Tampa v Toronto. Series finale. Wednesday June 2, 2010
This one is for bragging rights. By all rights Jays should be looking at a sweep of Tampa after leading 5-0 last night but blowing that lead. Both games Tampa has come back so Jays must realize no lead is big enough tonight. With Tampa ace Price tonight also runs will be hard to come by. No room for errors.
Lineup: Tampa: Upton, Crawford, Longoria, Aybar, Rodriguez, Zobrist, Kapler, Navarro, Brignac.
Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Bautista, Gonzalez, Overbay, Buck, Encarnacion.
Pitching. Price v Marcum
Top 1st: Upton singles to left. Crawford fly ball to Wells in centre. One down. Longoria singles to Wells in centre Upton easily to third. Marcum in early trouble. Two on one down for Aybar. Pops it up to Bautista in right, too shallow for Upton to come home. Rodriguez Jays killer last night with the throw that nailed a base running error by Hill and his hit that scored the decisive runs pops this one up to Hill at second. Marcum survives this one leaving Upton at third.
Bottom 1st: Lewis, there we go Fred, singles to centre, he has been playing so well in that leadoff position. Hill with one on pops it up to Rodriguez at second. Lind grounds to Brignac at short, error on the play and safe at first. Lewis to third. Wells with one down and two on strikes out. Bautista, yes Jose, singles to left, here comes Lewis and Lind moves to third on play.1-0 Jays. Oh Jose, he was going and Navarro nails him with throw to Rodriguez at second. Was that a good play with Lind at third? I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt Jays tonight.
Top 2nd: Zobrist pops up to Bautista in right in foul ground, one down. Kapler, Marcum hits him. You don’t need to give this crew any freebies Marcum. Navarro with one, that’s better, grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Hill to get Kapler, two down for Brignac, strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Gonzalez grounds to Rodriguez at second, throw to Zobrist for the out at first. One down for Overbay. Overbay doubles to centre. Error by Upton, and Overbay to third. Buck with runner at third, that’s the way John, sac fly to Crawford in left here comes Lyle to get the first run. 2-0 Jays. Two down for Encarnacion fly ball to Crawford in left but Jays have added another valuable run.
Top 3rd: Upton doubles to left. Crawford fly ball to Wells in centre. Longoria grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Overbay for the out, Upton to third. Aybar grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay at first.
Bottom 3rd: Lewis grounds to Rodriguez at second, throw to Zobrist at first for the out. One down for Hill fly ball to Upton in centre. Two down for Lind grounds to Rodriguez at second throw to Zobrist at first. Jays go quietly.
Top 4th: Rodriguez pops up to Overbay. Takes it in foul territory for first out. Zobrist lines out to Encarnacion at third. Kapler fly ball to Bautista in right. Marcum is doing his job.
Bottom 4th: Wells leading off doubles to right. Vernon has been getting his doubles in this series but Jays hitters have to bring him in here. Bautista fly ball to Crawford in left, Vernon has to hold. One down for Gonzalez foul ball to left Crawford drops it error on the play by Crawford. Third error by Tampa already tonight. Joe Maddon will not be happy. Vernon going to third he is picked off by Price throw to Rodriguez at second to Longoria at third to get Vernon. Ouch that is another big out. Two down. Gonzalez strikes out. It looks as if Cito has told this group to be aggressive tonight against Price but they should not be giving him outs here.
Top 5th: Navarro singles to right. Brignac, safe on fielder's choice and throwing error by catcher Buck, Navarro to third, Brignac to second. Upton fly ball to Bautista in right. Navarro coming home but great throw by Bautista to Buck to get him and double him up. Nice play Jose. Brignac to third. Crawford singles to centre, Brignac scores. 2-1 Jays. That throwing error hurts now, you can’t give Tampa anything. Jays should know this by now. On the other hand if Navarro had not come home he would have scored on that play. Longoria grounds back to Marcum throw to Overbay to get the out, but Tampa gets on the board. Marcum at 63 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Overbay leading off, that’s better Lyle, singles to centre. 2-2 night. One on for Buck, singles to right .Overbay to third. Encarnacion with two on and no outs, pops up to Kapler in shallow right, no chance for Lyle to come home. One down for Lewis, oh no, grounds to Rodriguez at second on to Brignac over to Zobrist, double play ball at a lousy time. That was not good at all, Jays had runner at third and no outs. That hurts. They have to take these chances against Price, now at 77 pitches.
Top 6th: Aybar, strikes out, only the second for Marcum tonight to go with the nine fly balls and six ground outs. Rodriguez doubles to Lewis in right. One on for Zobrist singles to centre, Rodriguez out at third two down. One on for Kapler, fly ball to Bautista in right. 80 pitches for Marcum. The end game tonight will be interesting, I don’t see how Gregg can come out he has pitched two nights in a row and lots of pitches last night. Let’s worry about that in a few innings.
