Jays v Mariners Game one.
Jays move north to Seattle after disappointing weekend. Jesse Litsch v Felix Hernandez tonight, tough matchup for Jesse against AL 2010 Cy Young winner. Jays will not be fooled by the Mariners losing streak of seven, they want to make it ten before they leave here. Jays player merry go round continues with Corey Patterson being recalled and Richmond sent back to Vegas after his one day visit with Mike McCoy sent to Vegas. Richmond was really only insurance in event that Jo Jo Reyes could not go any length but Reyes pitched very well overall despite that long 31 pitch first inning. Good to see Patterson off the DL after his hit in the head. Patterson is needed to replace Davis who reinjured his ankle and will probably miss the Seattle series to give it a thorough rest. That marathon game with the Angels and then the day game probably didn’t help much and might explain his lack of jet speed on a couple of plays yesterday. Jays really need to get their bats going again after last two silent games.
Lineups: Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Lind, Hill, Arencibia, Snider, Encarnacion, DH tonight with Nix at 3B and Litsch pitching.
Mariners: Suzuki, Figgins, Bradley, Cust, Smoak, Olivo, Saunders, Ryan, Wilson and Hernandez pitching.
In Boston Tampa are all over Red Sox hammering both Matsuzaka and Wakefield 12 runs in 5.1 innings of work, ouch. Johnny Damon has hit a home run, that would also get the Boston faithful upset.
Top 1st: Not much of a crowd for this one. Escobar leading off tonight. Singles first pitch back up the middle. Patterson, bunting but fouls it back. That’s a tough call to start back with, grounds to second throw to the bag gets Escobar but no time to get speedster Patterson. Bautista one on , one down, passed ball and Patterson to second. 3-1 count, keeping it away from Jose. Count full, ball four. Lind. Oh man, Lind strikes out looking, does not take his bat off his shoulders for all three pitches, sometimes I wonder where his head is. Hill, strikes out leaves two on but the key at bat there was that of Lind. Jays already 0-2 with runners in scoring position.
Bottom 1st:Suzuki, singles past diving Hill, Figgins, bunts foul. Singles to Snider in left, two on nobody out, Bradley, gets him, strikes out swinging, huge out, now for the ground ball. Cust, two on one down, strikes him out. Two down for Smoak. 3-1 count, Jesse making it difficult for himself. Count full, way outside, loads the bases, 21 pitches also. Olivo, finally grounds it to Lind for the out, but that took 25 pitches, I don’t think Jesse will be hanging around long in this game unless he can change it around here.
Top 2nd: Arencibia leading off. Strikes out on three pitches. Snider, 3-0 count, walks him on four pitches. Encarnacion, there you go Edwin, lines it to left for a double. I give up with this guy. Nix now with two in scoring position he will not be taking pitches, lines it off third base, here comes Travis, 1-0 Jays. Finally a hitter. Edwin moves to third, Escobar with two on, strikes out swinging, two down for Patterson, pops it up to shallow centre for third out but at least Jays get one. 34 pitches now for Hernandez.
Bottom 2nd: Boston have lost 16-5 to Tampa whoa Dice-K now what he used to be..... Red Sox nation in mourning on this one. 2-8 now as is Tampa. Jays will going in there this weekend. Saunders, lines it to Snider in left, one down. Ryan, lines it to Bautista in right, two down. Wilson, grounds back to Litsch, three up and down and that pitch count lowered a little. 39.
Top 3rd: Bautista leading off. Full count, grounds to short, long throw pulls him off the bag and Jose safe diving in. Perhaps Adam you will swing at one this time. Full count. Strikes out swinging over it, Hernandez has Adam’s number. Hill, they have Jose picked off but somehow he avoids the rundown and slides in head first safe at second as the ball is dropped. Aggressive play. Good to see, I thought they had lost the art from that first week. Perfect look at that, Aaron doubles into left corner and here comes Jose 2-0. Jays. Nice solid hit from Aaron. Arencibia now. JP lifts one into shallow right, two on for Snider, fouling them off here, 50 pitches now for Felix. That will do Travis, grounds to first, throw to second to get Arencibia no chance for two, Hill scores 3-0. Jays. Edwin, two down one on. Snider stealing on the pitch Olivo throw down and they get him at second. Edwin will lead off next inning. But jays get two more and Hernandez at 65 pitch count.
