Payback time, take that you Rays as Jays win with Lind dramatic walk off home run.

Game three Rays v Jays. Sunday September 12.

Must win for Rays as they will pull level with Yankees. Rays also going for the sweep. Jays are playing for some respectability here, they have been awful all weekend. Cito is now lame duck manager so I guess they think they may be able to get away with it. Cito says today that Snider should play every day. Hello Cito where have you been this season? it was your call and didn’t play him game after game and then played him up and down the lineup. Travis never had a chance, he had no idea what was going on. That’s no way to give the kid confidence Cito, phooey with your old school macho stuff.

Lineups: Rays: Upton, Bartlett, Rodriguez, Longoria, Baldelli, Zobrist, Hawpe, Navarro, Jennings.No Crawford or Pena. Joe Maddon giving Jays a chance here, make him pay guys.
Jays: Wise, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Overbay, Hill, Lind, Buck, Snider.
Pitching: Marcum v Niemann.

Top 1st: Upton leading off, pops up to Overbay, one down for Bartlett. Pops up to Snider in left. Rodriguez, two down, strikes out.
Bottom 1st: Wise leading off, grounds to Bartlett at short, throw to Hawpe at first. One down. Escobar strikes out. Bautista pops up to Hawpe for third out. Pitchers duel today friends.

Top 2nd: Longoria leading off, full count and ball four. Come on Shawn. Baldelli with one on, strikes out. Zobrist , ball four, second walk for Marcum don’t let this be like yesterday Shawn. Longoria to second. Navarro two down, pops up to Escobar. Two down for Hawpe, strikes out.
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off, 3-0 count, ball four, one on for Overbay, strikes out. Hill one on one down, strikes out. Two down for Lind, wild pitch by Niemann, Wells to second. Lind lines out to Zobrist in right.

Top 3rd: Jennings leading off, pops up to Wells. One down. Upton same again Wells a busy guy. Bartlett grounds to Escobar throw to Overbay for third out.
Bottom 3rd: Buck leading off, strikes out. One down for Snider, pops up to Jennings.
Wise two down, full count, ball four. Escobar with one on and two down, pops up to Upton in centre.

Top 4th: Rodriguez pops up to Snider in left, one down. Longoria doubles to centre.
Baldelli pops up to Snider in left, two down. Zobrist, two down one on, doubles to right, here comes Longoria and Rays go out ahead 1-0 Rays. Navarro, wild pitch, Zobrist to third. Come on Shawn, falling apart here. That’s better pops up to Snider to end this.
Bottom 4th: Bautista leading off, doubles to left. One on for Wells, 3-0 count, ball four , second walk today, go figure Vernon. Two on nobody out. Overbay singles to right, bases loaded, Bautista at third, Wells at second. Hill grounds back to pitcher, here comes Jose and scores, here comes Vernon, Niemann throws ball away, 2-1 Jays, and Aaron safe, Overbay to third. Error to Niemann. Two on for Lind, ball four and bases are loaded with nobody out. Buck, this will do, lines this one to Upton in centre. Here comes Lyle, 3-1 Jays. One down for Snider, pops up to Upton. Two down for Wise strikes out.

Top 5th: Hawpe leading off grounds to Hill throw to Overbay, one down. Jennings strikes out. Upton with two down. singles to left, safe on the throw to Overbay. Bartlett with runner on. There goes Upton and safe on the throw at second. 1-2 count, strikes out.
Bottom 5th: Escobar leading off 3-1 count lifts it into centre. One down for Bautista. Lines it into left for the second out. Wells, first pitch out, lines it to left centre, two pitches two outs, Vernon brain warp again. Maybe not as he is always doing this. You have already walked twice Vernon this game, surely take a couple. These are the outs that can make huge difference, push Niemann to the limit and he is out of the game. Two runs is nothing for Rays to recover.

