Rays v Jays. Friday September 10.
Big weekend test for Jays, on a mini-slide and not playing very well right now, facing a Rays team that wants that division title.
Lineups: Rays: Upton, Bartlett, Crawford, Longoria, Pena, Rodriguez, Baldelli, Zobrist, Shoppach.
Jays: Wise, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Overbay, Hill, Buck, Lind, Snider.
Pitching: Shields v Cecil.
Top 1st: Upton leading off, singles to centre, one on for Bartlett. Grounds to Bautista throws to Hill to get lead runner Upton. One down one on for Crawford. This is trouble, gets hold of this one lines it all the way to the wall in centre, here comes Bartlett and Crawford has stand up triple. 1-0 Rays and threatening more with only one out. Longoria, singles to centre, here comes Crawford and Rays take 2-0 lead. Cecil not starting off very well here. Pena with one down and runner at first, strikes out. Two down. Rodriguez, walks, two on. Baldelli, good to see him back playing at this level after all his own health problems. Gets hold of this one and doubles to left, here comes Longoria, here comes Rodriguez, 4-0 Rays and Cecil not fooling anyone this inning. Zobrist with Baldelli at second and two down. Oh boy….gets hold of this one bigtime, home run to Zobrist and this score is now 6-0 Rays before Jays get a bat. Not over yet either, Shoppach with two down. Finally, strikes out to end this nightmare.
Bottom 1st: Wise leading off, strikes out. One down. Escobar grounds to third, Longoria cannot handle it and Escobar safe on the error. Bautista, wild pitch by Shields, Escobar moves to second. Bautista pops up to Zobrist in right. Two down for Wells. That’s the way Vernon, singles to right, here comes Escobar to get Jays on the board. 6-1 Rays. Overbay grounds to Bartlett at short, throw to Pena at first for third out. Shields does his job.
Top 2nd: Has Cecil learned anything ? Top of the order for second time already. Upton leading off pops up to Hill at second. One down for Bartlett, doubles to centre. Crawford grounds to Hill, will not get him with that speed. Bartlett to third. Two on and only one down for Longoria. Singles to centre, here comes Bartlett 7-1 Rays. Crawford to second. Pena with runner at second and only one down, perfect, strikes out. Rodriguez grounds back to Cecil throw to Overbay for third out. Not as bad as the first but obviously Cecil does not have it tonight. Pitch count 50.
Bottom 2nd: Hill pops up to Crawford in left one down. Lind pops up to Upton in centre, two down. Buck, strikes out. Shields closing the door.
Top 3rd: Baldelli walks. That’s it for Cecil, Cito and the crowd have had more than enough. Roenicke now pitching. Zobrist grounds to Overbay, throw to Escobar, back to Overbay double play ball. Shoppach with two down, strikes out. Roenicke stops the bleeding for now at least.
Bottom 3rd: Snider leading off, that’s better Travis, doubles to the wall in centre. One on for Wise, lines out to Crawford in left. Travis has to hold at second. Escobar singles to right, Snider to third. Jays have something going here. Bautista pops up to Zobrist in shallow right. Travis tagging and here comes the throw Snider out at home plate. Double play ball. That was probably not a great idea with Vernon on deck, it was much too shallow and we had already seen Zobrist throw.
Top 4th: Upton, first pitch swinging there she goes, home to left. 8-1 Rays. The beat goes on. Bartlett pops up to Escobar at short, one down. Crawford grounds to Overbay steps on the bag himself, two down for Longoria, pops up to Wise in right.
Bottom 4th: Wells leading off, full count, grounds to short, long throw to first for the out. Overbay lines to right, one on one down for Hill.1-2 strikes out, two down. Lind, gets hold of one but just foul in right. 0-1 count, YES, YES Adam gets hold of this one into centre, here comes Lyle, here comes Adam, 8-3 game. Buck, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 71.
Top 5th: Can Roenicke close them down here and get Jays hitters out there. Pena leading off, shift right, pops up right at Hill in shallow right behind Lyle. One down. Rodriguez, pops up to Wells, two down. Baldelli, 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, that’s the way, perfect inning Josh. Now lets get those bats a booming.
Bottom 5th: Snider, first pitch pop up to Upton in left. Come on Travis use your head. Wise with one down. 2-1 count, grounds to second, throw to first, two down. Escobar. Lines it to short, off his glove into left, that was hit very hard. Bautista, with one on and two down. 2-2 count, WHOA Jose !!!!!!!!! yes Jose, gets this one into left, a moon shot, here comes Yunel, here comes Jose, 8-5 Rays. Wells pops up to Longoria at third. But Jays are definitely back in this one. Pitch count 83, would have been a lot better than that if Travis had thought for a second.
Top 6th: Janssen now pitching. Roenicke did great job. Zobrist leading off, 3-1 count, ball four inside, come on Casey…. Shoppach, pops up to Wise in right, one down. Upton, full count, Carlson and Camp warming up in bullpen. Strikes out swinging there goes Zobrist, Buck throw way high at second, come on John. That was terrible, Zobrist now to third on the error. Two down for Bartlett. 3-1 count, low ball four, come on Casey, that’s your night over. Cito out there, here comes Carlson. Crawford with two down and two on. WHOA!!! Grounds to Hill flip to Escobar at second to just get Bartlett. That was very close.
