Jays v Yankees. Game one of three. Monday August 23.
Preview: Jays face another rookie and you know how those games usually go with the Jays. They make the rookie look like Cy Young. Let’s se if Nova can do that tonight in his first major league start.
Lineups: Yankees: Gardner, Swisher, Teixeira, Cano, Posada, Granderson, Nunez, Pena, Cervelli. No Jeter and no Rodriguez.
Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Encarnacion, Molina. Encarnacion and Hill back in lineup, too bad, I don’t think they strengthen Jays lineup at all. Molina in to catch Morrow.
Pitching: Morrow v Nova.
Morrow had poor start last time and far too many pitches but was coming off that long break. Lots of very noisy Yankee fans tonight, have to keep them quiet and disappointed.
Top 1st: Gardner leading off, 3-0 count this is the knock on Morrow, too many pitches. Full count, strikes out swinging. Six pitches, Gardner did his job. One down for Swisher. 3-1 count, ball four. Yankees will be patient tonight, they want Morrow out of here. Teixeira, 0-2 count. Strike three looking, two down for Cano. This guy is dangerous. Here we go, lines it to left corner, Lewis had a chance on this, but misses this one, here comes Gardner, 1-0 Yankees. Stand up double for Posada. 3-0 count. Full count. Strikes out swinging but 23 pitches already. We may not see Morrow beyond five tonight.
Bottom 1st: Lewis leading off, chance to redeem himself for that missed ball in top of the inning. Ivan Nova, Lewis singles up the middle. Escobar, doubles to centre, Lewis to third. Two in scoring position but can they bring anyone in? They had a zero game yesterday with runners in scoring position. Bautista 3-0 count. Ball four to load them up for Wells. Don’t count on anything here, Vernon is in another slump. Nobody out. 2-0 count. Pops up to shallow left, here comes the throw double play ball. Why oh Why? Why are you risking that with nobody out ? Even with Wells out that would only be one down and bases still loaded. You can count on Vernon. Lind, you can’t count on him either. Poor but expected. 2-2 count. Full count. Has a base open will he walk him? Strikes out on that high ball, every scouting report has that on Lind. Wells and Lind do it again. BUT who sent Lewis on that shallow pop up? Only 16 pitches as well for Nova, watch him go the distance now.
Top 2nd: Granderson leading off. Momentum now all with Yankees. Hits him, one on base. He will be running. Nunez, Grounds to Hill, throw to Escobar over to Overbay, double play ball. Two down for Pena, 2-2 count. Lines it to Bautista into right. Cervelli. Two down one on. First pitch fly ball to Lewis in left to end this one. Pitch count 37.
Bottom 2nd: Hill leading off. Not sure why he is so high in lineup either, the way he has been hitting. Would be interesting to see Wells, Lind and Hill at the bottom of the order. 2-2 count. Grounds to third, throw to first one down. Overbay, 2-1 count. Singles back up the middle. That is why Lyle should be hitting cleanup in place of Wells. Encarnacion, 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging, he is an easy out. Molina. First pitch back to Nova, throw to first for third out. Jays awful in the early going. Must be so discouraging for Morrow to see all this. He can be perfect for the rest of the game and still lose it. Pitch count 29.
Top 3rd: Gardner leading off. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Swisher, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, number five tonight. Teixeira, lies into right, Bautista bobbles the ball. Teixeira at third on the play. Cano, 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Number six. BUT pitch count is 55.
Bottom 3rd: Lewis leading off. 2-1 count. Grounds back to Nova, throw to first one down. Escobar. Grounds to short throw to first safe. Teixeira arguing but all Yankees do that, umpire said his foot came off the bag. One on for Bautista, 2-1 count. YEAH Jose, gets hold of this one, high into left field seats 2-1 Jays. Wells grounds to short, throw to first for the out. A good job we don’t rely on Vernon to score, in fact that would have been another inning ending double play. Lind, now with two down, what will he do this time? Can he lay off that high pitch? That was very high. 2-2 count. Lines to Cano for third out. Pitch count 47. Yankees will not be too worried, they have good bullpen and will be happy with four or five innings from Nova tonight. He is the future.
Top 4th: Posada leading off. 1-2 count. Pops up to Lewis in left, one down. Granderson, 0-2 count. Strikes out swinging, number seven for Morrow. Two down for Nunez, Lines it to Lewis for third out. Fred not too sure about the numbers of outs. Pitch count 64.
Bottom 4th: Hill leading off. In yet another slump, .210 average and struggling to finish the season above .200. Not what Jays had hoped for this season from Hill .Fly ball to Granderson. One down for Overbay. Full count. Strikes out swinging. Encarnacion grounds (first pitch) to Cano throw to Teixeira for third out. Johnny Mc. where are you tonight? Pitch count 57.
Top 5th: Pena leading off. Full count, Strike three looking, he will get those close calls after seven strikeouts. Number eight now. One down for Cervelli, another full count, strikes out swinging, number nine. Gardner, pops up to Hill for third out. Pitch count 78 and that is the problem.
