Jays clueless in Anaheim and Angels show their power

Game two Jays v Angels. Saturday August 14.
Very tough one today for Jays with Santana pitching.

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Snider, Molina. Cito staying with Molina as catcher. Sitting Encarnacion which I certainly agree with.
Angels: Abreu, Aybar, Callaspo, Hunter, Kendrick, Napoli, Matsui, Wilson, Bourjos.
Pitching: Santana v Cecil.

Top 1st: Lewis leading off. Full count. Ball four, good start for Fred. Escobar, bunting tonight ? No, not first pitch, but now he does, bounces it off the plate; Santana throws him out but Lewis at second. Bautista 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, two down for Wells, full count, lines it to right Hunter makers the catch to end the inning. Good to see Vernon continue to go the opposite field. We don’t see too many pulls to left anymore. Pitch count 20.
Bottom 1st: Abreu leading off. 2-1 count, grounds slowly to second, Hill tries barehanded throw but no chance to get Abreu at first, Aybar with one on bunting but pops it up to Overbay at first. One down for Callaspo, 2-1 count. Singles into right past Hill. Two on one down for Hunter. Grounds to Bautista steps on third to get Abreu throw to Overbay at first a little off the plate but Lyle tags him out for double play ball. Pitch count 13.

Top 2nd: Lind leading off. Grounds to Kendrick at second, throw to Napoli at first for the out. One down for Hill. 2-0 count. Singles into centre, one on for Overbay. 2-0 count. 3-1, ball four, two on one down for Snider. 1-2 count. Lines it to Abreu in left, runners hold, two down for Molina. Swinging away way off the ball. Strikes out on three pitches to end this one. Not a great at bat by Jose and leaves two on. Pitch count 39.
Bottom 2nd: Kendrick leading off grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, one down for Napoli. 3-0 count, ball four. Matsui with one down and one on. Hammers first pitch into right field corner, 2-0 Angels. That comes of walking the previous guy Brett. Wilson, grounds to Bautista, throw to first two down. Bourjos. Grounds first pitch to Escobar off the glove of Cecil but throw gets him at first to end this but Cecil is behind in this one. Pitch count 23 but I am sure he would trade a few pitches here for those runs.

Top 3rd: Lewis leading off. Grounds first pitch to at second throw to Napoli at first one down for Escobar. Pops up (first pitch) to Hunter, two pitches two outs, not good. They were much more patient earlier. Bautista now has to take a couple. Full count. Ball four. One on two down for Wells. Bautista stealing, throw is good but Jose kicks ball into centre, full count, ball four, back to back walks. Lind with two on and two down. Swings over first pitch come on Adam he has just walked the first two guys. 1-1 count now should be 2-0 and totally different approach another ball, 2-1, grounds weakly to Napoli at first. Lind messed that one up, do you think he would have been swinging at 3-0? Pitch count 58.
Bottom 3rd: Abreu leading off. 2-2 count. Lines it to the wall in right centre, double all the way. Aybar bunting? Yes, perfect up the line but Bautista throw off the glove of Overbay but Aybar’s arm knocks the arm and ball away. Umpire calls him out, Mike Scioscia arguing but no joy. One down player stays at second Callaspo, grounds to short, Escobar bare hand throw but wide of the bag at first. Hunter with two on corners. Yes indeed, grounds to Bautista at third, over to Hill on to Overbay double play, what a great play by Bautista. You would think he has been playing third the whole season. Second double play by Hunter. Pitch count 37. Cecil escapes any damage.

Top 4th: Hill leading off. Pops up to a very lazy swing on that one. One down for Overbay. Lines (first pitch) to Bortos right centre no problem at the wall, two down for Snider. Grounds to Napoli for third out. Jays making it very easy for Santana here. 64 pitch count. Six pitch inning. Did Cecil even sit down ? Sometimes aggression becomes poor judgment. Especially when Cecil is having rough day.
Bottom 4th: Kendrick leading off, singles into right. One on for Napoli, bunting ? No lines it into right field corner, great running catch by Snider. Almost gets Kendrick scrambling back to first. Matsui, doubles it in to right field corner, Snider has problems with the ball. Two in scoring position for Wilson, one down. Hammers this one to deep left, three run home run and Angels are out ahead 5-0. Bourjos. Tallet warming up in Jays bullpen. Hits him on the elbow but umpire says no way deliberate did not get out of the way, replay shows in fact he pushed his elbow out with that big pad on. Scioscia arguing but loses this one again. Grounds to short, throw to Overbay for second out. Abreu. 1-2 count. Strikes out looking but Cecil has dug a big, big hole for Jay to climb out of here. Pitch count 53.