Bottom 6th: Jays get another chance to close the gap. Overbay leading off. Randy Choate now pitching for Shields. Pops up to Upton in centre, one down. Hill, one down. 1-2 count, Matt Balfour warming up in Rays bullpen. Strikes out swinging, two down for Lind. strikes out swinging.
Top 7th: Frasor now pitching. Longoria, 0-1 count. Grounds very hard to Bautista at third, dives knocks it down, Jose up and bounces throw to Overbay, one down. Pena, 1-1 count, high moon shot to right field corner, Wise gets it at the wall. Two down. Rodriguez, 1-2 count, pops up to Wells. Frasor did his job.
Bottom 7th: Buck leading off, Choate still out there. 2-2 count. Gets hold of this one, drives it into right,no dount this time about this one, home run to Buck, 8-6 Rays. Snider, 0-2 count, strikes out swinging on three pitches. Wise, with one down, full count. Ball four, great at bat by DeWayne. Here comes Joe Maddon, Chad Qualls now pitching. Escobar, the tying run. Who would have thought that at the bottom of the first? Wise running Escobar bounces the ball to first Qualls just beats Escobar to the bag, two down. Bautista with runner at second. Here comes Maddon again, and calling for Benoit. Managers pulling all the stops out tonight, I tell you these games are huge for the Rays and should be for the Jays as well but a lot less pressure on them. Yankees already winning tonight and could go out 3.5 games ahead if Rays were to lose this one. Asks for time but does not get it, strike one. OH WOWEEEEE gets hold of this one another into left field seats here comes Yunel, here comes Jose two run home run to tie this game up. 8-8. Curtain call, Wells now chance for you Vernon, grounds to first. What a game. Can you imagine what the Yankees say when they see that score… Have you ever noticed when Jose gets mad he hits a home run? He was denied that time out and comes back to hit the home run. Cecil also off the hook for loss, no decision now.
Top 8th: Camp now pitching, Jaso pinch hitting for Baldelli, full count, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Overbay for the first out. Zobrist 3-1 count, ball four. One on one down. Matt Joyce pinch hitting for Shoppach, 2-1 count. Downs warming up in bullpen.3-1 count, Camp not finding the zone right now. Ball four wide and two on now. Not good at all after the way hitters have come back in this one. Upton with one down and two on. Need a ground ball here Shawn. 2-2 count. Strikes out swinging, two down but not out of it yet with Bartlett now at bat. That’s more like it. lines it hard to second but Hill dives to make the stop and throw to Overbay for third out. That took a run away. Great defense helping out Camp here.
Bottom 8th: All square with Overbay leading off and no lefty in the Rays bullpen. Benoit still pitching. 2-2 count. Pops up to Upton in centre. One down. Hill, should be fired up after that great fielding play last inning. Grounds to Longoria at third, dives to make the stop and throw to first to get Aaron, two down for Lind. 0-2 count, grounds to Rodriguez, throw to first.
Top 9th: Gregg now pitching, what happened to Downs? Cito gambling here. Crawford leading off, first pitch lines to Snider in left. Longoria, one down, 3-1 count, ball four, Cito getting anxious. One on one down for Pena. 3-0 count, getting (very) restless here Kevin. There‘s a strike, full count, ball four. Two on one down for Rodriguez. 1-2 count, NO, grounds to Overbay throw to Escobar at second to get Pena, throw to Gregg at first, wide of first and Rays take the lead on the Escobar error, 9-8 Rays. that has taken wind out of the crowd. Two down for Jaso grounds to Overbay, takes it himself for third out.
Bottom 9th: Jays have an uphill battle here now Soriano 41 saves, lights out this season. Buck leading off. 0-2 count, way over head of catcher and umpire, weird. Strikes out swinging. One down for Snider, 0-2 count, goes high and Travis always swings at it. Never ever learns. Two down for Wise. Last chance for Jays. full count. Strikes out swinging. Jays lose a heartbreaker.
Interesting how Joe Maddon goes out there with the team to join in the celebrations.
One run, winning run on an error. Escobar the goat. I am still on the fence on this guy. Too many errors and not really producing with the bat either on a regular basis since that first few weeks. Not alone in that there are others in the same boat. Bautista is carrying some of them on his bat.
Good: Bautista two run home run to get Jays within three and then Number 46 to get the team level and his own home run total one behind Bell. Wise at bat in the 7th. against Choate the lefty specialist, hangs in there for a walk to get tying run to the plate. Roenicke, Camp and Frasor. Jays hitters deserve the plaudits for getting back into this one.
Bad: Janssen awful, Snider error on the tag home, Buck throwing error in the 6th. Gregg not sharp but he had the ball on the ground for the double play.
The very bad: Has to be Escobar all alone out there tonight with the error. Cecil for getting the team in the mess in the first inning.
Better crowd tonight: 14,305
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