Litsch and Tallet ruin the power surge of Hill, Escobar and Bautista

Game three, series finale Jays v Indians. Sunday August 1.

Cito was listening yesterday or agrees with me. Lewis is not playing today, resting or benched? I think the latter after yesterday’s lackluster showing. Ditto Encarnacion with his swinging away in the 9th last night with the game on the line, not exactly a thoughtful at bat with tying run 90 feet away.
Plus it solved one issue for Cito, how to get Travis into the game. Travis playing in left today, Wise for Lewis leading off and at right field. Bautista moves to third. Much better also to ease Travis in as it was plain to see he was not ready for 95-6 mph fastballs yesterday. Today he will get at least three at bats without the game on the line. Will be interesting to see how it goes.

Lineups: Indians: Crowe, Cabrera, Choo, Santana, LaPorta, Brown, Duncan, Valbuena, Donald.
Jays: Wise, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Hill, Overbay, Buck, Snider.
Pitching: Gomez v Litsch. Rookie pitcher for the Indians taking Kerry Wood’s place in rotation after his trade yesterday. Gomez going on three days rest as a rookie you know this will be trouble for Jays today. They would however like to leave for New York on high note.
Top 1st: Crowe leading off, ball four, leadoff walk. Litsch not very sharp right now. Cabrera with one on, hammers this one to right over Wise. Oh no, bounces off the top of the wall but the wrong way !!! home run for Cabrera and Indians go quickly into the lead here, 2-0 Indians. No outs. Not the start Litsch was planning. Choo grounds to Overbay, steps on the bag at first for the out. Santana fly ball to Wells in centre.Two down. LaPorta doubles to centre. Brown with another runner in scoring position, grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay to end this one but Litsch puts Jays behind.
Bottom 1st: Wise leading off, strikes out. One down for Escobar, pops up first pitch to LaPorta. A little hasty there Yunel, take a couple. Bautista, 3-0, ball four, walks on four pitches. Are they pitching around Jose here? Wells with two down and one on, pulls this one sharply to left field fence, Vernon with a double, Bautista to third. Lind now a chance to tie this up here, two in scoring position. Not this time, grounds to Donald at second, throw to LaPorta at first.

Top 2nd: Duncan leading off lines to Snider in left one down. Valbuena, one down fly ball to Wells in centre, two down. Donald lines very hard but right at Escobar.
Bottom 2nd: Hill, leading off, this one is high into left field corner, hits the foul pole, hoe run for Aaron 2-1 Indians. Overbay grounds to Donald at second, throw to LaPorta at first, one down. Buck, hit by a pitch. One on for Snider, nice ovation for Travis from the crowd, every Jays fan wants him to do well, this time around. Snider fly ball to Crowe in centre. Two down for Wise, pops up to Cabrera at short.

Top 3rd: Crowe leading off, hit by a pitch. Cabrera with one on fly ball to Snider. One down for Choo, grounds to Overbay throw to Escobar, to get lead runner Crowe. Two down. Santana grounds to short, Litsch off the mound but unable to get to this one, and Escobar’s throw wild. Santana safe at first, Choo moves to second. Jesse should have left that to Escobar. Error to Escobar and Choo moves to third on the play. LaPorta fly ball to Wise in right.
Bottom 3rd: Escobar leading off grounds to Valbuena at third, throw to LaPorta at first. One down. Bautista same play, grounds to Valbuena throw to LaPorta. Two down for Wells. Vernon doubles to centre. Lind with one on and two down, patience here, full count and walks. Hill with two on now. Yes Aaron, comes through again, singles to centre, here comes Vernon. Lind moves up to third. 2-2 game and Hill has both RBIs. Overbay with two on, strikes out.

Top 4th: Brown leading off grounds to Overbay flip to Litsch. One down for Duncan, strikes out. Two down. Valbuena singles to right. Tallet working in the Jays bullpen. One on two down for Donald, fly ball to Snider in left to end the inning.
Bottom 4th: Buck leading off lines to Cabrera at short, one down. Snider fly ball to Crowe in centre. Wise with two down singles to centre. Escobar one on two down grounds to Donald at second throw to LaPorta at first for the third out. Jays not having much luck against Gomez today.

Top 5th: Crowe leading off doubles to right. One on for Cabrera, bunting here, Oh NO. Litsch going for this and slips, Escobar and Bautista get all mixed up here both going for the miscue by Litsch, Cabrera safe at first and Crowe to third. That was terrible and once again for second time this game Litsch has tried to field a ball that would have better left to his infield. For one thing he is hardly the swiftest with that weight and certainly not a Romero. On the other hand he has an excellent infield which can certainly help him. Choo with two on and still no outs, there goes Cabrera, safe at second. Two in scoring position, Litsch in deep trouble here. Choo full count, ball four. Bases are loaded. Santana ball one, that’s enough for Cito, already going out here. Tallet pitching. I don’t get this. Tallet pitched yesterday and gave up the winning run. Firstly two days in a row and secondly it is Tallet, hardly the most reliable guy to bring in in this situation. Cito knows best. 3-0 count, ball four. Here comes Crowe to score, 3-2 Indians. If I were a betting man I would be a millionaire betting on Tallet walking a guy in his first inning’s work. Cabrera at third, Choo at second, bases still loaded. LaPorta grounds to Escobar, flip to Hill, on to Overbay double play ball. Cabrera scores 4-2 Indians. Brown with two down and Choo now at third, Brown strikes out to end the inning but not before Tallet has given up two although they count to Litsch. .
Bottom 5th: Bautista leading off grounds to Cabrera at short, throw to LaPorta at first. Wells with one down grounds to Valbuena at third, throw to LaPorta at first, two down.Lind fly ball to Duncan in left.

