Jays walk this one away with sloppy play

Game two of three. Indians v Jays. Saturday July 31.

Lineups: Indians: Crowe, Cabrera, Choo, Santana, LaPorta, Duncan Nix, Donald, Gimenez.
Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Encarnacion, Molina. ( NO Travis in the lineup yet.)

Pitching: Cecil v Tomlin, Westbrook scratch before the game. Trade anyone?

Trade deadline this afternoon, will Alex touch anyone today? Will this be Bautista’s last game? I think he is the only one most fans want to see stay behind. Looks like a good crowd. Weather is good roof is open and Caribana is in full swing as we have the first pitch.

Top 1st: Crowe leading off 3-0, here we go, come on Cecil throw a strike. Grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay at first. One down for Cabrera, fly ball to Bautista in right. Two down for Choo, strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off grounds to Cabrera throw to LaPorta at first, come on Fred that was a total lack of effort, ambling down to first. You should know that things happen, balls get dropped. I hope this is not a trend, we saw the same with Escobar in last night’s game. Escobar fly ball to Crowe. Two down. Good to see that Bautista gets a great reception from the large crowd today, fly ball to Crowe. Not this time for Jose.

Top 2nd: Santana leading off grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay at first. One down
LaPorta full count and walks on ball four. Cecil slowing down his delivery. Duncan singles to left, LaPorta to second. Cecil in trouble already. Nix grounds back to Cecil throw to Escobar at short on to Overbay at first double play ball rescues Brett here..
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off strikes out. Lind one down, strikes out. Two down for Hill, strikes out. Tomlin strikes out the side. You know this is supposed to be the heart of Jays batting order. Not this season. I wonder if a new Manager will shakeup the order?

Top 3rd. Donald leading off 3-0, ball four, walks on four pitches. Gimenez strikes out Crowe fly ball to Lewis in left. One down. Cabrera, wild pitch, Donald moves to second. Cabrera grounds to Encarnacion throw to Overbay at first to finish the inning. So far Cecil has looked far shakier than Tomlin. I never realised before how slow Cecil pitches or is it just today?
Bottom 3rd: Overbay leading off, ball four, takes a walk to first. One on for Encarnacion lines to Duncan in left, one down, one on. Molina singles to left, Overbay to second. Lewis grounds to LaPorta at first, off his glove, Lewis safe on error by LaPorta, Overbay to third, Molina to second. Bases are loaded with only one out. Escobar pops up to LaPorta. Two down. Bautista grounds back to Tomlin jumps high to get this and throw LaPorta at first..

Top 4th: Choo leading off singles to right. One on for Santana, singles to left, Choo to second. LaPorta lined out to shortstop Escobar. One down two on. Duncan walks, bases are loaded with only one down. Choo to third, Santana to second. Nix strikes out. Donald nowhere to out him Brett. Ball four, another walk, the second in the inning, but this one hurts. Here comes Choo and Cleveland goes out ahead on a walk. 1-0 Cleveland. Gimenez bases still loaded grounds to Encarnacion steps on bag to end this one but the e-walks by Cecil are the difference right now..
Bottom 4th: Wells leading off grounds to Cabrera at short throw to LaPorta at first.
Lind with one down, lines to Duncan in left. Hill with two down, singles to left. Overbay strikes out.

Top 5th: Crowe leading off grounds to Overbay at first. steps on the bag, one down. Cabrera doubles to right. Choo fly ball to Lewis in left. Two down for Santana, pops it up to Hill.
Bottom 5th: Encarnacion leading off fly ball to Duncan in left, one down for Molina, lines first pitch to centre, but this one is carrying and just over the wall, hits the concrete and bounces back into the field. 1-1 game. That ball kept on going. Lewis grounds to first base LaPorta throw to Tomlin. Escobar two down, strikes out.

Top 6th: LaPorta leading off strikes out. One down. For some reason Cecil has now speeded up his delivery, long overdue in my book. Duncan doubles to right. Nix with one on pops up to Escobar. Duncan holds. Donald another full count, ball four. That is five walks given up by Cecil. Gimenez with two on and two down strikes out to get Cecil out of trouble, but that has to be his last out pitch count is 114 pitches and it seemed like 200 from this seat.
Bottom 6th: Bautista leading off 3-0 and ball four, walks on four pitches. Wells with one on singles to left, Bautista to second and going to third, stops and retreats, No No….. diving back in but too late. Bautista out at second. Duncan’s throw to Cabrera at short and quick relay was right on the button. That could be huge. Instead of two and no outs we have one at first and one down. That’s it for Tomlin, did an excellent job today on three days rest and for Westbrook whom we hear has been traded. Lewis now pitching.
Lind hammers this one a rocket to right but right at LaPorta at first and steps on the bag to get Vernon off the bag, double play ball. That innings was horror story for Jays hitters.