Bottom 3rd: Suzuki, full count, grounds to Nix at third, strong throw gets him. Nice play Jayson. One down for Figgins, 3-0 come on Jesse, focus. Ball four, not good with Figgins speed. Bradley, 2-0 six balls in a row here. There goes Figgins running on the play Bradley singles up the middle and Figgins at third, you cannot finesse Jesse here. Two on one down for Cust, 2-2 control really missing here, count full, ball four and bases loaded. Here comes Walton but I don’t think Jesse has it tonight. Question is can he limit the damage here? Smoak, need a ground ball Jesse, just get it in play. Full count. This is painful. Whoa Smoak strikes out on ball four, two down. Bullpen warming up. Olivo, bases loaded two down. Fly ball to Snider in left and Litsch escapes bigtime. But that was not a good audition Jesse for the rotation and his pitch count is terrible at 71 pitches for three innings.
Top 4th: Encarnacion leads off, Rodriguez in for Figgins at third. I don’t believe him, singles into left. 2-2 tonight. That is what makes him so maddening but we will take tonight at least. Nix, Jayson does it again, doubles into left, Edwin not too fast and stuck at third. But Jays will take two on in scoring position and nobody out and top of the order. Escobar. Wild pitch and here comes Edwin, 4-0 Jays. Nix to third. This should do it, fly ball to centre, here comes Nix, 5-0 Jays and one down. Patterson singles into right and the beat goes on. Bautista singles into left, Mariners bullpen working. Lind, two on and one down. Full count. Watch the one in the dirt Adam. Gets it this time but grounds to second, throw to first double play ball. But Jays get to Hernandez bigtime. 87 poitches
Bottom 4th: Can Litsch smarten up here now with this lead? Saunders, first pitch fly ball to Snider, one down. Ryan, singles into left. Wilson lines it to right, great sliding catch by Bautista. Two down. Suzuki, Ryan stealing throw down ball gets away and Ryan to third on the play, full count again, ball four way outside. Rodriguez, fly ball to Patterson in centre to end this one, two hours four innings ! Both pitchers to blame for that. 95 pitch count, awful.
Top 5th: Hill pops up to Smoak at first, Arencibia grounds to short, throw to first two down. Snider, grounds to second, flip to first for third out. Quick inning finally. Let’s see what Jays pitchers can do.
Bottom 5th: Bradley whoa lines a bullet right at Litsch, reflex catch, very nice grab Jesse. One down. Cust first pitch grounds to second throw to first two down. Smoak, doubles off the wall in left, Travis had a chance. Misjudged it. Did not need to jump there. Olivo, 107 pitches. Full count. Strikes him out, at least he can end this one on a good note.
Top 6th: Hernandez still out there Encarnacion 2-2 pops up to first, one down. Nix, 3-3 as he singles to left for the third hit tonight. Not bad for a filler. Escobar first pitch fly ball to right, two down, Patterson. Oh boy this one has legs and it is out of here into right field seats, line drive the new guys are doing it tonight. 7-0 Jays. Bautista, strikes out.
Bottom 6th: Frasor now pitching. Saunders, full count, ball four. Ryan, another full count, Frasor having problems, strikes out but runner going and throw too late, Saunders at second one down. grounds to third throw to Lind two down runner to third for Suzuki. Pops it up very nice running backhand catch by Nix, this guy is for real. I can’t see Edwin getting back out there at third.