Top 6th: Duncan leading off fly ball to Wise in right, one down. Valbuena strikes out. Donald with two down, gets hold of this one. First pitch over the left field fence.
5-2 Indians. Crowe strikes out but Jays are behind by three.
Bottom 6th: Sipp now pitching. Hill leading off, strikes out, one down for Overbay, strikes out. Two quick outs for Sipp. Buck fly ball to Choo in right field. Jays not threatening much today.

Top 7th: Cabrera leading off fly ball to Wells. One down. Choo was hit by a pitch. Santana fly ball to Wells, two down. LaPorta grounds to Bautista throw to Overbay at first. Three up and down for Tallet.
Bottom 7th: Snider leading off, 0-2 now fouling them off just into our area, pitch after pitch, taking a couple, full count and still fouling them off, this is a great at bat by Travis and to me a great sign that he is seeing the ball, crowd getting into this at bat, everyone wants Travis to succeed. Grounds to Donald at second, throw to LaPorta for the first out. Travis gets a great ovation fro the crowd, that was an excellent at bat. Wise strikes out. Two down for Escobar, 2-0 gets hold of this one as he has to come inside to Yunel. This one is out of here in left, home run Escobar, his third since joining the Jays. 5-3 Indians. That’s it for Sipp, Herrmann now pitching. Bautista, Yes Jose, gets hold of this and knows this one is out of here in left field seats, 5-4 Indians, Jays within one hit now. Back to back home runs. Wells, can Vernon go back to back to back, grounds to Cabrera at short, throw to LaPorta to end this rally. Jays get two but needed three.

Top 8th: Purcey now pitching. Brown leading off, strikes out. One down for Duncan, grounds to Bautista at third, throw to Overbay at first. Marte pinch-hitting for Valbuena. Two down, Marte pops up to Bautista at third. Nice inning’s work by Purcey, continues to impress everyone as a reliever as oppose to starter.
Bottom 8th: Can Jays get the run here? Marte staying in the game at third. Perez now pitching. Lind leading off grounds to Donald at second throw to LaPorta at first. One down for Hill, fly ball to Crowe in centre, two down. Overbay, singles to right. Johnny Mc pinch-running for Overbay. That’s it for Perez, here comes sidearmer Smith. Buck at bat, with two down and one on. McDonald taking second and safe at second. Buck now with runner in scoring position, strikes out.

Top 9th: Bautista now playing at first. McDonald in at third. Gregg pitching, not a save but could be a win. Donald leading off strikes out. Crowe grounds to Escobar throw to Bautista at first. Cabrera grounds to Escobar throw to Bautista at first. Kevin has done his job.
Bottom 9th: Perez now pitching to save for second game in a row. Snider leading off at least not like last night there he goes, singles to right. You can see the change in Travis over the last 24 hours, gradually getting that swing back. Wise bunting, good bunt, to pitcher Perez throw to LaPorta at first, Snider to second. Same scenario as yesterday Cito determined for it go right. One down for Escobar, first pitch fly ball to Duncan in left, two down. Bautista with runner in scoring position strikes out. Was the earlier bunt a good play? Jays lose another and also another one run game. Jays 1/6 with runners in scoring position.

The good: Hill, Escobar and Bautista all with home runs today, sadly nobody on the bases. Definitely young Snider. Travis visibly improved at each bat today. Yesterday his bat speed was way off, and not surprising given a three month layoff but today he was fouling pitches off and also connecting. First two at bats lining them to Crowe I centre but strong outs His third at bat was a wonderful multi-pitch battle before grounding out and then his fourth at bat his well earned single. May not look much in the stats sheet but watching him this afternoon it was a great sign. If he is staying at number nine in the lineup for the next two months, should be interesting.

The "not so sure" play. Wise bunt in the 9th. Second day in a row it didn't pay off.

The bad: Litsch, definitely not ready for the majors. Now 1-5 on his nine starts since return from surgery. He didn’t have anything from the first hitter onwards. He needs more rehab time from that surgery despite what he is telling the coaches and whilst he is at his rehab I think he needs to lose that extra weight and get much fitter. There were two infield plays that he could not get to and in fact by even trying he impeded both Escobar and Bautista surely much better hands for those plays. Yes a pitcher should field his position and yes Jesse does on occasion but plays where speed is needed, not with that extra bulk. Tallet ?? what more can we write about this guy? well, he has the dubious record of blowing two games in two days although the runners belonged to Litsch, he did nothing to hold them and with his usual walk actually walked in a run. I don’t know why Cito was sending him out two days in a row.

The other bad, the Rogers Centre promotion of “All you can eat” yesterday’s game there were four sections filled, today even more at least six. Yes it does put the fans there but is it a great public relations promotion when such a large percentage of the population is suffering from overweight issues? Seems a little strange especially in the seventh inning stretch when we are trying to exercise. Just a thought as I looked at those sections this weekend.
On the other side one excellent promotion I think is the contest of several questions to be answered via phones in the fastest time. The questions are great baseball trivia and today more than 100 contestants. This will undoubtedly be increasing each week as more fans wait for it. Whilst on promotions the highlighting of the players in both the Jays Care Foundation commercial and also in the tableau of three players answering questions from the young Jays fans. Good to see the players in this light and makes them far more identifiable to the fans in the longer term.

Overall a disappointing end to the homestand after wining the first four. Could have should have won both the games and gone on the road with a 6 game wining streak.
Tomorrow in New York. Let’s see which team turns up to play. Morrow has to face the 600 home run circus of A-Rod. It was his day off today although he did have one pinch-hit. I for one will not be cheering for him. And Cito I don't mind if you walk A-Rod every at bat for the series. Far better than being the patsy for this guy's career mark which most fans outside of New York feel is tainted anyway with hs own admission of steroid use. Why should we celebrate?