Top 7th: Tallet now pitching. I honestly do hope he does well. Crowe leading off grounds to Overbay at first. flip to Tallet covering for first down. Cabrera ball four. You tell me has there ever been a first inning where Tallet has NOT walked a hitter? Not in my memory. Choo lines this down the left field line bounces foul into the crowd, no it bounces off the wall, Lewis fumbles the rebound, here comes the relay to Escobar, not in time to get Cabrera scoring all the way from first. That was not good by the Jays there. Error to Lewis and quite rightly we noted his lack of hustle today in the very first inning running to first base on ground out. But he should have been over to that wall faster and handle the rebound much better. I think he thought like most if us that it was going into the crowd. But unlike most of us Fred you are trained professional who should know how to hustle and field better than that. It was not hit hard; no way should the runner score from first on that play. When the Giants were recently in town, Lewis made a bad error in left and two Giants fans sitting behind me at the game said this poor fielding was one of the knocks on Lewis in San Francisco. But again it comes back to the leadoff walk by Tallet. 2-1 Cleveland for Santana fly ball to Lewis. Cito has seen enough of Tallet, here comes Frasor. LaPorta pops up to Overbay at first.
Bottom 7th: Hill leading off fly ball to Crowe in centre one down. Overbay full count and walks. That’s it for Tallet, not soon enough for me. Smith now pitching. Encarnacion grounds to Nix at third, off his glove, and beats the throw safe on the error to Nix, Overbay to second. A rally here by the Jays. Molina grounds back to pitcher Smith throw to Donald to get Lyle at second on to first baseman LaPorta, Encarnacion out. Double play ball.

Top 8th: Frasor still out there. Duncan leading off strikes out. One down for Nix singles to left. One down one on for Donald pops it up behind first to Hill. Two down for number nine hitter Gimenez, strikes out. Good inning for Frasor.
Bottom 8th: Marte in at third. Lewis leading off fly to Duncan in left, one down. Escobar grounds back to Smith throw to LaPorta at first. Bautista grounds to Marte at third to Cabrera to LaPorta. Only needed one out guys

Top 9th: Downs now pitching. That looks like good news. It is only 3.30 and obviously not traded. Not sure Alex would risk him an injury if he were still in trade talks. That’s fine with me, take Tallet instead Yankees. Crowe leading off grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay at first. One down. Cabrera fly ball to Wells in centre. Two down for Choo, grounds to Hill at second throw to Overbay at first to end the inning.
Bottom 9th: Crowd really into the game now, rally time; I can use my rally towel…. The all you can eat section have the towels today not many in my location which means not many for last night’s game unless they have left them at home. Perez pitching. Wells leading off singles first pitch back up the middle, good start one on. Lind, OH ! goes down, hit by a pitch, looks like his ankle, here comes the trainer and Cito, Adam in real pain here, being helped off, that’s it for him today Wells to second and Wise pinch-running for Lind. He is the winning run here so it may turn out much better to have that great speed of Wise at first in this situation. Two on and no outs, the rally towels are really in full motion now. Hill bunting and perfect just in front of hm. Throw gets him at first but both runners move up. Wells to third, Wise to second. Overbay with two in scoring position but no they are not pitching to Lyle, intentional walk ball four and bases are loaded with only one out. Encarnacion, hmm no pinch hitter? Edwin strikes out. Two down. Snider pinch-hitting for Molina getting a great ovation from the crowd here. Bases loaded poor guy. His first at bat since the injury and rehab in May, this is a tough assignment with the game on the line. Perez 2-0 Snider patient here, now swinging misses a 96 mph fast ball, strike two on a 95 mph fast ball, just cannot catch up with these, now he fouls on off, strikes out leaving the bases full. Jays 0/6 with runners in scoring position. Indians even worse 0/11, that would hurt. But when one run is scored walking from bases loaded and winning run from an error, it was hardly a convincing win today. Lots of questions on this game Cito. Nothing worked for him there today.

Did he tell Hill to bunt? If so what was his plan regarding the open base knowing that Lyle would probably be walked? Did he think of pinch hitting for Encarnacion ? would make more sense than for Molina who already had a home run today. John Buck had been subbed for Ecarnacion and standing on deck would the Indians have walked Overbay? And of course why was Buck not pinch hitting for Molina ? surely he had better chance of hitting a 95 mph pitch than Travis who has not seen one since May.
The good: Am still trying to think of something here. Great pitching by Tomlin and a highlight reel catch by in left field for the Indians but nothing for Jays today beyond no trade of Bautista.
The bad: Too much today, starting with Cecil which was very, very slow between pitches. I think it was a contributor to the rest of the team back on their heels all afternoon trying to keep awake... Five walks are far too many. Lewis had a lousy game but hustling is something anyone can do regardless of how their hitting is going. The good news is that the outfield is now overcrowded and if Fred continuers that style of play he will make it easier for Cito to bench him. Tallet, well we have said the same thing all season long, and continues to walk hitters.
Cito bringing Travis into the game in the 9th. I tell you why I think it was a bad decision regardless of what he did. It was obvious that he was overmatched by those fast ball from Perez. He only got his bat on one of the four. GHE has not seen 96-96mph in New Hampshire. How could his timing be back so quickly. My decision? Would use Buck. However I can see Cito sitting (resting!) Lewis tomorrow and putting Travis in the lineup.