Jays lose another to Cleveland and ruin another good pitching outing.

Game three of four. Toronto v Cleveland. Wednesday June 30th.

Pre-game: Jays looking for their first win tonight send out Jesse Litsch. Well let’s see. Pitchers so far have been fine for almost two weeks, but they can’t hit as well at least not in this league. How does the manager get a whole team to hit? Well that is why Cito and his coaches are paid big bucks. They will say the games have been close and Jays on the wrong end of one run games, true fact but does not hide the fact that Jays team should be hammering the Cleveland pitchers and getting back on track.
I think like many fans that if the Jays are going to be this bad, let’s at least see some of the AAA players here getting some experience rather than players like Hill (yes) Lind, (yes) Wells, (yes) Bautista, going through the motions in this slump. Give them two weeks off, send them anywhere but the ballpark, they can come back in August and let’s see some heart, energy, speed! HA! And players really trying hard every at bat, every hit and every play in the field.

Lineups: Toronto: Lewis, Gonzalez, Bautista, Wells, Buck, Overbay, Hill, Green, Hoffpauir.
Cleveland: Crowe, Choo, Santana, Hafner, Kearns, Peralta, LaPorta, Hernandez, Donald.

Pitching: Litsch v Aaron Laffey for Cleveland has not won a game this season, perfect time for him to see the Jays tonight. Evidently had a new baby yesterday so you know the baseball gods are shining on him, what chance for the Jays have with those odds? Litsch? Who knows who will appear tonight, and it really doesn’t matter unless he pitches a perfect game if his hitters do not get any runs for him.

Top 1st: Lewis singles to left. One on for Gonzalez grounds to Hernandez at second throw to Donald on to first LaPorta, yes indeed yet another double play ball. That is how it goes with this team. They never give themselves chance to even up the odds by bunting (horrors) or even taking a couple of pitches to let Lewis steal. What is the point of having that speed if he is not enabled to use it? How many times has he lead off with a double in the last week to be part of a double play ball by the next hitters? Far too many. Please next Manager be someone who has more than one hitting strategy. Bautista strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Crowe strikes out. Choo, 2-2 count, there it goes, gets hold of this one and another home run for Choo into right field. Cleveland rolling along 1-0. Santana with one down doubles to right. Hafner ever dangerous, Litsch has to be careful, here he is not 3-0 down, strikes him out. Two down for Kearns, wild pitch by Litsch, Santana moves up to third. Kearns grounds to Green playing second to give Hill a rest I guess, throw to Overbay to end the inning with no further damage.

Top 2nd: Wells leading off, grounds to third Peralta throw to first base LaPorta for first down Buck fly ball to Choo in right field. Two down for Overbay strikes out. Easy inning for Laffey.
Bottom 2nd: Peralta pops up to Green at second, one down. LaPorta lines to Gonzalez at short two down. Hernandez fly ball to Lewis in left for third out. Good three up and down inning for Litsch.

Top 3rd: Hill DH tonight lines out to Choo in right field. One down for Green strikes out. At least he has an excuse. Hoffpauir fly ball to Choo in right. This guy should definitely not be in the lineup. The good news today though is that Travis is starting on the Gulf coast. That would be huge if he could come back. Meantime we have to suffer with this underachieving group.
Bottom 3rd: Donald lines out to Wells in centre. One down for Crowe grounds to Green at second throw to Overbay, two down. Choo grounds to Overbay at first for third out. Litsch is doing his part very well so far tonight. One run should be ok for most teams to overcome.

Top 4th: Lewis grounds to Hernandez at second throw to LaPorta at first for the out. One down for Gonzalez. Doubles to left. Jays second hit of the night. One on, one down for Bautista fly ball to Crowe for second out. Wells fly ball to Choo in right. Jays once again cannot move a guy 90 feet.
Bottom 4th: Santana grounds to Overbay at first, throw to Litsch to make the out himself. I wouldn’t trust them either Jesse. Hafner fly ball to Wells in centre.Two down. Kearns grounds to Green throw to Overbay to end this one. Another excellent inning by Jesse..

Top 5th: Buck strikes out. One down for Overbay pops up to Donald at short, two down for Hill doubles to left. Two down one on and in scoring position. Green full count and takes the walk. Two on two down for Hoffpauir, another walk to load the bases this time. Hill moves to third, Green to second and Jays have yet another great opportunity. Lewis with bases loaded, all we need is a base hit Fred. Strikes out. Do we laugh or cry at this team ?
Bottom 5th: Peralta fly ball to Lewis in left, one down. LaPorta full count and ball four. Hernandez lines back to Litsch throw to Overbay to get LaPorta and inning-ending double play. Perfect Jesse.