Top 5th: Molina leading off. I hope a better at bat than the last. Pops up to Abreu in left for first out. Lewis, 0-2 count, that’s better Lewis lashes this one into right field seats home run Fred. 5-1 Angels. Escobar, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches, two down for Bautista. Full count. Pops it up to Aybar at short for third out. Pitch count 78
Bottom 5th: Aybar leading off. Cecil getting another chance. Pops up to Lewis in left. One down for Callaspo, grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, two down. Hunter lines first pitch to Snider in right. Pitch count 59. That was six pitch inning. Angels not putting any pressure on Cecil in that one, swinging away.

Top 6th: Wells leading off. 0-2, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Lind, full count. Lines this one the other way to the wall in left, Jays just cannot get that ball further so many to the wall tonight. Hill, (first pitch) pops up to shallow centre Pitch count 88. Maybe time to give him a rest day Cito. He is awful right now.
Bottom 6th: Kendrick leading off. 2-2 count. Grounds up the middle but great diving catch by Escobar and throw to Overbay for the out, Nice play Yunel. Napoli grounds to Hill, throw to Overbay two down. Matsui, perfect night so far. Singles to right. Going for the cycle next at bat. Wilson, bounces it in front of the plate umpire rules it foul, has a life. Hammers this one into left home run Wilson, 7-1 Angels. That is very tough with that previous call going against the Jays. Here comes Cito, Tallet pitching. Cito discussing that play again with home plate umpire but he is saying he was blocked by Molina and third base had to make the call. Bourjos, lines it to right centre for Snider and third out. That was tough one on Cecil.

Top 7th: Jays running out of time for big innings, need to get to Santana. They have been fine when patient hence the four walks, it is when they swing at that slider they are getting themselves out. Overbay leading off. That’s better Lyle, doubles it into left field corner. Snider now. Patience here Travis. Fly ball first pitch to Abreu in left one down Lyle has to hold. Molina, 2-1 count. Same play fly ball to Abreu, two down and Lyle is stuck at second. Lewis. Hits him on the back foot, two on for Escobar. Can’t lay off that outside pitch. He is really disappointing now with his bat. 0-2 count. Now he does 1-2. Grounds to third, throw to Napoli at first, disappointing hitting by Jays tonight. Tampa has already won, Yankees and Boston are winning, Jays look to slip back here tonight.
Bottom 7th: Abreu leading off. Full count. Ball four. Aybar with one on. Pops up to Hill at second, Abreu holds at first. One down one on for pinch hitter Brandon Wood. Pops up another Overbay drops it off his glove, ball bounces to Escobar tags out Abreu. Two down for Hunter. Full count. Singles to left but runner was moving and gets to third on the play. Still two down for Kendrick, lines it to right, another nice running catch by Snider for third out.

Top 8th: Last chances for Jays hitters. They won’t have to face Santana. Rodney now pitching. Mike Scioscia not pushing his pitcher. Bautista leading off. Full count. Perfect lines it down the line into right field corner. Stand up leadoff double. McDonald running for Bautista hmm, Cito not believing here ?. Wells with runner in scoring position. 1-2 count. Grounds to first, McDonald to third, one down. Lind with runner at third. Hitless tonight. Grounds to short, throw to Napoli for second out McDonald scores 7-2. Two outs to get runner from second a base per out is not great hitting but all the Jays can do tonight. Hill another hitless night and a terrible one at that. Clueless in Anaheim I believe the expression is. Full count and another weak pop up to second. The good news is that Hill does not have to bat again tonight. Yankees have won and Boston also despite
Bottom 8th: Casey Janssen pitching. McDonald at third. Wise in centre. Napoli leading off. First pitch lines to Wise one down. This is the guy the crowd wants to see, Matsui going for the cycle. Needs a triple. 1-2 count. Singles up the middle, four hit night but not his cycle. Willits pinch running for him at first. Wilson grounds back up the middle Escobar makes that behind the back throw to Hill to get Willits but cannot turn double play and Wilson safe at first. Two down for Bourjos. Strikes out swinging. Jays need five to tie. At least Gregg does not have to pitch three days in row.

Top 9th: Trevor Bell now pitching. Overbay leading off. Grounds to Kendrick at second, throw to Napoli, one down. Snider first pitch ground out to Napoli, for the out. Molina, swings away, strikes out swinging and that about sums up Jays performance tonight.

Jays play a stinker. Only four players get a hit.

Good: Some great infield plays but not much else about this performance tonight. Jays knew what they had to do to get to Santana and started off with a good plan, but could only stick to the plan sporadically.

The bad: Poor hitting by Jays tonight. Poor pitch selection and could not lay off Santana’s slider. Inning after inning. Santana walks four including back to back hitters and yet Jays consistently swung away at bad pitches.