Jays outhit,outpitched,and out managed by superior team tonight

Game one. Toronto v St. Louis Cardinals. Tuesday June 22. Cardinals are leading their division and a very strong team although under .500 on the road.

Lineups: Cardinals: Lopez, Holliday, Pujols, Ludwick, Freese, Stavinoha, Molina, Winn, Ryan.
Blue Jays: Lewis, Hill, Lind, Wells, Gonzalez, Bautista, Overbay, Buck, Hoffpauir,

Pitching: Jaime Garcia v Cecil. Rookie Garcia is young and a very good pitcher. 6-3 but two earned runs or less in all of his first 32 major league starts and 1.59 ERA. Jays faced Jiminez last week and ruined his record. Perhaps they can do the same tonight. I doubt it though, this is a very, very good team and Jays will be (very) lucky to win one.

Top 1st: Lopez leading off, 2-2 count. Lines it to Wells in centre, one down for Holliday. Singles to right, one on one down for Albert Pujols. Already has 50 RBIs. Strikes out on high ball out of zone. Ludwick, grounds to Hoffpauir at third throw to second to get Holliday. Nice way for Hoffpauir to start his Jays career. 20 pitches for Cecil.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off. Bounces one up the middle. One on for Hill, Lewis at first. Throw over and picks Lewis off at first. Not good Fred. Hill 2-2 and strikes out, two down for Lind. Lines it to at second for third out. 13 pitches.

Top 2nd: Freese leading off, 2-2, Cecil working very fast. Strikes out, one down. Stavinoha 0-2, count. Grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay for the out. Nice play Alex. Molina, Whoa…. This one is out of here, first pitch over the Jays bullpen into left field seats, 1-0 Cardinals. Winn, fly ball to Bautista in right to end the inning. 32 pitches.
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off, 4- 41 in last twelve games. Not good Vernon. Grounds behind third. Ryan a long throw but Vernon beats it out. Perhaps that is a good omen. Gonzalez, with one on. Long fly ball to Holliday in left for first out. Bautista one on one down. Yes Jose, this one is OUT of here, into left field seats, 2-1 Jays. Overbay, grounds to Lopez at second, throw to first for the out. Buck long fly ball to Winn in centre for the out, Jays are hammering the ball tonight. 28 pitches.

Top 3rd: Ryan leading off. Cecil has the lead to work with. 0-2 count. Bounces one back to Cecil throw to Overbay, one down. Lopez, grounds to Gonzalez at short, throw to Overbay for second out. Holliday, gets hold of this one and this is out of here in left. 2-2 game. Pujols with two down, pops up to Overbay for third out. 47 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Hoffpauir leading off. First pitch swinging (oh no, not another…) pops up to first for the out. That was a great debut, you would have thought he would want to see a pitch or two. Lewis, 3-0 count. Full count, strikes out. Two down for Hill. Grounds to Ryan, throw to first for third out. Three up and down. 40 pitches.

Top 4th: Ludwick, strikes out, one down for Freese, strikes out, two down for Stavinoha, singles to left corner, two down one on for Molina, grounds to Overbay to end the inning. Pitch count 64.
Bottom 4th: Lind leading off. Lines it to centre, Winn makes the catch, one down for Wells, singles to centre, 2-2 tonight. Vernon smartening up here. One on one down for Gonzalez, 2-0 count. full count. Grounds to short on to second over to first for the double play. Pitch count 56.

Top 5th: Winn leading off. This is trouble. Doubles into left field corner. Ryan, bunting, this is NL. Pops it up to Overbay running in to make the catch only a few feet away from the plate. Nice play Lyle. One down for Lopez, grounds to Gonzalez at short, long throw to Overbay for the second out. Runner has to hold. BUT here comes Holliday. 0-2 count. doubles to left, here comes Winn, 3-2 Cardinals. Here comes Pujols, intentional walk. Ludwick, with two on and two down. doubles to left, off glove of Lewis, 4-2 Cardinals. Runners at second and third, call to Jays bullpen. Freese, Camp warming up. Singles up the middle here comes two more, 6-2 Cardinals. Four runs with two out. Not good Brett but this is a very strong lineup. Stavinoha, pops up to Wells in centre for third out. 90 pitch count. Is that his last inning?
Bottom 5th: Jays hitters have to get going here themselves. Bautista leading off. Pops up to Winn in shallow centre, one down for Overbay. Grounds to first for second out. Buck, strikes out on three pitches, Jays fold here. Three up and down. Garcia cruising, pitch count 66, he will probably go all the way at this rate if they need him to.

