Encarnacion ruins Romero's evening as Jays lose 7-1

Jays v Tigers. Thursday August 26.

Tigers: Jackson, Santiago, Damon, Cabrera, Raburn, Peralta, Inge, Wells, Laird.
Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Buck, Overbay, Hill, Encarnacion.

Comment:
Growing concerns from fans and commentators about Cito not playing Snider. I agree with those who feel Travis should be playing, and also playing every day. Travis is part of the Jays future and Lewis and Travis alternating is ridiculous. Cito just being his stubborn old school style manager, Travis has to “earn” !!! his spot. Of course that does not apply to the older players who are having lousy seasons, just the “young ones”. It is such a ridiculous approach. I cannot wait until next season. Travis should be in there every day. How will we ever see what he can do? How will he learn the pitchers ? There are five players that Cito could give days off apart from such as Lind and Encarnacion who should both be warming the bench anyway the way they are playing. What is Travis going to learn sitting on the bench? When Cito does put him in there it is at leadoff which is not his position. Cito doing everything he can to break the kid. Certainly not giving him any hope. He might as well be playing every day in Vegas. Cito will probably say that Travis is learning "character".

Pitching: Romero v Scherzer

Top 1st: Jackson leading off, grounds to Escobar at shirt, throw to Overbay, one down. Santiago, fly ball to Bautista in right. Damon 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Two down one on for Cabrera, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for the out. Pitch count 10.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off 2-2 count. Strikes out looking, one down for Escobar. Pops up to Wells in right, two down. Bautista two down. 3-1 count. Ball four, pitchers are not giving Jose much to hit these days. One on two down for Wells, what will he do tonight after such a great game last night? 1-2 count. Bautista stealing strike three called on Vernon. Pitch count 17.

Top 2nd: Raburn leading off, singles up the middle. Peralta, 1-2 count, strikes out swinging, one down one on for Inge, 2-1 count. Perfect, grounds to Escobar, on to Hill over to Overbay double play ball. Pitch count 22.
Bottom 2nd: Lind leading off. 0-2 count on two very poor swings, that’s much better Adam, full count, some discipline at the plate here. High, high pop up to Jackson in centre for first out. Buck, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down for Overbay, 2-2 count, this guy Scherzer works very fast, full count, lines to Jackson in centre for third out. Pitch count 36.

Top 3rd: Casper Wells, leading off lines it back at Romero, off his backside to Hill throw to Overbay for the out. Ricky ok. One down for Laird, grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, two down. Jackson, 2-0 count. Lines it to second but great catch by Hill for third out. Pitch count 34.
Bottom 3rd: Hill leading off, Aaron had a breakout night last night breaking that 0-20 slump with home run. Hammers the first pitch to left but just foul, great shot though Aaron, keep it going. Strike three looking, one down for Encarnacion, singles to the left field corner going for two here comes the throw and out at second. You would think that Encarnacion knows he is a slow runner, all the fans know, stay at first, just get on base for the top of the order. I am not a big fan of this guy. Awful base running. Lewis, full count. Singles into right, that out by Encarnacion is huge now. Would have been two on and only one down. Escobar, 1-2 count, there goes Fred, throw down but safe at second. Here comes Jim Leyland, 2-2 count, there he goes to third, but not this time, Laird’s throw to third beats him. Again he would not be doing that if Encarnacion had not made that base running error. Pitch count 54.

Top 4th: Santiago leading off. Singles to left, there goes the no-hitter. Damon with one on, 3-1 count, come on Ricky. Ball four. Cabrera with two on, not good situation. Whoa, high drive to centre, but Vernon gets it right at the wall. Almost three runs there. Santiago tags and gets to third on the throw. One down. Two on, Raburn, lines it to Encarnacion throw to Hill poor throw, of glove of Aaron, and run scores, runner to third on the play. 1-0 Detroit. Encarnacion not exactly shining here tonight. Error number 14 ??? Oh Scott Rolen where are you? Peralta with two on and one down. This one is trouble. Lines it over head of Lewis in left, 3 run home run, 4-0 Tigers. Inge now still only one down. 3-0 count, Romero unraveling here. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay two down. Wells, 3-1 count. Ball four. Laird, two down and one on. 2-0 count. Here goes another, into left field bullpen, two run home run and Tigers now 6-0. Jackson, grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay for the out. No thanks to Encarnacion tonight from Ricky, he cost him two runs here and at least one for Jays in the last inning. Pitch count 66.
Bottom 4th: Jays hitters have to bail out Ricky now. Escobar leading off. 0-2 count. Grounds to Inge, throw to first, one down for Bautista. 2-0, doubles to the wall in left. Hit very hard there. One on for Wells, bring him in Vernon. Pops up to Jackson in shallow centre, two down. Lind, lines it to first, Cabrera makes great leaping catch for third out. That was a double all the way. Pitch count 66.
Top 5th: Can Ricky get back in the groove here? Santiago leading off. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, one down. Damon grounds to Overbay takes it himself to the bag for the second out. Cabrera, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches great inning by Ricky. Pitch count 78.