Bottom 5th: Jays hitters not performing tonight heart of the order again Wells, Lind and Hill 0-6 tonight, you can’t get away with that against a team like Yankees even if your pitcher is lights out. Molina leading off. Pops up to Granderson in right centre, one down for Lewis, 1-1 count. Lines it hard to centre but Granderson has it at the wall. Two down for Escobar 2-2 tonight, 0-2 count, pops up to Gardner in shallow left for third out, Jays go quietly and meekly. Pitch count 65.
Top 6th: Yankees will be wanting to get into the bullpen so watch for the long pitch counts. This could be last inning for Morrow. Now what? Escobar thrown out of the game arguing, now Cito arguing and umpire throws him out. Jays self destructing here. You don’t need to give these Yankees any advantage at all. Johnny Mc. in at short, Swisher leading off strikes out arguing but Girardi gets him out quick. Teixeira with one down. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, number eleven. Cano full count. Ball four. Posada two down and one on. This is trouble, doubles to the wall in right centre, here comes Cano 2-2 game. Granderson with runner at second. Camp and Carlson working in bullpen. Wild pitch to the wall and Posada to third. 2-2 count. Strike three looking but Yankees have tied this one up and that is probably it for Morrow at 104 pitches.
Bottom 6th: Yankees will be happy with Nova tonight. Bautista leading off. Hammers it into the fifth deck but foul, he really turned on that pitch. Whoa ! Nova throws pitch over head of Bautista, umpire warns him, now Jose saying something and here they come, benches clearing. No more damage but pitchers now under warning. Bautista, fly ball to Granderson for the out. Wells now, hitless tonight, grounds out to third throw too late to get Vernon, finally a hit. That’s it for Nova, did more than enough, Jays fans booing him off the field. Boone Logan now pitching. Lefty lefty matchup. Lind, also hitless tonight, perhaps he can do something now. Chamberlain now warming up in Yankees bullpen. swinging way off the plate 0-2, strikes out swinging way outside. Awful. Two down. Hill also hitless tonight. The middle of the order is really hurting Jays these days. A big concern for next season without major changes, 1-1 count. Pops up to Swisher in right, Hill now 0-15.
Top 7th: Camp now pitching. Nunez leading off. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging way outside. One down for Pena, singles to centre, one on one down for Cervelli. 1-2 count. Downs warming up. 2-2, YES indeed. Hit and run, lines it to Bautista in right throw to Overbay to double up Pena who was already at third. Nice.
Bottom 7th: Bottom of Jays order, Overbay leading off. Pressure here Lyle. 3-1 count. Nothing for Lyle to hit here. Ball four down and away, semi-intentional to get to Encarnacion. Girardi out to get Chamberlain in there. All or nothing for Edwin. It would really help to connect here bigtime. 0-1 count. Lines to Swisher in right, one down. Molina, 2-0 count, pops up to Gardner in left, two down. Lewis, two down and one on. 3-1 count. Pops up to Granderson for third out.
Top 8th: Jays running out of time here. Downs now pitching. Gardner leading off. Full count. Strike three. One down for Swisher, singles into right. One down one on for Teixeira. Yes indeed, grounds to Hill throw to McDonald over to Overbay double play ball to end this one.
Bottom 8th: Johnny Mc. leading off in place of Escobar. Robertson now pitching. 1-2 strikes out swinging. Bautista now, will he payback for that pitch by Nova. Gregg working in bullpen. OH YES Jose!!! Hammers this one, way into left field seats. 3-2 Jays. Wells now, when did Vernon last hit a home run? Fans want Jose. Curtain call for Jose on the top of the steps, 40 home runs. WOW! Full count to Wells. Ball four. Lind now can he do anything? 1-2 count. Watch the high strike. Lays off it this time, good boy. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Hitless night for Lind. Hill also hitless tonight. 0-2 count. Watches strike three. When you are hitting zero you are very bad. But the million $ question is when are these two coming out of their season long slumps?
Top 9th: Gregg now pitching. He has not pitched for several days, you know what that means. Big bats for Yankees. Hang on here, roller coaster 9th. Get those heart pills out Cano leading off. Full count. Ball four. Leadoff walk, Cito is not on the bench s Gregg does not have to feel the glare. Posada, one on. Fly ball to Bautista in right, one down one on. Granderson, 0-2 count. Strike three. Two down Jeter pinch hitting for Nunez, 0-1 count, pops up to Overbay at first. Jays win this one, Downs gets the win. Gregg save number 28.
The excellent. Morrow superb outing but without Bautista tonight it would have been wasted. Jays bullpen Camp, Downs and Gregg with three scoreless innings also excellent tonight.
However: As expected Nova looked like Cy Young with these Jays hitters who could not put this one away in the very first inning with bases loaded and nobody out. That could have been the game right there. A young guy pitching his first big league game, you have to knock him out early when given chances like that.
Post-mortem: Cito has to face up to the continual very poor performances by Wells, Lind and Hill. Drop them down (or out of) the lineup. Put Overbay clean up. Next week will see the callup so perhaps he will wait until then. You can’t have the four five and six players hitting so badly and hope to win many games. Even in the big 16-2 drubbing of Boston last weekend these players were absent. It was Overbay doing the big damage
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