Jays 0-8 with runners in scoring position and ruin Marcum's fine outing.

Game three series finale. Jays v Red Sox. Sunday August 22.

Big game today for Jays. They need to show Boston that they are for real.
What they are saying today in Boston. (Dice-K) He dropped the ball with a 4-1 lead, which included a big two-run homer by Lyle Overbay, a veteran who has cleared waivers, hits for power to left field, and would be a decent pickup for the Sox. He doesn’t appear to be walking through that door, he’s just knocking them all down at Fenway in this series. (Boston Globe August 22)

Incentive for Jays if they need it today: "The Red Sox are 10-4 against the Blue Jays this season, and with right-hander Clay Buchholz heading to the mound today, they have a solid chance at winning their fifth consecutive series against Toronto. Buchholz has the league’s lowest ERA, making him a legitimate contender for the Cy Young Award, and hasn’t allowed a run in 14 straight innings". ( Boston Herald Aug 22).
OK let’s see if Jays can change that today.

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Overbay, McDonald, Snider, Molina. Cito was reading this last night and sits Hill. I think he had no choice, Hill has been awful and a liability with bat, totally clueless at every at bat. Good decision Cito and I am sure if he could he would sit Escobar as well but as we said Johnny Mc. can only play in one position at a time.

Red Sox: Scutaro, Drew, Martinez, Ortiz, Beltre, Lowell, Lowrie, Hall, Kalish.
Pitching: Bucholz v Marcum. Jays need near perfection today from Marcum.
Rain delay. Game finally gets underway at 3.15. Almost two hour delay, will be interesting to see any impact.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off. 3-1 count. Ball four. Good start. Escobar bunting ? I think so. Jays will need any runs they can get against Bucholz. No, ball high 1-0, 1-1 count. Lewis distracting Bucholz, good to have that running threat for that very reason. Lined it hard at Scutaro knocks him over with the force of that, but one down. Bautista. Hammers this off the wall in left. A long single but Lewis to third. Wells, horrible series this weekend. No, pops up to Lowrie behind second not enough for Lewis to tag and score. Vernon cannot bring him again. Lind now, didn’t play last night. Two on two down. Awful. Grounds first pitch of course to Lowrie, throw to first for third out. Too bad Lind did not stay on the bench. Wasted opportunity to get to Bucholz early by both Wells and Lind. Pitch count 12.
Bottom 1st: Scutaro leading off takes strike one. Grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Overbay, one down. Drew, strikes out looking, great pitch Shaun. Martinez with two down. Full count. Grounds to Overbay flip to Marcum for third out. Pitch count 14.

Top 2nd: Overbay leading off. Great weekend for Lyle so far. 2-0 count. 3-1, ball four. One on but Jays have to bring him in. McDonald, 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging. One down for Snider. Another one who needs to get comfortable with his bat, 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Molina, there we go, how come the number nine guy can do it? Singles into right. Two on two down. Lewis again this time with two on. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Jays leave two more out there. Already 0-4 with runners in scoring position. They are really pushing their luck as Bucholz will start to settle in here. Pitch count 33.
Bottom 2nd: Ortiz leading off. Pops up the first pitch very high to Molina. One down for Beltre, 0-2 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay for second out. Lowell. Full count. Strikes out swinging. Excellent inning for Marcum pitch count 26.

Top 3rd: Jays have two on each inning so far and failed to score, time to change that and get to Bucholz. Escobar leading off, bunting ? No, 3-1 count. Another ball four. Third walk today already for Bucholz. Bautista with one on. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Martinez hurt on the play. Staying in game. Rain is back, Wells, long overdue. Left two on last time at bat. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Lind, takes a pitch at least this time. Game called. Problem with another rain delay is that we may not see Bucholz back out there nor Marcum when they reconvene and you know who the long relief guy is for the Jays. Mr. Tallet. Let’s hope a short delay or the game is called period. Resumption with Lind lines to Hall in left.
Bottom 3rd: Lowrie fly ball to Wells, one down for Hall, grounds to Molina throw to Overbay, two down for Kalish strikes out. Marcum continues to pitch well but once again where is the run support?

Top 4th: Overbay leading off strikes out. One down for McDonald pops up to Lowell at first. Snider grounds to Lowrie at second, throw to Lowell at first for the third out. Jays go far too easily here. Snider is beginning to look like Hill and Lind and Wells, totally clueless. No longer swinging with that nice easy swing.
Bottom 4th: Scutaro grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Overbay, one down. Drew strikes out. Martinez with two down fly ball to Wells in centre for the out.

