Sunday, June 27, 2010

Jays worst game of the season as Hoffpauir, Hill, Gonzalez and Frasor throw this one away

Game three of series Toronto v Phillies Sunday June 27.

Lineups: Phillies: Rollins, Utley, Werth, Howard, Victorino, Francisco, Ibanez, Valdez, Sardinha.
Jays: McDonald, Gonzalez, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Molina, Hoffpauir.
Pitching: Cecil v Moyer. Could go either way with these two. Moyer 47 amazing.

Top 1st: Rollins, singles in to left field Johnny Mc. playing left today. One on for Utley, bunting ? no. 2-2 count, strikes out. One down. Werth, grounds to Gonzalez, on to Hill on to Overbay double play ball. Nice start for Cecil. 12 pitches.
Bottom 1st: Johnny Mc. leading off today. Gets hold of this one, great hit Johnny Mc to the wall in left to make the catch, he smoked that one. Just a little higher and that was out. Gonzalez 1-2 count. Pops it up to Howard at first for second out. Bautista, grounds to third throw to first for quick inning by Moyer but not a very patient top three of the order for Jays. 9 pitches.

Top 2nd: Howard leading off. Walks, Victorino singles to left, Francisco singles to left here comes Howard.1-0 Phillies. Runners at first and second for Ibanez no outs. Cecil in a mess here. 0-2 count and strikes out on three pitches. One down for Valdez, grounds to Hoffpauir, lousy rushed throw to Hill pulls him off the bag, but Aaron gets Francisco. That should have been double play and out of the inning. Runners at first and third, Sardinha, doubles to left, here comes Victorino. Oh what a mess bungles the throw to cutoff, and Valdez scores. Cecil let down here by defense. Rollins, singles into shallow right, Sardinha scores 4-0 Phillies. Not the pitcher guys, look at the guy at third today. Utley full count. Pops up to Gonzalez. Not your fault Brett. You should have been out of this many pitches ago. 38 pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Jay hitters need to give young Cecil some run support here and to offset that awful defense. Wells leading off, leadership here Vernon. This will do grounds to third, but shortstop Rollins makes the throw wide of first tough throw. Vernon safe at first. Lind now down to .205, ouch. With a swing like that I can see why, way off the ball, 0-2 count. Lines this on to the wall, Werth runs it down to rob Lind of a double and more a reflex stab with this glove but the ball stuck. Sometimes the baseball gods favour one side over the other. Jays not getting any breaks so far today. Hill. Drives it up the middle, score would be 4-2 by now. But two on and one down for Overbay. Singles to first throw to second to get Hill, no he doesn’t Hill safe on the throw. Vernon safe at third and Lyle at first, Bases loaded for Molina. The gods smiled. 1-2 count. Strikes out. Hoffpauir with bases loaded, the guy who started this mess, you owe Cecil here bigtime. 2-0 count. Pops it to third for final out leaving the bases loaded. Not sure this kid is ready for the big-time Cito. The only good thing is that Jays hitters (some of them at least) are hitting Moyer hard. 29 pitch count.

Top 3rd: Werth, strikes out swinging. Howard, lines it to second, Hill, an amazing catch, dives full length to get this one, highlight reel catch. Two down. Victorino, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, three up and down for Cecil very nice, and with some help this time from his defense. 47 pitches but that was a nine pitch inning.
Bottom 3rd: Johnny Mc. leading off. Pops it into shallow centre for the out. Gonzalez, doubles this one into left, off the glove of third base. Bautista, grounds first pitch to third, throw to first two down. Gonzalez has to hold. Wells, That’s the way Vernon hammers this one into left field seats. 4-2 game. Lind strikes out swinging but Jays are back in this thing. 44 pitches.

Top 4th: Francisco leading off grounds to Hoffpauir at third, throw to Overbay, one down. Ibanez singles to Wells in centre. Valdez, NO not again, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Hill drops the ball, runners safe instead of double play. Lightning strikes twice. Second time error on Hill this time. Sardinia, strikes out looking, Cecil has to do it himself here, two down for Rollins. 2-2 already today. 3-1 count here, be careful Brett. Singles up the middle to Wells here comes one run. 5-2 Phillies. Utley, with runners at first and third. singles into right. 6-2 Phillies. Werth, wild pitch, runners move to second and third. Casey Janssen warming up in bullpen. 2-2 count. strikes out swinging. I like Cecil he is so cool under pressure. Not his fault today. 79 pitches.
By my reckoning four runs have scored as result of errors by Hoffpauir and Hill and countless number of itches count. They both owe him big-time.
Bottom 4th: Hill leading off, can help his pitcher here. Not like that, weak grounder to third, throw to first, Hill out by a mile. Overbay, strikes out looking. Lyle you won’t get many hits looking at the ball. Molina, that’s better, hammers it off the wall in left but long single for Molina. Speed kills but not with Jose. One on for Hoffpauir has done nothing with the bat since he came up from Vegas, makes one wonder when Cito should have kept Encarnacion here. At least he could hit. Pops up for the second time today, Francisco in left makes easy catch. Cecil doesn’t stand a chance with this crew today.

Top 5th: Howard leading off doubles to centre wall. Victorino, doubles off the wall in left, here comes Howard, 7-2 Phillies. Francisco, 2-2 count. Fly ball to Wells, Victorino has to hold, one down. Ibanez. Grounds to Hill who does manage to stop this one, throw to Overbay for second out. Victorino to third. Here comes Cito, that’s it for Cecil but he was the victim today of his own team. Janssen now pitching, Valdez with two down and runner at third. Pops it up to Bautista for third out.
Bottom 5th: Let’s see what this group can do now? Not much to date beyond Vernon. McDonald, 0-2 count. Lines it to left to Werth to make the catch. Always makes it look dramatic but this one not a difficult catch. One down for Gonzalez. pops it up to second two down. Bautista, strikes out swinging on three. Awful, awful. 77 pitches for Moyer.