Top 7th: Laffey pitching. Lind grounds first pitch back to Laffey, throw to first, one down, Hill. Fly ball to centre, two down for Arencibia. Pace of the game has picked up bigtime. 2.5 innings in 40 minutes. That’s more like it. JP singles into right. Snider and Lind the only two without a hit tonight, not this time either strikes out to end the inning.
Bottom 7th: Villanueva pitching, Rodriguez, strikes out, one down for Bradley. Goes down for this one and turns on it and it is out of here into right field corner seats and Mariners on the board, 7-1 Jays. Cust, grounds to second throw to first, Smoak, walks. Olivo, strikes out swinging.
Top 8th: Wilhelmsen now pitching. Encarnacion singles to left has his third hit. Nix already with three, not this time as he flies out to centre, one down, Escobar, ball four, two on for home run hitter Patterson. No this time fly ball to centre. Two down for Escobar, Jose 2-3 and a walk tonight. Ball four. That may be deliberate to get to this guy. Bases loaded for Lind hitless tonight and perfect time for one. Strikes out swinging 0-5 not good enough for the clean up man and offering no protection for Bautista either.
Bottom 8th: Purcey now pitching. I imagine they hope for more innings from Romero tomorrow to give bullpen some rest, Saunders leading off. Full count, singles into left. Ryan, 3-0 count, ball four, Purcey also having problems throwing strikes. Two on and nobody out. Wilson, 3-1 fly ball to Snider one down. Suzuki with two on, fly ball to centre but Patterson diving cannot get it. Bases loaded. That’s enough for Manager Farrell. Purcey didn’t have anything tonight. Dotel now. Rodriguez, full count. Ball four and run scores. 7-2 Jays and base remain loaded. Bradley another full count. Ball four, another run in and now the tying run !!! at the plate but that is it for Dotel tonight, Just didn’t have it, Rzepczysnki with bases loaded and only one out, not much room for error here. Cust, 3-0 count, here we go again. Ball four, another run scores 7-4 and now the go ahead run. Four walks in this inning. Smoak, full count. Camp now throwing in bullpen. Singles into left two runs score 7-6 game. That’s it for Rzepczysnki. Camp in to stop this rot. Ten walks tonight by Jays pitchers. Olivo, perfect one pitch does it, grounds to short to second to first double play ball. That has to be one of the very worst innings for a long time.
Top 9th: Lueke pitching. Now Jays hitters have to get a couple back here, no mercy. Hill, Arencibia full count, lines to right, two down. Snider hitless tonight. Strikes out again, not doing much to justify your position Travis, when Davis returns you may find yourself platooned with Patterson.
Bottom 9th: Here we go... all rests with Camp now. Who would have forecast this half an hour ago? Saunders leading off doubles into right. Ryan showing bunt, gets it down third attempt throw to first to get Ryan and runner safe at third. One down one in scoring position. Kennedy pinch hitting. Perfect grounds to Escobar looks runner back and throw to first, two down. BUT here comes Ichiro. 2-0 count, now putting him on. Rodriguez, 1-2 count, Ichiro takes second. Ten pitch at bat and here we go, doubles to the wall in centre and Mariners win an improbable game 8-7 coming back from 0-7.
A long time since we saw Jays collapse like this and the bullpen had been so good. But Purcey is the goat tonight, gave Seattle the chance. Another four hour game. This is one awful awful result as Jays were coasting to 7-0 win at the top of the 8th.
The very good: The newbies: Nix 3-3 and excellent catch. Patterson with two run home run. Edwin, have to give him credit for his three hits tonight, I just hope we don’t have to wait a week for his next one.
The not so good: Lind first at bat, takes three strikes and goes hitless 0-5 tonight not a great night for him. Litsch just not finding his spots, too many deep counts, four walks didn’t help, still needs to earn that rotation spot. Forces Farrell to go to bullpen early.
The really awful: Purcey, started the rot bigtime had nothing and must take the blame for this one. Loads the bases in the 8th. Dotel just couldn’t do it either walking in two. Rzepczysnki the same. Ten walks by Jays pitching tonight.
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