Johnny Mc. last make an error? Not this season. That is his first but a lousy time to make it. 2-0 Indians. Duncan, full count. Ball four but maybe a little semi-intentional there with first base open. LaPorta strikes out looking on three pitches. Nice inning by Morrow but he had to battle his own defense as did Romero last night. 22 pitches after getting first two outs in four pitches. That’s an extra inning of pitches following the McDonald error.
Top 2nd: Jays should have some incentive here to get a few runs. Time for a big inning. Few and far between recently. Lind, one of the biggest culprits, grounds very weakly to short, throw to first one down. Seems to have given up, he has looked totally lost at bat for the whole season. Hill, grounds weakly to third, throw to first two quick outs. Cito still maintain these two together in the lineup which have been automatic outs for far too long. Once again they have only one tool no small game for either of them. Overbay. 3-0 count. Walks on a full count. Molina, with two down. Full count. Grounds to short throw to first to get Molina. Morrow not getting any help here from his hitters or his defense. Pitch count 34.
Bottom 2nd: Nix leading off. Grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay to get first out. Hernandez, strikes out. Crowe, lines it to centre, bounces over the wall. Choo, singles to right, here comes Crowe, beats the throw by Bautista to score the run, 3-0 Cleveland. Santana, grounds it to Gonzalez, long throw to Overbay for the third out. Pitch count 36.
Top 3rd: Jays hitters have scored one run in the last eleven innings, don’t blame the pitchers here. Plus how many errors in the last few games? McDonald leading off owes his pitcher one. Strikes out looking but that was awful low. Lewis, 2-2 count. Lines it the other way this time but Duncan in left field runs it down to make the catch. Two down for Gonzalez. Grounds back to Carmona throw to first, for third out, too easy for Indians right now. No energy or fight in these Jays. 47 pitches by Carmona.
Bottom 3rd: Hafner leading off. Grounds back to Morrow throw to Overbay for the out, yes Brandon you have to do it all yourself tonight. Peralta, high fly ball to left, Lewis makes the catch two down. Duncan 0-2 and strikes out on three. Three up and down for Morrow. 47 pitches.
Top 4th: Twelve innings for one run and counting. Hitless in fact since Lewis lead off single in the first inning. Bautista leading off, full count. Lines it to in centre for first out. Wells, takes first pitch strike. Gets a break here, grounds to third off the glove to short, long off balance throw wild away from the bag at first. One on one down for Lind, grounds first pitch (!) back to Carmona, throw to second on to first and Jays hit the futility basement here on top of Lind. Can you believe this bush league play? Lind didn’t even give Vernon a chance to steal here. Pathetic. Lind is fast becoming a one season wonder like Kelly Gruber. 59 pitches for Carmona.
Bottom 4th: I feel so sorry for Jays pitchers. LaPorta, grounds back to Morrow throw to Overbay one down. Nix, strikes out two down. Hernandez, lines to Lewis in left for third out. Morrow pitch count 60.
Top 5th: Jays get one run in first inning yesterday and nothing since. Hill leading off. Grounds to short, throw to first one down. Overbay, 0-2 count, bounces to Carmona, throw to first, two down. Molina, grounds to Peralta at third, throws to first to end this one. Pitch count 70.
Bottom 5th: Morrow hardly had time to sit there. Crowe leading off. Strikes out, one down for Choo. Full count. Strikes out swinging at ball four. Santana, with two down. 3-0 count. Walks, Hafner, doubles off the wall in centre, here comes Santana, 4-0 Cleveland. Peralta grounds to third, McDonald throw to first. In my book Morrow has pitched very well tonight. Has been hurt by his team’s defense and lack of run support.
Top 6th: McDonald grounds to Hernandez at third, throw to first base LaPorta. Lewis singles to left. Gonzalez singles to left, Lewis to second. Bautista hit by pitch, Bases are loaded. Lewis to third, Gonzalez to second. And once again only one down. Familiar story though. Wells pops up to second base Nix. Two down for Lind. Finally, Lind singles to right, here comes Lewis, here comes Gonzalez. Jays get two back. 4-2 Cleveland. Hill with two down and two on. Chance to do some damage Aaron. No, fly ball to Crowe in centre. Once again Jays big bats blow it but at least they get on the board after 14 scoreless innings.
