Jays Litsch and Tallet give one away despite home run power from the Jays

Jays v Twins. Game one of three. Tuesday July 7, 2010

A series Jays need to win, to stay around that .500 mark. After two extra innings games in New York and a chance to have won the series in NY Jays need to flex some home advantage muscle. It will definitely not be easy as Twins are serious about that Central division title duking it out with Detroit. Once again Hill not in the lineup but evidently a bug evidently going around the clubhouse has also felled Vernon. Neither is in the lineup again. Just look at the difference in batting averages for these two teams. Jays are looking awful with no one over .300. Jays have a tough series ahead here and I mean these Twins not Boston.

Lineups: Twins: Span, Hudson, Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Cuddyer, Thome, Young, Punto.
Jays: Lewis, Wise (playing in centre for Vernon), Gonzalez, Bautista, Lind, Buck, Overbay, Lewis, Wise.
Pitching: Pavano v Litsch. Looks like a win for Pavano but you never know with Litsch. What does he have tonight? But this is a power lineup he is facing, good luck.

Top 1st: Span leading off grounds to Overbay at first, flip to Litsch, one down. O-Dog Hudson grounds to Overbay at first, takes it himself for the out. Same again, Mauer grounds to Overbay at first, takes it himself for the out. Good first inning for LItsch.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off strikes out. One down for Wise grounds to Morneau at first throw to pitcher Pavano. Gonzalez grounds to Cuddyer at third throw to Morneau at first. Seven pitch inning for Pavano.

Top 2nd: Morneau leading off 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Kubel singles to centre, Morneau to second. Litsch in trouble. Cuddyer grounds to Green throw to Overbay at first, one down but moves both runners into scoring position. Morneau at third, Kubel at second. Thome grounds to Overbay for the out but here comes Morneau, Twins 1-0. Kubel to third. Young, singles to centre, here comes Kubel. 2-0 Twins. Punto grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay but Twins take early 2-0 lead and Litsch does not look good.
Bottom 2nd: Bautista leading off grounds to Cuddyer at third throw to Morneau at first one down. Lind lines hard right at Hudson at second. Lind has this unenviable habit of hitting the cover off the ball right at a player. I hope the second half of the season is a little better for him. Two down for All-Star player Buck, not this time, grounds to Punto at short, throw to Morneau at first. three up and down easy inning for Pavano.

Top 3rd: Span leading off fly ball to Wise in centre what a great catch by Wise, turns him around but his speed helps him here. Highlight reel catch. Vernon who ?
Hudson full count and walks. Mauer grounds to Gonzalez, throw to Overbay, two down. Morneau fly ball to Lewis.
Bottom 3rd: Overbay hammers this one, doubles to centre. Now can these Jays hitters bring him in ? Encarnacion fly ball to Kubel in right. Lyle has to stay put. Green, this should do it, fly ball to Span in centre, Overbay to third but two down. Lewis, that’s the way Fred, doubles to right. Here comes Lyle 2-1 Twins and Fred in scoring position for Wise, not this time grounds to Hudson throw to Morneau to leave Lewis at second but Jays get one back at least.

Top 4th: Kubel leading off another great catch by Wise saves a double there. Cuddyer pops up to Gonzalez at short, two down. Thome grounds to Green at second throw to Overbay to finish this one. Two good innings by Litsch.
Bottom 4th: Gonzalez fly ball to Span in centre. One down for Bautista pops up to Punto. Lind singles to centre. Buck grounds to Punto throw to Hudson to get Lind.

Top 5th: Young leading off doubled to centre. Punto grounds to Green at second throw to Overbay, Young moves up to third. One down but Twins have runner at third. Span grounds to Overbay looks back Young for the second out. Hudson grounds to Green at second, throw to Overbay at first to leave Young at third.
Bottom 5th: Overbay leading off, hammers this one this is out of here, yes over the left field fence. 2-2 game. Encarnacion doubles to left. Back to back extra base hits here for Jays. Green grounds to Cuddyer at third throw to Morneau at first. Encarnacion has to hold at second. Lewis, yes Fred, singles to centre, here comes Encarnacion and Jays take the lead for first time this game. 3-2. Starting to get to Pavano. Crowd really getting noisy around us Wise, there goes Lewis, not wasting any time here, and beats the throw to second, stolen base for Lewis and in scoring position for Wise. Oh YES DeWayne, does it again hammers this to centre, over the fence ,, here comes Lewis, here comes Wise two run home run and Jays have 5-2 lead. Gonzalez grounds to Cuddyer at third throw to Morneau at first. Two down for Bautista, grounds to Punto throw to Morneau. Jays score four.

Top 6th: Litsch now has to hold Twins here, facing the big bats for third time. Mauer fly ball to Lewis in left, one down for Morneau, OH NO this one is a bullet into right, so hard and fast I almost lost that off the bat, that was the pitch he was waiting for. Home run Morneua 5-3 Jays.Kubel, oh no, another one to right field seats, back to back. 5-4 Jays. and any momentum they had has gone now. Litsch is not fooling anyone here now. Cuddyer singles to centre. Still only one out. Thome doubles to right, Cuddyer to third and that’s it for Litsch BUT Tallet now pitching. If Cito wanted lefty lefty match up why not face Thome ? Young, they are walking him….. Crowd around us are wondering why Litsch could not have done that. Who knows with Cito. I don’t think it a great idea for Tallet to intentionally walk anyone. He does it too much without being intentional. But for some reason Cito likes this guy. Punto pops up to Overbay. Two down. Span, full count, here we go, yes ball four. Cito never ever learns with Tallet. Here comes Cuddyer and bases are still loaded. This game is all tied up, 5-5. Hudson pops up to Green but Jays have thrown this one away. They had three run lead and were threatening to see Pavano out of the game. Litsch first of all obviously did not adapt sufficiently to the third time through the order and then to bring in Tallet in that situation is not my ideal solution.

