Jays outhit Yankees but fall short as Drabek pitches one to forget

Jays v Yankees. Game two of three.

Jays would love to win this one and take the series, the other incentive is AJ Burnett pitching. Have not won a series in New York since 2003. However would imagine Yankees line up leaving bases loaded and nobody out without scoring. Last night Jays dodged a bullet. Terrible small crowd last night, they must have known something the other fans did not.

Line-ups: Jays: Molina in for Arencibia as Drabek is pitching but otherwise same line-up as last night. Davis, Escobar, Bautista, Lind, Rivera, Cooper, Encarnacion, Molina, McCoy and Drabek pitching.

Yankees: Jeter, Granderson hitting second with A-Rod on the bench, Teixeira, Cano, Swisher hitting behind the hot Cano, Chavez in for A-Rod at 3B, Posada DH today, Martin, Gardner and Burnett pitching. No A-Rod or Andruw Jones but still a very strong line up for Drabek.

Top 1st: Girardi was mentioning the speed and changes in the aggressive play of new Manager Farrell and this guy is the catalyst. Davis leading off. Two stolen bases last night in his first game back from the DL. Big strike zone today judging from first two pitches called strikes ! Davis lines it to centre, over head of Granderson to the wall, Rajai all the way to 3B, leadoff triple. Escobar now. Bounces to Burnett here comes Davis to score 1-0 Jays. Speed kills and Jays using it to their advantage this season. Bautista lines first pitch to left but caught by Gardner. Lind, with two down. 2-2 count, strikes out swinging. Pitch count 14.
Bottom 1st: Jeter leading off. Grounds back to Drabek, throw to Lind, one down. Granderson, full count, strikes out swinging, two down. Teixeira, doubles to centre, Davis loses ball in the sun, Cano. Strikes out swinging. 14 pitch count.

Top 2nd: Rivera, singles back up the middle. Cooper first pitch swinging, has to be much more patient, pops up to second. 0-5 now. Encarnacion bounces up the 3B line, no throw, Encarnacion safe at first. That should have had Rivera at third with one out if Cooper had done his job. Molina now with two on. Strikes out swinging over the top, two down for McCoy, strikes out swinging, no contest for McCoy, overpowered by Burnett. 30 pitch count.
Bottom 2nd: Swisher singles to left. Chavez, 3-1 count, ball four. Two on nobody out. Posada, grounds to McCoy flip to Escobar no chance for two. Runner to 3B. One down with two on. Martin, singles up the middle 1-1 game. Two on one down for Gardner. Full count, ball four outside to load the bases for Jeter. Finally Walton out, a little late here Bruce, 2-2 count, full count, fly ball to Davis, here comes the run, 2-1 Yankees two down for Granderson. Singles to left, here comes the run 3-1 Yankees. Teixeira, Jays bullpen working. Villanueva. Strikes out but 49 pitches for two innings just does not cut it today Kyle.

Top 3rd; Jays need a big inning to help Drabek out there. Davis, fly ball to right, one down for Escobar. 3-0 count. Takes it all the way 3-1. Singles to left, one on one down for Bautista. Going the other way, doubles to the corner in right, Escobar to 3B. Lind, now with two in scoring position. Lines to Gardner in left, here comes Escobar 3-2 game. Sac fly for Adam. Jose stays at second for Rivera. Ball in the dirt. There goes Jose, steals third no throw. Pressure on AJ now. Rivera lines to Gardner in left for third out. 48 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Cano singles to right. Swisher full count, strikes out, one down. Cano was moving on the pitch and reaches second, Chavez singles to left, 4-2 game. Posada, need a double play here Kyle. Full count wild pitch and runner moves to second. Drabek having a nightmare of a game today. Ball four anyway, two on one down for Martin. 2-2 count, another full count, ball four, Bases loaded. Four walks today for Drabek. Add on the six hits and 72 pitches, he is lucky he is not deeper in the hole than two runs. Gardner, 2-0 count. Singles to left. Here comes Chavez. Bases loaded again 5-2 game that’s it for Drabek. Frasor now pitching, Jeter lines to right, runner holds. Interesting respect for Bautista’s arm. Two down bases still loaded. Granderson. Perfect lines to Bautista in right. Drabek escapes further damage to his ERA but owes Frasor a drink to get him out of that mess.

Top 4th: Jays only 3 down could have been 7 or 8. Now they have to get to Burnett. Cooper, let’s hope he is more patient this time. Takes ball one, that’s a start. 2-0 Pops it up. 0-6 start to his big league career, looks overmatched. Encarnacion full count, Fly ball to Granderson in centre, two down. Molina, first pitch swinging same play to Granderson. Lousy undisciplined hitting by Jays bottom of line-up is not helping their pitchers today.
Bottom 4th: Teixeira leading off. Full count. Ball four. One on for Cano. Strikes out looking. One down for Swisher. Finally ground ball to McCoy to Escobar to Lind, double play. Almost one hour 45 minutes to play four today, very slow game.

