Another comedy of errors ruin a good outing by Morrow as Jays lose ugly to White Sox 3-1

White Sox v Jays. Game one of four.

Alex Rios and friends in town for four, evidently Alex in one of his slumps. I am sure he will be fired up for this series.

Line-ups: White Sox: Pierre, Ramirez, Quentin, Konerko. Dunn, Rios, Pierzynski, Vizquel, Beckham and Humber pitching.

Jays: Escobar, Patterson, Bautista, Rivera, Arencibia, Hill, Thames, Davis, McDonald, and Morrow pitching.

Top 1st: Pierre, 3-0 count, come on Brandon. Way outside ball four, one on for Ramirez, nowhere near, ball one, what’s his problem. Bronx cheer for a strike. Bunting back to Morrow throw to second to get Pierre, one down one on for Quentin. Hits him. Two on, one down for Konerko. Fly ball to Bautista in right, two down for Dunn. Full count, strike three. Morrow struggled but did not give up a run. His problem now will be the pitch count and trying to last six innings.

Bottom 1st: Escobar (first pitch here we go again) pops up to right, one down. The problem is leadoff guy is supposed to take some pitches to give the guys behind him something to look at. I don’t believe Escobar is a leadoff hitter. Patterson, bunts up the first base line throw to first, three pitches, two outs, bush league. Bautista, singles to centre, one on two down. Rivera, full count, pops up to short.

Top 2nd: Rios leading off. Grounds to Escobar at short, throw to Rivera at first, one down. Pierzynski, full count, whoa shatters the bat and pops to Hill two down. Vizquel, 3-0 count. Full, fly ball to Davis for third out.

Bottom 2nd: Arencibia, 2-2 count, ouch, strikes out swinging at ball way outside. Hill, pops up ball two to behind third base, two down. Thames, grounds second pitch to second base throw to first for third out. Morrow had not sat down.

Top 3rd: Beckham lines first pitch to Escobar, this aggression is catching. Pierre, lines it to Davis in centre, runs it down no problem, two down for Ramirez, grounds to McDonald, throw to Rivera, three up and down for Morrow.

Bottom 3rd: Davis leading off. Fly ball to Rios in centre. Johnny Mc. Grounds up the middle Ramirez throw to first, two down. Escobar, will he last more than one pitch? full count, pops up to second. Three innings in 45 minutes. However it is the undisciplined hitting, not the pitchers.

Top 4th: Quentin, full count, pops up to Davis in centre, one down for Konerko, grounds first pitch to McDonald at third, two down. Dunn, shift on right, full count, strikes out swinging to end the inning.

Bottom 4th: Time for Jays hitters to get going here. Patterson, singles opposite field into left, one on for Bautista. Fly ball to right, for the first out. Rivera, Patterson going but pitch out and throw gets him; here comes the boss to argue, no joy, two down. Singles into left, ouch. That hurts now with Patterson out. Arencibia, even worse wild pitch and Rivera to second. That might have scored Patterson if he were still in there. Ball four. Two on two down for Hill, has not been very successful in this situation. Awful pops up to first for third out leaving two out there. That caught stealing play now is huge. Jays should be leading this by at least one.

Top 5th: Rios the usual welcome, fans remember the lazy efforts from this guy. Grounds to Escobar, throw to Rivera, one down. Pierzynski, singles into left, there goes his no hitter. Vizquel singles into left, hit and run on. Two on for Beckham pops up to Davis in centre, two down. Pierre, lines it into right, here comes the run 1-0 White Sox. Vizquel all the way to third. Ramirez, two on two down. Pierre going and no throw safe at second, two in scoring position. 1-1 count. 3-1, nowhere near, ball four to load the bases. Quentin. That will do grounds to Johnny Mc. Throw to second for the final out. Morrow escapes big trouble.

Bottom 5th: Thames, wild swing on first pitch, 2-2 count, fly ball to Pierre in left, one down. Davis, 2-2 count, fly ball to Pierre in left, two down for Johnny Mc. Fly ball to right, easy inning for Humber as Jays go meekly.

Top 6th: Konerko, full count, strikes out, one down. Dunn, strikes out swinging, two down for Rios, fly ball to Bautista in right for third out. Morrow doing his job but the hitters are on vacation again.

Bottom 6th: Top of the order. Time for them to earn their salary now. Escobar, that’s better lines it hard to left centre, in to the seats, home run Yunel, 1-1 game. Good to see his home run trot is much faster. Someone must have told him about the last one and his hot dogging crawl. Patterson, full count. strikes out on ball four. Bautista now. 2-0 keeping it away from him. 3-0, down and away, grounds to second, throw to first, two down. Rivera, 2-0 count, lines it very hard but right at Pierre in left.