Top 6th: Rollins, full count grounds to Overbay flip to Janssen for second out. Utley not liking some of the calls here, just get on with it guy. 2-2 now. Grounds to Overbay steps on first for the out.
Bottom 6th: Can this underachieving team find it here? Wells leading off. Vernon the only one today to do much with the bat so far. Not this time strikes out swinging. One down for Lind, grounds first pitch to second throw to first for the second out. Hill, first pitch pops up to second. Werth almost collides with Utley at second base, that’s what I mean about the dramatics, nowhere near right field.That was Utley's ball. That was very poor from Hill and Lind, three pitches three outs, which should never ever happen at this level. I can see why Cito has pushed them down the order, may be not far enough.

Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Werth leading off. 0-3 today, lines it to Bautista in right, 0-4 for Werth. Howard. NO again, grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, called SAFE Overbay foot came off the bag. Error on Gonzalez. Victorino, well let’s hope they get all this garbage out of their systems here in one game. These are all mental errors. Lousy defense singles up the middle two on one down. Here we go again. Francisco, 3-1, Frasor rated by that as well he should be. Doubles it off the wall in left, here comes one run. 8-2 Phillies. Ibanez one down and two in scoring position. 3-1 count. Full count. Ball four high to load the bases. Valdez, swinging wildly at first pitch, looks like a Blue Jay out there. Didn’t he know that has just walked? Grounds to Hill, throw to second ball goes into left field two runs score 10-2. Second error today and another double play ball muffed by defensive error. I don’t believe it, grounds back to Frasor, throws it away at third, run scores. 11-2 Phillies. Why are you going to Hoffpauir anyway? Go for the double play at second and first. fly ball to McDonald on left. Two down, now Cito is out there. Settle this group down bush league play by the Jays today. No guess who Tallet ??? You are joking Cito, this is not funny. Runners at first and third, Utley, and hits him. Bases loaded. What did you expect Cito. Last time he gave up a home run. Werth, you know he is salivating at bases loaded. 0-4 pops up first pitch to Molina, 0-5 day for Werth and Jays escape this one.
Bottom 7th: Lots of empty seats now. Phillies fans have had enough. Let’s see if Jays have any spine today. Moyer still out there should be able to finish Jays off today. Bullpen getting a day off. Charlie Manuel bringing in the reserves here, Gload for Howard, Castro at second. Overbay leading off. 2-2. Has not swung the bat yet. Full count. Strikes out. One down. Molina, strikes out looking. Two down for Hoffpauir the guy who started this horror show with his defensive error. Singles into left. With two down and a nine run deficit. Needed that with the bases loaded Jarrett in the second inning. McDonald, not a great day for him and totally lost in left, has no arm and no speed to get to the balls. Grounds to short throw to second to get Hoffpauir.

Top 8th: Not many left in the bullpen so I guess we have Tallet for another. Lewis in left for McDonald. McDonald at short. Gonzalez sitting about time Cito. Wise in centre for Vernon. Gload leading off strikes out swinging. One down. Victorino, strikes out, two down. Francisco, doubles into left field. Ibanez, pops it up to Wise in centre to end this one.
Bottom 8th: Herndon, now pitching. I don’t think it will change much here, Jays are down and out today. Lewis leading off. Grounds first pitch to second throw to first one down, one pitch. Bautista, singles into left, the hits are coming now when all out of reach. Wise with first at bat today. Grounds back to Herndon, off his glove but enough time to get runner at second, No double play needed anyway. Wise safe at first, two down Lind, 0-3 today and average now just above .200. 2-2 count. Full count. Wise running but ball four, semi-intentional to start again with Hill. Two on for Hill, chance to redeem his worst game of the season so far, Just does not have it anymore which must be big worry for Jays management who have long term investment in Hill and Lind, both underperforming all season long so far. Hill pops it up in front of home plate. Says it all.

Top 9th: Purcey to finish this one. Valdez leading off. Golfs it high to third, Hoffpauir makes the catch. One down. Sardinha, strikes out swinging, he wants out on the town. Two down for Rollins, grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay to finally end this one. Jays have to bat but…
Bottom 9th: Danys Baez pitching. Facing Overbay, grounds to second, off glove of Castro into right. That was a Jay’s play, error on the play. Molina, grounds to short on to second on to first double play. Two down for Hoffpauir the guy who started this mess today. Fitting to end it. 3-0 count. Ball four. Hoffpauir walks. McDonald, 0-4 today and more in left field. Just not his position. Grounds weakly back to Baez throw to first to end this. I believe this is the worst defensive display I have seen from this Jays side all season long.

The good: Vernon home run and strange as it seems I would rate Cecil pitching well, it was his defense and total lack of any offense that beat him today.

The bad: Where do we start? Hoffpauir, Hill, two errors, Gonzalez, Frasor, all throwing his thing away. But also the bats. Second inning bases loaded and Molina and Hoffpauir again, could not score.
Overall this entire lineup looked very anemic today. The top three are not going to scare many pitchers.
Yes thank you my eagle eyed friend Charlie not Jerry Manuel. Sorry about that. A mental block.

Jays off to Cleveland but management must be very concerned about this team. Hill and Lind at the top of their list.
Hill now with his glove as well as his bat, what is wrong with him?
Lind, is totally clueless in his pitch selection now, his confidence has obviously gone. He swings at pitches way outside. And goes after those he should take.
As if that was not enough Jays need a solid third baseman. We don’t realize how good Rolen was until we see Hoffpauir out there. The holes in this lineup are beginning to show.

No comments: