Jays hitters frozen in time and ruin another good outing by starter Morrow

Game two of three Saturday June 12, 2010

Jays lost a heartbreaker last night; need to get back into that hitting groove. Interesting Lewis is 6/7 against Hammel. Molina back in lineup. And with Lind taking a day off, Encarnacion back in lineup.
Small crowd so far tonight, weather still looks dodgy with rain.

Lineups: Toronto: Lewis, Hill, Bautista, Wells, Gonzalez, Overbay, Encarnacion, Molina, Morrow.
Colorado: Herrera, Helton, Gonzalez, Hawpe, Spilborghs, Olivo, Stewart, Barmes, Hammel.

Pitching: Morrow v Hammel.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off. Lines to Spilborghs in left, off his glove and rolls to the wall, double for Fred. No error on the play so Fred continues his hitting dominance over Hammel. Hill, has to move Fred over here, meeting at the mound, is he injured? Carrying on. 0-2 to Aaron strikes out swinging at high ball. One down for Bautista, fly ball to centre, Lewis tags and just beats throw, a little late with the tag Fred. Wells with Lewis at third and two down. Pops it up to first. Jays waste that leadoff double. 13 pitches for Hammel.
Bottom 1st: Herrera leading off. Full count. Pops up to Gonzalez at short. One down for Helton, 4-1 count, pops it up to Encarnacion at third in foul territory, two down. Gonzalez, grounds to Hill throw to Overbay at first for third out. 17 pitches for Morrow.

Top 2nd: Gonzalez, lines it back right at Hammel makes a nice reflex stab at it to get Alex, one down for Overbay. 2-2 count. Grounds right at Herrera at second but shift over to first. Encarnacion with two down. Pops it up to Herrera for third out. 26 pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Hawpe, 2-2 strikes out looking. Spilborghs strikes out. Olivo with two down strikes out, Morrow strikes out the side. Six up and down for Morrow so far. 32 pitches.

Top 3rd: Molina leading off, pops it up to Herrera, one down for Morrow. 2-2 count, strikes out. Two down for Lewis. High fly ball to right but stays in for Hawpe to make the catch. 36 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Stewart leading off. 2-2 strikes out. Barmes with one down. 2-2 count. Singles to right. Hammel with one down. Bunting, 1-2 count, strikes out. Two down for Herrera. Also showing bunt. Grounds to Hill throw to Overbay for third out. Morrow with five strikeouts so far tonight. Morrow 50 pitches.

Top 4th: Hill leading off. Grounds to Stewart third throw to Helton at first one down. Bautista, 0-20 slump right now. 0-2 count, 2-2, Count full. Strikes out on ball four. Wells, with two down. First pitch fly ball to shallow centre. Jays hitters resume their slump. Economical with only 48 pitches but Vernon always helps them with his first pitch swing.
Bottom 4th: Morrow needs a short inning to get his pitch count down. Helton leading off. Gets hold of this one off the wall in right, leadoff double. Gonzalez, Whoa…. Grounds to third Encarnacion throw to first to get Gonzalez, Lyle throw to third for Gonzalez to get Helton who was talking third. Alex Gonzalez was covering Encarnacion out of position for the throw to Overbay, double play great play by everyone. Hawpe grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay for third out. 60 pitches for Morrow.

Top 5th: Gonzalez leading off singles to right. Now can Jays do something with this here? Overbay, 0-2 count, ball bounces away and alert Gonzalez takes second. Move him over Lyle. Strikes out swinging. One down for Encarnacion, Pops up to centre. Two down. Molina, intentional walk to get to Morrow. Not a good situation for Brandon with two down he has to pitch next. Nice hit lines it to right, for the out but very nice swing. Once again Jays hitters leave players in scoring position. Player on second and no outs, have to bring those in. 59 pitches.
Bottom 5th: Spilborghs leading off. Grounds to short, oh phenomenal play by Gonzalez throw in midair to Lyle a strike at first. Very nice Alex. Olivo, 2-2 count. Strikes out looking. Two down for Stewart. 2-2 count, full count. Walks him. Barmes, now do Jays walk him to get to Hammel? No pitching to him. Grounds first pitch to Encarnacion, Throw to Hill at second to get Stewart. Now Hammel has to pitch and then lead off the seventh. Make it a long inning hitters.75 pitch count.