Bottom 6th: Jays all tied up now, have to answer that meltdown with their own hits. Lind leading off grounds to Hudson at second, throw to Morneau. One down. Buck fly ball to Span in centre two down for Overbay strikes out swinging. Pavano slams the door shut.

Top 7th: Tallet still out there, why oh why ????? Lefty lefty says Cito, go with the percentages. I would rather have Camp in there. Mauer leading off, there she goes, home run to centre, you can’t make any mistakes with this guy. Twins retake the lead 6-5 Twins. Morneau grounds to Green at second, throw to Overbay at first, one down. Kubel pops up to Encarnacion, two down. Cuddyer walks. Third walk by Tallet. Thome fly ball to Wise in centre but damage has been done.
Bottom 7th: Encarnacion leading off, YES Edwin, gets hold of this one no doubt about this. First pitch into left field seats and Jays have tied this one up again 6-6. When was the last home run from the Jays third base? Edwin’s third hit of the night. Green grounds to Morneau throw to Pavano. That’s it for Pavano. Mijares now pitching. Lewis strikes out. Wise fly all to Young in left.

Top 8th: Frasor now pitching. Young grounds to second safe at first. Punto bunting, puts it down first attempt, Frasor to Overbay, one down but runner Young at second. Here comes Cito again. Downs pitching. Span singles to centre, here comes Young. The basics of baseball perfectly executed. How we miss this in Toronto from this manager. Twins now have the lead again 7-6 Twins. Hudson at bat. Oh, NO. Downs throws it away at first into the crowd, TWO bases given away. Error to Downs. Span to third. Hudson with only one down, fly ball to Bautista in right, no way is Hudson coming home on Bautista arm. Two down for Mauer, Downs in deep now. Mauer walks but I think that was semi-intentional by Downs. He wants Morneau, swinging for the fences here let alone a base hit, strikes out. Downs escapes this time but Twins have the lead.
Bottom 8th: Crain now pitching. Can Jays get the run back here ? Top of the order to do it. Gonzalez fly ball to Kubel in right, one down. Bautista strikes out. Lind fly ball to Span in centre. Jays go very quietly will now face Twins closer and running out of at bats.

Top 9th: Gregg now pitching. Kubel fly ball to Wise in centre. Cuddyer grounds to Gonzalez throw to Overbay, two down for Thome, ever dangerous, strikes out. Gregg did his job. Can the bats now get a couple of base hits?
Bottom 9th: Twins changes. Hardy in at short. Cuddyer in right field. Punto in at third. Twins closer Rauch now pitching. Crowd getting into it in this inning, must be the heat. Buck gives this one a ride, but fly ball to Span in centre. Overbay with one down, Lyle has had a good game tonight with his two hits, that average is climbing steadily. He has been one of the most consistent during the last two months. Not this time, grounds to Hudson at second throw to Morneau at first, two down. Jays down to their last shot here. Encarnacion yes Edwin, singles to centre. That gets crowd out of their seats here, rally flags going in 138 and a couple of other sections. McDonald now at first pinch-running for Encarnacion. Cito getting serious. Wells now pinch-hitting for Green. Wells strikes out.

Cito will be second guessed on that one. Vernon has been sick, has not played since Saturday and more to the point is in a lousy 0-16 drought. Might as well leave Green in there, he has been out there all night and is warmed up at the plate so to speak. My take on the play, just another to go with several of Cito’s gambles tonight that did not work, letting Litsch pitch to the big bats a third time around, intentional walk to Young, bringing in Tallet period.

Very good: Wise in centre. He seems to play so shallow and makes those long balls an adventure but he obviously has the speed to get to them and stabs at those balls to make highlight reel catches. Maybe because Vernon’s experience knows the flight off the bat, and just glides to the area to make the same catch. It still gets the crowd into the game and Wise is no second best in centre as Vernon’s replacement. AND don't forget that home run. Wise has shown somne great power this last week.

The good: Encarnacion three hits tonight, Overbay and Lewis two hits. Cito time to move Lyle up the order.
The bad: The pitching tonight, should not have let at three run lead get away. Big question mark over Litsch. Is he fully fit after the surgery? Is he able to adapt to a good hitting side third time through the order? Tallet ? well enough of him, just doesn’t have it and Cito should have known that he has to leave a base open when Tallet is pitching. The last game he came in and walked the first three… and yet intentional walk given tonight to load them up. Tomorrow Rzepczynski pitching his first game, if he does well, perhaps he will stay and Litsch can go back to Vegas for much needed rehab, he is not ready Cito.

The very bad: The yobbos at the game tonight, I know it is very hot and humid and the beer is flowing but stadium security has to do much better job shutting them up. They are ruining the game for others who have paid big bucks to enjoy. Not very good for attendance development. Not only are these yobbos obnoxious but they are totally unimaginative in their constant barracking of the opposition.

The excellent: How about the no-hitter for young Kyle Drabek for the excellent award today? WOW…. We are all looking forward to seeing him in September call-up.

Sorry for late posting, it was a late night last night.