Top 5th: Molina leading off singles to left. If he can do it and twice today why cannot the hitters on this team? Lewis one on, fly ball to Kalish. One down. Escobar grounds to Scutaro at short, flip to Lowrie at second on to Lowell, double play ball to end this one.
Bottom 5th: Ortiz lines this one to left centre, Vernon is way over to right, has to get to the ball first, and here he comes going for three and safe on the throw at third, a triple ??? for Ortiz. But the shift gamble on Ortiz did not work again that is second time this series. Vito will say worth the percentages. Maybe but don’t tell Marcum that right now. First hit given up by Marcum. Beltre with runner at third, makes no doubt about this doubles to left, here comes Ortiz.1-0 Boston. Flood gates are opening. Lowell with runner in scoring position, fly ball to Lewis in left, one down. Lowrie grounds to McDonald at second throw to Overbay to get Lowrie but Beltre to third. Hall, with two down and one on. There she goes, he launches this one over the Green Monster in left, 3-0 Boston. Kalish with two down strikes out. Don’t blame Marcum here, he kept his team in this for four but they could not get the base hits when they needed them. Left far too many out there.

Top 6th: Jays need to get back in this. Bautista singled to left. Good start. Wells loops and excuse me hit into right. Bautista to second. It is as if Wells has lost any power that he had and I am sorry but 60 RBIs may be better than last season and the one before but not good enough at least for a cleanup hitter Cito. Lind one down and one on, strikes out. Lind is just as bad as Wells, not even a single. Overbay one down, fly ball to Drew in right, two down. McDonald lines to Lowrie at second. Bautista sitting out there wondering when this team will get a real hit when it counts.
Bottom 6th: Scutaro fly ball to Snider in right, one down. Drew grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay, two down. Martinez grounds back to Marcum for the out.

Top 7th: Bard now pitching. Bucholz has gone, didn’t need his best stuff today to win this one. Snider full count and walks. We need hits from you Travis not walks, Jays have had lead runner on every inning except for the 4th and are still unable to score. Boston pitchers will gladly give up the walks. Molina pops up to Scutaro. One down. Wild pitch by Bard, Snider to second. That might be one way to score here today for the Jays. Top of the order, one down Lewis strikes out. Escobar with two down strikes out. Yet another leadoff wasted.
Bottom 7th: Ortiz leading off strikes out. Still recovering from the triple last at bat. Beltre grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay. Two down for Lowell, singles to left. Lowrie fly ball to Wells.

Top 8th: Another pitcher for Boston. Doubront pitching. Bautista leading off fly ball to Kalish in centre. One down for Wells grounds to Scutaro at short, and beats out the throw. Lind hitless tonight, strikes out. Two down for Overbay, fly ball to Drew in right to end this one.
Bottom 8th: Frasor now pitching. Marcum had a great outing, one bad inning but had no run support at all. 91 pitches and no walks. Bucholz 97 pitches and three walks but he gets his run support. Hall leading off strikes out. One down for Kalish, doubles to left. One on one down for Scutaro, full count, ball four to put two on. Drew strikes out. Two down.
Martinez singles to centre, Kalish scores 4-0 Boston. Scutaro to second. Frasor not happy with that at all. Martinez, singles up the middle, 4-0 Boston. Ortiz with two down and two on. 2-1, full count. Singles into left. Shift does not work this time. Here comes another run 5-0 Boston. Frasor implodes once again. I do feel sorry for Marcum. Beltre lines it to Snider in right for third out. But this one is out of reach now.

Top 9th: Do Jays have any fight tonight ? I don’t think so based on what we have seen today. Pretty pathetic performance by the hitters, even Boston fans have gone home. Doubront pitching McDonald leading off. Snider hitless tonight. Strikes out, two down. Molina last at bat one of the few highlights tonight. Two hits. Looking for straws to clutch at tonight on this pathetic performance. Not even a short straw. 0-2 count. Hits him on the shoulder. Lewis, two down and one on. 1-2 count. Grounds to first steps on the bag for third out and end to a very poor performance by these Jays.

Jays hitters ruin a great outing by Marcum. They had their chances early in this one but Wells, Lind could not produce, must be of concern now to Cito. Perhaps time to sit Wells, Lind and Hill and bring in the new Jays, give them a month. They can’t be worse than these three. I think looking at previous Jays teams we could always identify the go to guy on the team, one that could be relied on at least to give this team a chance with runners in scoring position, this team is lacking that person. Wells I would suggest, for whatever reason, physical or mental, is no longer a cleanup hitter.

The bad: We have to start identifying these guys now. Wells, Lind at bats in first inning with runner at third unable to get a hit and Lind especially with first pitch out. Put some pressure on Bucholz. Wells again in the third with runner on. Cito does not have to stay with Wells now, he has Wise on the bench. Lind throughout this game. Hill can be replaced by Johnny Mc., and for Wells, put Wise in there. More than adequate replacement. Frasor could not hold it in the 8th. Puts the game out of reach for this lot today, earlier in the season maybe they were hungry and would fight but not now. Some of them are playing out their string.

Jays get six hits and four walks and cannot score one run, that says it all tonight. 0-8 with runners in scoring position. That is very bad.

Next series the Yankees and based on this sorry performance Jays will get embarrassed.