Top 6th: Lewis leading off. 2-2 count. Full count. Takes ball four. Hill, come on Aaron let’s get some runs on the board here. Fred stealing here throw down and gets him. Hill grounds back to Hammel, throw to first two down. That would have been double play anyway of Fred were still on first. Bautista with two down. Takes strike three. 75 pitches for Hammel.
Bottom 6th: Hammel leading off. 3-1 count. Walks him. One on for Herrera. Good to keep Hammel out there but not good to have leadoff on. Herrrera showing bunt. 2-2 count. Full count. Lines it to Bautista in right field to make first out. Also keeps Hammel standing around out there in the cold. Here comes trainer, looks as if his hand is bleeding. Helton singles to centre. Hammel to third, Gonzalez, lines it to right Bautista makes the catch and here comes Hammel. 1-0 Rockies. Two down. Hawpe, 3-0 count. Camp and Purcey warming up in bullpen. Walks him, two on for Spilborghs. Lines to right, Helton coming home Bautista throw to the plate gets him out by a mile. Never run on Bautista. Learned the hard way but Rockies should read the scouting reports, we have seen Jose do that several times already this season he has a cannon arm from right. 97 pitches.

Top 7th: Vernon, pops it up one down for Bautista grounds to third. Barmes takes it behind third, long throw but gets him, two down. Overbay with two down. Grounds up the middle nice throw to get Lyle at first. Very easy inning though for Hammel with the free-swinging Jays. They are in deep cold freeze right now and have been for a week.
Bottom 7th: Morrow still pitching not sure why Cito is doing this, he had a rough inning last inning and is close to the 100 pitch count. Olivo leading off. Doubles to left. Now here comes Cito, that’s it for Morrow. Purcey now pitching I think that might be another error by Cito leaving Morrow in to start this one. Jeremy Reed now at first base. Oh boy. Cito makes some strange decisions sometimes. Stewart with runner at second. Pops it up to Encarnacion at third, one down. Barmes putting him on for Hammel, unless they pull him for pinch hitter but at least he will be gone. Two on one down, Hammel it is. Bunting here ? Yes. Fouls it off. This time gets it, to Encarnacion throw to first Reed to get Hammel and moves both runners over, two down. Herrera, 0-2 count. Grounds to Reed at first for the out. Purcey does nice job.

Top 8th: Jays hitters need to get going this inning or face the Rockies closer in a one run game. We have already forgotten that this team can score five or six runs in an inning, seems like last season. Encarnacion leading off. Hammel still out there and why not? Jays hitters cannot solve him. Wild swing here by Encarnacion and that has been the norm tonight for too many of Jays hitters. Rockies bullpen working. Insurance as opposed to being needed. Singles to left. Only the third hit by Jays tonight. Molina with a runner on. Bunting. What a waste, this guy can hit it out. Gets bunt down to pitcher, Encarnacion to second, Jose out half way to first. One down for pinch runner McCoy at second. Reed, owes Jays bigtime after last night. 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Lewis. Mound conference, Hammel wants at him. Gambling here, make them pay Fred. 2-0 semi-intentional walk here ? 3-0 not giving him anything near the plate. Ball four. Pitch 100. Two on for Hill. Pops it up to shallow centre. Awful. Getting under every hit, he seems to have forgotten how to drive the ball. Hill 0-4 tonight.
Bottom 8th: McCoy stays in game at third. Downs now pitching. Helton leading off. Grounds back to Downs throw to Reed at first, one down. Gonzalez, bunting ? ah well. Fouls it off. Bunt off and singles to right. One on one down for Hawpe, 2-2 count. stealing Molina throw gets him, called safe. Oh dear not sure about that one umpire. Here comes Cito but no change in call. Full count. Wild pitch, Gonzalez goes to third, Hawpe to first. Not good, bullpen imploding yet again. Downs in particular seems to have lost it this last couple of weeks. Here comes Cito, he agrees and Camp now pitching. Runners at first and third and only one down. Here comes the rain. It never rains it pours for the Jays this week. Spilborghs, strikes out, two down. Olivo takes strike one. 0-2 swings over it. Strikes out swinging. Very nice work by Camp.

Top 9th: Hammel to finish this off ? No, closer Corpas 7/9 saves. Bautista leading off. Fly ball to the wall in right, one down. Wells, another bad night at the office for Vernon 0-3 and average well under .300 now. Grounds to short, throw to first two down. 0-4 night for Vernon. Gonzalez last hope for Jays tonight. 2-0 count. 3-1. Singles to right. Way to go Alex. Manager out to talk. Bullpen working. Lind pinch hitting. Grounds to short throw to first and this one is over. Jays lose another. You can’t win games if you don’t score runs.

The good: Great defense by Jays especially Gonzalez. Bautista throw to home to get Helton. Morrow excellent and that’s it. Camp with runner at third and one down strikes out two.

The bad: Jays RISP 0-8. The big bats, Hill, Bautista, Wells and Overbay 0-15 tonight. That says it all. Rays, Yankees and Boston all win tonight to add to Jays misery. Keep repeating, "this is a rebuilding year".