Jays lose another and the series with poor hitting.

Game three series finale. Wednesday August 18.

Jays played very badly last night and did not deserve to win. It was lousy pitching, terrible fielding, awful catching by Molina, and a complete lack of hitting. A sloppy game all round. They need this one for the series. Is Rzepczynski the guy to do it today? or should he return to Vegas?

Lineups: Jays: Lewis, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Encarnacion, Arencibia. As predicted earlier JP Arencibia is getting chance today, it will be his last appearance before going back to Vegas to allow Buck to return. Hard to evaluate him as Cito has not been using him as much as he said he would. However he has not had a hit since that first game and obviously needs more at bats at this level to learn. We should see him again in the September callups. This is rebuilding year, keep repeating this mantra friends. It really helps on nights like last night.

Oakland Athletics: Crisp, Barton, Jackson, Suzuki, Kouzmanoff, Ellis, Davis, Tolleson, Pennington.
Pitching: Gonzalez v Rzepczynski

Top 1st: Lots of people taking the afternoon off today. Good crowd looks like the best of the three game series. Lewis leading off, fly ball to Crisp in centre, one down. Escobar strikes out. Bautista pops up to Barton. Quick three up and down inning for Gonzalez.
Bottom 1st: Crisp leading off 3-0 and walks on four pitches. Not a good start Marc. Barton with one on, there goes Crisp, and safe at second. Oakland taking the game to the Jays from the start. Barton full count, ball four. Back to back walks and nobody out. Recipe for disaster. Jackson another full count, and ball four. Rzepczynski has walked the first three to load the bases. Crisp to third, Barton to second. That is definitely not a good start. Cito not a happy camper right now. Suzuki with bases loaded and nobody out. Not the way to start a ballgame. Grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to first to get the out, run scores 1-0 Athletics, why didn’t he come home with that play ???? Encarnacion’s fielding is not the best on occasion. Kouzmanoff, grounds to Escobar, throw to third to get Jackson. Barton scores 2-0 A’s. Kouzmanoff at first. Ellis with two down, fly ball to Wells in centre to end this one but Rzepzynski is in a hole right from the start.

Top 2nd: Wells leading off doubles to centre, good start Vernon. Lind grounds to Tolleson at second base, Wells moves to third. Hill grounds to Kouzmanoff at third throw to Barton, two down. Overbay grounds to Barton at first to take it himself for third out. Jays go quietly but leave Vernon at second.

Bottom 2nd: Davis fly ball to Lewis in left, one down. Tolleson grounds to Hill at second throw to Overbay for the out at first, two quick outs. Pennington walks. One on two down for Crisp, doubles to centre, here comes Pennington scores easily to make this 3-0 game. Barton grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay for third out.

Top 3rd: Encarnacion leading off strikes out. One down for Arencibia, we have not seen this young man as much as we thought we would. Fly ball to right field Davis. Two down for top of the order again. Lewis fouls up to Kouzmanoff at third..
Bottom 3rd: Jackson leading off grounds to Hill at second, throw to Overbay for first out. Suzuki singles to centre. Kouzmanoff grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay, double play ball.

Top 4th: Escobar leading off grounds to Kouzmanoff at third, throw to Barton. One down. Bautista full count and walks. Wells grounds to Kouzmanoff throw to Tolleson at second, Wells out at first. Lind grounds to Pennington at short, throw to Barton at first to end this one.
Bottom 4th: Ellis leading off grounds to Encarnacion at third, throw to Overbay at first. One down. Davis grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay at first, two down. Tolleson singles to right. Pennington grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay.

Top 5th: Hill leading off fly ball to right field Davis, one down. Overbay, full count and ball four. One on one down for Encarnacion, full count and yet another walk. Back to back walks. This is what we expected from Gonzalez today, he has history of walks. Overbay to second. Arencibia strikes out. Poor JP cannot buy a hit, but will have to learn to adjust on his second time around in September. Lots of time for him. Lewis singles to left, here comes Overbay, Encarnacion to third. Jays have something going at last, 3-1. Escobar with two down, two on and runner at third. Grounds to Pennington at short, throw to Barton at first and snuffs out any rally for Jays this time, but Jays do get one back.
Bottom 5th: Crisp leading off doubles to left. He just loves Jays pitching. Barton with one on, singles to left. Two on nobody out. Crisp held up between bases, Escobar throws behind him to Hill on to Encarnacion at third to get Crisp. Barton moves to second. Jackson with two on again, ball four and walks. Frasor now pitching. Must be the earliest (5 innings) he has been in a game for a long time. Suzuki grounds to Hill at second flip to Escobar to get Jackson at second.

Top 6th: Bautista leading off strikes out. One down for Wells, strikes out. Two down. Lind full count and ball four. One on two down. Hill grounds to short Pennington throw to Tolleson at second to get Lind.
Bottom 6th: Kouzmanoff leading off strikes out. Ellis grounds to Escobar at short, throw to first base Overbay. Two down for Davis, strikes out.