Top 6th: Camp now in to relieve Cecil. Molina leading off, 2-2 count. Grounds to short, throw to Overbay, one down. Winn, lines it to left for Lewis to make the catch. Two down, Lopez. Grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay for third out. Quick inning here but Cardinals looking to get out on the town tonight.
Bottom 6th: Do Jays have any fight in them? Not much so far tonight. Here comes Hoffpauir, that’s better takes three this time and then singles up the middle. One on for Lewis. Bunting ? I doubt it. No, singles first pitch up the middle two on for Hill, 2-0 count. Double steal here Cito? Ha ! 2-2 count. Count full, bounces high to Garcia, no way to get Lewis at second has to go to first to get Hill, runners move up, two in scoring position for Lind, one down. Here comes pitching coach Duncan. If this were 2009 you should be worried but this year to date Adam is a shadow of himself. 2-2 count. Count full. Grounds to Pujols at first, nice play to save it going into right, here comes Hoffpauir to score 6-3. Two down. Wells 2-2 tonight, runner at third, can he bring him in when it counts? 1-2 count on Vernon. Down and away with predictable result, Vernon swings and strikes out. Someone has read the scouting report on Vernon. Jays get one but it should have been more. 89 pitches for Garcia. His longest inning tonight.

Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Bounces to Hill, is that Aaron's first play tonight ? Throw to Overbay one down. Holliday bounces to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, two down. Pujols pops it up to Overbay for third out. Three up and down for Frasor, nice inning.
Bottom 7th: That’s it for Garcia. I guess La Russa is taking care of his rookie pitch count this season. New pitcher Kyle McClellan. Gonzalez leading off. Pops up to shallow left for the out. Bautista, one down, WHOA Jose, does it again, HUGE shot, off the third level in left, second home run for Bautista tonight and Jays within two 6-4 game. Overbay lines it to centre two down for Buck. Strikes out.

Top 8th: Frasor still out there. Ludwick, grounds to Hoffpauir at third, throw to Overbay for the first out. Freese, hits him on the helmet, but no problem did not hurt him, just glances off helmet. Pinch hitter Cody Rasmus for Stavinho. Janssen and Purcey up in Jays bullpen. 2-2 count. Full count, oh boy, lines it over the right field fence two run home run for Rasmus, 8-4 Cardinals. Cito leaving Frasor out there. Hmmm. Molina, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay for second out. Winn with two down. Lines it to centre, Vernon cannot get it, nice dive attempt. Winn on second. Ryan, two down one on. 0-2 count. Grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for third out but Cito’s gamble with Frasor does not work. Frasor can rarely go two innings Cito you know that.
Bottom 8th: Jays up against it now. Running out of at bats to get four back. Hoffpauir leading off. Rasmus stays in centre. Winn moves to right, Kyle McClellan, grounds to third throw to first, One down for Lewis. Here comes La Russa. That’s it for McClellan. Ex-Jay Trever Miller, lefty- lefty matchup. Lines it to Winn in right. Two down for Hill. Pops up to Rasmus in centre, three up and down. Cardinals have not lost this season leading after eight.

Top 9th: Now who ? Purcey pitching, should be long relief guy in my opinion. Lopez golfs this into Jays bullpen. 9-4 Cardinals. Holliday, strikes out swinging. Pujols grounds to Hoffpauir throw to Overbay for first out. Pinch hitter with two down ? Only La Russa would do that with 9-4 lead. Miles. 0-2 count. Strikes out.
Bottom 9th: Jays need six. Michael Boggs pitching. Not a save situation. Lind leading off. Let’s see the fight. Lines it to Freese at third, one down for Wells, 2-2 count. Full count. Walks him. Boggs not giving him anything to hit. Gonzalez 0-3 tonight. Grounds to short, on to second over to first double play to end this one. No need for that Vernon could have and should have taken second earlier. The boys versus the men tonight and the series.

I don’t see the Jays winning one at all against this team, Cardinals are very, very good all round. Does not get any easier, Carpenter 8-1 tomorrow. Romero will need run support and much more to beat Carpenter.

The excellent: Definitely Bautista, did his bit to keep Jays in the game.
The bad: Lind, Hill, Gonzalez, Overbay, Buck collectively 0-14 although Lind did get an RBI. Wells, gets a couple of hits but none when it mattered with runners in scoring position and continues to get himself out.
Frasor, well some blame has to go to Cito for leaving him in there for a second inning but the home run when Jays had just pulled within two was the killer.

Cito out-managed tonight but not a disgrace LaRussa is in the top three of managers and far more tactical than Cito who tends to leaves things alone. LaRussa meantime never stops managing. Bringing in Rasmus, matching pitchers with hitters. His team will be hard to beat.