Top 6th: You have this feeling that one day, in the far away distant future, that this team is going to break out and score 20, but right now a base hit will do. Gonzalez leading off fly ball to Choo in right. One down for Bautista, grounds to Peralta at third, throw to LaPorta at first. Two down for Wells. Vernon lines out to Choo in right. Both pitchers doing well but praying for some runs to give them room to make an error.
Bottom 6th: Donald grounds to short, safe at first. Crowe lines to Gonzalez at short. Choo full count and walks, two on one down for Santana, does it again, singles to right, here comes Donald from second. 2-0 Indians. Choo moves up to second on the play going to third. Santana at first. Bautista’s throw to Hoffpauir at third gets him, another assist for Jose. Hafner fly ball to Lewis in left but Cleveland gets another.

Top 7th: Jays still scoreless. Buck leading off singles to right. One on for Overbay grounds to first and safe at first. Buck to third, Two on with runner at third with NO outs, surely they can do it this time. They have three shots at it. That’s it for Laffey though, nice outing and in the running for his first win of the season to go along with his new baby. Herrmann now pitching. Hill with the runner 90 feet away, why don’t you try a bunt here Aaron? Something different from the usual outs and who knows Buck might score. Hill pops up to Hernandez at second for the first out. Two more tries guys. There we go, Green singles to centre and the new kid on the block shows the vets how it is done, Here comes Buck to score, Jays finally get a run. But can they get another? One run is not enough now. 2-1 score. McDonald pinch-running for Overbay at second. That assumes a lot such as a hit to get him in. Two chances. Lind now pinch-hitting for Hoffpauir. Cito really working overtime here, but to be fair to him for a change I don’t think it will help this team whatever he does right now at least. Lind strikes out. That was definitely worth coming off the bench for. Lewis with two down and two on, strikes out. Jays get one back but oh dear the rest of the three outs in the inning were not pretty to see. More chances lost.
Bottom 7th: Litsch has finished for the night, did his job well, but then so did Romero and Morrow but hard to win a game with one run offence. McDonald in at third. Lind in at first, we shall see how that helps. Camp now pitching. Kearns, grounds to third, off the glove of McDonald. Error on the play déjà vu all over again. When it rains it pours for the Jays. Not sure why Cito changed everybody. Peralta with one on, grounds to Gonzalez at short steps on the bag throw to first, double play ball helps McDonald out there. LaPorta with two down now, hammers this to centre. This one is out of here. 3-1 Indians. He loves this team this is his second in two nights and only three on the season. Hernandez. Camp, knocks him down with that pitch, some emotion here from the Jays ? Far too late, this team is the walking zombies. Strikes him out.

Top 8th: The only question now is can the Jays avoid getting swept tomorrow? I doubt it. And would definitely not bet on it. Joe Smith again, third night in a row but why not, he has fooled the Jays hitters each time setting up for Kerry Wood next inning. Gonzalez leading off. 1-2 count. Grounds weakly up the middle throw to first gets Gonzalez. Bautista, 0-3 tonight. Shatters the bat grounds to short, throw to first two down. Wells, two down, 0-3 tonight and he expects fans to vote for him for the All-Star game? Dream on Vernon. In fact I don’t believe any Jays player should be going to the game based on this form. Grounds to short throw to first. Joe Smith more than enough for this team. Bautista and Wells 0-4 tonight.
Bottom 8th: Downs now pitching. Donald leading off. Strikes out. One down for Crowe, fly ball to Bautista in right two down. Choo, full count grounds back up the middle. Santana with one on and two down, strikes out.

Top 9th: Not Kerry Wood, Chris Perez now pitching has six saves, more than enough. Cleveland taking pity on the Jays here and resting Kerry Wood but somehow I don’t think it matters. Marte at first base. Buck, loops it to right one down. McDonald ??? come on Cito get a pinch hitter here. Full count. Fly ball to centre two down for Hill, ah well. Gets a life here pops it up to first Marte drops the ball in foul territory. Make him pay Aaron. Strikes out swinging. Hmm ! Jays lose three in a row to Cleveland !!! and staring at ignominy tomorrow to be swept by a team 20 under .500.

The good: Quick get this one in… Jesse Litsch definitely. I think Nick Green, an RBI, hit and a walk, and did everything needed in the field.

The bad: Where do we start, the whole lineup AND the pinch hitters, that is hard to do. Jays actually outhit Cleveland tonight. I guess we should consider that as good but when you go 1/7 with runners in scoring position and cannot bring in the guy from third with NO outs..

Tomorrow no doubt a players-only, closed door dressing room angst. But this team is down and on the ground. No life, no energy, no hitting, no imagination and definitely no hitting. I don’t think even a win would help them tomorrow. Plus they then fly to New York… this could get very ugly before they next win a game next week.
Tomorrow’s game is early at midday, anything to shake up the routine, who knows what it will take to get them hitting (with runners in scoring position).

Seattle beating up on the Yankees tonight but that is small solace for this sad team, they know that New York will be out for blood when they get there.