Top 7th: Overbay leading off first pitch fly ball to Jackson in left one down Encarnacion, full count, strike three looking. Arencibia first pitch, oh no this kid is now corrupted as well, grounds to Kouzmanoff at third throw to first for third out and pathetic hitting by Jays. It will be good for Arencibia to go back to Vegas and play the way he knows best rather than this forced first pitch stuff. Every pitcher in the league knows Jays are doing it and are pitching them to do it. They had better get all this out of their system before they go to Fenway or it will be an embarrassing weekend.
Bottom 7th: Downs now pitching, what a waste. Leading off 3-0 count. fly ball to Wells one down, Pennington 1-2 count. Pops up to Overbay for second out. Crisp on base three times today. Another 3-0 count. That’s the problem this lethargy of the last two days is contagious. Crisp lines it into left field seats 4-1 Athletics. Barton 2-2 count. Lines it to Escobar to end this one.

Top 8th: Lewis leading off. Henry Rodriguez pitching. 3-0 count. Ball four. You see what can be done with some patience Fred? Escobar, hitless today, also takes first pitch, a little late now Yunel. Here comes pitching coach, relax friends this is the Jays not Boston or Yankees. This group wants the plane out to go back east. Full count. Why is it when the game is out of reach all of a sudden Jays hitters start to be more patient at bat? Strikes out swinging. One down for Bautista. Full count. Strike three looking. Two down. Wells, does not swing at first pitch. 2-1 count. Bounces to Pennington throw to first for third out, leaving lead off Lewis at first and that about sums up the series. Jays have all of two, yes two hits again today.
Bottom 8th: Casey Janssen now pitching. Jackson leading off. Full count. Strike three inside. One down for Suzuki, singles into centre. One on one down for Kouzmanoff. Lines first pitch to Wells for second out. Ellis, singles up the middle, Hill makes a diving stop but no value as he cannot do anything with it as Escobar was also going for the ball and no one at second. Two on two down. Davis. Arencibia goes out to talk to Janssen, may be the last time we see JP until September. 2-2 count. Pops up to Wells in shallow right.

Top 9th: Will we see any fight from the Jays or are they on that plane? Lind, leading off. Hitless today as are Hill and Overbay to follow. 0-9 collectively. You won’t get good odds for a hit from these three. Michael Wuertz again now pitching. Jays could not hit him last night. Lind, finally a hit, Lind doubles into the right field corner, always the way when nothing at stake. Lines it to Crisp in centre, one down for Overbay. Hill for one will be glad to get out of here, a nightmare series for him, with both his glove throwing away the game last night and bat. Overbay 3-0, ball four, way to go Lyle. Two on for Encarnacion. 2-0 count. Here comes the coach. 3-0 didn’t make any difference. Ball four to load the bases, the crowd does not like this. Arencibia ? with one down. Cito leaves him in there, good for him. Learning situation for him. Wise now pinch running at first for Encarnacion. Ball one.1-1, 1-2, JP loops it into right and drops in, here comes Lind 4-2 game, Jays making a fight here. Bases still loaded and good for JP will go to Vegas on a high here. Blevins now pitching, he is another lefty. Snider running for Arencibia. Lewis, with bases loaded. We need base hit here Fred. 0-2, you can’t take this one Fred. Outside, 1-2. This will do it, singles up the middle and here comes Overbay, here comes Wise. But this game is all tied up 4-4. Two on one down and that’s it for Blevins. New pitcher Ziegler the sidearmer. Escobar one down and runners at first and second. Full count. Grounds to third throw to second on to first double play ball.
Bottom 9th: Molina in as catcher. Bautista in at third. Wise stays in and works 3rd inning in right field. Snider in left field. Tolleson singles to left. No way, I don’t believe this, another passed ball, what is wrong with Molina? How many is that in the last two days? Either he is getting too slow to get down to block these or perhaps he is just not seeing them, whatever the reason it cannot be too soon to get Buck back regardless of any bat that Molina can bring to this team. The bat is not/ or should not be needed with this lineup. Tolleson moves to second. Pennington with runner at second, singles to right and here comes Tolleson to score. Jays lose this one 5-4. Molina mistake magnified many times. Cito had no choice when he pinch ran for Arencibia.

Jays will regret this series, they were on a roll and now go into Fenway way back of Red Sox to make any difference even if they were to sweep them.

Summary: Jays get reality check in Oakland and lose this series. They are not as good as they think they are. They played very badly for the last two games and showed their Achilles heel of left handed pitching. They go into Boston on Friday and see Lester first game, good luck. They will have to play a whole lot better than this to have any chance. Jays do find that patience helps get some runs with three in the 9th.

The good: Kudos to Cito for leaving in young Arencibia in the 9th, hitless since that very first game, comes through to get an important RBI and leave for Vegas, hopefully to get some confidence back and hits with his own hitting style not this crazy first pitch stuff. See you in September JP. Lewis 3 RBIs. Most of the Jays attack today.
The bad: Cito leaving Janssen in there in bottom of the 9th. Why Cito? Day off tomorrow, Gregg did not pitch last night, it will be three days at minimum when he pitches again and that is assuming Jays will be winning against Lester. Wrong call, Jays were back in this and they needed to shut them down. Problem is that he had already used Downs and Frasor. The bottom of the 9th was the crucial inning and Cito needed someone to shut the gate. Janssen is not the person, Gregg is