Cecil excellent game ruined by his infield Hill, McCoy and McDonald

Jays v Tampa. Game one Monday August 30.

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, McCoy, Bautista, Buck, Lind, Hill, Wise, McDonald, Snider.
Not sure it is a great time to give Vernon a day off, with three of the starting lineup injured, but that is the way Cito does it. I like Travis playing at number nine, no pressure on him and he will perform there if he can play regularly for rest of the month.
Tampa: Upton, Bartlett, Crawford, Longoria, Pena, Rodriguez, Zobrist, Aybar, Shoppach.

Pitching: Davis v Cecil.

Where are the fans in Tampa? This place is empty bigtime. Very sad. What will the attendance be in 2011 when this team is dismantled ? They should be able to get wild card and that might be it for many years, Crawford is the heart of the team.

Top 1st: Lewis pops up to Longoria at third. McCoy playing short for Escobar, fly ball to Crawford in left. Bautista with two down pops up to Bartlett at short. Quick three up and down.
Bottom 1st: Upton singles to centre. Bartlett sac bunt back to Cecil. Throw to first Lind playing first, Upton to second. Crawford, doubles to centre, here comes Upton, 1-0 Tampa. Just like that. Longoria singles to left, Crawford to third. Pena lines it to Snider in left great catch by Travis, but deep enough for Crawford to tag and make it 2-0 Rays. But great catch Travis. Rodriguez lines out to McCoy at short. to end this one. Not a great start by Cecil. Pitch count 19.

Top 2nd: Buck grounds to third, throw to first one down for Lind. Grounds to first, steps on the bag two down. Hill goes the other way, doubles to right centre. We don’t often see Aaron hitting to right, but if gets a double every time it is fine with me. There goes the no hitter for Davis. Wise, with two down and one on. 0-2 count. Wild pitch and Hill to third. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Pitch count 26.
Bottom 2nd: Zobrist leading off. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. One down for Aybar, full count, strikes out swinging, two down, grounds to McDonald at third; throw to first for third out. Much better inning for Cecil. Pitch count 33.

Top 3rd: McDonald leading off, full count, I like this at bat by Johnny Mc. Lines this one off the wall in left off the wall, that was almost out of here. Johnny Mc. stand up triple for. Now Travis bring him in here. That’s the way Travis, high chopper bounces to short, and here comes McDonald, 2-1 Rays. Lewis now with one down. 0-2 and strike three looking, come on Fred, two down for McCoy. 0-2 and weak attempt at swing here, come on Mike, give it a rip. Two poor at bats by Lewis and McCoy. Pitch count 40.
Bottom 3rd: Upton fly ball to Snider in left, one down. Bartlett, 2-2 count, OH WOW !!!! what an incredible catch. Johnny Mc makes incredible diving catch in front of McCoy at short, that ball looked closer to McCoy than third base, two down for Crawford. Cito keep Johnny Mc. at third until the end of the season as far as I am concerned. Far better fielder than Encarnacion. 2-2 count, grounds to Hill gets his glove on it but trying to rush the play, no chance to get Crawford. Safe at first, error to Aaron. Longoria, oh boy, lines it off glove of McCoy. That should have been an out. Cecil not being helped by these two so far. Two on two down. Infield not helping Cecil tonight. Pena with two down and two on. 1-2 count, oh boy lines this one over the fence in left, three run home run, now 5-1 but blame this one on Hill and McCoy. Rodriguez, full count. Ball four. Zobrist with one on and two down. Pops up to Snider in left. Hill and McCoy owe Cecil and his teammates big right now. Pitch count 59 for Cecil should have been at least 15 fewer.

Top 4th: Bautista leading off. Full count, grounds to third, throw to first for the out. One down. Buck, lines to Zobrist in right, two down. Lind, two down, 1-1 count, bounces one up the first base line, Davis takes it himself for the out at first. Jays are rolling over here. Need some spine. Pitch count 51.
Bottom 4th: Aybar leading off, full count, grounds to McCoy does not mess it up this time, throw to first for the out. Shoppach lines this to the wall in left, GREAT catch by Travis bangs into the wall, way to go Travis. Can you see Rios going into the wall like that? No way. Travis is fearless. Two down. Upton, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Pitch count 72.

