Marcum an off day as bats go silent and Jays unable to sweep..

Game three Jays v Yankees. Wednesday August 4.

Jays looking at a sweep of the Yankees in New York. Not a fantasy friends, a possibility. Best sight last night, a full house waiting in vain for A-Rod to bat in bottom of the 9th and watching Jays celebrate great win and the series.

Lineups: Jays: Snider, Hill, Bautista, Wells, Lind, Buck, Overbay Encarnacion, McDonald. Lineup a little messed up today but Cito says only for one game. Surely with day off tomorrow who needs a rest today? Messes with the good karma Cito.
NYY: Jeter, Swisher, Teixeira, Rodriguez, Cano, Posada, Berkman, Granderson, Gardner.
Pitching: Hughes v Marcum

Top 1st: Snider leading off, no Cito, how to mess up with this guy, just as he was starting to hit well. Travis strikes out. Hill with one down, lines to Gardner in left for the out. Bautista with two down, pops up to Teixeira at first.
Bottom 1st: Jeter leading off, singles to left. Swisher with one on, strikes out. That’s better. One down for Teixeira, pops up to Encarnacion. Two down for Rodriguez. The circus with the marked balls starts again. Over 100 such balls to date. 2-0 count, Downs pitching him away. There we go, finally Rodriguez gets hold of one and home run to centre, here comes Jeter here comes A-Rod. 2-0 Yankees. Let the celebrations begin, in NY. Cano grounds to Encarnacion throw to Overbay for the third out. NY strikes first and finally A-Rod gets his (tainted) home run figure.

Top 2nd: We need a response here. Wells leading off, strikes out. One down for Lind, strikes out. Buck with two down, fly ball to Gardner in left. Easy inning for Hughes and not quite the response we had in mind.
Bottom 2nd: Posada leading off, grounds back to Marcum throw to Overbay. One down for Berkman strikes out. Granderson singles to left. One on two down. Gardner, there goes Granderson and safe at second. Gardner strikes out.

Top 3rd: Overbay leading off, full count and walks, that’s a start Lyle. Encarnacion singles to left, Overbay to second. Two on, Jays threatening. McDonald fly ball to Granderson, Overbay moves to third. One down. Snider pops up to Cano and second, two down for Hill. Aaron grounds Rodriguez throw to Cano to get Encarnacion.
Bottom 3rd: Jeter leading off doubles to left. One on for Swisher, fly ball to Snider in left.Teixiera doubles to right, here comes Jeter, 3-0 NY. Rodriguez grounds to McDonald at short, throw to Overbay for the out. Cano with two down grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for the final out.

Top 4th: Bautista leading off singles to left. Wells fly ball to Granderson in centre. Lind with one and one down, full count and ball four, Bautista to second. Buck with one down and two on, strikes out. Overbay, here we go, doubles to right, here comes Bautista, Lind at third. 3-1 NY. Encarnacion strikes out.
Bottom 4th: Posada fly ball to Wells in centre, one down. Berkman fly ball to Bautista in right. Granderson with two down strikes out.

Top 5th: McDonald leading off pops up to Rodriguez at third, one down for Snider, fly ball to Granderson in centre. Hill fly ball to Swisher in right. Jays go very quietly.
Bottom 5th: Gardner leading off doubles to right. Jeter bunting to third, and safe at first. Gardner to third. Two on and no outs, Marcum in deep here. Swisher full count, and ball four to load the bases, Jeter to second. Teixeira singles to centre, two runs score. 5-1 NY. Runners at the corners still no outs and Rodriguez. Tallet warming up in bullpen. Might as well pour gas on this situation. 1-2 count, full count. Fouls ball off hand of Buck. This is nasty. Has to leave the game. Rodriguez pops up to McDonald at short, one down. Cano, 1-2 count. Perfect grounds to Hill, throw to McDonald, over to Overbay, double play ball to get out of this one but Yankees have broken it open.

Top 6th: Bautista, 2-1 count singles to right. One on for Wells 0-2 today, great time to break out Vernon. Gives this one a chance high to the wall in left centre, juts not enough. One down. That’s it for Hughes though. 100 pitches, struggled but Jays could not get that one hit. Lind with one down and one on. Boone Logan now pitching. Lefty lefty matchup. Hits him on the shoulder. Two on. Molina now with two on, make them pay Jose. Strikes out swinging, two down for Overbay, grounds to Cano, throw to first to get Overbay and end this one leaving two more on base.
Bottom 6th: Posada leading off. Grounds to Hill at second, knocks it down and throw just gets Posada at first. Berkman, grounds hard to first backhand play by Overbay, takes it himself for the second out. Granderson, 0-2 count. 2-2, full count. Strike three looking.

Top 7th: Encarnacion leading off. Chamberlain now pitching. Bounces first pitch back to Chamberlain, throw to first one down. McDonald, grounds it back up the middle, throw by Cano not in time that was tough play going away from the bag. Snider, first pitch lines to Jeter, two down. Hill 2-1 count. full count. Pops up to Teixeira at first.
Bottom 7th: The good news is that Camp has taken over from Marcum, not Tallet. Gardner leading off. Grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for the out. Jeter, 3-3 today. Now 4-4, as he doubles into right field corner. Grounds to Hill, throw to Camp to make the play and out, Jeter to third two down for Teixeira, full count, ball four. Rodriguez with two on. Grounds hard back to Camp, sticks out his glove and seems surprised the ball is in there. Throw to first for the out. Rodriguez leaves two on.

Top 8th: Robertson pitching. Bautista leading off, walks, good start. Wells with one on, lines this hard to centre but Granderson makes the catch. One down for Lind, strikes out. Molina one on two down, strikes out, leaving Bautista out there. Interesting to see how few fans are left here unlike last night when they were forced to stay into bottom of the ninth and the very last out and see their team lose.
Bottom 8th: Janssen pitching, Cano leading off. Full count. Bounces it to Hill at second but bobbles the ball and cannot make any throw, one on for Posada, pops up to Bautista in right. One down for Berkman, WHOA lines this one very hard but right at Overbay at first steps on the bag, double play ball.

Top 9th: Jays last stand and Rivera pitching. It will be interesting to see how many first pitch outs. Do they have any fight left here or are they already on the plane home? Bottom of the Jays order. Overbay leading off. Grounds to Cano throw to first one down for Encarnacion. Hits him, one on for McDonald. Grounds first pitch to Rodriguez, throw to Cano, Encarnacion out at second but no double play here as he drops the ball. Snider, 2-0 count. Lines it back at Rivera makes the catch for third out.

Jays lose this one but take the series in New York and will be very happy with that.

The good: Not much today. Bautista two hits and walk to get on base three times. Three hits for the rest of the team.
The bad: Marcum just didn’t have it today, struggled from the very first inning.
The real bad: The media circus over Rodriguez, even when it was long over we were still getting Jays radio announcers telling us that “we could listen to the home run call made by Jerry Howarth on the website”. As if any Jays fan would bother, but seriously this is baseball history? I don’t think so to fans out side of New York. This guy admitted drug usage in Texas. How many of the 600 were under the influence. No in the minds of many fans this guy is an asterisk…. Or rather a series of them.