Top 6th: Rodriguez, 1-2 count, grounds up the middle, Escobar flashy play but ball out off his glove, I think Aaron had much better shot at that one. Longoria, 3-0 count, Rays and Yankees are patient hitters, Jays could learn something. Grouds hard to third Bautista cannot make the play at first, two on and nobody out. This is exactly what we said about Wells at bat. Tough for Marcum he should have at least one out here. Baldelli. 2-0 count, no room for error for Marcum. High pop up to shallow centre for Escobar. Frasor now warming up. Zobrist, one down two on. Bunting, foul, 0-2 count, ground rule double down the right field line into the crowd. Run scores 3-2 Jays. One down, two in scoring position for Navarro,1-1 count, pops up to Wells in centre, runners stay put. Two down. Here comes Cito. Just a social call. Hawpe with two in scoring position. Marcum on 100 pitches. 2-2 count, wild pitch, here comes the run. How many more is this team going to give up? It seems like almost one a game these days 3-3 game. Full count. Zobrist has moved up to third. Strikes out swinging but Marcum will not be happy with his infielder Escobar.
Bottom 6th: Jays hitters owe Marcum big here now. Wells, Escobar just to mention two. Choate now pitching for Rays. Overbay leading off. 1-2 count, grounds to Longoria at third, throw to first, one down. Hill, 3-1 count. Balfour warming up for Rays. Lines to Jennings in left, two down. Lind, 3-1 count, ball four. Here comes Maddon. Balfour will be pitching. Buck with two down and one on, great time for a home run John. Full count, strikes out on ball four.

Top 7th: Carlson now pitching. Jennings leading off, 0-2 count. Singles into left. One on and another speedster, watch him Jesse. Not his problem, here comes Cito. Frasor now pitching to face Upton. 2-0 there goes Jennings, safe on the throw. Full count. Grounds to Bautista at third, looks Jennings back to second, throw to Overbay, one down. Bartlett, 1-1 count, yet another wild pitch !!! Jennings to third. How many bases have Jays pitchers now given up on these wild pitches? 2-2 count, strikes out swinging, two down. Crawford. Here comes Cito, that’s it for Frasor, Downs now pitching. 0-2 count, pops up to Downs, everyone converged on that one around the mound, could have been nasty. Jays escape here but they have to score runs themselves to win this thing and they have not looked like doing it for a long time.
Bottom 7th: Zobrist at second, Crawford in left and Jennings moves to right. Snider leading off. Would live to see Travis get hold of one here. 1-1 count, pops up to Bartlett at short, one down. Wise, 1-2 count, watches strike three. Oh boy. Escobar, owes his pitcher one. Lines out to centre, three up and down, easy pickings for Rays today.

Top 8th: Downs still out there. Longoria leading off, grounds to Hill at second, nice play buy Aaron, throw to Overbay, one down. Baldelli, full count, bounces to Escobar, throw to Overbay, two down. Zobrist, 1-2 count, great pitch Scott, pops up to Wise in right to end this one. Back to Jays hitters.
Bottom 8th: Bautista leading off. Everyone ion the stadium wants him to at least tie the record here in Toronto. Would not be the same in Baltimore (if he did it there). Benoit now pitching. Pops up first pitch to Longoria, one down. Wells, singles into left. Always when it doesn’t count eh Vernon? Overbay one down one on. 2-2 count, Gregg warming up but Jays have to get ahead here. Full count Lyle. Strikes out Vernon stealing and thrown out at second, double play ball. Vernon in the middle of it. Just not his day.

Top 9th: Gregg pitching. I hope he has Johnny Mc. behind him. No, Escobar. Shoppach leading off for Navarro. 1-2 count, grounds to Escobar, long throw to Overbay for the first out. Hawpe, 3-1 count, ball four. One on one down. Jennings, full count, singles into left, Hawpe running and gets to third on the play, this is trouble. Upton watch the bunt. 2-0 count, lines this to Snider in left, throw not in time here comes the run and Jays déjà vu all over again, 4-3 Rays. Jenings at second for Bartlett, two down. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay for third out but Jays now backs against the wall with Soriano lights out pitching.
Bottom 9th: Shoppach now catching, Pena in at first, Soriano pitching. Hill leading off, that’s a good start Aaron singles to left, one on for Lind, 0-2 count, YES ADAM gets hold of this hammers it into right corner seats, here comes Aaron and here comes the winning run as Lind is mobbed at the plate. Jays win 5-4.What a huge win for the Jays here. The Yankees must be very happy in Texas watching this score.
P.S. Gregg gets the win…. Yeah Kevin.

Problem watching Tampa is that they always show up the weaknesses of Jays running game…. many fans cannot wait for spring to see the new approach speed and youth. Add that component to their game which has been missing under all of Cito’s lineups.

The excellent: Well of course it has to be Lind’s shot, walk off two run home run. But also credit Hill for getting on base.
The good: Marcum. Watching Joe Maddon coaching a game, out there on the steps with Martinez, forever looking at the odds, watching, making changes, reacting. Like a good chess player. Lets wish hard friends.
Bad: Key at bat, Wells in the 5th. First pitch after Bautista out. Escobar play in front of Hill in the 6th. All flash, I would much prefer to see Johnny Mc. in these days, Escobar is too much of a hotdog for my liking.