Top 7th: Pierzynski lines it right back at Morrow into centre, one on for Vizquel. 1-2 count, pops up to Dais in centre, one down one on for Beckham, 0-2 count, 2-2, takes strike three. Two down for Pierre, grounds to Escobar steps on the bag at second for third out. 102 pitch count for Morrow.

Bottom 7th: Jays need to break out here and get some runs on the board. Arencibia, 0-2 count, 2-2, lines to right for the first out. Hill, going the opposite way in his performance at the plate. Lines it to right, two down. Thames grounds back to pitcher throws high to first, ball gets away into the crowd, and Thames to second. Davis now with runner in scoring position. Pulls it to Ramirez at short, throw to first and once again Jays unable to bring the guy in from scoring position.

Top 8th: Frasor now pitching. Ramirez leading off, 2-2 count, doubles into left. This is trouble for Frasor, Quentin, bunting I doubt it with that average. Off the end of his bat Arencibia finally gets the ball and throw in time to first. Pierre to third on the play and only one down. Konerko will be lifting this one. No intentional walk. Full count. Perfect grounds to Johnny Mc. Looks Pierre back and throw to Rivera, two down. Rzepczysnki, now to face Dunn, strikes out on three pitches. PERFECT, leaving Pierre at third even better.

Bottom 8th: BUT Jays still have to get their own runs now. Johnny Mc. Pops up to short, one down for top of the order again. Escobar, full count, over 100 pitches now, he would have been out of game long ago if Jays hitters had been more selective. Strikes out looking. Two down for Patterson. 2-1 count, has the distance but foul into right seats. 2-2 count, full count, that will do singles into right, Bautista with one on two down. Will he pitch to him though or give him intentional walk. No, here comes the manager. End of night for Humber. Jesse Crain now pitching. 2-0 count, there goes Patterson no throw, now the intentional walk. Bautista to first. Rivera with runner in scoring position. 1-0 count, bounces to short, throw to first for third out. Jays leave yet another in scoring position.

Top 9th: Rzepczysnki still out there, Rios, OH BOY, grounds to McDonald throw wild and into crowd. Rios to second. Error on McDonald. Pierzynski, strikes out swinging, one down for Vizquel, wild pitch, Rios to third. What a mess. Error wild pitch, oh wow, strikes out swinging, two down. Beckham, 1-1 count, oh man, hits him on the foot. Two on for Pierre, 2-2 count, full count, there goes Beckham no throw. Grounds to first Rivera throw to Rzepczynski bounces off him two runs score 3-1 White Sox. Error to Rivera. Ramirez, lines it to centre, bounces over the fence, ground rule double. Two in scoring position. That`s it for Rzepczynski. Rauch now pitching. Quentin, 0-2 count. Pops up to Rivera.

Bottom 9th: Any team that only scores one run does not deserve to win a game. Jays hitters are missing in action once again. I for one wish for Lawrie, Lind and Snider back in this lineup and as fast as possible. Arencibia, Santos pitching. First pitch one out as Arencibia lines out to centre. When does the learning ever end? Hill, full count, ball four, base runners are what we need. JP has not learned that yet, situational baseball. Thames, here’s another guy who needs to learn, home run swing first pitch strike one.. 1-2 count, strikes out swinging on same pitch as before. Davis, last out for Jays. Hill takes second, 0-2 count, Davis strikes out swinging. Jays lose a stinker. Going the wrong way in the division right now and not even looking as if they can win a game in their last three. Don`t blame the pitching tonight, it was the errors by Johnny Mc and Rivera in the ninth that killed this one.

The very good: Definitely Morrow, started off badly but then settled and did everything he could to turn it over to bullpen.

The not so good: The goat tonight John McDonald, his throw with game on the line in the ninth was awful and unforgiveable for such an experienced fielder.
Along with the Rivera error, the wild pitch and the hit batsman.
BUT the other culprit is this epidemic now with the young Jays hitters of swinging at the first pitch, and what is worse getting out on that pitch. The advance scouts around the league note this obviously, and the opposing pitchers are pitching to these kids. Until they lay off that pitch this team will continue to struggle and never ever get a starter out of the game early.
Runners in scoring position??? nothing new here they have been awful all season long and nothing has improved since the first week. In short this team has so much to work on. They are fortunate that the division has been just as bad but now Boston is starting to come around and show their power.
Jays season needs a turnaround and fast before it is too late. Lawrie, Lind and Snider might be the answer, but right now the team is placing too much on the shoulders of Bautista.
We mentioned the slump by Rios, just take a look at the Jays line-up and tell me who is NOT in a slump apart from Jose. There is nobody else who is consistently performing at bat. Occasional flurries from Escobar and Arencibia and that is it.