Monday, September 6, 2010

Romero classic win number 12 and home run power from Wells, Hill and Escobar

Game one of four. Jays v Rangers. Monday September 6.

Tough four game series against West division leaders. Although Jays have owned them to day wining 5/6 this is a strong team with or without Hamilton who is injured with rib injury. Tough hitting lineup in a temporary slump and ready to break out. Escobar back in lineup, sorry to see Johnny Mc. out, he has played so very well with bat as well as his usual glove. In fact has more home runs than Escobar and with far fewer at bats. Hill playing although with gammy knee.

Lineups: Rangers: Kinsler, Young, Cruz, Guerrero, Francouer, Cantu. Murphy, Teagarden, Blanco.
Jays: Wise, Escobar, Bautista, Wells, Overbay, Hill, Lind, Buck, Snider.
Pitching: Romero v Hunter.

Top 1st: Kinsler leading off. Grounds to third, Escobar cannot come up with the ball. One on for Young, WHOA nice play, grounds back to Romero off his glove and deflects it, Escobar from his knees throw to get Kinsler at second. That might have been double play if Romero let it through. One down for Cruz, 1-2 count, pops up to Wells, two down for Guerrero. 2-2 count, singles into left. Francouer with two on and two down. Pops up to Snider in left. Pitch count 19.
Bottom 1st: Wise leading off. Grounds first pitch to Kinsler at second, throw to first for the out. One down for Escobar. Grounds to Blanco at short, throw to first, two down. Bautista, great reception. 3-1 count. Gets under this one, and pops up very high to left for the out. Pitch count 8.

Top 2nd: Cantu leading off, grounds to third, Bautista throw to Overbay for the out. One down, Murphy, first pitch pop up to Wells, two down, Teagarden, 0-2 strikes out swinging. 7 pitch inning. Very nice Ricky. Pitch count 26.
Bottom 2nd: Wells leading off. Bounces one to third no chance for a throw, Vernon at first. Overbay, 3-1 count, Vernon running, ball four. Two on nobody out for Hill. First pitch pop up to Teagarden, awful Aaron. Lind, bounces one to Kinsler at second, runners move up but Lind out. Two in scoring position two down for Buck. 0-2 count, Oh wow. Lucky Jays, ball gets away as he strikes out, here comes Wells, beats the throw by Teagarden to Hunter at the plate but Buck at first. Teagarden could have had Buck at first. 1-0 Jays. Jays get big break for Snider with runners at the corner. 0-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 25.

Top 3rd: Blanco leading off. Full count, ball four. Kinsler with one on. Drives it to Wells in centre for the out. Blanco cannot advance on the throw by Vernon. Young 3-1 count, Romero a bit off here. Ball four, losing the strike zone Ricky. Cruz, with two on. Perfect, first pitch grounds to Escobar, flip to Hill, over to Overbay double play ball. Pitch count 42.
Bottom 3rd: Wise leading off, 1-2 count, singles back up the middle. Escobar, bunting ? Yes, back to pitcher, throw to first to get Wise. Wise safe at second. Problem is he does it so much, scouts are not going to let that go for long. Bautista. 3-1 count. Ball four. Wells with two on and only one out. Takes strike one ? Vernon. 2-1 count. There she goes, drives it into the Jays bullpen, here comes Wise, here comes Bautista and here comes Vernon, 4-0 Jays. Overbay drives it into centre and ball bounces over head of Francouer, totally misjudged the turf bounce. Double for Lyle. Hill with one on and one down. WOWWWWWW… There it goes same place for Aaron, left field bullpen, here comes Lyle, here comes Aaron 6-0 Jays. Lind, singles into centre. Not Hunter’s day today. Buck, 1-2 count, Harrison warming up in Texas bullpen. Full count. Grounds to third, throw to second on to first double play. Pitch count 55.

Top 4th: Romero with a great lead to play with here. Guerrero leading off. 0-2 count, golfs it into right field corner, stand up double. Francouer, grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Overbay, one down. Cantu, grounds to Bautista, throw to Overbay, two down and throw back to third but Guerrero safe at third. Murphy two down and runner at third. Singles to Wells in centre, here comes Guerrero, 6-1 Jays. Teagarden, full count, high pop up to shallow left for Snider. Pitch count 58.
Bottom 4th: Snider pop up to Francoeur in right, one down. Wise pop up to flied out to Murphy in centre. Escobar with two down grounds to Blanco at short, throw to Cantu at first. Three up and down10 pitch inning. Pitch count 65.