Top 5th. Hill leading off, needs to redeem himself for that error last inning. Taking pitches here, 3-1 count. That will do Aaron, lines this to deep left home run, Aaron, a good start two more runs to go. 5-2 Rays. Wise, bounces back to Davis, throw to first one down. 1-2 count, grounds to Bartlett to short, throw just gets Johnny Mc. Two down for Snider, pumped from that great play in left. Pops up to Bartlett for third out. Pitch count 67.
Bottom 5th: Can Cecil get into the 6th? Bartlett, 2-2 count. Pops up to Snider in left, one down. Crawford, last month here in Tampa, my bet is he will be a Yankee in 2011.2-2 count, grounds to Hill, throw to first two down. Longoria, grounds to McDonald at third throw to first for the final out. Cecil doing his job, now up to the hitters on this team to get to Davis. But we have no Overbay, no Wells, no Escobar tonight. Pitch count 86. Those extra pitches in the third hurts him here.

Top 6th: Lewis leading off, broken bat but ball to Pena at first for the out, one down, McCoy showing bunt, pops up to centre for second out, two quick outs. Bautista, 2-0 count, singles into left, one on two down for Buck, oh boy, first pitch swinging, pops up to shallow right for the out. Not a good at bat by Buck, in fact he has been awful the last two weeks. Pitch count 75.
Bottom 6th: Could be the last inning for Cecil. Not his fault, Aaron and McCoy are the goats tonight. They cost Cecil an extra 12 pitches which could have been another inning here. Pena leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out, Pena showing some attitude here but no good. Rodriguez, 1-2 count, pops up to Wise in centre at the track, two down. Zobrist, pops up to McDonald. Pitch count 98 for Cecil. Oh to get that 3rd inning back.

Top 7th: Lind leading off. Hill one down 2-0 count, pops up to Zobrist in right. Two down for Wise, first pitch lines to centre, five pitches. Jays hitters have already rolled over in this one. Very poor showing. Pitch count 80. Davis will go the distance tonight.
Bottom 7th: Aybar leading off. First pitch grounds to third, throw to first one down, Rays want to get out on the town. Shoppach 0-2 count, Camp warming up. Strikes out on three pitches. Upton 2-2 count, pops up to Wise for third out. Cecil a victim of his infield tonight.

Top 8th: Jays running out of time here. Reckless first pitch swinging has played into the hands of Davis tonight. McDonald fly ball (first pitch) to left for the out, Snider one down, singles into right, one on for Lewis, hitless tonight 0-3. Qualls warming up in bullpen for Rays, Lewis pops up to Longoria, Lewis 0-4, could not even move Travis over to second. McCoy definitely owes Cecil one tonight. Two down, also hitless tonight 0-3. That will (almost) do, singles into right. Bautista with two on. Here comes Joe Maddon. Qualls now pitching. Jose would love to get that 100th RBI here. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging. Jays have outhit the Rays tonight 6-5 but that doesn’t count does it?
Bottom 8th: Camp now pitching, Bartlett leading off1-2 count, grounds to third. Johnny Mc throw too high off glove of Lind, error on the pay as Bartlett goes to second. Two error play. Ouch. Crawford, grounds to Hill throw to Lind, one down but he did his job moving Bartlett to third, one down for Longoria, this is good enough fly ball to Snider in left Bartlett tags and scores 6-2 game. Pena with two down. Cito puts the exaggerated shift in right. He still has 17 hits to left, Cito gambling here. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging.

Top 9th: Qualls finishing Jays off. Last chance for Jays here, will they fight or fold? Buck has been one of the worst offenders, hitless tonight, 2-2 count. Pops up to Rodriguez one down for Lind. That’s it for Qualls. Choate now. lefty-lefty match up for Maddon. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Hill, 2-1 count, grounds weakly to Bartlett at short throw to first and this game is over. Jays gave this one away.

Review: Story of this one was the 3rd inning and maybe not a good idea to rest Wells tonight.

The excellent: Cecil pitched very well, with support he could have easily won this one.Johnny Mc. with that catch of Bartlett in the 3rd. Snider with two great plays in left. What I really like about Travis is that he will run through that wall, the way Mondesi used to do. Two hit night for Hill but it was his glove that let him down bigtime tonight.

The poor: Jays 0-3 with runners in scoring position and Rays 3-4. Major difference.

The goats tonight: Hill and McCoy ruined this one in the 3rd. Two out error caused three runs. And Johnny Mc in the 8th with two errors on the same play.