Top 5th: Now Frasor has stopped bleeding perhaps Jays can get back into this thing. Perfect McCoy leading off first pitch lines it into left field seats, home run McCoy. 5-3 Jays. Davis perfect, bunts ten feet but safe at first perfect bunt. Jays humming here. Escobar. Now Burnett has to battle with Davis at first. NO, throw over gets Rajai this time. Much too eager. Escobar grounds to second throw to first gets him. Bautista now with two down. See what AJ does here. 2-1 outside. Grounds to Jeter at short, throw gets him at first. Disappointing after promising start there.
Bottom 5th: Camp now pitching, this bullpen is really getting overworked. Chavez, grounds to McCoy throw to Lind one down. Full count. Grounds to Encarnacion throw to Lind, two down. Martin, pops up to McCoy. Much better inning for Jays pitchers, unfortunately Camp cannot pitch every inning every game.

Top 6th: Lind, singles opposite field to left. Rivera, 3-1 count, doubles over the head of Granderson to the wall. Lind had to hold at first until he could see ball going to the wall, otherwise he could have scored here. Cooper now. That will do David, first pitch fly ball to Gardner in left here comes Lind, 5-4 game, Sac fly RBI for Cooper. One down for Encarnacion, Rivera at second. Pitch count 80 now. There goes Rivera ???? out at third on the throw. How does Rivera think he can steal? Encarnacion strikes out on the play, double play to end this one. Jays are battling but do not need to give anything to Yankees.
Bottom 6th: Camp still pitching Gardner strikes out, one down. Jeter, strikes out swinging, two down. Granderson with two down. Pops it up in foul territory Encarnacion drops it, that was catchable, always an adventure with Encarnacion at 3B, full count now. Fly ball to Bautista in right. Edwin is off the hook. Camp another excellent inning.

Top 7th: Chamberlain now pitching. Interesting, Burnett only had 82 pitches. Molina, lines to Gardner in right for first out. McCoy. Pulls it to third, long throw but Chavez gets McCoy. Davis now has to redeem himself for last outing, awful, first pitch grounds to Jeter throw to first for third out. Not much thought behind that at bat.
Bottom 7th: Marc Rzepczynski replaces Camp. Marc another overworked pitcher. Teixeira grounds to Encarnacion at 3B, throw to Lind, one down. Cano, 1-1 count, oh boy, hits him. One on one down. Swisher, perfect pops up to McCoy at second, throw to Lind to get Cano off base double play ball.

Top 8th: Soriano replaces Chamberlain. Escobar leading off, grounds to Chavez at 3B throw to Teixeira at first for the out. Bautista, 2-0 count, 2-2 fly ball to left for the out. Jose cannot be perfect every at bat. Two down for Lind. Singles to Swisher in right. One on two down. Rivera 0-2, 2-2, fly ball out to Swisher to end the rally. Time and at bats running out for Jays.
Bottom 8th: Francisco replaces Repzczynski. Chavez, fouling them off here, seven pitches grounds to Escobar, throw to Lind, one down. Posada 2-1 count, fly ball to Rivera in left. Two down, Martin, 0-2 count, grounds to Escobar throw to Lind for third out. Jays are now down to their last three against the other Rivera.

Top 9th: Molina 1-2 count, seven pitches Molina hanging in here. WOW doubles to centre. Eight pitches at bat. Great at bat. Patterson, Pinch runner McCoy now with runner in scoring position. 2-0 count, 2-1 swings on ball three. Whoa that was very low, 2-2 count. Pops up to right. Jays get close but not enough tonight.
The little things add up and today was perfect example for the Jays. Individual plays may appear harmless but in a one run game they are crucial. Drabek takes the loss but deservedly so. April ends with Jays one under .500. Is that good? No. But probably what Alex would have predicted a month ago. Lots of promise in this team but they have to perform.

Good: Davis leadoff triple. Jays outhit Yankees 11-7. McCoy first major league home run. Camp two excellent scoreless innings to hold Yankees. Bullpen five scoreless innings but at what longer term cost? Three more stolen bases. Everybody in starting line up had hits today with Cooper hit being the sac fly rbi. Jays never gave up although they made it difficult for themselves.

The bad: Starting pitching has to go deeper to give bullpen a break. Camp in particular is way overworked so early in season. Lousy base running by Jays. Davis picked off at first and Rivera out at third stealing. Encarnacion dropped ball,

The very bad: Runners in scoring position. Today 0-6. This is the major reason why Jays are where they are right now. It has to get better for them to have a chance at playoff position.
Litsch tomorrow, will have to pitch his heart out for Jays to win the series.