Top 5th: Grounds to Bautista throw to first, one down for Kinsler, What a great play, grounds to Bautista turns and throws to Overbay, two down. Young lines it of the foot of Romero to Hill, Young safe at first. Cruz with two down. Oh Boy Jose not good. Grounds to Bautista throw high into the crowd, he had time. Error on the play. Runners at second and third. Guerrero with two down. Pops up to Wise in right and escapes damage. That could have been big trouble in Vladdy had hit it out. Pitch count 73.
Bottom 5th: Bautista now chance to atone for that error. He will be mad. Bounces to third, throw to first, one down. Come on Vernon, grounds first pitch to third, throw to first for second out. Not a good at bat by Vernon. Overbay, 0-2 count, strike three looking, two quick innings for Hunter. Jays have to get focused here, this game is not over with this lineup. Pitch count 73.

Top 6th: Francouer grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Overbay. One down for Cantu pops up to Wise in right, two down. Murphy, 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Very nice Ricky. Pitch count 84.
Bottom 6th: Hill leading off. 2-2 count. Golfs it into centre to Murphy, one down. Lind, first pitch lousy swing, pops up to left two down. Cito should start sitting Lind. Give Arencibia some time as DH he cannot do worse than Lind. Buck also first pitch back to Hunter throw to first. Seven pitch inning. Hunter should be out of the game and yet Jays hitters are giving him these easy outs. Two innings 15 pitches. Pitch count 80.

Top 7th: Teagarden leading off. Singles into left. Blanco, lines it to Wise in right, one down. Kinsler, grounds to Bautista at third, bounces throw to Overbay but enough to get Kinsler, two down. Camp warming up in bullpen. Singles into right, Teagarden holds at third. Two on for Young, Pops up to Wise in right for the third out.
Bottom 7th: Snider leading off, Hunter unbelievably is still out there, he could last longer than Romero despite the score. Lines it to right but great diving catch by Cantu, that was two for Travis, tough out. Wise, full count. strikes out swinging, two down for Escobar. Yes YUNEL, lines this one into the Jays bullpen. Home run Yunel. 7-1 Jays. Bautista 1-2 count. Pops up to Teagarden behind home plate. Pitch count 98.

Top 8th: Camp now in there to close them down. 1-1 count. Guerrero doubles to the wall in centre. Francouer, Pops up to Snider in left, one down. Guerrero holds at second. Cantu, 2-1 count, grounds to Escobar, throw to Overbay, two down and Guerrero has to hold. Murphy, 1-2 count, loops it to Wells in centre for third out.
Bottom 8th: Strop now pitching. Wells leading off. Pops up to Young in front of mound. One down. Overbay lines it to the wall in centre stand up double. RAIN !!! who decided to open the dome ? Rain is all over southern Ontario today, and the game started with roof closed. Just a light shower. Roof stays open. Hill singles to centre, Lyle has to hold thought it might be caught, moves to third, maybe had a chance to score if he had run on contact. Two on. Johnny Mc. now pinch running for Hill. Give Aaron a break for his knee. That’s it for Sprot. Clay Rapada now pitching. Lind, not a good game so far. Strikes out swinging. Two down for Buck, full count. Strikes out swinging. Oh boy here comes Tallet.

Top 9th: Can Tallet blow this one? Bottom of Texas order. Teagarden leading off. 1-2 count. Strikes out swinging. Good start for Tallet. Blanco, singles into right. Kinsler 1-1 count lines it to Wise in right, two down for Young, Blanco takes second, defensive indifference. 2-2 count, Tallet doesn’t often have the crowd standing .Lines it into centre, here comes Blanco. 7-2 Jays. I tell you with Tallet, anything can happen. Stand up double for Young. Cruz, same again but Vernon playing more shallow and makes the catch to end this one. Jays score seven for second game in a row.

The good: Romero a great game seven innings and win number twelve. Wells, Hill and Escobar home run power and some more excellent defense on the left side.
Bad: Yes today. The middle innings when game was going well, Jays appeared to relax and showed undisciplined hitting. Jays hitters giving Hunter the chance to stay in far longer than he should have been. They had Harrison working in the Texas bullpen in the third inning. Poor hitting first pitch.

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