Bottom 6th: Duncan strikes out. LaPorta first pitch swinging, gets hold of this one out of here in centre, 5-2 Cleveland. Nix doubles to centre. Hernandez strikes out. Crowe grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for the out. Morrow 96 pitches. How big is that first inning now with McDonald error leading to 18 more pitches. That is almost two innings.
Top 7th: Overbay walks, lead off guy on base. Molina, singles to left, Overbay to second, two on for McDonald, strikes out. Arguing the call, just not his night tonight No hits and his fielding error cost Morrow and the Jays. Still upset in the dugout slamming his bat around. I think he was remembering his first strikeout in the third which did look awfully low from here. Plus of course his error. Just not his night. Sipp now pitching. Lewis grounds to third throw to first to get Lewis runners move up. Gonzalez, ball gets away and here comes the runner Overbay 5-3 Cleveland. Wells moves to third. Jays find a way to score a run here without hitting. That should be useful. Full count, ball four. Gonzalez walks. Two on two down. That’s it for Sipp. Joe Smith now pitching. Bautista, 1-2 count. Pops it up in shallow right, Choo drops the ball. Lost it in the sky. Molina scores 5-4 game. Wells now with two on. Chance to tie this one up. Grounds to short flip to second for the out. But Jays get two one on a wild pitch and another on a dropped ball but this team right now will take them anyway they are given them. Thank you very much.
Bottom 7th: That’s it for Morrow. That first inning error by McDonald hurt him bigtime in at least 15 pitches and cots him a possible win. Purcey now to hold them. Choo leading off. Lines it hard at Hill, does not make any mistake here. One down for Santana, strikes out swinging high. Hafner, pops it up to Molina for third out. Nice inning by Purcey.
Top 8th: Can Jays build on their momentum? Rafael Perez pitching. Lind leading off, has he been inspired by that last hit? Strikes out swinging. I guess not. Hill, another ofer night for Hill. Lines it to second for the out. 0-4 for Hill tonight. Two down for Overbay. Grounds to second throw to first. Jays heading for second straight one run loss here.
Bottom 8th: Frasor now pitching. Peralta leading off. Kerry Wood warming up in bullpen. Strikes out. One down. Duncan he is one BIG guy standing there. Just checked he is 6’5”, that bat looks like a tooth pick. Full count. Strikes out swinging. LaPorta, that was a one terrible swing. 2-2 count. Grounds to Overbay throw to Frasor for the out at first.
Top 9th: Molina leading off. Kerry Wood pitching so Cito may feel it doesn’t really matter who is out there. Third straight game to save. Marte at first. Hits him on the back, Jose doesn’t mind, he is on base, probably a pinch runner here as Buck is on deck for McDonald. Yes Nick Green pinch running for Molina. Whoa… Buck showing bunt ???? Wow. Taking it off now and takes second strike. Strikes out. One down for Lewis with Green at first. Fred 2-4 tonight. But this is the big at bat. Grounds to second steps on the bag and throw to first, yes yet another double play ball to end this one.
Jays lose two in a row to the worst team in the AL.
The bad, no, the very bad: Two runs for the Jays on a wild pitch and dropped ball, that is hardly offensive power.. Lousy defense continues for the Jays, tonight from McDonald and it may well be his first error of the season but it cost Morrow the game. Jays grounds into three more double plays tonight. One day Cito has to start the runners, or at least give the guy on first a chance to run by not swinging at those first pitches. Two great pitching efforts by Romero and Morrow but nothing to show for it.
What makes it worse is this is a team of Jays hitters that a week or so ago lead in so many offensive categories should be beating up on bigtime and not only getting wins but big scores.
The good. Morrow a fine outing but ruined by his teammates
Good news? Yankees lose to Seattle in New York. And of course someone has to lose at Fenway with Tampa playing Boston. Jays need all the help and luck they can get right now.
But they all know that this should have been a week to make up some ground on those teams above them, instead they are playing their worst baseball of the season despite getting great pitching.
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