Bottom 6th: Jays have threatened almost every inning tonight just cannot break through, perhaps now’s the time. Hill leading off, grounds to third and safe on the throw, that’s a good start. Ouch, Lind hit by pitch, Hill to second Lind at first for Wells, if ever a time for one of those doubles Vernon this is it. Noooo grounds to Longoria at third, over to Rodriguez on to Brignac at first, second double play in last two innings. Man. Hill at third but with two outs for Bautista fly ball to Upton in centre. Jays blow yet another golden opportunity with two on and no outs. You can’t keep giving Tampa these gifts. 1/7 tonight with runners in scoring position and two double plays at key points.
Top 7th: Navarro fly ball to Bautista in right. Brignac, with one down, same play, fly ball to Bautista, two down. Upton, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay at first for third out. Marcum on 85 pitches. Can he do it?
Bottom 7th: Gonzalez leading off, fly ball to Crawford in left, one down. Overbay strikes out two down for Buck, singles to centre. Pinch runner Cito ? No way, smart move Encarnacion pops it up to Upton in centre. Price on 99 pitches. Getting tense here.
Top 8th: This is where I think last night’s handling of the pitchers is part of the mix. If Downs or Gregg were available it would make it a lot easier for Cito. If Camp had gone longer. Anyway we will never agree with the way Cito uses his pitching staff. Crawford leading off grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for first important out here. Longoria fly ball to Lewis in left, two down for Aybar. Fly ball to Wells in centre for third out.Three up and down for Marcum great inning. Halladay who? Marcum on 94 pitches, he will be out there in the ninth but can his hitters finally give him some breathing room.
Bottom 8th: Lewis leading off, singles to centre, now can they bring him in? Hill, NO. Not another one, Hill grounds to Longoria at third, over to Rodriguez, on to Zobrist another double play ball. The third this game and in the last four innings.There comes a time when this is not the pitcher but the poor hitting by Jays and I would say the latter tonight. Two down now for Lind. Grounds to Rodriguez at second on to Zobrist at first for third out. Horrible hitting by Jays.
Top 9th: Marcum has to do it on his own tonight I am afraid. Rodriguez leading off. Singles to Lewis in left. Zobrist, singles to left, two on and no outs. Jaso pinch hitting for Kapler. Grounds to Gonzalez to Hill at second to get Zobrist, Rodriguez at third, Jaso at first. Navarro bunting, here comes Rodriguez, this game is all tied up 2-2. Runners safe at first and second. Don’t blame Downs for this one. This is firm and square with the hitters tonight and of course the pitching snafus last night which has kept Downs and Gregg out of there. Brignac doubles to left, here comes Zobrist 3-2 Tampa. Still only one out. Navarrao at third, Brignac at second, Top of Tampa order. Upton. Here comes Cito, Frasor the only option now. But don’t hold your breaths here with two in scoring position and only one out. No double play options. Walks him. Bases loaded. That is why Frasor is not a closer. He falls apart with people on base. Here comes Cito, no choice now but to go to Downs, bases loaded. One out. Crawford, he will be swinging away. There it goes out of here to right, grand slam Crawford, Tampa takes a 7-2 lead. Ugly. Longoria at bat still only one down. Fly ball to Wells for second out. Aybar singles to centre, one on two down. Rodriguez, full count. Strikes out. Six runs to Tampa in top of the ninth, that should be pasted on every Jays player locker for the rest of the season.
Bottom 9th: Always interesting to see how this team reacts to a beating. Will they fold their tents here? Or make a fight of it? I think the former as they have been that way all night. It was Marcum who kept them in this as long as he could. The hitters were awful tonight. Wells leading off. Tampa doesn’t even need Soriano with this lead. But here he is, Joe Maddon rubbing their noses in it tonight. Zobrist in right and Pena at first. Wells pops up to Rodriguez at second. Bautista, strikes out, two down for Gonzalez. Singles to centre. Overbay, Gonzalez takes second, Tampa gives it to him. He is not going to score five runs. Overbay 2-3 tonight, doubles to centre, Gonzalez scores 7-3. Where were all these hits earlier in the game? Lyle 3-4 night. Now if they can get the bases loaded and a grand slam they have a chance. Buck strikes out.
Very disappointing but Tampa is showing this team they have a long way to go to play with the big guys.
Perhaps Jays needed a thrashing like this to put things in perspective, it is one thing to beat the teams that don’t matter but another to beat the guys ahead of them. With this loss also Boston should go ahead into third so the Yankees coming in on Thursday could really start the slide for the Jays.
The good tonight: Has to be Marcum, he did everything he could, he gave eight strong innings, he just hit the wall, by rights he should not have had to pitch the ninth. Overbay gets a good for his 3-4 night.
The bad: The rest of the team including pitchers but mainly the hitters, grounding into three double plays was the killer tonight. The base running was minor league. Bautista picked off in the first, Wells, picked off in the fourth. Double plays in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings and we are talking about Lewis, Hill and Wells, the big bats not the guys at bottom of the order.
A day off and it does not get any easier. Yankees will see some easy pickings this weekend in Toronto. Then Jays head to Tampa, enough said. This team could be starting an 0-8 run.They had their chances in this series, they lead in all three games (for eight innings) and big lead last night. What could have been a sweep turned into disaster.
Cito will say he is pleased with the way they played Tampa tough, but he knows they are not in the same class and unable to compete yet.
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