Bottom 5th: Romero has done his job, now for the hitters. Buck leading off. Grounds to third, throw to first for first out, Overbay, strikes out swinging, two down, for Hill. Full count. High fly ball to left Jackson has it for third out. Pitch count 80. Jays may get into Tigers bullpen.
Top 6th: Ricky needs another three up and down inning here like the last one. Raburn leading off. Full count. Strikes out swinging, one down for Peralta, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, two down. Inge, 3-0 count. Ball four. One on two down for Wells. 2-0 Ricky has lost the zone here. There’s a strike, 3-1. Ball four and here comes Cito. Mixed outing for Ricky, first three innings were great and so was the last one. Casey Janssen now pitching two on two down. Laird 0-2 count, lines it to Vernon in centre, nice over the shoulder catch to end the inning.

Bottom 6th: Jays need to get something going here. Encarnacion leading off tonight’s goat so far, singles into left, that’s a start. Lewis, strikes out swinging, Escobar with one down, 3-1 count. Grounds to short, throw to second on to first, double play ball. Pitch count 91.

Top 7th: Jackson leading off. . Singles to Wells in centre, one on for Santiago, 1-1 count. Singles to Lewis in left. Damon bunting here ? No, 3-1 count. Don’t walk him Casey. Singles to left, bases still loaded and nobody out for Cabrera, just the guy you don’t want to see Casey. Lines it to short, reflex catch, one down. Raburn, Full count, great pitch, strikes him out swinging, two down. One more to go Casey. Peralta, 2-1 count, Casey not making it easy for himself here. 3-1. Another full count, ball four. Run scores 7-0 Detroit, Camp ready in bullpen. Inge with bases loaded two down. How to take the crowd out of the game, like a tomb in the ballpark. 1-1 count. Pops up to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 7th: Jays running out of at bats now. Have not looked like scoring since Encarnacion base running error. Bautista leading off. There she goes, home run number 41 and Jays are in the board 7-1. Wells now. 1-2 count. Grounds to Santiago at second, throw in time to get Vernon. Lind, hitless forever. 0-2 count. grounds tamely to third. You think Cito that Snider cannot do better? Put him in as DH if you cannot put him in the outfield but you are doing nothing for this kid sitting him. Send him to Vegas to play but don’t sit him on the bench. If you recall your own words earlier “ he will be playing every day in the lineup” Buck pops up to Peralta for third out. 102 pitch count.

Top 8th: Camp now pitching. Wells leading off. Full count. Strike three looking, one down. Laird pops up to Wells, two down. Jackson, singles to Wells in centre. One on two down. Santiago, pops up to Lewis in left.
Bottom 8th: Are Jays playing this one out or are they going to make a fight of it? Overbay leading off. Scherzer still out there. 0-2 count, strike three looking, Lyle folding. Hill, 2-2 count, pops up to Wells in right. Two down for Encarnacion the goat tonight. Coke warming up in bullpen. Singles to centre, his third hit but he has been the cause of much of this loss. Lewis with two down. 1-2, strikes out swinging.

Top 9th: Carlson pitching. Damon leading off. Lines to Lewis in left. One down for Cabrera, 2-1 count. Doubles to the wall in centre. One on one down. Raburn 0-2 count. Pops up to Wells in shallow centre, two down. Peralta, strikes out to end this one.
Bottom 9th: Jays down to their last three. Fight or capitulate ? Top of the order. Escobar leading off. Eddie Bonnine pitching. Grounds to second, throw to first for the out. One down for Bautista, grounds to third, throw to first for second out. Wells last chance Vernon. 2-1 count. Way to go Vernon, doubles to left beats the throw to second, all heart tonight. Lind last chance for redemption 0-2 count. Pops up to Raburn in left.

Jays lose one they really needed.

The bad: Starts with lineup selection Cito not selecting Travis again for second game in a row. Cito’s latest logic now on this evidently is that Lewis is playing so well and neither can play right field ? That is rubbish, what do they do next season Cito with the same two players? And hello Cito there is a position called DH which right now is not producing bigtime. And I hate to mention it but was Lind not one of your own pet hitting projects last season? Hmmm… More to the point next week the September callup will bring more players to get a chance. I am sure that Arencibia will be getting some pinch hitting chances. Will Travis be pushed even further down the list or the guys who are called up?
No, this is one huge reason why I for one am glad that Cito is in his last month as Manager. Too old school, far too set in his ways and excuse me, but forget that urban legend that this guy can work with younger players. He is doing his best to ruin young Snider and has been unfairly on his case all season long.

Encarnacion with that base running error which cost Jays at least one run. Followed by throwing error,(14) which lead to two runs by Detroit. Take off two and add (at least) one. I know who gets my vote for goat of the night.

Don’t add Ricky to this list. He had four great innings. One bad one but was hurt by Encarnacion’s error which lead to two more runs after out number two which should have been third out.